Report by: PH John Greeff
Location: Lake Natron
Date: 23 July 2006
Day1
I flew from the Selous to Arusha, and then drove out to Lake Natron. I arrived on the evening of day 1.
I started to hunt the following morning with Jack Brittingham’s son Trevor and daughter Alex. Trevor had already been out with Jack and Leon the first day and had shot an ostrich and a nice Grants gazelle.
Day 2
Trevor was first up to shoot and Alex was set to film his hunt. I decided we should go look for wildebeest as Trevor had not shot one yet. We traveled for three hours to an area no one had been in and found a large group of 60 animals. We put on shukas (these are like small blankets 5’x 5’ and are bright colors in red and blue). This area is a lot different from the Selous as it is really dry and open country. We then walked at an angle towards the herd and got to 120 yards before they got up. They did not appear to be too nervous.
We set up the sticks and I looked through the binoculars until I saw this huge bull stand up. I told Trevor as soon as he clears away from the others, we need to shoot him. A minute later he stepped out and Trevor shot. The entire herd ran and the big bull tried to keep up but after 70 yards he stopped and then went down. Trevor had made a good shot and got a really great trophy. Later that day Trevor shot a nice Thomson’s gazelle on the way back to camp.
Day 3
We went for impala and found a group feeding on the hillside. We put on our shukas and stalked to 140 yards. I got Trevor to lean on a forked tree and we waited for the big ram to feed up the hill a little. Once he stepped out Trevor shot and he fell straight down, but then got up and took off down the hill. We followed and got two more running shots at him. Even though we searched the area for four hours we never got to find him. Trevor was disappointed. I told him we will be hunting in the area again and the vultures may lead us to him.
Day 4
We left camp earlier than usual because we had been seeing a really big lesser kudu. We went down a riverbed and spotted him. He saw us and ran off. We followed and got lucky as Trevor spotted him on a small rise. I got Trevor onto the sticks and he made a really good shot. Trevor was very excited as we followed this really big blood trail and found his lesser kudu after 50 yards. He was a great bull with nice ivory tips.
Alex was now able to hunt so we carried on and made a stalk on a really big Grant’s gazelle. Alex made a good shot from 80 yards and the Grant’s ran 60 yards and collapsed. She was really happy as this was her first East African species and it has been the biggest shot out of our whole group. Later we were able to stalk a wildebeest which Alex shot once and shot again while running. She did extremely well on the running shot and the wildebeest was just a bit smaller than Trevor’s.
Day 5
All we got to shoot was a jackal that Trevor had seen after a failed attempt to shoot a steenbok.
Day 6
It’s now lunch time and I’m finishing off my report. This morning we tried to shoot an ostrich. After many tries we gave up as they just would not let us get near enough. After the final stalk we got lucky on the way back to the truck. Trevor spotted a huge steenbok feeding.
We snuck up to 60 yards and could just see the top half of him. Trevor shot off the sticks but the shot went high. The steenbok just stood there. Trevor reloaded quickly and shot again. This time he got him. We walked up and it was the biggest steenbok I’ve shot with a client in 12 years of hunting. Trevor was really happy.
Be sure to check in as we have two more days in Maasailand and then Trevor, Alex and I go down to the Selous. We are going to be hunting buffalo, leopard, hippo and crocodile along with other plains game.
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