channelkat
AH enthusiast
Location: Niassa Reserve block L8/L9, situated in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique
Outfitter: Chapungu-Kambako Safaris, Hosted by Travis Baker of WTA
PH: Jumbo Moore
Rifle: Winchester M70 .375 H&H, Nightforce Nx8 Scope
Ammunition: 300g Swift A-Frames and Barnes RN solids
Flight Qatar, Business, SEA-DOH-JNB; Airlink JNB-POL, Charter to camp
PWP Travel: Patrick Wright/ Tricia Works, Fixed my self-made travel arrangements
Lodging at JNB with AfricaSky. Gilbert picked me up and made short work of the rifle paperwork
Harvested: Cape Buffalo, Common Duiker, Red Duiker, Sharpe’s Grysbok, Suni, Impala, Bushpig, Crested Guineafowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Crested Francolin
I have a much longer journal, but just no time to edit/ articulate to the degree I would like. Thought I’d just post a quick review, vice risk never sharing anything...
Just returned from a 10 day hunt with the Kambako crew and a few other American clients. This was brought together by WTA as a hosted hunt. As far as WTA goes, I would neither endorse nor discourage use of their services. I would personally use WTA again under the right circumstances. I would fully endorse and am considering future trips with Kambako or one of the greater Chapungu-Kambako properties. All the PH’s and staff I interacted with were very accommodating and service oriented. Food and lodging were excellent. I was blown away by the quality of African game meat. The meat tended to be the centerpiece, as that was obviously what most of the clientele were interested in. However, Kambako has a nice garden to compliment the main courses, in addition to an eclectic collection of imported and homemade offerings.
Each day we saw good amount of wildlife. Though not pressured by my PH in the least, I was probably frustratingly selective in my quarry. I do not tend to get excited and shoot non target species, preferring to hunt what I set out to hunt. I believe we daily saw shootable Kudu, Waterbuck, Impala, and other game, not on my list. For more selective hunters I believe the trophy potential is there as well. They did harvest a record Eland (Livingstone) a few years prior. We did see some very nice animals I somewhat regret not pursuing. After initially hesitating on a very deep curled Kudu pushing 60” I spent a few days trying to find him again, only to see some of his scions. I did not get my Niassa Wildebeest, only saw 1 young bull. 1 mature bull was harvested while I was in camp.
I told Jumbo my primary goal was an old Buffalo and for the most part, age was my primary concern. I explained to him that I had it all figured out and that my bull would be a smooth, broken down and battle-scarred 13+ year old. Ideally it would be sub 25 yards, front spinal shot. In the end my bull didn’t end up being quite as old and Jumbo was reluctant to let me take that initial (30 yard) frontal shot opportunity.
When Jumbo first put up the sticks, I had the old bull looking straight on at me. I told Jumbo that I wanted to put one under his chin for a front spinal shot. “No, the only shot you have is a brain shot”. I had studied the “Perfect Shot” books and felt otherwise, but agreed “I’ll shoot him between the eyes, I’m confident”. “How confident?” he asked. “Very confident” I replied. After a pause he said to wait. Eventually the bulls, 3 mature dugaboys, turned back and disappeared into the thick bush. It had taken me 3 days to get that shot and I was crushed that he didn’t give me the go ahead. Undeterred, Jumbo and our trackers made a quick plan that brought us in a large loop around to the direction the 3 bulls were traveling.
After another thirty minutes or so we found ourselves in the tall grass peering back in the direction we first confronted them. Sure enough my bull showed up apparently still believing we were pursuing them from the same direction. The bull stood nearly broadside head turned back the direction he came, as if to see who was following. After months of studying the anatomy and shot angles of the Cape Buffalo I was confident in both my shot and placement, but a thick red branch covered the point where I wanted to aim. This led to a bit of a “Who’s on first” moment as Jumbo gave me the go ahead to shoot, while I thought I must be looking at the wrong animal as I had no shot. I finally understood, yes that was indeed the bull Jumbo wanted me to take. The sight picture I had of the animal protruding from the tall grass had me convinced the shot, on his left side no less, was sure to hit him in the stomach. Jumbo patiently confirmed again that I had a good shot, but needed to aim just under the red branch. After some hesitation I grudgingly deferred to Jumbo’s decades of experience and took aim just behind the red branch as instructed. The trigger broke clean, crisp and I cycled another round, but the animals had disappeared into the brush. Abel (senior tracker) and Jumbo indicated it was a good hit, but I was still not certain it wasn’t a stomach hit. After a while, with no bellow, we eased a bit closer and found blood. From this new vantage we could see two bulls coming back, evidently waiting on their companion. We gave them some time hoping the two remaining bulls would ease off as we cautiously moved forward. We found him little more than a hundred yards from where he was hit. He lay there encircled by an arch of thick pink blood snorted out as he went down.
I keenly examined the entry and exit wounds of a perfect broadside shot. The depth and dimensions of the animal, particularly in thick brush was misleading to my novice eyes. Had I aimed where I wanted, the shot would have been too high and far forward. I would have bet money that the spot I was inclined to aim for, was the very spot my PH convinced me to hit. At this point it occurred to me that studying photos from a book is apparently not an equivalent to examining an animal in the field…Everyone shook hands, and got to work taking pictures, clearing a road, and loading the bull.
After my main objective, were the tiny guys. I actually had a Klipspringer in my sights as well. Although I knew it was big, I didn’t know how big that klipspringer was until Jumbo said “I am not kidding you, that is the biggest Klipspringer I have ever seen”. I jokingly pleading with him to just tag him as a graysbuck or duiker or anything else we might be able to pass it off as. When we got back to camp and compared it to the current SCI record Jumbo said the bases were not quite as thick on ours, but that he was a couple inches longer. I ended up taking 4 of the tiny ten. Don’t know where or how I will end up settling on a Klipspringer now…
I would jump on the opportunity to hunt with Jumbo or any of the PH’s (Darren, Ryan or Paul) I spent time with, without hesitation. I also had the chance to meet and lunch with Jaco and his men in Litule Camp and was left with similar positive impressions. I would love to make it out that way again and hunt with any of those men.
Logistically there were some hiccups with the airlines, or more accurately the ground crews in Pemba and Johannesburg, but with proper attitude, patience and a good logistics team (Kambako, AfricaSky, PWP) everything was minimized and sorted out. Looking forward to my next visit.
Outfitter: Chapungu-Kambako Safaris, Hosted by Travis Baker of WTA
PH: Jumbo Moore
Rifle: Winchester M70 .375 H&H, Nightforce Nx8 Scope
Ammunition: 300g Swift A-Frames and Barnes RN solids
Flight Qatar, Business, SEA-DOH-JNB; Airlink JNB-POL, Charter to camp
PWP Travel: Patrick Wright/ Tricia Works, Fixed my self-made travel arrangements
Lodging at JNB with AfricaSky. Gilbert picked me up and made short work of the rifle paperwork
Harvested: Cape Buffalo, Common Duiker, Red Duiker, Sharpe’s Grysbok, Suni, Impala, Bushpig, Crested Guineafowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Crested Francolin
I have a much longer journal, but just no time to edit/ articulate to the degree I would like. Thought I’d just post a quick review, vice risk never sharing anything...
Just returned from a 10 day hunt with the Kambako crew and a few other American clients. This was brought together by WTA as a hosted hunt. As far as WTA goes, I would neither endorse nor discourage use of their services. I would personally use WTA again under the right circumstances. I would fully endorse and am considering future trips with Kambako or one of the greater Chapungu-Kambako properties. All the PH’s and staff I interacted with were very accommodating and service oriented. Food and lodging were excellent. I was blown away by the quality of African game meat. The meat tended to be the centerpiece, as that was obviously what most of the clientele were interested in. However, Kambako has a nice garden to compliment the main courses, in addition to an eclectic collection of imported and homemade offerings.
Each day we saw good amount of wildlife. Though not pressured by my PH in the least, I was probably frustratingly selective in my quarry. I do not tend to get excited and shoot non target species, preferring to hunt what I set out to hunt. I believe we daily saw shootable Kudu, Waterbuck, Impala, and other game, not on my list. For more selective hunters I believe the trophy potential is there as well. They did harvest a record Eland (Livingstone) a few years prior. We did see some very nice animals I somewhat regret not pursuing. After initially hesitating on a very deep curled Kudu pushing 60” I spent a few days trying to find him again, only to see some of his scions. I did not get my Niassa Wildebeest, only saw 1 young bull. 1 mature bull was harvested while I was in camp.
I told Jumbo my primary goal was an old Buffalo and for the most part, age was my primary concern. I explained to him that I had it all figured out and that my bull would be a smooth, broken down and battle-scarred 13+ year old. Ideally it would be sub 25 yards, front spinal shot. In the end my bull didn’t end up being quite as old and Jumbo was reluctant to let me take that initial (30 yard) frontal shot opportunity.
When Jumbo first put up the sticks, I had the old bull looking straight on at me. I told Jumbo that I wanted to put one under his chin for a front spinal shot. “No, the only shot you have is a brain shot”. I had studied the “Perfect Shot” books and felt otherwise, but agreed “I’ll shoot him between the eyes, I’m confident”. “How confident?” he asked. “Very confident” I replied. After a pause he said to wait. Eventually the bulls, 3 mature dugaboys, turned back and disappeared into the thick bush. It had taken me 3 days to get that shot and I was crushed that he didn’t give me the go ahead. Undeterred, Jumbo and our trackers made a quick plan that brought us in a large loop around to the direction the 3 bulls were traveling.
After another thirty minutes or so we found ourselves in the tall grass peering back in the direction we first confronted them. Sure enough my bull showed up apparently still believing we were pursuing them from the same direction. The bull stood nearly broadside head turned back the direction he came, as if to see who was following. After months of studying the anatomy and shot angles of the Cape Buffalo I was confident in both my shot and placement, but a thick red branch covered the point where I wanted to aim. This led to a bit of a “Who’s on first” moment as Jumbo gave me the go ahead to shoot, while I thought I must be looking at the wrong animal as I had no shot. I finally understood, yes that was indeed the bull Jumbo wanted me to take. The sight picture I had of the animal protruding from the tall grass had me convinced the shot, on his left side no less, was sure to hit him in the stomach. Jumbo patiently confirmed again that I had a good shot, but needed to aim just under the red branch. After some hesitation I grudgingly deferred to Jumbo’s decades of experience and took aim just behind the red branch as instructed. The trigger broke clean, crisp and I cycled another round, but the animals had disappeared into the brush. Abel (senior tracker) and Jumbo indicated it was a good hit, but I was still not certain it wasn’t a stomach hit. After a while, with no bellow, we eased a bit closer and found blood. From this new vantage we could see two bulls coming back, evidently waiting on their companion. We gave them some time hoping the two remaining bulls would ease off as we cautiously moved forward. We found him little more than a hundred yards from where he was hit. He lay there encircled by an arch of thick pink blood snorted out as he went down.
I keenly examined the entry and exit wounds of a perfect broadside shot. The depth and dimensions of the animal, particularly in thick brush was misleading to my novice eyes. Had I aimed where I wanted, the shot would have been too high and far forward. I would have bet money that the spot I was inclined to aim for, was the very spot my PH convinced me to hit. At this point it occurred to me that studying photos from a book is apparently not an equivalent to examining an animal in the field…Everyone shook hands, and got to work taking pictures, clearing a road, and loading the bull.
After my main objective, were the tiny guys. I actually had a Klipspringer in my sights as well. Although I knew it was big, I didn’t know how big that klipspringer was until Jumbo said “I am not kidding you, that is the biggest Klipspringer I have ever seen”. I jokingly pleading with him to just tag him as a graysbuck or duiker or anything else we might be able to pass it off as. When we got back to camp and compared it to the current SCI record Jumbo said the bases were not quite as thick on ours, but that he was a couple inches longer. I ended up taking 4 of the tiny ten. Don’t know where or how I will end up settling on a Klipspringer now…
I would jump on the opportunity to hunt with Jumbo or any of the PH’s (Darren, Ryan or Paul) I spent time with, without hesitation. I also had the chance to meet and lunch with Jaco and his men in Litule Camp and was left with similar positive impressions. I would love to make it out that way again and hunt with any of those men.
Logistically there were some hiccups with the airlines, or more accurately the ground crews in Pemba and Johannesburg, but with proper attitude, patience and a good logistics team (Kambako, AfricaSky, PWP) everything was minimized and sorted out. Looking forward to my next visit.
