Buck51
AH veteran
Love C10! Been there twice. The amount of Game is incredible. Plan on going back someday. Anton is great. The Argo’s are not
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Made it to C10
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Buck51
AH veteran
Yes, they are a necessary evil. I remember the Lions were really messing with the guys at the Argo camp. Had them sleeping in the trees. Congrats on the cat. Post pics when you can. Tell Anton Bryan and Joel from Indiana say Hi.
Sorry men, been way behind on everything especially correspondence. Let me see if I can recap my trip for those of you interested in Coutada 10. I booked this hunt in 23 while hunting with Russ Lovemore just outside Zumbo on the Zambezi. On that hunt (reported on here) we took Croc, Hippo, a very nice Bushbuck and a last day Buffalo. During our nighttime talks around the fire Russ mentioned Coutada 10 to me and how different an area it was, one that he highly recommended I see. A year later we put down our deposit for a Leopard permit there and began planning the trip for this year. Russ recommended early July mainly for the Leopard hunt and we went ahead and booked with Marromeu through Russ for their two week Leopard and Buffalo package. We invited several of my hunting buddies that had expressed interest in coming on this trip but alas their own hunting schedules and a few that were just reluctant to book resulted in just my wife and I planning this trip. My daughter Meredith is actually largely responsible for much of my interest developing in Africa. If you search for my report on the 23 hunt you can hear the story but suffice it to say she was who introduced me to Russ.
As we approached one year out from this year's safari Meredith began scheming on various ways she might accompany us on this trip. Now initially she had teamed up with my best friend and hunting buddy and he was going to come with us and them hunt together for a week and come home (he planned to video all this as he frequently does when we bowhunt whitetails in Kansas). He backed out and spoiled her deal a bit (two hunters/one PH) so she thought her safari was cooked. She had already advised me that 2026 being her 30th that she WAS going on a safari somewhere in Africa come hell or high water. She made this statement while in town on business and I'll never forget the look on her momma's face when she walked out of our house that evening. Just staring at me for the longest until I said "what????", and here it came "you ARE going to pay for her to come right?".
So we left out of Atlanta June 30, Delta One for us, economy for Mer (sorry I did require her to purchase her own airfare so she would have skin in the game). July 2nd found us arriving at Rola Camp Coutada 10. We had picked Russ up at Joburg so getting to camp on Thurs evening, even without my bullets and boots, was like a gift in itself. I was amazed at the trees in camp and just the overall character of Rola. Each of these remote camps has it's own character and Rola sure doesn't disappoint. The chalets are very nice, the rest of the accommodations are excellent, the staff is fantastic. Meals were outstanding, daily noon meals in the bush were excellent! But the huge draw of Marromeu is obviously the habitat and the animals that dwell there.
My goal of course was Leopard so Russ and I along with Albert resident PH at Marromeu headed out early Fri morning 7/3 to check prebaits and begin searching the sand forests for fresh tracks and sites for establishing other baits. My wife Alecia (who accompanies me always) decided to hang with Mer on her Buffalo and Plains game hunt since I had predicted she would likely be bored with our Leopard bait preps and maybe just a tad put off by the smells associated with the baits that had been out a few days. Anto was their PH and I could tell after day 1 they were going to have a blast. They laughed the whole first evening around the fire, retelling many of Anton's tales and jokes. By the way I didn't mention but had booked Shaun Botha of Southern Cross Productions to video our entire hunt. Of course I sent him with Mer, Alecia and Anton and since he has been videoing at Marrimeu for 3 yrs he was able to rein in Anton to some degree and reduce the FIGJAM (search it). By day end day1 there was nothing in the salt (well I had already begun carnage on the warthogs but with borrowed bullets I wasn't putting on a grand marksmanship display) but there was great laughs around the fire and I could tell my girls already loved Anton and I believe my wife had decided Shaun was already a new adopted son.
Day 2 Saturday Mer took a Reedbuck for camp meat but the bigger deal for them was seeing the Lions for the first time out in the Palms. Mid morning they ran into two males and a cub then eventually a collared female. It was interesting watching Mer become "accustomed" to coexisting with game that might wanna kill you and eat you.....not that you do, but we recalled our own coming to grips with all the elephants on the islands in Chawalo in 23 and the Crocs being so close you could almost touch them. Takes some getting used to. As for us and the Leopard chase? Well we had a female on bate day 1 but day 2 saw us find a track in one the "rivers" of a big male and a female. We had killed a couple warthogs early in the day and we quickly set a bait on these tracks and went ahead and picked a potential blind placement then cut a lane between that and the bait. Later in the morning I was able to take a nice Waterbuck with a 350 yd shot to the neck........that was intended for is shoulder. Again borrowed bullets that we knew were about 6" low and left so I wont take total responsibility for the 2 misses.......just the two hits. I was dang sure singing "gimme back my bullets" by day's end but we were some excited for the bait set on the male/female pair. We set out several more baits that afternoon but no more kills recorded. We did encounter Anton and the girls after one of our later afternoon bait sets and just prior we had seen a very nice Waterbuck in a burn area and so we referred he and girls to that area to see if they could get a stalk. Unfortunately for them in the hour or so since we had passed through that area, one of the Lion prides had killed Mr Waterbuck and were busy eating him when they eased up there! It was the exact same bull we had seen in the exact spot we had left him so evidently they were stalking him when we passed by!
Day 3
As we approached one year out from this year's safari Meredith began scheming on various ways she might accompany us on this trip. Now initially she had teamed up with my best friend and hunting buddy and he was going to come with us and them hunt together for a week and come home (he planned to video all this as he frequently does when we bowhunt whitetails in Kansas). He backed out and spoiled her deal a bit (two hunters/one PH) so she thought her safari was cooked. She had already advised me that 2026 being her 30th that she WAS going on a safari somewhere in Africa come hell or high water. She made this statement while in town on business and I'll never forget the look on her momma's face when she walked out of our house that evening. Just staring at me for the longest until I said "what????", and here it came "you ARE going to pay for her to come right?".
So we left out of Atlanta June 30, Delta One for us, economy for Mer (sorry I did require her to purchase her own airfare so she would have skin in the game). July 2nd found us arriving at Rola Camp Coutada 10. We had picked Russ up at Joburg so getting to camp on Thurs evening, even without my bullets and boots, was like a gift in itself. I was amazed at the trees in camp and just the overall character of Rola. Each of these remote camps has it's own character and Rola sure doesn't disappoint. The chalets are very nice, the rest of the accommodations are excellent, the staff is fantastic. Meals were outstanding, daily noon meals in the bush were excellent! But the huge draw of Marromeu is obviously the habitat and the animals that dwell there.
My goal of course was Leopard so Russ and I along with Albert resident PH at Marromeu headed out early Fri morning 7/3 to check prebaits and begin searching the sand forests for fresh tracks and sites for establishing other baits. My wife Alecia (who accompanies me always) decided to hang with Mer on her Buffalo and Plains game hunt since I had predicted she would likely be bored with our Leopard bait preps and maybe just a tad put off by the smells associated with the baits that had been out a few days. Anto was their PH and I could tell after day 1 they were going to have a blast. They laughed the whole first evening around the fire, retelling many of Anton's tales and jokes. By the way I didn't mention but had booked Shaun Botha of Southern Cross Productions to video our entire hunt. Of course I sent him with Mer, Alecia and Anton and since he has been videoing at Marrimeu for 3 yrs he was able to rein in Anton to some degree and reduce the FIGJAM (search it). By day end day1 there was nothing in the salt (well I had already begun carnage on the warthogs but with borrowed bullets I wasn't putting on a grand marksmanship display) but there was great laughs around the fire and I could tell my girls already loved Anton and I believe my wife had decided Shaun was already a new adopted son.
Day 2 Saturday Mer took a Reedbuck for camp meat but the bigger deal for them was seeing the Lions for the first time out in the Palms. Mid morning they ran into two males and a cub then eventually a collared female. It was interesting watching Mer become "accustomed" to coexisting with game that might wanna kill you and eat you.....not that you do, but we recalled our own coming to grips with all the elephants on the islands in Chawalo in 23 and the Crocs being so close you could almost touch them. Takes some getting used to. As for us and the Leopard chase? Well we had a female on bate day 1 but day 2 saw us find a track in one the "rivers" of a big male and a female. We had killed a couple warthogs early in the day and we quickly set a bait on these tracks and went ahead and picked a potential blind placement then cut a lane between that and the bait. Later in the morning I was able to take a nice Waterbuck with a 350 yd shot to the neck........that was intended for is shoulder. Again borrowed bullets that we knew were about 6" low and left so I wont take total responsibility for the 2 misses.......just the two hits. I was dang sure singing "gimme back my bullets" by day's end but we were some excited for the bait set on the male/female pair. We set out several more baits that afternoon but no more kills recorded. We did encounter Anton and the girls after one of our later afternoon bait sets and just prior we had seen a very nice Waterbuck in a burn area and so we referred he and girls to that area to see if they could get a stalk. Unfortunately for them in the hour or so since we had passed through that area, one of the Lion prides had killed Mr Waterbuck and were busy eating him when they eased up there! It was the exact same bull we had seen in the exact spot we had left him so evidently they were stalking him when we passed by!
Day 3
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Looking forward to the rest of the report on this epic hunt! Were the flies bad?
Sorry, hit post. Day 3 - ok I have already mixed buncha stuff up. We found the mating pair tracks on Day 3 and set the bait. By then we had 8 baits "fishing" and yes I found lotsa similarities to running trotlines for Flathead cats and Leopard hunting (if you've done both you know). Regardless day 3 saw no kills but Anton did stop to show the girls a Pangolin!!!!! I had to explain to her that this was very very good and she would see!!! Day 4 found us checking cams on the Leopard baits and nothing was happening until we got to the bait we set on the mating pair. The cams showed the male having literally eaten two whole hams off the warthog! This site was about a 90 min drive from Rola so we immediately made plans to get back to camp, dump me while Russ, Albert and our trackers (Singalla and Yonquez) took poles and grass back to make the blind. Mer was still hunting Waterbuck and since we planned to sit on this cat immediately that evening we had to find them and scoop Shaun and his camera gear so he could sit with us. The great thing is Mer had taken a very nice Waterbuck and was fairly close to us so that we could fetch Shaun. Guys had the blind built by about 4pm and Anton delivered me and Shaun so that we were settled by 4:45 or so......not as early as we wanted but the blind was tight and dark and we had great anticipation. The way Russ (and Albert) can read this cats is really impressive honestly. Years of experience. Russ had surmised that since he fed so big the night before and early that morning that although he might return for a "snack" during the day (he did about noon and we only found that out later) he didn't eat much. His belly was so big on the cameras I don't know where he put the snack. But 15 mins prior to dark, here he came. I have never Leopard hunted and those of you that have understand that I didn't know my pulse rate could go so high without a stroke!!!! I kept waiting for the designated tap Russ and I had worked out but it never came. As I thought when we talked later, Russ never could see his nuts and although I was certain I had (and Shaun thot he did) it was a no go. The cat left about 30 mins after dark, very comfortable, he didn't bust us..........and 5 mins later a Lion starts roaring. Honest to me it sounded like he was in the blind with us but Russ and Albert said he was likely a kilometer away! We sat for another couple hours then it began to rain. Russ suggested we leave, he didn't believe the cat would come back until the wee hours and he felt like our chances would be greater the next day.
Day 5: Mer and Alecia with Anton and his trackers headed to the swamp for Buffalo. The hazing around the fire between Anton and Russ was priceless. "my client will do x, my client will do y, I am doing this for my client, I am doing thus for mine".....even though they hadn't seen each other in 6 years, it was obvious these were old friends who knew each other exceptionally well and they were like a stand up comedy team. We were in stitches all the time......maybe poor choice of words on a Leopard hunt? So Shaun went with the girls because as much as I wanted to see Mer kill her first Buffalo (oh and yes we kill, we don't harvest), I needed to be about my Leopard. By the time we got to the mating pair bate site it was 10 am. We pulled the card and our cat had literally spent the morning at the site only having left an hour before our arrival. We had hung an additional warthog on day 4 and he had almost finished the first warthog and started on #2 that morning. Although he had come in at noon on day 3 Russ didn't believe he would do so this day. We decided to get back to keep hunting till noon then get into the blind by 3 or so. Russ was very confident this cat would return early as comfortable as he was that morning and said "we're gonna kill him in the daylight!". No Shaun so no video but we were set by 3:30 pm and it was already dark and quite deep in the sand forest. At 4:58 Albert indicated he could see the cat coming. Straight to the bait and he began gorging on warthog ham. It only took about 10 mins for him to show us his cod and Russ to give the word. He was reared up on the bait (we were hanging the baits on the side of trees not up in the tree because there aren't a lot of Hyena there) and I hit him just a tad back and he came right toward the blind and made a loop with the classic "huffing" sound they make when lung shot then silence. We sat about 15 mins but it was growing darker and Russ wanted on the trail. The transformation when your PH is on a bloodtrail is pretty incredible. Russ and Albert both were all business as we trailed the Leopard up the hill around some brush about 20 yds from the blind then back down the hill 30yds to the "river" and up the far bank. I would be lying if I didn't tell you my hackles were raised crawling up that bank on the other side but Albert immediately saw our cat 30 yds away and he was done. Of course the standard back slapping high fiving whooping and hollering ensued then our own post hunt "interview" (that wasn't up to Shaun's standards) followed by the multiple pictures at the site. I can tell you looking down at that magnificent beast as I walked up was more than emotional for me.......this is my first Leopard hunt and to take mine in the daylight day 5? Well God is good. The drive back to camp was joyous and of course the horn honking and singing began at the skinning shed and didn't stop until everyone at camp was around the truck as we rolled up. Mer and Alecia were first and Mer jumped into my arms screaming when she saw the Leopard then told me she had take her first Buffalo. What a night!!!! What a day!!!! The customary celebration began and lasted well into the night!!!! We had a fabulous rest of the week Mer taking a Zebra next day, seeing an Ardvark the next day more lions then taking a very nice Nyala bull on Thursday her last hunting day. When we put her on the charter to head back to Beira I aint gonna kid you fellers, my wife was squalling and Mer was squalling and I kept my sunshades on tight. There was such an attachment for her from everyone in camp.....it's just one of those things you cant understand from the outside looking in if you haven't been there.........and from the inside out I am not sure I can explain it? Hey thats what we say about Aggieland!!! I am going to try to begin posting pics but as some of you know I am severely tech challenged. The rest of my two weeks I won't bore you with but I took two very nice Warthogs, a very nice old Zebra stallion, a really good Lich Hartebeest, a super Nyala bull then to the swamps for an excellent buffalo hunt with a really nice old bull then finally on the last two days of the hunt, I was "tagged out" in my budget but Alecia had some "funny money" she had squirreled away and wanted me to kill a Sable on her dime (what a woman!!!!f). I argued for........maybe 3-5 mins? Last day Sable 8 mins out of camp..... topped off what was a magnificent two weeks. Folks if you haven't been to Marromeu........go, book it today. What a fabulous place!!! I can't get it off my mind. Anton and the whole staff there are simply the best. I will return some day!!!!! For now tho, Russ and I began planning a 2029 Lion hunt during this trip!!!!!
Day 5: Mer and Alecia with Anton and his trackers headed to the swamp for Buffalo. The hazing around the fire between Anton and Russ was priceless. "my client will do x, my client will do y, I am doing this for my client, I am doing thus for mine".....even though they hadn't seen each other in 6 years, it was obvious these were old friends who knew each other exceptionally well and they were like a stand up comedy team. We were in stitches all the time......maybe poor choice of words on a Leopard hunt? So Shaun went with the girls because as much as I wanted to see Mer kill her first Buffalo (oh and yes we kill, we don't harvest), I needed to be about my Leopard. By the time we got to the mating pair bate site it was 10 am. We pulled the card and our cat had literally spent the morning at the site only having left an hour before our arrival. We had hung an additional warthog on day 4 and he had almost finished the first warthog and started on #2 that morning. Although he had come in at noon on day 3 Russ didn't believe he would do so this day. We decided to get back to keep hunting till noon then get into the blind by 3 or so. Russ was very confident this cat would return early as comfortable as he was that morning and said "we're gonna kill him in the daylight!". No Shaun so no video but we were set by 3:30 pm and it was already dark and quite deep in the sand forest. At 4:58 Albert indicated he could see the cat coming. Straight to the bait and he began gorging on warthog ham. It only took about 10 mins for him to show us his cod and Russ to give the word. He was reared up on the bait (we were hanging the baits on the side of trees not up in the tree because there aren't a lot of Hyena there) and I hit him just a tad back and he came right toward the blind and made a loop with the classic "huffing" sound they make when lung shot then silence. We sat about 15 mins but it was growing darker and Russ wanted on the trail. The transformation when your PH is on a bloodtrail is pretty incredible. Russ and Albert both were all business as we trailed the Leopard up the hill around some brush about 20 yds from the blind then back down the hill 30yds to the "river" and up the far bank. I would be lying if I didn't tell you my hackles were raised crawling up that bank on the other side but Albert immediately saw our cat 30 yds away and he was done. Of course the standard back slapping high fiving whooping and hollering ensued then our own post hunt "interview" (that wasn't up to Shaun's standards) followed by the multiple pictures at the site. I can tell you looking down at that magnificent beast as I walked up was more than emotional for me.......this is my first Leopard hunt and to take mine in the daylight day 5? Well God is good. The drive back to camp was joyous and of course the horn honking and singing began at the skinning shed and didn't stop until everyone at camp was around the truck as we rolled up. Mer and Alecia were first and Mer jumped into my arms screaming when she saw the Leopard then told me she had take her first Buffalo. What a night!!!! What a day!!!! The customary celebration began and lasted well into the night!!!! We had a fabulous rest of the week Mer taking a Zebra next day, seeing an Ardvark the next day more lions then taking a very nice Nyala bull on Thursday her last hunting day. When we put her on the charter to head back to Beira I aint gonna kid you fellers, my wife was squalling and Mer was squalling and I kept my sunshades on tight. There was such an attachment for her from everyone in camp.....it's just one of those things you cant understand from the outside looking in if you haven't been there.........and from the inside out I am not sure I can explain it? Hey thats what we say about Aggieland!!! I am going to try to begin posting pics but as some of you know I am severely tech challenged. The rest of my two weeks I won't bore you with but I took two very nice Warthogs, a very nice old Zebra stallion, a really good Lich Hartebeest, a super Nyala bull then to the swamps for an excellent buffalo hunt with a really nice old bull then finally on the last two days of the hunt, I was "tagged out" in my budget but Alecia had some "funny money" she had squirreled away and wanted me to kill a Sable on her dime (what a woman!!!!f). I argued for........maybe 3-5 mins? Last day Sable 8 mins out of camp..... topped off what was a magnificent two weeks. Folks if you haven't been to Marromeu........go, book it today. What a fabulous place!!! I can't get it off my mind. Anton and the whole staff there are simply the best. I will return some day!!!!! For now tho, Russ and I began planning a 2029 Lion hunt during this trip!!!!!
Mtn_Infantry
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Looking forward to more of your report. Those areas of Mozambique are special.
Hunt anything
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Your report brought back some of my fondest memories!
Thanks for sharing and congratulations to you and your daughter!
Thanks for sharing and congratulations to you and your daughter!
Many of the pictures were shared with me by Shaun and were in "DNG" file format which nothing wants to take? Btw, Shaun is a class act. Marromeu had recommended him for videographer and we loved him. He worked tirelessly the whole two weeks. Getting pics of me is hard but he was great and my girls absolutely loved him. Southern Cross Productions he was raised in Limpopo area has a brother that is a PH but I highly recommend for anywhere, he'll do!
And of course I will say this of my dear friend Russ Lovemore, a more knowledgeable PH would be hard to find! From our early morning ride outs with the daylight theological discussions (we are of like faith and practice but I study the Bible from a Mid-Acts Dispensational perspective and Russ and I sometimes disagree on minor points......salvation by grace thru faith plus nothing is agreed on tho) to culinary discussions and actions (Russ cooked Waterbuck filets for us one night and converted several staff members that said it was no good; I believe however the "zebra" filets that were given him to cook on the last night were actually Buffalo?) and ultimately the plight of Old Africa and what our hopes are accordingly..........there aint a better guy out there to enjoy the fire with........to work hard on a stalk with.......to blood trail a Leopard with..........to pray with than Russ! We missed Julie bigley tho!!!
Also I need to say something about Anton Smit! Someone on here as I have said equated Anton with the closest thing to a human bear as you will ever meet. Well, for any of you that haven't seen him in a while, Anton is a mere shadow of his former self!!! He is on a strict diet (mostly) and has lost a buncha weight from what I can tell and says he is not done yet but gonna lose a bunch more! I have never seen a man that big as agile as he is tho and I hope he stays hooked. His last comment to me as Alecia and I and Russ boarded our charter "Mista Randy if all my clients and families were like yours, I could hunt another 26 yrs"............I'll take that as a compliment. Anton if you're on here, I'll hunt with you any time..........and I expect you to stay here with us between HSC and SCI Nashville!!!
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