superdutch
AH enthusiast
- Joined
- May 19, 2016
- Messages
- 275
- Reaction score
- 284
- Location
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Media
- 13
- Articles
- 1
- Member of
- SCI & NRA life member
- Hunted
- Tanzania ('21, '18), SA East Cape (‘19), Namibia ('15,'17,'23,'24), Spain (‘23), USA - AK, CO, ID, NM, SC, FL, GA, WI, TX
I recently returned from a hunt with Bullet Safaris in Rungwa, Tanzania. My father and I booked about a year ago - my father comes as an observer to take in Africa. It is our third safari together. We had great hunts twice before, both in Namibia, and we looking forward to seeing a different part of Africa. We flew from Jacksonville, through Atlanta, to Amsterdam, to Arusha, all on Delta/KLM. The flights and all connections went perfectly. We spent a day in Arusha relaxing at the comfortable hotel and visiting an art gallery and market in town.
This is Mount Meru which is visible from Arusha, and a normal Arusha street scene.
The next morning we took the 2 hour charter flight out into the bush. It is worth noting that Nathan Askew, the owner of Bullet works hard to make sure that the charter is split between groups- on the way in it was split four ways (there were two other hunters in camp - a father and son from West Texas, and on the way out, it was split eight way (arriving group of 5 and the departing group of 4) resulting in affordable charter costs.
This is my father, Ken, Crispin our PH, and me.
Camp was really nice - wall tents, with private bathroom with concrete floor, nice porcelain toilets and shower with hot water available, and the equipment was all in good condition.
These are the tents. They wall tents, with a canvas roof over the tent, that is then thatched to keep it cool. Outside camp we had lions roaring, monkeys chattering and hyena whooping! A leopard stole some meat from the skinning shed and we watched him eat it in a tree outside of camp!
The concession is literally 1000 square miles in size, untouched by man (except for the trail roads) and wild! On the first stalk on the first day of the hunt, we found out how wild it was! We were stalking a group of buffalo that we spotted from the truck a 1/2 mile off. They were in thick grass, entering a area of thick bush. As we closed in on them and could hear them just in front of us, we hear a crash and a young buffalo runs right past us at less than 20 yards - and chasing him is a full maned lion! We hear the lion knock him down and kill the buffalo 30 yards away! Upon the sight of the lion, the game scout (Tanzania requires you to have wildlife officer/anti-poacher with you) racks a round into his AK47! It was quite the stalk!
Later in the day, as the sun went down we caught up with a Lichtenstein hartebeest, that I was able to take after a short stalk.
Trackers, Driver, PH and Dad and me.
The next day we got into buffalo in the morning. We worked the edge of the herd until we could get in front. Me must have covered 5 miles. We finally caught up and got a shot at this big fella off the sticks at about 50 yards. The 375 Ruger with A-frame hit him hard - he staggered, almost falling, and I was able to hit him a few more times with the Northfork solids before he was safely down.
After loading the buffalo (which is a big job) and returning him to camp, we went out again that afternoon. We spotted a dagga boy off by himself in 7 foot elephant grass. We started to stalk into the grass, but quickly realized that we 1) couldn't see anything, and 2) were making a lot of noise, so Crispin, our PH, looks at this small tree and whispers to me "stand on my shoulder and see if you can get a shot". I grab the tree, and with on foot on his shoulder and one foot in the crotch of the small tree, after some adjustment, make a shot at about 60 yards! The buffalo, like the other, staggers and almost falls at the impact, and as he turns broadside, I hit him again with a solid - then he disappears into the grass! Now it gets interesting. We follow his trail with the truck about 100 yards until we come to a ravine. After some discussions in Swahili (that I didn't participate in), and trackers climbing trees to try to see the bull on the other side, we continue on foot. It is pretty intense - visibility is just a few feet. The game scout is to the right with his AK, the trackers are in the middle, following the blood trail/spoor, and I am next to them with the 375 and Crispin is next to me with the 458 Win. We spot a patch of hair up ahead and I shoot it! As we carefully approach, we find a dead buffalo!
This is basically the buffalo I dreamed about since reading Death in the Long grass as a kid!
Over the next week we were able to connect with zebra, orbi, duiker, and baboon.
Zebra. We had to work hard for this one. They were very wary!
Oribi. That was a fun stalk through the grass! What you can't see it the bullet hole in the neck. Oops! Hopefully the taxidermist can fix!
This is the duiker. Also a fun, short stalk.
This was a great trip. Bullet Safaris is really well run, the concession is huge, wild and full of game, our PH, Crispin was patient and a really good hunter. The camp was comfortable and we were well fed. I would certainly recommend the hunt!
This is Mount Meru which is visible from Arusha, and a normal Arusha street scene.
The next morning we took the 2 hour charter flight out into the bush. It is worth noting that Nathan Askew, the owner of Bullet works hard to make sure that the charter is split between groups- on the way in it was split four ways (there were two other hunters in camp - a father and son from West Texas, and on the way out, it was split eight way (arriving group of 5 and the departing group of 4) resulting in affordable charter costs.
This is my father, Ken, Crispin our PH, and me.
Camp was really nice - wall tents, with private bathroom with concrete floor, nice porcelain toilets and shower with hot water available, and the equipment was all in good condition.
These are the tents. They wall tents, with a canvas roof over the tent, that is then thatched to keep it cool. Outside camp we had lions roaring, monkeys chattering and hyena whooping! A leopard stole some meat from the skinning shed and we watched him eat it in a tree outside of camp!
The concession is literally 1000 square miles in size, untouched by man (except for the trail roads) and wild! On the first stalk on the first day of the hunt, we found out how wild it was! We were stalking a group of buffalo that we spotted from the truck a 1/2 mile off. They were in thick grass, entering a area of thick bush. As we closed in on them and could hear them just in front of us, we hear a crash and a young buffalo runs right past us at less than 20 yards - and chasing him is a full maned lion! We hear the lion knock him down and kill the buffalo 30 yards away! Upon the sight of the lion, the game scout (Tanzania requires you to have wildlife officer/anti-poacher with you) racks a round into his AK47! It was quite the stalk!
Later in the day, as the sun went down we caught up with a Lichtenstein hartebeest, that I was able to take after a short stalk.
Trackers, Driver, PH and Dad and me.
The next day we got into buffalo in the morning. We worked the edge of the herd until we could get in front. Me must have covered 5 miles. We finally caught up and got a shot at this big fella off the sticks at about 50 yards. The 375 Ruger with A-frame hit him hard - he staggered, almost falling, and I was able to hit him a few more times with the Northfork solids before he was safely down.
After loading the buffalo (which is a big job) and returning him to camp, we went out again that afternoon. We spotted a dagga boy off by himself in 7 foot elephant grass. We started to stalk into the grass, but quickly realized that we 1) couldn't see anything, and 2) were making a lot of noise, so Crispin, our PH, looks at this small tree and whispers to me "stand on my shoulder and see if you can get a shot". I grab the tree, and with on foot on his shoulder and one foot in the crotch of the small tree, after some adjustment, make a shot at about 60 yards! The buffalo, like the other, staggers and almost falls at the impact, and as he turns broadside, I hit him again with a solid - then he disappears into the grass! Now it gets interesting. We follow his trail with the truck about 100 yards until we come to a ravine. After some discussions in Swahili (that I didn't participate in), and trackers climbing trees to try to see the bull on the other side, we continue on foot. It is pretty intense - visibility is just a few feet. The game scout is to the right with his AK, the trackers are in the middle, following the blood trail/spoor, and I am next to them with the 375 and Crispin is next to me with the 458 Win. We spot a patch of hair up ahead and I shoot it! As we carefully approach, we find a dead buffalo!
This is basically the buffalo I dreamed about since reading Death in the Long grass as a kid!
Over the next week we were able to connect with zebra, orbi, duiker, and baboon.
Zebra. We had to work hard for this one. They were very wary!
Oribi. That was a fun stalk through the grass! What you can't see it the bullet hole in the neck. Oops! Hopefully the taxidermist can fix!
This is the duiker. Also a fun, short stalk.
This was a great trip. Bullet Safaris is really well run, the concession is huge, wild and full of game, our PH, Crispin was patient and a really good hunter. The camp was comfortable and we were well fed. I would certainly recommend the hunt!
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