MOZAMBIQUE: Little Rock To Tete

Day 1& 2

Finally I landed in Mozambique after two long days of travel. We started in Little Rock and ended in Tete, Mozambique.

I ran into the usual customs issues with my bow. You would’ve thought it was a nuclear bomb in my luggage—how much attention and confusion it caused them. At one point, I had seven agents looking over my bow with a fine-tooth comb. Two hours later, they determined it was safe, but it would cost me an additional $140 to leave with my bow.

We had a four-hour drive to Mokore Main Camp in the C9 hunting concession. South Africa looked like the Hilton compared to Mozambique. The living standards are so rough it broke my heart and reminded me how blessed I am to live in the States. They live in small metal buildings if they’re lucky—or in mud-and-stone structures. The roads were littered with large potholes. The driver was constantly scanning the road, dodging and weaving around danger. He honked his horn nonstop to warn people—especially those on foot—of the oncoming vehicle. We also had to be careful of goats, dogs, and cattle that constantly lined the side of the road.

After a couple of hours, we turned off the paved road onto dirt. That road proved to be even worse. For the next hour, we passed a number of small villages. The homes were made of mud, with reed-grass roofs. Many had no running water, indoor plumbing, or electricity. Most buildings were lucky to be ten by ten. I saw countless women and men carrying buckets of water on their heads for miles so they could have drinking, cooking, and bathing water for the day.

We drove through some beautiful country—mountains and scenery that looked nothing like South Africa or Zambia. As we approached the edge of the Mokore concession (C9), we stopped to stretch our legs and took pictures in front of the sign. We still had about forty-five minutes left to reach Mokore Main Camp, which would be my home for the next thirteen days.

During the drive to camp, I hadn’t seen a single wild African animal. Within minutes of entering the concession, I started seeing impala, warthogs, kudu—and even elephants.

That evening, I had dinner with my PH, Doug Duckworth, along with the other PHs and hunters in camp. After a short visit with everyone, I quickly headed back to my hut to get ready for tomorrow’s hunt.

The city of Tete and local bridge out of town

Some pictures of my drive into camp.

Videos

Huntforever said:

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Didn't know they have their own devil's tower.

You’re going to have a great safari there! Lots of game.

Day 3



I woke up just before sunrise, gathered my gear for the day's hunt, and headed to breakfast in a picturesque, open-airthatched-roof hut. After eating, I spent a few minutes at the archery range to double-check my sight. With my arrows grouping flawlessly, I was ready. We hopped into the Land Cruiser and made our way to the morning blind.



This setup was incredible—a blind built into a massive tree overlooking a dry creek bed. Scattered along the sand were a few small water holes, which had been dug out by elephants flipping sand until they reached the water still flowing beneath the barren surface. Within minutes, the bush came alive. The first visitors were a herd of kudu cows accompanied by a young bull, followed shortly by a few impalas. While there were a couple of decent impala males in the group, nothing stood out as a true trophy. For this safari, my primary targets were a Livingstone Eland, an East African bushbuck, and members of the "Tiny 10." I was open to a kudu, warthog, or impala, but only if they were exceptional specimens.



Over the next few hours, a steady parade of wildlife visited the water: gray mongooses, baboons, nyala, sable, and warthogs. Still, no shooters emerged. Then, out of nowhere, an East African bushbuck stepped into view. He was big. My Professional Hunter (PH) Doug whispered that he might push 16 inches. Unfortunately, he stayed well out of archery range, browsing under a tree about 120 yards away. We sat until noon before heading back to camp for lunch and a short siesta. This would become our daily routine for the next 13 days. While I personally would have preferred to pack a lunch and stay out in the bush all day, I decided it was best to do as the Romans do. Lol



After lunch and a needed recharge, we drove to a new area. While the trackers stayed behind to build a blind on a fresh water hole, we went stalking through the dense bush. It was slow, meticulous walking, though a couple of baboons spotted us and sounded a piercing alarm that surely alerted the entire area for miles. Despite the noise, we managed to spot a few female bushbuck and a young male. Toward the end of our hike, a duiker materialized from the shadows. I stealthily closed the distance to 45 yards. Deciding to try my luck, I drew and released—but my arrow clipped a stray twig, deflecting harmlessly away as the duiker vanished into the thicket.



By then, the light was fading fast. We met up with the trackers and made our way to camp. Dinner was amazing, but running on absolute fumes, I slipped away to my hut and went straight to sleep

This report is very timely as I’ll be sitting in that camp 60 days from today with 3 friends. But we won’t have to deal with the roads as we fly into Beira then take a charter flight into camp.

@Huntforever Im really looking forward to your report. Thanks for all the detail so far.

DLSJR said:

This report is very timely as I’ll be sitting in that camp 60 days from today with 3 friends. But we won’t have to deal with the roads as we fly into Beira then take a charter flight into camp.

@Huntforever Im really looking forward to your report. Thanks for all the detail so far.

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Actually, I did enjoy the ride there it enabled me to see the country from a different perspective and how the community lived. I would fly back to the airport instead of driving. You will have a blast they are great people and have an amazing concession.