UGANDA: Epic Safari With JKO HUNTING SAFARIS

[Houston Bill]

Very nice writeup! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

Thanks for the kind remarks

 

[Sue Tidwell]

Awe

Day 1

The day began with breakfast at 6:15 AM and we left camp just before 7:00 AM. Not far out of camp we pulled over to an area where we could sight in the rifles at 50 yards for the double and 100 yards for the 375. As we were setting up the targets Van Zyl notices a very nice bushbuck and a nice zebra stallion in the same little valley. Since I forgot to bring my Viper-Flex shooting sticks I used the tripod Primos Trigger Sticks they had in camp. Both rifles were spot on and despite the gunshots both the bushbuck and the zebra were still in the little valley. This was my first clue that Vickram’s team has done a great job in significantly reducing the poaching in his concession and that the overall hunting pressure was minimal. As you might expect, Van Zyl asked “Do you want to take the bushbuck? He is a nice one.” I just could not bring myself to shoot something so early in the trip so I passed. We got back in the Toyota Landcruiser and started hunting.


Vickram was driving the Landcruiser and in the passenger front seat was the UWA ranger Nicholas. In the back seat along with a lot of our gear was Alex, one of Vickram’s long time trackers. Out back was me, my wife, Van Zyl, our “primary game spotter” and tracker Tweheyo and the skinner Yahaya. Everyone seemed excited with anticipation.

Vickram and Van Zyl’s plan was to drive around and check out various sections of his concession and see what we see. Vickram said the best way to hunt his area was to not have specific game species in mind but to look around and see if we find a good quality trophy of one of the animals on my list.

We spent the entire morning driving around and looking for a big old male of one of my target animals. That morning we glassed a LOT of game. We saw zebra, impala, bushbuck, eland, topi, waterbuck, warthog, duiker, baboons and buffalo. In fact, we saw 2 fantastic trophy buffalo. Both were old hard bossed bulls with impressive head gear that you would be proud to have mounted in your trophy room. And they were bedded down not more than 60 yards away. The only problem….these buffalo were 50 yards inside the park boundary so they were off limits!


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That morning we also went to check out a couple of dams that reportedly had hippos in them. A dam is basically a pond that has been dug out by the government in an area where it would collect water from the rains and act as a watering location the locals could use for their cattle and goats. We did find a couple of the dams had hippos, a potentially dangerous situation for the locals, but in every case the hippos were likely females.

After a great first morning we went back to camp for lunch and a short nap and we were back out that afternoon.

In the afternoon we went to a different part of the concession and as we were driving up the side of the one of the hills, Tweheyo spotted a nice impala ram. So we got out of the Landcruiser and started working our way back towards the impala ram. This part of Uganda has many, many termite mounds and we were able to use them to our advantage to get within about 120 yards of the ram. Both Vickram and Van Zyl said it was a very nice ram and so I put my 375 RUM on the shooting sticks and put the crosshairs on the upper shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The ram dropped in his tracks. Everyone was excited and I was glad to get the first one in the salt!

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Late that afternoon we were on one side of a valley and spotted a herd of about 25-30 buffalos on the opposite side of the valley. They were too far away to tell if any of the males were hard bossed bulls. With about 2 hours of daylight left we decided to make the long drive around to the other side of the valley and come in on the bulls from above. As we began the stalk I noticed the vegetation seemed thicker than it looked from across the valley and my heart began beating just a bit faster. Despite the thick vegetation there were small areas of openings that might give us a chance to get a good look at many of the buffalo and determine if there was a mature bull among them. We were moving very slowing stopping often to listen as we were not exactly sure where they were. Every time we stopped my heart beat would increase with anticipation. We could hear them but needed to maneuver very carefully so as not to spook them. Finally we found them and Van Zyl signaled to halt! From my vantage point I could only see about 8 of the buffalo and none of them were mature bulls. Vickram and Van Zyl were in a better position and looked them over as best they could. After about 10 minutes the wind shifted and moments later we heard the buffalo crashing through the brush. Vickram said he saw a couple of nice young bulls but no mature shooters. But it was a great, heart pounding stalk and the anticipation of shooting a bull in the thick stuff provided a great thrill.

That evening over dinner Vickram gave me a bit of the history about the role his father, Kaka, played in the safari industry in Uganda. Back in the early 2000’s Kaka made a case to the Uganda Wildlife Authority and representatives from various institutions like Makerere University to allow a pilot sport hunting project in Lake Mburo Community ranches. At the time, there was hardly any game in the area due to poaching despite the vegetation being abundant. Other reserves throughout the country had dwindling game numbers as well. Thankfully, Kaka was granted permission to begin sport hunting at Lake Mburo for 3 years as a pilot project. After 3 years a review study was done and the numbers clearly supported the continuation of sport hunting. There was a lot more game due to reduced poaching and proper game management and a change in the attitudes by the locals towards the wildlife on community land because they were now benefiting directly from the sport hunting. And based on the success of the project in Lake Mburo, Uganda rolled out similar efforts in other parts of the country beginning in 2006.

Wow thanks for sharing this information about the outfitters role in the safari industry in Uganda. I LOVE knowing this.

Day 1

The day began with breakfast at 6:15 AM and we left camp just before 7:00 AM. Not far out of camp we pulled over to an area where we could sight in the rifles at 50 yards for the double and 100 yards for the 375. As we were setting up the targets Van Zyl notices a very nice bushbuck and a nice zebra stallion in the same little valley. Since I forgot to bring my Viper-Flex shooting sticks I used the tripod Primos Trigger Sticks they had in camp. Both rifles were spot on and despite the gunshots both the bushbuck and the zebra were still in the little valley. This was my first clue that Vickram’s team has done a great job in significantly reducing the poaching in his concession and that the overall hunting pressure was minimal. As you might expect, Van Zyl asked “Do you want to take the bushbuck? He is a nice one.” I just could not bring myself to shoot something so early in the trip so I passed. We got back in the Toyota Landcruiser and started hunting.


Vickram was driving the Landcruiser and in the passenger front seat was the UWA ranger Nicholas. In the back seat along with a lot of our gear was Alex, one of Vickram’s long time trackers. Out back was me, my wife, Van Zyl, our “primary game spotter” and tracker Tweheyo and the skinner Yahaya. Everyone seemed excited with anticipation.

Vickram and Van Zyl’s plan was to drive around and check out various sections of his concession and see what we see. Vickram said the best way to hunt his area was to not have specific game species in mind but to look around and see if we find a good quality trophy of one of the animals on my list.

We spent the entire morning driving around and looking for a big old male of one of my target animals. That morning we glassed a LOT of game. We saw zebra, impala, bushbuck, eland, topi, waterbuck, warthog, duiker, baboons and buffalo. In fact, we saw 2 fantastic trophy buffalo. Both were old hard bossed bulls with impressive head gear that you would be proud to have mounted in your trophy room. And they were bedded down not more than 60 yards away. The only problem….these buffalo were 50 yards inside the park boundary so they were off limits!


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That morning we also went to check out a couple of dams that reportedly had hippos in them. A dam is basically a pond that has been dug out by the government in an area where it would collect water from the rains and act as a watering location the locals could use for their cattle and goats. We did find a couple of the dams had hippos, a potentially dangerous situation for the locals, but in every case the hippos were likely females.

After a great first morning we went back to camp for lunch and a short nap and we were back out that afternoon.

In the afternoon we went to a different part of the concession and as we were driving up the side of the one of the hills, Tweheyo spotted a nice impala ram. So we got out of the Landcruiser and started working our way back towards the impala ram. This part of Uganda has many, many termite mounds and we were able to use them to our advantage to get within about 120 yards of the ram. Both Vickram and Van Zyl said it was a very nice ram and so I put my 375 RUM on the shooting sticks and put the crosshairs on the upper shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The ram dropped in his tracks. Everyone was excited and I was glad to get the first one in the salt!

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Late that afternoon we were on one side of a valley and spotted a herd of about 25-30 buffalos on the opposite side of the valley. They were too far away to tell if any of the males were hard bossed bulls. With about 2 hours of daylight left we decided to make the long drive around to the other side of the valley and come in on the bulls from above. As we began the stalk I noticed the vegetation seemed thicker than it looked from across the valley and my heart began beating just a bit faster. Despite the thick vegetation there were small areas of openings that might give us a chance to get a good look at many of the buffalo and determine if there was a mature bull among them. We were moving very slowing stopping often to listen as we were not exactly sure where they were. Every time we stopped my heart beat would increase with anticipation. We could hear them but needed to maneuver very carefully so as not to spook them. Finally we found them and Van Zyl signaled to halt! From my vantage point I could only see about 8 of the buffalo and none of them were mature bulls. Vickram and Van Zyl were in a better position and looked them over as best they could. After about 10 minutes the wind shifted and moments later we heard the buffalo crashing through the brush. Vickram said he saw a couple of nice young bulls but no mature shooters. But it was a great, heart pounding stalk and the anticipation of shooting a bull in the thick stuff provided a great thrill.

That evening over dinner Vickram gave me a bit of the history about the role his father, Kaka, played in the safari industry in Uganda. Back in the early 2000’s Kaka made a case to the Uganda Wildlife Authority and representatives from various institutions like Makerere University to allow a pilot sport hunting project in Lake Mburo Community ranches. At the time, there was hardly any game in the area due to poaching despite the vegetation being abundant. Other reserves throughout the country had dwindling game numbers as well. Thankfully, Kaka was granted permission to begin sport hunting at Lake Mburo for 3 years as a pilot project. After 3 years a review study was done and the numbers clearly supported the continuation of sport hunting. There was a lot more game due to reduced poaching and proper game management and a change in the attitudes by the locals towards the wildlife on community land because they were now benefiting directly from the sport hunting. And based on the success of the project in Lake Mburo, Uganda rolled out similar efforts in other parts of the country beginning in 2006.

Day 2



Again we left camp before 7:00 AM. We immediately made our way towards the park entrance gate which is about an hour or so drive from the main camp. This was where we saw those 2 very nice buffalo bulls the day before. Along the way we saw more zebra, impala, waterbuck and warthog than I could count. Unfortunately we did not see those buffalo as we approached the park boundary.


Later that morning as we were looking for buffalo, Tweheyo spotted a very unique impala. When I got a look at him in my binoculars I knew I wanted to take him. His horns were very unique in that they came up and then swept back but never curved back up. The stalk was quite simple and we were easily able to get within 100 yards. The impala dropped to the shot. And as a bonus the impala measured nearly 30”

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After lunch we headed off to a different part of the concession. After a few hours of driving around and looking at several different species, the trackers spotted a nice waterbuck about 1200 yards down in the bottom of a valley. It was too far to know for sure if he was a mature but his horn length looked promising through the binoculars. Earlier in the day we had seen a couple of very nice waterbucks with good horn length but they needed another couple of years. Vickram does a good job of managing his game and he strives to take old, fully mature animals.


The stalk was not particularly difficult as we made our way down into the valley. Along the way we passed a couple of African Crowned Cranes. They are truly beautiful birds and are the national bird of Uganda. As we approached the big waterbuck bull there were several other waterbuck bulls and cows and zebra with him. As I got into position for the shot both Van Zyl and Vickram said it was a very nice old bull and would make a fine trophy. As I was waiting for the bull to clear from the other game he started to move away and head for the thick brush. When the waterbuck bull finally cleared he was at an extreme quartering away angle and I placed the crosshairs by his back hip and squeezed the trigger. The bull took the bullet hard and it was clear he wasn’t going far. He started to head away and as I recovered from the recoil and prepared to hit him again he went down. As we approached I put in a second insurance bullet to quickly end things.

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As we prepared the waterbuck for the obligatory photos some locals started to show up, obviously they had heard the shots and were looking to get some of the meat. They were friendly and we had a great time interacting with them!

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As we cut up the waterbuck we ended up finding the first bullet in the lungs. The Barnes 270 grain LRX bullet had done its job!

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Day 3

We began the morning looking for buffalo. From time to time the buffalo herds will make their way to lake Kacheera to water throughout the evening. In the early morning the herds then often travel back through the concession on their way to the National Park. The trick is to catch them early in the morning before they make it back to the park. We found tracks that morning but unfortunately they were in front of us and by the time we caught them they were headed into the park.


Around mid-day as we were heading back to camp we happened to spot a herd of buffalo that were about to cross the road in front of us. As they crossed the road Van Zyl spotted a mature bull. So we decided to quickly exit the Land Cruiser and take up the chase. It was the hottest day of the trip that day and in our haste to exit the Land Cruiser and follow the buffalo we forgot to bring water with us! After trying to catch the buffalo for an hour I became very dehydrated and could not continue without getting some water so we had to give up the chase. Disappointed in myself for not properly hydrating that morning, we returned to the Land Cruiser for a much needed bottle of water.


That afternoon we explored an area of the concession that is known for having bushbucks. We spotted a few younger males, an older male with 1 broken horn and several females but no shooters. So we began the long drive back to camp. Along the way Tweheyo spotted a nice mature bushbuck ram standing on top of a termite mound surrounded by a few trees. As Van Zyl and Vickram got a good look at him they decided he was a shooter and we got off the Landcruiser and began the stalk. Just as we were getting into position the bushbuck jumped off the termite mound and bounded away. It was clear that he had not been spooked by us and the wind was in our favor. For a minute or two we wondered what had caused him to run off. A moment later it became clear. Suddenly, a women and a young child emerged from the wilderness behind where the bushbuck had been. We had not seen them but the bushbuck obviously had.


Day 4

We left camp early again and went to a different part of the concession looking for buffalo. We saw a lot of game and did find a lone mature buffalo bull out in the open and quite a ways from the thick vegetation. After taking a closer look I decide to pass, his bosses and width were not what I was looking for and I felt we still had several days of hunting left.


Shortly after leaving the lone buffalo we came across some fresh buffalo tracks and got off the Land Cruiser and begin following them. Over the next few hours we made several stalks on these buffalo but were always foiled by the wind causing the buffalo to run off or the vegetation proved too thick to get a good view of any mature bull. After the buffalo ran off for the 3rd time we decided we did not want to push them anymore and left to head back to camp for lunch.


After a wonderful lunch and a short nap, we left came around 3:00 PM and headed back to the area where we had seen the nice bushbuck the day before. We spent a few hours driving around looking at a few bushbuck but nothing we wanted to pursue. We did see several nice impala and a few trophy quality waterbuck and a troop of baboons. With just over an hour of daylight left and about an hour drive ahead of us, we started our drive back to camp. As we were making our way along a hillside road, with a valley thick with vegetation to our right, Tweheyo spotted something and signaled to Vickram to stop the Land Cruiser. We all got our binos and looked into the valley below, someone said, “it is a female” but Tweheyo said “no, look over there.” I got off the Landcruiser and looked with my binos to where he was pointing and there hidden in the trees that were surrounding the termite mound he was standing on was a very big bushbuck. Even my untrained eye knew this was a shooter bushbuck. You know the old saying, “the big ones just look big!” From the road we ranged the ram at 250 yards and while I thought for a moment about taking that shot from a standing position, I decided this ram was to special to risk a shot of that length. Because of the terrain I could not see the ram from a prone or sitting position. There was risk in trying to get closer because if the ram spooked he would likely disappear into the thick brush and be gone for good.


We slowly made our way down the hillside using a few termite mounds and bushes to disguise our approach until we got to 160 yards from the ram. And there he was, standing majestically broadside on top of the termite mound overlooking his homeland. I placed the crosshairs on the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. At the shot the ram bucked up like a bronco and sprinted to the left out of sight. I don’t know about you, but even when I am sure I made a good shot I am always nervous until I find the animal. We approached the terminate mound where the ram had been standing and there was a quite a lot of blood. Relief! And thankfully the blood trail was easy to follow in the dense vegetation. After about 100 yards or so we found the ram very well hidden under a bush. Without that substantial blood trail he would have been quite hard to find! The ram measured a bit over 16” and was the largest ram taken in Vickram’s concession in the past several years. How lucky was I! The day before, had it not been for the women and her child inadvertently spooking the bushbuck I was about to shoot, I would surely have harvested that bushbuck ram. A nice trophy, yes, but not one like this trophy. And if not for the great spotting of Tweheyo I would not have had a chance to harvest this incredible trophy. Little did I know that my luck was going to continue!

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This will give you an idea of how think the bush was that the bushbuck ran into.

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Day 5

About 5:30 AM I was awakened by the commotion and splashing of several hippo running into the lake near our camp. I later found out they were on the grassy area of the camp and a member of the staff had surprised them.

We leave camp early and about 30 minutes from camp we see fresh buffalo tracks and drive slowly in the direction of the tracks. After 20 minutes or so we spot 2 large groups of buffalo, one group is mostly cows and calves but the other group has a couple of promising looking bulls. The decision is made to try and drive around and get ahead of them as it appears they are heading towards the park. We play cat and mouse with the buffalo for the next few hours but are never able to get in position for a good shot at a mature bull and we finally loose the buffalo for good in the thick bush near the park boundary.

At that point Vickram gets a call about a potential problem hippo. He is concerned about the validity of the sighting and indicates that sometimes these calls can be unreliable. We decide to go anyway and spend the next 1-1/2 hours driving to the area where the hippo was spotted. When we get to the area a local person provides the general direction to the whereabouts of the hippo. We begin the stalk past a large banana grove down towards the swamp. When we get to the area we see some hippo tracks but they are at least a day or 2 old and the swamp is so think that it would be almost impossible to see the hippo unless it came out of the swamp. We decide our chances of getting a hippo are not good and we had back to camp for a late lunch.


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That afternoon we search several areas for buffalo but return to camp for dinner without seeing any buffalo.


Day 6

We are up early and leave camp before sun up. Within an hour we find buffalo tracks and follow them but by the time we catch up to them they are in the thick brush and headed into the park. We continue to drive around searching for other buffalo and find another herd about a hour later. This herd is hidden in some thick brush on the other side of the valley from where we are. Given the wind direction we decide to drive around to the other side of the valley and come in on the buffalo from above. There is a large rock outcropping that we make our way down to and I get set up on the sticks about 100 yards from an opening that the buffalo could pass into. We can see some cows and bulls in the thick bush but only the cows and a young bull come out into the opening. After waiting for about an hour we see several members of the herd about 1200 yards away come out of the bush and cross an opening and head into another area of thick bush. We decide they are probably going to bed down there till late afternoon. We head back to camp for lunch.

After lunch my wife and I go down to the lake shore in camp and we see about 12 hippos about 30 to 40 yards from the shore. She gets some great photos of the hippos.

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In the afternoon we search unsuccessfully for buffalo. Vickram takes us to a pond and swamp area that sometimes has hippo. Upon arrival we see a few hippos in the pond. We spend about 30 minutes glassing the pond but determine the 5 hippos were all females with their young.

On the drive back to camp we come across a nice warthog. Now compared to the monster @Mark Biggerstaff shot recently he looks small but he looked good to me. Since we had been unlucky with buffalo so far I decided to shoot the warthog with my double for practice. The stalk was easy and we used a few termite mounds for cover. The 450/400 double did its job….well maybe I was just a bit over gunned!

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Day 7

We are up early and leave camp before sun up to try and catch the buffalo before they make it to the park. About 45 minutes later we see fresh tracks and get off the Land Cruiser and begin the stalk. After about an hour or so of tracking we spot the herd and determine there is a very nice mature bull with them. After discussion with the trackers we decide to move ahead and try and intercept them. The plan works! I am set up on the shooting sticks with a clear lane to the dirt path that the buffalo are going to cross as they emerge from the thick bush. I am about 40 yards from where the first buffalo cow emerges from the dense vegetation. Then a few more cows and calves come out of the brush. My heart rate is now elevated as I anticipate what is to come! The wind is in our favor and I am trying to calm my nerves so I can make an accurate first shot. But then all of the sudden one of the cows stops crossing the dirt road and looks in my direction. Everyone is frozen still. I can feel that the wind is still on my face so I don’t think she has scented us. No one had been moving so I am not sure why she is cautious. After we stare at each other for a couple of minutes, she decides, for whatever reason, to turn back towards the brush and with her go the other cows and calves and we never get to see the rest of the herd and the mature bull. SH*T! We take up the tracks into the thick stuff but we did not have much of a chance and they eluded us again!


We head back to the Land Cruiser and it begins to rain quite hard. So we head back to camp for lunch. At 2:30 Vickram gets a call about a herd of buffalo. We head out but it is still raining hard. We find the tracks in the area the buffalo were reported to be. We head out in our rain gear. Vickram says, “look on the bright side, we will make less noise when we stalk in close”! The buffalo are in the thick bush and, despite the quietness of our approaches, we can never get in close enough for a clear shot before they spot us and run off. The rain finally subsides and we head back to the truck to drive ahead to where the trackers think the buffalo will emerge from the bush.

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My wife, a smart woman, had decided not to join us on the stalk in the pouring rain and stayed back at the Land Cruiser. She was rewarded with some great pictures of a majestic African fish eagle!

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As we head back towards camp the clouds begin to disperse and the sun comes out! It is a beautiful day now. Vickram gets a call about a hippo that frequents a farm along the lake front. The farm is kind of on our way to camp so we head in that direction. When we arrive the farmer’s wife says the hippo comes into the yard every day! We look around and see hippo tracks but they are a few days old and we do not find any fresh tracks. The scenery is beautiful but no hippo so we head back to camp for dinner.


It is Friday evening and over dinner we learn that a country wide strike is planned in South Africa for Monday and there is concern there might be violence and that it could disrupt travel in the country. Van Zyl decides he needs to fly home on Sunday so tomorrow will be his last day hunting with me.


More to come!

Wow, what an amazing hunt you are having Bill. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures. it really helps to see what you are seeing! I love that the villagers got some of the meat too! I'm looking forward to the next post to see if you get a buffalo or not. They are sure giving you a run for your money! Sue

 

[Sue Tidwell]

Day 8

We wake at 5:30 AM to pouring rain so my wife and I roll over and go back to sleep and get up at 8:30 AM. By 9:00 the rain subsides and we are getting ready to leave camp. It is a gloomy morning so not the best light for getting good photos so Patty decides to stay in camp. She says she is going to rest up and read Cries of the Savanah by @Sue Tidwell. “I am going to get my safari experience today through Sue” she says as I kiss her goodbye and get on the Land Cruiser. I have read Cries of the Savannah and if you have not read it yet, I can highly recommend it. It is a great read for those of us that hunt but it also makes a great gift to those folks in your life that do not hunt. Sue, a non-hunter, does a great job of explaining the benefits of sport hunting while telling the story of her first African safari with her husband.

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We spend a good part of the morning searching for buffalo but are thwarted again by swirling winds after stalking a herd in the thick bush. As we are driving to another location the herd actually crosses the road in front of us but by the time we get out of the Land Cruiser and get on the tracks they are into the thick bush again with the park boundary not far away.

Everyone is dejected as we head back to camp for a late lunch. Along the way we spot a nice large stallion zebra. Typically we would see 100 or more zebra a day so hunting them was not a challenge. Again I decided to use my double. After a relatively short stalk to within 48 yards of the zebra I drop him in his tracks with a 400 gr DGX. With another animal headed to the salt the mood in the Land Cruiser is a bit brighter.


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That afternoon Vickram gets a call about several hippos in a dam very close to the far entrance of the Mburo National Park. So around 3:00 PM we leave and take a short cut through the park to save about an hour and a half drive time. As we make our way through the park we see hippos, buffalo (some great dagga boy trophies that I wish they were outside the park!) Rothchild’s giraffe, impala, bushbuck and waterbuck and a fish eagle. Patty gets some great photos.

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Of all the buffalos I saw this old warrior was the one I most wanted to see outside of the park but never did.


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As we exit the park at the far entrance around 4:30 PM. It is only a few hundred yards to the dam. As we approach the dam we can see the heads of several hippos. We slowly make our way around to the back side of the dam to get a closer look at the hippos. After glassing he pond for a while we determine there are at least 12 hippos in the water and probably 2 large males. We take up a position on the hillside overlooking the pond about 60 yards or so from the hippos. I get set up on the sticks in a sitting position and practice dry firing several times at a point near the base of the ear or at the tip of the inverted V with a frontal presentation. I am confident I can make a killing first shot. The challenge becomes how are we going to recover the hippo before dark. The pond is covered with a thick leafy plant that will make it quite difficult to quickly swim out to the hippo and tie a rope on its leg so we can pull it ashore. And the trackers would need to do this with the other 11 hippos likely still in the pond! Vickram tells me that in situations like this the other hippos will sometimes push the dead hippo to the edge of the pond making recover much easier but not always. And time was not on our side as there was only about 1-1/2 of daylight remaining. In the end, Vickram decides it will be too dangerous to recover the hippo so we begin the long drive back to camp.

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Day 9

It is the penultimate day of the hunt. After breakfast we say our goodbyes to Van Zyl and head out to hunt buffalo. We spend the first hour or so looking for fresh tracks but find none. The trackers think that with the heavy rains of the past few days the buffalo did not leave the park for water during the evening.

About that time Vickram gets a call. The good news, there is a report that 3 dagga boys are just outside the park boundary. The bad news, it is nearly a 2 hour drive to where they are located. Could this be the lucky break we have been waiting for? Vickram tries to set expectations by telling me that these reports are not always accurate. The buffalo might not be bulls or they might not be still be there by the time we get there or it might be a false report. But at this point in the hunt we don’t have much to lose so off we go. Up to now Vickram had been pretty methodical in his driving but he clearly wanted to get to those buffalo as fast as possible. I am not sure but I think I may have lost a filling or 2 on the way! As we approach the area where the buffalo are reported to be we drive through a small village and pull off the road and get out of the Land Cruiser. We walk partway down the hillside towards the valley below. We begin to glass the area below us and we do indeed spot three bulls not 50 yards from the park boundary. A plan is quickly made and me, Vickram, Tweheyo, Yahaya and Nicholas begin stalking towards the buffalo. We are fortunate that the wind is in our favor and there are several termite mounds we can use to hide our approach. As we get closer to the buffalo, I spot 3 impala rams that are between us and the buffalo. I am worried that they will run off and spook the buffalo. Thankfully this does not happen. As we continue the stalk, the impala just slowly walk off to our right. However, I did happen to notice that one of the rams had a very impressive and wide set of horns. But no time to think about that. We are fast approaching the last termite mound between us and the buffalo. When we arrive at the termite mound Vickram peers around it and takes a close look at the buffalo.

He says “they are all old bulls but the one standing is the best one.” We are about 80 yards from the bulls. Before I left the Land Cruiser I took my double and gave my 375 RUM to Yahaya to carry. I can sense Vickram is nervous about an 80 yard shot with the double and I wonder why? All the shooting he has seen me do has been accurate so why is he nervous. He then proceeds to tell me he recently had a few clients who never recovered their wounded buffalo because they had escaped into the park. To go after a wounded animal in the park you must get special permission and you can only go 100 meters into the park to try and recover your trophy. What to do? I love to hunt with a double rifle and I had brought my double specifically to hunt the buffalo. But these buffalo were no more than 50 yards from the park border and the one standing was facing to the left towards the park! What a quandary! In the end, I decided for the sure thing and grabbed the 375 and placed the cross hairs just inside the point of the shoulder as the buffalo was now strongly quartering to me. I slowly squeeze the trigger. The buffalo was clearly hit hard and he turns to his right and was now facing mostly away from me. Vickram is yelling Shoot, Shoot, Shoot him again! As I recover from the recoil and reacquire the buffalo in my scope, I can now see blood gushing out both nostrils of buffalo. I know I have hit a lung and maybe both. I quickly cycle the bolt and put the second bullet in the back of rib cage on his right side as he severely quartering away from me. Now the bull turns back to the left towards the park and struggles to walk in that direction. The 3rd bullet drops the bull. As we approach the bull, he somehow struggles to his feet; he is dead on his feet but just doesn’t know it yet. At this point I am out of bullets in the 375, yes I had some in the ammo belt on my waist, but it was faster to grab my double from Yahaya and from 40 yards I quickly place the red dot on his shoulder and drop him for the last time!

Wow what excitement! As we have all read in many hunt reports here on AH or seen on TV or in some video or experienced ourselves, it is still amazing to me how much punishment buffalo can take before going down for good.

When it was all said and done, I was able to use my double, well at least for part of the buffalo adventure! So I felt some satisfaction in that.

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When we cut up the buffalo to distribute the meat to the locals who had gathered, we determined both lungs and the heart had bullet damage! The very worn down teeth confirmed this was a very old bull.



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How lucky was I! On the penultimate day of the hunt to get that call about the dagga boys and fortunate that they did not wander off back into the park before we arrived.


Coffee break in the African bush!


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Happy we finally got the buffalo!

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After lunch we spent the afternoon hunting for hippo with no luck.

Soon after we returned to camp for dinner the head of the Mburo National park pays a visit to our camp. He had several items to discuss with Vickram but one of the items they discuss is the problem hippos in the pond just outside the far park entrance that we had visited the day before. He was getting a lot of complaints from the local residence about the hippos and it was becoming a dangerous situation. He asked Vickram if he could help with the situation. Vickram explained that the recovery was the challenge but we would see what we could do.

Day 10

We wake up to more rain and a flat tire on the Land Cruiser. Once the flat tire is fixed we depart camp and drive clear to the other side of Vickram’s concession to the same pond just outside the park boundary and near the far park entrance that we were at 2 days before.

It is still raining when we arrive at the pond and we spend the next hour or so looking over the hippos. There are less hippos in the pond and we determine there are no bulls. We had back to camp for lunch. As we cut through the national park on the way back to camp, a huge male hippo crosses the road right in front of our Land Cruiser! We surmise he was one of the bull hippos that had been spending time in that pond.

Over lunch, I can’t seem to get that image of the big impala that I saw while stalking my buffalo out of my mind. So I ask Vickram if we can go back to that area and see if we can find that impala.

So after lunch we get in the Land Cruiser and head out for one last hunt before we start the journey home tomorrow.

It is about a 2 hour ride to the area. We drive around looking for that impala, we see a few nice rams but not him. Then Vickram spots a bachelor group of about 6 or 7 rams. We approach for a closer look. And then we see him, wow he is still very impressive looking. I ask Vickram, “do you think he will go 30?”. He says, “I doubt it.” “These very wide rams often fool you. They look so impressive because they are wide but when you put the tape to them they are not as long as you think.” I ask, “would you shoot him?” He says, “Yes, no question, I would shoot him. So we make the stalk. It is a bit tricky because he is with several other rams. But he finally clears the other rams and I have a broadside shot from about 120 yards. At the shot the rams runs off but it is clear both his front shoulders are broken. He goes about 50 yards tumbles over. As I approach the ram there is no ground shrinkage! The ram is indeed impressive. He is an old ram with very thick bases and long horns that spread out wide. We take pictures and head back to camp for dinner.


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On the drive back to camp we stop to visit a local school. The construction of the school was funded by a Vickram’s foundation that is supported by funds from hunters. Every year the foundation works with the local people to determine what investments they would like to have in their community. Unfortunately, the benefits provided by sport hunting to the wildlife and the local people are often ignored by the media.

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Most evenings we would spend some time sitting around the camp fire before eating dinner. Vickram joins us a bit late as he has been in the skinning shed checking on the impala ram. He asks me, “what do you think he measured Bill?” I say, 29 7/8”. He says no. I say 30, he says No. The longest horn measured 32” and the other 31-1/2”. Wow, what a trophy! What a way to end another memorable and VERY LUCKY safari in Africa.

At the time I did not know just how great a trophy it was. When I got home and looked it up I was shocked. Depending on how much shrinkage occurs during the 30 day drying out period, my impala may be in the top 10 or 15 all time in Rowland Ward! I will likely never shoot another trophy that scores so high in the record book. I have never posted any of my trophies in any of the record books and it is unlikely I will post this one but it was gratifying to know it was a truly outstanding East African Impala.

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I want to thank Jacques Spamer at the @JKO HUNTING SAFARIS, Van Zyl and Vickram and his entire staff for a fantastic safari. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Uganda. All the people we met and interacted with were friendly and very professional. The food was outstanding, the hunting was great and trophy quality awesome. I will definitely being go back! If you have any interest in hunting Uganda you can reach out to @PHOENIX PHIL on AH and he can help answer any questions you have.

Absolutely wonderful hunt report.....And I especially LOVE the book that Patty was reading at camp! I'm thrilled that you both liked it. Also, congratulations on such great animals. Patty is a great photographer and sure captured some great shots. Uganda had not been one of my top choices but I sure want to go there now. It sounds like a fabulous safari with a great team in a beautiful area. I Love that the local people were able to get the meat and love what @JKO HUNTING SAFARIS is doing for conservation and the local people there. Well done! Thank you Bill for sharing all this information...not just about the hunt...but about the conservation efforts and community involvement of the outfitter. Sue Tidwell

 

[buck wild]

Color me jealous!

 

[AZDAVE]

Bill nice report, thank you for sharing. That impala is very special and finally getting a buff is magical. I know you will sit close your eyes and relive every second over and over. Nice job @JKO HUNTING SAFARIS

 

[Sue Tidwell]

Color me jealous!

I agree! I want to go to Uganda!

 

[Firebird]

Thanks for the report. Excellent trophies and please thank your wife for the fun, professional pictures!

 

[Houston Bill]

Thanks for the report. Excellent trophies and please thank your wife for the fun, professional pictures!

Thanks @Firebird. I will pass along your compliments about the photos. I am so fortunate that my wife loves photography and being in the outdoors and really enjoys coming on these adventures with me. As many of you know she is not a hunter but loves the adventure and the photography.

 

[Wheels]

Congratulations on a wonderful hunt to a neat place.

Thanks for sharing your safari with us!

 

[Jerycmeach]

Bill, What a wonderful hunt report! I feel like I was there with you every step of the hunt! Seriously I aspire to do even 10% as well as you on my future reports!
The photography included in your report is amazing! It is Discovery Channel quality! Ha! I love the double rifle! Thanks for being so nice to me and helping me prepare for my elephant hunt! You were pivotal to my success! Had you not helped me prepare my rifle and ammunition case, my permits to take my firearms, my meet and greet with Anne... I dont know where to stop! Bill your sure extended the hand of friendship to me! Without you I would not have even had a double rifle to hunt my elephant with! In retrospect I am so glad that with your help and with others here on AH I was able to take my double and hunt my elephant with it! Take care and what a great hunt report!

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing! I too had an incredible time in that camp/area!

 

[Houston Bill]

Bill, What a wonderful hunt report! I feel like I was there with you every step of the hunt! Seriously I aspire to do even 10% as well as you on my future reports!
The photography included in your report is amazing! It is Discovery Channel quality! Ha! I love the double rifle! Thanks for being so nice to me and helping me prepare for my elephant hunt! You were pivotal to my success! Had you not helped me prepare my rifle and ammunition case, my permits to take my firearms, my meet and greet with Anne... I dont know where to stop! Bill your sure extended the hand of friendship to me! Without you I would not have even had a double rifle to hunt my elephant with! In retrospect I am so glad that with your help and with others here on AH I was able to take my double and hunt my elephant with it! Take care and what a great hunt report!

Jerry, Thank you so much for the kind words. And I will pass along the comments to Patty about her photography, she will be pleased to hear them.

It was truly a pleasure to help you. I have been so fortunate to have learned so much from others on AH that it is the least I can do.

I can't believe what a true adventure you had in Botswana hunting your elephant. Your ability to adapt to all of challenges and your determination to keep fighting is inspiring to me. Thanks again for the kind words.

 

[cls]

Congratulations, thanks for taking us along with a great report and pictures.

 

[Scott CWO]

Wow, great safari and congratulations! That impala is world class. You might think about entering it in the book as a tribute to the animal! Also, I admire your perseverance in getting the buffalo and great job on the bushbuck. Well done. Glad your wife made the trip. Hope your travels home were less eventful.

 

[Houston Bill]

Congrats and thanks for sharing! I too had an incredible time in that camp/area!

Thanks. I just saw your report on Uganda, looks like you had a great time as well at Vickram's place.

 

[MT Griz]

What a great trip and hunt. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Kano]

Great report, well written!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Congratulations on an epic hunting adventure with your wife! I have to commend both your writing style and the level of detail that you provided.
I will be hunting Uganda next year and this makes the anticipation of that hunt almost unbearable.

HH

 

[Houston Bill]

Congratulations on an epic hunting adventure with your wife! I have to commend both your writing style and the level of detail that you provided.
I will be hunting Uganda next year and this makes the anticipation of that hunt almost unbearable.

HH

Thanks HH. I am sure you will have a great time and a great hunt in Uganda. What is on your list of animals to hunt?

 

[wsv]

Sounds like the trip of a lifetime! Do you plan on going back to Uganda for future trips or exploring other countries you haven’t been to yet?

Day 8

We wake at 5:30 AM to pouring rain so my wife and I roll over and go back to sleep and get up at 8:30 AM. By 9:00 the rain subsides and we are getting ready to leave camp. It is a gloomy morning so not the best light for getting good photos so Patty decides to stay in camp. She says she is going to rest up and read Cries of the Savanah by @Sue Tidwell. “I am going to get my safari experience today through Sue” she says as I kiss her goodbye and get on the Land Cruiser. I have read Cries of the Savannah and if you have not read it yet, I can highly recommend it. It is a great read for those of us that hunt but it also makes a great gift to those folks in your life that do not hunt. Sue, a non-hunter, does a great job of explaining the benefits of sport hunting while telling the story of her first African safari with her husband.

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We spend a good part of the morning searching for buffalo but are thwarted again by swirling winds after stalking a herd in the thick bush. As we are driving to another location the herd actually crosses the road in front of us but by the time we get out of the Land Cruiser and get on the tracks they are into the thick bush again with the park boundary not far away.

Everyone is dejected as we head back to camp for a late lunch. Along the way we spot a nice large stallion zebra. Typically we would see 100 or more zebra a day so hunting them was not a challenge. Again I decided to use my double. After a relatively short stalk to within 48 yards of the zebra I drop him in his tracks with a 400 gr DGX. With another animal headed to the salt the mood in the Land Cruiser is a bit brighter.


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That afternoon Vickram gets a call about several hippos in a dam very close to the far entrance of the Mburo National Park. So around 3:00 PM we leave and take a short cut through the park to save about an hour and a half drive time. As we make our way through the park we see hippos, buffalo (some great dagga boy trophies that I wish they were outside the park!) Rothchild’s giraffe, impala, bushbuck and waterbuck and a fish eagle. Patty gets some great photos.

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Of all the buffalos I saw this old warrior was the one I most wanted to see outside of the park but never did.


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As we exit the park at the far entrance around 4:30 PM. It is only a few hundred yards to the dam. As we approach the dam we can see the heads of several hippos. We slowly make our way around to the back side of the dam to get a closer look at the hippos. After glassing he pond for a while we determine there are at least 12 hippos in the water and probably 2 large males. We take up a position on the hillside overlooking the pond about 60 yards or so from the hippos. I get set up on the sticks in a sitting position and practice dry firing several times at a point near the base of the ear or at the tip of the inverted V with a frontal presentation. I am confident I can make a killing first shot. The challenge becomes how are we going to recover the hippo before dark. The pond is covered with a thick leafy plant that will make it quite difficult to quickly swim out to the hippo and tie a rope on its leg so we can pull it ashore. And the trackers would need to do this with the other 11 hippos likely still in the pond! Vickram tells me that in situations like this the other hippos will sometimes push the dead hippo to the edge of the pond making recover much easier but not always. And time was not on our side as there was only about 1-1/2 of daylight remaining. In the end, Vickram decides it will be too dangerous to recover the hippo so we begin the long drive back to camp.

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Day 9

It is the penultimate day of the hunt. After breakfast we say our goodbyes to Van Zyl and head out to hunt buffalo. We spend the first hour or so looking for fresh tracks but find none. The trackers think that with the heavy rains of the past few days the buffalo did not leave the park for water during the evening.

About that time Vickram gets a call. The good news, there is a report that 3 dagga boys are just outside the park boundary. The bad news, it is nearly a 2 hour drive to where they are located. Could this be the lucky break we have been waiting for? Vickram tries to set expectations by telling me that these reports are not always accurate. The buffalo might not be bulls or they might not be still be there by the time we get there or it might be a false report. But at this point in the hunt we don’t have much to lose so off we go. Up to now Vickram had been pretty methodical in his driving but he clearly wanted to get to those buffalo as fast as possible. I am not sure but I think I may have lost a filling or 2 on the way! As we approach the area where the buffalo are reported to be we drive through a small village and pull off the road and get out of the Land Cruiser. We walk partway down the hillside towards the valley below. We begin to glass the area below us and we do indeed spot three bulls not 50 yards from the park boundary. A plan is quickly made and me, Vickram, Tweheyo, Yahaya and Nicholas begin stalking towards the buffalo. We are fortunate that the wind is in our favor and there are several termite mounds we can use to hide our approach. As we get closer to the buffalo, I spot 3 impala rams that are between us and the buffalo. I am worried that they will run off and spook the buffalo. Thankfully this does not happen. As we continue the stalk, the impala just slowly walk off to our right. However, I did happen to notice that one of the rams had a very impressive and wide set of horns. But no time to think about that. We are fast approaching the last termite mound between us and the buffalo. When we arrive at the termite mound Vickram peers around it and takes a close look at the buffalo.

He says “they are all old bulls but the one standing is the best one.” We are about 80 yards from the bulls. Before I left the Land Cruiser I took my double and gave my 375 RUM to Yahaya to carry. I can sense Vickram is nervous about an 80 yard shot with the double and I wonder why? All the shooting he has seen me do has been accurate so why is he nervous. He then proceeds to tell me he recently had a few clients who never recovered their wounded buffalo because they had escaped into the park. To go after a wounded animal in the park you must get special permission and you can only go 100 meters into the park to try and recover your trophy. What to do? I love to hunt with a double rifle and I had brought my double specifically to hunt the buffalo. But these buffalo were no more than 50 yards from the park border and the one standing was facing to the left towards the park! What a quandary! In the end, I decided for the sure thing and grabbed the 375 and placed the cross hairs just inside the point of the shoulder as the buffalo was now strongly quartering to me. I slowly squeeze the trigger. The buffalo was clearly hit hard and he turns to his right and was now facing mostly away from me. Vickram is yelling Shoot, Shoot, Shoot him again! As I recover from the recoil and reacquire the buffalo in my scope, I can now see blood gushing out both nostrils of buffalo. I know I have hit a lung and maybe both. I quickly cycle the bolt and put the second bullet in the back of rib cage on his right side as he severely quartering away from me. Now the bull turns back to the left towards the park and struggles to walk in that direction. The 3rd bullet drops the bull. As we approach the bull, he somehow struggles to his feet; he is dead on his feet but just doesn’t know it yet. At this point I am out of bullets in the 375, yes I had some in the ammo belt on my waist, but it was faster to grab my double from Yahaya and from 40 yards I quickly place the red dot on his shoulder and drop him for the last time!

Wow what excitement! As we have all read in many hunt reports here on AH or seen on TV or in some video or experienced ourselves, it is still amazing to me how much punishment buffalo can take before going down for good.

When it was all said and done, I was able to use my double, well at least for part of the buffalo adventure! So I felt some satisfaction in that.

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When we cut up the buffalo to distribute the meat to the locals who had gathered, we determined both lungs and the heart had bullet damage! The very worn down teeth confirmed this was a very old bull.



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How lucky was I! On the penultimate day of the hunt to get that call about the dagga boys and fortunate that they did not wander off back into the park before we arrived.


Coffee break in the African bush!


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Happy we finally got the buffalo!

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After lunch we spent the afternoon hunting for hippo with no luck.

Soon after we returned to camp for dinner the head of the Mburo National park pays a visit to our camp. He had several items to discuss with Vickram but one of the items they discuss is the problem hippos in the pond just outside the far park entrance that we had visited the day before. He was getting a lot of complaints from the local residence about the hippos and it was becoming a dangerous situation. He asked Vickram if he could help with the situation. Vickram explained that the recovery was the challenge but we would see what we could do.

Day 10

We wake up to more rain and a flat tire on the Land Cruiser. Once the flat tire is fixed we depart camp and drive clear to the other side of Vickram’s concession to the same pond just outside the park boundary and near the far park entrance that we were at 2 days before.

It is still raining when we arrive at the pond and we spend the next hour or so looking over the hippos. There are less hippos in the pond and we determine there are no bulls. We had back to camp for lunch. As we cut through the national park on the way back to camp, a huge male hippo crosses the road right in front of our Land Cruiser! We surmise he was one of the bull hippos that had been spending time in that pond.

Over lunch, I can’t seem to get that image of the big impala that I saw while stalking my buffalo out of my mind. So I ask Vickram if we can go back to that area and see if we can find that impala.

So after lunch we get in the Land Cruiser and head out for one last hunt before we start the journey home tomorrow.

It is about a 2 hour ride to the area. We drive around looking for that impala, we see a few nice rams but not him. Then Vickram spots a bachelor group of about 6 or 7 rams. We approach for a closer look. And then we see him, wow he is still very impressive looking. I ask Vickram, “do you think he will go 30?”. He says, “I doubt it.” “These very wide rams often fool you. They look so impressive because they are wide but when you put the tape to them they are not as long as you think.” I ask, “would you shoot him?” He says, “Yes, no question, I would shoot him. So we make the stalk. It is a bit tricky because he is with several other rams. But he finally clears the other rams and I have a broadside shot from about 120 yards. At the shot the rams runs off but it is clear both his front shoulders are broken. He goes about 50 yards tumbles over. As I approach the ram there is no ground shrinkage! The ram is indeed impressive. He is an old ram with very thick bases and long horns that spread out wide. We take pictures and head back to camp for dinner.


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On the drive back to camp we stop to visit a local school. The construction of the school was funded by a Vickram’s foundation that is supported by funds from hunters. Every year the foundation works with the local people to determine what investments they would like to have in their community. Unfortunately, the benefits provided by sport hunting to the wildlife and the local people are often ignored by the media.

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Most evenings we would spend some time sitting around the camp fire before eating dinner. Vickram joins us a bit late as he has been in the skinning shed checking on the impala ram. He asks me, “what do you think he measured Bill?” I say, 29 7/8”. He says no. I say 30, he says No. The longest horn measured 32” and the other 31-1/2”. Wow, what a trophy! What a way to end another memorable and VERY LUCKY safari in Africa.

At the time I did not know just how great a trophy it was. When I got home and looked it up I was shocked. Depending on how much shrinkage occurs during the 30 day drying out period, my impala may be in the top 10 or 15 all time in Rowland Ward! I will likely never shoot another trophy that scores so high in the record book. I have never posted any of my trophies in any of the record books and it is unlikely I will post this one but it was gratifying to know it was a truly outstanding East African Impala.

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I want to thank Jacques Spamer at the @JKO HUNTING SAFARIS, Van Zyl and Vickram and his entire staff for a fantastic safari. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Uganda. All the people we met and interacted with were friendly and very professional. The food was outstanding, the hunting was great and trophy quality awesome. I will definitely being go back! If you have any interest in hunting Uganda you can reach out to @PHOENIX PHIL on AH and he can help answer any questions you have.