26 http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com
Getting close is one issue, but sorting out the bulls can be the hardest part!assumedwe werelookingatthemain herd
with stragglers beyond. Now, as buffaloes
streamedoutofthesawgrass,weunderstood
how wrong we had been. Just how many
buffaloesmighttherebeina packedphalanx
stretchingnearly a mile fromfront tovan,
half a dozen buffaloes deep? We couldn’t
countthem,andnocameracouldencompass
this endless blackline. I figuredminimum
2500 buffaloes,possiblythreethousand.MIRACLEINMARROMEU
TheMarromeucomplexis essentiallythedelta
oftheZambezi.Epicenteris theMarromeu
Reserve stretching south from Marromeu
townandreachingtidewatertotheeast.The
reserveis a flatandseasonallyfloodedexpanse
ofpapyrus-linedchannelsandsawgrassflats
interspersed with short-grass savannas.
Surrounding the swamps proper is a huge
floodplain;beyondliea fewmillionacresof
miombowoodland.Borderingtheunhunted
reserve to south, west, and northwest are
huntingareasCoutadas10,11,and14,with
Coutada 12 justinlandof11.
Mozambique was long famous for its
wildlife,butPortuguesecontrolwasloosein
theinteriorandit wasa choicehauntofivory
poachers, including famous names such as
IanNyschensandJohnTaylor.Safarihunting
openedin1959,grindingtoa haltinabout
1973 with the Portuguese pullout and the
beginningofthelongcivilwar.Theswamps
oftheZambeziDeltaweredifficulttohunt,
buttheareawasknownforitsconcentration
ofbuffaloandwasa favoritehuntingground
of John F. Burger (Horned Death, 1947),
whoshotMarromeubuffaloestofeedworkers
onnearbysugarplantations.
In 1970 it was estimated that Marromeuheld 40,000 buffalo, probably long
overpopulatedandknownforsmall,stunted
bulls. During the civil war wildlife was
used to feed both sides. Worse, helicopter
gunshipsstrafedbuffaloherds,pickedupthe
carcasses,and whiskedthemoff to Russian
refrigeratorshipsanchoredoffshore.A peace
accord was reached
in 1992 andintrepid
outfitters started to
movebackin.Mark
Haldane’s Zambeze
Delta Safaris (ZDS)
hasbeenin placein
Coutada 11 since
this new beginning, but the wildlife was
in tatters. Only 1200 buffalo remained.
Existenceofcover-lovingantelopeslikenyala
andsuniwasinquestion,andlessthanfifty
sableremained.Thosefirstfewseasonswere
lean,butwithconservativemanagementand
investment in anti-poaching the buffaloes
prospered...ashavemostotherspecies.
The most recent aerial survey counted
25,000buffaloinandaroundtheMarromeu
Reserve. Sable antelope run about 4000.
Nyala, waterbuck, and Lichtenstein’s
hartebeest have similarly flourished, and
therareSelouszebra,asfewas 20 in1990,
now exceed 500. Interestingly, instead of
small,uglybuffaloes,todaytheherdscontain
beautiful bulls. Supported almost entirely
by safari outfitters and their hunters, the
Marromeucomplexis trulya miracle of what
canbeachievedinwildAfrica.BETTERANDBETTER!
I “discovered” coastal Mozambique nearly
fifteen years ago and have since hunted
there almost annually. I have hunted all theCoutadassurroundingMarromeu,but have
spent themosttime inCoutada 11,which
holdsperhapsthebestcombinationof swamp,
floodplain,andwoodlandhabitats.Forforty
yearsmytrackrecordhasbeento“huntand
peck”acrossAfrica.I’vehuntedmanyAfrican
areasa fewtimes,butit’suncharacteristicfor
metospendasmuch
timeasI haveinthe
Zambezi Delta. It
holds no animals I
haven’t hunted, no
trophies I desire to
improve upon. But
I keep returning
because, so uniquely in wild Africa today,
I seeit getting betterand better.Thereare
noticeablymorenyala,waterbuck,andeland
than a decade ago. As often happens with
many animal populations, growth is slow
and steady...andthena mysterious tipping
pointis reached.InthelastfewyearsI’veseen
Lichtenstein’shartebeestgrowexponentially,
and thesmalleranimalsare alsoexploding:
Reedbuckandwarthogs,andthelittleguys:
Suni,blueduiker,redduiker,andoribi.
Mostly,it’stheswampbuffalothatbring
me back! Although we encounter bachelor
groups,inthisareamaturebullsseemtostay
with theherds.Or, putanother way, most
herdscontainbullsofallages,andsomewhere
inthepresstherewillbehard-bossedbulls.
Huntingbachelorgroupsis fun,butprowling
theedgesof Mozambique’s big herds isan
amazingexperience!
It is not “traditional” buffalo hunting
in thatthere’slittle tracking.You can,and
will trackif needed...thepassageofseveral
hundred buffalo isn’t hard to follow...but
most frequently you are glassing for whiteMostly, it’s the swamp
buffaloesthat bring
me back!
Mozambique: 2018