After a hearty breakfast at the camp -the chef there does wonders- and a good traditional siesta, we leave the river upstream. It is 4:00pm. We are in our fourth day of hunting and we have seen many animals: oribi, Ugandan Defassa Waterbuck, Bohor reedbuck, cob of Uganda, Nile bushbuck, East African bush duiker (Grimm) and of course many more waterbuck known as sitatunga.

We leave the camp in our hunting vehicle and drive for about 1km. That is where we have our first “machane” (or lookout platform on stilts often built in the trees). A superb observatory on top of a large mound. We have cut papyrus over a hundred meters. The sitatunga will eat the new shoots in a few weeks, they love it. No animals on the freshly established area.

The following machane is at about 800m. It has been operational for longer and we find many signs betraying the ponctual visits of water bushbuck. Many paryrus heads freshly regrown have already disappeared. That’s the place where we will spend the afternoon. One of our trackers and game scout (Official following all hunting) will go to post in the lookout located about 500m away.

Standing on the platform, I spotted a young male at 80m in the part of papyrus cut earlier this year. He moves quietly, meticulously selecting his lunch. We’re a little surprised not to see any females. We have been so used to seeing them these days on other lookouts.

This new concession in Uganda is home to such a density of sitatunga that we almost forget how furtive this legendary antelope is. We have been in the lookout for less than 20 minutes when we hear someone running towards us. It is Gilbert, the second tracker, who rushes barefoot in order to make his run as silent as possible. When they climbed up the ladder to their machane, they started a large male sitatunga lying in the tall grass at the edge of the papyrus. “Sana Bwana Kubwa, kubwa sana …” (that is a very great man, a great …). We let Gilbert in our lookout and we hasten to join his. When we get there, the game scout shows us where the animal disappeared in the high papyrus. It would be impossible to find him in the water and the vegetation is too thick. The best way to hunt them is to wait in one of the hides overlooking the marshy banks of papyrus covering the Kafue river. Read the rest of this entry »

Xavier and myself are currently in the middle of Uganda looking for the big sitatunga of East Africa. My friend has been hunting with us for a few years now in different countries. And we have decided to meet in Entebbe this past 7th May for an expedition trip in the heart of the big sitatunga kingdom of Uganda. We are very fortunate to have most probably the best concessions in the world to hunt this legendary waterbuck.

Day 4: Peter (my old hunting friend from Tanzania would not have missed this expedition trip for the whole world!), Xavier and myself are meeting for coffee at 5:00 am in this beautiful camp mess situated on the Kafue river. Read the rest of this entry »

Bob and Chris Beck along with the EOL crew travel to the Eastern Cape of South Africa to hunt long range with Christophe Beau of Grand Safari. Enjoy it!

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Last 2013 North American sportsmen show for Grand Safari, hope to see you guys on our usual booth # 213 here at the Big E in Springfield MASS

After the show in Montréal and the one in Toronto, Michel Langlois and myself are just carrying on our marketing tour in Canada. We are now at Quebec City at the Parmesan restaurant to meet Dave, the lucky hunter that was picked up at the lucky draw during the April 2012 hunting show in Beauce. Dave will join us for a duiker, impala and springbok safari on us in a few weeks time. Thank you Dave for entering the competition, we are looking forward to have you on board. Read the rest of this entry »

SCI convention in Reno is now over, it was good spending some time with Extreme Outer Limits / McMillan crew on their booth, thank you all for the great interest shown on our long range safaris in South Africa.

Remember we also run Cape Buffalo, big cats and 21 day safaris in Tanzania as well as Bongo and Lord Derby Eland safaris in Cameroon. Feel free to drop us an e-mail for further details.

Grand Safari (South Africa, Tanzania, and Cameroon) and Grand Safari USA has joined the boycott of the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg. Our decision supports the Second Amendment rights of our US hunters, the existing signed contract between exhibitors and the show organizers (Reed Expositions), and the customer’s right to choose without infringement by arbitrary corporate policies. We regret the inconvenience to our customers, and invite you to discuss your safari plans with us by telephone (001 27 82 893 8389 or leave a message on 802 870 0050), e-mail ([email protected]), virtual show (http://mynortheastoutdoors.com/esos-boycott-supporters/), and at the Springfield MA show on February 21 through 24. Read the rest of this entry »