July 2006 Selous Newsletter

As the sunrises over the Luwego River and I sit staring at the waterbuck with a hot cup of coffee I realise how blessed we truly are.  Our camp this year is situated right on the Luwego River in the Selous game reserve in a block called LU3. Set up in the traditional east African tented style with no modern distractions you get to appreciate just how awesome Africa really is. At night you fall asleep with the sound of lions roaring and hyenas scavenging around your tents.

All our tents are en suite with hot showers to come home to at the end of a hard days’ hunt. With a full bar you can sit and relax whilst taking in the beauty that surrounds you.

      

First Hunt:

Viateur Dube, Roger Berube and Normand Berube were our first three hunters this year with Timothy Frechette accompanying them as their observer. Their 21-day safari started on 3rd July. With the rains ending so late the grass was unbelievably long and so hunting was very dangerous. But I’m happy to say that the hunt went amazingly well with them getting five out of the six cats.

Normand Berube:

Normand hunted with Con van Wyk and had a great hunt. Shooting 10 animals and some great trophies. Normand got both his cats with the leopard being a great trophy. The lion he shot was one of Tanzania’s maneless lion but nice and big anyway.

On the second last day they had a go at a monster elephant but after 1 and ½ days of tracking it finally eluded them. Normand was the only one successful in shooting a buffalo and a zebra on his hunt. The other trophies he shot were a great waterbuck, a hippo, a hyena, a baboon and an impala.

Roger Berube:

Roger hunted with John Martin Venter and went home with the most number of trophies. There was great rivalry in camp between the three hunters and the friendly banter added a great atmosphere. Roger also went home with both his cats as well as numerous other trophies including a hyena, a hippo, waterbuck, a hartebeest, a wildebeest and .two impala. He had the hardest time sleeping as his tent was the last in line and so heard the most animals roaming around outside.

 

 

Viateur and Timothy:

Viateur brought a cameraman, Timothy, along as an observer and they both accompanied their professional hunter Geoff Wainright. Although Viateur did not get the most trophies he did however get some of the biggest. I believe his hyena and Hippo bought a huge smile to his face. His leopard was also an awesome hunt as it was shot in daylight and so they managed to capture it all on film. He also went home with an impala and a baboon.

 

Overall the hunt went great with us obtaining twenty-four trophies in total and some great experiences to talk about for years to come.

 

Pictures

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the moment Con van wyk is finishing off an awesome hunt with the Tempest family. A family of eight came with four hunter and four observers. Keep posted for that newsletter.

 

 

Till then

Terri van wyk

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August Newsletter

Wow… is the only way I can describe this month. I know that whenever I will think back on August 2006 there is no way I can stop the smile from forming on my lips. I know I can never even try and capture the atmosphere of this safari with a newsletter but I will try my best anyway.

Our clients this month were the Tempest Family. Richard was on a 21-day hunt with his 3 Sons, David, Michael and Robert doing 3 consecutive 7 day hunts. His other son Matt and daughter Lynne came as observers as well as Steve, Lynne’s Husband, and Liz, Bob’s wife. Richard, David and Lynne were the first to arrive on the 2nd with everyone else arriving on the 10th.

Dave, Steve, Lynne, Rich, Mike, Liz and Bob

Richard

2nd August - The 9.55pm KLM flight has landed and I am waiting outside Dar es Salaam airport for my three clients to arrive, Richard Tempest and his son and daughter, David and Lynne. Through the glass windows I can see them but they don’t seem too happy. I later find out that KLM has sent Richard’s gun case to Germany. So after a lot of arguing with the airport staff (who have managed to “misplace” their tag with the only number we can trace the case with) and a whole lot of “NO Problem” from my guy in the inside, we’re off to the Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel. The hotel really is great, rooms are awesome, food is awesome (especially the restaurant Oriental), everything is awesome BUT… heard later that they took Richard’s credit card number and went on a spending spree so if anyone is staying there in the future please do watch out for this or pay in cash.

The next day we catch the charter into camp. Richard was hunting with Con van Wyk, with whom he had hunted previously in Zimbabwe in 1997 with his 2 sons. KLM was really amazing about sorting out the problems with the guns, they found out where the gun case was and chartered a plane into camp the next day.

Richard managed to bag the first trophy, and what a trophy it was. I can’t wait to see where it will score in SCI. After a few days of watching a hippo pod he selected the hippo he wanted and it was a great choice, with a PERFECT shot between the eyes it was all over, except we now had the problem of getting the hippo out the water. It was quite nerve racking as none of the other hippo’s would leave their herd bull so Con and Simba (a tracker) went in after it, screaming and hitting the water whilst Richard shot off to the side to try and scare them off. They took off out the water only to come back about 30 seconds later. Giving up on chasing them away, Con and the rest of the trackers took to the water to tie the cable around the hippo to try and haul it back to the bank. Lynne was great, taking her shoes off and getting in there and helping out. Rich was the look out for crocs. After about 3 hours and a lot of hard work (especially for the cruiser) they managed to start skinning it.

Cruiser Pulling the hippo

Lynne and Rich

Rich and Con with the Hippo

Rich With the Hippo tusks

Rich also shot a huge hyena and 2 great buffalo. The first Buffalo was out in the open; Liz was still trying to have a good look at them with her bino's when Rich shot his dugga boy. The second was quite another story with the wounded the buffalo charging in the long grass. I could try and recount the story of the charge that we later heard around the campfire but, I would fail in capturing the moment. Just to see their expressions whilst telling the story, you felt like you were right there with them. I can say that Con was very impressed with everyone involved, especially, Rich who stood shoulder to shoulder with him and waited for the buffalo to emerge to take the shot. Con said it sounded like one shot when they both shot at exactly the same time to bring the buffalo down. Matt and Lynne were along for the hunt and were great cause even when the game scout (one of the guys with a gun) ran as fast as he could out of there, they were still there holding their ground. Matt was the other guy with a gun but had the unfortunate decision of whether to take the shot or not as the buffalo was between him and everyone else. So there was a huge chance of hitting someone, but luckily Rich and Con dropped the buffalo.

Rich and Con with Rich’s Hyena

Rich and Con with Rich’s 1st Buffalo

The whole gang with Rich’s 2nd Buffalo

Dave, Mike and Bob:

David was the first 7-day hunt with Geoff Wainwright and then was to stay on as an observer for a further 7 days. Unfortunately then Geoff Wainwright fell ill. Luckily we had Jason Davies in the camp and so he took over the hunt. Geoff stayed in camp to see if he could try and recuperate but did not get any better so he had to fly out with the charter that flew the rest of the family in

All three came for Buffalo and all went home happy. Dave Shot his first buffalo in the long grass with a perfect shot through the heart and lungs and what a beauty it was. The surrounding area was so thick that they spent hours trying to cut a road so they could the cruiser close enough to load the buffalo. Dave couldn’t let his dad be the only one to have a buffalo charge; his second buffalo was also a nail biting experience once again in the long grass. Everyone came away from the charge unscathed and with huge smiles on their faces from the adrenalin. Dave also went home with a nice impala trophy.

Mike was the second 7-day hunt and Jason Davies was his PH. With the rains being so late this year, hunting was hard as the area was extremely dense with a lot of hiding places for the animals. He managed to get a great Wildebeest trophy as well as an awesome Buffalo. The buffalo is just a great story as he shot it 15 minutes before sundown on his last day. Luckily it was a great shot, the buffalo took off but after a few minutes they found it again. It took a few more shots to make 100% sure it wouldn’t get up again and it was just a great finish to the hunt.

Bob Decided to do a 2 on 1 with his dad and so hunted with Con van Wyk. Con was really impressed with Bob when Bob had a perfect shot at a Zebra but passed as it was too beautiful to shoot and took a picture instead. He did get a great buffalo trophy to go home with though.

Dave and Jason with Dave’s 1st buffalo

Bob and Con with Bob’s Buffalo

Con, Terri, Steve, Lynne, Mike, Rich, Dave, Liz, Bob, Jason and Matt
Mike’s Buffalo is the one in the front.

Overall this was just a great hunt. Everyone walked away from his trip with great experiences and some great friendships. I can’t wait for next safari with the Tempests.