SC Zamalek suffered a surprise defeat away in Ethiopia but fellow CAF Confederation Cup favourites Enyimba and USM Alger enjoyed better fortunes away in Wednesday's First Round first-leg ties.
The Cairo giants were beaten 2-1 at rookies Welayta Dicha in Hawassa, but Enyimba won in Benin and USMA drew away in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The biggest win of the round came in Congo, where CARA Brazzaville scored a 3-0 home victory over US Ben Guerdane of Tunisia with goals from Mereves Kivutuka, Christ Ngoma and Eric Niemba.
Ethiopia's Welayta Dicha were only established in 2009 and are debutants in African club competition.
However, they showed no nerves in forging a famous win over the Cairene heavyweights with a 16th-minute goal from Bezabeh Melayu and a 77th-minute winner from Yared Dawit.
The away goal scored by Emad Fathi in the 36th minute still makes Zamalek favourites to turn matters around in the return leg.
Enyimba won 2-0 away at Energie of Benin, scoring both in a blistering 10-minute start through Stanley Dimgba and Olufemi Oladapo while USMA played out a 2-2 draw with AS Maniema Union in Kinshasa, after being 2-0 up in the first half.
Al Masry let a lead slip but will still be pleased with their 2-2 draw at Simba of Tanzania in a game interrupted by heavy rain and a power cut in Dar-es-Salaam.
John Bocco scored first for Simba, but Ahmed Gomaa equalised before a penalty from Ahmed Abdelraouf had the Egyptian club ahead at half-time. A 74th-minute penalty converted by Emmanuel Okwi ensured a share of the spoils.
Cheikh Niang scored the only goal for Djoliba as they failed to make proper use of home advantage in their tie against APR FC. The Malians now face a precarious trip to Rwanda for the return leg on the weekend of March 16-18.
There was also a 1-0 home win for Al Ittihad of Libya over Akwa United of Nigeria, although the tie was played in Sfax, Tunisia. Muad Eisa was the goalscorer eight minutes from the end of the game
Sibusiso Masina scored at the Zimpeto Stadium, outside of Maputo, for a 1-0 win for visiting Cape Town City over Costa do Sol to maintain the winning start to the South Africans' debut campaign in continental club competition.
Benni McCarthy's assistant Vasili Manousakis was in charge in the absence of the rookie coach, who was attending the Champions League match between Manchester City and Basle as part of his UEFA Pro License course.
Finally, Fosa Juniors FC of Madagascar won 2-0 away at AS Port-Louis 2000 of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean derby.