ftrovato
AH enthusiast
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- Apr 28, 2023
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- Mozambique/Canada/US - 10 States
It Was The Dream Of My Life, So Far…
2024 Mozambique Cape Buffalo Hunt.
I landed in Johannesburg, South Africa on the evening of August 30th 2024 at 6:00PM to finally live out what had been my lifelong dream to hunt Buffalo in Mozambique.
I’ve been fortunate enough to hunt all around the United States and Canada, looking for game ranging from peasants and ducks up to caribou and elk. While I will always have fond memories from these trips, the “big one” always escaped me; a chance to go to Africa and join a safari hunt in some of the most rugged and challenging environments on earth. I had dreamed about it since I began hunting, and planned the trip in my mind for decades. And now, to kick off my retirement, it was really going to happen.
After a smooth 16 hour flight from Newark International Airport - and some thankfully easy customs and rifle claims - I finally made my way to catch up on some sleep at the City Lodge Airport Hotel before heading out in to my adventure.
Early the next day, I met my Outfitter & Professional Hunter - Dempsey Bayly from @BAYLY SIPPEL SAFARIS. Dempsey and I had enjoyed many conversations over the past year in planning this adventure we were finally about to set out on. He was always informative and patient in helping prepare me for my first African Safari in the great wilds of the Gaza Province of Mozambique which forms part of the Greater Limpopo Trans-frontier Park. Dempsey arrived with a big smile, a warm welcome and a firm handshake. Together we loaded my bags and were off in his Toyota for our first nights stay close to the town of Hoedspruit in a stunning lodge overlooking the Olifants river!
Dempsey has a professional relationship and friendship with the owner of the camp, Wayne Wagner. Wayne is also the owner, along with Oosie in the hunting area in Mozambique’s Mutemba Safaris which was to be our final destination. Our arrival found us greeted by Wayne, his wife Tao, and Ian Brown, a PH that would be taking another hunter of Dempsey’s to hunt in Mozambique with us.
Early that evening we went for a game drive along the Olifants river seeing many animals including elephant, hippo, crocs, kudu, bushbuck, impala, baboon and monkeys along with fresh tracks of several lions. This was a wonderful opener for what was to come in Mozambique!
We proceeded to have an excellent dinner, sat around the fire and enjoyed a cocktail or two whilst the gents hinted at what I was to expect in Mozambique. That night I went to sleep with the excitement of a 5 year old on Christmas Eve. What a wonderful feeling to have at 60 years of age!
We were all up early for a wonderful breakfast, a quick goodbye and a thank you to Tao as we started the next leg of our safari- An 11 hour jeep ride into Mozambique! First we drove through the Kruger National Park where we saw countless plains game and several old buffalo bulls to get the heart going! I took photos of everything to share with hunting friends back home as Dempsey cared to point out that the animals we would find in Mozambique would not be posing for pictures as they were here in Kruger!
Leaving the park to enter Mozambique through the customs and boarder patrol area went smoothly as we were the only vehicle there. Behind the Customs Office was an actual pig sty, and in the office they wrote everyone’s passport details into a big paper ledger with zero electronic influence - we were definitely getting out of the city! Within a mile or two of entering Mozambique the road ended and quickly degraded into a four-wheel drive dirt track that we would proceed to inch along for the next (bone rattling) 150+ miles. Something told me that the Million Dollar Highway in the US was about to take a back seat to the most exciting journey road of all time!
Shortly into the trip we forded the Limpopo River which was more sand than water now at the end of the dry season. Next, as we continued Northwards we passed over the Nuanetsi River bed which was no more than a sand bed. The only town we drove through was Chicualacuala. Over the next several hours drive we passed through a few bush villages of local residents that had no electricity or running water. These villages were located close to the mostly dry rivers where women were seen washing clothing and gathering drinking water. Dempsey pointed out there are crocs in all of the waterways we passed, but as water is life the locals have no choice but to live with the risk of being snatched by crocs.
As we worked our way to the final track I learned we had reached the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and the Eastern Zimbabwe border marked the start of the second largest national park in Zimbabwe, the Gonarezhou National Park. Translated to English it means ‘The Place of Elephants’ and it certainly lived up to its name! This park is home to one of the largest concentrations of Elephants in all of Africa and borders the concession that we would hunt.
This length of road was lined with metal fence posts, but no actual fencing. Dempsey said there had once been a real fence made out of strands of wire but poachers had come and stolen the wire to make traps. In the coming weeks I would see first-hand the impact and suffering caused by a poacher’s careless and indiscriminate snare. The anti-poaching efforts of the Mutemba safari camp cannot be faulted for a second, but there is still so much more work to be done.
Just when it seemed like my kidneys couldn’t take anymore bouncing on the dirt paths, we turned into the 50,000 acre concession. Here we were going to spend the next 14 days hunting some of the finest and most wild free-range bush in all of Africa. With the concession being part of the Greater Limpopo Trans-Frontier Park System, we were now amidst many million acres of free range Africa stretching through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The animals here live in one of the great remaining areas of wildlife preservation that Africa still has to offer. The System is unlike anything I had ever seen before, with no light pollution at night making for the most beautiful star gazing, and sunrises to start every morning (or end every night hunt).
We pulled into camp dusty and bruised and were eagerly greeted by several local staff members. These locals live at the camp year-round fulfilling various roles. They offered us warm smiles, traditional African handshakes with what was clearly great pride and excitement as to be able to share what they had cultivated on this property over the last 2 decades! I was taken to my beautiful tent with all the necessary amenities including lights and clean water provided by solar power along with hot water that was heated by way of a wood fire.
After freshening up, I was off to the communal area & dining tent to get further acquainted with those who would become part of the memories I would keep for the rest of my life! We had a few drinks, a wonderful dinner and discussed what our first day on safari would look like. This conversation covered the discussion around cape buffalo and what a proper bull meant to each of the Outfitters, PH’s and of course, to me, the hunter. We were all in agreement that we would focus on trying to harvest the oldest of dagga boys we could find.
Day One (To Follow)....
Photos of the drive in...
2024 Mozambique Cape Buffalo Hunt.
I landed in Johannesburg, South Africa on the evening of August 30th 2024 at 6:00PM to finally live out what had been my lifelong dream to hunt Buffalo in Mozambique.
I’ve been fortunate enough to hunt all around the United States and Canada, looking for game ranging from peasants and ducks up to caribou and elk. While I will always have fond memories from these trips, the “big one” always escaped me; a chance to go to Africa and join a safari hunt in some of the most rugged and challenging environments on earth. I had dreamed about it since I began hunting, and planned the trip in my mind for decades. And now, to kick off my retirement, it was really going to happen.
After a smooth 16 hour flight from Newark International Airport - and some thankfully easy customs and rifle claims - I finally made my way to catch up on some sleep at the City Lodge Airport Hotel before heading out in to my adventure.
Early the next day, I met my Outfitter & Professional Hunter - Dempsey Bayly from @BAYLY SIPPEL SAFARIS. Dempsey and I had enjoyed many conversations over the past year in planning this adventure we were finally about to set out on. He was always informative and patient in helping prepare me for my first African Safari in the great wilds of the Gaza Province of Mozambique which forms part of the Greater Limpopo Trans-frontier Park. Dempsey arrived with a big smile, a warm welcome and a firm handshake. Together we loaded my bags and were off in his Toyota for our first nights stay close to the town of Hoedspruit in a stunning lodge overlooking the Olifants river!
Dempsey has a professional relationship and friendship with the owner of the camp, Wayne Wagner. Wayne is also the owner, along with Oosie in the hunting area in Mozambique’s Mutemba Safaris which was to be our final destination. Our arrival found us greeted by Wayne, his wife Tao, and Ian Brown, a PH that would be taking another hunter of Dempsey’s to hunt in Mozambique with us.
Early that evening we went for a game drive along the Olifants river seeing many animals including elephant, hippo, crocs, kudu, bushbuck, impala, baboon and monkeys along with fresh tracks of several lions. This was a wonderful opener for what was to come in Mozambique!
We proceeded to have an excellent dinner, sat around the fire and enjoyed a cocktail or two whilst the gents hinted at what I was to expect in Mozambique. That night I went to sleep with the excitement of a 5 year old on Christmas Eve. What a wonderful feeling to have at 60 years of age!
We were all up early for a wonderful breakfast, a quick goodbye and a thank you to Tao as we started the next leg of our safari- An 11 hour jeep ride into Mozambique! First we drove through the Kruger National Park where we saw countless plains game and several old buffalo bulls to get the heart going! I took photos of everything to share with hunting friends back home as Dempsey cared to point out that the animals we would find in Mozambique would not be posing for pictures as they were here in Kruger!
Leaving the park to enter Mozambique through the customs and boarder patrol area went smoothly as we were the only vehicle there. Behind the Customs Office was an actual pig sty, and in the office they wrote everyone’s passport details into a big paper ledger with zero electronic influence - we were definitely getting out of the city! Within a mile or two of entering Mozambique the road ended and quickly degraded into a four-wheel drive dirt track that we would proceed to inch along for the next (bone rattling) 150+ miles. Something told me that the Million Dollar Highway in the US was about to take a back seat to the most exciting journey road of all time!
Shortly into the trip we forded the Limpopo River which was more sand than water now at the end of the dry season. Next, as we continued Northwards we passed over the Nuanetsi River bed which was no more than a sand bed. The only town we drove through was Chicualacuala. Over the next several hours drive we passed through a few bush villages of local residents that had no electricity or running water. These villages were located close to the mostly dry rivers where women were seen washing clothing and gathering drinking water. Dempsey pointed out there are crocs in all of the waterways we passed, but as water is life the locals have no choice but to live with the risk of being snatched by crocs.
As we worked our way to the final track I learned we had reached the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and the Eastern Zimbabwe border marked the start of the second largest national park in Zimbabwe, the Gonarezhou National Park. Translated to English it means ‘The Place of Elephants’ and it certainly lived up to its name! This park is home to one of the largest concentrations of Elephants in all of Africa and borders the concession that we would hunt.
This length of road was lined with metal fence posts, but no actual fencing. Dempsey said there had once been a real fence made out of strands of wire but poachers had come and stolen the wire to make traps. In the coming weeks I would see first-hand the impact and suffering caused by a poacher’s careless and indiscriminate snare. The anti-poaching efforts of the Mutemba safari camp cannot be faulted for a second, but there is still so much more work to be done.
Just when it seemed like my kidneys couldn’t take anymore bouncing on the dirt paths, we turned into the 50,000 acre concession. Here we were going to spend the next 14 days hunting some of the finest and most wild free-range bush in all of Africa. With the concession being part of the Greater Limpopo Trans-Frontier Park System, we were now amidst many million acres of free range Africa stretching through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The animals here live in one of the great remaining areas of wildlife preservation that Africa still has to offer. The System is unlike anything I had ever seen before, with no light pollution at night making for the most beautiful star gazing, and sunrises to start every morning (or end every night hunt).
We pulled into camp dusty and bruised and were eagerly greeted by several local staff members. These locals live at the camp year-round fulfilling various roles. They offered us warm smiles, traditional African handshakes with what was clearly great pride and excitement as to be able to share what they had cultivated on this property over the last 2 decades! I was taken to my beautiful tent with all the necessary amenities including lights and clean water provided by solar power along with hot water that was heated by way of a wood fire.
After freshening up, I was off to the communal area & dining tent to get further acquainted with those who would become part of the memories I would keep for the rest of my life! We had a few drinks, a wonderful dinner and discussed what our first day on safari would look like. This conversation covered the discussion around cape buffalo and what a proper bull meant to each of the Outfitters, PH’s and of course, to me, the hunter. We were all in agreement that we would focus on trying to harvest the oldest of dagga boys we could find.
Day One (To Follow)....
Photos of the drive in...
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