Asante Sana Tanzania

[japantiger 4,051]

A few highlights of hunting in The Selous in Tanzania.

--Camp sunrise over Lake Utenge

-- an ancient Dagaboy, over 15 years old. Very battle scared boss and declining body

--the hippo came out of the water after us...25 yds. When it was over, my heart rate must have been 1000. He had more scars and holes in his body than on any living animal I'd ever seen. Those old bulls live a hard life.

-- Nyssa wildebest. They are the most striking of the wildebest varieties

-- thorn caMe out of our tire..we had loaded another Buffalo on the vehicle drove about 10 feet and flat...

-- this girl was on one of the baits in the late afternoon asleep.  Watched her for 5 minutes from ~10 yds getting into shot position and when she finally awoke and stood, no balls...no shot

-- these two were waiting on me to get off the truck when we stopped to check a bait...you might need to zoom to see them

-- the Teetsie pot. Burn elephant dung and the smoke keeps away the teetsies. You just have to set in the smoke.   Very effective. Without it, well, the last day my back looked like I had checked pox all over it.

The Selous is wild country; no permanent settlements there....8 different leopards in my sights and no shooters, 3 females and 5 males too young.  

[japantiger 4,051]

 

This old hippo was scarred all over.  Here is the wound that was in his left hip.  He'd obviously had a run in with another big male recently.  The wound(s) was open but mostly healed.  The tusks are razor sharp; the upper and lower tusks pass over each other and continuously sharpen them.  Fish in the ponds and lakes clean wounds on the hippos.  Otherwise this would turn gangrenous.  Mother nature is an amazing thing.  

Edited July 28, 2021 by japantiger

[LKEEL75 2,566]

@japantiger Did you eat any of this?  Just wondering how it was.

[japantiger 4,051]

Ate wildebest, zebra and impala. Everything gets eaten by the hunting team and local anti poaching team. 

[Tigermike 3,027]

1 hour ago, japantiger said:

Ate wildebest, zebra and impala

Which was the best?

[japantiger 4,051]

You couldn't tell the difference between a wildebest steak and a Texas filet.  Wildebest tail soup is also very popular and good.  But, I like it all; Zebra is very good as well.  All these meats are generally very lean like most game meats you'll be familiar with.

[japantiger 4,051]

Stayed in Zanzibar on the front end to get time zone adjusted and something more tailored toward my wife..have the best and most adventurous wife in the world. Star photo is Southern Cross and pointers..

[japantiger 4,051]

One last post ... on the most unusual happening of the whole hunt.

We were coming back into camp late in the hunt about 30 minutes before dark. We were about 15 km from camp and we see a guy walking up the trail by himself. His clothes were pretty tattered, barefoot and he had a water bottle with him; the water looked like it was filled from a mud puddle. He was uncommunicative...looked completely out of it. He was under 20 years old...more likely about 16.

The TWMA warden (Simon) got out and took control of the situation. He tried to question the young man; but couldn't really get anything out of him. Searched him; had nothing on him other than that water bottle. Put him in the back of the truck, got water in him and he started to look less dazed. But he never really showed an awareness of how perilous his situation was. We took him back into camp with us and the TWMA got a vehicle out before 10 pm and took him the the main Selous station and out of the wilderness.

As we drove back toward camp we could track him (human footprints stick out in the sandy soil) and see where he had joined the trail we were on. The closest settlement that direction was about 70 km away. The night before, just a little later, a female leopard was trotting in the trail in front of us for about 500 yds and then disappeared into the tall grass. Hyena tracks were everywhere. Lion tracks crossed the trail every few miles. We'd seen African Wild Dogs about 2 miles from where we ran into him...they're the most successful predator in Africa.

If he had covered that much distance that day; it would have been one hell of an effort. I don't see how in his condition. It's likely he'd spent at least a night in the Selous on his own; maybe more. But given where he was then and what was active in that area, I don't see how he could have survived that night. Never found out a disposition on him...just that he was with the TWMA and they were trying to find out where he was from and his family.