Report by: PH John Greeff
Location: Selous Game Reserve - LU4
Date: 14 July 2006
Greetings from Luwego Camp, Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania.
I am a little behind in my journal and am now on day 9 of the safari on which I am guiding Dick Idol and his son Cody. They have had a really successful trip so far. When I met Dick and Cody at the airport, they stressed to me that on this hunt Cody really wanted to shoot a hippo, crocodile and buffalo.
Day 1
We went and sighted in one of the company’s new CZ .375 H&H’s. Cody shot pretty well on the target, seeing that he had not used a caliber larger than a .308 before. We then drove back down to the river to do a walk along the banks and see if we could spot any hippo and crocs. We had not walked for more than 15 minutes when we walked by a deep pool in the bend of the river. We had already gone by it by about 50 yards when I heard a small splash. I turned back in time to see a hippo’s nose disappearing back into the water. I motioned for everyone to sit and we waited. Approximately 10 minutes later a hippo cow surfaced, and then three more came up grunting, I said to Dick and Cody that we ought to give it a while longer as there may well be a bull around. Sure enough, after a few minutes, he came up for a breath, and then went back down. I turned to Cody and said that was the hippo he had come for because he was huge! We waited a while longer. Cody and I left everyone else behind so the hippo would keep watching them while we snuck around to a rocky outcrop above him. Maintaining our cover, we cautiously crawled forward. Using a backpack as a rifle rest I got Cody into a steady shooting position. Cody was going for the side brain shot. It took 45 minutes before the hippo bull presented Cody with a good shot. At the shot I saw water splash and saw the hippo surge forward and then sink. I felt the shot had possibly gone low. As we got to the edge of the river I could see blood pumping from the depths of the pool. Watching for five minutes, we were beginning to think all was well when the bull erupted out of the pool not ten yards from us, making a break to get into the main stream where there was deeper water. When he saw us, he turned towards us and I shouted for Cody to shoot again. Cody shot him again quartering towards us and I shot a .470- 500 grain solid into his shoulder as he turned and tried to get further down stream. Once more Cody shot him and he sank down for the last time. It was an unbelievably exciting first day and Cody got his hippo; the biggest hippo I’ve had a client shoot in more than 12 years as a professional hunter!
Day 2 & 3
We cut up Cody’s hippo and used it to bait crocodile. Jack and Leon took some for lion and leopard bait.
We built a walk- in blind so we could check the croc bait unseen, but over the first two days, we only saw small crocs.
Day 4
Once again we went before first light and got to the blind. When it got light, we could see five crocs that had fed all night, but were now in the water and all we could see were parts of their heads. One looked above average so we left to check the bait where Jack had shot his hippo. When we got there, the hyenas and vultures had finished all the meat rendering that bait no good to us, I said to the Idols we should go back to our first bait and maybe move it further out into the water so the crocs would feed more readily in the daytime when we were legally allowed to shoot.
We walked in to the blind but when we got there at 11:45AM, no crocs were around. I said we should move the bait and the blind into a different spot. I started to take the blind down. After a minute I heard Dick call me from a spot he had gone forward to. He had spotted a croc sunning itself down stream. One look and I told Cody we needed to get closer. This was a really good one! We stalked along the river bank and got to 60 yards. I told Cody to sneak forward a few more yards and lean on a fallen log. He got into position and shot the croc in the spine. It thrashed around some but could not move. Cody shot it two more times for insurance as we had to go into the river to retrieve it. It was a good croc and Cody was really happy, having taken two of his three main species in 4 days.
Day 5
We went on our first good scouting trip to find buffalo tracks. One group of about 40 had been at a water hole two days earlier but we did not find any fresh tracks to follow. It is still early in the season here and there is plenty of water and food so the animals are quite dispersed.
Day 6
Once again we did not find any fresh tracks in the morning. After our lunch in one of the dry river beds, we set off for the afternoon hunt. We soon came across a fresh buffalo track but he was heading for the boundary where we cold not follow. We had walked for about 30 minutes when I saw a Lichtenstein hartebeest feeding on a river bank 300 yards away. I looked through the binoculars and turned to Cody telling him it’s a good one and a bird in the hands better than none. We stalked to approx 120 yards and I set up the sticks. Cody shot off of them making a good shot. We followed the blood trail 100 yards and found him dead. He was a really good old bull.
Day 7
From the beginning, Cody has asked me what all the hype was about hunting buffalo. I said he would just have to wait and see. Well, he sure did! We walked towards a water point we knew well and watched a buffalo run off. While we were looking for this bull one of the trackers went back towards the truck and after awhile we heard Dick and the tracker calling us back to the vehicle. When we arrived they were real excited. The tracker had spooked another buffalo bull out of some thick brush and he had crossed the dry river bed in front of Dick. Dick said it looked like he was limping. We set off in the direction he had gone. I said to Cody to stay alert and ready as you never know what might happen. After about 500 yards we lost the track and decided to get into the dry river bed to look for tracks. We only got about 50 yards along the river bottom when one of the trackers shouted “mbogo! mbogo!” (buffalo! buffalo!).
I spun around to see a buffalo coming from 25 yards away at full charge on the river bank above us. I shouted to Cody to shoot and just then the bull reached the edge of the river bank. It was too steep for him and he turned and started to come down a small gully. Cody shot him quartering towards with a shot in the front shoulder using a .375- 300 grain soft point and he hardly slowed up. I quickly shot him with my .470-500 grain solid as well, dropping him 14 yards from us. Cody and I looked around and found we were the only ones left in the river bottom. Dick and the trackers had levitated out of there to the far river bank. We walked up and finished him off. We then looked at his horns and he truly was a great trophy.
Cody turned to me and said he now knew why it is so great to hunt buffalo!
Day 8
We spent the whole day chasing impala but did not get a shot.
Day 9
Today we once again were after impala and went after several groups, but seeing as they are at the bottom of the food chain they are real spooky. At 4:00 PM we caught a break and stalked a ram that had a great set of horns, guarding a small group of females. We managed to stalk him for a mile while he was chasing off some smaller bucks. We got to 60 yards from him and Cody made a good shot dropping him in his tracks. Cody now has a new respect for impala and a great trophy.
Day 10
We spent the whole day looking for zebra. We covered a lot of the hunting area and found some really awesome country, but still no luck on zebra. We did manage to find a really good duiker which Cody did a good shot on in the long grass when all we could see was a brown shape.
Day 11
The last day and once again we covered a lot of country. We headed off to an area we had seen a lot of zebra in. Once there, it did not take long to get onto a small group of five animals. At 120 yards we spotted the stallion and Cody took a shot. Once we got to where he was standing there was no blood and we followed them for 30 minutes but he was not wounded. As we started back to the truck, we saw a good warthog. We snuck up to him and got Cody on the sticks. All we could see was the top of his head. Cody shot him just above his eye killing him. He was a nice pig and Cody was happy as we had tried several times to shoot warthogs.
In the end both Dick and Cody Idol left the Selous hunting area having experienced a really good hunt and I am sure they will be back.