MOZAMBIQUE: 'Twas The Night Before Safari - Mozambique 2024

[Monski]

Have a great hunt!

 

[Art Lambart II]

Have a great hunt, I'm looking foward to the report.

 

[Inline6]

Good luck! Looking forward to the pictures and report!

 

[Spearhead]

Well the good Mrs PHOENIX PHIL and I are sitting here at Phx Sky Harbor awaiting the start of the airline journey to hunt with @KWALATA SAFARIS in the Niassa concession that Jaco hunts there. Not sure how this hunt report will go. I know there is internet coverage in camp, but not clear on the bandwidth. So I’ll start this will the boring stuff that someone may find useful in the future.

So as mentioned @AZ KJ, my long time friend and hunting buddy as well as myself and wife will be hunting with Kwalata. I’ve known Jaco Strauss for as long as I’ve known Jacques Spamer. While I’ve represented Jacques all these years and it’s been fun to be a part of and watch him grow his business, it’s also been fun to was Jaco’s career progression.

Not too long ago when he secured this Niassa block to hunt, it immediately hit me that I’d need to do this hunt. And I’m so looking forward to this. In case anyone is wondering, I’m still repping for Jacques and @JKO HUNTING SAFARIS and plan to continue to do so. It’s simply as yet he does not have any area in the Niassa where I’ve wanted to hunt for awhile now.

Animals to Hunt:
Cape Buffalo, Spotted Hyena, Niassa Wildebeest, whatever else comes along that Donna would like.

Rifles:
Chapuis .470NE, my trusty M70 .375HH

Ammunition:
North Fork Bonded Cores and Cup Point Solids for the double, 300gr North Fork Bonded Cores and Flat Point Solids for the .375HH. Flat point solids for use on any of the “tinies” that may show up.

Travel:
For the first time since our first trip to RSA in 2010, we are flying on Delta Airlines. I have become a big fan of both Qatar Airways and Emirates in recent years. And I can’t say Delta has ever impressed me that much. But as much as I tried, I just couldn’t put together a desirable itinerary on QA/Emirates. Furthermore, one reason QA has been such a favorite choice was there fares were so good. But that changed this past year, they went up considerably. So in the end Delta won out due to better itinerary and considerably cheaper.

Complicating the itinerary is getting to Pemba, Moz. I followed Jaco’s advices (which many others would concur with) of not using Air Mozambque and choosing Airlink instead for getting from JNB to Pemba. There is one daily flight that leaves out of JNB at 11:30am. This is where it gets a little challenging with other airlines. The itineraries had us getting in with only about 1-1.5 hour layover in JNB, which is not enough when traveling with weapons. Or a long layover where we’d have arrived in JNB at like 3:30am.

The Delta flight arriving the night before the Moz flight just made more sense. We will overnight at City Lodge which after some 24 hours of travel is just fine. So far Delta is doing well. The nice part of flying them out of PHX is their gates are at Terminal 3. T3 is much smaller and less busy than Terminal 4. We walked right up to the counter at check-in. The lady there was friendly and on her game. She said she wasn’t an expert in handling firearms, but she was great. Off then to TSA for a nice surprise. In Term 3, the TSA guys have a type of X-ray machine the run gun cases thru. They don’t require you to open the case and do the swab down. All of about 2 mins and we were on our way.

So in a couple hours we should be on our to ATL and the DL200 flight this evening. All for now.

I'm so stoked to hear about this trip. Safe travels and great hunting.

 

[cpr0312]

Best of luck, look forward to the report!

 

[BigHill]

Well the good Mrs PHOENIX PHIL and I are sitting here at Phx Sky Harbor awaiting the start of the airline journey to hunt with @KWALATA SAFARIS in the Niassa concession that Jaco hunts there. Not sure how this hunt report will go. I know there is internet coverage in camp, but not clear on the bandwidth. So I’ll start this will the boring stuff that someone may find useful in the future.

So as mentioned @AZ KJ, my long time friend and hunting buddy as well as myself and wife will be hunting with Kwalata. I’ve known Jaco Strauss for as long as I’ve known Jacques Spamer. While I’ve represented Jacques all these years and it’s been fun to be a part of and watch him grow his business, it’s also been fun to was Jaco’s career progression.

Not too long ago when he secured this Niassa block to hunt, it immediately hit me that I’d need to do this hunt. And I’m so looking forward to this. In case anyone is wondering, I’m still repping for Jacques and @JKO HUNTING SAFARIS and plan to continue to do so. It’s simply as yet he does not have any area in the Niassa where I’ve wanted to hunt for awhile now.

Animals to Hunt:
Cape Buffalo, Spotted Hyena, Niassa Wildebeest, whatever else comes along that Donna would like.

Rifles:
Chapuis .470NE, my trusty M70 .375HH

Ammunition:
North Fork Bonded Cores and Cup Point Solids for the double, 300gr North Fork Bonded Cores and Flat Point Solids for the .375HH. Flat point solids for use on any of the “tinies” that may show up.

Travel:
For the first time since our first trip to RSA in 2010, we are flying on Delta Airlines. I have become a big fan of both Qatar Airways and Emirates in recent years. And I can’t say Delta has ever impressed me that much. But as much as I tried, I just couldn’t put together a desirable itinerary on QA/Emirates. Furthermore, one reason QA has been such a favorite choice was there fares were so good. But that changed this past year, they went up considerably. So in the end Delta won out due to better itinerary and considerably cheaper.

Complicating the itinerary is getting to Pemba, Moz. I followed Jaco’s advices (which many others would concur with) of not using Air Mozambque and choosing Airlink instead for getting from JNB to Pemba. There is one daily flight that leaves out of JNB at 11:30am. This is where it gets a little challenging with other airlines. The itineraries had us getting in with only about 1-1.5 hour layover in JNB, which is not enough when traveling with weapons. Or a long layover where we’d have arrived in JNB at like 3:30am.

The Delta flight arriving the night before the Moz flight just made more sense. We will overnight at City Lodge which after some 24 hours of travel is just fine. So far Delta is doing well. The nice part of flying them out of PHX is their gates are at Terminal 3. T3 is much smaller and less busy than Terminal 4. We walked right up to the counter at check-in. The lady there was friendly and on her game. She said she wasn’t an expert in handling firearms, but she was great. Off then to TSA for a nice surprise. In Term 3, the TSA guys have a type of X-ray machine the run gun cases thru. They don’t require you to open the case and do the swab down. All of about 2 mins and we were on our way.

So in a couple hours we should be on our to ATL and the DL200 flight this evening. All for now.

The best of luck! Hunted with Jaco there June last year, master tracker Joe and Mr T as well, You will be in good hands. JBG.

 

[tarbe]

North Fork. I never would have guessed! LOL

Best to you and the Mrs. Have a great trip!!

 

[Wheels]

Have a great hunt.

Tell Jaco hi.

 

[Jesus F. Elizondo]

Safe trip and expecting reports

 

[meigsbucks]

Have a great and safe trip, but mostly have fun. Look forward to your report.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well our flight to Atlanta was delayed about an hour. But we had plenty of layover time to cover that. DL200 left on time and arrived in Joburg maybe even a little early. We had arranged with Henry Durrheim’s @riflepermits.com for VIP service.

Sure enough we had someone waiting for us at the jetway who got us thru passport control quickly. Fact was, it seemed the Delta flight was the only one coming thru at the time as it was quiet there. It took a little while for the last bag to show up which was my ammo box. And that came in thru the “special” luggage for some reason.

Off to SAPS where getting the transit permit took no more than 5 minutes, not sure it was even that long. Then it was off to check in at City Lodge.

We had dinner in the City Lodge restaurant and it was good. We didn’t do the buffet as were weren’t that hungry. City Lodge is about perfect in my mind for what we needed. Nothing fancy, but super convenient, clean and priced well. I don’t need fancy and expensive, just a clean room and a bed.

I was off to sleep immediately, but then 2;30am hit and now I’m awake and typing this. I guess it will be an early start to the day. Next installment should be from Pemba.

 

[Just Gina]

Safe travels and best of luck!!

 

[thi9elsp]

Glad the long flight is over. Rest up as you can. In 2016 Ann and I spent a day in Maputo, then used Moz Air to get to Lichinga with a stopover in Tete. Let's just say it was a bit unsettling sitting in Tete, no one else in the gate area, waiting for our flight. When we strapped in to our seats we both sighed with the relief. Maybe that was more the AC? Tete was 105F (late October when we went through).

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Up early Thursday morning for the breakfast buffet at City Lodge. I don’t think this was even $10 per person and plenty of selection.

It was then off to Airlink to check-in for flight to Pemba. Marius and Anna from @riflepermits.com were great to have on our side. Check in was a bit slow but we were on our way soon enough. But unfortunately somewhere between SAPS and Airlink things broke down. We made it to Pemba, rifle cases did not.

But…..we have a buffer. I was originally going to try and do Qatar and get Q-Suites for the wife and I. Well that didn’t happen obviously. So since we went cattle class on Delta, I decided to book 3 days at the Pemba Beach Lodge that is owned by Jumbo Moore of Chapungu-Kambako Safaris. The team from Kambako met us at the Pemba airport and jumped on the rifle issue. I also sent an email to Henry, and he’s got Marius and Anna on it too. As I write this, we are expecting rifle cases to arrive today (Friday). We aren’t scheduled to fly into the Niassa until Sunday, so hopefully this is all sorted by then If not tomorrow.

Some of you may have met Danie, he is on of Jaco’s PHs. He showed this evening at the beach lodge. He is on his way in a few hours to drive into the concession and officially open camp for the hunting season. So as it turns out, we will be the first hunters there this year. We had a fun dinner with him and look forward to more next week.

Now if I could just get the body on Africa time, it’s 3am here as I write this.

 

[ILDRHNTR]

Best of luck and enjoy!! Thanks for the updates. Can’t wait for more.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

It is so sensible to include layover buffers on a long multi-connection flight. Hope the rifles appear soon.

 

[thi9elsp]

Would love to see some photos from Pemba. Agree with Kevin, buffer is always good either direction.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Good news, rifles and ammunition made it to Pemba about an hour ago and are now in camp…..phew!

The beach lodge is nice and food has been great so far. We’ve just hung around the lodge today. Will get beach time in tomorrow. Was told there’s Suni about, but haven’t seen any. We do have a troop of Vervet’s here that are quite entertaining.

Tried to load up some pics, but they’re challenging the WiFi bandwidth it seems.

 

[thi9elsp]

Glad to hear on the rifles and ammunition. NP on the photos. Totally get it. I have issues at home sometimes here stateside.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well we are ready for the main event. Spending a few days at the beach has been nice and with the hang up in the rifles. But we’re anxious now to get on to the hunt. Got one pic to load up this afternoon. I was up early this morning to catch a sunrise pic. The Vervets got started shortly after dawn. A few of them ran across the roof of the lodge and launched into one of the coconut trees adjacent to the building. They’re quite comical to watch.

Hopefully the next installment of this report comes from the Niassa.