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Originally posted by Don_G:
We stopped the Toyota when we saw the herd of buffalo crossing the white sand of the korongo half a mile away. After 7 days of practice Canuck, Alan Vincent, two trackers (Philip and Kiondo), the game scout (Saeedi) and myself bailed off the truck and were ready in seconds. It was my turn to shoot. We took off at a fast trot through the deep soft sand in the brush before the korongo. Thankfully after a hundred yards Alan heard my labored breathing and slowed to a sustainable jog.

We had to get past them in the wind and it was a long slog as they were also moving downwind on the other side. After Alan thought we'd gone far enough we turned towards the korongo. Canuck saw Alan's tracker, Philip, shake his head -- NOT HERE. Sure enough, 50 yards before the korongo we ran into a cow elephant who promptly chased us back to our original track!

This was fairly routine by now and wordlessly we continued downwind another 150 yards and again turned towards the dry river bed. No elephants in the way this time. As we reached the cut bank we could see the dust of the herd 200 yards upwind. They were grazing their way downwind and downstream the far side of the korongo towards the Luwegu River to drink.

The barren soft white sand stretched about 50 yards to the cut bank on the far side. But there was a stretch of inviting, low green grass growing below the cut bank. There was a splinter of the herd in the bottom grazing their way towards us. The low grass was only 40 yards away -- a long bow shot, but the best we were going to get. Alan and I eased down the cut bank and into position downstream of a bush that was half-tumbled into the wash. A perfect ambush setup after days of effort!

From here we were within 35 yards of the grassy strip. Alan motioned to the tracker for Canuck's rifle (just in case the buff didn't get to bow range) and Canuck brought it to us from where the non-combatants were huddled 50 yards back from the bank. After he handed down the rifle, Alan motioned for him to back into a thick bush about 3 yards back from the bank and told him to stay as still as possible.

As we all settled into position we could hear the buffalo coming towards us, and smell the dust on the wind. Very soon we all heard something else. That cow elephant was also grazing downwind towards us. We could hear her breaking off branches and chewing the bark off as she closed the distance.


The buffalo were approaching, too. The elephant sounds were louder now, and seemed to give the buffalo confidence. A cow and a three-year-old bull split off the herd and crossed over the korongo and began feeding on the bush we were hiding behind. I saw Alan ready his cherished bunduki (a 450 Ackley) for the first time in an already adventurous week. I could hear the young bull's breath and see every hair between his horns. The smell of his breath took me back to the barnyards of my youth. When he exhaled gustily after a particularly tough morsel I could feel the damp warmth on my cheek. He was within 6 feet of us.

The buffalo cow soon scrambled up the bank and was feeding on the top of our bush, between Canuck and us. Meanwhile the elephant had worked her way to within 20 yards of Canuck. This was getting a bit complicated, but I stayed focused on the buffalo herd. There were no shooters in the scattering of buff in the bottom of the korongo, but I was keeping my eye on a mature bull on the far bank that looked like he might work his way clear of the herd and onto the edge.

Alan rustled the leaves under the bush - trying to emulate a snake and move the young bull. He ignored it. Alan then shook a branch -- at first softly and then harder -- but still the bull kept pulling leaves and twigs off the bush and munching them hungrily. Alan was just starting to thread the shooting sticks through the bush and I can only assume he was going to poke the bull in the nose with them when suddenly there was a commotion behind us.

Up on top of our bank the trackers had seen the elephant coming and had been motioning frantically for several minutes for Canuck to join them. Canuck had held his ground to keep from spooking the buffalo until the cow elephant actually started feeding on the bush he was sitting in. He felt naked since he was unarmed, but couldn't see exactly where the elephant was. He could clearly see the cow buffalo only 8 feet to his left, directly between him and us. Canuck carefully got up into a low crouch position and slowly moved directly away from the bush he was in. After a loooong half-minute of this, the cow buffalo jumped off the bank. Once Canuck was clear of the opening between him and the korongo, he bolted to join the trackers who were in a hasty retreat from the elephant cow.

The cow buffalo on the bank had not smelled Canuck, and had not had a clear look at him, but the motion was enough to move her. As she scrambled back down the bank she jostled the young bull and both started back to the herd.

The herd was not badly spooked but moved off away from the disturbance. We let them go since we did not want to push them across the river onto another concession.

When Canuck and I had first contemplated this hunt over two years before, we both wanted to experience Africa at its wildest and wanted to see elephant while tracking up buffalo. We both agree we got even more than we hoped for. Although no buffalo were brought to bag on this day, it stands out at one of our finest hunting experiences of all time.

Hatari tembo!

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Originally posted by Mike70560:
One very close call with an angry cow elephant and a couple of buffalo follow ups do not come close to the two hours of driving at night on a Mozambique road.

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Originally posted by smarterthanu:

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That's a super pic.Could you please tell us the story behind it?Thank you.