27 August 2014, 23:54
HOWARDepFirst Hunting Report - Northern Mozambique
Although I have read numerous reports here over the years, this is my first hunting report on this forum.Hunt: Buffalo, Hippo, Croc, Plains Game
Dates: August 1 – 13, 2014
Area: Northern Tete Province, Mozambique
Outfitter: Safari Trails International
PH: Russell Lovemore
Camp: Chawalo Lodge (chalets)
Rifle: Custom model 70’s with Bushnell Elite scopes
Caliber: .375 H&H and .280 Rem
Ammo: Federal; .300 gr A-Frame; 150 gr Nossler
This was my 5th safari to Africa and the 2nd one with my wife. We hunted plains game in the Eastern Cape together in 2010 which I also hunted with my father in 2006. In 2009 I hunted buff and plains game in Mozambique (Coutada 10) and ele in Botswana in 2011.
We weren't planning on going to Mozambique when we went to the DSC convention this year, but after talking to our friend and PH Russell Lovemore our plans changed. I've known Russell since 2002 when I met him on a South Texas whitetail deer hunt. He was in the country visiting from South Africa. Since that time I have hunted with Russell numerous times in both Texas and on his home turf. He informed us that his company Safari Trails International (www.safari-international.com) was taking over a hunting and fishing operation in the Tete province of Mozambique on the Zambezi River named Chawalo Safaris (www.chawalosafaris.co.za) The previous owner Carel Maartens was at the DSC show with Russ and gave a great description of what he has accomplished on the 880,000 acre concession in the last 10 years. My wife and I had such a good time on safari with Russ and Julie Lovemore in 2010, we decided we had to go experience this new venture of theirs.
Getting to Chawalo Lodge was relatively straight forward, considering where it's located, and requires very little driving. Day 1 flights are SAT to ATL to JNB (I use Gracy Travel here in San Antonio www.gracytravel.com to handle gun permits and transfers at JoBerg, they are wonderful) to Lusaka, Zambia where we met up with a Chawalo representative, our videographer Nolan Wallace (this was my 4th time using Dark Continent Video Productions www.dcvp.net and I highly recommend them; their filming and production are first class and best I've seen) and Julie Lovemore. We had a short 20 minute transfer and a stay at the Protea Hotel. The hotel is nice even by American standards. The next step is an early morning charter to Feira airport in Luangua, Zambia.
From there we had a short drive to Zambian police and customs then got on an aluminum boat to cross the Zambezi/Luangua rivers into Zumbo, Mozambique.
There we cleared another customs and police check before traveling about 15 minutes down river to the Chawalo Safaris Lodge. The trip took 44 hours, but we were out baiting crocs that first afternoon.
Chawalo Lodge with wifi, satellite TV and great cell phone coverage
The next morning was the actual start of our 12 day safari. Thank goodness croc hunting doesn't involve early morning wake ups because we slept in until 9am. We headed out in the boat with bait for a particular croc we spotted the evening before and to check the other baits. As we rounded the corner to our destination, there is our croc sunning himself on the bank! We killed the motor and started to drift. I laid prone on the front of the boat with my custom Model 70 .280 Rem shooting factory 150 gr nosslers. I had perfect shot placement on his head at 100 yards, but as we found out, the nossler bullet did not penetrate far enough in the side of the skull. It stunned the 14 footer, but I had to follow up with a close up shot as he was coming back awake during pictures. Live and learn, should have used a Barnes TSX or similar bullet.
This place is the definition of “croc infested waters”. We saw numerous crocs around our baits and in and out of the water.
Hippo was high on my list for this safari, but the Mozambique government did not cooperate. They did not issue any quota for this year. However, if they had, there were any number of monster bulls to choose from. Since the chalets are on the river, you hear the hippos right outside your window…all night.
The days following the croc hunt were relatively routine and action packed. Up before daylight, ride or walk for signs of buffalo, kudu, bushbuck, Sharpe’s grysbok, duiker, warthog, bush pig, hyena, baboon, etc etc. Buffalo and hyena were highest on our list of animals. During the heat of the day we ate lunch and napped. Meredith and Julie would decorate or “garden” some days. In the evenings we mostly hunted, but to break it up a little we would fish on occasion.
Lots of Baobab Trees
Proud Decorators!
First tiger fish. A small 5 pounder
While riding one day the trackers spotted an elephant carcass 50 yards off the road. It had not been spotted previously because of the thickness of the bush, but winter had the leaves off the trees now. It was a young male more than likely wounded by poachers and never found. Coincidentally, the next day we were called by the village next to ours to put down a problem elephant that had been wounded and had reportedly chased three villagers. Chawalo has anti-poaching teams working full-time and actually confiscated two homemade muskets and numerous snares during our stay. The guns, slugs, percussion caps and powder were all hand made. I commend Chawalo for their anti-poaching efforts and will be supporting them on a go-forward basis. It is very upsetting to see the devastating impact of poaching in areas like this. If it was not for the continued support of responsible outfits like Chawalo, there would not be animals to enjoy, they would be wiped out. No doubt.
Elephant carcass and ivory
Collecting bones for garden art
Confiscated illegal homemade guns, ammo and powder for poaching
Hunters that have hunted in Mozambique know that it is not like hunting in many parts of Africa where you see endless amounts of game from the vehicle. The bush here is lush green and thick. The locals burn quite a lot of the area for crops so we spent time hunting their abandoned fields. Every day we hunted we spotted numerous animals and were able to take a few trophies. All of these were very rewarding because of the work we put in during the hunt. Endless hours of walking, glassing and stalking. I used my custom Model 70 .375 H&H with either solids or Swift A-Frame 300 gr bullets for everything (except the croc).
Beautiful chobe bushbuck
My first greater southern kudu
My first Sharpe’s grysbok
I was also successful in taking a common duiker and baboon. The one animal that eluded us, even though there were numerous tracks everywhere, was the hyena. It did not stop Russ and me from spending long hours together in a night blind overlooking some bad smelling bait.
Before we left the U.S. for this trip, I had convinced Meredith that she needed to hunt buffalo. She had taken kudu, zebra and impala in the Eastern Cape but had not experienced the thrill of buffalo hunting. She practiced shooting my .375 H&H at our ranch and has been working out for a couple of months prior to this. We were lucky in that a herd of buffalo moved in to the camp area on the second day of the hunt. Over the next several days we would track them, bump them, track them, leave them, bump them and even had Meredith up on sticks less than 25 yards from them on a couple of occasions. The cover was very thick and seeing the one we wanted never materialized. Around day 9 we decided to go 30 km north to Chawalo’s fly camp near Murulu and Chissavo villages. It was a three hour drive north and what a treat we found. Fly camp was just as comfortable as the main camp and in a beautiful stream setting with its own waterfall, mahogany tree shade and next to a turn of the century abandoned Catholic mission.
Fly camp
Chawalo supports a mobile medical clinic run by Care for Zumbo
We worked with the anti-poaching scouts in the area to get a feel for where the buffalo liked to travel. The trackers and government scout on our vehicle were from the area as well. The buffalo were travelling between water holes and despite the thick undercover were able to figure out a plan. The next morning we started at sunrise tracking the herd. We had already been hunting buffalo since we started the trip, but this day was different. This was hours of walking through thorns and corn flakes. Between the noise of cursing and the sound of dead leaves it was tough.
We bumped the herd a few times, but they had every advantage. We never got a good look at the males, but according to some of the tracks we were following there were a couple we wanted to see. That day ended with some cuts and bruises and a cruiser that would not start. Meredith was questioning just how bad she wanted a buffalo, but after an evening back at camp and two glasses of wine she was convinced to keep on going. The next morning we started even earlier. By day break we were on a group of three dugga boys. We had not even gotten into good thorns or corn flakes when the trackers dropped to the ground and Meredith was using Russ’s knee for gun support. The buffalo were right in front of us 20 yards away. Two of them broke off and the third one stayed behind. After a couple of seconds he ran as well. When they got to 100 yards one of them stopped and faced us, Meredith could see him through the thick trees, put the scope on his chest and made a perfect shot. Within seconds we were hearing the death bellow. I’ve never seen trackers, government scouts, videographers and hunters so happy. After a couple of finishing shots Meredith had her buffalo. I was proud of her, she didn’t give up and was well rewarded! The local villages, the hunting scouts and our camp were well fed with meat for the days to come.
There are so many more stories to tell about this trip. Russell and Julie are doing a wonderful job with Chawalo and I would give anyone a high recommendation for coming here to hunt, fish and relax. This area of Mozambique is great and I will look forward to returning here again.
Thank you goes to the entire Safari Trails Mozambique team for making this a beautiful memory in our lives.
