Our Tanzanian safari outfitter operates in five separate concessions in southwestern Tanzania encompassing approximately 7.4 million acres (3 million hectares) as well as one Wildlife Management Area in northern Tanzania as follows.

Lukwati North and South Game Reserve

The Lukwati Game Reserve borders Lake Rukwa to the west and the Rungwa and Yeye Rivers to the north. To the east lies the Mwipa River and Forest Reserve. This well watered area consists of Miombo woodlands, floodplains, rocky outcrops, mountain ranges and numerous rivers – both seasonal and permanent. Large herds of buffalo are resident year round and this area is well known for outstanding lion, leopard and sable as well as a variety of other animals such as hippo, crocodile, eland, Lichenstein’s hartebeest, oribi, klipspringer bushbuck and duiker. Tsetse flies are present in but the area is generally free of mosquitoes.

Chunya East and West, Piti West Open Area

Chunya and Piti are adjacent to the Lukwati Game Reserve and border the Rungwa River to the northwest and the Piti River to the north. This area also consists of Miombo woodlands interspersed with floodplains, mountain ranges, springs and seasonal rivers. These areas have a large concentration of sable, with good populations of both greater kudu and roan. Good quality lion, leopard, buffalo and eland can also be hunted here. Other species available include klipspringer, oribi, hippo, duiker, zebra, impala and bushpig. Like Lukwati, tsetse flies are present but there are very few mosquitoes.

Ngaserai Wildlife Management Area

Ngaserai lies north of Arusha at the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. This scenic area consists of acacia woodland and thorn scrub with wide open plains stretching towards Mt. Kilimanjaro to the east and Longido to the north. This area produces some outstanding lesser kudu and gerenuk, as well as many of the other East African species typically found in Masailand including fringe-eared oryx, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle, white-bearded wildebeest, zebra and ostrich. There are no buffalo on quota in Ngaserai.

The arrival/departure point will be Kilimanjaro International Airport in Arusha, Republic of Tanzania. Clients will be met at the airport and transferred via charter aircraft to the hunt area.

Transportation to/from the various concessions will be arranged via air charter, with costs calculated on a shared basis.

Air Charters – 2010 Hunting Season

Air charter costs may vary from the above according to the number of passengers and the type of aircraft required. In the event of any changes in arrival/departure dates caused by the client, the cost of the entire charter will be will be billed as an additional fee. Likewise, any aircraft upgrade will result in the cost differential being billed to the client concerned. Company employees are not charged in conjunction with charter travel. Please use duffel bags rather than hard cases and pack your firearms in soft cases for transportation between Arusha and the hunting camps to decrease weight. Any unforeseen increases in air charter costs will be added to your final account.

Once in the hunting concession, ground transportation consisting of a four wheel drive vehicle will be provided within the hunt area.

The accommodations in each concession consist of traditional tented camps with a communal dining area. Each tent has an en-suite bathroom with hot and cold shower and flush toilet.

Daily laundry service is provided at all camps as a courtesy for the guests.

Breakfast and dinner will be served each day and will include a selection of breads, meats, fruits and vegetables based on availability and individual preferences. Meats served during your stay will include a sampling of the local wild game and will be expertly prepared for your dining pleasure.

On most days, the hunting party will return to camp for lunch and an opportunity to rest during the middle of the day when most of the game animals are inactive. In those instances where the hunting party will stay out all day, packed lunches and drinks will be provided

Alcoholic beverages will be provided and will include a selection of wines, domestic beer and a limited supply of distilled spirits. Those individuals wishing to imbibe a specific brand of American, Canadian or Scottish spirits would be advised to purchase a bottle in the duty free shops in transit to ensure that your preferred brand is available. Mineral waters are also provided.

Fair chase hunting utilizing spot and stalk techniques early and late in the day.

Cat hunting will involve baiting – once a bait has been hit, a blind will be built and the hunter will typically spend the early morning and late afternoon hours in the blind waiting for the cat to return to the bait to feed.

Elephant and buffalo hunting will be conducted almost entirely by tracking, with the early morning hours spent cruising local roads within the concession looking for fresh tracks. Once a suitable track has been located, the hunting party will follow the track until the quarry has been located or the track become untenable.

Bow hunting is mostly conducted from blinds at waterholes. Spot and stalk techniques represent another option for the more adventurous hunter, but this technique is not as successful as hunting from blinds.

Baboon, bushbuck, bushpig, cape buffalo, civet, crocodile, Defassa waterbuck, East African greater kudu, eland, elephant, dik-dik, duiker, gazelle (both Grant’s and Thompson’s), gerenuk, hartebeest, hippo, hyena, impala (both East African and southern), jackal, klipspringer, leopard, lesser kudu, Lichenstein’s hartebeest, lion, oribi, ostrich, reedbuck (both mountain and southern), roan, sable, small cats, warthog, white-bearded wildebeest and zebra.

The hunting season in Tanzania runs from July 1 through December 31 each year, with the optimum season generally being July through September.

While any flat-shooting caliber from the .270 Winchester upwards should be sufficient for most of the smaller plains game species; we recommend a .300 Winchester Magnum or equivalent if available – particularly for eland, roan, sable, wildebeest and zebra.

Shots at Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle on the plains can often involve shooting at long distances under windy conditions, so a flat shooting rifle capable of reaching out beyond 200 yards is particularly important when hunting these particular species. Likewise, the bullet selected should be a premium bonded core soft point. Specific recommendations can be made upon request.

We would also recommend a variable power scope with a low power setting somewhere around 3X to 4X and a high power setting somewhere around 10X to 12X.

Be advised that semi-automatic and/or military-style rifles are generally not allowed in Africa.

For dangerous game such as cape buffalo, elephant, hippo and lion, the minimum acceptable caliber should be a .375, whether the .375 Ruger, .375 H & H Magnum or equivalent. Again, specific recommendations for calibers and bullets can be made upon request.

Much of your shooting will be done while standing utilizing shooting sticks – as is standard practice throughout Africa. We highly recommend that you obtain a pair of shooting sticks such as those offered by Long Grass Outfitters or African Sporting Creations and practice shooting from the standing position off of the sticks. Shots on some plains game species often exceed 200 yards, so you need to know the ballistics of your rifle and be comfortable shooting out to 400 yards. In other words, practice, practice, practice!

A list of recommended clothing and equipment will be furnished upon booking. For initial hunt planning purposes, general recommendations can be made upon request.

Tanzania lies so close to the equator that seasonal variations in temperature generally are not extreme, but are subject to altitudinal influences. Tanzania experiences two distinct seasons as follows:

* a summer season that generally runs from mid-December through March; and

* a winter season that generally runs from June through October.

The periods from April through May and November to mid-December are transitional periods that roughly compare to the spring and fall periods in the more temperate climates.

Owing to the country's widely varying topography, Tanzania's climate displays great range of regional differences.

In the Central, Northern and Western: Around Mwanza Kagera, Kigoma, Shinyanga and Tabora, the climate is modified by the highland plateau and is characterized by low humidity with temperatures ranging between 68 and 81°F during the winter months of June through August. The temperature can reach 86°F and higher between the summer months of December and March.

Northeast and Southwest: In the mountainous areas of the country (including the areas surrounding Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mara, Mbeya, Rukwa, Iringa, Ruvuma and the Makonde Plateau), the temperature occasionally drops below 60°F at night during the winter months of June and July. In the Rungwe mountains and surrounding area, the temperature can reach lows around 42°F during the winter months.

Central: A large part of central region (Dodoma and Singida) is semi-arid, receiving less that 20 inches of rain annually. In contrast, the mountainous area in the northeast and southwest receive over 78 inches of rain annually. Along the coast rainfall ranges between 40 and 75 inches annually.

Tanzania experiences two distinct rainfall patterns consisting of the “short” rains which generally begin in late October and continue through December and the “long” rains which generally last from March through May. The coolest months are from June to October, and the warmest are from December to March.

Take a small digital camera that you can carry in your shirt or vest pocket for your trophy photos and learn how to use the camera before your trip. I would also recommend taking a slightly larger camera such as the Canon PowerShot SX-1 IS or the PowerShot SX-10 IS – both of which have a 20X optical zoom (equal to a 560 mm telephoto lens) for shots of wildlife while you are driving around the bush or sitting at the waterhole. After four trips to Africa, I assure you that you won’t regret the investment and you will bring home outstanding photos of the African wildlife that the smaller cameras just don’t have the optical zoom to capture.

A wide diversity of habitats are represented within the Tanzania hunt areas ranging from open Miombo woodland with relatively thick riverine vegetation and rolling woodlands in the southwest to the open plains and rolling acacia/thorn bush foothills of both Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru within Masailand. Nonetheless, hunting plains game in these areas is not especially demanding.

Dangerous game hunting including buffalo and elephant may involve considerable walking as one tracks herds and individual animals, so the hunter wishing to pursue these animals should be accustomed to walking long distances each day. Again, the terrain should not be overly challenging and the tracking process is typically slow and methodical up until the point that the quarry is sighted and then it may be necessary to move quickly in order to get into position for a shot. Make sure that your hunting boots are well broken in before your safari!

On a fitness scale of one to ten (with one being very poor physical condition and ten being excellent physical condition), I would only rate the physical level of this hunt at a five. So long as the hunter is able to walk reasonable distances with some climbing over or around rocky kopjes or tracking through the rolling acacia/miombo forests, there should not be a problem from a physical standpoint.

Keep in mind that your Professional Hunter will be very happy to gear the pace of the hunt to fit your particular physical abilities – so don’t hesitate to advise if he is moving too fast, walking too far, etc. After all, it is your safari, so don’t be afraid to speak up and advise your PH of your expectations, physical abilities or physical limitations!