- Report by:
- PH John Greeff
- Clients:
- Jack Brittingham / Amy Martin
- Area:
- MA1, Madaba Camp
- Date:
- 07 July 2007 - 13 July 2007
7 July
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Flew to Dar on the 6th, then met Jack, Alistair, and Amy at the Tanzanair charter on the 7th. It was a good flight to Madaba, and the camp managers and staff met us on the newly graded airstrip with one of the new double cab safari landcruisers. Amy said that this is the car we will hunt out of as it is air conditioned and fits four people comfortably, rides smooth, and most importantly keeps the tsetse flies outside!
We went out in the afternoon and saw a bushbuck feeding high up on an anthill.
8th July
We left camp early and went looking for buffalo. We walked an area where I’d had a lot of success last year and saw some good numbers of game but no buffalo. We stalked a really nice impala for Amy, but he just would not stand still and kept moving behind the females.
This afternoon we found some fresh buffalo sign of a herd of buffalo, so followed them for about 2 hours and caught up with them. They had not come out of the riverine brush and even though we could see them at 35 yards we could not see a bull clearly. The swirling evening winds drifted down the gully and they winded us and ran off. By this time it was 6pm so we left the area with plans to follow again tomorrow.
9th July
This morning we got onto the buffalo tracks again after checking the road ahead to be sure they had not crossed. We tracked them for 4 hours and finally caught them, so Jack got his bow ready. However they had already lain up and as we approached, some cows we could not see behind some thick brush spotted us and ran through a burnt area, without stopping in the open. We followed a bit more but they crossed our boundary, so we began the long trek back. I called ahead to Saidy (our driver) on the satellite phone and he had lunch ready for us in a nice shady spot by the time we arrived back at the truck.
This afternoon after a good siesta we followed some wildebeest and impala but had no luck on either one.
10th July
This morning we decided to climb Nandanga Mountain, our one really big plateau-type mountain in the area, and probably the biggest in all of the Selous. After an hour’s drive we reached the base and climbed up by following well-worn elephant and buffalo trails. None of us in the group had been in this part of the concession, and we were amazed at the spectacular views from the ridge leading to the top of the mountain. Partway to the top we bumped into elephant at 27 yards in the dense forest, and also saw some buffalo tracks and a lot of small antelope sign. We got excited about there possibly being a good population of suni and red duiker in the forest and we were not disappointed when we started to find middens (piles of suni/duiker dung). We did some calling with a mouth call and had 4 different suni and 2 duiker come to the call as we walked about the top of just a very small section of Nandanga. These little animals are very quick, and every time Jack tried to shoot one with the bow they moved off without giving us a shot. We kept moving and calling as we walked quite a good way through the forest. )
At another promising spot we set up facing a good clearing with very little brush and tried calling again. This time a really good suni male came in to 12 yards, and presented Jack a good shot through the heart. The suni ran in a short circle about 20 yards before crashing into the brush dead. He was a really good mature male and we were all elated, as we had now had our first suni shot in the Selous in our concession.
Around 3pm we reached the vehicle at the base of Nandanga and had lunch. On the way back to camp we spotted a lot of impala and wildebeest, but did not get a chance at any.
11th July
This morning we left camp looking for buffalo and we had not gone 10 minutes when the guys spotted a dugga boy. Jack got his bow and we set off after him; he had heard the truck and moved off. As it was only Jack, Amy and myself, I picked up his spoor and tracked him until he crossed a dry riverbed. As we got to the far bank and climbed up I could see his track going to the left, but when we started to move forward Jack spotted him on the right about 40 yards away looking at us from under a bush. He had circled around to watch his back trail. There was a tense moment of him staring us down, then he turned and ran off. He was a good bull, but since he was onto us we decided to continue looking for other buffalo.
We’d only driven another 20 minutes when we bumped a really old bull with a worn right horn. Jack said he would like to try to take him with the bow. He had only run about 100 yards and gone into a thicket. We got to 40 yards before spotting him, and had to sit and wait for him to move off so we could make a play. After 15 minutes he left the bush and moved into a burnt area. We made a short stalk on him and then Jack did the final approach to 40 yards, with Amy behind him running camera. Jack took a shot that looked really good, and the bull jumped and spun in a half circle, stopping to look around for whatever had just “bitten” him. He then walked off slowly over a small hill with the arrow still showing in his side. We waited a good 20 minutes, then went and looked at the blood. He had only moved a few yards before starting to bleed really well, so we gave him another twenty minutes and Jack swapped his bow for his .470 double, just as a precaution in the thick grass. We followed the good blood trail for the rest of the morning; the bull kept stopping and he lay down once but we figured the arrow must have kept him moving because we never caught sight of him again. We went through some really unfriendly country, but eventually the blood trail ran out and we lost his track in a really grassy valley. We walked the area searching for blood and had no luck so we had to leave him, but will look for vultures in the next few days as we are certain the bull will not last the night. In the area we left him we had seen some lion tracks so maybe they will find him. Jack was very disappointed, but that’s hunting!
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We then had a message that Barron and Alistair had a good lion feeding in u3, our other area adjoining this MA1 concession. Jack went to join him, so Amy and I went in search of impala or wildebeest. We left the camp and had just gotten out of the 1km no-hunting “buffer zone” around camp when the trackers spotted 2 impala rams feeding farther up the road. Amy and I got off the truck and had the guys back the truck out and leave us. After a short stalk, we got to about 120 yards away, and the rams crossed the road. The big ram stopped just at the far edge of the road, presenting Amy with a shot when he turned to start walking again. She dropped him in his tracks. Amy was really happy as it is her first impala and a good mature ram with very wide horns.
12th July
This morning we drove for 4 hours and did not pick up any buffalo sign, but saw a few impala and small hartebeest. We went back to camp to have lunch and meet up with client and photographer Denver Bryan who had just arrived by charter. The plan is for him to spend a few days with us observing our hunt before starting his own.
After lunch we decided to go to a hippo spot that we had seen a lot of hippo at last year to see if Jack could get a good bull with his bow.
We walked into the area, which is only about 800 yards from the road. As we approached Jack and I went off downstream because the hippos normally run down the river. The trackers went on top of the rocks near the pool. Jack, Amy, Denver, and I had hardly got onto the edge of the “karongo” when a hippo cow came running past followed by a really big bull. As the bull slowed down to climb out the karongo Jack shot him with a well placed arrow at about 12 yards. Unfortunately the arrow did not penetrate as good as hoped and the bull went up the side of the karongo. When he leveled out on top Jack shot him again, but with the wrong broadhead arrow and it just bounced off the bull’s thick, tough hide. The bull started to run off through some brush and Jack shouted for me to put a shot into him with my double rifle. I got two shots into him as he disappeared into the thicket at 50 yards.
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We then got Jacks double and followed his blood trail back towards the karongo. The brush in there was really thick so I told Jack I though it would be best if we stayed out on top of the bank and try to spot him in the bottom. After about 80 yards Jack saw him standing in the thick stuff on the edge of the karongo where he had come up out of the bottom and turned around watching his back trail. We were about 15 yards away; Jack shot him twice and the bull went back down into the karongo, heading toward the water again. We ran along the karongo and got ahead of the bull. When he stopped in the bottom, Jack finished him with a great brain shot. It was a very exciting hunt and his tusks were quite big. Jack was happy with his new .470 double rifle and the fact that it performed well under a good test.
13th July
We left this morning looking for buffalo, but also for a good lion baiting site. We brought with us a half of one of Barron’s buffalo that he had shot yesterday.
We drove a good way before finding a great spot to hang the lion bait. We also set up one of the Cuddeback automatic cameras to catch the action, as we do not plan on checking the bait again for a few days. After that we drove to the Rufiji River and had lunch while the hippo and baboons called in the background.
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This afternoon we stalked some wildebeest for Amy, but there was no good bull in the group of 15. We saw 4 herds of zebra as well, but after traveling 130 km we were all tired of the truck.
Tomorrow we plan on walking over the Nandanga mountain range and out to the nearest road 11km away. We are looking forward to going through country no one has been in for many, many years.