Return to Maasailand and Ngorongoro Crater 2010

In October 2010 Professional Hunter & DCVP Videographer Rayno Egner travelled to Maasailand in Tanzania to document a Maasai species hunt with Christy Bass of Dallas Texas.

Rayno Egner writes…

Just south of the border between Kenya and Tanzania and west of Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro lies the Rift Valley. Here from the dusty plains that lie on the foundations of the Ngorongoro Crater, between Lake Manyara and Lake Natron, to the top of the misty dew moistened forests of Mount Losimingori is the game controlled hunting area of MtoWaMbu.

It has been several years since I filmed a safari in Tanzania. It has been several years since I last was in Maasai land and several years since I last visited the Crater and MtoWaMbu. When the opportunity arose to film Christy’s hunt it was an easy decision to make. It would be a great opportunity to re-visit an area and country that in the past shared many of my travels and experiences. It was destined to be a memorable hunt and it turned out to be exactly that!

Travelling from Joburg to Nairobi then hopping across the border on an early evening flight thru the “Gates” of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru myself and PH Hans Vermaak met up with Christy as she landed on the late evening flight inbound from Europe on KLM.

We settled in camp the next evening after a 3 hour drive from Arusha and watched the sun setting over the Crater rim in the distance.

It was an early start the next morning as we checked the rifles and prepared for 12 days of hunting. In the first few days Christy took some magnificent trophies including a Dik Dik, Grants Gazelle and a Lesser Kudu which tested the skills of the trackers and quick shooting from Christy. We then focused on Gerenuk and Fringe-eared Oryx. Following a report from one of the other hunting vehicles we tried to get onto an Oryx with huge lion wounds down its back but it managed to evade us. We passed many Gerenuk females each day until on the 7^th a fine ram gave us a good hunt and went down with a single “on the walk” shot from the 300 win mag. It was then time to focus entirely on the Oryx. With the next day being a day off to visit the Crater we worked hard and at last light we found the same “lion scratched” Oryx as earlier in the Hunt. He took only one shot and went down as the light faded.

The Visit to the Ngorongoro crater was superb with 4 of the Big 5 sited in just 2 and half hours! It also gave us a chance to recharge before continuing the safari back in Mtowambu. The last few days saw us checking leopard baits and taking on the thick steep undergrowth of Losimingor Mountain and coming off second, ultimately turning around and admitting defeat. Christy also secured herself other trophies such as a Thompsons Gazelle and White Bearded Gnu.

With the hunt complete and successful it was time to head back to Arusha and check out the local wares and Tanzanite before heading home. As we headed out on the early bird precision air flight towards Nairobi and the Sun poked its orange head over the white face of Kilimanjaro I realized that my return to this beautiful and diverse country could not have come any sooner!

First Hunt of the Season starts off with a blast 2010!

The 2010 safari season is already here and the first hunt went very well. A fantastic Buff, Steenbok and Big Gemsbok were highlights of the hunt. In a few days time I will be off to Zimbabwe for 3 Big safaris and will keep all updated when I get back at the end of August.

Its a busy year this year will safaris going all the way into November and a Marco Polo hunt in Tajikistan still on the cards! keep the fingers crossed!

Safari Hunting Season Trophy Highlights

Here are some of the Highlighted trophies taken in the 2009 safari season with Rayno Egner and Coenraad Vermaak Safaris. Amongst them are some truly beautiful specimens including 2 30"+ Nyala, a magnificent Timbavati Lion and a Suni and Red Duiker combo taken 30 min apart!Also let us not forget the Zebra hunt that ended in a smashed finger! Thank you to all of the Clients both new and old who hunted with me this season. Looking forward to sharing a campfire again soon!!!

Safari Season Update 2009

The Season has finally come to an End! It has been eventful and Busy with some fantastic trophies taken in both the Hunting and Fishing departments! I will post some of the best hunting pics up shortly but first wanted to give a brief rundown of the great time that was had at Rio Azul with the Mortimer group and Garreth Coombes of AFRI-G safaris. The Fishing was supposedly slow but each angler at some point or another during our 4 days of Fishing got a good hook up with Fish.
On the filming side of things there were some great underwater shots and a very exciting hook up of a huge GT on the surface plug amidst a shoal of Fusiliers!
Here are some pics.

Trout Bum Style

We have started the ball rolling with a new production on sightfishing for river and stream trout in South Africa. Location - TBA

Lion charge filmed in Botswana

Thought I would insert this lion charge I filmed in Botswana a couple of years back, It has been posted on Youtube by another user but the clip is taken off the dvd edited by African Video Productions and filmed by Rayno Egner. It covers the 45 yards in 2.16 seconds!

Sterkfontein

Sterkfontein has to be one of the most special places to be at when the fishing is cooking and the weather perfect. Sightfishing utopia and a stunning backdrop is what this place is all about!
I plan on being there around mid december to complete the filming of Safari and Film Africa's latest project-to be released next year autumn. The dvd will cover most of the challenges anglers face at Sterkfontein and will be filled with awesome scenic, wildlife and fishing shots! The edit style will also be slightly against the run of mill stuff like ESA, Jeep and wildfly-a fresh change is in order I think? Yip thats the plan-check out the sight mid Jan as a trip to mozambique is also on the cards for the new year.

Trailer for the dvd to be released next year fall!