My husband and I hunted with Mokore Safaris in June of 2014 in Sengwa Research area. I was hunting with Neil Duckworth for lion while my husband hunted with Doug Duckworth in another location for sable. We were able to take this nice buffalo cow on the first morning. By the afternoon hours she was hanging in two locations for lion bait after a lot of time and effort was put into selecting the perfect bait / blind sites.






On day 2 we spent most of the day trying for a zebra to add to our lion baits and building blinds at the existing bait sites from the day before. With all set all we needed was for a lion to show.




On day 3 we spent the entire morning chasing zebra around. After several hours of tracking I managed to get a shot off in thick cover . As it turns out fortunately I missed. This saw us back at the truck for a quick lunch then off to check our lion baits. On our way into the first bait site we saw a big lion track crossing the Sengwa river going away from the bait site. We kept our fingers crossed and on arrival at the bait we could see a big male with 10" mane hair had fed. Fortunately the blind was set up already so we left with the plan of being in the blind late afternoon. We used this time to make a mark a tree and check that my rifle was still on after missing the Zebra. After one shot we were satisfied the gun was still on.
5 pm saw us back in the blind ,at first glance all looked quite, Jordan the camera man was setting up the camera and on zooming in on the bait noticed that the lion was there but sleeping in the grass behind. Daylight was fading fast and we prayed he would get up. With maybe 10 minutes of shooting light he finally got up ,walked behind the bait roaring going to the left. Due to the low light through the scope I was struggling to pick him up under the shade of the bait tree. Fortunately he moved around to the right side of the tree and stood perfectly broadside under the bait. With a solid rest and a squeeze on the trigger of my 375 Dakota the lion jumped into the air growling ,bit the bait and then came growling straight towards the blind, stopping 50 yards directly to out left. After 5 minutes of growling it went quiet. We inched out to the truck, all climbed in and went to the bait. From the bait we could see a large blood trail. After a very nerve wracking follow up in the dark and thick cover we found him stone dead in a thick bush. This was a massive relief that he was dead and no one got hurt. It was a very fine trophy with an exceptional mane. I was over the moon. So by the end of day three I had my main trophy down. It was a dream come true to take this beautiful maned lion in the wild!!







From here on we took the hunt at a more leisurely pace. Mid morning we were walking down the Lutope river looking for bushbuck when we walked straight into a pride of lion with small cubs. Needless to say the were not impressed with us and after a few mock charges we made a hasty retreat. From he we hunted for zebra again and got myself a beautiful stallion. He was destined for croc bait and a beautiful rug.




I had a crocodile tag on this hunt so we set out to put up a croc bait from the zebra and built a blind with an approach path. This set up we left to look for other things.



On day five we crept into the blind and got a very nice 12’ croc with a perfect side brain shot.






On one of our walks down the Sengwa river we spotted a nice reedbuck ram. After a long stalk Neil and I finally got to about 120 yards. The shot looked good but a little low. After following him for a while we got a couple more shots in him and he was down for good




My husband who was hunting with Doug Duckworth had seen a monster warthog on the Sengwa floodplains, so we set out to look for him and spotted him feeding in some grass with another pig. Luckily this fellow was more worried about eating than noticing we were around. I was able to get in a nice broadside shot . After a perfect heart shot with the 375 the hog was down.





In the mayhem of the mock charges from the lioness on day 4 the gamescout dropped Neil’s prized shooting sticks and with her not backing off we had to leave them there. Neil’s plans was to walk back to the spot whilst looking for bushbuck. Shortly before arriving at the area Neil and Nhamo picked up some fresh eland track with some big bull tracks in the group. After retrieving the sticks we set out after them and came across the herd. Neil spotted a very nice bull but unfortunately his shoulder was behind a big tree , whilst waiting for him to step forward the wind shifted and they were off. We followed up and got into some scrub Mopane. The herd was moving from left to right, with me on the sticks ,the eland were going through a small gap at about 60 yards. As the big bull went through Neil made a noise and the bull stopped broadside . I took a quick shot into the shoulder. The bull ran about 80 yards and was down. He was an absolute beauty and a fine way to finish off a fantastic hunt .





This was our second hunt with Mokore Safaris and the Duckworth family. If you want a safari with first class professionals who truly love the business and put their client’s first, then Mokore is the way to go.

Well done on a great hunt and some excellent trophies

Laura asked me to post this for her as she was struggling with posting on AR. Sorry some of the pictures came out up side down?? Not sure what happened there..

Great report....thanks for posting.
Beautiful cat !! Congratulations.

Incredible safari. And done in one of the most beautiful places I have hunted in. To get a lion like that . . . and an eland . . . just incredible. Well done and congratulations.

What a wonderful safari and a spectacular lion. Congratulations are in order. Thank you for the report and looking forward to reading your next one.

Dutch

Truly a magnifacent Lion,

well done great repost

JK

Fantastic

Not only great trophies but also great trophy photography and great report.

Congratulations.

Very nice indeed. What ingrate gave this a one star rating?

Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana Bunduki:
What ingrate gave this a one star rating?

Obviously someone that has never had eland steaks or biltong.

what great fun

love your report

Duckworth did you good

you make him look good

to good need more like this

incredible safari, congratulations!!

Neil,

I've said in the past that you guys were the best. Well..........Huge congrats to Laura on her lion and all the rest. Nice to see your stewardship of Sengwa paying off nicely already.

Mark

Fantastic trophies and a wonderful adventure. Congrats.

Great trophies, nice photos. Congrats. AIU

Great trophy Lion and excellent report.

The eland is a beauty.

Great hunt & photos. Neil, you are Da Man! (But don't tell your dad!)

Great hunt and fantasist photos congradulations

Excellent.

what a lion !!!! Wow !!

Mike

Then I flipped my phone to see the eland picture.

wow again !!

Mike

Nice lion!

Holy smokes, great hunt in an area I'd love to see someday.

Cool stuff there, congrats.

Well done all around... from lion to warthog, all solid trophies!

Mike, feeling a bit of eland envy there? That is a heck of a bull!

What a great trip!
Outstanding trophies.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Mike, feeling a bit of eland envy there?

I am not too proud to admit, I sure am!

Fantastic hunt ! and report! and Pictures !
Thank you and Congratulations on your lion and the rest of your trophies.
That ELAND is one of the prettiest I have ever seen. Color, Coat and Markings !

Congratulations on a great safari!
The lion and the eland are gorgeous.

Very well done!

Love that eland. Beautiful Lion as well.

Awesome Laura, Neil and all those involved!

On day three! Just think all that you missed, riding for miles and miles in the back of the truck with the gut bucket. Congrats on an unbelievable hunt. You truly won the lottery of hunts.

Congrats on a great hunt

Congratulations on an incredible safari - great to see what an area can produce when properly managed - long may Mokore have Sengwa!

Well done

Good Hunting

Carl Frederik

What a nice collection of trophies. That lion is very nice!! I wouldn't expect anything less from one of the very finest operators in Zimbabwe. Giraffe - Well done

Well done Laura and Twiza,absolutely awesome

Well done and congrats on your safari!

Thanks for posting.

Very nicely done! Trip of a lifetime. I'll be there a month from today.

Well done Neil very nice shumba

Spectacular trophies. That looks like the MGM lion. Huge congrats to all involved!

Most excellent and congrats to the entire hunting team!!!