MOZAMBIQUE: 15 Day Hunt Report With Zambeze Delta Safaris In Coutada 11

Wow what an epic safari! Those warthog are incredible!

I sat next to Bredger on the ATL-JNB flight my last trip over. Nice guy and he had some great stories.

Seavas said:

Wow what an epic safari! Those warthog are incredible!

I sat next to Bredger on the ATL-JNB flight my last trip over. Nice guy and he had some great stories.

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Thats Awesome! Hope I didnt keep you up the entire flight.
Small world

Ku-winda said:

Thank you @PARA45 , I greatly appreciate your comments throughout! We still have some cool stuff to go and then I'll tie it all up at the end. I have enjoyed writing the report and it brings back such fond memories every time I sit down at the computer. PH Bredger Thomason, aka @Madhatter has been following the thread as well and says it all played out exactly as described and feels like he is right there doing it all over again, just like groundhog day! I couldn't ask for much more than that.

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oh yeah! I'm so looking forward to the next Safari.

They have some really nice warthogs there. Sometimes having the memory of the one missed and still out there draws a hunter back time after time. I would say Ian bonded with the 9.3. It is special having your birthday in Africa, my wife celebrated hers in 2025 and I did in 2021, it is like a big family party where everyone even the black sheep cousins show up. They truly went all out for Ian congratz and Qudo's to the outfitter for making it happen.

Madhatter said:

Thats Awesome! Hope I didnt keep you up the entire flight.
Small world

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Nah I couldn't really sleep much after your venomous snake stories!

Seavas said:

Nah I couldn't really sleep much after your venomous snake stories

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Oh please, share those stories if you can.

PARA45 said:

Oh please, share those stories if you can.

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I try to rid my mind of that type of information quickly, so I am not worrying about it on my hunt!

But when one is making a stalk on a warm sunny day in Africa, crawling on hands and knees through waist high grass with the rocky ground dotted with critter holes of all sizes, it becomes difficult to focus on the herd of wildebeest ahead of you when your mind starts to gravitate to what the PH said to you on the plane. What was it he said about mambas? ...or was it puff adders? Or cobras?...

It made me appreciate the mental fortitude PHs like Bredger must have in order deal with that on a daily basis for half the year!

Somehow I missed this great hunt report! I just read it through in one read, which was a great luxury not to have to wait for each installment. I made notes as I read to come back and reply with a few posts at the end.

First of all, I really like the way you wrote your hunt report…educational and entertaining. I know that takes a lot of work to get it captured and delivered to that end.

For anyone who has been through the painful process of watching bullets counted...and recounted...and bosses called in to count...and manuals consulted...and the same questions over and over again...it's very annoying but it's very important not to lose your patience. I just amuse myself by reading their safety posters on the wall...or saying serenity now to myself...or saying it won't be long and you will be back in Africa camp again! My Lord, it's painful to go through it. If you haven't, then count yourself lucky!

I always love seeing camp photos and it's one of the most helpful things we can include in our hunt reports. People need to get a sense of what the setup is like. Showers for every tent? Wow! I was impressed with that.

Duikers in camp? How cool is that?? Every camp seems to have something special. I’m used to seeing nyala babies, etc but red duikers??? Geez. I hope you don’t regret that…not shooting in camp of course but I’m going to Moz in a couple of years to get a leopard and a few T10 that are just hard to find in other places. Moz is known for them. I don't know friend...that's a tough call to leave them.

I'm very jealous of your lion experience. I have had the pleasure of darting rhinos but assisting in the cat collaring is amazing. What a cool experience for both of you! That was a real special experience that VERY few have experienced.

You both took some really fine animals. I loved that stunning zebra...and to see your son take his first buffalo...fantastic.

I'm amazed at how many bush pigs you saw in the daytime…that place is loaded with them.

You got into more pigs on this hunt than anyone that I can remember. Warthog City is the truth! I don’t have personal luck on warthogs but getting into a place like Coutada 11 sounds like the odds go way up! I also liked that you wrote about the one that got away. Many of us have a version of that from somewhere. There is a buff in the Waterburg mountains that haunts me still!

I had heard of the Altama Maritime shoes but your report convinces me to get a pair for camp use and any water stalks. I just spent several days in Argentina using wet leather Russell boots and my feet turned orange! They take a day to dry out also and those Altima's sound like the perfect shoe for camp and wet stalks like the swamp buff live in. That gear report certainly helps me and others no doubt.

I REALLY appreciate how you wrote the story on your nyala. You were fortunate to have a good ending. Stuff like that happens and we should be honest to share that with others and hope it helps someone avoid doing that themselves.

I also like that you wrote details on watching meat get distributed. That is one of my favorite parts of hunting in Africa. I’ve hunted in countries where some of the meat got left in the field and that always seemed wrong to me. I love the way this works out in Africa and it’s a big credit to the operators there to get this meat turned over to locals.

I also really enjoyed your photos of meals there and the birthday celebration. The food in Africa hunt camps is so interesting and I always look forward to it. Those photos of bacon cherry bombs, nyala sausage rolls, hartebeest strips, etc…fantastic! Wow.

So having come home...what is your son saying about the future of hunting? More plans being made? The time and investment you made with him is admirable. Dad of the year award?

Thanks for the kind words and the feedback @Green Chile ; greatly appreciated! I think all of our collective hunts have so many parallels that when you put them side by side, the only thing that changes is the place and the animals - they all have triumphs (hopefully), but sooner or later a failure is sure to slip in there somewhere, and God forbid, a tragedy. Like you said though, you just have to learn from it to ensure it doesn't happen again. The nyala story was a self inflicted wound - it was hurry up and wait forever and then I had to take a quick shot and forgot my hold. All is well that ends well though and I was very fortunate on that one. In regards to the big warthog, he had become my Moby Dick, almost to the point of obsession. I had that one lone opportunity towards the end of the safari and didn't execute in the moment of truth, but just makes me more determined next time. In regards to the duikers, they were everywhere on Coutada 11 - red (which I thought were just stunning), the blue and the grey along with suni. I actually don't regret not shooting one, but certainly enjoyed seeing them in forests along the sandy roads every day. Between the different varieties, I'm guessing we would see a minimum of 20 or so a day and we really weren't even looking for them. Mark was telling me how they caught a poacher back in the day and he had like 50 of the T10, so you know they are plentiful. Many thanks again for the input!

I, too, just found your report today! In my humble opinion, it is the perfect hunt report. I loved every detail. Thank you very much.

Smitty said:

I, too, just found your report today! In my humble opinion, it is the perfect hunt report. I loved every detail. Thank you very much.

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Thank you so much @Smitty - that means a great deal to me. I tried to capture the true essence of the hunt - the highs, the lows and the emotions that you go through on a fifteen day hunt. As @Green Chile mentioned above and again in his adventures in Argentina, you hope you can write a report that not only tells it exactly like it is, but at least leaves the reader with some takeaway, whether it be gear or otherwise, that might make their hunt more successful. I'm getting near the end and will wrap it up soon with a summary and some final takeaways. Thank you again for reaching out and your comments - I'm so glad you enjoyed!

Please tell me this report is not over yet.

PARA45 said:

Please tell me this report is not over yet.

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Not done yet, but getting close. Will finish up the hunt and then do a summary with my takeaways. Appreciate you tuning in!

THE SWAMP FROM THE AIR

We’d been hunting pretty damn hard for 13 straight days, so Bredger asked me if we’d like to take the morning off and get a better look at Coutada 11 from the air. Based on our trip from Beira on the way in, the answer was a resounding “hell yea!” The truth of the matter was, he could tell that the heat and sun were beginning to its toll on us and he figured we needed a rest – he was not wrong! The MOZ heat, sun and the wind can just sap it out of you and when you combine that with late nights, early mornings and long stalks every day, well, your batteries start to run down after a while. I could feel myself dragging a bit and even Ian was not immune to the elements, as he had a little less bounce in his step as well. Consequently, the chopper ride was a welcome respite and was very much appreciated. Bredger arranged for Pete to take us out the next morning at a quarter past seven, so we got to sleep in on this particular day. As I indicated before, Pete was a wealth of knowledge and we were excited to spend the morning with him, getting a bird’s eye view of the delta. We had already seen the sand forests on the west side, so we decided we would concentrate on the flood plain and go deep into the swamp. We had the good fortune to be accompanied that day by Wildlife Geneticist Dr. Caitlin C., on assignment from the San Diego Zoo. She had been with us in camp since Day 1 and had been taking part in all of the lion research with Willem and his team. She was an absolutely delightful young lady, and we were glad to share the chopper with her. In addition, she had a pretty bad ass camera with a huge telephoto lens, so we knew were going to get some good shots that she would share with us. Ian and Cailtin were in the back seat, and I rode shotgun with Pete. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house though, as both sides were open to the elements with unobstructed views.

We lifted off into the wind with great anticipation, as Pete whirled the big bird around and started following the main road east down towards the swamp. I never get tired of riding in a chopper and feel just like a kid every time I do it. Much was familiar as we headed east. We had been down this exact same road numerous times over the prior 13 days, and I was already beginning to anticipate the next landmark. It always amazes me how totally different everything looks from the air, as if everything is in slow motion. Such was the case as Pete broke off the main road and charted a course over the flood plain for the emerald, green swamp on the horizon. I have mentioned many times before about the diversity and sheer magnitude of wildlife on Coutada 11, but you can’t even begin to fully appreciate it until you see it from the air – it is simply mind boggling! If I didn’t know any better, I might have thought we were on the Serengeti plains filming a National Geographic special. The entire flight, Ian and I had our iPhones out and alternated between video and pics, while Caitlin was clicking away with her big 35mm camera. There were herds everywhere as we crossed the floodplain; I’m talking big herds of waterbuck, zebra, hartebeest and eland with impala, sable, warthogs and reedbuck scattered amongst them – and we hadn’t even made it to the swamp yet. We could only guess what awaited us but would soon find out.

Pilot extraordinaire, Pete

Ian soaking it in

Miss Caitlin

Zebra close-up


After marveling at the sheer numbers of animals across the flood plain, we started making our way into the swamp and headed past the camp with big palms where the BV’s were stationed. The beginning of the swamp looks almost like the flood plain, except it is joined by a series of interconnecting waterways. These were the same waterways we had crossed in the BV’s and ultimately forded on foot in pursuit of the swamp buffalo. Some of the open areas were at least a square mile in size, but you would ultimately come to that next waterway and this pattern would continue to repeat itself. We still saw significant herds of animals (mostly waterbuck and zebra) but had yet to see any buffalo. We were making our way towards the deep swamp, which ultimately became apparent was a sea of papyrus and palms from one end of the horizon to the other. The solid ground became much smaller pieces of real estate, and we were starting to see much larger bodies of water. About the time I was wondering where all the buffalo were, Pete made a hard pitch to our left and said, “there they are!” What at first appeared to be just specks on the horizon was in fact a small herd of buffalo. We were soon on top of them and made one single pass before setting course for a group that was now at our 2 o’clock. This second herd was much larger than the first and I’m guessing there were maybe 250 or so scattered about. Pete was very deliberate in his approaches and never did more than one pass to avoid spooking animals, to the extent that you can actually avoid that in a helicopter. We were now seeing herds everywhere on the horizon and apparently had found the “garden spot” for these big bovines. They were anywhere from a half mile to a mile apart but obviously concentrated in this one area. After repeating the process on one more herd, Pete changed direction and indicated we would go look for elephants.

The waterways

Buff on horizon

Swamp buff

More buff


Along the way we found a hippo out in the open and it was almost comical to watch this huge animal make tracks for the safety of his waterhole. I have to admit, as awkward as he looked, that old boy could cover some ground, and I can now see why they are so formidable on open ground with the indigenous population. It wasn’t long before we hit a pretty sizeable body of water with a significant pod of hippos. I had commented to Pete that you would have a captive audience of hippos to hunt if you could ever make it out that far in the BV, but he proceeded to show me all the escape routes the hippos had in the channels leading away from the main body of water back into the papyrus. He indicated once they got in there, they were gone – ok, so much for that game plan. Another five minutes later and Pete banked hard again, this time to give us a good look at a couple of big crocs sunning on a muddy embankment. The larger of the two hit the water immediately, but the second one hung around long enough for me to snap a pic or two. As we pulled away, Pete indicated the first one was about as big a croc as you will ever see on the delta. He was noticeably larger than the one that stuck around, and I asked him how big? He said he was probably pushing 15 feet! I was glad we had done our helicopter ride AFTER we had traipsed through the swamp on our buffalo hunt – it was unnerving enough as it was at the time, but that would have taken it to a whole new level!

Hippo out in the open

On the run

The hippo pod

The "small" croc


It wasn’t long after that when we found what we were looking for – elephants. It was a group of three babies along with their mothers, who immediately went into protection mode and put them in the middle of the herd as the chopper made one half circle overhead. We didn’t want to put too much pressure on them, so left just as quickly as we had come. It was cool to watch their maternal instincts kick in and see how they banded together almost like a group of circus elephants, with their babies in protective custody. It was hard for me to comprehend what these elephants were doing way out in the middle of nowhere in the swamp. I was always under the impression they fed almost entirely on hardwoods, but there was obviously something out there they liked, or could at least sustain themselves on. If it was palms or papyrus, they had that in abundance.

The Mother brigade

Circle the wagons


The ride in was much like the ride out and we started seeing more herd animals as we got back to solid ground. We were crossing one such opening when Pete muttered, “lion kill” before swooping down for a closer look with a touch and go. It was a young waterbuck that had been partially eaten, but the lions were nowhere in sight and the vultures had already moved in for their share – such is life on the delta. A short time later we saw an eland bull all by his lonesome, which seemed odd given that was the first solitary eland we had seen the entire trip. The remainder of the flight back to Mungari Camp was spent just soaking in the beauty of Coutada 11, as the sun was now kissing every corner of the delta. Caitlin, Ian and I all knew we had witnessed something special and how lucky we were to share this experience together. You couldn’t wipe the smiles from our faces, as we exited the chopper and began recounting what each of us had seen from our own perspective. It was a day I won’t soon forget and I was so glad I had the opportunity to share it with Ian. I can only hope that Africa is still around for his children and grandchildren to enjoy – God willing, along with men like Mark Haldane and all the hunters across Africa that contribute so much to conservation, we still have a fighting chance!

The waterbuck kill

Mr. Eland

Morning glory - the delta at its best

Coming back to the landing from strip


Next up: OUR LAST 36 HOURS ON THE DELTA

What a unique way to experience the delta! I envy you my friend.

I love the helo experience of your hunt. The times I have been able to do that are really special and it's amazing what you pick up by seeing things from that perspective.

Talk about the icing on the cake! That helio ride sounds amazing.
Bruce