24 http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com
Mark Haldane and Boddington approach a buffalo downed in sawgrass...really nasty stuff!Boddington and PH Mark Haldane on sticks at the edge of papyrus.Mozambique: 2018
I
t seemedtherewasnocoverat all,but
then a lastfew scraggly tufts of weeds
stoodabovetherest.PHMarkHaldane,
inthelead, flasheda quick grin.“Timeto
leopard-crawl!” he said, as we crabbed our
wayfromonesparse clumptoanother.We
keptatit,gaininga fewyardsata timeand
goingtogroundwhena sharp-eyedcowgot
suspicious.
Thebuffaloeswerespreadina crescentlike
a Zuluimpiregiment,hornstoourrightand
left, advance guard to ourfront, loins still
hiddenwithswoopingegretsbehindthem.We
hadreachedthecenter,thenearestbuffaloes
fortyyardstoourfront,tipsofthehornsa
hundredyardstoeitherside.Therewereno
maturebullsamong theclosestbuffaloes...
butonecowhadusandwasplayingthe“look
away”game.Shewouldcasuallyturn away,
thensnapherhead backtosee if anything
hadchanged.
Off to the right, near the tip of impi’s
left “horn,” a beautiful bull lay peacefully
ruminating. With heavy bosses and tips
starting to wear, he was easily the biggest
andoldestbullwe couldsee...and wewere
runningoutof time.Itwas inevitablethat
they wouldsoon spook, so it wasdecision
time.Flaton ourbelliesnow, we pickeda
spota fewyardstoourrightandlow-crawled
toclear some weeds.Theold bullwas still
beddedat abouteighty yards,butnow the
sticks were spread low, nothing but a flat
puttinggreenbetweenus.Intimehewould
standandoffera calm,unhurriedshot...and
hedid.
AttheshotI expectedpandemoniumand
we got it...plus a whole lot more! Instead
ofretreatingintothesawgrass,thegroupto
ourfrontbroketoourrightandheadedout
acrossanendlessopenplain.Thestrickenbull
triedtostaywiththem,fellbehind,offereda
secondshot,andwasdownintheshortgrass.
And then curiously, instead of retreating
deeperinto safecover,theunseen buffaloes
troopedoutofthesawgrassinranks before
us, passed our downed bull, and drifted
slowlyaway.
I supposewe’dhadthreehundredbuffaloes
in front of us. In coastal Mozambique’s
Coutada 11 this is not a large herd, but we’dThebuffaloeswecouldseewerestartingtoliedownonthefarsideofa short-grasssavanna.
Egrets swooping over sawgrass beyond indicated it was a large herd, only a portion in
view...but how many buffaloes do you need? We ran out of cover atthree hundred yards,
goodbreezeinour faces.Protected with gloves and kneepads, we went on hands and knees
and crawled straight in.