Another opportunity has opened up in Uganda. It’s the Karamoja in the northeastern part of the country. Famed hunter W.D.M. Bell was named “Karamojo” Bell for his many safaris there and the hundreds of elephants he killed in this region. This is a vast area covering approximately 10,000 square miles (27,000 square kilometers). It stretches from Mount Elgon in the south to the border of Sudan in the north, surrounding Kidepo Valley National Park, and hugging the border of Kenya. It contains two wildlife reserves — Pian-Upe and Matheniko-Bokora — as well as three Community Wildlife Areas (CWAs). For the past 30 years, this area has been in a constant state of insecurity, with activity by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and cattle-raiding Karimojong warriors. But serious efforts by the Ugandan Army over recent years have stabilized the area, and now the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has entered into a cooperative management agreement with two private companies to manage the entire area for sporthunting. The two companies are Karimojong Overland Safaris (which manages Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve and Amudat CWA) and Karamojo Safari (managing Mathe- niko-Bokora Wildlife Reserve and Iriri and Karenga CWAs). Their co-operative is called W.D.M. Wildlife.
I learned of this development from Hunting Report subscriber Lane Easter when he returned from an exploratory hunt there just this past April. I’m putting Lane on our Subscriber Honor Roll and sending him a Hunting Report cap for sharing this find with the rest of us. Easter hunted in the northern part of the area, about 30 miles outside of Kidepo. His was one of only four exploratory hunts conducted. During his safari there were no permanent camps established and roads were created as they went. Easter reports seeing huge populations of Cape buffalo, oribi, Jackson’s hartebeest and reedbuck. He also found herds of elephant he could not begin to count and lots of lion and leopard tracks. He was hoping to kill a buffalo in the 40- to 45-inch range. Although he reports seeing a number of such dagga boys (including one he swears was 50 inches), Easter did not connect with one and instead took a fine old bull with a worn down boss that measures well over 39 inches. He also took a 69-inch Jackson’s hartebeest. (See photos in the Trophy Gallery section of our website.)
“The area is vast and largely unexplored for the last 30 years, so the PHs are learning every day,” he writes. I followed up with Easter by telephone, and he described his trip as a grand “Old Africa” adventure in pristine habitat. “In the future, this area will rival Tanzania, but for now this is a wilderness hunt that requires patience. Don’t go there expecting a five-star camp,” he says.....
