TANZANIA: Father/Son Tanzania 21 Day Hunt -7 Day Masai Land (Natron) + 14 Day Luganzo

Cme1983 said:

Let’s just say for as good as Kevin’s hunt was mine was equally as shitty!

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kpoynter said:

Father/Son Tanzania 21 Day Hunt -7 Day Masai Land (Natron) + 14 Day Luganzo
Outfitter: Robin Hurt Safaris
Dates: July 4-25 2026
PH’s - MasaiLand - Morgan Potter
Luganzo - George Dodds
Travel Agent for flights: PWP (which IMO are the best)
Cameraman: Dan MacDonald- Safari Classics
Game Seen: too much variety to list

Game Taken: Leopard, Cape Buffalo, Sitatunga, Sable, East African Greater Kudu, Lesser Kudu, Gerenuk, Topi x 2, Defassa Waterbuck, Lichtenstein Hartebeest, Zebra x 2, Grants Gazelle x 2, Thompsons Gazelle, White Bearded Wildebeest, East African Impala, Chobe Bushbuck, Warthog, Oribi, Sharps Greysbuck

Game Sought Not Taken: Eland (Pattersons or Livingstones), Roan, Dik Dik (I missed one in low light and shadows), and Cape Buffalo (2&3 on license)
Bird Life: variety was incredible and I’ve never seen so many birds of prey and so much variety. They give you so much to look at throughout the days

This is a safari my buddy Corey (CME1983) and I set up at SCI in 2025 after much discussion. We wanted a “big” safari to do and wanted to pursue a variety of game. I had never hunted Tanzania after many safaris and 22 years of hunting Africa. Honestly, simply due to the cost difference. I’ve always wanted to see and hunt Masailand and its unique species. Especially the Lesser Kudu and the Gazelles. Western Tanzania holds allure in the fact there is tremendous diversity and the ability to take so many incredible species all in one area with diverse habitat. Corey was going to join us (and did) after my week in Masailand and we would charter together to Luganzo.
In the “ammo thread” I had about weight limit of bullets when flying… I remember some of you fine gentlemen saying you’ll never need 100 bullets and certainly not more…. Well… I had fun trying but I did come back with about 30 Lol. And that’s only because we needed very few follow up shots.

My Son and I Flew out to TZ from Nashville to Arusha (Kilimanjaro International) on July 1 through Paris via Delta (but Atlanta to JRO operated by Air France). Flights were good and good service but I don’t honestly prefer two 9 hour flights broken up. I’d rather get it over with and have a chance to sleep better. One interesting thing that happened was Air France stopped me not once but twice on the way because of my firearms. First they stopped me at boarding in Atlanta to sign a whole new declaration form that was “on their paper” even through they were already checked through. No big deal and the agent was very polite. Then in Paris I was blocked from boarding when scanning our boarding passes. I’m like WTF… but obviously you kind of know why… the lead gate agent was very polite but it was getting tense as the entire plane had boarded while they held me. He was having to phone and radio someone internally…. It was because of my guns.
They asked me all the questions about what I was traveling with, why, where, etc… kind of Bullshit but whatever… France is a fallen Country at this point basically.
We boarded and were on our way to Kilimanjaro.
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We arrive late at night July 2 in Arusha clear the airport, and head about an hour away to a guest lodge to sleep.
July 3, we wake up at leisure…have coffee, tea and a nice breakfast. Dan MacDonald met up with us as his flight was delayed the night before and he didn’t get in till like 2 AM which sucked for him (but you’d never know of course and he has a fantastic attitude and work ethic)

We all load up into the LandCruiser and head to Masailand… I always find it very exciting to see new places you have long thought about and imagined in your mind’s eye. It’s not far… about 1.5 hours to the turn off into the concession (750,000 acres BTW) and about 1 hr from the turnoff to actual camp.
We settled in a bit and went to a dry riverbed to check guns…. Guns we’re still spot on (on this leg of the trip)

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The Hunt Begins: Day 1 July 4, 2026

Day 1 is always exciting…full of anticipation and so much ahead! So much adventure….so many memories await and so much new and incredible beauty and nature that draws us all back again and again…
We head out around 6AM with Lesser Kudu and Gerenuk as the primary targets. One interesting thing in both these areas is they are large and you cover a lot of ground. The game all have their own types of key habitat and that leads you to cover significant distance at times.
We want to be in “kudu country” at first good light. In this case only probably 30 min or so (keeping in mind you are traveling slow and many areas are pretty rugged)
Anyway… Morgan and team had spotted a nice Lesser a couple of times this season and the area was pretty close. Sure enough the trackers spot it in literally the first 15 minutes of hunting light across a draw. We all get out to stalk closer (he was probably 500 yards away and across basically a gorge (you damn sure weren’t walking down and across). They only saw him briefly and we tried to relocate him. I actually spotted him as he moved back into the open. He was a good distance and The PH now noticed his left horn was broken off (about 6”) mad he was some 300 meters or a bit more away which would have been challenging. I decided to pass as it was literally the first 30 min and the shot was quite tough (and yes he was broken but very large)

We moved on…. We bumped 4 more very young Bulls and also saw some Grants and a couple/few Gerenuk. It wasn’t long and we saw three Gerenuck and some Grants in a small valley. They ran out and up a small ridge to our left. The male Gerenuk silhouette himself moving up to our left and you could see he had nice mass and looked pretty good to me ( but they all do to me lol). We got out and pursued. We stalked up the ridge in cover and saw movement a few times…The Grants were there… and the females were there and we bumped them a bit as we stalked in. We kept it up and followed for several hundred yards. We were coming down off the backside and I saw the three Gerenuk ahead about 175 yards away moving left (and headed out for good).
Morgan out the sticks up and I had a brief opportunity/window before they were gone…they were steps away from disappearing into heavy cover….
I took the shot and dropped him right there thankfully.
It was 8:30 AM Day 1 and we had our Gerenuk
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We moved on to an area to have our late morning Coffee/Tea and a breakfast bite…. This hill allowed you to glass several miles of flats
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We Bumped a Large Pattersons Eland Bull at the base of the hill… the Camerman and I were ready to peel off the truck and the PH said no…didn’t think he was good enough (he had a very large body, dewlap, and gray coloring). We glassed numerous groups of Zebra, Giraffe…. And I found another Eland Bull under the shade of a tree probably 600-800 meters out.
We stalked down on him and closed to within 100 meters or less. He stood broadside… again… PH thought he was too small (which this one wasn’t as mature looking but had a very large body again…the first bull was definitely better)
So we headed off… spent the rest of the day covering ground and looking for Kudu.
Note…there were a lot of Zebra and the most Giraffe I have ever seen (The Masai Giraffe are not Hunted in TZ and despite what some NGO might plead to get free donations there are just thousands and thousands)

Day 2
We would head 2.5 hours away towards the flat plains near Lake Natron. We drove around Mt Kitumbeine (which Camp is facing and the Sun goes down over) and near the Ngoro crater. There is an active Volcano (Ol Doinyo Lengai) and dormant one (Loolmalasin)
Interestingly to me and anyone planning a potentially hunt here is this area and many species are very seasonal. Two weeks prior to my hunt these plains were covered with thousands of Wildebeast…. Zebra, Eland, Gazelle. The water (and grass) rapidly disappear and with it the game that depends on it. Just in the week I was there it meaningfully changed.

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We glassed and did see numerous pockets of game… as you actually descended onto the plains and the pockets of cover there were numerous groups of Grants, Thompsons, Wildebeest, Giraffe, and yes some Eland including one large group of like 30-40 with three Bulls. one which seemed decent but not “large”.
We spent the next two hours or so moving along and scanning. I felt like we should have perhaps been making sure we maxed out the truck since the drive was long (2.5 hours each way) and we didn’t take an Eland which would fill the back (obviously).
As we did our late morning “breakfast break” there was a Bull Wildebeest nearby with his head in a lone shade tree with a small group of cows.
I said… let’s let Daniel get a Wildebeest here so we got off and did a short stalk and Daniel took a nice White Bearded Wildebeest Bull.
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We loaded him up and moved towards a nice area for lunch before heading all the way back.
While doing so we finally saw a “Tommie” worth pursuing (to me they all are as the difference between a “Trophy” and “Not a Trophy” are very small and man are they tasty! )
We got off and sort of paralleled this group on a desert plain….the wind was howling at around 25mph… we got to within maybe 175 yards and set up the sticks. I was struggling in the wind to be steady and the Tommie is a small target. I was fortunate and made a perfect shot on him and he went right down.
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We went to a spot for lunch and made the trek back to camp… I felt we should have capitalized on the trip out and taken 2 Tommies and 2 Wildebeest. Turned out we should have as the Lesser Kudu absorbed most of the rest of the week.

Day 3 found us going up into the foothills of Mt Kitumbiene in search of Kudu (greater or lesser) but also there was a report of a nice Grants that was using the base of the mountain with his harem. We glassed the hills and did spot an East African Greater deep at the base of a ravine. He wasn’t a fully mature male so we didn’t shoot him (thank goodness as you will see later). We came back down a bit and glassed the fingers of the ridges below. One of the trackers spotted a very nice Grants Gazelle. I told Daniel to try and take him.
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We needed to descend off this ridge (the picture doesn’t really reflect the drop off of several hundred feet). We side-hilled down and Morgan set Daniel up on the sticks. He made a good shot and we had our first Grants and it was a nice one (note Corey took the new World Record here last year)

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That afternoon we went back to camp and went back out in search of Lesser Kudu. This time of year the bush is still fully thick and our chances or sightings of Lesser kudu were both scarce and fleeting. You might be 10-20 meters away and you’d never know it.

We would work hard for an opportunity which was a bit hard to imagine since we saw a great Bull literally in the first 15 minutes of the first day.

The next day after a full morning of glassing and driving and glassing and driving we went closer towards a village area with a lot of thickets the kudu liked.
As we headed back to camp at lunch I said hey, let’s take a Zebra with the Double (my Verney Carron Azul in .450/.400)
Zebra were VERY abundant. We quickly spotted a herd and dismounted to approach. I needed to be close (under 100 yards) and we had to locate a Stallion. Tanzania is the only country I have hunted in that is very strict about not shooting ANY females.

We found a Stallion in the group and we began a game of cat and mouse for probably a kilometer before finally being able to approach close enough before bumping them one too many times.
I set up on the sticks and shot the Stallion. He bucked and ran off with the herd but clearly hit (a bit back). He stumbled and fell to the back of the group and I shot him with the second barrel at about 130-150 maters and folded him right there. It got a bit spicy as the PH thought I dropped the wrong Zebra with the second barrel and by definition a Female (there was only 1 male in the group). He freaked out a bit and I was confused, as was the camera man as we were on him the whole time.
After glassing the rest of the herd which was up on a ridge looking down at us they realized it was indeed the Stallion and then panic went back to smiles and high fives.

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That afternoon we made another sojourn for Lesser Kudu and I did manage to find a nice Grants and was able to make a quick stalk and take him. My son will retain bragging rights as his Grants would perhaps be the nicest of 2026 (and Corey’s from 2025 the nicest ever…by anyone anywhere)
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Day 5… back on the grind in search of my Lesser. We got to a high spot and were glassing…on the way I should say we spot a Striped Hyena right at first light and in the open. In that moment we glassed him it was kind of like…Oh Shit! That’s a striped hyena ! Get your gun and shoot him!,,,
He didn’t exactly hang around for me to dismount and get a shot… he had better ideas and that was that.
We also spotted a pack of wild dogs marauding the area we were glassing so that pretty much needed our morning hunt although these type of sightings are their own great thing.

The air was clear this day and Mt Kilimanjaro was clear in the early morning sky.
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In the evening as the Sun was setting we ran into a nice East African Impala Ram. They were very scarce and this was a nice one for the area.
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This was a nice bonus and we were fortunate to have him.

Soon after this we ran into a Dik Dik just as it was becoming dark. I quickly set up on him and I have to say as I’m getting old (and have Macular Degeneration) my eyes struggle in failing light. I had my .375 with a solid loaded and just plain missed him. What I thought was his tiny body in the shadow of a bush clearly wasn’t lol.

Day 6 was more of the same. We did spot a very nice herd of Eland (mixed with some Zebra and Giraffe). We watched as they filed by…probably 30 strong. In the middle suddenly there was a BLUE Bull (as “Blue” as they come) with a huge body and a huge rough on his forehead. I was ready to pile off and try to maneuver for a shot. For some reason Morgan was very unimpressed by him. I told him I thought we should go after him… he felt like it was just a young bull.
I’m still confused about that one but I don’t look at them every day but said I’ve never heard of a true Blue Bull that was young and he had a massive rough

Oh well… a Patterson’s Eland was not to be on this trip although we saw over 100 Eland and probably 15-20 Bulls. I would have been very happy to simply take a very large bodied Bull as the horns are about the least impressive feature of any Eland. I’ve taken I guess 5 in the past and I d love them

Day 7 and the pressure is on!
We drove to an area to glass we felt like had the most promise based on numerous days of hard hunting. The guys hiked up to glass and quickly saw a Bull in the valley thickets. We made the move around and quickly ran into a Bull… we tried to get on him but he was gone…
That high we feel and then that low (especially when your time is almost gone)
We go another’s 409 meters…another Bull!
Same thing… same story..gone…
Drive another 400-500 meters…Another Bull…
This time I have him in the scope… finally! But we couldn’t see his horns as they were obscured by the thick bush…
Shit…. Morgan is straining to see and finally says “Ok…shoot that Bull!….right as he turned and disappeared into the bush..
Gone…. Here we go again

Well… we still hadn’t actually gotten to where we were going to where the trackers marked that Bull. We moved to where that was and quietly moved into the thick bush to glass. Right as we came around an opening the tracker quickly ducked and waved us forward with urgency.
I have a video but not sure how to insert but as we rounder the corner there were his horns… I waited for him to show his body (as it was completely hidden by tall grass) and as SOON as I had his body in the scope it was a quick bang and he was down right there !

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I have wanted a Lesser Kudu for many years and here he was… we were all elated and this one was truly a team effort. The team worked very hard to help me earn this opportunity and we were quite thankful.

That afternoon we drove out towards the lake as we still had a tag for a Zebra, a Wildebeest, and a Tommie.

Sadly, I missed a Wildebeest as the sticks settled and moved just as I was firing and I missed him a second time as I was a bit agitated in my head thinking too much about pulling the the first shot….oh well..,that’s hunting.
We quickly switched to Zebra as there were a good number all around us. My son was able to harvest quite a unique Zebra
Morgan was trying to show Daniel the Zebras “tusks” (the back teeth they use to fight each other and scar their hides…. This Stallion had numerous scars which brought it up)
Well…he had no tusks… then we looked and guess what… he had no balls….none….this Zebra was literally a hermaphrodite… he had a penis sheath but his testicles never descended nor did he develop his teeth. What a unique animal indeed ! Daniel’s Wildebeest also incidentally had no tesficles…but that was because a Lion had literally torn them off somewhat recently…. Crazy….

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Our sun set on Day 7 and also our time in Masailand. Tomorrow we would drive back to Arusha to meet Corey and charter to Luganzo for Chapter 2 of our Adventure…

Day 8…we drive back to Arusha and our newly expanded group all charter together to Luganzo 2.5 hours by air. Luganzo Wildlife Reserve (bordering Uganda National Park) is huge at 2M acres. The Largest Concession in Africa? I think maybe so..
it is a huge and diverse area. The Species diversity is pretty amazing and again you’ll never see a place with so many different birds and particularly varied birds of prey (and even little things like Butterflies and interesting bugs)

Corey and I are both hunting Cats. Corey has Lion and Leopard (21 days) and I have Leopard (14 days left). Obviously we needed bait and plenty of it. Note, one strange thing (surprise) is that Hippo were quite scarce. I only saw 1 in 14 days and heard a couple others from a Machan sitting for Sitatunga. Corey saw I think a pod of 4.
Like many things they seem to have “migrated” a bit this year and weren’t in areas they traditionally frequented.
First afternoon we split up and went down to the River plains (which are close to camp). Corey went to check rifles and we went straight out. This turned out to be a mistake on my part. The .300 was dead on in Masailand and was basically in our possession the whole time and just on a charter with us.

We drove down and walked the rest of the way towards the large open (And lush Green) areas by the River. I was now with a very good young PH named George Dodds (who BTW has about the best eyes in the field you’ll ever see).
We immediately saw a group of Sable and a nice Waterbuck Bull. George had seen this Sable in the day or days before and thought he was quite good. I really wanted a nice Sable (and we had 14 days) so I was initially going to pass and take the Waterbuck. I could see George thought I was a bit crazy on that one lol.
As we moved in closer (250 yards or so) I took a better look at him. He had a beautiful shape and I noticed he had really excellent mass. Note, I love old old males with really heavy Mass. I asked George if the Bull was indeed really heavy or was that just me? He looked at me like yeah dummy…. I told you this was a really nice Bull. I said well I think we’d better take him and he smile and said… yeah… I think your making the right decision. This bull is simply too good to pass.

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I made the shot and he was hit hard and I started to shoot the Waterbuck too, but the Sable needed a second insurance shot. Note the exceptional mass and secondary growth. I should have taken a picture of the back of his horns. This was an OLD Bull with exceptional mass. I didn’t see a better Sable and it was the right call. We did see many and maybe some that were “longer” but none like him…
Note, the first shot was very low which surprised me but assumed it was operator error. Two inches lower would have been a catastrophe.
Corey also took a really nice East African Kudu Bull and a Waterbuck for bait this afternoon. We were off to a hot start.
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The next day…. I got set up on a Lichtenstein Hartebeest Bull at around 220 yards or so. Had him perfectly lined up and made the shot. He was hit and we watched him run like hell…. I’m waiting for him to pile up and he is gone… we walk and found a couple of drops of blood… not good.
We watch the video and I hit him in the leg (barely). So I’m like WTF I was dead on him. We went to check the gun before hunting again and my .300 got knocked off somehow. I had to move the POI up 16 clicks! So at 200 yards that’s 8” off. Not good… lesson I guess is always recheck you zero (this was likely what caused my miss in Masailand on a Wildebeest my last afternoon but my son made a perfect shot on that Zebra so I’m not 100% sure when it happened.

We did pick up an ancient old Warthog on day 2. He was blind in one eye…in poor condition…we did him a favor ultimately.

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The next day we picked up a great bonus… a Sharps Greysbuck! I’ve wanted one for years but as many of you know… you don’t tend to see them standing around lol.
Daniel was having fun setting fires as we went (which was really needed here) and this Greysbuck popped up 50 yards away and was distracted by crackling grass fire. That was all we needed. I was super happy to have him.

On Day 4 here we continued hanging baits and hunting plains game. I had two Topi on license. We went to an area that holds a lot of Topi and Daniel enjoyed again lighting grass fires as we went. We had quite the line of smoke behind us. Thankfully a lot of burning was done prior to our arrival but we did our fair share that upcoming hunters can thank us for later lol.
George got Daniel up to a herd of Topi and he was on the sticks a couple of times but the Bull never quite gave him a good broadside shot (we weren’t comfortable having him take strong quartering shots etc at this stage of his hunting career)
We moved on and found a nice Lone Bull. We used a termite mound for cover and closed to with about 200 yards. The Bull had us pegged and was strongly quartered to us facing us (curious as to what these things were). He snorted and stomped and finally turned completely broadside and walked a few steps. Daniel made a great shot and his Topi made a death run out of sight.
We found him stone dead very nearby hidden by some grass patches
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Day 5 July 14….
Today would end up to be special… we had baits up now all over and waiting for the”Cat Action”.
We went to the river early to sit and glass from the Machans for Sitatunga along the River. There are numerous Machans spaced up and down.
We dropped a young tracker off at one and we went to the next one situated up in a beautiful large tree.
As the sun rose we a female and then the horn tips sticking out above the grass of a Bull. We watched him for a bit and he was clear for a shot as he moved into and out of the reeds and onto dryer ground etc. He was nice but not a “slam dunk shooter” we sat and saw another female and the George spots another Bull.
It was excellent spotting because he was 350 yards away and I mean you could only see 4 inches or so of horns in an absolute sea of Green reeds and swamp.
I did finally catch about a 1-2 second glimpse of his horns better as he moved (and disappeared). Just enough to tell he had that classical lyrical shape.

Well… about that time our young tracker came down to our machan… Bwana.. there is a Tandala (Kudu) over here. I think you need to come see.
Note: these things are rare and I don’t think they have even shot one here for three years and Corey got a beautiful Bull Day one already.
We quickly descended and moved quickly and quietly down the road about 1k. As we approached George saw some Kudu Cows ahead. We very quickly and quietly worked closer. We had good cover and the wind was good. We worked around some thorn and a termite mound. I could see just a couple of the kudu some 150 yards ahead walking away towards the papyrus.
I whispered to George something to the effect we needed to quit fucking around and step clear for a shot. George obliged lol. We took three or four quick steps to our left and George threw up the sticks. I had t been able to see the Bull yet because we were in a tight line ducking in cover. I quickly confirmed the Bull was on the left and he was now facing us quartering to us at around 150-175 yards standing by the water.
I immediately noticed his deep curls and didn’t really pay attention. There was no time. I made a good shot on the shoulder and he quickly reran to the right and followed him and was able to make a second shot as he ran (tuned out both were perfect and he took it in both shoulders)
We quickly marched up to where he disappeared and he was right there.
Well… he was special… very special

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I think it would be fun to get your all’s best guess on this guy… we didn’t guess correctly standing there. So it would be fun to hear what folks think or guess but he’s obviously a heck of a specimen for an East African Greater. I’ve taken a LOT of Kudu BTW (Love Them) and this is my nicest.

Well… that capped a great morning…that afternoon we went right back to where I shot that Sable and the same waterbuck was right exactly where he was before.
That was a mistake. This was my first Defassa Waterbuck and he was a nice one for me to take.
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Well…the Safari (for me and Daniel) was going extremely well. We were flush with baits.. Leopard were starting to get active. We are on a tremendous pace.
The next day we sat again for Sitatunga. We saw the one bull straight away and several females…. I caught just a glance in the heavy papyrus of another one but never clearly the second Bull.
Back to camp and back in the Machan in the evening.
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We again spotted the one bull and I glassed to the right and there was the bull we wanted coming our way as the sun went down.
He was a good way off…some 350+ yards.
We watched him and I had him in my scope quite a bit. The light was fading and he just stayed in that 300-350 yard perimeter. We knew where he was and while I can make that shot (and I can miss that shot) we chose to come try again at first light so we snuck out.

The next morning… back in the tree house Machan.
Like clockwork… there they are. Our Bull was a bit closer and not 100 yards from where we left him. He was, however, “in range”.
I had borrowed Corey’s range finding binos this day. I had conformed last nights ranges and ranged the spots he was in today.
He was headed to one of the Brown (dryer( clumps you see in the photos above. The one on the right was 254 yards.
We watched him make his way and I was very excited. I had to get on my butt and use a tree limb to get the angle out that way.
We watched as he stepped perfectly into that opening (I have a great video but don’t see how to select from photos as no videos appear)
He was clear and broadside at 254… told the guys “ready?” … bang… I hit him hard but as you all know the shooter never sees clearly because of the recoil.
I always have some level of self doubt especially on special things like this Sitatunga.
He bounded into the water and reeds and disappeared into the morass.
We called in the trackers and stayed up high to direct them. God Bless them because that shit is nastier and tougher than you realize.
They literally disappeared into that stuff in some places and you couldn’t even see the tops of their heads as they slowly waded out through swarms of mosquitos to find him.
Well… they made the 300 yards to where we last saw him after about 20 min of slow progress. We saw an arm come up with a “thumbs up” out of the reeds… we had him…
He was a beautiful animal….old mature male…one neat thing is not only did he have the ivory tips (26”)…the front of his horns were polished and kind of translucent in the light from rubbing papyrus for years.
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With our Sitatunga down it was time to turn to Leopard and Buffalo.

We had a nice Leopard on bait now too so time to build blind(s) and hunt Buff.
I seem to have reached a limit on photo uploads here so… I guess To Be Continued (probably have to start a second thread?)
This is my first hunt report after 15 years or so on here with you guys.

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Rimbaud said:

I didn’t know that about trophy fees in Tanzania. Do you know if that is by design, and intended to offset (for lack of a better word) the day rate, but especially the government taxes that I understand are quite high? I plan to do this very hunt with my son when I slow down at work, and to have my wife fly in to experience with us . . . For a bit before she must go on her way as the hunting is not for her.

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LivingTheDream said:

Not to be sarcastic but Masailand is special. Literally want some of my ashes spread there.

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kpoynter said:

Sure,
It’s very special for several reasons…
It is a very unique ecosystem with incredibly rich history and people
From a pure hunting perspective it has numerous species either found nowhere else or nearly nowhere else that are endemic….
You have your antelope like Thompson Gazelle…Grants Gazelle and in some places roberts
You have Lesser Kudu… Gerenuk…Fringe Eared Oryx
You have Pattersons Eland on the large side and Kirk’s Dik Dik on the small side
You hunt in sight of Mt Kilimanjaro on one side and the Ngoro Crater on the other…Lake Natron…
You can hunt Buffalo at the top of an extinct volcano and Masai Bushbuck
Huge Buffalo in some places coming out of parks
Monster Leopard….even Melanistic
Kilombero hunt monster elephant next door

So…imagine a Plains Game Hunt that, due to sheer supply and demand is exponentially higher than other areas IF you want the 21 day species on license… now… we ALL want them…but is it realistic for most I guess.

I never hunted it before simply due to cost (especially for top areas like Natron)

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Wildwillalaska said:

I always say that darn Grants Gazelle will likely prove the most expensive plains game I can’t live without. I’m not all that into the various plains animals, mostly dangerous game and sheep guy, but oh boy do I love the look of the Grants for some reason and always have even as a kiddo myself.

The first thing I learned about hunting them is it doesn’t make sense to go just hunt a single Grants…initially inquired as a side trip from doing a Kili trip with my wife. Requires a particular license and yeppers, for solid chances, gotta go Masailand. And if traveling all that way, and having all those animals on license and number of days on daily rate, might as well shoot a few other things. I have zero interest in Lord Derby Eland and absolutely no Bongo, but one day I’ll have to go just for the Grants at least, and hard not so explore opportunities for the Thompsons, Lesser Kudu and Gerenuk…even if I don’t bring the trophy’s home.

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Wildwillalaska said:

I always say that darn Grants Gazelle will likely prove the most expensive plains game I can’t live without. I’m not all that into the various plains animals, mostly dangerous game and sheep guy, but oh boy do I love the look of the Grants for some reason and always have even as a kiddo myself.

The first thing I learned about hunting them is it doesn’t make sense to go just hunt a single Grants…initially inquired as a side trip from doing a Kili trip with my wife. Requires a particular license and yeppers, for solid chances, gotta go Masailand. And if traveling all that way, and having all those animals on license and number of days on daily rate, might as well shoot a few other things. I have zero interest in Lord Derby Eland and absolutely no Bongo, but one day I’ll have to go just for the Grants at least, and hard not so explore opportunities for the Thompsons, Lesser Kudu and Gerenuk…even if I don’t bring the trophy’s home.

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kpoynter said:

I totally agree… for me Lesser Kudu was #1 though.
You can do a 7 day license and hunt Grants and Thompson FYI as they are considered “Common” plains game there. Tons of Zebra (Grants ) and Wildebeest on 7 day.
I have “avoided” the hunt (due to cost) for many years. We sold our company this year and I was in a place where I could comfortably pull this off (and I ain’t getting any younger)

If I were you I might look at that 7 day hunt with a more limited quota. Do your side trip to Kilimanjaro…the Crater… the Serengeti… lots of options

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kpoynter said:

I totally agree… for me Lesser Kudu was #1 though.
You can do a 7 day license and hunt Grants and Thompson FYI as they are considered “Common” plains game there. Tons of Zebra (Grants ) and Wildebeest on 7 day.
I have “avoided” the hunt (due to cost) for many years. We sold our company this year and I was in a place where I could comfortably pull this off (and I ain’t getting any younger)

If I were you I might look at that 7 day hunt with a more limited quota. Do your side trip to Kilimanjaro…the Crater… the Serengeti… lots of options

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Wildwillalaska said:

I always say that darn Grants Gazelle will likely prove the most expensive plains game I can’t live without. I’m not all that into the various plains animals, mostly dangerous game and sheep guy, but oh boy do I love the look of the Grants for some reason and always have even as a kiddo myself.

The first thing I learned about hunting them is it doesn’t make sense to go just hunt a single Grants…initially inquired as a side trip from doing a Kili trip with my wife. Requires a particular license and yeppers, for solid chances, gotta go Masailand. And if traveling all that way, and having all those animals on license and number of days on daily rate, might as well shoot a few other things. I have zero interest in Lord Derby Eland and absolutely no Bongo, but one day I’ll have to go just for the Grants at least, and hard not so explore opportunities for the Thompsons, Lesser Kudu and Gerenuk…even if I don’t bring the trophy’s home.

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Wildwillalaska said:

And by the way, great shooting on your Ele with Buzz last year. Pretty sure you were the Kevin I saw on his new YouTube video this week. That is what has delayed me for TZ buff for a bit. I’d like another or few more elephant hunts first.

What double were running? I liked the look of that bull uou took and that charge was crazy cool with the way the bull snapped that Mopani trunk like it was a toothpick.

Well done.

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Tucketed said:

@Wildwillalaska, my wife and I spent a couple of weeks at a ranch in the Northwest of Kenya where at the time there were numerous Tommy’s and Grants. We learned the saying “Grants have Pants”. Would love to get to Tanzania.

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Jack Stevens said:

The other aspect is: I want a one-on-one hunt with my PH, not like some of these cheaper RSA hunts you read about where they cram six hunters together and hope everybody gets an animal regardless of quality.

If my wife & I are going all that way and paying big bucks, I’d want an exclusive experience with my PH and quality animals for the ones that I’m paying

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kpoynter said:

Yeah that was me lol…
I have a VC .450/.400.
It took a couple more victims in TZ too now.
That Bull smashed that tree like it was nothing. He had a very brief thought about continuing but thankfully turned.
He was about to get the second barrel.
One thing that was in what Buzz posted but not aired on Tracks was the Black Mamba.
We almost ran into it and that was JUST before we shot that Bull…like 100 yards. Surprised we didn’t spook him.
In TZ we were tracking a Buff and had another very close encounter with a Mamba too..like 3-5 feet on a huge one.
We ran into like 3-5 on my Ele hunt with Buzz

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rsmurray said:

This is a magnificent thread! The hunt itself is more than a dream hunt for certain (what a list of species taken and the quality -- just incredible) but the comments and discussion make it even more informative and more enticing! It's prolly dang good thing I didn't "discover" Africa at 40 yrs old, I'm sure having fun beginning to plan my next adventure (I'm 66 now planning to go back in 29 for Lion somewhere) like a few of you said, I have to try and put together something big every three years. Let's see, if I can make it to 84 with good wheels that would give me 6 more trips? Not sure that's enough.......but it's what I see as doable.

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