MOZAMBIQUE: Fantastic Hunt With Legadema Hunting & Safaris

[Safari Dave]

I still am suffering from jet lag, but I'm going to start today while things are still somewhat fresh on my mind...



Chapter 1 – Part 1 of the “Back Story”

After over two and a half years of drama, everything finally came to fruition, starting when I flew out of Atlanta on August 14.

Backstory – On this forum, I simply asked for references from anyone who had hunted with Legadema in Mozambique. First on January 19, 2019 (as I was contemplating purchasing the hunt at the Atlanta SCI fundraiser), then again in May (after I purchased a “pig-in-a-poke”, as we, here in the South, call buying something without really knowing what you are getting).

My question resulted in a firestorm of accusations/debate/arguments/counterarguments/you name it - concerning Legadema and whether they are a legitimate operation in Mozambique.

Bottom Line: Legadema Hunting and Safaris is completely legitimate.

If you purchased one of the hunts Willie donated and you want a real African adventure, get in touch with him ASAP and book your hunt for 2022, even if trophy fees may have changed from the original donation. If you didn’t buy a donated hunt, then contact him and book a hunt anyway.

I think the real reason that I got so few references was that no one who had hunted with him or one of the other PH’s that work for Legadema on this concession wanted anyone else to find out about it.

I may ruin my chance to ever hunt there again (because I believe others may book all the remaining dates and prices may go beyond my “working man” budget), but I believe I owe it to Willie because I (innocently) started a S-storm that probably made many potential hunters reluctant to book their hunt with Legadema.

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 2 – Part 2 of the “Backstory”



I was originally supposed to hunt in May of 2021. I (naively) made my own travel arrangements directly through Delta and, (at the time) SA Airlinks. Of course, Covid struck and there was, literally, no way that I could possibly even get to Mozambique, unless I was willing to become a stowaway in the cargo hold on a freight ship bound from the US to Mozambique. International travel was closed, Delta was not flying to RSA, RSA was not accepting tourist from the USA, Mozambique was not accepting travelers from RSA.

I had, however, bought Global Rescue insurance and the travel insurance that they offered in addition to their rescue service in December 2020, because my mother had a terminal illness, and I had no idea of how she might be when it was time to go on the safari.

I filed a claim because there was absolutely no possible way to make the trip. The claim was denied because the insurance company didn’t consider a worldwide pandemic a “natural disaster”. (Don’t you love insurance companies???)

In Atlanta, we have a consumer advocate talk show host – Clark Howard. Clark has a team of people called “Team Clark” to help with consumer issues. They usually deal with people who failed to read the fine print on a contact they signed, but in my case a lady contacted me and told me to dispute the SA Airlinks charges and “throw the book” at the insurance company that denied the claim.

Because of a combination of me being quarantined because I was around Covid positive people, my dad having a stoke, and my mom passing away near the end of April, the travel insurance folks acquiesced and paid my claim. (Delta refunded my money 100% - no problem)



I rebooked the trip for June of 2021.

I learned in March (on this forum, not by Delta) that the flight from Atlanta to JNB had been suspended. Twice, Delta informed me that the flight had not been suspended when I called customer service. The third time I called, they admitted that the ATL to JNB had been suspended. The customer service lady rebooked me on a Delta flight that connected through Amsterdam.

It just so happened, that I was with an international competition shotgun coach who overheard my conversation with the Delta representative. He told me that there was no way my rifles would arrive in Africa with me because of customs in AMS. (He once had to spend 7 days in AMS with a USA shotgun team’s shotguns working on a transfer permit, while the rest of the team went back home to the US)

(I called Delta back and they refunded 100% of my money – No problem)



I decided then and there to quit trying to do international hunting travel flight booking by myself and seek the expertise of a professional. I started dialing Travel Express and Gracy Travel at 8:00 AM (Eastern). Shawn at Gracy picked up my call first (I will probably be a client of hers for the rest of my life). I now firmly believe that a $300 service fee is a small price to pay for someone who knows what they are doing and has the resources to provides everything you need in case something goes sideways during travel.

She confirmed what the shotgun coach had told me about AMS and suggested a couple of options with Qatar and Ethiopian. I was thinking about those options when I found out about a United Flight from ATL to EWK, then EWK to JNB. I ran it by her, and she had her people in JNB to investigate it. All indicators were that the flight was real and there was no reason not to book it.

I booked it.

My 23-year old son was going with me at this time, and was planning on taking a crocodile on the concession.


All was going fine, then two weeks prior to departure, Willie informed me of the temporary suspension of his Mozambique permit (because of all the drama that started on this forum) and the fact that RSA was not allowing firearms to go from RSA to Mozambique. (https://safariclub.org/transit-of-firearms-blocked-from-south-africa-to-mozambique/)

I filled another travel insurance claim – This time with a company associated with Tinleg that provided rescue service and general travel insurance. United refunded 100%, and I still don’t understand why. Tinleg reimbursed me 75% of the other cost that I had incurred, with no pushback whatsoever.

Legadema had a 10-day window in August that they could work me into hunting the Mozambique concession. I decided to take them up on it.

This time, my son could not go because he had just got married, but my wife of nearly 30 years decided that she was up for the adventure.

My lovely wife is hardly a wallflower, however. She was a state park naturalist for 2 years, spent 30 years teaching biology and environmental science with all of the field trips that go with the job, and did 12 years of service as a Boy Scout leader, before the organization went off the deep-end.


I wanted to take 2 rifles - a .470 NE double with a whole lot of sentimental value, and scoped a .416 Rigby bolt-action in case a confident shot with the double didn't present itself. Traveling with the rifles proved to be hardly a problem at all.

 

[TwoTracks]

Nice details that will likely help many of us. Let’s see some pictures of the rifles, game, scenery etc. I can’t wait to hear about the hunts. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

 

[Scott CWO]

Perhaps now legally legitimate (whatever that means in Mozambique) because someone perhaps sucked up to and perhaps paid or promised to pay the local chief or other local “authorities” who then in turn perhaps convinced the provincial and national authorities to follow through?

The previous long-standing operator had done a lot for the locals over many years but they always want more, more and more and perhaps the locals found a new sucker. If you want to hunt with someone with these morals, go ahead but don’t try to preach about how “legitimate” everything is in this case. Thankfully, this kind of corruption cannot happen in the Untied States to operators/outfitters on public land.

 

[Safari Dave]

I have a busy work day today, so it will probably be Wednesday evening before I continue the story...

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 3 – Part 3 of the “Backstory” - Guns

Because I was going for a Cape Buffalo, I wanted to take my Heym double, but also wanted a scoped rifle in case I needed to take a longer shot than I was comfortable making with the double. I took a Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H and a CZ 550 in .416 Rigby to the range. I could shoot the CZ more accurately, so it got the nod. It would also put factory Hornady 400g solids and soft points into the same 1 1/2" group at 100 yards.

Because the Heym is the most valuable gun that I own, I looked into insurance for it. It so happened that my homeowner insurance company, State Farm, offers a rider for about 1% per year of the value of any named item. So, I added this rider to my policy a couple of months ago.

I took the rifles to the U.S. Customs office in Atlanta to get the 4457 forms signed and stamped, which must be done not only to get your rifles back through US Customs on the return trip, but also to prove ownership to obtain the transfer permit through South Africa and the permit required to have the guns in Mozambique.

I packed them in a Pelican Case “Vault” along with copies of the 4457 and locked the case up with 4 heavy duty Master Locks that were all keyed the same. I had read that you don't have to use TSA locks for gun cases, so I didn't. I took 10 solids and 10 expanding loads for the .470, and 30 of each for the .416, packed in a lockable metal box and placed into one of the pieces of luggage that we would check.

Legadema (as well as other outfitters, Gracy Travel and independent operators) offers concierge service for logistics with rifles, travel to and from hotels, etc. I used Legadema’s man, Gert, to handle all the rifle logistics at JNB and transportation to and from the hotel where we had to spend one night. Gert knew exactly what to do at the JNB airport with rifles and everything went perfectly. (I was more than a little intimidated with dealing with firearms and ammo in Africa, so I gladly paid for this service).

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 4 – Day 1

We flew out of Atlanta on United on Saturday afternoon and landed in Newark about 2 ½ hours later. We had a 3-hour layover, then left for JNB on an 8:45 PM flight. We were in economy, so, it was a grueling overnighter!

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 5 – Day 2



We landed at JNB at 6:30 PM local on Sunday evening. We waited at the baggage carousel, but our luggage never appeared. I didn’t realize that it was checked through to Tete, MOZ until the lady with United explained it to me. (Good thing we had a change of clothes in our carry-on). Gert and his wife were still waiting for us outside, thank goodness. While our wives talked, Gert escorted me to the police station at the airport with a copy of my transport permit in hand, we showed the police the serial numbers on the rifles, locked the gun case back up, signed a logbook, got in Gert's 4-door Toyota Hi-Lux and 10 minutes later he got us checked into the hotel near the airport. Gert had already visited our hotel room and had snacks including candy bars, biltong and crackers and drinks for us to enjoy waiting on us. (A nice touch)

JNB had a 9:00 PM curfew because of Covid, so there was nothing really to do except snack and watch TV until we turned in for the night.

 

[Indi]

good evening! And good post title !
why is it a fantastic hunt if not done yet ?
thanks and good luck

 

[Safari Dave]

I'm home from the hunt now, just telling the story of my last two weeks as I have time to type it up..

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 6 – Day 3


Gert and the man who would be my PH, Reinhardt Fourie, met us in the hotel lobby around 6:30 AM. We got into the Hi-Lux and went back to the airport for the 10:35 Airlink flight to TET. After we did the gun “run-around”, we found a table at a restaurant in the JNB airport where Legadema owner, Willie Botha joined us for breakfast.

Reinhardt took us under his wing at that point and would be flying with us to Mozambique.

An issue materialized with Airlink at the JNB airport because the ammo was in the luggage, and it had to be separated for transport into Mozambique. Airlink had the luggage on the tarmac and I had to give them verbal permission to cut the lock to take out the ammo box. (When I got the bag in Tete, I saw that they simply opened the TSA lock and removed the metal ammo box and tagged the ammo box with another baggage tag). Gracy Travel had the rifles preapproved with Airlink for the flight, but I had to pay around $100 for the rifle case, because they only allowed 1 free checked piece of luggage per passenger and the rifle case was over the 15 kg weight limit for guns.

We left the ground around 10:30 AM and arrived in Tete a little over 2 hours later.

We had to spend a long time in the Tete airport, first to get Visas ($55 each) which was a very slow process because there were several people coming off the plane who needed them, then to deal with guns and ammo ($75 (I was expecting a good deal more)). A great guy named John met us at the Tete airport and could translate the Portuguese and did all the talking with the police, so the deal with the police/guns/ammo only took a few minutes. Another Legadema PH named Sebastian and the Camp Chef, Kingsley, were there as well to assist with luggage and logistics.

We loaded up in a 4-door Series 70 Toyota Landcruiser Pickup and left the airport for supplies and then to a hotel for dinner and to spend the night.

(Various Covid-related curfews were in place – 4:00 PM for alcohol sales, 6:00 PM for all stores to close, and 9:00 PM – 4:00 AM for everyone to be off the streets. You could also get stopped by the police for not wearing a mask while in your car. The curfews made getting supplies challenging, but they pulled it off. Because of the curfews, it didn’t make sense to start to start the long drive to camp, so we spent Monday night at a pretty decent hotel in Tete.)

We made several pictures of Tete as we drove around, but the iPhone was accidently in Live mode, so a picture of the Tete airport will have to suffice for this day’s illustration:

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 7 – Day 4 – “The Journey”

Kingsley pulled up to the hotel door in the Landcruiser at 4:30 AM for the 250-mile trip to the concession.

The Legadema camp at the concession is located WNW of Tete approximately 30 miles from the border with Zimbabwe on the shore of Cahora Bassa (an large impoundment of the Zambezi River).

The Cruiser was loaded down with supplies, luggage and guns cases belonging to us and the Legadema staff. Reinhardt drove, Sebastiaan rode “shotgun”, my wife and I were in the back seat and Kingsley found a place on a box in the bed.

Travel to camp involved covering about 1/3 of the distance on a rough paved road, another 1/3 on a pretty good, paved road, then the final 1/3 on a dirt road.

Even though the trip was long, we enjoyed seeing the people, culture and landscape as we traveled. My wife took a thousand pictures!

You don't see these very often around Atlanta:

The journey took all day. It also involved a river crossing where the contents of the Landcruiser were offloaded into a boat, the boat was paddled upstream about 500 yards by locals, and the contents were loaded into another Landcruiser waiting on the other side of the river.

For the river crossing, Reinhardt uncased his open-sighted CZ 550 (.458 Lott), loaded the magazine, chambered a round, engaged the safety and sat in the bow of the boat scanning for crocodiles and hippos, as we made the crossing.

We topped off the truck at a primitive “gas station” with no electricity and got extra fuel that would be needed for the week.

We arrived in camp, got settled in, then took the rifles to a place outside of the camp to make sure they were still sighted in. I only shot the scoped rifle because it was the only one I was concerned about being knocked out of alignment by the travel. I fired twice and to my surprise (based on other travel with scoped rifles) it was only ½ and inch low at 80 yd. I dialed the scope up 1 MOA, made another shot, and we were good to go for hunting in the morning.

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 7 – Day 4 – Hunting

Up at 4:30 for a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast, then into the truck to start looking for buffalo tracks. While we riding to the spot where Kinurita (spelling???), the tracker, who we just called “Dennis”, suspected to cross tracks with buffalo. We easily saw over 200 impala, 15 roan antelope, a troop of vervet monkeys , a troop of baboons and a few kudu including some nice bulls, while driving around. (sorry, no time for decent pictures)

Here is what the landscape looked like. (Mainly somewhat of a sparse forest of shorter trees than we have in the eastern US. There were a few more open areas, but that was mostly in areas between the forest and the river or the lake.)

(It seemed apparent, that the double would not be the ideal rifle for “threading the needle” through what would probably be a 50-100 yd. shot through this scrub forest. PH Sebastiaan “Seba” Laltha gratuitously suggested that he could assume the role of “gun bearer” for the double and, if a close shot presented itself, just swap rifles with me. He and Reinhardt also said that I might could make the first shot with the .416, then swap rifles with Seba for “insurance” shots, or if we got into a wounded animal situation. (Even though the rifle was a heavy one, I’m sure Seba didn’t mind carrying the loaded double with a 500g expanding bullet in the right barrel and a 500g solid in the left barrel just in case things got “hairy”). Reinhardt had had an experience with 3 lions with no fear of humans on his previous hunt, so he probably appreciated some extra firepower, if they showed up again and got aggressive.)

We found tracks of a small herd of buffalo around 7:00 AM, we began the trek to catch up with them. Around 10:00 AM we found the herd of about 7 animals. We could see a bull among the cows but could not get a clear view of the bull’s head through the trees. After an hour and a half of trying, Reinhardt decided to quit pressing them and go back to camp for a while for lunch and a break. (We had walked 9 miles at this point).

(No buffalo tracks here, just a representative photo of a concession road)


We hung around camp until around 2 PM. Had a great lunch of something that looked like and tasted like fajitas. I threw lures for tigerfish, after being informed to stay at least 2 meters back from the lake’s edge because of crocodiles, while everyone else rested. Wifey decided that 9 miles was enough for her that day, so she stayed in camp taking pictures of exotic birds and tropical flowers.

The Game Scout:

(This is Bennet (who we later found out was named Bernard), our government Game Scout who accompanied on all out hunts. Probably not the most flattering photo, but I was intrigued by the AK-47 and really wanted to ask him to give me 2 seconds with it on full-auto, but knew I’d be wasting my breath.)

We were back with the herd within the hour. This time the heard had picked up a few more members and we saw 12 cows and 3 bulls. Reinhardt said the largest bull would have about a 42” spread, but still have a couple of years before his bosses hardened. He said it might be a “last day” bull, so we decided to leave that herd alone and look for more the next morning. (We put in another 6 miles of walking in the afternoon)

Camp photos:

Kingsley could perform magic with a 3-burner propane camp stove, a Dutch oven, and a campfire grill!

 

[Safari Dave]

Just an aside about the weather -

Nightly lows were around 70 F, daytime highs were in the low 90's with very dry air, for the most part.

I found the sun to be extremely intense, despite temperatures that I was used to.

For me, sunscreen and a brimmed hat became a must. I would normally wear a baseball cap, but I found the brimmed hat to be the coolest on my head and offer the best protection from the sun.

I needed a jacket and a long-sleeved shirt on a couple of the mornings when riding in the back of the truck, but it got hot by 9:00 AM. After day 1, I left them in the Cruiser.

I wore long pants the first day, but found them too hot. I switched to shorts for days 2 & 3, but got scratched up pretty badly, so I reluctantly went back to long pants for the rest of the time when we were tracking buffalo.

Reinhardt wore shorts the whole time, but the 4-5 other guys who were tracking with us wore only long pants.


I needed about a gallon of water per day. The other guys seemed OK with a 1 1/2 liter bottle.

 

[Safari Dave]

Chapter 8 – Day 5 – Hunting



Breakfast at 5:00 AM.

I could get used to this! (I like a big breakfast, but usually must make it on a granola bar and cup of coffee)

My wife (who we were told was only the 3rd woman to have ever visited the Legadema Mozambique camp) was ready to go again for the morning and she and all the rest got into the Land Cruiser and left camp at 6:00 AM.

African sunrise – the picture absolutely does not do it justice.


This morning we found the tracks of a larger heard (approximately 50-60 buffalo) by about 7:30. The trek through the bush began again. We walked about 5 miles and never caught up with them. We decided to go back to camp for lunch and a little R&R and start again in the afternoon.

My wife decided that she had had enough fast walking through thorny vegetation for the day (although not as bad as Limpopo, where we had hunted 13 years ago) and decided to start working on a picture guide to the birds of Mozambique in the afternoon. She made a zillion pictures of birds, but I’ll save that for an ornithology forum.

Me and the guys loaded back up in the truck and went back to take up the trail. We never caught up with them in spite of logging another 5 miles for the day.

Other animals seen: Many impala, a few bush bucks, a few baboons, warthogs, Guinea fowl, a couple of species of francolin, another gamebird they called "partridges" and a large caracal running away as fast as his tawny legs could carry him.

View attachment 421750

PH Reinhardt Fourie with a Garmin InReach that is carried by them all the time while in the field for use as a GPS/satellite communicator/emergency beacon.

 

[PARA45]

Awesome report, keep it coming! BTW, I am South East of you in Warner Robins, GA.

 

[fourfive8]

"...We had to spend a long time in the Tete airport, first to get Visas ($55 each) which was a very slow process because there were several people coming off the plane who needed them, then to deal with guns and ammo ($75 (I was expecting a good deal more)). A great guy named John met us at the Tete airport and could translate the Portuguese and did all the talking with the police, so the deal with the police/guns/ammo only took a few minutes. Another Legadema PH named Sebastian and the Camp Chef, Kingsley, were there as well to assist with luggage and logistics."

Thanks for posting- brings back lots of memories.
Oh my word, John is still there! A very likable fellow he is and a true entrepreneur! I think I still have his business card.

When you get to Tete, you know you are NOT in Kansas anymore I actually like Mozambique and the people there a lot and don't know how to describe the feeling. Rural areas and people seem very similar to Malawi and Zambia.

Unfortunately, they seem to be trapped in some form of perpetual civil war or unrest- some internal, some external. Seems like Niassa is most affected more recently, but I did hear rumblings about friction and small incidents in Tete Province a couple years ago also- so I dunno?

 

[Safari Dave]

I seem to be in the mood to wax (not necessarily poetically) today, so I'll keep typing for now...

 

[Safari Dave]

Aside – My Hunting Strategy



My hunt was originally scheduled for 10 days, but I cut it to 9 to make the flight out of Tete on August 27, otherwise I would have to fly out 3 days later. Covid Testing requirements required by South Africa (and maybe MOZ as well) made it necessary to cut the hunt to 7 days, which I wasn’t very happy about, but was powerless to change.

Reinhardt suggested we hunt for a bull as large as we could reasonably be expected to find on the concession for the first 3 days, then lower our goal to a mature bull for the next 3 days, then take any bull that I would be willing to take on the last day. (I did have the option of coming back within the next 12 months that my permit would still be valid and continue hunting, if I was willing to make the trip). His suggestion dovetailed with my original plan, so that was fine with me.

I also had the concern (due to watching too many YouTube videos of buffalo hunts) that my PH would be too quick on the trigger, and I would be left scratching my head about who actually killed it. I approached this subject delicately because I had no idea about Reinhardt’s philosophy on the issue. To my great relief, he told me he had never shot a client’s buffalo. In fact, he would let me deal with a charge until the big boy got within 20 yards, then he would start shooting to protect the hunting party.

That was exactly what I wanted to hear! (Maybe, because I tend to be a little too bold with animals for my own good, but that is just the way I’m wired).

 

[Safari Dave]

Another aside - Covid


If this darn pandemic would go away, it sure would make an African hunting trip less of a test of one's mathematic skills!



In order to get to Tete, I had to time my PCR or PCR-RT test (which is the only Covid test results they will accept) in order for the results to still be valid 72 hours after the test is taken.

I was flying out on Saturday afternoon and arriving in Tete on Monday afternoon.

This particular test (PCR-RT) with a 4 hour turn around time is not readily available near my home, so my wife and I had to drive an hour Friday afternoon and pay $100 each for the test. I scheduled another test for early Saturday morning ($150 each for weekend service), just in case the results showed a false positive (which I read can happen with this particular test as the result of mild cold - you can believe everything you read on the internet, right???)

Luckily, we got the negative results within 4 hours as promised and I was able to cancel the Saturday appointment with a full refund.



John handled getting the PCR test for us at the hospital in Tete for the return trip. I don't think the rapid test was an option. We got our negative results from John when he picked us up at the hotel for our return flight at the airport.

This resulted in a 2 night stay at the hotel in Tete, when I only expected a maximum of one night at the Tete hotel.


(Here in the great state of Georgia, lockdowns/mask mandates, etc. have probably been the most minimal of any state in the nation, so having to go through mask police, hand sanitizing at every turn, curfews, etc. took a little getting used to. Georgia's attitude on Covid may have something to do with so many of us being Christian fundamentalists, who would almost just as soon wake up in heaven as have to make our next mortgage payment)