Mountain Buffalo – Wilderness Hunting in Tanzania
Mountain Buffalo – Wilderness Hunting in Tanzania
review of an exciting DVD
This production by Rainer Josch and his tracker Lorinyu is a film in a class of its own and could be classified a documentary. The film is not a typical hunting production and does not include large amounts of footage on animals being shot. The film is more about huge buffalo trophies being stalked on foot through difficult terrain. You’ll see the magnificent mountain landscape and the rich and diverse wildlife including elephant, lion, and leopard. Rainer’s own words aptly describe the contents, “the pursuing of an animal shall only become interesting when the hunt provides a challenge to the hunter. The taking of an animal should not be too easy, the risk of an unsuccessful outcome adds mystery and personalizes the hunting experience and is therefore a prerequisite...”
The film takes you on three awesome buffalo hunts around Mount Loosimingor in Northern Tanzania with Rainer being the narrator and guide on all three hunts. The hunts shown in the footage are two clients of Rainer, an American and a German, and the last one is of Rainer himself hunting a bull that he has seen often, but he knows his chances of bagging it are not good “…the Cape Buffalo provides one of the biggest challenges in Africa to the modern hunter. Those who have experienced buffalo hunting know about the powerful aura that radiates from this species…” All three are extremely difficult hunts with a great deal of opportunities to take huge trophies, some being successful and some not. This production provides the viewer with all the excitement and nerve-racking intensity of the stalk, the disappointment of failure and the joy, satisfaction and respect created by real hunting.
This movie is of the highest quality and the professional narrative makes it a truly remarkable production. It’s about real hunting—the way it should be. Rainer is completely set on hunting only the older mbogos, the bulls that have left the breeding herds and who have already passed on their genes. He also provides a great deal of insight on his thoughts of hunting and how this type of hunting is second to none “…there can hardly be a more pristine way in emerging yourself in nature than to hunt. Hunting is not the quarry, the gain or the trophy. Hunting is the trail, the path and a stalk. It gives me the most intense way of experiencing nature and myself, particularly on a mountain hunt for cape buffalo…It is only through such a process of elevated consciousness with great respect for the animal and an appreciation for the magnificence of creation that anyone can truly say ‘I hunt’.”
The narration gives a choice between English, Danish, French, Spanish, German to be selected when starting the movie (the section with the German client has subtitles in English).
