In '07 Johann Strasheim the owner of Bahati and I hatched a plan for Sadie and I plus my clients Terry and Kathi Solbergs to do a hunt on Johann's Coutada 10 in Mozambique during Sept '09. We were very much looking forward to this as the Zambesi delta was a completely new area for Sadie and I and from all the positive reports an excellent place for the Solberg's first safari. We were not disappointed.

August 30 saw us off to Billings, MT to overnight before flying to Seattle and onto Johannesburg via London on British Air. The flight although long went without a hitch and all our luggage and guns arrived with us in RSA. Here I need to say that the new terminal at O.R. Tembo is an absolute joy to use. We literally spent no more than 30 minutes clearing customs and picking up our bags and guns. Johann had arranged our transportation with Ulysses and they were waiting for us. Henry from Rifle Permits was waiting at the SAPS office and zip zap we were on our way to Pretoria and the Whistle Tree B&B.

The Whistle Tree was a very pleasant surprise. It sits in high end neighborhood in Pretoria and is very nice. Johann paid us a visit that evening and outlined the safari us. Rooms, drinks, food etc were all 4 Star. I would not have minded staying there an extra day or two just for the food. Wow!

We had overnighted at the Whistle Tree in order to give us the whole next day to charter into Coutada 10 and that's exactly what we did. After breakfast the Ulysses driver took us to the local airport where we met Johann, loaded his twin engine and we were off. We cleared RSA customs and arrived Beira, Mozambique about midday. We clear customs again there with no hassle and in another half hour we landed on the bush strip at Coutada 10.

That afternoon we got settled into our camp and sighted in our rifles with minimum scope adjustments needed. Terry was shooting a 375 H&H Weatherby with the 300 TSX and a custom 7 Mag with 160 TSX. I brought only my Lon Paul 375 Weatherby and the 300 TSX plus a few solids for the litte guys.

My first priority was hunting the red and blue duiker plus suni. The first day's calling produced a lot of action but no shot. Day 2-3 things clicked and we took good specimens of all the litte guys. Believe me these thigs are not rabbits and they are very challenging. We were very successful because of the shear abundance of these little antelope.



Natal Red duiker



Suni



Blue Duiker

Once the litte guys were in the salt all else was just gravy. In the next few days we looked over the Coutada finding loads of game. Sable were everywhere and often in herds of 25-75 animals.

We spent a couple of eveings watching some large pans where nyala are commonly seen and we found them. The first evening we saw a nice bull but passed hoping for a bigger one. Next evening we found him.



Lovely big bull

We spent some time via Argo in the swamp. Way cool and the only way to travel through this watery wonderland.



The swamp






Lots of beauty in this very wild area

Somewhere in the middle of our adventure we packed up and headed for the Zambesi to hunt croc and do some fishing. Johann had made an arrangement for us to hunt from Grant Taylor's very comfy camp. We were not successful on the croc but I was looking for 14' plus and we saw many smaller crocs. The two days we allotted were not enough time to hunt the big water of the Zambezi. I should add that it was an unexpected pleasure to meet Larry Sellers and Hunter Krenz both AR members on this portion of our safari. Larry's story of his leopard hunt and Hunter's rendition a very long day in swamp were very interesting.

On our return to Coutada 10 went back into the swamp looking for the waterbuck and found the Mother load. I took the bull below from a group of 34 bulls. We saw hundreds of waterbuck and the area we hunted is not the very best spot in the area.



Common waterbuck. Nice one!

We had been seeing many Lichenstein's hartebeest but since I had taken one in Tanzania I had given no thought shooting another in Mozambique but........
The Solberg's PH Cort told us of a big hartebeest he's been seeing and Mara our PH thought we should go look at it. I was somewhat ambivalent but we did go for a look. We blew the stalk the next day before getting a really good look at the bull. The following day we walked into the area and found the bull alone and in the middle of a burn. We sat down in the treeline and the bull walked right to us. He stopped at about 100 yards giving me a frontal shot and I decided he was a gift.





And he made a delicious lunch the folowing day

Best hartebeest taken in many years in Coutada 10

We found ourselves down to only three hunting days remaining so we thought we should collect our buffalo. I did say collect!

At 4AM we left camp in the Cruiser, transferred to the Argo about 6:30 and found a huge herd of buffalo by 8:30. I had told Mara that I was only looking for a hardheaded mature bull and we had one on the ground at 9AM. A short stalk through the papyrus brought us about 65 yards from the herd. We selected a bull and when he cleared some cows I shot him. Being a buffalo it took several additional bullets to get him to lay down for good but all in all it was a very easy hunt.



About 300 buffalo



"I think he's down for good".



I really liked the ridges in the back of his boss.

The last day and a half we shot a few francolin and just took it easy.

Sept 21 we were off to Botswana.......................

In summing up our hunt with Bahati I give the safari a big thumbs up. The Solberg's were very happy with their safari taking warthog, buffalo, sable and nyala (they chose to keep their bag limited). I took everything I wanted and more. I've never seen sable like you encounter in Coutada 10. I literally think you could shoot a mature bull everyday. Buffalo are found in huge numbers in the swamp offering a unique hunt. The area is wild, full of game and the habitat beautiful. Call me and I'll arrange for you to check out this great area.

OK! It's 21 Sept and we are on our way to Maun, Botswana. Johan had graciously offered to charter us to Maun from Mozambique saving us time and another tour through O.R. Tembo. The flight was smooth and arrived Maun about 12:45 PM. Around a half hour of Botswana customs, gun checks etc and we said our goodbyes to Johan and put ourselves in the hands of P.J. from Tholo Safaris. The drive to camp was mostly on tar but long at about 3 hours. After 40 minutes driving off the tar we arrived at the main Tholo camp. At this time I'm going to say please check out Yellowstone's report on our safari. He took some great camp pix which I did not and this place has some spectacular accommodations that need to be seen including AC, soak tub, huge beds etc. By far the best camp I've ever been in. Please bring your spouses.

That first afternoon we just resighted my rifle and got settled into our chalet. Did I mention it had AC?

We would be hunting mostly on the main ranch which is 110,000 acres that is game fenced with 10,000 acres set aside for photo safaris although it is not seperately fenced. Tholo also buys the quota on several adjacent proerties and hunts much of the surrounding cattle country. In total Tholo has about 400,000 acres to hunt. This means even a large group of hunters could be accommodated with plenty of room to spread out and hunt.

The first day started at a leisurely 7AM and almost immediately we started seeing kudu and kudu bulls one after the other. During that first morning I probably saw more shooter kudu bulls than I have ever seen in all my previous safaris combined and this would continue through the next five days.

During the first two days we saw most of the species available on the ranch and tracked several groups of eland. An old bull was my main goal. The third morning rolled around and being that we only had 5 days to hunt we needed to make something happen that day. It did!



I swear this head tracker was as happy as I was. I never met a man that enjoyed the hunt anymore than this guys.




We tracked this bull plus his four partners and finally caught them in the open where they ran at top speed. Somehow I got 3 bullets in the front half of this big boy and he finally crashed in a cloud of dust. Exciting stuff! Jacko the PH and the trackers all thought he might be the biggest eland killed on the ranch but the bull was old and the ridge/keel on his horns was almost gone taking a good 2-3 inches off what his max length might have been during his prime. Regardless I was very pleased.

Day four and five we turned down several springbok plus red hartebeest that just were not just the right ones and kept an eye out for a monster kudu. The last hour of the last day we found a very heavy old hartebeest bull with great mass. We made a stalk and I took a shot through some fairly heavy cover and got an incredible deflection up through a tree at about 30 degrees. The splitters hit the hartebeest and he ran back toward us where I promptly dumped him with a good shot even if I say so myself.



Mike Bryant AKA Yellowstone had been wining about returning to Africa for some time so I asked him if he would like to meet us in Botswana. He did and you can read his report here on AR. It was nice to share a camp with Mike as he is a real sportsman who goes with the flow, shares in other's success, recognizes good advive when given and is just generally a good guy to share a camp with.

The trip home had some hiccups as Air Botswana did not identify what bag tags matched the luggage with the guns and ammo. Actually the whole check in process with Air Botswana was a 1.5 hour nightmare. This haunted us causing delays arriving and departing from Heathrow but BA sorted it and guns/luggage arrived Seattle with us. Hey! What would a safari be without some travel cock up.

In closing I like to say that Linda and Clive Eaton just do a bang up job with their Tholo Safaris. They undoubtedly have the best kudu anywhere. We passed on at least 8 bulls in the 54"-57" class as I told Jacko I was looking for 58" or better. They had taken a 65" just before I arrived. Conservatively you can see 30 or more bulls over 50" on any day. Eland are abundant and trophy quality excellent. Additionally all the Kalahari species are available in good numbers. This is not a put and take operation and you will hunt for everything.

I don't know what the Eaton's could have done differntly to make our hunt better. They just have all the bases covered.

Mark

Very nice Mark! Outstanding trophies!

way to go bud. Those little dudes are huge!

Great looking animals and congratulations.

Mike

What a buffalo herd! The ARGO seemed like just the ticket.

Matt

congratulations Mark. brings back many fond memories from last year. glad to see Mara is doing well and look forward to hoisting a few with him, Johan, and Koera in Reno.

Thanks for the trip report. Looks like a quality operation.

Mark...Congrats on the great Safari...I hunted with Bahati in June and had a wonderful experience as well, taking Buffalo, Bush Buck, and Reed Buck. I too was amazed at the herds of Sable and Water Buck...truely amazing.

Anyone looking for a true free range, remote safari should no doubt give Bahati a look.

Mark, your comment about not spending enough time on the croc struck a cord. last year it took 4 days of hard hunting to get one on the final afternoon. i thinks hunters vastly under estimate how difficult it is to get a big one( i know i sure did). they don't get to to be 60-70 years old by being stupid. glad you got everything else you wanted.

Congratulations Mark!!! Looks like a fun hunt!!!

Brett

Nice pictures Mark and very nice trophies. Glad I got to see them after our rendezvous in Botswana.

Turning colder 'n banker's heart up here tonight and snowing now.

Nice trophies, nice pictures. Sounds like everyone had a great safari.

Well done and welcome home.

Welocme home and congrats on a great trip.

You got to check out a new area, get great specimens of the "little guys" that you were targetting, pick up some excellent targets of opportunity and see a ton of stuff - awesome sounding hunt to me! Obviously well planned and executed.

Some great trophies, looks like a good area.

FANTASTIC Trophies well done I dream of one day being able to reach that part of Africa myself

Really great Nyala and a nice buff.
Also the other trophies are fine.
Looks like a great hunt.
Congratulations!
Andy

Mark, Congratulations on the Red and Blue Duiker
and that Suni..man thats a nice one!

Congratulations Mark, great hunt and outstanding pictures.

Hey Mark

It was a pleasure having you guys. Nice pictures. Were the flowers your idea? Seriously, a nice touch ...

There is something memorable about facing 300 Buffalo at 65 yards with zero solid cover for miles.

Great stuff Mark! Is Bahati exporting directly from Moz or do trophies have to go through RSA? Last time I was in Moz, our trophies went through Zim and it was a perfect cluster. Hope you got over the "bug".

Johan,

I always try to capture something other than dead animals. You have some really gorgeous blooms in Coutada 10. I may add some more pix today.

Crane,

Johan is using Trophy Export Mozambique which is the same outfit that Mokore used when we hunted Mozambique in '07 and they do a great job. The trophies do have to go to RSA for international shipment but that is not a problem.

Thanks everyone for the positive comments.

Mark

Great trip, excellent report and some super trophies Mark and Sadie! You know I love the "little guys" and I have got to get to Moz for the suni - red duiker combo! Throw in buff and its a match made in heaven! BTW stunner of an nyala...

Congrats Mark!

I really like that Nyala!

Over all, sounds like you had a heck of a time!

I really enjoyed the pics, but the flower stuff is, well so not you!

cb

Great trophies Mark, congrats!

Beautiful Duikers....congratulations on all the trophies.

Charles,

You don't know me very well. I've added some more flower pix just for you. We need to appreciate all of nature's wonders.

Mark

Mark, any more pictures of the Buffalo?

Mark;

Congratulations to you and Sadie. Your trophies are super and your report really interesting. I never saw flowers like that in Mozambique!!!!

Regards, Darin

Damn you Mark!!! Why did you write such a good report. Congrats on trophies and added color.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"

Mark, great work and report. Problem is I may be forced to stop by and see Adam on my way home sooner than later!

Thnaks for sharing your times and great pics as well

Congratulations Mark, that was an incredible hunt. Fine trophies indeed.

Dave

Mark,

What a great trip. Those little guys make a great hunt. And that Nyala is a beast!

Well done.

I can confirm that the camp at Tholo is simply fantastic!! Great eland!

Incredible pictures, I especially love the tiny guys. One of these days I'm gonna have to try to for them. Looks like a lot of fun.

Mark,you are the most terrible man i know
"the house is for sale! again"
and please tell sadie thank you for the breathtaking flower photo's
seriously, sounds like a grand adventure
congrats

Congrats on a great trip Mark. Super story and photos, not to mention great trophies...

What a great safari. Sounds like you had a great time and took some great trophies.

Folks,

Once again thanks for the kind words. Bahati definitely offers some excellent hunting for a variety of species. I just had some clients arrive there and they took a magnificent sable once they had their rifles sighted in a 31" waterbuck the following day after passing on several buffalo bulls.

Mark

Wonderful, Mark..