- Report by:
- PH Alistair James
- Client:
- Charlie Henderson
- Area:
- Rungwa Ikili and Lake Natron South
- Date:
- 02 August 2007 - 23 August 2007
Day 1
Today was the first day of our hunt. I wanted to dedicate the first few days to scouting the area for game movement. We hunted towards the south east of the area this morning. )
About a half an hour from camp I spotted a duiker from the vehicle. It ran about fifty meters and then stopped behind some brush. Charlie and I got out of the car and stalked to within twenty paces of the animal. Charlie took the opportunity and shot his first animal in Africa
We had continued on for about thirty minutes when we spotted a herd of buffalo. Charlie and I walked up and began to glass the herd. We spotted an old bull off about a hundred yards from the other animals. We walked up to within thirty yards of the animal, and Charlie was able to make a quartering towards shot on the animal. Charlie had killed his first buffalo ever on his very first morning hunting in Africa. We hunted and scouted the rest of the day along the southern border of the concession.
Day 2
Today we scouted along the Mpingo river which runs into the far eastern reaches of the hunting block. The river had a lot of river this year, but game movement remained relatively limited in the area. We saw a couple of warthogs including one very large one which unfortunately ran off just moments before Charlie was going to shoot. From the tracks we saw that there was some zebra movement and very limited kudu movement in the area. We didn’t see much sign of lion in this section, so decided to concentrate our hunting elsewhere during the remainder of the hunt.
Day 3
This morning we headed to the northwest of the area. We found a lot of game sign in the area, including a very good lion track. I prepared a couple of bait sights that we would return to when we had some meat. We hunted the rest of the morning finding more lion sign in the area. After lunch we headed over to the Ikili hills. We spotted a herd of sable which didn’t have a mature bull. Soon afterwards we spotted a herd of zebra. Charlie took a long shot and made a clean kill. We now had bait and skinned the zebra in the field and hung baits this evening at two spots I had picked out earlier in the day.
Day 4
Today we headed out to check on the baits that we had hung yesterday. There was no lion activity on the baits. We hunted that side of the concession and found a lot of recent sable and eland sign, but unfortunately didn’t actually see any of the animals.
Day 5
This morning we started out checking baits on the northwest of the area. Early on we saw a bachelor herd of buffalo. There weren’t any very old bulls in the group, so we followed for a while and then left them. )
The baits hadn’t been hit except for a small leopard. As we drove on, we spotted a large lion track a couple of kilometers from the last bait. I decided that the area must be baited. Another couple of kilometers ahead, we spotted a herd of hartebeest. Charlie shot a very big bull out of the group. We skinned and packed up the animal and headed back to where we had seen the lion track and put a bait there
In the afternoon we hunted towards Ikili hills. We spotted a large herd of buffalo and decided to follow. As we were paralleling the group trying to walk ahead, one of the trackers spotted a bull eland browsing in front of us in the miombo. As he was facing away and browsing, Charlie and I made an easy stalk to about 60 yards.
Day 6
Today we hunted and checked baits up towards the northwest of the area again in a place where I had seen a good male lion track. The lion had not fed on any of the baits. A leopard had fed quite well on one of the baits but unfortunately I couldn’t see its track in the sand anywhere to confirm its size. For this reason I hung a trail camera on the bait and decided to wait until tomorrow before sitting on the bait. I checked some more waterholes in the area and found the lone lion’s tracks from the previous night. I hung a fourth bait for the cat using a quarter of the eland from yesterday
The afternoon took us to Ikili Mountain. I scouted numerous seeps coming down from the side of the hills looking for some good lion and leopard tracks. I didn’t find anything too promising, but managed to bump a herd of buffalo along the way. Charlie and I spent about an hour glassing and approaching the herd a couple of times. We saw some nice buffalo, but nothing exceptional. The animals finally winded us and ran off. We headed back to camp.
Day 7
This morning found us checking baits again on the northwest corner. Discouragingly nothing fed. We continued hunting and passed up numerous zebra and Hartebeest determined to leave them for later in the hunt when we would be in need of some bait. We saw oribi, steenbuck, and klipspringer, but Charlie decided he did not want to shoot any of the smaller antelope
After lunch we headed to an area south of Ikili Mountain where there is usually some sable. We spotted a lone sable bull which subsequently ran off. After about 45 minutes of tracking, we came onto the bull browsing calmly in the miombo. Charlie and I moved up for a closer shot. Charlie was ready on the sticks, and squeezed off the shot but unfortunately the bull moved forward just a moment before the trigger was pulled. The shot was a missed and the sable ran off
On our way back to camp, we spotted a herd of buffalo. We glassed the group briefly in the fading light, but couldn’t find any mature bulls to shoot.
Day 8
Today we hunted along the southern boundary of the concession looking again for sable and later in the day some kudu. We saw a bachelor group of three sable bulls. One bull had a pitch black coat but still wasn’t a mature animal. We decided to pass him up. We saw a good kudu bull with a cow and tried to stalk up for a shot. The two animals ran off and we tracked them into the miombo. We came up on the pair a couple of times, but unfortunately couldn’t work our way into a clear enough shot for Charlie to take
We hunted along the Isawa river for the rest of the day. We saw a large herd of kudu cows and calves with one very large bull. Unfortunately again we weren’t able to get into position for Charlie to take a good shot.
Day 9
We checked our lion baits in the northwest of the concession again today. We found two different lioness feeding on two different baits. I moved more bait from other parts of the concession to replace the eaten meat as I was having difficulty shooting fresh bait. We also found what appeared to be a good leopard track on another bait. The cat had difficulty feeding on what was intended to be lion bait, so I switched the meat around and built a blind and planned to come back and sit the afternoon
The leopard came in early, about forty five minutes before dark. I looked at the leopard carefully and saw that it was a nice cat, but not the quality that Charlie was looking for. We watched the cat feed and rest underneath the bait until dark.
Day 10
Today we hunted again in the northwest corner of the concession. We checked baits but nothing eventful happened. A good leopard hit one of our baits in the south of the block. His track looked good, but he had trouble feeding properly on the meat. Grant, the camp manager, changed the meat around and built a blind for us incase the cat returned and fed properly.
Day 11
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Today was a good day. We started out early this morning determined to find buffalo. We headed for the Ikili Hills and found a herd on the north end of the valley that runs between the hills. We were maneuvering ourselves downwind of the herd when one of the trackers spotted a lone buffalo about 100 yards off to the side of the others. I knew that we had to take a look at this buffalo incase it was a shootable bull. A few minutes later we were within 30 yards of what turned out to be an old bull buffalo. Charlie took a rest on the shooting sticks and managed a good shot on the animal. The bull ran off, and we followed after about a ten minute wait. We came upon the bull after about 300 yards, still alive in a patch of grass. I set up the sticks and Charlie took two more shots to bring the buffalo down properly.
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After packing the buffalo into the hunting car, we headed down to the Isawa River where we had a leopard feeding on one of our baits. When we checked the bait, we found that the cat had fed very well the night before. I decided that we should sit on the bait and see if the cat would come in this afternoon. We entered the blind at about 4:30 and the leopard arrived at 6:00. After about a minute, the cat jumped up into the bait tree and Charlie was able to shoot him cleanly as he stood broadside on a branch next to the meat.
Day 12
We hunted the northwest corner of the block today checking baits in the area. There wasn’t any lion activity on the baits.
Day 13
Today again we hunted the same section and checked baits in the northwest of the block. Once again we were frustrated by no lion activity on the baits.
Day 14
Today we hunted around the eastern edge of the Ikili Hills. We crossed the tracks of a large herd of buffalo from early the previous night. We checked consecutive valleys along the side of the hills until we had a pretty good idea of where the herd would be. We got out of the car and tracked for about 15 minutes before we had the animals in sight. The wind next to the hills was difficult, and we did our best to move into the group, but never managed to get a good shot at one of the better bulls in the herd
We checked our two lion baits on the north end of Ikili. The first was untouched and the second had the same two lionesses from the previous day. We hunted the north west corner of the concession this evening to look for sable, but didn’t see any.
Day 15
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This morning we drove towards the Ikili Hills. We spotted an old bull sable on the way there. We stalked up to about 100 yards of the animal and Charlie managed to drop the animal with a well placed shot.
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We continued on to the valley aptly named buffalo basin in the hills, where we spotted a group of five old bull buffalo grazing in an open mbuga. Charlie and I made a slow stalk up to the animals and managed to get within 50 yards. I picked out what I believed to be the oldest animal in the group and Charlie made a perfect heart shot. The old bull ran maybe 80 yards before falling down and death bellowing. This afternoon I made five new lion baits in a last ditch effort before we change camps in two days.
Day 16
This morning we checked the line of baits that we hung yesterday afternoon. We found two lionesses on one of the baits and a pack of wild dog on another. As we approached the final bait, the sable from the previous day, I noticed immediately that the bait had been hit. We were able to see the cat as he jumped up from a bush nearby and trotted away. He lay down and hid in some more brush about sixty yards from the vehicle. I couldn’t see the cat very well, but he looked nice. We set up a blind and waited the afternoon, but unfortunately the lion came in too late for Charlie to see him in order to make a safe shot. We will try again tomorrow morning.
Day 17
This morning we were up at 3:30 and out of camp at 4:00 in order to drive to the lion bait from the previous evening and settle in before first light. I could hear a lion grunting in the dark and knew that they were close by, but could not see anything at the bait at first light. )
I glassed for about fifteen minutes not seeing anything, when two lions walked into view between the blind and the bait. I only saw them briefly before they both lay down in a patch of long grass. After about ten minutes, one of the pair stood up and started to walk towards the blind. The lion obviously saw something move inside, and trotted up to look and see. The lion continued to move up until he was no more than 4 feet from Charlie’s gun barrel. I had seen the cat well enough to judge him a shootable trophy. When I finally did tell Charlie to shoot, the cat was too close for him to see through the scope of the gun. The lion spooked at the confusion inside the blind, and jumped back to a distance of about five yards and then stood broadside. It was then that Charlie made a good shot, and quickly followed up with a second to put the lion on the ground. It was a fantastic lion and taken at close range.
We raced back to camp after taking some quick photos in order catch the charter flight which was due in at 10:00. We made it just in time and caught the plane up to Arusha. We had lunch in town and then drove to Kiserian camp. We drove around this afternoon and saw a good lesser kudu which unfortunately had a broken horn. We also saw some impala and female gerenuk.
Day 18
We hunted out of Kiserian camp today heading towards to southern side of Kitumbeine Mountain. We saw numerous Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle and gerenuk. )
We made our way around to the western edge by midday and started glassing for oryx in the Engaruka Basin. After about a half an hour I had spotted a lone bull about two kilometers away. Fortunately he was standing next to a ridge line in the plain. We drove around to the back of the ridge, and proceeded to stalk over to where we had seen him last. I spotted him and we then got down and crawled the last fifty meters or so to the edge of the ridge into good shooting position. It was about a hundred and twenty meter shot. The bull dropped at the shot. We hunted our way back east and arrived in camp just after dark.
Day 19
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This morning we hunted for lesser kudu around Kiserian camp for about an hour before driving across the concession towards Lake Natron where we planned to fly camp for the night. We didn’t see any kudu this morning probably due to the cold and overcast weather. We headed west, and at mid morning saw an old bull gerenuk. )
Charlie shot it and killed it cleanly.
We continued on and had lunch under some lone trees in the Engaruka plains. After lunch I was glassing and spotted a very good looking Grant’s gazelle in the distance. We stalked within shooting distance and shot what turned out to be an outstanding trophy.
In the afternoon we hunted towards the lake. On the west side of the lake we spotted a good Robert’s gazelle. Charlie made another good shot and took his third trophy for the day. We loaded the animal and drove north until we arrived in fly camp just after dark.
Day 20
Today we hunted from fly camp up towards the Kenya border. We saw plenty of zebra and grant’s gazelle. )
We saw a pair of Chandler’s mountain reedbuck on the side of the escarpment dropping down towards the lake. We attempted a long shot, but unfortunately missed the ram of the pair
We hunted some of the thorn scrub in the area looking for lesser kudu. We saw some sign but didn’t see any animals. Late afternoon we saw a group of impala. There was a nice ram in the bunch and Charlie was able to make a perfect one shot kill and take a great trophy.
Day 21
This morning we woke up at fly camp and checked the salt flats close to where we had slept. We spotted an old wildebeest bull on his own, and close to the edge of the brush. Using the brush as a cover we were able to get within 200 yards of the animal as he stood broadside. Charlie took a rest on the shooting sticks and made a one shot kill.
We skinned the animal and then started our trip back to the Kiserian side of the concession. We saw many grant’s gazelle, oryx, and zebra on our way. In the Engaruka basin we spotted some Thompson’s gazelle. )
Using the Maasai robes as a cover we walked within shooting range of the animals. Charlie shot a nice ram.
We were back in the Kiserian side of the concession by early afternoon. We decided to spend our time looking for lesser kudu. At about 4:30 we saw a bull that wasn’t quite old enough to warrant shooting. About a half an hour later, the gun bearers spotted another bull a couple of hundred yards from the road in a patch of brush. We got out and came up on the animal. Charlie shot, but unfortunately the bullet struck slightly to far forward to be fatal. We tracked the animal until dark, determined to come back tomorrow morning to see if we could find the bull dead.