SOUTH AFRICA: MOZAMBIQUE: Off To Southern Africa With KMG & TMS & PPS

BRICKBURN said:

Walked all the way from Paddington to meet with the Queen. She did say drop by for the Red Deer permit.

She was in, the flag was flying,

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BRICKBURN said:

but the <>€€£*^#}%€£¥ line up to see her was a little long for me. No permit issued, the deer were safe.

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Time to head out, so I checked the watch...

BRICKBURN said:

The geese and pigeons however were starting to look like they needed some thinning in Hyde Park.

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Another lost Canadian



Local Beauty Queen





The flying rats that are everywhere. (Dog trainers supply chain dream)





The luckiest bird on the planet. Marius did a very good thing to save this bird.

Beautiful specimen!

Unfortunately the Queen wasn't in on that day. If she was, the Royal Standard would've been flying.
The Union Flag flies when she isn't home. In fact it now flies on all government buildings, Buck House included.

Great write up though!

@BRICKBURN, I recognize that whiskey bottle on the left.....hit me on the head from the back of the plane!!!!!

Adrian said:

Unfortunately the Queen wasn't in on that day. If she was, the Royal Standard would've been flying.
The Union Flag flies when she isn't home. In fact it now flies on all government buildings, Buck House included.

Great write up though!

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Damn, that's the problem. Can't trust any of them.

Good luck with getting the computer issue squared away! Glad you had a great trip and I too look forward to your report and photos.

BRICKBURN said:

Damn, that's the problem. Can't trust any of them.

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That's just what Mugabe said!

Hank2211 said:

That's just what Mugabe said!

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and still saying it.

Hank, I learnt a new word from brickburn...Muppet...

TMS said:

Hank, I learnt a new word from brickburn...Muppet...

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I sure hope he was talking about Sesame Street . . .

Does Mugabe live there???

TMS said:

Does Mugabe live there???

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I believe he dreams of it from time to time.

BRICKBURN said:

Hunted with Pieter today. Best intransit lounge you can imagine. Hunting. Awesome day. ...................

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This was a whirl wind day. Pickup at the airport, drive to Pieter's Erasmus' (Paw Print Safaris) main lodge, excellent Steak dinner and specially made Tomato toasty , wake up early and head to the concession and start looking for a Black Wildebeest.
Time was a huge factor on what was going on today. Pieter did a great job of arranging this in the middle of his schedule with a less than one day hunt duration.

After several blown stalks, you know what Black Wildebeest are like. Crazy, run in circles take off over the hills.
Search again.

Finally got an approach angle on these guys through some trees. The valley between my vantage and the top of the far hill is very short grass and stopped all plans of closing in for a shot


260 plus yards with another nice August "breeze" to assist with bullet flight.

We both glassed the herd and determined which was biggest. At that distance there was not a lot of refined trophy judging. I went on length and mass of the hooks. Bases were not part of the equation. These guys are hard to judge properly.

I lay down on the bipod for the shot and Pieter was just getting down when the herd was a bout to pull another Houdini.
My bull moved behind another and then came out broadside to stand for a moment.
That was it.
I squeezed the trigger and heard the sound of a successful hit. Pieter had not managed to get his field glasses onto it yet.
The herd was moving off and the bull did not just drop. Hmmm?
One fell behind quickly and stood and then went down.
It was not convincing.....

We made out way over and I asked Pieter to hang back with me as I thought it would get up.
Spidey senses were right on the money. He got up and ran and I panicked and missed the shot at 30 yards.
When he stopped at about 80 I ended the chase with one through the shoulders.

We could not figure what happened with the first shot. Too many holes in the wrong places. During autopsy, it was discovered the Wildebeest had started to swap ends after I shot and the bullet went in the neck, out the neck and into the chest, lengthwise. Bizarre.
The second shot was quite clear what had occurred.
Never found the first bullet, it did not exit though.









We loaded and arranged permits and headed back to the lodge and a relaxing afternoon wait for the trip to the plane.
Little did I know that John, Pieters partner was plotting a bird hunt. I did not want to horn in on another guys hunt and was told it was no issue.
So, back we head out after lunch with a definite end time to ensure delivery to the airport.

We sat on some water for Ducks and a duck and dove managed to come by in range. It was great fun making some noise, but really a little early for proper flights.

Panorama of the duck hide.
IMG_3793.jpg

At this point John asked if I'd like to try for some Upland birds and hunting with the dogs sounded good to me. The prompt reply was sure.

The dogs were excellent and worked hard in the heat. At one point one of the dogs disappeared from my sight and I knew we had not been paying enough attention. She was on point. I scanned hard and found her on the edge of some bush and started the fast walk to the location. I was too long in my arrival and the Orange River Partridge started to flush out of range. Too close to the dog for a safe shot, not really out of range.

Pretty birds


We tried to find them in the bush again, but it was not to be. They are extremely hard to do a s second locate on.

On we went down a fence line with the dogs working well.
It was interesting being on the guided side of one of these bird hunts. The instruction in a constant flow: "Watch the dog now", "Ready, ready!?"

I was fairly quick to prove I could read the dogs and be ready for the flushes.
Hunting over flushing dogs English Springer Spaniels requires way more focus than hunting with the pointers. Reading these dogs was easy, they never lied once. They were spot on.

John dove the ground once in expectation of being "swung through" as a Francolin flushed and veered behind him.
I potted it at 50 yards and the exclaimed "Good shot!" was a loud enough to be heard in Joburg.
The dogs were also quite happy now. Something had hit the ground.

A couple of doubles on Greywing later we started our way back to the Bakkie and managed into a flock of the Orange Rivers again. I took one down and then was reloading, my natural instinct with my own over and under ( I like two loaded barrels when I am in a covey.)
This habit bit me in the ass, as the birds had waited until I was standing with a broken action and uncocked gun to make their escape.

I did manage to get one of these little premier birds of the grasslands. They are fast and smart.

I walked the tree line on the way back and pass shot doves. Now I see why everyone gets so excited about these little birds. Quite the challenge. Have to do all this again with my own shotgun.

I took several ring necked doves down and retrieved them myself. (forgot to get them into the picture) There were also several that were quite prepared to humble me. (Just another challenge for the future.)
This whole upland hunt was conducted inside 40 minutes. Time again the big factor.
What an awesome way to end the hunting in Africa.
Bird hunting over dogs. (I missed my dogs)

Grey Wing Francolin and Orange River Partridge, John and the Girls. The smiles say it all.

BRICKBURN said:

Going to work on the computer thing today and maybe get some pictures into the big machine on the desk and start in earnest with the tales, fibs.

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So..... How much longer do we have to wait to hear about that 397 yard last light uphill shot with a high wind and taken with open sights???

Royal27 said:

So..... How much longer do we have to wait to hear about that 397 yard last light uphill shot with a high wind and taken with open sights???

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Working on it. Easy stuff first.

Nice pre-season primer there Wayne. Birds and more birds, just a few days left for the rest of us to wait.

I often see John's posts about his dogs. I would like to hunt over them for sure!

great trip bricko , how did you go walking through the brollie brigade ,would seemed funny being 2 foot higher than everyone else umbrella .

bluey said:

great trip bricko , how did you go walking through the brollie brigade ,would seemed funny being 2 foot higher than everyone else umbrella .

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I did have to watch out for my throat being cut by the less than attentive folks with those weapons.
It was easier to head into the middle of the parks and stay off the walkways. Much safer and quieter.

BRICKBURN said:

Sitting in the VIP Maputo. A few beers and off to bed. Lichinga run tomorrow.
Computer blew up. This is by iPhone
Oh well. Bought lots of SD cards to get pictures saved
Seems a little more humid here in Maputo. Funny that
Gun import was interesting. Not mine Kurt's. Patience is everything.

Won't likely be posting much after this til back in Joburg.

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Back tracking slightly:
The sculpture to greet you at the airport in Maputo



Up at 0500 for the Lichinga run. Little did I know how long this was going to feel. I felt for Kurt, he had come straight from the other side of the world.

The hotel van was not operational at this hour so, ...
Taxi , When it became obvious everything was not going to fit another taxi was called. It showed up with a "puncture". So, it was time to improvise. I carry straps to tie my bag on to my rifle case to use as a trolly.
Never thought I would be tying my rifle case to the roof of a Taxi. When in Rome....




Made it to the airport passing all the people still sprawled on the street from a nights partying.

The firearm vigil started


To Kurts great relief the rifle was present and accounted for.


I have now grown mostly accustomed to African air travel. It will be a milk run and you may not know which route you are taking to your destination so, make the best of it. The Nampula beer stop at 0900 a Manica was called for.



Finally, we are at Lichinga. Just like all the other pictures I have seen.


Time to be met by the TMS crew who whereas excited they jumped the gun and were in town a day early.

The trip around town getting some supplies for the trip to camp and the camp started.

The Mobile shop to get a SIM (honest)



and the tire shop to pick up the puncture repairs.



Then to the bank (official and unofficial), fuel station and then on the road for the Journey to camp.



A stop for fresh vegetables for the upcoming week.