MOZAMBIQUE: Leopard Hunt With Chapungu Kambako Safaris

This hunt was an unplanned spur of the moment hunt. My family had planned a weekend getaway to the Gaylord Texan that happened to coincide with DSC’s summer gala. This worked good for me and gave me something to do while the family was out shopping.
I was inquiring about a return to the Niassa to hunt leopard in a couple of years. I was told that we could do it this year with a bit of a discount. After brief conversations with the wife, I decided that I was in. It took a couple of hours to get our dates settled and in 50 days I would be hunting a leopard with the option to add buffalo. My first day of hunting would be the 19th of September and we would conclude the hunt on the 30th of September.
I used Gio with Gracy Travel for all of my travel arrangements. Everything with United from Lubbock to Denver to Newark to Johannesburg was on time and I had no issues. My overnight at City Lodge was fine other than I had trouble adjusting to the time change and I did not sleep well. Bruce got me and my rifles through security in about 30 minutes for my 11:30 flight to Pemba.
Upon my arrival in Pemba after my 3 hour flight, Takura the Kambako representative informs me that I can’t go to Litule this afternoon due to the President coming to Pemba. I found out later that this had happened to another client earlier in the season and was an excuse to shut down the airport early. I would be put up in Kambako’s Pemba beach lodge for the evening. This was fine with me. My wife and I were supposed to stay here in 2024. We did not get that opportunity due to the protests of the Mozambique presidential election. My wife was a little jealous and said that was the only way she would have gone back was to stay there.
After a nice dinner of fresh prawns, calamari, and tuna with chips and homemade ice cream for dessert. I was informed that I would be departing at 5:30am and would be served breakfast in camp.
The sunrise over the Indian Ocean was a nice addition to the trip.

The next morning I was up and ready before anyone was moving around. We left the lodge closer to 6:00 and arrived at the airport in time to wait for about 30 minutes for the airport to open. Around 7:00 I am on my way to Mbatamila. My pilot has informed me that we need to pick up a passenger and we would then head to Litule. This should only be a 15 minute stop and then it would be 20 minutes to camp.

Upon our arrival at Mbatamila the headquarters of the Niassa, the pilot asks me to wait by the plane as we should be on our way shortly. A couple of minutes pass and the pilot returns and informs me that our passenger who is a helicopter pilot needed to show the new helicopter pilot the landing area at the radio tower as it was a little tricky. I am told that this should take about 15 minutes. I am fine with this and not to worried. They did invite me to go for a ride with them but I did decline thinking I would be able to watch them from camp as there was a tower on top of the eiselberg behind camp.
An hour later the helicopter returns and the helicopter pilot lets us know that he needs to run down the road to pick up something and then we could be on our way. The caravan pilot has been apologizing to me the entire time he has been gone. Apparently there had been some late changes to the schedule the night before and no one seems to be on the same page. Nevertheless, 30 minutes later we arrived at Litule. After a short meet and greet with the departing clients and other PHs over their second breakfast and my first, we got the rifles dialed and we off and hunting at noon on my first day.
Our priority is bait. My PH Paul Wellock has informed me that he has hung a few zebra baits that the departing clients had shot the day before and Jumbo and the other PHs had 4 baits were they had seen cats on the prior hunt. We spent the afternoon chasing wildebeest and kudu with no luck. The wildebeest is second on my list. On my first trip, I spent several days and racked up over 35 miles chasing them and I have regretted not taking the shot opportunities that I had.

Ryan
Glad you went on your Safari, can’t wait to hear the rest of it

Juan

Killo said:

Ryan
Glad you went on your Safari, can’t wait to hear the rest of it

Juan

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Juan, I am glad I went as well. Paul told me about your leopard. I want to hear the rest of your safari as well.

Can’t wait to hear about the rest of your safari.

The next morning I was asked how l slept to which I responded that the waterbuck and impala had kept me up for awhile chomping on the grass. I also told Paul that I saw a hippo as well eating grass. Paul told me that it was probably a waterbuck as the hippo have moved up river to the pool by the old Kambako camp. I may be sleep deprived so I don’t argue.
Our priority is bait and there are a lot of waterbuck around camp so we would go collect one or a kudu if we could find one. We left camp and by 6:00 we had taken our waterbuck. We were able to recover the scirroco just under the skin on is opposite shoulder. This was the first animal I have taken with this bullet from my 300 win mag. It performed as it should. He was down within 20 yards.
Since we were only 10 minutes from camp, we decided to let the skinners prepare our bait and we would look for the little guys while we wait. There is a lot of Jess in this area around camp and the numbers of red duiker, Suni and grysbuck are amazing. We were amazed at the number of failed attempts we had this morning. At least ten red duiker were passed on. We also looked at several grysbuck. All females.
As we driving around chasing the little guys, we decide that basically everything is on the menu and we will take what we can get. About that time we spot a nice bushbuck. He takes us on a short stalk through the riverine. As we come out from a game trail through a bush. Paul has the sticks up but not out. I have to take a not so steady shot. It was good and we now have a nice bushbuck and more bait.
We were still not far from camp so it was decided that we would have lunch in camp and hang baits the rest of the day.

Following.

The next day we were treated to watch an elephant crossing the Lugenda while eating our breakfast.
There was also an elephant in camp during the night. We saw his track and the damage he did but no one ever heard him.
We needed to go refresh the four baits that were close to the Kambako and Namaho camps as we had not even made it that far the previous two days. We were on the road early and it took three hours to get to the first bait. While dragging at the first bait our trackers had spotted a red duiker so we decided to have a look. A short walk resulted in nothing. At the second bait, the trackers found some bush pigs sleeping in the river. We decided to have a look and they ran before we could identify a male. At the third bait site, the trackers found more bush pigs sleeping in the river. I almost shot both of them off hand at five yards. They didn’t know we were there and I thought I was shooting pigs in Texas for a moment. I did hesitate while Paul identified they were females. We now have decided that we’ve spent too much time chasing pigs and duiker that we needed to get back to work.
At the fourth bait site, our trackers found Jethro told us he saw a monster Suni. There was no hesitation we had to go take a look. Jethro leads us around a bend in the river and we climbed the river bank. Before I can get to the top, Jethro and Paul freeze. Paul asks if I can see him. I had to take another step up. I can see his head neck and a portion of his shoulder. Paul drops the sticks down to me. I get set up and I take the shot. They both ask where he went after the shot. I could not see either from my vantage point. I climb up and I can see him laying where he was when I shot. We had our monster Suni.
It is now almost 2:00. Paul tells me that we are not far from Namaho and we will have lunch there and leave the Suni there for processing. Namaho is a nice and small camp. There are 2 client tents with a small dining and campfire area. They are in the process of putting in an airstrip for this camp. The anti poaching patrols were in camp while we were there. I am told this was the site of an old Portuguese hunting camp.
After a quick lunch, we got back to work and checked more baits for the last couple of hours of daylight.

Great suni! Congratulations

Great read so far, damn nice Suni. In 2024 I stayed at the beach lodge for a couple days. Nice way to get on Africa time.

Did the Litule camp have to be rebuilt after the terrorist attacks in the Niassa? Or was it spared?

PHOENIX PHIL said:

Great read so far, damn nice Suni. In 2024 I stayed at the beach lodge for a couple days. Nice way to get on Africa time.

Did the Litule camp have to be rebuilt after the terrorist attacks in the Niassa? Or was it spared?

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It was spared. Kambako camp was destroyed. We talked about surveying the damage but we did not really have the time. I was told that it should be reopen next year.

the next day we are back to our grind. Check baits and look for bait. Paul enlists the help of Werner based out of Namaho to check the baits closer to him. This will save us a lot of time and hopefully give us a chance to shoot some more bait. Paul told me that our bait run was covering a 150km. Cutting that time down is great help to the truck as the long days are already wearing on everyone. We have also not had any action at our baits up to this point.
Fifteen minutes from camp we find a one horned impala and take him for bait and to replenish our bait bucket.
Shortly after we finish with the impala we are back on our run again. Before we make it to our first bait, we can’t help ourselves and we keep looking at the little guys. We come across a one horned red duiker and Paul tells me to take him because they want the cape. I am happy to oblige.
An hour from camp and we are off to a good start to the day.
We finally make it to our first bait site and we find our first leopard sign. The track looks good and we take note of the width of his pad. He has however not touched the bait. He walked right by it and did not feed.
The rest of our baits result in no activity. Werner did not see any sign on his bait run. We are also unable to find any other suitable bait the rest of the day.

Day five begins with the same sense of urgency. We need bait to freshen our baits and we have been thinking about hanging new baits since we have not seen any activity. Things have been off to a good start we have not been distracted by any of the little guys and have been focused on checking our baits. An hour from camp and the guys tells us they saw a grysbuck. Paul tells them we need to check the baits and can’t worry about the grysbuck right now. As he is telling them this, he notices that we have a puncture and decides that we should take a look while the guys change the tire. We walk back down the road and the grysbuck is still were the guys saw him. Paul determines he is a male and we should take him. I shoot him on the shoulder and he darts off to our right about ten yards. When we get up to him, we find the exit hole through the opposite side hind quarter. Jethro says he was a dugga boy grysbuck. He was going to charge us.
Paul decides to call a recovery vehicle to pick up the grysbuck so that we can go about checking our baits and not lose a couple of hours heading back to camp.
We are well into our bait run when the guys see some wildebeest running behind the truck. Since we need bait Paul makes the call to give the wildebeest a go. We are quickly onto their tracks and begin following. The weather has been mostly overcast and a nice warm,the to the day. This day it is starting to get hot and humid. We follow the tracks for about an hour while bumping a few eland in between us and the wildebeest. Paul is about ready to call it so that we can get back to our baiting when a couple of wildebeest bulls that are not the ones that we’ve been tracking come trotting across our paths. I am guessing they are about 100 to 150 yards in front of us and not stopping. Paul tells me I can shoot either one. I pick the one in the back and fire. He dropped in his tracks. A bit of luck but I’ll take it.
After the photos we take an assessment of where we are at. It seems that we are in the middle of a block and may have a couple of miles to a road in whatever direction we go. The stalk started at 9:00. It is now 11:00. Our trackers Dallu and Julian decide we should head west and an hour later we have it to a spring that had a recovery road cut to it. Jethro arrives shortly after we do. We spent the rest of the day recovering the wild beast and make it back to camp at last light.

Paul asks Jethro, “Where is the leopard? As we are leaving camp. To which Jethro replies “ In da bush”. This has been a part of our everyday routine. This morning we have a truck full of baits to hang and to refresh some rotten ones. We still need bait but it is decided that we will walk into some springs that will be a good places to hang a few baits. We encountered dugga boys at almost every turn this morning. We resist the temptation of a dugga boy hunt and focus on our bait run.
At our seventh bait of the day, the guys spot a red duiker. We can see the bait and it appears to still not have been hit. We decide to have a look at the red duiker. It’s a male so we decide to take it. I put a good shot on him but he still manages to dart off and then back. He went about fifty yards but still wound up about ten yards from we he was shot.
It was now almost 2:00 and we decided to take the duiker back to camp and have a late lunch there and then check the last couple of baits that are close to camp.
After lunch we returned to the bait site that we found the leopard track the day before. He had returned and circled the bait tree but not fed. We changed the bait with a fresh warthog from the cold room. We also found a leopard had circled the tree but not fed at another bait a few miles from this bait.
On the way back to camp we looked for more bait. We found a nice impala close to the river and took him after a short stalk. We had to take pictures quickly. There was a family of elephants heading our way.
We were joined by the anti poaching patrol in camp this evening. They had successfully shut down an illegal mining operation that a whole village was involved in.

We have a leopard feeding. Out bait that is closest to camp has been hit. The leopard came at midnight and ate a hind quarter of the warthog. We decide to build a blind and we will sit tonight unless we find something else at our other baits.
We find at the other bait that a female has fed. We have lunch in camp along with a siesta.
We get in the blind at 4:00. Shortly after dark, we heard the leopard calling not far from the blind along with impala snorting. We hope he hasn’t made a kill. We left the blind at 9:00. We head back to camp for a late dinner.

The next morning we head back to our blind to see if the leopard fed. He did. He came in at 1:45am and left at 2:30. We will sit again this night.
We find that another leopard has fed at the other bait while we were in the blind.
It is decided that we may need more bait so we are back to the grind. A few hours later we run across a few zebras that have been alluding us. It was a long shot through the miombo with a tree covering his leg. I had to move slightly back and took a lung shot. It worked and the zebra was down in a 100 yards.
We called for a recovery vehicle to retrieve the zebra so we could continue checking baits. We find no sign at any of the other baits. Werner has still not had any sign at this baits.
We are back in the blind at 4:00 and leave at 9:00. The leopard never came.

Looks like it could be coming together!

We are back to our blind site on the morning of the ninth day. The leopard has once again not fed. We find his tracks all around the tree. He even drank but did not feed. We find his tracks a little down the road and there are also a females tracks with him. Paul says we will need a new plan for tonight. We continue our bait run which yields nothing. I am surprised how quickly this has gone when we are not getting distracted with hunting something else. Paul decides that I should spend the rest of the afternoon in camp resting in case we need a long sit this evening. The rest of the guys would go out and set a few more baits with the zebra that I took the day before. I reluctantly agree. I do find an empty camp or any camp for the most part boring. It is well after dark when they return.
We now have 14 baits set. Werner has still not had any sign.

Man Paul your racking up the Tiny’s - Good deal. Thick Suni!!! I was just telling someone you must be hunting at Litule camp as no way Kambako camp could be ready and with the other SA outfit pulling out it all makes sense. Glad you went after that Grysbok as when I was there Derren Ellerman told me if I really wanted one I should shoot the first male we saw - I did and it was the only male we saw. Is Derren hunting there this season?
I long to return to that area for sure? Good luck the rest of the of the way!!

matt vejar said:

Man Paul your racking up the Tiny’s - Good deal. Thick Suni!!! I was just telling someone you must be hunting at Litule camp as no way Kambako camp could be ready and with the other SA outfit pulling out it all makes sense. Glad you went after that Grysbok as when I was there Derren Ellerman told me if I really wanted one I should shoot the first male we saw - I did and it was the only male we saw. Is Derren hunting there this season?
I long to return to that area for sure? Good luck the rest of the of the way!!

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Darren is hunting with Guav Johnson in Matetsi 2. Paul said Darren’s wife didn’t want him coming back. Kambako will be open next year as a tented camp from what Paul was telling me.