My father and I are in the early stages of planning our second safari. Our first was a great hunt in Botswana. My father's primary objective is leopard. My primary target animal is a buffalo, although I only want to hunt dugga boys and don't want to hunt herds. We would prefer to be in an area with good plains game as well. I would love a good kudu and bushbuck, while my dad really wants a kudu, as well. Sable would be great, but not absolutely required. It seems, in general, that Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania are the primary options (with Tanzania being a real stretch financially- at least for me). Any recommendations for country, and more specifically, region and outfitter? Many thanks, CC

Tanzania / Selous will fit perfectly IMO

Zimbabwe, Save', Thierry Labat

Plus 2 on the SAVE and Thierry.

CC

http://forums.accuratereloadin...2100588/m/6021028591

Top area for leopards and PG for buff you move to a other concession 50km away

CC

In General, the lowveld of Zimbabwe produces on average the biggest leopards in Zimbabwe. Withinn the lowveld areas in which you can combine leopard and buff are SAVE, BUBYE and Nuanetsi and a few others. Within the SAVE there are some areas that are statistically superior to others when it comes to leopard success in particular. All 3 areas are great, make sure you chose a PH who likes leopard hunting and go in the winter months.

Sorry, I forgot to add that there are no sable
In Nuanetsi, limited sable in SAVE, not sure of the sable quotas in the Bubye.

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
Plus 2 on the SAVE and Thierry.

+3 on that Labat guy, I hear he's pretty good!

Just don't steal my hunting dates.....

Mountain Hunt in Maasailand.

John Hunt in Zimbabwe. 100% record on leopard for the last 3 years and many more buffalo taken. Georgia Safaris

CC:

Give some thought to the concessions in West Tanzania which offer all you have mentioned plus quite a few of the exotic Northern Species as a bonus.
If you intend visiting the Convention you could talk to the more reputable outfitters and possibly conclude a good deal.

My view is if you want really good plains game, and have the scratch, Masailand. Leopard are good, Buff (at least in the right concessions) are great, and lots of unique PG.

Western Tanzania would be my second choice, but again expensive. Great cats, good PG, but not as many unique species. Buff are quite good.

Third would be one of the Luangwa concessions in Zambia if they get the permit things sorted out. DuPlooy's (Muchinga) are great. The place is lousy with leopard, and the buff are pretty good also.

Then I would look at one of the Zim Consevancies. I hunted the Save, and had some bad luck there, but it is outstanding. My understanding with these is that the quotas are rather small- makes it a better odds of getting it hunt, but it can make scheduling a bit tough. I had to schedule 2 years out for my Leopard hunt there. PG are the common types, but excellent quality and usually you can shoot nontrophy bait animals.

After that, I am not sure about Mozambique's importability of Leopard, but if OK, one of the Niassa places would be excellent.

I would put the Selous here. A great wild spot. A bit expensive, and given the rules for daylight only and the fact that you can noly use trophy animals for bait will drive up the price. On the other hand, you do get multiple buff on license, even if the trophy quality is not that of northern Tanzania.

The last of my recommendations would be along the Zambezi escarpment in Zim. Wild place, but the PG can be hit or miss. I really enjoyed Chewore south.

I have not hunted Moz, the Selous, or western Tanz, but have talked to enough folks who have to think they are good- I did hunt southern Tanz, which was essentially the Niassa ecosystem. Southern Tanz would be good if you get the right spot, but the poaching has caused some issues, and with the cost, the Selous would be better IMO.

Try the Bubye Conservatory. Lots of buffalo,huge Cats and more plains game than you could possibly count. Some Sable, OK Kudu but lots of Eland. If you really want a Lepard and a Buff, this is the place...all the plains game should be secondary IMO.

Sent u a pm.

Mike

Nuanetsi!

Folks above have given some spot-on information regarding Zimbabwe options.

Nuanetsi (Hunted & marketed by Chifuti Safaris/Safari Classics) commenced hunting safaris after being closed for four years and in the 2012 & 2013 season we have taken 17 Leopard out of 18 hunts. Avg skull size is 16 11/16", the avg length 87,5" (7ft 3") and an avg weight of 67,2kg's (148lb's)

We have taken 46 out of 48 Buffalo hunts with the widest being just shy of 46" and the avg width being 36".

We have limited Bushbuck tags although have taken 20 Bushbuck rams over the 2 seasons with the largest being 18 15/16".

30 Kudu bulls where taken during the mentioned seasons with the largest cracking the magical 60" mark at 60 1/4".

We do not have Sable.

Good luck in your preparations where-ever you choose to go on Safari.

quote:

Originally posted by HendrikNZ:
Nuanetsi!

Thanks Hendrik - boys have their work cut-out trying to better your Bushbuck ram on Nuanetsi - I think that 'record' will be held for a long time to come!

All the best for '14

Cheers
Brent

i recommend northern mozambique for Leopard,buffalo and sable combinations.The sable are the roosevelt.Luwire safaris,Kambako safaris,Lipilichi and Jahan Calitz are all reputable companies operating in northern mozambique.Roger whittall safaris is now offering this combination in the messalo and maranjira areas.

Simon rogers also has an excellent area for the combination hunt on the south bank of Lake Kaborabasa.

quote:

Originally posted by Guy Whittall:
i recommend northern mozambique for Leopard,buffalo and sable combinations.The sable are the roosevelt.Luwire safaris,Kambako safaris,Lipilichi and Jahan Calitz are all reputable companies operating in northern mozambique.Roger whittall safaris is now offering this combination in the messalo and maranjira areas.

Simon rogers also has an excellent area for the combination hunt on the south bank of Lake Kaborabasa.

+1 and later in the season as possible

Thank you to everyone for all of the responses. Looks like I have some homework to do (and I thought I was way ahead of the game!).

Are the leopard hunts in the Save, Nuanetsi, & Bubye normally booked a couple years out?

Plenty of outfitters in those areas for what you are looking for. My guess is you could probably get squeezed in this year, but most definitely next year. In Northern Moz, Niassa, the leopards are there and fun to hunt but they just can't compare in size to the better areas in Zim, etc. a big male might go 120lbs with most less in weight than that. There are always exceptions to this but why choose an area that's has the odds stacked against you when you have other choices.

quote:

Originally posted by FishN4Eyes:

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
Plus 2 on the SAVE and Thierry.

+3 on that Labat guy, I hear he's pretty good!

Just don't steal my hunting dates.....

+4

You're well served to peruse my linked hunt reports, below. Exactly what you're looking for. Also, a place like the Save or Nuanetsi will allow you split the leopard - buff bag and both shoot PG rather than buying two separate hunts.

Save ,Bubye and Nuanetsi are all top of the line areas for both buff and leopard. Sable in the Save are good quality but on limited quotas. The important thing is to choose a good PH and good time of year for the leopard. In Save you will be looking at 2 years out on getting leopard ,sable and buff on license plus the correct time of year.

quote:

Originally posted by Neil Duckworth:
Save ,Bubye and Nuanetsi are all top of the line areas for both buff and leopard. Sable in the Save are good quality but on limited quotas. The important thing is to choose a good PH and good time of year for the leopard. In Save you will be looking at 2 years out on getting leopard ,sable and buff on license plus the correct time of year.

Neil,
The Gallery link on your site doesn't work, looks like a bad address.

Rungwa

Fujo nailed it.

Western Tanzania is a great destination for buffalo and leopard. I had a great hunt there in Lukwati with Michel Mantheakis last October. Very nice leopard, nice buffalo, great Western plains game. Leopard are never easy, but they are not nearly as sophisticated as the leopards in Masailand or, I presume, the agricultural areas anywhere.

The original query present these criteria:

Two hunters,
One leopard,
One buffalo,
Two kudu,
Bushbuck,
Good plains game,
Sable a bonus,
Budget a consideration.

What's the plan to shoot two kudu in TZ?

And, what's the cost?

It is really pissing me off that we in Zambia cannot offer leopard.