Things have been kinda slow around here lately and we're all a little Corona weary, so I'm finally getting around to writing a report on my son's 10-day hunt last December in Maswa North, Bushman Safaris area that Mike Fell primarily hunts. Hopefully, it'll give everyone a little diversion during these trying times.

I'd promised to take my son to Africa several year's ago, and while this wasn't his first African hunt, the previous one was back in 2009 and was more family vacation than hunting trip. On that first trip, which was to South Africa, he did manage to take an impala, warthog and a fantastic Kudu. So, after weighing all options, and really stressing over not going with Alan Vincent to his Selous concession, I ended up booking what started as a 10 day 2x1 buffalo hunt with Mike Fell, to be the last hunt of the 2019 season in Bushman Safaris Maswa North concession. Mike assured me that the late hunting was phenomenal for buffalo, and that we'd constantly be tracking big bulls and have a grand time, besides, "it only rains a little during the short rains". Uh, yeah.
This morphed into a 1x1 with observer after I suffered a serious shoulder injury in October of 2018, when I tore my rotator cuff while trying to run down a poacher on a Sitatunga hunt with Richard Bell-Cross in his Kafue concession in Zambia. I had rotator cuff surgery in April of 2019 and was under strict orders from my orthopedic surgeon to not shoot a heavy rifle for a year, so I went along as 'The photographer and guy who paid the bill'.

Hunt Dates December 1-10, 2019

Rifles & Optics Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H, shooting 300 grain Barnes TSX and Cutting Edge solids. Remington Model 70 in .270, shooting 150 grain Nosler Partitions. Binoculars included Zeiss 10x42, Leica Geovid 10x42 rangefinder binoculars, as well as my old Swarovski 15x56 tripod binoculars.

Game on license Buffalo x 2, Bushpig, Kirk's Dik Dik, Common Duiker, Robert's Gazelle, Thompson's Gazelle, Coke's Hartebeest, East African Impala x 2, Bohor Reedbuck, Topi, Warthog, Defassa Waterbuck x 2, White bearded Wildebeest, Burchell's Zebra, Olive Baboon x 2

Game taken 2 Cape Buffalo, Impala, Warthog, Topi, Zebra

Other animals seen Roan, Giraffes, Elephants, hyenas, monkeys, baboons, abundant bird life

Travel Flights booked through Shawn Kennedy of Gracy Travel. We flew Emirates from San Francisco to Dubai, Fly Dubai from Dubai to Arusha. Our return trip, due to unforeseen circumstances, was on Ethiopian Airlines from Arusha to Washington Dulles, then United to San Francisco. More on that later. Shawn did a fantastic job, as usual.

We departed San Francisco on Emirates on November 24th, with the plan to spend a couple days in Dubai, then on to Tanzania for a couple days touring Tarangire Park before starting our hunt. Dubai was fantastic, and the highlight for my son was getting to meet Saeed after hearing about him for years from Roy, Rene and Alan Vincent. We enjoyed a grand time with Saeed, playing in his gun room/range, and enjoying a lively conversation throughout our visit. Saeed is a wonderful host and Dubai is a fascinating place to spend some time. It was a great way to start our trip and I look forward to the next time I see him. From Dubai, we traveled by Fly Dubai to Arusha via Dar Es Salaam. I would not recommend this airline for future travelers. While the flight was OK, I had some difficulty in confirming that our guns were placed on the plane in Dubai. The bigger problem was when we arrived at Kilimanjaro Airport...

Our late night arrival at JRO was easy enough, except that Immigration couldn't process any visas due to their computers being down. After standing around for a bit, a few of us asked how they issued visas before computers and a solution was remembered. They issued them like they apparently did years ago, just stamping our passports and sending us on our way. However, when we went to baggage claim, we had a problem. None of our duffles or the tuffpak were there. I immediately ran to the lost baggage guy to explain our situation, as the plane had re-started it's engines and was beginning to taxi toward the runway. The fellow was outstanding, he immediately started barking into his walkie talkie, and ran outside toward the tarmac. The jet stopped and shut down it's engines, after about 10 minutes the fellow came back in with all of our luggage. Disaster averted!

We spent the night at the African Tulip Hotel, recommended by Mike Fell, and it was well suited for our purposes. The next morning, we were picked up by Mubarak Atik, whom Mike had arranged to take us to Tarangire for 2 days of game viewing. Mubarak apprenticed under Danny McCallum, so having a hunter as our tour guide made for a couple enjoyable days of looking at game, though buffalo were all but nonexistent in the park. We did, however, enjoy watching a leopard that we were alerted to by a warthog running through a river and damn near getting hit by our truck. Upon looking for what had spooked the wartie, we found a nice large leopard sneaking through the bush. Another highlight was seeing a very large bull elephant that we thought would go around 80 pounds a side. When you can see the ivory at over a kilometer away with your naked eyes, you know you're looking at a good bull.

[EMAIL] [/EMAIL] My son, Danny, on arriving back onto African soil for the first time in 10 years.

Back at the African Tulip, we got our next 'curveball' thrown at us. At 10:30 PM, the night before we are to board our charter flight, I got a call from Mike Fell, who was out at camp. He informed us that his mother was dying and had just entered hospice care. Mike said he had to leave to be with her, which we both agreed was the only option. Mike told us he'd secured a replacement PH by the name of Tom Dames, and that he was experienced and a great, fun fellow to hunt with. So, first it was nearly having our baggage go back to Dubai, now it was a new PH whom I'd never heard of. This all made for a rather uneasy night's sleep. However, I should have known that Mike wouldn't put us with anyone other than a qualified, excellent PH. Between Mubarak and Tom, Mike Fell took great care of us by putting us in very capable hands, but it was my son's safari, not mine, and I wanted everything to be perfect.

The next morning, we are sitting in the lobby of the hotel waiting for our new PH to pick us up, and this librarian looking fellow comes in about an hour later than our agreed upon collection time. He asks if we are Dan and Danny, and upon confirming we were, he simply says "Hi, I'm Tom, I'm going to be your PH, let's go". And with that, we headed off to Arusha airport to take our charger flight out to Maswa.

Once at the airport, we had to hurry up and wait, as weather was bad out west and they couldn't get into the bush strip at Maswa. Finally, after sitting on our hands for over an hour, they said 'Let's go'. We quickly loaded the Cessna Caravan and were on our way across the most beautiful, emerald green landscape imaginable. It was an enjoyable, smooth flight of about 90 minutes, flying past Mt. Losimingor, across the Serengeti Park and finally arriving at a very muddy and slippery bush strip. Watching the plane depart with Mike and the family that he'd just wrapped up a nice hunt with was troubling, as it took the plane much longer than normal to get airborne and we were all relieved to finally see it lift off near the far end of the airstrip. After that we settled in, Danny and Tom shot their rifles and following a nice dinner, we went to bed early in anticipation of 10 days of following buffalo.

<IMG class="inline_image" SRC="[IMG]https://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv109/dan_sozzi/Maswa%20Hunt/90E23284-CB8F-4D93-9C01-9C075344744F.jpeg"> [/IMG] The main dining area was very comfortable, and with all the wet, cool weather we were about to endure, the small fireplace was very warm and great for drying out wet boots every single day.

The first morning, we headed off to see what was in the neighborhood, and had a rather unusual way of getting to the truck each morning, as the nearby stream was often flooded so that the truck couldn't easily pull up in front of camp, instead we crossed this bridge each morning...

<IMG class="inline_image" SRC="[IMG]https://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv109/dan_sozzi/Maswa%20Hunt/8853B2E3-7120-4B8C-BA83-8A20BF82B876.jpeg"> [/IMG] It wasn't the most stable, but nobody fell in, so all was good.

Once across the Golden Gate Bridge, we were off to start our hunt, only to get a quick hint of how every day to follow was going to play out...

<IMG class="inline_image" SRC="[IMG]https://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv109/dan_sozzi/Maswa%20Hunt/E963BBE3-9247-45E2-929D-445C4C4B7BC2.jpeg"> [/IMG] Stuck! A situation that was to play itself out multiple times every single day. By the end of the hunt, we estimated we'd gotten stuck over 100 times. Some days, we lost up to 3-4 hours, mired in mud.

<IMG class="inline_image" SRC="[IMG]https://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv109/dan_sozzi/Maswa%20Hunt/4C63C9A3-722A-4A65-8AA1-AB988B30E932.jpeg"> [/IMG]

Our first afternoon, we got on a small group of bulls, with one that had a huge, gray body and looked like a tank. Off we went after them, despite the threatening skies. Well, we never did catch up to them again, but we certainly got dumped on and after wading across a waist deep river with strong current, we decided it was time to call it a day.

This is how we all looked after following the buffalo into the thunderstorm. Soaked to the bone...

Maybe it's just me but I can't see any of your photos.

I cannot see pics either.

Wish I could. Sounds like a great safari!

quote:

Originally posted by surefire7:
I cannot see pics either.

Wish I could. Sounds like a great safari!

I’ve got to figure out why the pictures won’t post. Not sure what’s wrong.

Thanks for posting! I look forward to reading the rest of the report!

Regarding the photo links, I've not been a photobucket user for several years, but I think what you need to do when viewing the photos in photobucket is to click on the link icon, then choose the "direct" link; that will copy the link. Then in the forum editing window, press the image button and paste the link there. Your links were somewhat garbled. If you want more explanation or just the fixed text to paste into your original post, PM me. In the meantime, here's the rest of your post, starting with the first failed photo:

========================================================================




The main dining area was very comfortable, and with all the wet, cool weather we were about to endure, the small fireplace was very warm and great for drying out wet boots every single day.

The first morning, we headed off to see what was in the neighborhood, and had a rather unusual way of getting to the truck each morning, as the nearby stream was often flooded so that the truck couldn't easily pull up in front of camp, instead we crossed this bridge each morning...



It wasn't the most stable, but nobody fell in, so all was good.

Once across the Golden Gate Bridge, we were off to start our hunt, only to get a quick hint of how every day to follow was going to play out...



Stuck! A situation that was to play itself out multiple times every single day. By the end of the hunt, we estimated we'd gotten stuck over 100 times. Some days, we lost up to 3-4 hours, mired in mud.



Our first afternoon, we got on a small group of bulls, with one that had a huge, gray body and looked like a tank. Off we went after them, despite the threatening skies. Well, we never did catch up to them again, but we certainly got dumped on and after wading across a waist deep river with strong current, we decided it was time to call it a day.

Clues that this fellow is the game scout include the fact that--

- he isn't doing a damn thing

- he's the only person with clean clothes.

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

keep it coming!

Ski+3
Whitefish, MT
USA

quote:

Originally posted by JohnDL:
Clues that this fellow is the game scout include the fact that--

- he isn't doing a damn thing

- he's the only person with clean clothes.

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

Actually, John, yes he is the game scout. However, he usually worked his ass off and was as wet and muddy as any of us at the end of most days. Tom, our PH, even commented about how he was probably the hardest working game scout he’s seen in years.

By the way, Thanks Hannay!

Can’t wait for more!

Happy to finally see some more reports. Even before the countries were going on lockdown there’s less and less reports unfortunately

Sorry for the delay, I'm having some log-in problems, or I'd have this report done by now.

My son has always been a very good shot, so neither of us was worried that he only got to shoot his 375 about 40-50 times before leaving. That wasn't the problem, but he never shot his 270 that he's been hunting with since he was about 14 years old. I've literally never seen him miss a shot at an animal, but something was askew with his 270 and early the 2nd morning he managed to miss a fantastic impala that we thought would go nearly 30", and he missed it several times at less than 200 yards. He was very perplexed, and me being the dad that I am, reminded him that shooting the rifle at home might have been a good idea. Later that day, after missing the big impala, we were following a large herd of buffalo, sloshing through standing water every step of the way. After a couple hours playing with the buffalo, we gave up and went to look for whatever else was interesting. We found a herd of Topi, which are very common in Maswa, so off we went after the group. Danny, Tom and the trackers got within about 150 yards and Danny set up for the shot. His first shot hit the Topi, but not where he wanted. A couple shots later and he had his first animal of the trip, a very nice Topi bull.



It was good to get an animal in the salt, as we were having trouble getting around with all the mud, high river and streams all flooded. The next morning, after raining pretty much all night, the Golden Gate Bridge was completely flooded and we started our day by wading to the bridge so that we could go over what had become more than a small stream, it was flowing really strong. Once across we were quickly on our way, and not too long after we were into impala, including the large ram he'd missed the day before. The guys left the truck to go after the impala again, while I stayed with Charlie and Caspian, our driver and game scout. About 20-30 minutes later we heard a shot, followed by a call on the radio to come join them. Finally, he shot like I expected and know he's capable (or so I thought). When we found them, they had a nice warthog on the ground.



Mike Fell likes to take photos that highlight the size of the animal, so we took this shot as a good natured parody of Mike and how he likes to photograph trophy shots. We figured if he wasn't with us, the least we could do was have a little good natured fun at his expense.




While I thought he did well, he later told me that even though he killed the pig with one shot, it wasn't where he meant to shoot it. We were both pretty perplexed by his shooting, as he's never had a problem with anything in the past. Anyway, we dropped the warthog off with the skinner and headed back out to look for buffalo. We were slipping and sliding around, getting stuck way too often, but we found some buffalo near the Serengeti Park boundary. Unfortunately, they were spooky and as soon as they realized we were in the neighborhood, they took off for the park and that was pretty much the end of our action for the day.

Day four started the same as previous days, getting stuck, getting wet and looking for buffalo. At one point in the morning, we were back where we'd seen the buffalo the day before, and found 3 bushpigs feeding along. Tom and Danny got out and made a stalk to within 75 yards of the pigs, but in the end they turned around and came back. Tom explained that the pigs were just too close to the buffer zone between the concession and the park. While Danny would have liked to take a bushpig and the guys wanted him to be successful, all agreed that leaving them was the ethical thing to do. That ethic would come into play in a much more significant situation just a few days later.

As the day wore on, we were having more and more trouble getting around, as it had rained at least a few hours every single day for the last six or seven days, and often it rained hard. Everyplace we went, it was flooded with standing water and bad mud, and we literally spent hours each day getting stuck and then working our way out of the muck. Tom took me aside and explained that he was getting very worried that, if we were too picky, that Danny might not get a buffalo at all if conditions worsened to the point where we had to walk from camp. Danny was pretty adament that he didn't want to compromise and shoot a small buffalo, but I reminded him that he did have 2 permits and perhaps it'd be a good idea to get a nice mature bull under his belt and then be more picky with his 2nd permit. The next day, we had our chance to test this theory.

On day five, mid way through the morning, we found a large herd of buffalo, probably 80-100 or more, and they were about a mile from the truck. We walked through standing water the entire way, and were able to get fairly close to the buffalo, and there were 4 mature bulls standing off by themselves as the herd fed along. After looking them all over carefully, Tom directed Danny to the bull that he thought was appropriate and with the bull at about 125 yards, he patiently waited on the sticks for the bull to turn. The bull finally turned and he shot, hitting the bull hard on the point of the shoulder. As the bull ran away, he fired 3 more times in the next 20 seconds, hitting the bull well each time. Finally, after covering about 100 yards over 30 seconds, he was down and Danny had his first Cape Buffalo.





Note the water in the pictures. This was one of the drier patches of ground we'd been on in the last couple days. The buffalo was a mature bull, solid boss but not a lot of spread. However, under the circumstances, we were glad to have one bull in the salt finally. Now, he could be particular about his 2nd bull and if it didn't work out, he could go home happy that at least he'd taken one buffalo. Most important, he finally shot well and like I've always known him to shoot.

I thought this was a very neat black and white photo to share. Having this made into a print.

The 6th morning started the same as others, looking for that big impala again. The guys went for another walk while I stayed at the truck and not too long after, we heard a shot. A minute later, another shot. Damn! He was shooting his 270 again, and things were not going well, apparently. Then the radio crackled and they summoned us to bring the truck. Turns out, they'd found a nice zebra stallion and while it took 2 shots, at least he hit it decently with each shot.

The fellow between Danny and Tom Dames,as well the one to the far left of the picture were the two trackers. The fellow on the far left, Kademba, was pretty intense, but very personable. We found out toward the end of the hunt that Kademba has tracked on 90+ successful elephant bulls for various PH's over the years. He and Martias, the other tracker were fantastic. Both excellent trackers, intense, friendly as can be. We had a blast with them. The guy on the far right of the picture is Charlie, who was our driver. He was very quiet, didn't speak much English at all, but struck me as a gentle, nice man who was easy to like. I'd happily spend a few weeks again with these guys, as they were some of the most enjoyable I've been with on my six safaris.

One thing that quickly helped settle my initial concerns about Tom Dames, who as I mentioned at the beginning of this report, was someone I'd never heard of until the night before our hunt when Mike Fell called to tell us of his family emergency, was when I learned that Tom had been hunting professionally for Danny McCallum and then Robin Hurt for his entire career. He certainly proved to be a quality PH, but then I should have known he would be or Mike wouldn't have selected him to stand in while Mike was dealing with family. Hard working, personable, funny as hell, Tom is a very good PH. We will happily hunt or tour with Tom again. But then, I'd also still like to hunt with Mike someday as well.

Without offense to our host, I will bump up a cool hunting report.

Thanks for the post.

Dan, nice report and pics! As for your son's shooting, it brings back memories. On my first safari I managed to miss an eland at about 100 yards. Still don't know how I did it.

How did the TSX's perform?

enjoying your report. What kind of temps did you experience? I am actually t thinking about going to Maasailand on those dates.

Great hunt report. Man that’s boggy and unusual for the little rains. Although when I was there in 2011 I think there were some significant floods for little rains. We were ok though.

Didn’t think to check the 270 on a target?

Looking forward to more.

John, The TSX's performed fantastically. Mike Fell and I talked about bullets quite a bit when I booked the hunt, and he opined that TSX was his favorite buffalo bullet. We recovered 2 from his first buffalo, each was a bulge under the skin after passing through the chest and breaking a scapula. They look text book perfect.

Tim, Temperatures were very pleasant. I don't think it every got much over 80, and was usually in the 60's & 70's. If it wasn't for the extreme rain, it would have been perfect weather.

Rockdoc, the 270 issue was and still is a sore spot. I repeatedly encouraged him to shoot it at home, but he knows better, as most sons do. He's shot several dozen animals with that rifle and never had a problem, which is why he got complacent this time. He learned the hard way, and it's a problem he won't repeat after this trip. He missed several great animals on this trip with that rifle. Never missed a single shot with his 375. With regard to the rains, this year was unprecedented, they haven't seen rain like that in December in decades. Kenya was experiencing wide-spread flooding while we were there, as was the DRC. It rained for at least a few hours every single day of our trip, except one day that didn't rain. We were in country 15 days and it rained 14 of them. Some days we got a couple inches.


OK, back to the hunt... This is where Danny's hunt took on a very interesting twist. With one buffalo in the salt, he reiterated to Tom and I that he wanted a really good buffalo and was OK going home without a 2nd buffalo if he couldn't fine what he wanted. Day six started the same as every other, slipping and sliding around in ruts, getting the crap beat out of us in the mud. We were using the winch multiple times every day, but when we weren't near enough too a tree, we had to cut brush, jack up all four wheels and pile brush under the wheels and in the tracks to get unstuck and on our way. Sometime in the late afternoon, we cut the tracks of 3 bulls that had left the park and were heading into the concession. We took off after them on foot and within a mile or so, found them holed up in one of the many bushy patches that dot the plains in Maswa. All 3 bulls were mature. One was an old scrum cap, one was a younger bull of probably 8-10 years old with beautiful horns we estimated would go 42", maybe even 43". But the third bull, well that was the one Danny wanted. Maybe just a tad narrower than the younger bull, his tips were worn down, his large bosses were smooth, he was probably 12 or 13 years old, a perfect buffalo to round out the trip. Only problem was, he was hidden in deep shade and we couldn't see enough of him for an ethical shot, so we waited.

The younger bull was curious, and peered out at us from the bushes at 60 yards. We watched him with Danny on the sticks for over 15 minutes. Danny was rock solid and said he could easily put a solid right between his eyes, but he wanted the big, old bull or nothing.

The younger bull. a nice bull in his own right, but in a few more years, he'll be a really good bull.

Some time after the sun set, the wind changed and the buffalo took off, with us in hot pursuit. We weren't able to catch up to them and with darkness fast approaching, we decided to go find the truck before it was black dark. We'd look for the buffalo again the next day.

Day 7 found us back looking for the same 3 bulls from the day before and we found their tracks after a few hours, but they were headed back toward Serengeti Park. We got on them and were constantly bumping into other game, Topi, Waterbuck, Warthogs, Zebras and tons of Impala. We followed the tracks for a couple miles and my right knee was giving me a great deal of trouble, getting very stiff and swollen. So, I suggested that we hike back to the truck for them to drop me off and then go on without me holding them back. We got to the truck, they dropped me off and headed back to find the tracks, but only went about 150 yards and saw the 3 buffalo bedded in deep shade of one of those brushy islands. We could actually see Danny and Tom laying atop a muddy termite mound, but couldn't see what they were looking at. The buffalo were a bit over 100 yards from them, but were only several hundred yards from the park boundary. The guys lay atop that termite mound for over an hour, and finally got up and came back to the truck. They explained the situation, and Danny told me that, while he could kill the bull he wanted, they decided to not shoot with the buffalo fairly close to the park. He told me he'd be absolutely sick to lose the bull if it went into the park with a bullet in him, and said he felt the ethical thing to do was to walk away and try another day. So ended day 7.

Day 8 was tough. It appeared the bulls had gone back into the park and we weren't finding any other buffalo in our travels. We could only access about 25% of the concession according to Tom, as the rest was on the wrong side of the river, or just so muddy that we couldn't get the truck where we needed to go. We searched high and low without success, so decided to head back to camp for lunch and go look in some higher plateau country behind camp in the afternoon. I was soaking wet, my knee was really sore (I'm actually having Stem Cell therapy done on my knee this week, as I've drawn a Desert Bighorn tag here in California, and need to be able to walk better than my knee currently allows) so I decided to stay in camp for the afternoon. The guys went out and had an interesting few hours. First, they came upon a cheetah at close range, that had just killed an impala and was feeding on it. They watched that show for while, then continued on to see what else they could find. A group of Coke's Hartebeest were found, and they started following them. After walking about a half mile, the Hartebeest settled down and my Leica's, which Tom was loving being able to use, indicated 287 yards. Normally, this wouldn't be an unreasonable shot with the 270, but with the way he was shooting, they weren't so sure. Danny was steady and his hold felt good at the shot. He shot right over the top of the Hartebeest. In a rate moment, Martias looked at Danny and said in English (which we didn't realize he could speak) "That gun is shit, use your 375 next time". So, the 270 got put away and that was that.

On the way back, they enjoyed some beautiful sights courtesy of the late afternoon sun, and right before it set they found a nice impala ram. While it wasn't as large as the one he missed, it was an excellent male in it's own right. The late afternoon sun created the perfect backdrop for a memorable photo.





That was a nice way to end day 8, and Danny was relieved to have shot better with his 375 than he had been with the 270. We were now down to the last two days, and still looking for a really good buffalo.

One thing that was really great about Bushman's camp, other than being very comfortable with good food and excellent service, was the abundance of predators around camp at night. We heard lions roaring most nights, would often hear hyenas right behind camp near the skinning shed, and one night heard a leopard sawing in the dark in front of camp. We could often hear a hippo in the nearby river. That all lent a nice atmosphere that you just can't get on a a hunt in many other areas.

One fellow who was not part of our hunting team, but very important to our comfort and enjoyment of the hunt, was Pascal. He ran the camp, waited on us hand and foot and was a good conversationalist. I really enjoyed my time visiting with him. Good man...

Thanks for continuing the report - I look forward to reading about the last two days.

Day 9 was a tough day, we looked high and low, couldn't find many buffalo, and certainly nothing that we were interested in. We got stuck plenty, got wet plenty more, but everyone was having a great time. The guys, every one of them, never complained. They'd all just get out, start cutting brush and jacking up the truck, or they'd drag the winch cable to the nearest tree and eventually we'd be on our way again, even though sometimes we'd repeat that scene less than 100 yards later. We didn't see anything of note on that day, but we still had one day left.

Day 10, our final hunting day, started out great! The skies were mostly blue, the river had gone down and we were finally able to cross the river for the first time since day one. Once across, the habitat was different. Instead of black cotton soil, it was sandier and not nearly as muddy (we still got stuck though, just not as often or as bad) and we were able to get around much more easily. Not that far into the morning, we found a large herd of over 100 buffalo, all scattered across an open area. We left the truck a bit over a kilometer away and slowly approached the herd, using what sparse cover we could. We were all scanning the entire herd, looking for that one good bull and finally, when we were within about 150 yards, our cover ran out. The trackers took out a drab green tarp and unfolded it, with all of us walking along behind it. The buffalo pretty much ignored us until we were about 100 yards away. We started making a bawling sound like a buffalo calf in distress and the herd did the rest of the work, coming to about 50 yards of us, while we're all still hiding behind this green tarp. Try as we might, we could not find a suitable bull to shoot, the biggest being about 37-38" wide with so-so boss. So, we walked away and went to look for more buffalo.



As the day wore on, we found a lone bull here and there, but nothing to get excited about. Finally, late in the afternoon, we found a lone bull bedded and were able to stalk up close to him. He wasn't what we were looking for but it was apparent he'd likely be the last buffalo we'd see on this hunt. We debated what to do, as nobody was excited about him, but we were also basically out of time. The switching wind made the decision for us, as the bull blew out and took off. Tom felt we should give this bull a good go, as even if they didn't get him, they'd be tracking buffalo right to the end. So, with my knee giving me trouble again, the plan was for Charlie to drive me back to camp, and then come back for the guys, wherever they ended up.

Back at camp, I enjoyed some hot tea and was wondering how Danny was doing now that they were literally down to the last hour. The sun had set and it was starting to get dark when all of a sudden I could hear the truck coming. I went out front to greet them and as the truck came into view I could tell there was no buffalo in the truck. But, Charlie was driving, the only other guy in the truck was Kademba and something wasn't adding up. As soon as the truck stopped, Kademba jumped off and came running toward me with a huge smile, laughing wildly. He jumped into my arms and gave me a huge bear hug, loudly telling me "Danny got Mbogo!" I asked him "Danny got an Mbogo?" Back came "Danny got THE Mbogo, the big one!" With that, I peeled him off of me and he grabbed my arm and said "Come, let's go".

Charlie drove us through the dark and after about 15 minutes we came onto the gang with one very nice buffalo bull. They explained that the other buffalo had buggered off for good after they'd followed him quite a way, so they'd called Charlie to come pick them up and return to camp. While driving back, they turned a corner and immediately saw the 3 bulls from a few days earlier. They quickly dismounted, made a short stalk and Danny shot. At the shot, the bulls retreated to a brush patch. Danny put an insurance shot into him and then they had a bit of an exciting time getting the others to leave. By now, it was dark and they got the truck, then quickly tied the winch to the bull and pulled him into the open. He was everything Danny was hoping to take. Old, big smooth boss, nice spread with tips well worn. He was a great buffalo to take, and doing it in the closing minutes of a 10-day hunt made it all the more special. We had quite a celebration at the site, while Danny told me the other 2 buffalo returned in the pitch black and they had some exciting moments while trying to chase them off with flashlights. Then, while sitting quietly in the dark listening for the buffalo to possibly return, a lion started roaring nearby. As Danny put it to me, it was a perfect way for his safari to end.





I was one very relieved father. Danny enjoyed an excellent, if difficult, safari. If it hadn't been so terribly wet, it would have been pretty epic, but then the way it ended was about as epic as it can get.

I want to thank Mike Fell, as well as Tom Dames and the entire Bushman crew for an excellent ten days under trying circumstances. We rolled with the punches, so to speak, and made the best of the constantly challenging situation. Danny had a fantastic attitude throughout, no matter what happened. After we were done, he hugged me tight, thanked me for a fantastic time and told me that if he ever gets to hunt Africa again, he really doesn't need to hunt anything other than buffalo. He said buffalo hunting was everything he hoped it would be, and much more.

Our hunt was over, but the adventure would continue...

What a great hunt you and your son had.
That's a Buff to be proud of and fitting reward for your persistance.
Very well done both of you.

The next day, we were scheduled to fly out by charter, back to Arusha. However, the airstrip was so wet that there was no way the Caravan could land, so we had to figure out a Plan B. Our flight out of Arusha was that evening, back to Dubai, then home. But it wasn't gonna happen for us.

After some time, we were able to reach Shawn Kennedy at Gracy Travel (and for those who don't realize the value of a great travel agent, she was about to prove her worth) and quickly explained our dilemma. Shawn told me she'd work on it and get back to me ASAP. Less than an hour later she called back (so thankful for wifi in camp to get a phone call) to tell me that the only way we could fly with guns the next day was on Ethiopian from Arusha to Washington Dulles, via Addis Abbaba and Dublin, Ireland. We booked that flight and now we just had to get to Arusha in time for our flight.

We had to drive to Mwanza, which is the closest town with a regularly scheduled air service. In normal times, Mwanza is about a 6 hour drive from camp, with about half of those hours being on dirt tracks and roads. However, these weren't normal times. We loaded the truck with all our gear and the hunting team and took off for Mwanza. Travel was very difficult, as we got stuck 14 or 15 times before we got to good roads. We left camp late in the morning, and by the time we reached the asphalt at Bariadi, it was evening.

We spent too much time doing this, just to get to town.

We finally reached the first village and travel improved, as we were now on dirt roads instead of two tracks through the bush. We navigated our way through a handful of villages, getting a very firsthand look at life in rural Africa. As we neared pavement and the town of Bariadi, we began getting a bad shake in the front end. We had to slow down and drive at a much reduced pace for the shaking to subside. Once we reached Bariadi, we realized that it was too late to travel any further as we didn't want to drive in the dark, so we found a hotel to spend the night at, which was worth the $25 dollars each room cost. They guys went to repair the truck and find a place to spend the night, while Tom, Danny and I grabbed a bit of dinner and turned in early.

Definitely an interesting hunt that would test a man's patience and perseverance. Kudos to you both. Some fine Maswa trophies... question, since you didn't get to hunt with Mike, were you able to arrange some sort of credit/discount? I know it was touchy with his family emergency but one usually pays a premium to hunt with MF.

The last photo says it all. Whistling thorn acacia growing in soaked black cotton soil. You just hope the winch doesn't give out.

I hunted with Tom Dames in Masailand. Good guy.

You have my vote for hunt report of the year. The prize is nothing, however it looked like a great hunt.

Cheers.

I really enjoyed your report, congrats to you and your son. Glad to hear Tom Dames worked hard and made it happen in the wet stuff! I've hunted masailand in December and know all to well the challenges of walking and driving in wet black cotton soil.

Thanks for finishing the report. Nice ending! Congrats!

Excellent. Thanks for posting.

Really great report and proves perseverance. That is a fantastic old dagga boy and well done all round.

First-class.

DLS...sir I am curious to know what if any lion and elephant activity did you see during your safari?

We just got my son’s trophies home. They were supposed to ship from DAR in late March, but the pandemic screwed that up. Turkish Airlines from DAR to SFO was $1,850, not too bad. Coppersmith was great value in clearing the shipment, they made it totally painless on my end, glad I used them.

I think we are done bringing any swine home in the future unless we kill an exceptional pig. We had to have the entire crate shipped to a USDA approved facility because of his warthog, that cost an extra $400.

Nice report and hunt!

Wow what a great hunt thanks for posting

Great story and photos. Thanks, I really enjoyed it. The second buffalo was cliff hanger. (Last moment)
I get a kick out of it when the blacks pretend they don't speak English until they want to. " That gun is shit..."
There is a an old black driver that would not speak english to me until the last night on the second year. We were driving back to camp in the dark, all tired. I was in the cab with the old guy. After he made a tricky maneuver with the bakkie, I said, "William you sure are a good bush driver." He answered in perfect oxford english, "Thanks Brian, I try."

Your hunting report was awesome. Thank you. Brian

Tough conditions but well done on the game taken. Really nice photo's and congrats to your son.

quote:

I think we are done bringing any swine home in the future unless we kill an exceptional pig. We had to have the entire crate shipped to a USDA approved facility because of his warthog, that cost an extra $400.

Shipping costs, fees (both real and imagined) are beginning to dissolve the taxidermy end of things. Quickly becoming on the outrageous side of things, I see many hunters not bringing anything home but photographs.