Darren Smit 2007 Diary

This was a season I was really looking forward too ! At the end of a fantastic 2006 hunting season in Botswana I boarded SAA to Tanzania for a short visit to the Selous game reserve with Miombo safaris . I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the country , abundance and variety of game I wasted no time in making a decision to start hunting in Tanzania along with Botswana.

After a great visit to the USA seeing all the old friends and meeting new ones. I headed back to Botswana to start the new season.

Botswana was dry this year with well below average rains this season so nobody knew what to expect . I started hunting out of Mapane Camp and later Splash , both areas were really dry but that never minded the big old bulls who were around . ( just goes to show how unpredictable the bush is ) .On my first safari for the season I was with a Spanish hunter a lucky guy to I must add. On the first day we found a good sized track late that afternoon over our tracks from earlier that day and decided to follow it which only took us about an hour to catch the feeding bull . A well placed shot at last light brought down a 79lbs bull .Definitely one of the finest start to my hunting season ever.

Some times things just fall into your lap!!

Later I moved south to splash camp in the delta to hunt elephant with Chris Dandridge and Kerry. Kerry is a true elephant hunter in the sense , he is passionate and dedicated to elephant hunting . We were fortunate to be in a position were we were seeing numerous bulls and Kerry collected some fine ivory all between 55lbs and 72lbs.

Had a great time with you Kerry and look forward to hunting elephant with you again next season !!

After a short but exciting season in Botswana it was time to head north to Tanzania I started my season in the Selous game reserve with Michael Retzer focusing on leopard. I was very impressed by the amount of leopard activity in the area and on day eight Michael took a nice tom after having passed up a tom earlier in the safari. Michael also took an exceptional hippo bull on his safari along with a few other species of planes game.

I had a great time with Michael his dad Michael and buddy Elliot lots of laugh’s and enjoyed sharing my first safaris in Tanzania with you guys and look forward to doing it again!

Having completed my first safaris in Tanzania successfully I let out a sigh of relief and was now even more excited about my next hunt in the Selous again focusing on Mr Spots . Paco Alonsa had hunted leopard previously so we were looking for a big one . The first few days were spent hanging baits as the normal routine for cat hunting so we had some fun fulfilling Paco’s licenses in preparation . Then in a very remote part of the area we had a cat on bait and the signs looked good so we decided to sit in the blind that afternoon and test our skills on patience (little did we know that this was going to be a true tester) and see if our cat would show up. No cat that evening so back to camp for a quick dinner and early morning wake up . As we got into our blind at 5am that morning the big tom was at the tree and feeding , we waited patiently almost begging the sun to start rising but our cat had his meal and left before we had enough light to shoot . This went on for three days more and on the fifth morning Paco’s leopard stayed in the tree just a few minutes longer and Paco could make out his cross hairs and made an excellent shot.

Paco’s patience paid off well done !

My last safari in the Selous was a short buffalo hunt with the Tahir family which I did with Ph Gourgie Ferrera . The Tahir family had a great safari collecting a variety of plains game niassa wildebeest , lichenstiens hartebeest , hyena , zebra , impala and buffalo. We were also fortunate enough to see leopard on three occasions.

Tahirs and the staff of Miombo safaris after a fun filled safari with lots of laughter!

After a good first half to the season I moved on to Kilombero an area that will take your breath away with beautiful rivers , floodplains and Miombo wooded hills. This area has a high density of game and some of the finest tiger fishing I have ever experienced or heard of.

I started hunting here with Professor Jud , who came from another of our areas after successfully taking a big leopard to collect a few species like sable , puku , crocodile and lithenstiens hartebeest.

Professor is a seasoned hunter and a real pleasure to hunt with!

I had a few days before my next safari so decided to take advantage of the fishing which I had heard to be quite good . Well good it was ! Being a keen fisherman I have fished many waters in Africa for tiger fish and nothing could be compared . Here eighteen to twenty pounders are not uncommon.

Fishing rods away and back to work! I moved down stream to Mkeka camp in the floodplains of the Kilombero to hunt with Dr Willinger . Dr had spent a few weeks on safari already so time was not on our side and had to get to work. We arrived in camp late the evening , got settled in , opened a beer and we started hearing lion . This sounded very promising and I could barely sleep as I was so excited about the morning . We decided to leave camp before light and head in the direction of the lions hoping to get a look at them and hoping there would be a shooter.

With first light creeping over the horizon we started walking in the direction of the lion who were by now only letting out an accessional roar. Slowly we moved in the direction waiting for the next roar when we spotted a young male walking to our right with the wind in our favor we sat down in the grass hoping to see the another bigger lion . Then after what felt like a life time we saw our lion walking straight toward us , we sat tight and as he came to within forty yards I told Dr to stand up and see if he could get a shot but he stopped right in some thick grass and we could only see the top of his head . He stared at us for a few seconds then turn and disappeared into the grass . Realizing we would not have a good chance trying to track this lion in he long grass we decided to get a bait up in the area as well as build a blind to be prepared to get in early the next morning . Things went to plan , when we were approaching our blind we heard the lion roaring nearby .We managed to get into our blind undetected with the lions feeding we waited until there was enough light for Dr to make his well placed shot . Later that day Dr got a really nice puku.

Well Done Dr on completing your big five !

I rounded my season off Hunting with Morri and Janis Ederman . Hunting with Morri was very interesting he was an excellent shot handling his 505 Gibbs at over 200 yards as well as any light caliber rifle and is also one of the most knowledgeable persons on rifles and calibers I have ever met . We hunted hard for lion but luck was just not on our side. We saw and passed up many males and could just not find one better than Morris previous three lions he has taken . Morri collected a few other species like an exceptional puku and bohor reedbuck a monster crocodile and some fine buffalo.

Had a great time with you guys and really look forward to seeing you again !

This season was one of my most interesting yet, I hunted a new country, areas and species and most of all met and hunted with some great people once again ! Thanks to all the great hunters I hunted with this year for sharing my passion with me.