There is not much country left in Southern Africa that is genuinely wild at scale. The Zambezi Delta is some of it.
Our concession runs to roughly 250,000 acres, about 90,000 of which is swamp, and there is not a fence anywhere on any of it. Camp sits on the bank of the Zambezi. You get there by light aircraft from Beira and a short drive at the other end.
This is our premium buffalo hunt. It is also the one we most often talk people out of, and it is worth explaining why.
Why Delta buffalo are different
The bulls that come out of the Delta carry noticeably heavier, wider bosses than buffalo from the drier interior.
That is a function of the ground. The floodplain carries feed and water year round in quantities the dry-country concessions simply do not have, and buffalo there grow into it. Herds are large. Bulls get old.
If you have taken a buffalo somewhere else and want the version that is harder and better, this is the one.
The season, and the two hunts inside it
The Delta floods every year and drains slowly, and nothing can be hunted until the ground is walkable. Once the water drops the season opens and runs June to November.
That is a long season, but it is not a uniform one. Early, the plain is wet underfoot and the floodplain grass still stands well above head height. Harder walking, shorter sight lines, and work at genuinely close quarters. Later, the grass has been burnt and grazed down and lanes open through the plain, so you can see further and move faster.
Neither is the easy option and both produce good bulls. Tell us which you would rather have.
Hunts run seven to ten days. The best weeks still go first, so book well ahead rather than three months out.
What the hunting is actually like
Flat, wet and hot, and visibility measured in metres.
You cut tracks at first light where the herds have crossed overnight and you follow them on foot. Sometimes for a very long way. The ground is soft, often wet underfoot, and you will be walking through grass that is over your head in places and shoulder-high in most of the rest.
The shot, when it comes, is usually close. Frequently very close. You will be on sticks with a bull somewhere in front of you that you can hear better than you can see, and your professional hunter will be making a judgement about boss and age in a two-second window through a gap in the grass.
That is the hunt. It is not a long-range proposition and it is not a comfortable one.
Who it suits, and who it does not
It suits you if you have hunted buffalo before and want a harder version; you are fit enough to walk all day in heat and humidity; you are comfortable shooting at close range under time pressure; and the wildness of the place matters to you as much as the animal.
It does not suit you if this is your first buffalo. We say this routinely and we mean it: for a first buffalo our South African ground is the sensible route. You will hunt a good bull in more forgiving country at a considerably more accessible price, and you will learn what a buffalo actually does before you take one on in grass where you cannot see it.
We would rather send you to Limpopo and have you come back for the Delta than sell you the expensive one first.
Fitness is not optional here. Of the three countries we hunt, this is the one where people underestimate what is being asked. Heat, humidity, soft ground, long follows. Gaiters are worth bringing.
What else is on the ground
The Delta is not a single-species concession. Depending on quota in a given year, the floodplain and the surrounding country hold a good range alongside the buffalo — waterbuck, reedbuck, nyala in the thicker cover, bushpig, and the odd hippo and crocodile on the river.
What is available varies year to year with quota, and we will tell you at the enquiry stage what is realistically on the list for your dates rather than print a species list that may not hold.
The practical side
Getting there. International flight to Beira, then charter into the concession. The charter is a real cost and it is quoted separately — ask about it when you compare the Delta against anywhere else, because it is a line some proposals leave out.
Malaria. This is low-lying tropical floodplain. Prophylaxis is not a suggestion. Start it before you travel — see trip preparation.
Rifle. There are legal minimums for buffalo and they are not negotiable. Within that, bring the rifle you shoot well rather than the biggest one you own — what calibre for Cape buffalo covers it properly.
Import. Buffalo is not CITES-listed, which makes it one of the simpler dangerous game animals to get home. Importing trophies into the USA has the rest.
Combining it. The Delta season sits comfortably after the South African one, so Limpopo plains game plus Delta buffalo in August works well as a single trip. Some clients add marlin off the Mozambique coast on the back of it — see excursions.
The honest summary
The Zambezi Delta is the best buffalo hunting we have access to and the hardest hunt we sell. The country is wild in a way very little of Southern Africa still is, the bulls are heavier than you will find in the dry interior, and the season is six weeks long.
If that is what you want, book early. If it is your first buffalo, let us show you the other route first.
Tell us what you have hunted before, and we will tell you honestly which one you should be booking. More on the concession on our Mozambique page.
