I am told ... and this is not from personal experience ... that while there are plenty of cats in some areas of Moz, they are hard to hunt. Not sure why, a cat is a cat, but it may have something to do with the abundance of small prey antelope in those same areas.

Russ,

I think cats in Moz are a bit more diffycult because of the heavy poaching, I have seen Leopards wpatrolling the snarelines for food, even after we removed the snares, for days afterwards,

One snareline was over 3/4 miles long with over 100 wiresnares in it, lots of food for a clever cat.

Unfortuantely they also get caught in these themselves

Great response by Charl, and to the point, no BS !!

The situation as it stood when I left Mozambique was that NO hunting licenses had been paid for by Moz Unlimited Safaris, despite the clients having already paid, and been receipted for, the necessary payments. I have since been in contact with the one Mozambiquan shareholder who has said he has paid over all fees to the authorities who are issuing licenses. These are paramount in exporting trophies.

Further to this hassle, clients were sold animals, and ultimately paid for them, although there were none to be found in the hunting block - despite my having pointed this fact out to the USA shareholder and CEO. This makes for such an uncomfortable safari when we, as PH's inform the client the trophies he has come to hunt are not available.

The quota system given by the Department of Agriculture (in this case), does not reflect the situation on the ground. As an example Moz Unlimited Safaris had a quota of 20 impala, although in the 6 months I was there I never saw one ! Hippo also appeared on the Gov't quota list, of which none were found !

If this area operated in is carefully managed, with a long term strategy of rehabilitation and correct species offtake, it has the potential to be a fantastic block, but is going to need the co-operation of all stakeholders, those being Gov't, the safari opertor and the people living in the area. It is not a simple project, after all T.I.A - This is Africa.

quote:

Originally posted by Neil-PH:


The quota system given by the Department of Agriculture (in this case), does not reflect the situation on the ground. As an example Moz Unlimited Safaris had a quota of 20 impala, although in the 6 months I was there I never saw one ! Hippo also appeared on the Gov't quota list, of which none were found !

Purely out of curiosity Neil - how did you end up hunting for these guys and what DID you see (game-wise) during your 6 months up there?

Chris,

I recruited Neil here on AR as he is a very experienced PH out of Zim and Tanzania, when it comes to DG game. He was looking for a new break in a new area, and we were contracted to manage the area on behalf of Moz. Unlimited Safaris, and recruit experienced staff to manage it on the ground. Neil and one of my good friends were contracted by M.U.S. and not us. So when we pulled out they were contractualy obliged to stay on and see the season through.

I promise you one thing. Neil had one of the toughest seasons ever under his belt, and has shown what calibre of a man, and PH he is.

See my other posts on this Chris. Lots of Elephant, decent number of Sable and Leopard, bushpigs...some small game and Eland. NOTHING ELSE.

In my opinion, Mozambique is coming back fast. I have hunted there four of the last five years, and with four different outfitters. I will hunt there again next year. It will not ever be what it was in 1973, but in today's Africa it is now very good, and will only get better. The current subject is leopard in Mozambique, and that is a different subject. There are plenty of leopards, but they are hard to bait. I don't speak leopardese well, but my opinion is that this is because of the hot climate (making them nocturnal) and the amazing smorgasboard of small antelope: red, blue, and grey duiker; suni; oribi (and what am I missing?). My hunting has been in the Zambezi Delta complex. Here they do much of their leopard hunting with dogs--done at night so the dogs aren't exposed to tsetse flies. Toni Wicker (Coutada 14) has a great area, but does almost no leopard hunting. I hunted with Toni this year, and look forward to hunting with him again. Mark Haldane (Coutada 11 and 12) has great areas and is a great outfitter, with good success on leopard. I hunted with Mark last year, and will hunt with him again next year. Johan, who you have heard from, has Coutada 10. He is also a great outfitter with a great area, and I have hunted Coutada 10. I don't know much about the north, have not hunted there. I do know leopard hunting is good up there, but the conditions may be different and I don't actually know their typical methodology. Johan Calitz, Toni Wicker, and Jumbo Moore all have fine country up there, and they all offer good success on leopard. Historically Mozambique was a great place to hunt leopard...and it still is!

We hijacked the original thread a bit, sorry.

We also found out that the locals poison the cats where they can and if they get their hands on poison. The reason for this is that Leopard, as oppertunistic hunters will take any prey they can, and livestock and pets in places like Maua where we were, come second BIG time.

Comes back to the old thing about population density in hunting areas.....

I cannot provide any info regarding cats, but my experience in Moz may be helpful, so here it is.

I hunted Coutada 12 in 2007. I chose to do so because I was contacted by a very well known PH/author, and wanted to hunt with him. It was a buff/sable hunt, with other PG included. Here's what happened.

Coutada 12 was under lease to a very large Portugese/Moz company for which hunting was only a sideline. A new American company contracted with the lease-holder for the entire concession, inclduing the camp. When the PH and his assistant arrived, the camp was in shambles. They worked like dogs to get the water system and other necessary facilities restored.

When they contrated with the lease holder, there was abundant game, which they determined with their own investigaton. Between that time and when they began hunting, the government decided to restore the railway line that ran through the concession. With the railway work came hundreeds of laborers. I saw the remains of their camps. These laborers lived off the land, i.e. poaching. The restored line right-of-way also provided a highway for poachers. We saw many bicycle tracks there. The concession holder chose not to inform the American company of these events.

The lease holder had no anti poaching program. We saw locals all over the concession, and in some of the most remote areas you could imagine, many miles from any village. It was just weird to see someone materialize out of the bush when you would not think there was another human within 30 miles. These concessions are huge. I don't recall exactly, but I think Coutada 12 is at least 30 miles N/S.

Game, esp. buff, was very scarce and spooky. Eles would bolt at the sound of a vehicle. I did manage to take a very good buff, but it required several days of very hard hunting.

While there we visited Mark Haldane's camp. Everything was in good order, and the clients we spoke with there were quite satisfied. It was a different world compared to Coutada 12.

One of our trackers stepped into a trap large enough to hold an ele. I can't recall what they called this type of trap, but it was what is referred to in the state as a "bear trap". He escaped injury because the trap was a home made affair and he had skinny ankles. We captured one poacher and held him for the police.

There were many, many other problems, not the least of which was getting my trophies out of the hands of the lease holder.

The American company I deal with, and the PH, were both totally honest folks. They were well capitalized, and shared with me all of their correspondence with the leaseholder. They were hornswoggled by the leaseholder.

So, it is not just the reputation of the hunting company one must be concerned about. Business ethics vary around the world.

I hope my little recitation is of same value, if only for background.

you should hunt with Luwire Safaris. Contact Bruce Grant 941-776-3029. If you don't have a cat in the first 4 days shoot your PH. I've been there twice. Spent 10 minutes in a leopard blind got my cat. Nine days on a lion hunt, got my cat. This is the place.

I've only been on one safari which was this past July in RSA with Wayne Wagner Safaris. It's a long story that I won't recount, but my original outfitter had to cancel with me the day before my safari was to start and Wayne took me on quite literally at the last moment. He and his PH Ian provided me with a great safari.

Wayne has also in the last couple of years started a safari operation in Mozambique. Obviously I can't speak to that part of his program. But I can say that Wayne and Ian were great to me and I would certainly consider them again for future safaris. I believe they will be at the SCI show this year if you wish to meet them personally.

Web site: http://www.wagnersafaris.co.za

http://www.huntingreport.com/w...te.cfm?articleid=563

Link to The Hunting Report

Mozambique Association Releases List of Member Operators

Some great information here, thanks all. This will really help out seperating the wheat from the chafe.

In the Hunting Report it states that it's list doesn't show ALL the legal hunting entities in Mozambique. I wonder why they chose to leave some of the "legal" ones off their list? Sounds a little fishy, and self promoting to me. Maybe some outfitters don't PAY the Hunting Report so are left off the preferred list?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
http://www.huntingreport.com/w...te.cfm?articleid=563

Link to The Hunting Report

Mozambique Association Releases List of Member Operators

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
In the Hunting Report it states that it's list doesn't show ALL the legal hunting entities in Mozambique. I wonder why they chose to leave some of the "legal" ones off their list? Sounds a little fishy, and self promoting to me. Maybe some outfitters don't PAY the Hunting Report so are left off the preferred list?


Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
http://www.huntingreport.com/w...te.cfm?articleid=563

Link to The Hunting Report

Mozambique Association Releases List of Member Operators

Nothing sinister, you have to join AMOS, pay your fees and behave then you on the list any of this missing then you not on the list!

Cheers

the Hunting report has very few ads from anyone( unlike some publications we all know)- one of the best things about it.