The Karamoja region of northern Uganda may best be known for the elephant hunting exploits of WD “Karamojo” Bell and his famous writings, but today this remote area derives its well-earned reputation from being what many experienced hunters consider the absolute best buffalo hunting on the Dark Continent.
I have been fortunate to hunt Karamoja four times over the past five years, and as an international hunt consultant for Worldwide Trophy Adventures, I have sent many clients to do the same. The region we hunt is operated by Christian Weth and UWS, and it is situated in extreme north Uganda where South Sudan, Uganda and Kenya all come together. The hunting concession borders Kidepo Valley National Park and is a picturesque locale mostly consisting of fairly open savannah interspersed with acacia and some low brush, and you are virtually surrounded by mountains in every direction. Buffalo surveys of the area have estimated a population of almost 10,000.
With the area being quite open, the buffalo hunting in Karamoja is more of a spot and stalk affair rather than a traditional tracking hunt. There are generally so many buffalo around, that you cover as much ground as possible by vehicle and glass as many buffalo as possible until you find what interested you. Then you try to formulate a plan to stalk within reasonable shooting distance, which in some cases is made quite difficult because the area is so open. That is not to say that there will not be situations where you can get close, but I would say the average shot on buffalo is from 80-100 yards.
The areas buffalo are classified as Nile buffalo, and though they are supposed to be a bit smaller in body than Cape buffalo, there are some real tanks around. The first buffalo I ever shot in Karamoja back in 2017 was a beautiful 40” bull with heavy, chipped bosses, and classic Nile buffalo shape. He had a huge body, and when I got him home and mounted, the taxidermist told me that he had to use the largest Cape buffalo form made to fit my bull’s skin.
Typically, Nile buffalo have flatter horns than typical Cape buffalo, but like in most species, this can vary a lot. I have seen a number of Karamoja buffalo with very typical shaped horns, and even a few with beautifully deep drop.
In 2020, I was hunting with good friend Tom Niederer and PH Edwin Young one afternoon, and we ventured up into some foothills. The terrain is more broken than on the main valley floor, and there is a fair amount of cover in that specific area. We eventually spotted two old bulls feeding a few hundred yards away, and as we glassed, Edwin told me he thought one bull was a “scrum cap”. For those that aren’t familiar with the term, a scrum cap is a bull that is so old, he has basically worn off all of his horns except his bosses. To me, this is the ultimate trophy, and I told Edwin I was more than game to pursue the bull.
We dropped into a dry creek bed, snaked our way closer to the feeding bulls, and crawled up a steep bank that ended up putting us at about 40 yards from the unsuspecting buffalo with the wind in our faces. Edwin put up the shooting sticks, and I settled the crosshairs of my scope low on the oldest bull’s shoulder and sent a 470 grain Cutting Edge Bullets’ Safari Raptor straight into his heart.
The bull bucked and lunged forward, and though he was dead on his feet, I put another in his backside as he retreated, and that put him down for good. When we walked up on the ancient old bull, I couldn’t have been more pleased. I think the old boy had to be over 15 years old, and though he is obviously the smallest buffalo I have ever taken, he is hands down my favorite. To take an animal that has lived that long evading the area’s lions and hunters is something special, and the bull’s body was worn down just like his horns, he was on his way out, way many years past being a breeder, and in my opinion is the perfect type of buffalo to take out of the population. There just aren’t many of those old guys to be found.
On that trip our timing was just perfect. It seemed that every buffalo in the area had left the park and was in our concession. We literally saw up to 2000 buffalo a day, and dozens upon dozens of mature bulls in groups of two to upwards of twelve. You could be very choosey on the type bulls you went after. Tom wanted wide, and he took 42” and 43” bulls. I wanted really old bulls, and I ended up with four nice old worn buff. Friends Russell and Mike were along as well, and they took three bulls each varying from very wide to deep drop, and both of them also took scrum caps. Four of us shot 12 great bulls in a week. It was literally buffalo heaven.
I returned in March of 2021 with longtime friend and WTA client Jay Cohea. We were on a short seven-day buffalo hunt, and Christian was our PH. The first evening we were in the area, and actually our hunt didn’t officially start until the next day, Jay took a really wide 43” bull. That kicked things off the right way.
A couple of days later after pursuing a group of bulls that evaded us with the wind, we got mixed up in a huge herd, and we decided to slowly walk back a couple of miles to the truck and see if we might run into some bulls that might have been trailing the herd. Eventually we did spot some buffalo, and the first two we saw were younger bulls, so we moved on. A few minutes later, Christina’s tracker Suliman spotted another bull up feeding, and we could see another bedded beyond him.
We slowly got the wind in our favor and crept closer to assess the bulls. Christian looked at the one up feeding and whispered back to me that it was a very big buffalo, and we needed to get a bit closer. We were able make it another 50 yards and pulled up under a small tree that gave us just a little cover.
The bull was actually walking toward us, and he stopped in some scattered trees about 75 yards away in a bit of shade. When Christian pulled up his bino, he told me that this was a really big bull, and I could tell he was quite excited. To be honest, I hadn’t studied the bull much up until then. I had seen that he was hard bossed, but he still had pointed tips, and in Karamoja, that is the first thing I look at. If a bull’s tips aren’t well worn, I usually don’t give him much thought, but as I focused in on this guy, I could tell he was something special. He was 100% fully hard bossed, had very good bosses, beautiful classic shape, and he was very wide, especially for a Nile buff.
I had my .416 on the sticks, but there was a small dead tree just in front of the bull that perfectly covered his vitals. If he took one step forward or had stopped one step back, I had the perfect shot. The bull stood there chewing his cud and was content, and I knew eventually he would step forward, and all would be good. After about 4 minutes, I felt the breeze on the back of my neck, and I knew things were about to get real.
The bull threw his nose up, took s deep sniff of human scent, and he wheeled around 180 degrees to leave. When he turned and opened up his shoulder to my view, I sent a 370 grain CEB into his lungs and he took off. With the area being pretty open, I was able to get a second shot in him and miss with a third. He stopped after about 100 yards with head hanging low, and I put one more in his lower chest to finish the deal. This is when things really got exciting.
Not far from where my bull was lying, the bull we had seen bedded was up and standing looking back at us. He was an old slick horned brute, and Jay quickly took air and hammered him with his .460 Weatherby. Jay’s bull only went 50 yards, and from seemingly nowhere another bull appeared. He took off, but when Jay’s bull death bellowed, he turned, came back a few yards and stood looking back at us. He too was an old worn tipped warrior, and Jay wasted no time and dropped him in his tracks!
In a span of less than three minutes, we had three excellent buffalo on the ground, and we all just sort of looked at each other in disbelief. My bull ended up being 44” wide, and when measured would rank well into the top 10 of all Nile buffalo ever taken, but I am not a record book guy, so will not enter it. Jay’s two bulls were exactly what you want in Karamoja in my opinion. Both 12-13 years old (or possibly older), bosses worn slick, tips dulled with age, just perfect old bulls.
We called in another vehicle and more help, cut up the three bulls, and then went to a couple of close villages and distributed a lot of buffalo meat to the happy locals. We had quite the morning to say the least.
That afternoon as we were about to head out for the evening hunt, one of the skinners came and told Christian that he had seen a lone old bull feeding in the bush a few hundred yards behind the skinning shed. We decided to check it out and hoped the bull was still in the vicinity.
It didn’t take long for Suliman to spot the old bull feeding, and we slipped from bush to bush trying to get in position for a good shot. When we were at about 80 yards, Christian threw up the shooting sticks, and I got ready. The bull saw our movement and squared up on us, and I quickly put a CEB Raptor in his chest. He did a typical buck and forward lunge, and then turned right to run. Jay and I both simultaneously fired backup shots, and the bull rolled up on the spot.
He was another gray faced, super worn old bull that had been past his prime for years. Quite honestly, he is one of my favorite looking buffalo I have ever taken. It was St Patrick’s Day, Jay and I had taken two fantastic buffalo each, so we had a nice celebration in honor of our bulls that evening.
Jay went on to take another very nice bull a couple of days later and conclude our 2021 hunt. Karamoja is by far the best buffalo hunting I have ever experienced anywhere in Africa. The quantity and quality of bulls is just incredible, and that in combination with some unique plainsgame like Jackson’s hartebeest, East African Defassa waterbuck, Gunter’s dik-dik, and Haggart’s oribi, and the incredible beauty of the surrounding make Karamoja a must visit for the serious African hunter.
To book this or any other quality hunt around the world, contact Tim Herald at Worldwide Trophy Adventures, tim@trophyadventures.com.
