MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique With KWALATA SAFARIS

[gillettehunter]

Nice eland bull too! Congrats!
Bruce

 

[MMAL]

Really nice write up and congrats. Always fun to hunt with a significant other that enjoys it as much as you do.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Thanks for the excellent write up. The buffalo bull is very close to becoming a scrum cap. Very nice. Nice old blue bull too.

 

[Whit]

Many congratulations! @AjFourie was a great guide, I highly recommend him.

 

[Chukardogs]

10/8/2023
The morning after the eland bull was an easy morning. We decided on a later start and had no plan or destination in mind. We just wanted to go and see what there was to see. Katherien opted to stay in camp that morning so AJ and I headed out for a look see. Mark, the other hunter in camp had a leopard on the menu so AJ took me to one of the baits to see if there had been any activity. That was a really cool experience to see how the process worked. As we drove and talked I really had the sense of how much AJ, Jaco, Donny (PH), and the rest of the Kwalata crew care about the block that is in their care. I truly understood their passion and had some insight into the process and responsibilities that are in play there. There is no greed present. Of course they have to make a living, raise their kids , and pay the bills. But, as I said they do not do this to make a killing and drive Porsche's. It was refreshing to hear and realize this.
In the afternoon we all wanted to go back and sit at the pan before the water dried up. It was going down quickly and would be gone in a matter of a day or two. As we were sitting there AJ and Katherien were sitting to my front right and I see them giggling, pointing, and looking back at me. All I see are some baboons, impala, and a red duiker. Then AJ says, "John are you related to that baboon over there? You guys are sitting in the same position." With this they both stifle laughs. I look over and sure enough I sit just like a baboon. I guess we are not that far away on the evolutionary chain. To me that is what a great trip must have, jokes, laughs, and some s%?# talking. I love it.
Driving back to camp that night we come around the corner and in the light from the light bar is our first wild dog. This is special because it was one of the animals that Katherien and I had really hoped to see. He was a curious young dog that hung around for several minutes. His two pack mates took off into the brush but he was curious and approached the cruiser. We had a good long look at him.

Katherien and I felt very lucky as we had seen everything we had hoped and more. At the airstrip we stopped the cruiser and shut off the lights. As our eyes adjusted, the brilliance of the un-polluted night sky amazed us. Living in Nevada there are some parts of the state where I can see an amazing night sky, however nothing can compare to the stars that we saw there. The thought that the Kwalata crew puts into giving you an an experience is bar none. It's about the little things. There is so much going through your mind that you cannot think of everything that you want to see and do.
They do these little things that surprise you and make you feel grateful and tell yourself 'I'm glad someone thought of that.' What a way to end the day.

10/10/2023
Out of camp this morning at 4:30 to go down the river and look for bushbuck. After driving down the Lugenda a bit AJ, Timodjo, Sofu, and I got out to take a walk. We walked maybe a mile down the river in the tracks of elephant and buffalo. The numbers of animals we see on this walk is incredible. Pretty soon eagle eyed Timodjo points into the riverine brush and says bushbuck. I cannot see it. I mean I know I am not used to looking for these animals in this type of habitat, but come on, I have been doing this for a long time. Talk about feeling inadequate. There is a female and a young ram then suddenly AJ spots a mature ram. We ease into the low hanging thick brush. Once you are inside of it there are trails. AJ tells me, "Step as I do." Okay, and off we go. We creep our way forward very slowly, constantly squatting and glassing. We saw the female pass by in a gap and just waited for the male. They were maybe 35 yards away. AJ asks," Do you need the sticks or can you free hand it?" At this distance I better be able to free hand it. The male comes out in the brush and I could just make out his head and the top of his back. Sitting on my feet I put the crosshairs where I thought the shoulder to be and squeezed off the shot. The ram hunched up and circled out of the brush towards us. He came from my front left to right and I put a second shot into the point of his front right shoulder at maybe 12 yards. That was all he needed but I got a little excited and shot him again as he was going away. AJ said with a smile, "That's enough John, you got him." Hell, I still had rounds in the gun. But, listen to your PH. He was dead within a minute and 50 yards of where I had shot from. Talk about adrenaline. We took him down to the river to get the photos. You could never tell that Timodjo is in the the photo laying down next to me behind the bushbuck holding his head.

In the afternoon we all took it easy and just went to look for a good warthog. Just before dark we found one but after a short stalk he gave us the slip.

More to come...

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well......I think you said this was your first trip to Africa.......that being the case you're now thru with hunting bushbuck.....you'll never kill a better one than that!

 

[Fatback]

That is a tremendous bushbuck. Congrats.

 

[Chukardogs]

Thanks for the excellent write up. The buffalo bull is very close to becoming a scrum cap. Very nice. Nice old blue bull too.

Thank you. His teeth were loose. We figured he did not have many years left.

 

[Safari1]

Did you see many elephants?

 

[Chukardogs]

Well......I think you said this was your first trip to Africa.......that being the case you're now thru with hunting bushbuck.....you'll never kill a better one than that!

Thank you! I could not be happier. I grew up working in an archery shop and we used to book bowhunters to South Africa. So I bow hunted there 18 years ago. It was my first trip to "wild africa". I am already planning on how to return.

 

[Chukardogs]

Did you see many elephants?

We saw 2 bulls up close. One of them in must that we gave a wide berth. I saw four more at a distance. The day after we left there was a bull in camp.

 

[Chukardogs]

Thank you! I could not be happier. I grew up working in an archery shop and we used to book bowhunters to South Africa. So I bow hunted there 18 years ago. It was my first trip to "wild africa". I am already planning on how to return.

I forgot to add that the bush buck's bottom lip was split in half and healed. He only had one front tooth left in his bottom jaw.

 

[JimmyJack54]

Chukardogs, Thanks for posting. It has been great reading an in depth account about your safari. We briefly exchanged pleasantries and highlights awaiting USCBP to clear our rifles in ATL on the return trip. Cheers!

 

[PTP20]

Wonderful posts. I can't wait to see it in person!

 

[Tucketed]

Great hunt and report. Thank you and Congratulations

 

[cpr0312]

Dream bushbuck! Congrats!

 

[Chukardogs]

Chukardogs, Thanks for posting. It has been great reading an in depth account about your safari. We briefly exchanged pleasantries and highlights awaiting USCBP to clear our rifles in ATL on the return trip. Cheers!

I remember. I was jealous that you were almost home. Funny how this site brings like minded people together in different ways. Hope you are well.

 

[Chukardogs]

10/10/2023

We stayed up late last night so we had an easy 6 a.m. wakeup. Everyone wanted to go back to the waterhole to watch and enjoy. We were probably 200 yards short of the water hole when we heard the baboons making a racket. I thought to myself 'Predators'. AJ and Timodjo had a quick conversation and then AJ turned and said, "Everyone stay close just in case anything unusual happens." I am not used to this and neither is Katherien. It was disconcerting to say the least, but AJ is the pro and said it should be fine. Roughly 40 yards from the water hole we come upon a partially eaten zebra, probably killed several hours earlier. 20 yards from that we come upon a young zebra with 1-2 claw marks down its neck and the blood barely congealed. Yes, now it is absolutely spooky.

AJ assured us it was okay, but it was a good idea to go and sit on the other side of the waterhole. We got situated and after about 20 minutes everything settled down and things started happening. You could barely call it a waterhole as there was a thin sheet of water over gooey mud. A sow warthog brought her single baby down into the mud and we were sure the little one was not going to make it. But, he plowed right along side her with just his snout and eyes sticking out. We had warthogs walk within 10 yards of us, incredible.

After almost two hours of sitting a really nice Johnston's impala ram walked out. AJ looked at me and said, "John I will not be able to show you a better ram than that." I looked at Katherien and asked if she had seen enough. She said, "Yes, go ahead and shoot that impala if you want." I wanted. The ram was about 90 yards so with AJ on one side of the sticks and Timodjo on the other I settled the rifle in the V. The ram was calm, I was calm and one bullet to the shoulder and 15 yards later the ram was on the ground. I thought for sure that every animal at the waterhole would head for the back of the beyond at the shot. No, they all moved around a bit but everything was back to normal within a minute. It wasn't until we got up to go look at the ram that the animals left. So we collected the ram for pictures and back to camp for lunch.

After lunch AJ wanted to go and show Katherien his birds. So we drove to a spot where the road crosses through a ravine. We stopped in the bottom of the ravine and AJ said, "Timodjo where are my birds?" Just as the words came out of his mouth he is pointing to a branch for Katherien to see at the same time Timodjo is pointing at another branch for me to see. And there they are, the Bohms Beeater. They are a magnificent little bird with more tail than body. They were very curious and were not inclined to leave. AJ was telling us that they are bird that not many people get to see as sightings are fairly uncommon in that part of Africa. See, it's the little things that matter. This was one of the many highlights and goes to show you that a quality company that employs and recognizes quality PH's is worth their weight in gold.

We spent the rest of the day looking for a good warthog with none to be found. Some good ones had been seen earlier in the trip but I had passed. Probably should have thought twice about those. A quick trip back to the waterhole to see if the lions had been back was uneventful, they had not. That night dinner was eland schnitzel. Nothing more needs to be said about that meal. Also, if the chef ever let his recipe for homemade ice cream get out he would take over the industry.

10/11/2023
Today, the last day of hunting, was spent looking for warthogs. We went to this large open area where I counted 19 warthogs rooting in the rock hard dirt. After spending time looking them over from different positions AJ said, "John, nothing here is big enough, I would rather send you home without one than with something just so-so." I could appreciate the honesty and lack of the hard sell.
That afternoon was spent on the same warthog mission. This mission also failed to produce a big enough pig. Getting on toward sunset AJ took us to the river where we set out chairs and enjoyed some cold beers. The sunset was of the typical African variety, stunning. To top of the beautiful sunset, cold beers, and conversation a bull elephant made an appearance on the other side of the river. I did not take pictures of the elephant, somethings you want to just remember. It was if Africa knew it was our last night and was hell bent on not disappointing.

10/12/2023
Today we started the long journey home. A few nights earlier when we stayed up to late I was told that we were going to get the royal send-off. I was not sure what that meant, maybe a line up of all the staff to say good byes. After our gear was loaded on to the Cessna I heard Jaco ask the pilot which way would he be taking off? After taxing to the end of the strip and turning around the pilot was applying throttle for take off. As the plane was passing by the cruisers Katherien and I noticed a curious sight, four grown men with shorts around their ankles smaaaacking their as#$% in the royal send off. F&^&* great!!

Some final words. Our first three days in camp were shared by fellow member Scanos, it was a pleasure to meet you and make your acquaintance. Fellow members are probably aware of his last hunt with Kwalata as told by his excellent write up. For our entire trip we shared the camp with fellow member Caveman, another outstanding gentleman who, during his last hunt with Kwalata harvested a variation of an animal 99.9% of humans will never see. He also has a great report available to read here. Thank you both. I think it says something about Kwalata that the two other hunters I met were both returning clients.

I would like to thank Jaco, Lindie, AJ, Donny, and Nacho for making this trip special for Katherien and I. You guys are the salt of the earth. Timodjo and Sofu are integral members of the team. The whole staff made our stay comfortable and pleasant. After the first or second day I knew I had made the right decision when I chose Kwalata Safaris as my outfitter. I am already planning and imagining the unsightly things I will do in order to return. They did not disappoint and Katherien and I struggled to think of something that might have been done better. In the words of Katherien, "I don't know, maybe another washcloth."

Animals Seen: Olive Baboons, Lion, Elephant, Livingstone Eland, Johnston's Impala, Bushpig, Warthog, Roosevelt Sable, Bushbuck, Suni, Common Duiker, Red Duiker, Sharps Grysbok, Niassa Wildebeest, Kudu, Klipspringer, Waterbuck, Cape Buffalo, Genet, Whitetailed Mongoose, Blacktailed Mongoose, Porcupine, Scrub Hare, Crocodile, and probably some others that I have forgotten because I did not write down. Also, incredible bird life that was pointed out and named by AJ, that I did not write down because I am a fool. Oh and there were a couple of loud crows around, you know the black ones with the white on them.

 

[ACM]

Sounds & looks like you had a hellova trip. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Altitude sickness]

what a recap. Thanks for the quality write up. And sharing your hunt with us.