SOUTH AFRICA: TANZANIA: Safari 2023 Spiral Slam, Black Death, & Mr. Spots

[Hunting Hitman]

Tanzania…So we headed to the airport for our 10:30 PM departure to Dar es Salaam with no problems with check in. Upon arrival at 3:30AM (fun time) got our Visas and did the gun inspection with the police station and off to the hotel for a bit of rest.
Upon arrival our room type was not available but they”upgraded” us to another room (looked fairly average to me) and we got some needed rest. Spent the rest of that day enjoying the hotel accommodations with my wife getting a massage and her nails done.
The next day we flew out on a private charter and arrived at Mkwawa Safari’s hunting camp in LL1 around 4PM. We were greeted by the entire staff and our PH Jamil Jamal. We did a quick change of clothes and checked the rifles for accuracy and everything was fine.

I had chosen Mkwawa because an acquaintance of ours had hunted with them last year and he had shot a 51 inch Cape buffalo so my expectations were high to say the least. For my wife I had booked her on a Leopard/plains game hunt. As anyone who has hunted Leopard before will tell you it’s all about hanging baits and checking cameras.
So the next morning we head out with that game plan in mind. We needed to shoot some plains game and get baits hanging in the tree all along looking for Cape buffalo that I might feel was deserving of a 458 Lott introduction.
We hadn’t gone 20 minutes out of camp when we spotted a lone Nyasa wildebeest about 300 yards off casually feeding. My wife and Jamil began the stalk and were able to close about 75 yards distance till the cover ran out. He brought up the shooting sticks and my wife settled in for the shot. She pulled the trigger and the definite whomp could be heard of the bullet impacting right behind the broadside right shoulder of the Nyasa. No tracking needed as the 200 Grn ELDX had done the trick.

We make quick work of loading the Nyasa into the truck and begin to head back to the lodge, since it was so close, and let the skinners prep the wildebeest for bait hanging. On the way back Jamil spots a nice impala ram and he and my wife jump off the truck set up sticks and take the shot. Easy-peasy animal goes straight down and she now has 2 animals and 5 baits before 8AM on day one…

HH

 

[Hunting Hitman]

We begin hanging baits and are able to place 4 baits by the end of the first day. Our PH Jamil feels very confident as we placed baits in trees that they had shot leopards from in previous years.

The boss supervising from a safe distance so as not to have to smell it.

We continue hunting and I’m obviously looking for the right Cape buffalo but not finding anything close to what I’m looking for. We round a bend and see a good Warthog that is standing in the shade of some brush. We get out and are able to close the distance to about 80 yards. My wife takes the shot and the warthog goes right down.

HH

 

[gillettehunter]

Very nice pig. Love the coloration of the Wildebeest. Nice start. Looking forward to the rest of the story.
Bruce

 

[Fatback]

That’s a real nice looking warthog. Looks like this part of the safari is off to a great start. Hope the buffalo you were looking for makes an appearance and Mr. Spots decides to cooperate with Mrs. HH. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

On day 3 we have 6 baits in trees and 3 male leopards on bait and after reviewing the photos decide to sit the afternoon for this one.

We make the preparations for the blind and proceed to brush it in with the shot being approximately 60 yards and decide to get into the blind around 3:30PM, with the sun going down around 6:45PM we feel good about our chances. We are not in the blind 30 minutes when a male Hyena comes in and looks/sniffs around the base of the tree clearly eyeing the shoulder of wildebeest in the tree. After 4-5 minutes he walks off and we here him let out a lone call about 20 minutes later with no reply.
We continue to wait quietly in the blind and about 6:20 PM the leopard comes in and after a little walking around gets in the tree to start eating. Now my wife has hunted with me for about 10 years and is not very experienced in these situations so we wanted to go slow and give her a chance to collect herself. She was nervous but focused on the job at hand and when the Leopard presented a nice broadside shot we told her to take it.
She drills the Leopard perfectly and we see the cat fall to the ground and scurry off into the brush. We all high five and congratulate her as we both saw the shot through the binos and we knew we had a good shot.
Now as you all know a Leopards not dead until you see it so out of the abundance of caution we wait about 20 minutes and call the truck in with the trackers as night falls. We exit the blind and all meet at the base of the tree to begin following the blood trail. We see good blood and slowly follow the trail about 35 yards with good blood coming out both sides and then the blood trail disappears.
We are all a little confused and begin to get worried that maybe the shot wasn’t as good as we thought when we hear another Hyena call with immediate responses. My PH and trackers immediately kick it into high gear and head the direction of the calls…unfortunately to late. My wife’s first Leopard has been carried off and torn apart by this group of Hyenas and she along with the rest of us our devastated with only a 10 inch patch of fur found about 80 yards from the tree.
In my life I’ve never heard of hyenas running off with a dead leopard but am told it does happen. Needless to say I do my best to console the wife that she in fact executed a perfect shot and the hyenas who were hoping for the shoulder to drop instead found a dead leopard.
She’s a tough girl and by the next morning at least took a picture with what was left. This is the only photo of her smiling and I had to force it out of her.

Well with a little payback in mind I green lighted a little hyena hunting for that afternoon and we went back to the blind and dropped the shoulder to the base(tied off of course) for a little revenge. Same male leopard comes in 20 minutes after the truck leaves and my wife makes quick work of the A Hole leopard eater.

We drag him off to the side and get back in the blind in hopes of some more action. Approximately an hour later a big female shows up and the wife had some real hate in her eyes as she squeezed the trigger.

The mighty huntress showing us her running total of 2 so far.

HH

 

[PARA45]

That revenge smile says it all. Man, so sorry to hear she will not have the leopard. Phucking scavengers.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I was just screaming Noooooo!!! Congratulations on her leopard and so sorry to hear the hyenas got it. So happy she is getting revenge and hope she can pile up a couple more.

 

[Fatback]

That’s terrible luck with your wife’s leopard. Look at the bright side, gives y’all a reason to go back and try again. Glad she was able to get a couple of the hyenas sorted out though.

 

[gillettehunter]

What a kick to the gut! You do everything right and still lose out on her leopard. I'm happy to see a couple of dead hyenas. Gotta be a real time tho. Hopefully the rest of your safari goes better.
Bruce

 

[AZDAVE]

Well crap, Had a buddy that a brown hyena found his leopard in namibia, but it didn't tear his up as bad as your wife's hyenas pack. I support her shoot a mess of hyena's in retribution for their bad behavior.

 

[TERMINATOR]

Great pig!

Bummer about the Cat. I would be in depression.

Hope she gets another crack!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

We continued searching for cape’s that fit my profile but since the Leopard eating incident my focus has been more on pleasing the Wife. We had been trying to get a zebra up to this point as that’s prime leopard bait and had not had much luck. After what seemed like a dozen different sightings of zebra that ran off, we came upon a group that held still. Wife quickly gets out of the vehicle with the PH and proceeds to get about 3k yards closer when the sticks came up. She makes the shot and has a beautiful zebra in the salt.

We are still unofficially checking baits as I have informed Jamil that if a giant presents itself we will go for another Leopard with permit. So the fact that we continue to refresh baits is important.
On day 7 camp needed a little meat so we went out with that in mind. About 90 minutes of driving from camp we come upon a lone Nyasa bull approximately 300 yards off. My wife insists that I take it so I ask Jamil if we can get close…and begin the stalk. We take are time and begin to close the distance. Around 180 yards out the wind almost ruined it for us a swirl caused the bull to lift his head in our direction… fortunately he didn’t bolt but became very weary of his surroundings and we knew that we better take the shot. Jamil put up the sticks and I waited for him to be broadside. Once broadside I placed the red dot on his shoulder and made the shot. He dropped right there and wildebeest was what’s for dinner that night.

If I haven’t said it already this place is loaded with Impala and Warthog so when on day 8 we round the corner around 11:00AM and see another shooter. Wife gets out of the truck and slips off to the right allowing the wind to stay in her face as her and Jamil look for a clean shooting lane. About 5 minutes later she gets on the sticks and we hear the shot as we can’t see anything at this point. The radio crackles and Jamil tells the driver to come over and help with the warthog.

Day 9 and still no Cape buffalo to speak of and my wife is sensing some of my frustration as by now I would have had a least 2 shot. The problem is the buffs are either to young or while a potential dugga…they have no bosses. We still have 2 cats on bait but nothing mature enough to shoot so we pass on them and continue looking for opportunities. We have decided to break for lunch and as we are looking for a shady spot I notice a lone warthog about 500 yards out wallowing in a mud hole. I can see ivory with my naked eye and let Jamil know that I want to give him a try. We proceed to stalk in to around 70 yards as this warthog is oblivious to our presence. At the last moment the wind swirls and he is about to bolt…with no time for sticks I offhand shoot him and he falls dead 10 feet later.

We finish lunch and as the day draws closer to the one of the trackers spots a group of Bush pigs working a field edge. My wife gets out and begins her stalk to about 100 yards. Sticks come up and she squeezes the trigger and down goes the bush pig.

My wife loves the next pic as it’s our 2 trackers and the game scout with old Dead Eye…our game scout laughed that our tracker looked like a poacher!

Last day and the plane is coming to pickup at 4PM so we decide to give it one last go. We proceed to a new area that we hadn’t covered yet, this happened everyday, and around 10:30AM we see a hartebeest that will add to the camp bait and my wife sets up on the sticks for an easy 80 yard shot. We proceed with the recovery and as we are looking at positioning the animal for photos Jamil sees movement a long way off(Like 800 yards). He says “Dugga” and I’m like no way buddy but we get the binos up and sure enough 2 Dugga boys are slowly feeding through the brush oblivious to our presence and one of them looks good. We grab the guns and begin to make a slow but persistent stalk to close distance and try and no get busted. Several times during our stalk the wind swirls and I’m sure they are going to run off but somehow they do not. We get to within a 100 yards and get a good look at both of them and one of them is a definite shooter. We ease closer and get to within 50 yards and run out of cover. Well no time like the present and the sticks come up as I ease on to the sticks and wait for the cape to clear the brush. I’m holding steady with the Blaser R8 Selous in 458 Lott firing a 500 grain TBBC. Jamil gives me the green light and squeeze the trigger. The Cape soaks up the first shot and runs to my left approximately 40 yards and folds up dead. I have a short video of this but can’t figure out how to post it and with all the hoopla of the rush to wrap up and make the plane we didn’t get photos of the hartebeest.

Final thoughts on Mkwawa Safaris. They have an excellent camp with plenty of food and drink plus full internet and ac in the rooms. Animals were plentiful except for the Dugga Boys which I had trouble locating. 2 weeks before they had shot a 46 inch Cape and the week before a 41 inch was taken. I myself set a limit of 45 inch or above or a big boss Dugga.
Overall I’m giving them an 4.5 out of 5 and feel you can book with confidence with this outfitter and a very reasonable price for Tanzania.

HH

 

[PARA45]

Love it!!!!! Your wife is the perfect companion, and quite deadly behind that R8. Congratulations to both, for a wonderful safari. Beautiful buff, and again too bad your wife lost her leopard to the hyenas, but I think her pay back for what they did was wonderful. Beautiful memories with some fine animals taken. Thank you for taking us along. Well done!!!

 

[gillettehunter]

Nice OLD buffalo. Congrats on the great shooting by you and your wife. I have enjoyed our report.
Bruce

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Love it!!!!! Your wife is the perfect companion, and quite deadly behind that R8. Congratulations to both, for a wonderful safari. Beautiful buff, and again too bad your wife lost her leopard to the hyenas, but I think her pay back for what they did was wonderful. Beautiful memories with some fine animals taken. Thank you for taking us along. Well done!!!

Thanks Para45

HH

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Nice OLD buffalo. Congrats on the great shooting by you and your wife. I have enjoyed our report.
Bruce

Thanks Bruce,
I hope to see you again either in a camp or in the SAPS office

HH

 

[Scott CWO]

We continued searching for cape’s that fit my profile but since the Leopard eating incident my focus has been more on pleasing the Wife. We had been trying to get a zebra up to this point as that’s prime leopard bait and had not had much luck. After what seemed like a dozen different sightings of zebra that ran off, we came upon a group that held still. Wife quickly gets out of the vehicle with the PH and proceeds to get about 3k yards closer when the sticks came up. She makes the shot and has a beautiful zebra in the salt.
View attachment 553624
We are still unofficially checking baits as I have informed Jamil that if a giant presents itself we will go for another Leopard with permit. So the fact that we continue to refresh baits is important.
On day 7 camp needed a little meat so we went out with that in mind. About 90 minutes of driving from camp we come upon a lone Nyasa bull approximately 300 yards off. My wife insists that I take it so I ask Jamil if we can get close…and begin the stalk. We take are time and begin to close the distance. Around 180 yards out the wind almost ruined it for us a swirl caused the bull to lift his head in our direction… fortunately he didn’t bolt but became very weary of his surroundings and we knew that we better take the shot. Jamil put up the sticks and I waited for him to be broadside. Once broadside I placed the red dot on his shoulder and made the shot. He dropped right there and wildebeest was what’s for dinner that night.
View attachment 553625
If I haven’t said it already this place is loaded with Impala and Warthog so when on day 8 we round the corner around 11:00AM and see another shooter. Wife gets out of the truck and slips off to the right allowing the wind to stay in her face as her and Jamil look for a clean shooting lane. About 5 minutes later she gets on the sticks and we hear the shot as we can’t see anything at this point. The radio crackles and Jamil tells the driver to come over and help with the warthog.
View attachment 553628
Day 9 and still no Cape buffalo to speak of and my wife is sensing some of my frustration as by now I would have had a least 2 shot. The problem is the buffs are either to young or while a potential dugga…they have no bosses. We still have 2 cats on bait but nothing mature enough to shoot so we pass on them and continue looking for opportunities. We have decided to break for lunch and as we are looking for a shady spot I notice a lone warthog about 500 yards out wallowing in a mud hole. I can see ivory with my naked eye and let Jamil know that I want to give him a try. We proceed to stalk in to around 70 yards as this warthog is oblivious to our presence. At the last moment the wind swirls and he is about to bolt…with no time for sticks I offhand shoot him and he falls dead 10 feet later.
View attachment 553629
We finish lunch and as the day draws closer to the one of the trackers spots a group of Bush pigs working a field edge. My wife gets out and begins her stalk to about 100 yards. Sticks come up and she squeezes the trigger and down goes the bush pig.
View attachment 553630
My wife loves the next pic as it’s our 2 trackers and the game scout with old Dead Eye…our game scout laughed that our tracker looked like a poacher!
View attachment 553631
Last day and the plane is coming to pickup at 4PM so we decide to give it one last go. We proceed to a new area that we hadn’t covered yet, this happened everyday, and around 10:30AM we see a hartebeest that will add to the camp bait and my wife sets up on the sticks for an easy 80 yard shot. We proceed with the recovery and as we are looking at positioning the animal for photos Jamil sees movement a long way off(Like 800 yards). He says “Dugga” and I’m like no way buddy but we get the binos up and sure enough 2 Dugga boys are slowly feeding through the brush oblivious to our presence and one of them looks good. We grab the guns and begin to make a slow but persistent stalk to close distance and try and no get busted. Several times during our stalk the wind swirls and I’m sure they are going to run off but somehow they do not. We get to within a 100 yards and get a good look at both of them and one of them is a definite shooter. We ease closer and get to within 50 yards and run out of cover. Well no time like the present and the sticks come up as I ease on to the sticks and wait for the cape to clear the brush. I’m holding steady with the Blaser R8 Selous in 458 Lott firing a 500 grain TBBC. Jamil gives me the green light and squeeze the trigger. The Cape soaks up the first shot and runs to my left approximately 40 yards and folds up dead. I have a short video of this but can’t figure out how to post it and with all the hoopla of the rush to wrap up and make the plane we didn’t get photos of the hartebeest.
View attachment 553640
Final thoughts on Mkwawa Safaris. They have an excellent camp with plenty of food and drink plus full internet and ac in the rooms. Animals were plentiful except for the Dugga Boys which I had trouble locating. 2 weeks before they had shot a 46 inch Cape and the week before a 41 inch was taken. I myself set a limit of 45 inch or above or a big boss Dugga.
Overall I’m giving them an 4.5 out of 5 and feel you can book with confidence with this outfitter and a very reasonable price for Tanzania.

HH

Dude, I wouldn’t want your wife shooting at me! You better be a good boy! Lol. Sorry about her leopard.

Great trophies and safari. Congrats! I think you will be booking a leopard hunt for her soon?!?!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Dude, I wouldn’t want your wife shooting at me! You better be a good boy! Lol. Sorry about her leopard.

Great trophies and safari. Congrats! I think you will be booking a leopard hunt for her soon?!?!

Thanks Scott,
I’m sure the wife agrees with the leopard comment!

HH

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Congratulations on a great hunt.

The Eastern Cape does have some great Tiny 10 Hunting. Victor facilitated me getting an Oribi, Blue Duiker, and Cape Grysbok earlier this year.