Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Kambako Safaris, Mozambique for this Sept. Questions??

My buddy & I just booked a hunt with Kambako Safaris in Mozambique for this September. We will be on a 12 day buffalo & sable hunt. Can those experienced in hunting this area advise us on what weather we can expect? What preparations and precautions can & should we take for tsetse flies? Same question for snakes?? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance for your time. 163bc

I was in Mozambique a couple years ago in August. Days were in the 80's, so I'd wager that the weather will be just a bit warmer in September. Nights were cool to down right cold though, so I'd highly recommend a coat for the evenings and mornings.

Avon makes a bug repellent using something other than deet which worked great. Only day I got bug bites was the day I used the deet which is saying something as I usually get molested by bugs. I also used some permethrin on my clothes as it was recommended by a lot of folks.

Didn't see any snakes while I was there, but saw a darn lot of spiders. Had a large tarantula-esq one crawl up my leg as I was sitting one day. Felt this tingling and looked down to see this hairy 8-legged creature with all it's eyes and two big mandibles staring back at me. Darn near considered shooting it, but spiders are one those things that creep me out.

I would recommend bringing some pants or the pants you can zip off into shorts. Seems like everything there has thorns and there is this one particular vine that grows along the ground that is covered in little spikes. I and my PH were constantly tripping over it and if you have shorts on, you will sustain quite a few cuts.

Other recommendations:
- Bring Gatoraide powder to mix in your water. Stay hydrated.
- Practice walking long distances. Tracking will be at an easy pace, but can go on for hours over a long distance. If the stalk fails, the walk back to camp will be more direct and brisk.
- Baby wipes can come in handy for many situations.
- Candy like Jolly Ranchers or Life-savers make nice treats for trackers and kids you'll run into.
- If you smoke, buy your cigarettes in Mozambique as they are super cheap. My PH said about $1 a pack. These also make great treats at the end of a stalk as just about every tracker seemed to smoke.
- Watch the trackers skin out your animals and know how to correctly skin them yourself. 99% of the time the trackers know the correct technique, but occasional they don't and getting a replacement cape is not always easy.
- Bring stuff to do during transit between flights. The planes have movies and stuff to watch, but layovers in various airports can get boring fast. I'd recommend a good book as it need no batteries. Bring some granola bars or something too, exchange rates certainly make a meal a bit more expensive.
- Eat lots of Biltong. You can buy it in the airport, consume heavily. There is also a dried Droewors sausage you can purchase, use it to compliment your biltong. You can bring some along to Mozambique to munch on while hunting as well.
- Know how much your visa is ahead of time and have exact change as well as lots of change. I landed in Beira and was told me Visa would be $50 ahead of time (or something like that). The guy in front of me had $77 in his wallet ... visas magically became $77. I made sure then to only have $77 in my wallet when I went into the customs office. If you can, try to be the first guy in line too, it is a slow process.
- If like seafood, see if you can get some of the Mozambique giant prawns while you are there. Very tasty.

My only other suggestion would be that if you are going to ship your sable and buffalo home (which I assume you will), is to shoot a bunch of animals while there. Shipping stuff home is expensive, so it's cheaper to just do it all in one go around. Some expenses also have a minimum (like dip and pack) that you have to meet, so if you costs end up less, you still pay the minimum fee. The suni and red duiker are animals unique to that region of the world for the most part, if they are available to hunt, I'd recommend adding those to your wish list.

Otherwise, have fun and post pics when you get back.

Thanks very much for all thee good advice you posted. We are really psyched for this hunt as it is supposed to be more on the "old Africa" safaris. You're info is very good. Thanks again!

Sevens advice is good.

I was NW of Beira in mid-September 2008. Temp hit 110F by 1:00 in the afternoon every day. Nights cooled down to 70F. It was very dry, so really not too uncomfortable. Nights cooled off to about 70F. It rained once for about an hour in the 10 days I was there.

Never saw a snake, but killed a couple BIG A** spiders. Fortunately was not assessed a trophy fee.

You are going to real Africa. Bring sunscreen and Chapstick.Take your Malerone and have some Imodium, a laxative, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Cipro, doxy, perhaps a Z-Pack. I also carried anti-biotic eye drops. Couple this with access to Johns Hopkins via Global Rescue and you are ready to roll.

The three of us that traveled together all used permethrin soak:

http://www.chinookmed.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=03502

combined with deet and never had a tick or mosquito problem.

Relax and take what the safari gives you. It will be a great experience.

405wcf

Great stuff guys. We're picking up quite a few important bits of important info which is much appreciated. Keep it comin? Thanks, 163bc