Buffalo Question…

[fourfive8]

Back in 2014 a couple of days after my Buffalo was safely in the salt we were stalking an nyala and bumped into a young male lion at about 20 yards, he put on quite a show growling and tail thrashing before departing the area. This could have gotten dangerous fast instead of just being a pretty good story! Point is any hunt can turn dangerous.

Point well taken and not out of place here. Last time in Africa I had about the same thing happen. Beat up male lion hiding in the scrub. We were tracking either zebra or wildebeest- can't remember. He had been injured- probably from fighting. Holy Moly! He didn't come out in defense reaction at very close range for whatever reason? One of the trackers spotted him. We wouldn't have had a chance. Next time it might be a buffalo or an elephant or mamba at eye level.... Just never know. And the particular country or area in Africa doesn't matter. I was able to snap a photo with my phone as we backed out steadily and slowly saying "nice kitty, nice kitty"

Lion's head circled with pointer at eye so easier to pick out.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Another AH sponsor to take a look at is Karl Stumpfe and Ndumo Hunting Safaris. They offer buffalo hunts in the Caprivi (Zambezi) Region of Namibia.

Ndumo Hunting Safaris

Ndumo Hunting Safaris, your dangerous game specialists

huntingsafaris.net

 

[Rare Breed]

Based on advertisements and conversations I would put Zambia and S. Africa being less expensive than Zimbabwe. Not sure about Mozambique or Namibia.

Though, I guess one can always find a deal anywhere and pay really expensive prices at other times.

Agree

 

[Wiley64]

any input on buff hunting in the karoo?

 

[ActionBob]

mamba at eye level.... Just never know.

Yup, had that happen! I was on the "Mamba side" of the top seat as we drove by a hollow tree out in the middle of nowhere Tanzania. The snake was reaching out a couple feet! I pretty much jumped into the PH'S lap. Fortunately my wife had stayed in camp that afternoon

We pulled up about 20 yards and stopped. Shot it about 6" from the head with a .22 and then I borrowed a trackers panga and chopped it's head off the rest of the way

 

[BadPops]

Hello there, first of all I’d like to thank everyone here for all of the information you’ve provided on this website. I recently returned from my first trip to africa for plains game and have been obsessed with returning since my flight left…
I would like to go for buffalo next and wanted to ask for recommendations. I know that I’d like to hunt them in thick bush, but that’s about it. It seems like northern Mozambique might be a good choice, but there may be some safety issues there. Does anyone have a reputable outfitter they’d recommend? Any experiences?

Zambeze Delta Safaris. I’ve been with them numerous times. Great people. Great camp. Lots of Buffalo. You won’t believe the game. Can’t go wrong.
BadPops

 

[WyoBull]

Yup, had that happen! I was on the "Mamba side" of the top seat as we drove by a hollow tree out in the middle of nowhere Tanzania. The snake was reaching out a couple feet! I pretty much jumped into the PH'S lap. Fortunately my wife had stayed in camp that afternoon

We pulled up about 20 yards and stopped. Shot it about 6" from the head with a .22 and then I borrowed a trackers panga and chopped it's head off the rest of the way

View attachment 469288

Oh, hell no!

 

[mark-hunter]

Poor snake, without head. Now the cape and shoulder mount is destroyed!
hehe
Good job with 22, congrats!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Yup, had that happen! I was on the "Mamba side" of the top seat as we drove by a hollow tree out in the middle of nowhere Tanzania. The snake was reaching out a couple feet! I pretty much jumped into the PH'S lap. Fortunately my wife had stayed in camp that afternoon

We pulled up about 20 yards and stopped. Shot it about 6" from the head with a .22 and then I borrowed a trackers panga and chopped it's head off the rest of the way

View attachment 469288

And lived to tell about it!!!!!

 

[Rell]

Zambeze Delta Safaris. I’ve been with them numerous times. Great people. Great camp. Lots of Buffalo. You won’t believe the game. Can’t go wrong.
BadPops

You will get a buffalo with Zambezi Delta Safari but …. It’s almost certainly taking a buff in the swamps. It’s a great experience however it is not a traditional tracking hunt most of the time.

Here’s how the day goes. You wake up at 4 am from a spike camp near the swamp. Drive to the swamp, get in a giant Norwegian swamp buggy type thing, maybe an Argo and …. You drive into the swamp for a 2-4 hour drive that is interesting but uncomfortable. They use an ultra light airplane or tiny helicopter to get an approximate location on the big heards the day before and you head for those coordinates. You locate the heard, try and circle for the wind and probably crawl for a while to get into 100 meter range. There are 30-200 buff in front of you and you try and pick out a big bull that stands on the edge of the heard long enough to set sticks up in. Usually shoot from kneeling on sticks or a quick stand up on sticks. Then you cut it up and load it. Another 2-4h drive back in heat and bugs. Arrive back before midnight is a quick trip.

Never let them take more then two hunters to shoot in a day or you spend way to much time waiting on the other hunters to shoot there bull. It’s not tracking and it’s unlikely you will get to 50 meters. You need a scope almost certainly and no solids in a heard. You get a very interesting experience but … it’s not a classic buff hunt.

The PG in the area is mind blowing, a few of the rarer tiny ten like suni, red duiker, Oribi and blue duiker as well.

I really don’t think it’s a first buff trip, more like a 3-4 buff trip for a new novel experience.

 

[Red Leg]

You will get a buffalo with Zambezi Delta Safari but …. It’s almost certainly taking a buff in the swamps. It’s a great experience however it is not a traditional tracking hunt most of the time.

Here’s how the day goes. You wake up at 4 am from a spike camp near the swamp. Drive to the swamp, get in a giant Norwegian swamp buggy type thing, maybe an Argo and …. You drive into the swamp for a 2-4 hour drive that is interesting but uncomfortable. They use an ultra light airplane or tiny helicopter to get an approximate location on the big heards the day before and you head for those coordinates. You locate the heard, try and circle for the wind and probably crawl for a while to get into 100 meter range. There are 30-200 buff in front of you and you try and pick out a big bull that stands on the edge of the heard long enough to set sticks up in. Usually shoot from kneeling on sticks or a quick stand up on sticks. Then you cut it up and load it. Another 2-4h drive back in heat and bugs. Arrive back before midnight is a quick trip.

Never let them take more then two hunters to shoot in a day or you spend way to much time waiting on the other hunters to shoot there bull. It’s not tracking and it’s unlikely you will get to 50 meters. You need a scope almost certainly and no solids in a heard. You get a very interesting experience but … it’s not a classic buff hunt.

The PG in the area is mind blowing, a few of the rarer tiny ten like suni, red duiker, Oribi and blue duiker as well.

I really don’t think it’s a first buff trip, more like a 3-4 buff trip for a new novel experience.

I have had two somewhat different experiences in the Delta with Mashambanzou Safaris. https://www.mashambanzousafaris.com/ Grant Taylor normally hunts Coutada 14. There the buffalo are generally more accessible (he does not own an argo). The team will drive the edge of the marsh and eventually spot birds (cattle egrets). One then walks toward the birds. It can be a very demanding hike, but most of the trek is usually dry with the occasional slough to wade. These hunts are also very different than traditional trailing, but not nearly as mechanized a process as others in the Delta. In fact, one can make the hunt in a dry year and not even wet an ankle.

MOZAMBIQUE: Return To Mozambique With Mashambanzou Safaris

In 2014, my son and I had a wonderful hunt for buffalo and plains game with Grant Taylor's Mashambanzou Safaris in the Zambezi Delta. In 2015, I signed a contract for a two-week return engagement for October of this year. I have just returned, and the hunt exceeded my every expectation. I...

www.africahunting.com

Mozambique Buffalo Hunt

Following my first hunt in Mozambique with my son, I published an article in African Hunting Gazette describing us taking a pair of bulls with Mashambanzou Safaris in Coutada 14 in the Zambezi Delta. Recently, the journal finished cataloguing the back issues on line. It was a fabulous...

www.africahunting.com

A somewhat similar hunt is the Caprivi. Usually a bit of wading can be required there as well.

I also have had a positive experience hunting buffalo in the Limpopo. As I noted in that report, on a large property, the last two-hundred yards closing on a buffalo is pretty much the same whether the closest river is the Kwando, the Zambezi, or the Limpopo. However, and it is a big however, and as @ActionBob correctly notes, the overall experience associated with a wilderness hunt is very different.

SOUTH AFRICA: Up Close In The Limpopo - Hunting Cape Buffalo With Phillip Bronkhorst

The morning started like many buffalo hunts anywhere with the fresh tracks of a small herd crossing a dirt trace cut through the bush. Phillip Bronkhorst, Pieter Taylor (one of Phillip's PHs), our tracker Josias, Rickey (a young videographer in training), and your faithful correspondent bailed...

www.africahunting.com

I can and do highly recommend any of the operators mentioned above or Jamy Traut who guided my Caprivi hunt.

Obviously, cost is a big factor, though the net costs, at least in my experience, between a buffalo in Zim or Moz is not that much different than the net in South Africa.

 

[VertigoBE]

I have had two somewhat different experiences in the Delta with Mashambanzou Safaris. https://www.mashambanzousafaris.com/ Grant Taylor normally hunts Coutada 14. There the buffalo are generally more accessible (he does not own an argo). The team will drive the edge of the marsh and eventually spot birds (cattle egrets). One then walks toward the birds. It can be a very demanding hike, but most of the trek is usually dry with the occasional slough to wade. These hunts are also very different than traditional trailing, but not nearly as mechanized a process as others in the Delta. In fact, one can make the hunt in a dry year and not even wet an ankle.

MOZAMBIQUE: Return To Mozambique With Mashambanzou Safaris

In 2014, my son and I had a wonderful hunt for buffalo and plains game with Grant Taylor's Mashambanzou Safaris in the Zambezi Delta. In 2015, I signed a contract for a two-week return engagement for October of this year. I have just returned, and the hunt exceeded my every expectation. I...

www.africahunting.com

Mozambique Buffalo Hunt

Following my first hunt in Mozambique with my son, I published an article in African Hunting Gazette describing us taking a pair of bulls with Mashambanzou Safaris in Coutada 14 in the Zambezi Delta. Recently, the journal finished cataloguing the back issues on line. It was a fabulous...

www.africahunting.com

A somewhat similar hunt is the Caprivi. Usually a bit of wading can be required there as well.

I also have had a positive experience hunting buffalo in the Limpopo. As I noted in that report, on a large property, the last two-hundred yards closing on a buffalo is pretty much the same whether the closest river is the Kwando, the Zambezi, or the Limpopo. However, and it is a big however, and as @ActionBob correctly notes, the overall experience associated with a wilderness hunt is very different.

SOUTH AFRICA: Up Close In The Limpopo - Hunting Cape Buffalo With Phillip Bronkhorst

The morning started like many buffalo hunts anywhere with the fresh tracks of a small herd crossing a dirt trace cut through the bush. Phillip Bronkhorst, Pieter Taylor (one of Phillip's PHs), our tracker Josias, Rickey (a young videographer in training), and your faithful correspondent bailed...

www.africahunting.com

I can and do highly recommend any of the operators mentioned above or Jamy Traut who guided my Caprivi hunt.

Obviously, cost is a big factor, though the net costs, at least in my experience, between a buffalo in Zim or Moz is not that much different than the net in South Africa.

What do you mean with “the net cost in Zimbabwe/Mozambique being very similar to the net cost in South Africa”?

 

[Tanks]

...

Obviously, cost is a big factor, though the net costs, at least in my experience, between a buffalo in Zim or Moz is not that much different than the net in South Africa.

From some of the advertisements I have seen buffalo trophy fee seems to be $1.5K or so more in RSA. However, daily rates are more in Zim. As a percentage though the difference between a Zim buffalo hunt and an RSA buffalo hunt is not that big maybe 10-20% more in Zim.

Is the experience worth the cost difference? It is up to the individual. My personal take is that if one is going all the way to Africa might as well pay the little extra cost and get the free range experience.

Now, if one wants a buffalo and a kitchen sink full of plains game trophies in the shortest amount of time, then yeah RSA makes sense in that regard.

 

[Osama Mahdi]

What about other factors like the logistics cost to get to the hunting area? Few extra airplanes and more travel days...ect
Or how easily and fast export your trophies from different country among different countries SA,Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia.....
Are tips different in different countries?

Thanks!

 

[Red Leg]

What do you mean with “the net cost in Zimbabwe/Mozambique being very similar to the net cost in South Africa”?

The actual trophy fee for a buffalo in Mozambique is typically less than the trophy fee in South Africa (as in as much as half). However, maintaining a camp off the grid in a wilderness area is significantly more expensive than established lodges in South Africa. Therefore, the daily rate will be much higher leading to higher net costs in Moz or Zim. All this makes for a marginally more expensive hunt rather than significantly higher one - at least in my experience, 15-20% is about right. Tanzania, Zambia, and the Caprivi are quite a bit more expensive. Also, should a charter be required (typically not the case in the Zambezi Delta) transportation costs will push up the net.

 

[Tanks]

...Also, should a charter be required (typically not the case in the Zambezi Delta) transportation costs will push up the net.

Yeah, I have to take a charter to Nyakasanga from Harare this coming August. That adds close to 6-7% to the cost of the hunt.

 

[Hunt anything]

At times in the Zambezi delta you are controlled by the weather if a charter is required or not, if a heavy rains knock out a bridge or two you may have to charter about 1500 to 1600 dollars.
My delta experience was 1 dry year and the only time we got our feet wet was crossing a sand river to place a leopard bait, the delta was dry and stalked buffalos in dry grass the second was a slog through soup.

 

[Red Leg]

At times in the Zambezi delta you are controlled by the weather if a charter is required or not, if a heavy rains knock out a bridge or two you may have to charter about 1500 to 1600 dollars.
My delta experience was 1 dry year and the only time we got our feet wet was crossing a sand river to place a leopard bait, the delta was dry and stalked buffalos in dry grass the second was a slog through soup.

Exactly. I have done one of each.

 

[Rell]

The reality is that there are very few real deals. True wilderness areas that are well managed with good infrastructure ain’t getting any cheaper.

Especially for your first buff … make it a unbelievable memory. Wilderness, tracking, and hunt hard.

Personally I don’t think I’ll ever hunt another buff that isn’t in a wilderness setting, no high fence (don’t care how big an area it is) and isn’t true tracking. Swamps, spot and stalk, targets of opportunity, fences, … meh I’ll pass.

Cost is always an issue for sure, I don’t take much plains game on DG hunts and spend that cash on the quality of the area. (ps always hunt bushbuck at every opportunity!) who needs a wildebeest or zebra really. Focus on the buff and don’t shoot the first animal get up on, unless he’s perfect.

 

[revturbo9967]

The reality is that there are very few real deals. True wilderness areas that are well managed with good infrastructure ain’t getting any cheaper.

Especially for your first buff … make it a unbelievable memory. Wilderness, tracking, and hunt hard.

Personally I don’t think I’ll ever hunt another buff that isn’t in a wilderness setting, no high fence (don’t care how big an area it is) and isn’t true tracking. Swamps, spot and stalk, targets of opportunity, fences, … meh I’ll pass.

Cost is always an issue for sure, I don’t take much plains game on DG hunts and spend that cash on the quality of the area. (ps always hunt bushbuck at every opportunity!) who needs a wildebeest or zebra really. Focus on the buff and don’t shoot the first animal get up on, unless he’s perfect.

This is how I ended up approaching the hunt. I wanted my first experience to be the best I could make it within my budget and I felt I found that in Zim. I contemplated being able to have a great mixed bag of buff and plains game, or the true wild hunt with unknowns. I went with the latter and do not believe I made the wrong decision for me. I even pushed myself to set aside more money to extend my hunt by a few days and hunt wild croc. Now I have the freedom to hunt hard for buff and if we have time hunt hard for croc. Any plains game that we come across will just be a bonus. Hopefully bushbuck and hyena are seen. I certainly would not turn away a water buck or kudu either.