by Erin C. Healy - Friday, June 27, 2025
On April 27, Safari Club International (SCI) reported the luxurious Chapungu-Kambacko Safaris (CKS) main camp in northern Mozambique suffered a devastating loss on April 19 at the hands of Islamic terrorists. The Kambacko Camp in the Niassa Reserve not only lost all its provisions for the hunting season, but workers were killed, the community was impoverished and the fate of the area animals was left uncertain. Hunters booked on upcoming safaris, fortunately, were redirected to other camps within the CKS portfolio, including three other locations in Mozambique, as well as properties in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Whatever the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) fighters didn't consume in the days they remained in camp—food, fuel, uniforms, bedding, vehicles, planes—they destroyed by fire when they left. Worse, two of the four captured employees were beheaded. In the inevitable fallout from war, the people who did survive endured traumatic events, their families—some of the poorest in the country–lost the benefits that steady employment provided, not least of which was the supply of game meat hunters donated to feed the villagers.
Professional hunter (PH) and outfitter Jacques Hartzenberg is the owner of Chapungu Safaris in Africa, which was established in 2000 and specializes in South African big game and plains game safaris. Jumbo Moore is the director and PH of Kambako Safaris Mozambique, which operates mainly in the Niassa Reserve. Both men offer over 20 years of experience and are passionate about wildlife, their heritage and Africa. In 2014 they decided to pool their resources, along with that of Uys Schickerling, the director and PH of the combined outfit’s operation in Namibia. They then partnered with seasoned PHs in Botswana and Zimbabwe. The company’s goal isn't just to provide a dangerous game hunt with luxurious accommodations from touchdown to takeoff but to contribute to the conservation of area wildlife and provide meaningful employment and meat to surrounding villagers.
As regularly reiterated at this website and those of contributors such as wildlife conservation biologist Catherine Semcer, dangerous game and plains game safaris contribute to regional conservation efforts and civil affairs projects to better the lives of nearby villagers while creating jobs and providing game meat to local communities. Hunting guide and Mozambique Delta Safaris founder Mark Haldane sat for an interview in 2020 with Semcer, then with the Property and Environment Research Center, a research institute that created the concept of “free market environmentalism” that emphasizes incentives to manage and protect environmental resources. For instance, Haldane explains that by employing former poachers, he eliminates the financial stressors that forced them to resort to poaching in the first place, despite the risk of hefty penalties. Center-right or classical liberal magazine The Economist also produced a video expanding on the benefits of hunting, particularly in impoverished areas.
Amid global media coverage in the aftermath of the April ISIS attack, we now know that the approximately 40 ISIS fighters were not simply opportunistic bandits but members of Ahlu-Sunna wa Jama’a, or al-Shabaab, as commonly referenced. The group is not affiliated with the Somali group of the same name but has been aligned with ISIS since 2019. Mozambique's population is roughly 60% Christian, 20% Muslim and 20% traditional African or indigenous beliefs. In Niassa province, which contains the majority of the reserve, 66% of the population is Christian and 17% are Muslim. The attacks stemmed from adjacent Cabo Delgado, where the population is 60% Muslim and 35% Christian, and Nampula Province, where the Muslims make up 40% of the population and Christians slightly more than 40%. Nampula is significant because Islamic extremists have been driven into that province by Mozambican and Rwandan counterinsurgency efforts, which focus on Cabo Delgado as the insurgency epicenter.
Hunting preserves are lightly guarded and offer places for militants to train, eat wild game, ransack camp preserves and avoid larger military forces. They might need to cross a border, to or from Tanzania, for example. The camps are only lightly policed, especially during off or shoulder seasons. Then, too, hunting camps become associated with wealthy elite foreigners, associated with a colonial government. The perception persists even if the PHs and local employees are lifelong residents and their symbiotic relationship with the government is to provide for the welfare of the environment and its wild inhabitants and to protect guests who not only spend great amounts money on hunts but may also make in-kind donations to better the community educationally or health-wise. It's also apparent that these attacks deliberately destabilize the region, undermining employment, financial security and the organization of vital anti-poaching and ranger units, which are likely to report insurgent movements. Opportunism plays a role, but the psychological and media influence is far more lasting.
So, on April 19 ISIS attacked the Kambacko camp in the Niassa Reserve. In addition to ransacking food, clothing and beddings, vehicles and a plane were destroyed. Hostages were taken and held for ransom. Since giving in to terrorists only begets more of the same, all demands for money were rejected. The insurgents responded by setting the camp on fire. Two employees were beheaded. Ten days later, 30 to 40 fighters attacked the Mariri Environmental Center and the Niassa Carnivore Project run by Colleen Begg. All assets were destroyed and two employees were killed, another wounded, two more are missing and thousands of area residents have been displaced. The two attacks resulted in a shutdown of ecotourism and hunter-funded conservation efforts in the area.
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Cabo Delgado province, the Niassa Reserve and northern districts of Nampula province. The remainder of Mozambique remains under a Level 2 “Exercise Increased Caution” advisory. In addition to investing in security evacuation services, the DOS advises hunters and other travelers to enroll their trip abroad in the free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) so it can provide immediate security updates and contact travelers in case of an emergency.
What becomes evident is that ISIS-Mozambique destroyed not only the 20-plus-year dreams of individuals both on the hunting and ecotourism sides of the house but a much larger effort to conserve wildlife and habitat and to enrich and include local communities in what happens on their own homelands. Certainly, the loss of the beautiful Kambacko main camp and its devoted workers is a heavy one. All hunters on all continents are vicariously feeling the pain of such senseless and evil destruction. If able, you might consider a hunt at one of Chapungu-Kambacko Safaris’ other locations or contact the Niassa Carnivore Project to see if there might be a way for hunters to work with ecotourism specialists for the mutual benefit of the animals and people of Mozambique's Niassa Reserve.