Report by: PH Alistair James
Location: Lake Natron South, Maasailand
Date: 01 September 2006 - 16 September 2006
Client : Gib Lewis, Tom and Rita Montgomery
1 September 2006
Today we drove out to the plain on the north side of Kitumbeine Mountain, half way between Kitumbeine and Gelai villages. We looked over a number of good animals including eight different mature male gerenuk. We also saw some good Grant’s and Thompson gazelle. We decided to pass on all the game we saw today and returned to camp without shooting anything.
2 September 2006
Today we continued to look for gerenuk. We concentrated on the Eastern part of the hunting block. We passed over three rams today before we saw one that looked like an old animal with good horns. This ram ran away as we tried to stalk up closely on foot for a shot. We kept following him though, and about a kilometer later he stood broadside at under a hundred yards. Tom shot the animal perfectly and had a fantastic gerenuk.
This afternoon we drove out to the plains and Tom shot a zebra.
3 September 2006
Today we drove out to the large plain between Kitumbeine and Gelai Mountains where earlier we had seen a lot of fringe-eared oryx. It was about a four hour drive to the plain, and so it wasn’t until late morning that we were glassing the vast open area. After about an hour of glassing and driving we spotted a single oryx about a kilometer away. We tried to stalk the animal but weren’t able to get within shooting range. We ate lunch under a small stand of green trees out in the open plain and watched some small groups of Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelles. After lunch we drove over to the eastern side of the plain and spotted a small herd of oryx bedded underneath of a tree. As we approached on foot, the animals stood up and we were able to get a good view of the herd. There was one very nice bull in the group, and another very unusual bull with short but bent horns which stuck out sideways. Neither Tom nor I had ever seen an oryx with horns that looked like this. 
Tom decided that he would much rather take the opportunity to shoot this unusual trophy in favor of a more conventional one. Tom shot the animal perfectly at about 250 yards.
4 September 2006
Today Gib Lewis joined Tom and myself. We looked for some klipspringer on some of the rocky hills on the eastern side of the concession. We didn’t see anything, and then headed towards the plains at the foot of Kitumbeine Mountain to look for Thompson’s gazelle, but didn’t see anything big enough to shoot.
5 September 2006
Today we sent a truck ahead of us early in the morning to Kitumbeine Mountain with a fly camp. We left camp a couple of hours later and met the first car unloading and packing tents and supplies onto Maasai donkeys to carry up to the crater at the top of the mountain where we would set up camp. Gib and I decided to walk in ahead of the donkeys and make our way up the mountain slowly. We ate some sandwiches about half way there and then carried on with the hike. As we were descending in the crater through some of the forest on the rim, one of the gunbearers spotted a buffalo in the bush further down the rim of the crater than where we were standing. We all stopped and started glassing. We were looking at a young bull and a cow laying in a small opening in the very thick bush just below us. After a few minutes we realized that these were just a couple of animals in a big group that wasn’t visible due to the surrounding cover. I could see bushes all around moving as the animals milled around and browsed the vegetation. After about 15 minutes of glassing, I saw a great bull stand up and show himself in the opening for all but two seconds and then move off into the bush again. I realized that Gib’s only chance for a shot would be if an animal moved into the small window we had in the bush. We set Gib up on the shooting sticks for a shot into this area just in case something steps into the opening. We waited for over an hour, and watched a handful of cows and young animals move through the opening when finally a good bull with wide horns showed himself. Gib took the shot, and the sound of the bullet hitting sounded and looked good. The buffalo ran off and we lost sight of him in some bushes close to the base of the crater rim. Although the shot seemed very good, the bull didn’t death bellow and we decided to wait until the following morning to search for it.
6 September 2006
This morning we looked for bushbuck feeding at first light. We spotted a couple of the animals, but all were far away and moving too quickly for us to attempt to stalk. We also saw another group of buffalo feeding on the side of the crater wall with one old bull in the group. After the sun was up we decided to go and look for the buffalo that Gib had shot the previous afternoon. I had a general idea where the buffalo was last seen. After circling the thick bush for about thirty minutes, I had one of the trackers climb the wall of the crater and stand in our shooting position from yesterday. 
Only then were we able to get an accurate bearing on where we thought that the animal lay, and eventually found the bull dead. It was so thick that I had walked past the dead bull twice within about ten yards before finally seeing him. He was a fantastic buffalo with very deep sweeping horns and a very wide spread.
After a great morning we stayed in the fly camp in the middle of the crater for most of the day and glassed game. We saw three different groups of eland midday. At four o’clock we left camp and walked to the east side of the crater where we knew there was a water hole where the Maasai had seen some bushbuck. After about an hour and a half trek we set up on the side of a hill downwind of the water. We were laying in some tall grass when a great bushbuck jumped out of the thick bush about 70 yards in front of us. I told Gib to grab his rifle and shoot. 
Just as Gib had his rifle up and was about to shoot the bushbuck, another male jumped out behind the first one. This animal had noticeably better horns and I told Gib to shoot that second one instead. Gib made a great offhand shot and killed a fantastic bushbuck.
7 September 2006
Today we started our descent down Kitumbeine Mountain. We packed the buffalo and bushbuck skulls, capes and meat onto some Maasai donkeys to carry down to the vehicles. The fog was very thick this morning, and it took us more than an hour just to find the trail out of the crater heading down the mountain. The downhill was tough but Gib made it and mentioned something about this being a testament to his orthopedic surgeon. When we arrived at the main camp we smoked cigars and had a couple drinks.
8 September 2006
Today I went with Tom and Rita looking for impala and dikdik. We drove to some water holes by Longido town and found a group of impala, but no mature ram. We looked for dikdik, and found many, but not one that would stand still long enough to shoot at.
9 September 2006
Today Tom, Rita, and Gib hunted with me. Tom shot a nice dikdik this morning. This was the culmination of about 20 unsuccessful stalks. Tom was pleased at finally getting the animal. We saw some Thompson’s gazelle, but nothing big enough to warrant shooting. In the afternoon we drove around looking for a zorilla (striped polecat), which Gib had seen on his hunting license and now desperately wanted to shoot.
10 September 2006
Today we hunted impala and klipspringer. We didn’t see any impala big enough to shoot and couldn’t find any klipspringer.
11 September 2006
Today we looked for some impala. We found a herd that we hadn’t seen before in the area, but didn’t see a good ram in the group. After this we decided to walk to a water hole in the hills close to Kiserian which had not been hunted before. We saw some sign of game, but mostly Maasai and cattle had been using the area heavily. After this walk we decided to call it a day.
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12 September 2006
This morning we were loading the hunting vehicle with rifles and bags for the day’s hunt, when one of the gun bearers, who were standing on the top of the cruiser with a pair of binoculars glassing in the distance, said that he could see an oryx in the distance. He was looking at an opening through the trees which was about three kilometers away from camp. At first I didn’t believe him, as it was nearly impossible to distinguish the animal from the surrounding bush at that distance. 
I looked as well but couldn’t make out the animal as he had already gone into some trees by the time I found my binoculars. Not knowing whether or not to trust the gun bearer, I decided to give it a try and go and search in the area below camp where the animal was supposedly “seen.” Sure enough though, as we drove into the area, the trackers on the back of the car spotted the lone oryx about 400 yards away still grazing. Gib and I got out and stalked to within about 200 yards of the animal and after quick check with the binoculars to confirm it was a bull Gib shot the animal well taking a great trophy.
This afternoon we looked for lesser kudu, and saw three bulls but decided to pass them up.
13 September 2006
This morning we hunted lesser kudu and saw six different bulls but did not find the one that we were looking for. In the afternoon we drove down a sand river about an hour from camp where we had seen some big bulls the week before. There was a lot of activity from Maasai and cattle this afternoon in the river, and we didn’t see any kudu.
14 September 2006
This morning was a repeat of the previous days with us seeing a couple of kudu, but nothing that we wanted to shoot. We went out this afternoon determined to find a good bull and about an hour later the trackers spotted one from the car. It was about 250 yards away and ran as I slowed down to get a good look at it. Gib and I followed on foot and saw the bull standing in some brush looking at us about 100 yards away. Gib made a good shot and had a beautiful trophy lesser kudu.
15 September 2006
Today was our second to last day of hunting so we decided to head down to Lake Natron to find a wildebeest for Rita to shoot, along with a baboon and Thompson’s gazelle for Gib. It took us about seven hours to reach the lake because we drove slowly and stopped in Gelai village to buy spears and shields for Gib, Tom, and Rita to take home with them. We had a late lunch at our fly camp site and then proceeded to the west side of the lake to look for wildebeest. On our way there we saw some baboons. Gib couldn’t resist and had to shoot one.
We drove on to the lake shore, and found a herd of wildebeest resting in the shade of some lakeside bushes. When we initially tried to approach the herd the animals were very spooky and ran before we were able to get within range. We decided to walk together in a tight knot so that the animals wouldn’t recognize us as people. It worked, and we were able to get within 200 yards of the best bull in the herd. Rita made a perfect heart shot on the animal. We made it back to camp just before dark.
16 September 2006
Today we left the fly camp at about eight o’clock in the morning and headed back to the main camp at Kiserian. We saw a bachelor herd of Thompson’s gazelle in the open plain between Lengai and Kitumbeine mountains. Gib and I put on some Maasai blankets and stalked the herd to see if we could see a good ram in the group. There was one very nice ram, and after the herd spooked a couple of times, they calmed down enough where we were able to stalk within range and get a shot. Gib made another good shot to kill the animal. We drove back to the main camp in time to have a late lunch and relax. This was the final hunting day of what turned out to be a great safari.