Scott CWO
AH legend
Planning
Several years ago, I booked a lion hunt in Zimbabwe in the Save Valley Conservancy after hunting plains game there in 2012 but due to past USFWS lion import issues and other safaris getting in the way, I have not made it there for lion, yet. In the meantime, I have done several other safaris including a great trip to Massailand in Tanzania for the unique endemic plains game species found there. Even though I really enjoyed all my trips to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia, I really liked Tanzania, as did my wife. After our hunt in Massailand in 2017, we toured Serengeti National Park. Seeing a few big black-maned lions in the Serengeti really got my blood boiling for a nice lion! The thousands of wildebeest, topi, Thomson’s gazelle and Robert’s gazelle were fun to see as well.
I began thinking that perhaps I should do a lion safari in Tanzania that would also allow me to hunt for more of the unique endemic plains game species found in Tanzania - species such as Thomson’s gazelle, Robert’s gazelle, Eastern white-bearded wildebeest and topi. The giant East African impala also intrigued me. Admittedly, I love hunting most of the different plains game species found in Africa, although I’m not that intrigued by the Tiny 10. I just like what I like and am not a collector of one of everything.
I had heard of good lions coming from the Maswa North Game Reserve that borders Serengeti National Park from some friends and clients that hunted there with Mike Fell and Bushman Safari Trackers Ltd. I spoke with Mike and became more intrigued. Maswa North is also known for large leopards and big elephants. It’s a special place where big lions, big leopards and big elephants all converge. Mike’s clients have taken huge 180+ pound leopards as well as 100+ pound elephants the past few years. The lion quota is two per year and success is high.
While guiding a client/friend, Jim, on a successful hunt for a big brown bear in Alaska in May of 2021, I shared my desire to hunt Maswa North. Jim has hunted with me a couple times in Colorado and he is a renowned international fisherman, holding a few line class world records. He is a very successful real estate investor but hadn’t done very much international hunting, until recently. I played a significant part in changing that! I have convinced him to start spending some more money before he’s too old to enjoy it and I’ve since helped him book hunts for brown bear, polar bear, Zimbabwe for leopard and Cameroon for bongo. I shared details of the safaris available in Maswa North with him during our bear hunt in Alaska and he became very interested.
I was already booked for elephant in Botswana in 2021 so I mentioned that if he wanted to go to Tanzania in 2023 with me and split a full bag, that he could hunt the elephant (if I was successful in Botswana) and I would hunt the lion and leopard. We would both hunt buffalo and plains game as well. Jim had a leopard hunt booked in Zimbabwe in 2022 but didn’t connect so I later agreed to let him also hunt the leopard in Tanzania. I wanted him to get a leopard and I already have a leopard from Mozambique.
Not long after the brown bear hunt in May of 2021 in Alaska, we came to an agreement about splitting the price of the full bag hunt and a second license in Tanzania so that we could hunt together. We contacted Mike Fell and booked for early November 2023 during the wildebeest and zebra migration through Maswa North. The migration normally runs October through late December and although Maswa North has a healthy population of resident lions, more lions show up during the migration.
My wife, Wendy, and Jim’s wife, Cindy, also decided to go for the first fourteen days of the twenty-one day safari. Jim and I were to stay for the entire twenty-one days.
The Area
Maswa North GR is outlined in red on the pictured map. Serengeti NP is to the east. Maswa is approximately 1,000 square kilometers in size and gets narrower in the northern part of the reserve. The terrain is best described as acacia woodlands with some open savannas mixed in with a few rivers here and there. It is not far from Lake Victoria. The short rains usually start in late November but it can rain about anytime, partially due to the proximity of Lake Victoria. It is a fairly wet area when compared to many other areas in Eastern and Southern Africa.
The comfortable camp is located on the eastern side and adjacent to the Duma River and Mamarene River. Being a game reserve, settlements are not allowed but the occasional poacher is caught and cattle herders illegally graze their cattle along the western boundary of the reserve at times. Game reserves function as an important buffer between communities/settlers and national parks.
Several years ago, I booked a lion hunt in Zimbabwe in the Save Valley Conservancy after hunting plains game there in 2012 but due to past USFWS lion import issues and other safaris getting in the way, I have not made it there for lion, yet. In the meantime, I have done several other safaris including a great trip to Massailand in Tanzania for the unique endemic plains game species found there. Even though I really enjoyed all my trips to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia, I really liked Tanzania, as did my wife. After our hunt in Massailand in 2017, we toured Serengeti National Park. Seeing a few big black-maned lions in the Serengeti really got my blood boiling for a nice lion! The thousands of wildebeest, topi, Thomson’s gazelle and Robert’s gazelle were fun to see as well.
I began thinking that perhaps I should do a lion safari in Tanzania that would also allow me to hunt for more of the unique endemic plains game species found in Tanzania - species such as Thomson’s gazelle, Robert’s gazelle, Eastern white-bearded wildebeest and topi. The giant East African impala also intrigued me. Admittedly, I love hunting most of the different plains game species found in Africa, although I’m not that intrigued by the Tiny 10. I just like what I like and am not a collector of one of everything.
I had heard of good lions coming from the Maswa North Game Reserve that borders Serengeti National Park from some friends and clients that hunted there with Mike Fell and Bushman Safari Trackers Ltd. I spoke with Mike and became more intrigued. Maswa North is also known for large leopards and big elephants. It’s a special place where big lions, big leopards and big elephants all converge. Mike’s clients have taken huge 180+ pound leopards as well as 100+ pound elephants the past few years. The lion quota is two per year and success is high.
While guiding a client/friend, Jim, on a successful hunt for a big brown bear in Alaska in May of 2021, I shared my desire to hunt Maswa North. Jim has hunted with me a couple times in Colorado and he is a renowned international fisherman, holding a few line class world records. He is a very successful real estate investor but hadn’t done very much international hunting, until recently. I played a significant part in changing that! I have convinced him to start spending some more money before he’s too old to enjoy it and I’ve since helped him book hunts for brown bear, polar bear, Zimbabwe for leopard and Cameroon for bongo. I shared details of the safaris available in Maswa North with him during our bear hunt in Alaska and he became very interested.
I was already booked for elephant in Botswana in 2021 so I mentioned that if he wanted to go to Tanzania in 2023 with me and split a full bag, that he could hunt the elephant (if I was successful in Botswana) and I would hunt the lion and leopard. We would both hunt buffalo and plains game as well. Jim had a leopard hunt booked in Zimbabwe in 2022 but didn’t connect so I later agreed to let him also hunt the leopard in Tanzania. I wanted him to get a leopard and I already have a leopard from Mozambique.
Not long after the brown bear hunt in May of 2021 in Alaska, we came to an agreement about splitting the price of the full bag hunt and a second license in Tanzania so that we could hunt together. We contacted Mike Fell and booked for early November 2023 during the wildebeest and zebra migration through Maswa North. The migration normally runs October through late December and although Maswa North has a healthy population of resident lions, more lions show up during the migration.
My wife, Wendy, and Jim’s wife, Cindy, also decided to go for the first fourteen days of the twenty-one day safari. Jim and I were to stay for the entire twenty-one days.
The Area
Maswa North GR is outlined in red on the pictured map. Serengeti NP is to the east. Maswa is approximately 1,000 square kilometers in size and gets narrower in the northern part of the reserve. The terrain is best described as acacia woodlands with some open savannas mixed in with a few rivers here and there. It is not far from Lake Victoria. The short rains usually start in late November but it can rain about anytime, partially due to the proximity of Lake Victoria. It is a fairly wet area when compared to many other areas in Eastern and Southern Africa.
The comfortable camp is located on the eastern side and adjacent to the Duma River and Mamarene River. Being a game reserve, settlements are not allowed but the occasional poacher is caught and cattle herders illegally graze their cattle along the western boundary of the reserve at times. Game reserves function as an important buffer between communities/settlers and national parks.
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