Report by: PH Peter Barnard
Location: Selous
Date: 21 September 2006
Client : Tom Bulloch
Day 1, Thursday 14 September 2006
Safari objective………. To Hunt the elusive East African greater suni, last believed to be seen during the Rhinderpest…………Result still not seen.
Day 2, Friday 15 September 2006
Still looking for suni, we scouted some thick patches of bush around the Selous block MA1 or more commonly known as Madaba block. Found some red duiker droppings but no suni. Chased a few wildebeest around and also located a large herd of buffalo but with no bulls we were happy with shooting. Also went after hippo and found and located a bull in a small pan. We coaxed him out of the pan, and for a while were not sure if he was going to come for us or go the other way. He was too small to shoot, so we backed off quickly and let him go back to his pool.
Day 3, Saturday 16 September 2006
Tom Bulloch writing: Hippo hunting is supposed to be boring. Not so in the Selous. Whoever named the “Big Five” was mistaken, for stalking hippo in tiny pools, close enough you can touch them, surely qualifies as one of the most dangerous and exhilarating hunts I have enjoyed. I expected hippo hunting to be find, shoot, take pictures. Instead, it involved every bit as much adrenaline as any mbogo or chui. Glad I did it! After stalking several pools, finding a few small bulls and cows, we ran into a good bull that first erupted from a pool and ran several hundred yards; we tracked it and got a good shot. Beautiful big teeth, great trophy taken in classic African style.
Day 4, Sunday 17 September 2006
Peter Barnard writing: We woke up at 5 AM to go into our blind where we had set up a bait yesterday for hyena and hopefully some small cats feeding. As we walked into our blind, there was a large hyena feeding, so Tom took him with a good shot, and he went straight down. For the rest of the day we tracked some buffalo but didn’t see any bulls in the herd that we could shot. Also chased a few herds of wildebeest, but they are pretty smart. Decided to give the suni a rest today, but did see a greater duiker going at Mach 2 through the woods!
Day 5, Monday 18 September 2006
We woke up early again to go into our blind. When we got there we saw two large hyenas, but decided not to shoot them, as we’re hoping to see some small cats. Instead, a large lioness rocked up on the scene. We watched her for a while then called the vehicle in, so we could replenish the bait. On closer observation, we saw that a female leopard had also been feeding on the bait during the night. Tracked a herd of buffalo, but were only females and calves so we let them be. In the evening we went back into our blind, but nothing came to the bait, so will try it again in the morning.
Day 6, Tuesday 19 September 2006
We decided to hit the blind again on the off chance of catching a civet cat on our bait. It was no surprise to see our lioness lying in the sand ten yards from the bait, and a huge hyena jumping up at the bait in front of the lioness, who naturally was full, so was not too interested in the acrobatic hyena. We decided to help the lioness out, and Tom took another hyena. Loaded it up and took it back to camp, and went off looking for buffalo and wildebeest. Saw a few tracks of buffalo herds, but have decided to leave the herds alone and follow bulls only. Around 2PM we saw a herd of wildebeest in the distance, and put a stalk on them. A mile later we caught up with them and found a nice bull, but unfortunately Tom wounded him. We tracked him for four hours, but in the end a herd of buffalo had crossed over his tracks in the grass and we lost his tracks. Pretty sure we would have caught up with him tomorrow if it was not for the buffalo. C’est la via.
Day 7, Wednesday 20 September 2006
Every day is a hunting day, but not every day is a shooting day in Africa. Today was one of those. We chased some of those wild wildebeest around, hence their name, but all in vain. Decided to head down to the Rufiji River and see if there were any flat dogs on our bait in the river. Had a few mobile hand bags feeding, but nothing worth our total attention. So then after a snooze at the camp, went for a walk in the thick riverine forest to look for bushbuck. While we were walking, we bumped two bush pig that went thundering through the bush. We tried to pursue them, and bumped them twice more, but visibility was only about eight yards, so it was worth the try, but turned out to be fruitless. Had a slow drive back to camp, and saw lots of hartebeest and a herd of Roosevelt sable on the way back to camp.
Day 8, Thursday 21 September 2006
Decided to go back to our bait, in the hope of catching a civet cat on it, or if it snowed maybe a suni walking past to wonder what a civet was doing messing with a lioness and a whole bunch of hyena’s. Civets here must be huge. Anyway, we saw nothing on the bait, so headed towards U3 to look for wildebeest. 
We came across four buffalo bull tracks, and started following them, but the wind was bad from the start, and an hour and a half later, saw where the buffalo had winded us and ran…way before we were anywhere near them. So we left them, and went after wildebeest. We found a group of bulls, and Tom shot a fine Niasa wildebeest. Going to the U3 camp, we caught a glimpse of a huge lion running like Errol Flynn from some mad husband. We did a huge drag with the gut pile from the wildebeest, and hung up the carcass for the lion in the hope that he may be back in the area and we get a better look at him in the morning.