African Hunting Gazette – July 2019

48 http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com

accommodating, providing excellent, well-

maintained tented camps, spacious and

comfortable, and top-notch PHs. He even

brought in a hostess/chef,Christine,tomake

sure we were well

taken careof as we

moved from camp

to camp during

our hunt. Often

we returned after

dark, ravenous,

and were greeted

with sundowners

and marvelous hot

meals.

Dayafter day we

wouldlocatetracks,

parkthe truck, and

takeoff intothethickest ofjesse.Plentyof

crunchyleavesandswirlingbreezesmadeit

verydifficulttoapproachbuffalointhisthick

bush.Oncewegotwithin 25 yardsofanold

Dagga Boy, when we realized he was blind in

Mozambique: 2017

I

f you've never been to Mozambique,

you'dbeamazed.It’sa hunter'sparadise!

Villagers live in mud and grass-thatch

huts, solelyin subsistencemode, surviving

mainly onmealie meal porridge, and meat

provided by visiting hunters. Dugout

canoes are still commonly used for water

transportationandfishing.Drumsareoften

used for communication between villages

and during celebrations. This million-acre

concessionborderstheshoresofLakeCahora

BassathatdamsthemightyZambeziRiver.

Everyyearmanyvillagersareattacked,mauled

andkilledbymaraudinglionsandelephants,

andoftenvillagersaresnatchedbycrocodiles

fromtheriverbankwhilewashingclothesor

obtainingdrinkingwater!Thisis wildAfrica

almostasit wasa hundredyearsago.

Countless days of driving innumerable

roadsinthishugeconcession,searchingfor

buffalotracks,wastheorderoftheday.Once

tracks werefound,the trackerswould read

them like a book and tell us if it was a big

herdornot.

Sometimes, "It’s a small herd of Dagga

Boys,"theywouldsay.OurdriverJabowould

staywiththetruck,andoffwe'd go on foot,

walking endless

milesinsomeofthe

thickestbushknown

to man. Most of

the vegetation was

covered with long,

short, and hook-

shaped thorns, and

often we would

emerge from the

bush bleeding from

head to toe. The

shooter on this

hunt would be my

23-year-olddaughterKayleigh,shebeingthe

veteranofseveral otherbuffalosafaris.Our

outfitterwasSimonRodger withSafarisde

Moçambique.

Simon Rodger has always been very

Day afterday we

would locate tracks,

park the truck, and

take off into the

thickest of jesse.

Darby (left) and Kayleigh behind the monster buffalo.