Tanzania: The Selous with Game Trackers Africa

[Rider717]

Outfitter: Game trackers Africa
PH: JP VanWyngard
Area: LR2 concession, Selous game reserve. Mweiba camp and Lake Utunge camp
Rifle: Blaser R8 375 H&H Mag
Scope: Zeiss Victory V8 1.5-8 illuminated
Suppressor: Banish 46
Ammo: Custom Safari Arms 300 grain Barnes TSX; Factory Federal 300 grain Woodleigh hydro solids

14 Day leopard and buffalo safari.
Target species: Leopard, buffalo, Lichtensteins hartebeest, Nyassa wildebeest, hippo, crocodile




Departed Atlanta on July 20th
Returned Atlanta August 7th
Ethiopian Airlines Atlanta-Addis Ababa-Dar Es Salaam-bush plane charter to the Selous
Bush plane charter Selous-DAR-Ethiopian -ADD-FCO-ATL
Paid the business upgrade fee. Well worth it in my opinion.

This was a bucket list safari that was supposed to happen in 2023 but was delayed a year while I built a house. The house didn't get started until June of this year but I didn't want to wait another year due to my target species.


A big thank you to all those who responded to my queries on travelling Ethiopian Airlines through Addis. I was almost prepared for flying with them. Almost.

Before I get to the hunting I'll share my gun travelling fun. Checking in ATL: fairly smooth. I had 8 copies of everything. They wanted copies of my passport, form 4457 and my gun license. I explained that I didn't have a license and they accepted the 4457 for that. The process took 30 minutes and required 3 supervisors and the making of multiple copies of my documents. They gave me 4 copies of the signed Ethiopian firearm declaration form, which was nice. Flight from ATL-ADD uneventful. Turn time in ADD was 1+45, plenty of time. I was met on the jet bridge and escorted to the far end of the terminal down to the ramp level, then bussed back to the other end of the terminal to do the firearms check. My gun case (which was supposed to be loaded last so that it would be first off) was not there. I had placed my ammo in two separate locked containers in my checked duffel bag. We waited over an hour for the bags to show up. The inspector arrived and I opened my gun case so he could check serial numbers, then had to pull out and open the ammo cases so ammo could be counted. This took about 25 minutes. Luckily, I had enough copies to give him so after his inspection we were off to the terminal, almost. We had to wait 5 minutes for transportation back to the opposite end of the terminal. It is now 10 minutes to departure. Back in the terminal running to the security checkpoint, the escort pushed everyone aside to get me to the front. Then up the escalator and halfway back through the airport to the gate only to have to go through security again. The escort got me to the boarding line and pushed me to the front. 5 minutes to spare, whew. In DAR it was the same. Firearm inspection plus ammo count then transport from International terminal to domestic to do it all again! There I found out I had to pay $82 tax for the ammo import. Was not expecting that. The rifle import was paid as part of my safari package. The flight to the bush airstrip was uneventful. We picked up our Tanzanian game scout, Lewis, who would be with us every day.

I met up with JP VanWyngard, my PH, in the domestic terminal. We got acquainted and he filled me in on the hunting and asked what I was after as far as trophy size expectations. He explained that we would be hunting at a lodge several hours south of the lake I thought we would be hunting near. This is the LR3 concession in the Selous. Eastern Africa had some extreme rain in April and May and much of the concession was flooded, 10'-20' in some areas. The area we would be hunting was normally very dry and full of animals near water sources. Not this year. It was green and grass was very high. Water was everywhere. Our safari would overlap by three days with another who was finishing up his 14 day leopard chase.

We arrived at camp, showered and had dinner and then off to bed for me.

Day 1: Up a little late so I could catch up on sleep. Met up with the trackers and driver. On the road around 9am.

JP decided to drive to an area they call Serengeti, because it is relatively open and flat. I expected to see animals everywhere but we were over an hour driving before I saw my first animal, a lone zebra, who promptly disappeared into a forest. We broke out of the forest and drove along Serengeti and the trackers spotted wildebeest. We got out to stalk but they were long gone. As we continued our drive we saw a nice bush duiker in a small forested area but he ran and never stopped. Further down we bumped a hartebeest herd and started a stalk on them. As we got close they ran and kept running. We tried to intercept them and found them running with a herd of zebra. Again, they kept running. We kept driving and saw a couple of nice sized impala rams but every time we stalked they took off running and never stopped. Drove around the rest of the day but the animals were not to be found. Everything was green. Normally, by this time they would have burned down most of the old grass and new shoots would be sprouting, bringing animals in. The grass for the most part wouldn't burn. They dropped matches everytime we stopped and as we drove. Sometimes it would catch and burn an acre or two, but most times it would burn a few yards of grass.

Back to camp for dinner and bed. Lions and hyenas and maybe a leopard visiting or coming close to camp that night. Not an easy sleep!

Day 2: Up early. JP expalined that we really needed to kill something for leopard bait. I was agreeable to that. Back to Serengeti to look for wildebeest and hartebeest. We bumped a couple female and one small boar warthog. Then we found fresh lion tracks. We walked the length of the plain without seeing anything other than the warthogs. Found a leopard track that looked promising and found a tree to hang bait, when we got some. Spotted some zebra who were very anxious and watched them run away, fast. Back to driving. The area was devoid of animals. It seemed the lions had scared everything off. After a couple of hours I got my first look at a buffalo. One OK bull and a soft bossed juvenile. They weren't what I was looking for in the Selous so we kept driving. The roads were a mess and ditches that were normally yards across were now hundreds of yards wide and deep rutted from the floods. And there was still water everywhere, puddles to acres large water holes. After lunch the trackers spotted some buffalo tracks and we stalked what turned out to be a large herd for an hour only to have the wind turn on us as we got to within 200 yards. By the sound of them running it was a hundred or more animals. Decided to start back to camp in the later afternoon and as we drove I spotted a large warthog under a tree. We stopped and he froze and watched us. A definite shooter. One shot and a 50 yard run and we had our first animal, and more importantly bait!

This boar was twice the body size of every other warthog we saw.

Here he is in the truck bed.

He was cut in half and placed into 2 separate trees for leopard bait. I'm keeping the skull.

Back to camp with one in the salt on day 2.

More to follow...

 

[majorsafari]

great post so far! waiting to hear the rest!

 

[dchum]

Awesome writing!

 

[ChasingHemingway]

Following with anticipation

 

[npm352]

Looks cool

 

[gillettehunter]

Sounds like a tough safari. Any idea why the animals were so spooky?
Bruce

 

[LWood]

Following! Looking forward to the rest of your adventure.

 

[Rider717]

Day 3:

Out early again. Still hunting the same general area. The other hunter in camp had leopard baits in multiple trees so we avoided those areas. In 14 days they had one small male come to a bait but passed on him. They were spending 3-5 hours in the morning and night sitting in the blind with no luck. This had me worried.

We were also on the lookout for hippo. Some of the water holes would hold lone bulls this time of year and JP said that usually they could be heard in camp grunting through the night. At this point not a peep out of the hippos.

Still hopeful for the morning and soon after we started driving, I thought I spottted a sable antelope. When we stopped and looked they couldn't be seen and I thought my eyes played trick on me with a tree stump looking like an animal. As we discussed the trick of the light the stump moved and it was a sable cow and calf. Actually, 2 sable cows and a calf. As we watched a flash of black ran back from the cows. We got down for a quick stalk and saw a sable bull with short to mid length horns. A Roosevelt sable would have been a nice start to the day, but it was not to be. As we continued the drive we found a fairly fresh hippo trail and followed it a quarter mile to a huge water hole. With no hippo in it. Back to driving and found fresh buffalo tracks. The trackers picked up the trail and we stalked the single track. Long grass, short grass, very crunchy leaves and finally gave up as we got to a dense thorny bush forest. A portent of things to come.

Driving again we passed the very fresh remains of a young hartebeest. The tracks told us it was wild dogs that made the kill.

Between the dogs and the lions hunting in the area it was now obvious why all the animals ran at the slightest sound.


An hour later the trackers spotted hartebeest in the trees and we were able to make a short stalk and get into a terrible position 60 yards away. The bull was staring straight on at us and I had a small window between branches to make a chest shot. The shot was true and the bull dropped 20 feet from where he was hit.

Finally got one of my must haves for the safari, plus leopard bait!

The rest of the day was uneventful and we didn't even see anything to stalk or take aim at. I saw my first mamba sleeping on the road but we let it slip into the bushes without incident.

Days 4-7:
Up early every morning and back after dark every night. Stalking buffalo in the thick stuff and getting winded or losing them on top of long grass every time. At this point I have only seen the 2 bulls from the second day. Seeing some animals in small numbers but nothing to shoot at. Wildebeest have all gone into witness protection. Had one very long stalk on a herd of buffalo only to lose them late morning. While waiting for the truck to catch up the trackers hear noise around a bend in the road. Thinking it was buffalo we stalk and find two immature wildebeest wrestling and a herd grazing in the shade. JP spots a really nice bull and as we set up for the shot the wind shifts. The bull runs full speed away from us taking the herd with him. Just one small gust was all it took. The wind has been unkind to us. But we finally saw wildebeest.

I did have one long, 268 yards, shot at a nice zebra. But I have only practiced out to 100 yards with the 375 and I misjudged the drop as well as the size of the zebra and shot a foot over his back.

Stalked a herd of buffalo only to find out that wild dogs were running them from the opposite side. They split off into two herds and we followd the smaller one of about 30 before they winded us and stampeded away.

Baiting leopard with donated wildebeest and buffalo from the other camp is taking a lot of hunting time from us. But we get tracks and game camera pictures of a promising cat.

The hunting has become very difficult and JP and I are both frustrated. 4 days with one difficult shot on a zebra, 95+ degree temperatures, tsetse flies, dogs and lions chasing the animals, water everywhere and grass so tall and green that even buffalo are hard to spot. Still, I'm in the Selous on a 438 sq mile concession and the promise of what may be around the next bend in the road is exciting. After all, it's called hunting and not just killing, right?

JP and tsetse's

Young lion babysitter

Youngsters in the tree

Young hippo bull in water hole

Did see some young lions hanging out while the adults hunted. Plus my first hippo sighting in a water hole. Just a bit on the young side, unfortunately.


First week done.

1 warthog, 1 hartebeest, 1 missed zebra. Grass is still green and tall and water is everywhere. 1 possible cat on bait and the buffalo have become skilled at disappearing. Still not seeing a lot of animals. This is not the Selous I was led to expect!

More to come
...........

 

[Scott CWO]

Shot a foot over a zebra at 268 yards, where were you holding? Never hold over the hair unless a really long shot (probably shouldn’t take) and know your ballistics. Rough start so far but you’re in Tanzania.

 

[VertigoBE]

Following with anticipation of what is to come. Does not sound like an easy hunt so far!

 

[dchum]

I hope to read more and I hope your hardship is rewarded in the end!

I notice your suppressor - I was always under the impression that suppressors were not aloud in Tanzania for hunting. Things always change fast in Africa haha.