MOZAMBIQUE: Western Safaris 2023

Hank2211

AH legend
Joined
Jan 12, 2010
Messages
3,287
Reaction score
9,063
Media
216
Articles
4
Hunting reports
Africa
14
Member of
SCI, DU, Pheasants Forever
Hunted
Canada, United States, Zimbabwe, South Africa (Eastern Cape; Northern Cape; North West Province, Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo), Namibia, Cameroon, Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Argentina
As regular readers may recall, my last hunting trip, if I can dignify it by calling it that, was to Liberia in May of 2022. We were looking for duikers then, and found none. I’ve been a fan of the smaller African antelopes almost from the beginning of my African hunting, when a steenbok, generally a pretty easy target, caused me a little embarrassment and more than a little aggravation. As annoyed as I was at that little guy, it occurred to me that it’s pretty easy to see a kudu, but not so easy to see a klipspringer. And from that realization, a commitment to getting what I view as Africa’s ‘tougher’ game was born.

A few health warnings up front. First, brevity isn’t my strong suit, so this will likely ramble more than your usual hunt report (but not likely more than my hunt reports!). If you find that to be the case, you can just skip it all or go to those parts which are of interest. Secondly, I tend to review pretty much all aspects of the hunt, including the preparation, travel, etc., so again, skip what isn’t relevant to you. Thirdly, I didn’t pose any of the bait pictures, so you will see them as they were found. I apologize in advance if they are more graphic than people wish to see, but the alternative was no pictures at all. Lastly, no ostriches were hurt (or even seen) on this hunt.

That said, to date, I’ve managed to get myself eight of the Tiny Ten, with only the suni and the Sharpe’s grysbok missing. You don’t have to travel the length and breadth of Africa for the Tiny Ten (or for the Big Five for that matter) as you do, for example, for the nine spiral horns, but since the term was coined, I believe, by a South African (Peter Flack, I think?), it’s perhaps not surprising that you can get all of these in southern (but not solely South) Africa (although I think that a few of them - such as the red duiker - count whether they are taken in Natal or west Africa. I took one in both places, just to be sure.)

I tried to hunt the Sharpe’s in Zimbabwe a couple of years ago, but no permits were available. No great harm done there, because we never saw any over the course of two weeks. It’s been my experience that when I want to hunt something which I can’t, I tend to see it everywhere, and when I can hunt it, well, hen’s teeth come to mind. I had also spent three days in the sand forests not far from mKuze in South Africa searching for suni, again to no avail (although I did manage to inflict a fatal wound on the side-view mirror of a game-viewing vehicle in that particular hunt). As an aside, I’m told that suni permits are harder to come by in south Africa than they used to be.

So about a year ago, my hunting agent, Dean Stobbs, who moonlights as a Zimbabwean PH and sometime videographer, and who has booked all of my hunts, suggested we try Mozambique, which offered both the suni and the Sharpe’s, on the same property. I’d never been to Mozambique, so I was game, so to speak, to give it a try. We booked the hunt with Western Safaris, a Zimbabwean safari outfitter, the principals of which Dean knew, giving me additional comfort. The only outfitters I had heard of in Mozambique were Mark Haldane’s Zambezi Delta Safaris (Coutada 11) and one other, but neither could easily offer me both the suni and the Sharpe’s. So the hunt was booked with Western Safaris.

Now, as those who have been to Africa know, getting there can take some time and effort, so once there, it makes sense to look at what Africa has to offer in terms of available game. I’m not trying for the Weatherby award, so this wasn’t a box checking exercise (every person I’ve ever met who is going for that award just wants to get the next one and move on. Apologies to those who don’t think that way) - I enjoy getting the feel for a place and its game, while also gaining an understanding of its people and its history.

In considering what ‘Africa had to offer’ with Dean, we discussed a number of options. One was nyala. I have previously shot a number of nyala, which of course I count towards my spiral horns. But of the nine spiral horns, the nyala is the only one which I hadn’t taken in its natural habitat, strictly speaking. All were taken in fenced areas which, while always large to satisfy myself that I could call them ‘fair chase’, were introduced. So taking a nyala in its natural range had some appeal. So we added nyala to the list.

I then thought about other animals which I’d hunted in areas where they were either introduced or behind high fences, and lion came to mind. I’ve done three captive-bred lion hunts, all in South Africa and all many years ago, two of which I thought were ‘legitimate’ hunts. I won’t go into the third, but I was not pleased with it. Anyway, there was an opportunity to shoot a wild lion in Mozambique, so we added that to the list. And that pretty much settled the list of animals I had to specify in advance.

Firearms

Because I had added the lion to the list, I needed at least a .375 H&H (minimum legal requirement in Mozambique), so I decided that would do for everything I was after. Since I wasn’t looking to do a full mount - or any mount really, other than perhaps skull mounts - on the little guys, and it was unlikely I would go for head shots (!), I wasn’t too worried about the damage a .375 would do. My .375 was made for me in 2011 by Kilimanjaro Rifles, and it’s always served me well. It carries a Swarovski 1.7 - 10x Z6i. I’ve come to rely on the illuminated reticle and I’m not sure I would hunt without one, if I had a choice.

As for ammo, I had a couple of boxes of 300 grain Federal trophy bonded bear claws in the basement, so those came with me, rather than Barnes X’s, which I normally prefer. Having said that, TBBCs have never let me down, and this hunt proved to be no exception.

Coutada 9

Coutada 9 is approximately 200,000 hectares in size (about 500,000 acres, or 780 sq miles!), and is split between four partners. Two own 35% each, or about 80,000 hectares, and the other two split the remaining 30%. Typically, each owner hunts their own area, but there are no internal (or external) fences, and if you’re hunting lion or elephant, you can hunt the entire area. So lots of room.

1697817107557.png


The area we would be based in was operated by Western Safaris, owned by the Rosenfels family of Zimbabwe. John Rosenfels is one of the old hands of Zimbabwe hunting, and operated the Chewore concession for more than two decades. His two sons, James and Ed, are the professional hunters and James would be taking care of me. The other large operator is Mokore Safaris, owned by the Duckworth family, also of Zimbabwe, with an equally impressive history in the hunting industry.

Departure Day

Departure day came and it wouldn’t be flying today if it didn’t start with a (potential) fiasco. My flight from Calgary to Montreal, where I would pick up Qatar to Doha and JNB was scheduled at 12:20, giving me about a three-hour layover in Montreal before the Qatar flight. I woke up at 4 am, checked online, and the flight was on time. I went back to sleep and woke up again at 6 am and was working on my daily sudoku when my wife woke up, complained about light pollution, and asked if I’d checked the flight. Yup, a couple of hours ago. Do it again, she said, and went back to sleep. Being the dutiful husband I am (or pretend to be), I did as she said, and now the flight was five hours delayed. I would miss my connection. How can a flight lose 5 hours in two hours? Who knows.

I got on the phone to Air Canada, and for once got someone who was helpful. She quickly booked me on a 10 am flight to Montreal. All set. Except that now I didn’t have the hours I thought I did, so after a rushed shower, I finished packing, and was off to the airport.

Air Canada was very good about the firearm and ammo, but there was one issue, which others may run into. Qatar insists that they see the firearm before it goes on their plane. Air Canada generally insists that luggage be checked through to the final destination (which the passenger generally prefers as well, of course) but I told them that I had to pick up the firearm and ammo in Montreal, and re-check it on Qatar. The agent said she couldn’t do that - against the rules (the rules were created to prevent “skip lagging”). Once I explained why this was an issue, the agent checked with her supervisor, and they decided that a firearm was a good enough reason to allow it.

Once I landed in Montreal, I had to collect my luggage and wait a couple of hours for the Qatar desk to open. It was a good thing I was the first in the business class line - it took about 45 minutes to get through the paperwork! They were training someone, so that might have contributed to the time, but listening to the process being explained was interesting. Apparently, the plane’s captain need to personally sign off on every firearm going into the hold. And then only after they have all of the information they need, which is a lot. They wanted my Canadian firearm’s license, the export permit for the firearm and ammo, a copy of the Mozambique firearms permit, and a copy of the South Africa transit permit. And I had to show them the ammo, as well as the rifle.

I’ve flown Qatar with a firearm before, and it didn’t take as long as this process did, but I will say that throughout, the Qatar staff were unfailingly polite.

The next two days (Aug. 20 - Sept. 1) were all travel. The flight from Doha to JNB arrived a bit early at 2.30 am (!). I had arranged my transit permits with AfricaSky, which I’ve used in the past. I was met at the end of the jetway by someone holding a sign with my name, who took me around whatever lines there were at that hour, and we picked up my luggage. At that point he delivered me into the care of Gilbert, who works for AfricaSky and who I have gotten to know over the years. Unfailingly polite and helpful.

A bit to my surprise, the firearms office was open and my rifle was already there. I was the only person and we were done in less than 5 minutes. Gilbert waited with me until the AirLink desks opened at 5 am, helped me check in, took me to the (right) desk to pay for the rifle fee, and then took care of the rifle. All very efficient.

At 12.30 pm after a solid breakfast at Spur in the airport, I boarded the flight to Tete (pronounced Tet, as in the lunar new year).

We arrived at Tete around 2 pm. This isn’t exactly a major metropolis - in fact, it’s pretty much a run-down provincial town, but there is mining activity in the region, so it has a real airport, at least for the area. Real doesn’t mean particularly nice, although the departure area seems a lot newer than the arrivals area.

IMG_0457.jpeg


We were met by a meet and greet person we had set up in advance, which it turns out was a good idea. He met us in the arrivals area while I was trying to figure out the visa forms and told me not to bother. He took our passports and brought them back a few minutes later with the necessary stamps. In speaking to others who arrived a few days after us and who had not arranged for the meet and greet, they waited over two hours for the stamps. They told us they could see their passports on a desk but no one seemed interested in looking at them!

This might be a good time to mention the recent confusion over Mozambique visas. Travelers from Canada or the US need a visa to enter Mozambique. Mozambique has an online site where you can apply for a visa. The first step in the process is to verify that you in fact need a visa. I did that, was told I needed one (which I knew) and then proceeded to fill out the application. Submitted with all required documents (passport, picture, proof of funds, etc.). Refused. I kept trying and kept getting refused.

So I went to VisaHQ, a service which I’ve used for visas in the past with good results. They applied for me. Refused. They finally were able to do what I couldn’t - speak to someone at the embassy to try to figure out what was wrong. Well, there was something wrong. I didn’t need an advance visa, and in fact couldn’t get one. The Mozambique government had eliminated visa requirements for stays of less than 30 days for many of those who used to require them, but hadn’t updated their website, or really anyone, including some of their own officials. So unless that changes, you don’t need a visa to hunt Mozambique. If it does change, it’s not clear they will tell anyone though . . . TIA!

Once the firearm arrived I was taken into an office where it was examined and compared to my permit, arranged in advance by Western Safaris. That took a fair amount of time as there seemed to be a number of forms which the officer had to fill out, all by hand. And then the stamps. Not only did the officer who filled out the forms have to stamp them a number of times, but so did another officer in the office. I had to pay US$70 for the rifle and two boxes of ammo . . . And that required more stamps. I sometimes think that stamps are the most powerful tools in Africa. No ‘extra’ payments though.

Finally out of the airport, we were met by our driver who would take us to camp. A very pleasant young woman named Daisy. So not driving Miss Daisy, but Miss Daisy driving. It’s a bit less than 200 km to camp from the airport, and that takes about 5.5 hours. Tells you something about the state of the roads - and this was mostly on the major north-south highway connecting Maputo in the south with the rest of the country. Once you get off that highway, the roads are actually worse, something I wasn’t sure was possible . . .

It was dark by the time we arrived in camp, but we were expected and I was whisked off to my chalet to clean up before dinner. The chalet was very nice, with plenty of room and storage space for my stuff, as well as a decent bathroom with plenty of hot water. I had a few long showers, and I never ran out of hot water. Hot showers are my lifeline in a hunting camp, and this one ranked highly.

Dinner was delicious and there was plenty of it. Fresh bread (a daily occurrence), salad, meat, roasted potatoes, vegetables. This wasn’t a show for the first night - this was a daily event. The Rosenfels’ cook has been with them for decades, and for good reason.

After dinner and some talking, it was off to bed. We’d be getting up at 5:30 the next day, and start by checking the rifle. That was to be our latest wake-up for the duration - otherwise, it was a 4:30 am wake-up call, breakfast at 5 and out by 5:30.
 
I hunted with the South African branch of Western Safaris and had the privilege of meeting John, Marilyn and their adult children. Great people and a great outfit. I'm really looking forward to this hunt report.
 
I'm enjoying your report and finding it quite informative. I'm hunting with Mokore in Mozambique next year.
 
Thanks for posting. Can't wait to hear the "rest of the story"
 
Looking forward to this. Just getting there has already been an adventure!
 
Enjoying your report so far. Keep it up.
Bruce
 
It’s a cracking place and a cracking team

When I first went there I had to pinch myself, as I could have been back home on the farm in the 70s

Camp is a blend of old and modern

From the million acres of their reserve; the bush; the hunting and the staff - authenticity is built into its very foundations

J
 
Thankfully, you have not stopped hunting Henry. I was a little concerned for a while.
I saw the Bongo Avatar and scrolled down to what I knew would be the start of a great tale.
As always, never disappointing.....
 
I'm kind of putting this together as I go along, so apologies for the time this is taking. And the pictures may not be in any real order . . .

On the first day of the hunt, we began, as usual, at the shooting range to check the rifle. One shot, an inch or two from the bull and James declared we were good to go.

James had decided we would begin by looking for bait for the lions. I did suggest that suni and grysbok were the main attraction and that lion was secondary, but James said we had plenty of time to look for suni and grysbok, which we’d get “for sure.” I secretly prayed these wouldn’t end up being famous last words! I then suggested I might like to try a warthog to start, to break the ice. There is no shortage of warthogs on Coutada 9 - they are everywhere. The only animal we saw as often was kudu, particularly kudu cows (which, as with all female animals in Mozambique, can’t be shot). On any given day we would see dozens, if not hundreds, of warthog and kudu (although as you’d expect, trophy kudu were still reasonably rare).

DSC00156.jpeg


James spotted an old warthog, and one quick shot later it was down. Not much more than an appetizer for a lion but it was a start for me.

There are three main ways lion are hunted on Coutada 9. First is checking waterholes for fresh tracks. If tracks are found and they’re big enough, you follow them on foot and hope to catch up to the lions. Given the heat of the day, catching up was pretty likely if tracks could be followed, and many areas of the Coutada were amenable to tracking.

A second method is to set out baits with adjacent cameras, and see if big, older lions come close. Oddly enough, the lions in this area seem to have no interest in carrion as a meal, although they’re often interested enough to check it out. We did get pictures of lions coming near our baits but not one bait was ever touched (by a lion - vultures are another story).

The third method is to go out at night and call lions. Apparently the dominant males will often come to a call ready for battle. In these cases, they might, or might not, call back first, but you couldn’t count on that warning.

We were going to use all three methods, so much of that first day was spent driving to various water holes to check for tracks. We found nothing worth following on this day, but I did get an idea of the vastness of the Coutada. We were often to find ourselves more than an hour’s or more drive from camp when it was time to return for lunch or dinner (and only a portion of the area is hunted).

On our afternoon rounds, we drove through a dry riverbed, which we would do daily. There a number of rivers here, all of which are dry at this time of year. Water can often be accessed by digging into the sand, and some animals are adept at that, so lions frequent these areas. Later in the day we spotted some ‘scrappy’ (to use James’ term) kudu bulls, and one of these became our first real bait.
DSC00148.jpeg

This is a 'scrappy kudu. I think I've shot trophy kudu smaller than this!

On our first day of driving (and you do a lot of driving on lion hunts), we saw lots of warthog and kudu as I mentioned, but also beautiful sable (the Roosevelt variety, which generally have somewhat shorter horns than the common variety), plenty of waterbuck as well as duiker, and oribi. No suni or grysbok (though not surprised we didn’t see any of the latter - they’re nocturnal).

Later, we would see plenty of buffalo, elephant, impala, eland, and reedbuck, as well as smaller numbers of Lichtenstein hartebeest. We also saw lots of klipspringer (not huntable in Mozambique) as well as aardvark and a fair number of pythons (both of the latter at night).

We also saw (and felt) lots of tsetse flies, and these were a real annoyance, though not more than that. They do serve a useful purpose of course - they keep livestock out of an area, but their bites can be painful and itchy (like mosquitos, by the time you feel the bite, it’s generally too late to do anything about it and, unlike mosquitos, they do bite through clothing and repellant was ineffective). The bites were invariably itchy, sometimes during the day and always at night, but the itchiness seemed to respond reasonably well to scratching and if that first line of defense failed, then Claritin. Our trackers had their own way of alleviating, if not eliminating, the problem. They had an old paint can which they filled with old elephant dung and then lit it on fire. This pail was hung on the back of the truck and the smoke did seem to be at least moderately effective, but I’m afraid the smell will never come out of my hunting clothes (and my nose).

IMG_0381.jpeg


Our hunt continued in this fashion for the succeeding days. We would visit pans and dams in the morning, and generally see plenty of lion tracks, but none big enough to follow. We’d then look for some bait in the afternoon and put those up, while dragging guts.

I should say a word about bait here. The most numerous animals on the Coutada are those you target for bait - that typically means ‘scrappy’ kudu bulls, and I believe I eventually shot 7 of those. We also shot a couple of waterbuck, one with bad horns and a limp, which turned out to be an abscessed foot, which could have been caused by a gin trap. The other had better horns, but had been in the same area for a number of days and could at best only limp off when he saw us. It turned out he had a knee which had been injured somehow and which was quite swollen. Oh, I also shot two warthog as appetizers, one of which was so old it had virtually no teeth and was clearly starving.
DSC00150.jpeg


An interesting episode occurred during the 5th day of our hunt. After a fruitless day of looking for lions, we were returning to our camp late and were driving slowly through the Makore camp just after dark. Suddenly we heard someone crying for help. James stopped and while I took advantage of the StarLink (don’t tell Makore!) to check emails and texts, James and Dean went to see what prompted the cries. As it turned out, an American hunter found a spitting cobra in his room after his shower. He called his friends, one of whom apparently found a spear-like object and decided to deal with the cobra himself. After spearing it, he picked it up (Darwin award time?), and the snake spit venom into his eyes. I am fully prepared to believe - without trying it for myself - that this is a painful experience. His eyes were promptly washed with lots of water, and it appeared he would survive at least until he could be taken to the local village (some hours away). As it turned out, the quick washing of his eyes probably did prevent any lasting damage, although I understand he had an uncomfortable time of it for a few days.

As we were heading back to camp we passed Eland dam and one of the trackers whispered ‘shumba!” We stopped and with the spotlight saw two female lions with four, year-old cubs. One female didn’t seemed disturbed by us - we were a hundred yards away, but another decided to give us her best growl. Impressive. Unable to find a male, we backed away and left them to their evening.
 
Thankfully, you have not stopped hunting Henry. I was a little concerned for a while.
I saw the Bongo Avatar and scrolled down to what I knew would be the start of a great tale.
As always, never disappointing.....
Sorry to worry you Brickburn!
 
DSC00160.jpeg


Over the next many days we repeated our daily process - making our rounds, checking for tracks, shooting and placing baits, as well as dragging roads, in the afternoon, and calling at night. While we saw tracks from time to time, we rarely saw anything worth following. So we decided (well, I decided - I was starting to get worried about the suni and grysbok) that we’d at least try to put a grysbok in the shed rather than calling for a few nights.

We spent the next day making our rounds of water holes and shooting another kudu (the trackers were a little disappointed in this shot - I destroyed the heart, which, along with the liver, they would always take home with them from every bait). After dinner, we went out to spotlight for grysbok. It had been some time since I’d shot at night (one of my earlier hunt reports from some years ago is all about a nocturnal hunt), and I wasn't sure how well this would go. In other words, I was a little apprehensive. With good reason as it turned out.

DSC00173.jpeg


Only the male Sharpe’s grysbok has horns, but they aren’t very big. An inch is considered pretty good. So you have a PH who is trying to determine whether a small animal some distance away, often in grass, has horns and so is shootable. Fortunately, the grysbok don’t seem unduly worried by the spotlight. They will often sit relatively still for a few seconds, and then move off, but generally not at speed. However, in my experience, they were almost never in a place where it would be easy to take a shot from the back of the truck. So while the PH is trying to figure out if it’s a male, you’re trying to get ready to shoot instantly once the OK is give. And in nine cases out of ten, the answer is “female.” Now, even I know that 90% of the grysbok anywhere are not likely to be female, so ‘female’ is just a code word for “I can’t tell if it’s male or female, and it’s moved off.” After a while, this gets frustrating.

But not as frustrating as doing what I did when I finally heard “male, shoot it”. And so of course, I did, too quickly, and impatiently, and I missed it completely. I think. We look and can’t find any trace of it, nor of any blood. We come back the next morning and still can’t find any blood and I console myself with the thought that while it’s possible that an animal as small as a grysbok could be hit with a .375 and not be found, it’s not likely. So it’s back to lions.

And back to the same drill as in previous days. We get pictures of lions coming to sniff our baits, but none ever eat, and all of those we see are either females or young males. When we do find tracks, we usually can’t follow them because the ground doesn’t permit it.

We do call lions and on the 9th day of our hunt, we seem to get a response. In short order, three male lions appear nearby, but once again, they are all too young. I actually have one of these in my scope (lit up by the spotlight), but even I can see it’s only got a Mohawk rather than a full mane.

A few days later we decided to try again for grysbok. Hopefully, I had the fever out of my system by then and was ready to do my part.

We headed out about 9 pm after dinner. Almost immediately we began to see grysbok and of course, they were all female. After seeing about a dozen of these so-called “females” I began to get exasperated, which is never conducive to good shooting. See a grysbok. Try to get set up for a shot. Try to find it in the scope. Wait for a call. Female. They couldn’t all be females. But I couldn’t force Dean or James to see horns if they couldn’t, and I really didn’t want them to - I didn’t want to make a (another) mistake, so I had to just sit there and stew.

Finally, a grysbok is spotted off to our right, not too many yards away from the vehicle, lying down in a gulley. Horns. Shoot. I actually took a breath instead of immediately yanking the trigger, and when I did squeeze the trigger, the animal sort of blew up in front of us (well, beside us actually, but you get the picture). A Swift A-Frame at 30 yards in the guts. Not pretty, but it got the job done, and finally, I was down to one animal to finish the Tiny Ten. And I had one of the two main animals I came here for.

DSC00185.jpeg


The drive back to camp that night was a joyful one, and I slept better than I had since arriving.

On our tenth day of hunting we found some interesting lion tracks. Not huge, but big enough that they could be interesting. And so we began to track, and track, and track. On bare or semi-bare ground the tracking was slow but possible. At one point we came upon an area of tall and dense grass, where it was impossible to track. Fortunately, lion will typically follow the path of least resistance, so we began to follow the nearest game trail. I saw that our lead tracker had found himself a stick and kept poking the ground in front of him as he walked. James explained that poachers often placed gin traps on game trails which of course funnel animals. Matteo had no intention of stepping in a gin trap, and hence the stick.
DSC00166.jpeg


We saw evidence of poachers on this walk. We’d come across the recent contents of a stomach, and nearby was a warthog hole which had been opened up with a shovel. There are plenty of times I’m happy not to be walking the first in line.

After a few hours of tracking in the heat, I began to feel what I often feel when I’m in these situations. That the trackers have no idea what they’re doing and this is all a bit of a show for my benefit. And then, of course, we come across the object of our tracking, and I’m astounded. This was no exception. James suddenly stopped and said “shh”. About 60 yards ahead we could see a lion lying in deep grass under a tree. Some glassing showed the presence of another male, as well as a female with a cub, which the males must have picked up along the way, and a kill. There was a bit of growling over pieces of the kill, but the lions seemed to know each other. Unfortunately (for me), both males were too young, and of course were with a female and a cub.

DSC00196.jpeg

The warthog's entrance was on the left, and the rectangular area to the right is where it was dug out of the hole by poachers.

While I was a bit disappointed that the males were too young, it was, as usual, fascinating to see master trackers at work, and to watch lions which have no idea you’re there.
 
Great report so far!

Did you see much in the way of buffalo and elephant?
 
Great report so far!

Did you see much in the way of buffalo and elephant?
We saw elephant most days, but not large herds. We always gave them a wide berth, but they seemed more tranquil than those i've seen in, say, Benin, which got very agitated at the sight of a vehicle. None of the bulls had what I would have called great ivory, and i'm told that 40 pounds would be good for the area with something less than that being realistic.

As for buffalo, we saw them most days as well, sometimes in larger herds - a few were more than 30 animals. Not Zambezi Delta size herds, but not bad, and apparently the horns are much bigger here than they are in the swamps. We did see the odd dugga boy, and one night saw a herd of them - in fact, they came to our lion call, which I found a bit surprising. We had a thermal sight and watched them approach to within about 50 yards of us.

Western Safaris have plans to introduce more buffalo to the area.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Enjoying your report Hank. Looking forward to the rest.
 
As well.
 
It’s a cracking place and a cracking team

When I first went there I had to pinch myself, as I could have been back home on the farm in the 70s

Camp is a blend of old and modern

From the million acres of their reserve; the bush; the hunting and the staff - authenticity is built into its very foundations

J
Keeping with the traditions set by Adelino Pires back in the day!
 

Forum statistics

Threads
57,528
Messages
1,233,044
Members
101,251
Latest member
BurtonJohn
 

 

 

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

Grz63 wrote on Doug Hamilton's profile.
Hello Doug,
I am Philippe from France and plan to go hunting Caprivi in 2026, Oct.
I have read on AH you had some time in Vic Falls after hunting. May I ask you with whom you have planned / organized the Chobe NP tour and the different visits. (with my GF we will have 4 days and 3 nights there)
Thank in advance, I will appreciate your response.
Merci
Philippe
Grz63 wrote on Moe324's profile.
Hello Moe324
I am Philippe from France and plan to go hunting Caprivi in 2026, Oct.
I have read on AH you had some time in Vic Falls after hunting. May I ask you with whom you have planned / organized the Chobe NP tour and the different visits. (with my GF we will have 4 days and 3 nights there)
Thank in advance, I will appreciate your response.
Merci
Philippe
rafter3 wrote on Manny R's profile.
Hey there could I have that jewelers email you mentioned in the thread?
VIGILAIRE wrote on wesheltonj's profile.
Hi Walden. Good morning from England, Chris here (The Englishman!) from Croatia. Firstly it was a pleasure to meet you and Michelle - a fellow Sanderson! I have finally joined AH as I enjoy it very much. Glad you enjoyed the hunt and your write up which I read on AR was very good indeed. I am sending on WhatsApp pics from Bojan of some of the animals hunted recently. Take care and best regards. CS.
 
Top