15 September 2024, 23:58
PAGuardianBeauties and the Beast: Leopard, buffalo and sable with Cabassa Safaris in Mozambique
Outfitter : Cabassa Safaris (Hardus van Zyl)Professional Hunter: Duane Drotsky
Booking Agent: Aaron Neilson (Global Hunting Resources)
Travel Agent: Patrick Wright (PWP Travel)
Airline: Ethiopian Airlines
Game Taken: Leopard, Buffalo, Roosevelt Sable, Olive Baboon
Game Seen: Leopard, Buffalo, Roosevelt Sable, Waterbuck, Reedbuck, Eland, Duiker, Olive Baboon
Introduction: This hunt was my 5th safari but first time hunting in Mozambique. Also, this hunt was my first dedicated attempt at dangerous game. Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, was plagued by a long series of wars which extended in to the 1990s. Since then, Mozambique has reemerged as an excellent safari destination. The taller-than-wide country has an extensive coastline along the Indian Ocean as well as numerous hunting areas with differing terrains.
Aaron Neilson, Global Hunting Resources, posted an ad here on AR a few years ago for Cabassa Safaris on Cahora Bassa (Nhenda). I quickly reached out to Aaron and we made a plan which was a leopard/crocodile combo on the banks of Cahora Bassa. Prior to the hunt, the leopard hunting conditions became more difficult in their Cahora Bassa concession due to multiple factors, including increased poaching/poisoning seemingly aided by increased Chinese business pressures in the region. Throughout the process, Aaron was really on top of things and after discussing with Hardus van Zyl (owner of Cabassa Safaris), we decided the change course to one of Cabassa’s Niassa concessions and focus on leopard.
Travel: Travel arrangements were made with Patrick Wright and, as always, the itinerary worked seamlessly. The Niassa hunting areas are largely accessed by flights into Pemba and Lichinga. Since we were hunting a community area west of the Niassa Game Reserve, I flew into Lichinga. Due to proximity to Dulles, I flew Ethiopian airlines from DC to Addis and then on to Maputo.
As dictated by the flight schedule, I had to spend the night in Maputo both coming and going. For those overnights, I chose to stay at the Southern Sun Hotel which is beachfront. Of the African Hotels I’ve stayed at, I would say Southern Sun was my favorite. The staff were incredibly friendly and made easy arrangements to and from the airport.
The flight from Maputo to Lichinga was on LAM (Linhas Aereas de Mocambique) was pretty basic but was on time so really no complaints. On the way out, the in-flight meal was a hot dog bun with two slices of American cheese which made me chuckle.
Cabassa Safaris: Cabassa Safaris is a company based in South Africa with hunting options scattered in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Mozambique. In Mozambique, they have a number of concessions, including multiple excellent areas in Niassa province. The Cabassa team clearly has a passion for hunting wild areas and Hardus has worked hard to take on and develop multiple areas near the game reserve.
For the safari, I was paired up with PH Duane Drotsky. Duane is a young, energetic South African PH with a deep passion for hunting Mozambique. He particularly enjoys hunting the area where the safari took place, Manda Wilderness. Duane grew up in the hunting industry as his mother and father were both PHs. I had an absolute blast hunting with Duane! We laughed a lot throughout the safari and even had the same taste in country music, including a preference for Luke Combs cover of “Fast Car” overing the Tracy Chapman original. Duane utilizes a Toyota Hilux which was well equipped and I found to be a very comfortable ride; personally I preferred this over a land cruiser. Duane only had two rules for the truck:
1. No tsetse fly leaves the truck alive.
2. Never squish a full tsetse in the truck.
Our lead tracker, Madinda, is Zimbabwean and travels to Mozambique every year to hunt with the Cabassa Team. Hunting with Madinda was a great experience and my first time hunting with a tracker fluent in English. Throughout the safari he had an insatiable thirst to find game. Our hunting team was rounded out with two additional trackers, Charles (AKA Galaxy) and Ali (Ngungunhane, AKA GuGu).
In camp, we also had another PH, Dylan de Witt, who was in between safaris. Dylan is also a young, enthusiastic South African PH who enjoys hunting the wild areas; he really seems to enjoy their Cahora Bassa area. He has played a major role in Manda as well, including building many of the buildings and water towers. Throughout our safari, Dylan worked tirelessly on camp and it was a real pleasure to have him in camp.
Manda Wilderness: Our safari took place on a community area named Manda Wilderness. Duane referred to the area as the “the forgotten wilderness of Manda” as the area had previously sat unoccupied by any hunting company until Hardus took the leap a few years ago. Initial scouting of the area years ago revealed little to no game. Hardus quickly employed a year-round anti-poaching team and after several years of work and road development was able to start to offer a few safaris each year on Manda beginning last year.
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Manda covers approximately 300,000 acres and borders one of Cabassa’s other community areas, Lipilichi. Lipilichi is a much larger area covering 1.5 million acres and it borders the game reserve. Manda extends westward from is boundary with Lipilichi and the two areas are separated by the Messinge river which game crosses easily. Manda continues westward to nearly the shores of massive Lake Malawi.
Manda has a very high density of leopard and Hardus was confident we would be successful, As for other game, Manda holds buffalo, impressive numbers of Roosevelt Sable, eland, waterbuck, kudu, reedbuck, Chobe bushbuck, spotted hyena, zebra, hartebeest, duiker, and olive baboon.
As for the hunting season, hunts on Manda run September through November. The earlier hunts are preferred for leopard as much of the tall grass remains unburnt and the cats rely heavily on the roads, making drags more effective. As controlled burns progress through September, buffalo and plains game begin to filter into the area as the new growth emerges making October and November better months for these species. Since our focus was leopard, we hunted the first dark moon of September.
Leopard: Due to my work schedule, I only had time for 10 hunting days which definitely added some pressure. Fortunately, Duane aggressively pre-baited for the safari and as I awaited my early morning flight to Lichinga, Duane messaged me that he had 5 cats on bait, including a good male! Upon my arrival to Lichinga, we made a plan to hustle to get in to the blind after the 4-hour drive from Lichinga to Manda. Following brief introductions, we headed off to the blind and settled in just after 4. The blind was situated just uphill from the bait with the sun at our back and wind in our favor. We sat until about 9:30 PM (night hunting is allowed for leopard in Mozambique) but had no visitors. Madinda did a quick inspection of the bait site and found that the leopard had apparently indulged a little too much last night as he had regurgitated near the bait tree.
Believing the cat would return tomorrow, we made a plan to return first thing in the morning. We chose to walk in to the blind in the early morning light and found the leopard’s prints in the sand along the road as it approached the bait. As we crept closer, Duane and Madinda could see the leopard in the tree! Our approach transitioned to a crawl to try to get into shooting position. However, the leopard only stayed in the tree for a brief moment. We later found he had only eaten a small amount, confident he would return tonight.
We returned to the blind earlier than yesterday and again settled in, taking bets on when we thought the leopard would show. At 6:30, the cat was in the tree without making a sound! I took only a brief glance but was left with a lasting memory of that magnificent cat standing over the bait. In order the quell my excitement, I diverted my gaze to my feet awaiting instructions from Duane. After a few moments I heard the soft whisper, “He’s a good cat, take him when you can”. I slowly settled into shooting position and the crosshairs stabilized. As I recovered from he recoil, I saw the limp body of the tom falling from the limb followed but the most reassuring “thud” as the leopard hit the ground. Elation erupted from within the blind and after a few cautious moments and approach, we found the cat dead under the tree just as suspected.
What an outstanding animal! Honestly, it was really hard to process everything as we admired the cat. The Niassa province is not known for huge leopard, but this was certainly a nice tom for the area. After taking everything in for a few minutes, we loaded the leopard onto a bed of grass in the truck, decorated the truck, and returned to camp for the celebration. We were greeted on the road by the camp staff with dancing and singing, a wonderful memory!
Buffalo: With our first day leopard success, an enormous weight was lifted off our shoulders and now we could work at getting a buffalo. This was my first attempt at hunting buffalo and it proved to me a rewarding and addicting experience.
As noted above, October and November are far better months for buffalo in Manda as the green grass emerges and more herds and small groups cross the Messinge river to feed. For our hunt, we would focus on the resident lone bulls and small groups of buffalo. On the third and fourth days, we came across bulls feeding in the pans first thing in the morning and took up pursuit. Those pursuits ended unsuccessfully with many miles of tracking (16 miles on day 3 and 10 more miles on day 4) and some close encounters spoiled by swirling winds. I must admit that I underestimated the cunning nature and resolve on these buffalo. They outsmarted us on multiple occasions, clearly aware that something was following us as the doubled-back to catch site of us before we saw them. On the day of the 16 mile tracking job, poor Gugu began to really slow and take short, cautious steps; he had a very unfortunate case of chafing which led to a lot of laughs with simultaneous empathy to his plight!
On day 5 we took a break from buffalo and resumed our quest on day 6. Again, we came across a small group of bulls first thing in the morning. They spotted us and trotted off from the pan into the bush. Their trot quickly turned to a walk and we gained ground quickly. A bellow from the bush ahead told us we were close and the wind seemed steadily in our favor as some rain approached in the distance. On hands and knees, we made our final approach to find the bulls bedded down. A hard-bossed bull was in the group and he was the first to stand. I got on the sticks but there were 3 trees covering the shoulder. Just to the right, there was a better window in front of Madinda so we quickly adjusted the sticks. There was still some cover between the bulls and our position but a window was available as the bull was broadside, facing left. At the shot, the bull was clearly hit hard on the shoulder and he spun to run right. Before we began, I encouraged Duane, “Do not be shy to shoot if you have the opportunity”. Duane and I then followed the original shot with a series of shots, hoping to stop the bull before he made it to the really thick bush off to our right. Fortunately, our shots all connected and quickly took the bull off his feet. After finishing shots, we admired our bull. A great bull for the area and a huge bonus for an already remarkable safari.
Another lasting memory of this safari was the appreciative and utterly jubilated look on Gugu’s face when he saw the downed bull, a much needed source of meat for his family. The following day we would deliver the majority of the meat from this bull to the closest village, a nice experience and critical component to success in this community area.
After pictures, the hard work began by Madinda and crew cutting a road for the Hilux. Then the cleaning process began and the bull was cut in half to more easily fit in the bed.
Plains Game: Prior to the hunt, Hardus was very upfront about hunting plains game in early September on Manda. We would need to put in time to be successful but he was confident we could get my most desired goal, a sable. The sable are of the Roosevelt variety and were quite plentiful on Manda, providing stalking opportunities daily. Between swirling winds and groups containing no shootable bull, it took us a few days of trying but we were able to get it done on the 9th day. On that morning, we can across a large herd which spooked at first and required a bit of tracking. When we caught up to the herd, the cows spotted us and bolted but a mature bull remained behind. The bull had us pinned down as Madinda extended the shooting stick legs so I could shoot from a kneeling position. Once on the sticks, the bull faced us head on, a shot I was not willing to take. Fortunately, the bull was more curious than spooked and trotted towards us! After a brief staring contest, he nervously turned right and I took the shot just as his walk was beginning to transition to running. The bull was hit hard but we followed quickly to give an insurance shot. After multiple close calls, we now had our sable bull. Of the African game I’ve taken, the sable has to be near the top in terms of beauty.
The Roosevelt sable due not carry the length seen on common sable, but they carry their mass well and our bull has good secondary growth at the bases. A fine bull by anyone’s standards…
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We also came across a good number of waterbuck during our hunt, including a great bull at the mid portion of the hunt. The shot was an easy one but I blew it. We found only trace blood and were never able to recover the bull or see him again. I was extremely disappointed in myself as this was a slam dunk and I just failed to perform…nothing more…nothing less.
During our hunt, we also came across the occasional kudu, reedbuck (including a monster ram which I decided to pass), and eland. Olive baboon were plentiful and after 9 days of gentle nudging, Duane convinced me to shoot one on the last day. I am always impressed by the teeth on these primates!
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We tried calling hyenas multiple evenings. Despite seeing tracks along the roads on multiple occassions, we were never able to convince a hyena to come in for a look. I did have the pleasure of seeing a small group of African wild dogs which was another first for me on this trip.
Final Thoughts: Once again, I was blessed with an outstanding safari! I’ve said it before and will say it again, I have been the recipient of far more blessings in life than I deserve. This report would be incomplete without giving the utmost thanks to my wife who is far more tolerant of my hunting exploits than most women would be, especially considering that my absence leaves her single-parenting with our two rambunctious boys. Without her patience and understanding, these adventures would never materialize.
I was extremely impressed with Hardus and his operation of Cabassa Safaris. From start to finish, Hardus was a straight-shooter and everything was exactly as described. Expectations are an important thing to manage and Hardus did this miraculously well! As for Manda Wilderness, it is an area which is a true testament to the success possible with these community areas. This area is “young” in regards to its hunting life and it is a great developing area for true wild African hunting. I look forward to the continued growth of this area as persistent anti-poaching efforts and concession development will no doubt produce more and bigger dividends. With the protection management practices of Cabassa safaris, I am confident that Manda will become a top tier concession in the Niassa province.
As for hunting with Duane Drotsky, it was an honor and a pleasure. We had a remarkably good safari and many laughs. Duane worked tirelessly to put us on good animals and he has the drive necessary to succeed in these wild areas of Mozambique. He is experienced and wise well beyond his years and I really hope to hunt with him again one day…perhaps for lion a few years down the road!
This trip was the first time I’ve booked with an agent in over a decade and I had an absolutely great experience with Aaron Neilson. Aaron was upfront, honest, and always very responsive throughout the hunt planning. I would happily utilize Aaron to book future hunts!
