Hunt

Hunting in Southern Tanzania, south of Selous Game Reserve

If you're into photographic safaris and are wondering why we offer hunting, read our explanation.

We offer two types of safaris: (1) a la carte and (2) all-inclusive.

A La Carte Safaris

With A La Carte Safaris, you pay for each trophy you seek. You pay for your airfare, lodging (in Dar es Salaam), transfers, etc.

Our daily rate is $2,500 per hunter, per day.

We give generous discounts as you increase the number of days.

Here are our trophy prices for the most desirable trophies:

Animal Trophy Fee
Buffalo $5,200
Bushbuck $1,000
Common Plains $250
Eland $3,000
Elephant $20,000
Gazelle $900
Hippo $1,500
Hyena $1,500
Kudu $3,000
Lion $20,000
Leopard $7,000
Reedbuck $500
Sable / Roan $6,000
Waterbuck $2,000
Wildebeest $3,000
Zebra $3,000

This is a partial list. If there is a particular animal that you seek, ask us for the pricing.

All-Inclusive Hunting Safari Packages

Most hunters don’t mind getting down and dirty during the hunt, but we will take special care of you at all moments before, during, and after your hunting safari.

Camp at Mbarang'andu
Our camp at Mbarang'andu. Our airplane landing strip is two minutes away. See more photos of our tented camps.

What is included

  • Business-class flights from your home to the airport that is near our hunting block and back
  • Meet-and-greet at the airport, escort you through customs, take you to a 5-star hotel, and do the same on the return
  • Ground transportation in a safari vehicle
  • Hunting license
  • Wildlife Concession Fee
  • Firearms Import Permit
  • All trophy fees
  • Professional hunter, tracker, skinner, and driver
  • Luxury tented camps
  • Exquisite all-you-can-eat food
  • All-you-can-drink beverages (including alcohol after the hunt after the firearms are put away)
  • Daily laundry service
  • Concierge, cook, and staff at your service
  • First-aid kit
  • Trophy storage in a climate-controlled room in Dar es Salaam while your trophies await shipment
Mbaran'gandu sunset
Mbaran'gandu sunset

What is NOT included

  • The skinning, salting, drying, tagging, crating, disinfection, and paperwork related to your trophies
  • Shipping of the trophies back to the United States
  • Ammunition and its associated tax
  • An optional $5,000 (one-way) charter flight that lands in the camp if you want to avoid the six-hour drive from Songea's commercial airport.
  • Gratuities/tips, which are optional
Warthog
Remarkable Warthog in Nalika

Where is the Wildlife Management Area of Best Luxury Safaris?

It's in Southern Tanzania (which is in East Africa) and it's just south of the Selous Game Reserve, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Mbaran'gandu sable
Mbaran'gandu Sable

Best Luxury Safaris has exclusive access to two contiguous hunting blocks:

1. Nalika: which is 1,800 square km (450,000 acres).

2. Mbarang'andu: which is twice the size as Nalika and is adjacent to it.

Mbarang'andu was the favorite hunting block of one of Africa’s most famous and most successful ivory hunters, James Sutherland, whose 1912 book, Adventures of an Elephant Hunter, spoke of how he camped many years on the banks of the Mbarang'andu River.

Today, you can camp by that same river at our camp.

A leopard track must be at least 3 1/8 inches, otherwise you're being an irresponsible hunter
Aim big: a male leopard track must be at least 3 1/8 inches. This track belongs to a monster-sized leopard.

Both hunting blocks are located where the red circle is on the map below.   

 

Map of our Nalika and Mbarang'andu hunting blocks with our two main camps

Map of Nalika and Mbarang'andu hunting blocks

How to get to the Nalika and Mbarang'andu hunting blocks

If you're coming from the United States, we will fly you from anywhere in the United States to New York and then on a business-class flight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We will do our best to not route you through Europe. You'll fly nonstop to nearby Nairobi, Kenya. From Nairobi, you'll take a short hop to Dar es Salaam. This simplifies and shortens your trip. You'll stay one night in a 5-star hotel in Dar es Salaam (e.g., the Seacliff Hotel).

Mature Male Leopard
A massive, mature male Leopard in Mbaran'gandu

From Dar, you have two options

A) We can fly you to Songea (which is five hours west of our hunting blocks - see map). The price of this flight is included in all our hunting packages.

B) We can charter a Cessna 208 Grand Caravan for a supplemental $4,999 one-way charge. The upside is that it can land in our airstrip that is right next to our Mbarang'andu camp and less than two hours from our Nalika camp. 

Accommodations

We offer luxurious tented camps with exquisite cuisine customized for your tastes.

Tented Camp

Game in our Nalika and Mbarang'andu hunting blocks

  • Lion
  • Leopard 
  • Elephant
  • Cape Buffalo 
  • Hippopotamus
  • East African Kudu
  • Roosevelt Sable Antelope
  • Eland 
  • Waterbuck
  • Common Reedbuck
  • Nile Crocodile
  • Impala
  • Bushbuck
  • Bushpig
  • Olive Baboon 
  • Common and Red-flanked Duiker 
  • Spotted Hyena 
Dead Cape Buffalo
Cape Buffalo in Mbaran'gandu

Common Plains Game

  • Hartebeest
  • Nyasaland Wildebeest
  • Antelope
  • Warthog
Warthog
Great warthog

All-inclusive Southern Tanzanian Hunting Packages

Our prices are higher than most because we offer far more than most. Many outfitters offer "all-inclusive packages," but then ask you to pay for the international flights and all the trophy-related fees. 

Best Luxury Safaris will not nickel-and-dime you. You pay one flat fee so that you can leave your wallet at home. 

Below are our standard hunting packages. We can customize your trip, of course. The prices below are for the hunter. Professional Hunters, agents, and other resellers will get a commission.

 

Buffalo in Nalika
Massive (45.5-inches wide) trophy buffalo like this roam freely in Nalika and Mbaran'gandu

10-day 1 BUFFALO + 4x COMMON PLAINS GAME luxury hunting safari

One Buffalo and one of each of Hartebeest, Nyasaland Wildebeest, Antelope, and Warthog.

1 hunter $49,999.

2 hunters sharing and quota is $29,999 per hunter.

Waterbuck next to the Mbaran'gandu river
Waterbuck next to the Mbaran'gandu river

16-day 2x BUFFALO + ONE WATERBUCK + ONE REEDBUCK + 4x COMMON PLAINS GAME luxury hunting safari

Two buffalos, plus one of each of these: Hartebeest, Nyasaland Wildebeest, Antelope, Warthog.

1 hunter hunts two buffalo and other species listed for $59,999.

2 hunters sharing costs and quota $39,999 per hunter.

Aiming at a hippo
This is a shot you must make!

21-day 3x BUFFALO + HIPPO on land + 1 ELAND + 4x COMMON PLAINS GAME luxury hunting safari

1 hunter hunts three buffalo and other species listed (including one of each of Hartebeest, Nyasaland Wildebeest, Zebra, and Warthog) for $69,999.

2 hunters sharing costs and quota is $49,999 per hunter.

21-day HIPPO on the land + 2x BUFFALO luxury hunting safari + 1 BUSHBUCK or REEDBUCK or WATERBUCK + 1 KUDU or SABLE or ELAND + 4x COMMON PLAINS GAME

Hippo trophy
Hippo trophy

Killing a hippo while he's in water is easy compared to hunting him on land. Give yourself a challenge. Hunt the hippo on land.

Hippo jaw
Hippo harvested

On this hunt, a hippo bull will only be shot on the dry ground and not from the safety of a riverbank or lakeshore, as the hippo surfaces for a breath of air. Dry-ground hunting for these remarkable creatures is dangerous work. Hippos can weigh as much as 7,000 pounds and be 40 years old. This is hunting at its finest. Leave your bolt-action at home. Bring a double rifle loaded with solids. Give yourself the challenge you’ve always dreamed of! And don’t forget to bring an extra set of ‘balls’ for your professional hunter.

1 Hunter for $69,000. 

2 Hunters sharing cost and quota for $49,000 per hunter.

Hippo Photo by Lady Bugz

21-day ELEPHANT + 2 BUFFALO + 1 ZEBRA + 1 KUDU or SABLE or ELAND + 1 BUSHBUCK + 1 WATERBUCK + 1 REEDBUCK + 1 HYENA + 4 COMMON PLAINS GAME luxury hunting safari

1 hunter $89,000.

2 hunters sharing cost and quota is $69,000 per hunter. 

85-pound or 39-kg elephant
This 39-kg (85-pound) elephant was the largest shot in Tanzania since 2013. The rifle is a 577 sidelock made by HEYM, which is for sale

21-day LEOPARD + 2 BUFFALO + 1 ZEBRA + 1 KUDU or SABLE or ELAND + 1 BUSHBUCK + 1 WATERBUCK + 1 REEDBUCK + 1 HYENA + 4x COMMON PLAINS GAME luxury hunting safari

1 hunter $79,000.

2 hunters sharing cost and quota is $59,000 per hunter.

Dead leopard
Massive leopards like this roam in our hunting blocks 

 

21-day LION + 2 BUFFALO + 1 ZEBRA + 1 KUDU or SABLE or ELAND + 1 BUSHBUCK + 1 WATERBUCK + 1 REEDBUCK + 1 HYENA + 4x COMMON PLAINS GAME luxury hunting safari

One hunter for $79,000.

Two hunters sharing the cost and quota for $59,000 per hunter.

21-day UNRESTRICTED luxury hunting safari, includes Patterson's Eland, Kudu, or Sable

This entitles you to ONE of each species listed above and up to THREE of each species of the common plains game listed above. 

One hunter can hunt any animal in our two hunting blocks for $99,000. 

Two hunters cost $79,000 each. 

Eland Bull

When to go

The hunting season is from July 1 to December 31. Temperatures are warm all year long. 

Pair hunting buffalo
Some of East Africa's finest buffalo can be found in the remote areas in Nalika and Mbaran'gandu.

Payment

Best Luxury Safaris accepts:

  • ACH or wire bank transfers to our United States bank account, which simplifies payment.
  • Credit cards.
  • Venmo and PayPal.
  • Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Francis Tapon, a co-founder of Best Luxury Safaris, is based in Northern California. Ivan Flavien Mjengwa, the other co-founder, is based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

A hunter and an observer
Photo by Rhett Noonan

Observer fees: $499 per day, per observer. Also, observers must pay for their own airfare. 

Hunting rules

  • No more than two hunters per professional hunter
  • Your group may not exceed four clients (and two professional hunters) 
  • No night hunting
  • No hunting of female or young animals