I had an interesting experience this September, on a lion hunt in the M2 concession in the Selous. Christian Wyeth was the outfitter, and my PH was Ernesto Gonzales.

I had passed on a large male earlier in the week, because there was absolutely no mane, just some Amish-type whiskers behind the mandible. I figured (incorrectly) that if it came down to last few days, I could always take him before the hunt was over.

We hung our hippo bait at 4 new places, and then would check them during midday to see if there was any activity. On the 3rd day with the new hippo bait, we hit our last spot at around 4 pm. As we drove up the last 50 meters to the tree (and brush and forest hid our approach to the open area around the bait) 4 lions slowly got up and sauntered away....no rush at all.

All of us had our attention on the lions, looking for a mane (at least that was what I was looking for!), when I heard a loud “thudâ€. A large leopard tom had jumped down from the bait tree (about 14 feet), and was just standing there looking at us, maybe 20 meters away.

Out of nowhere, and honestly faster than I could follow with my eyes, the dominant male lion (no mane it turned out) was on him in a flash. The noise was incredible, with the lion actually squatting over the tom (like a terrier does over a rat) with the leopard on his back slashing back at the lion.

The lion looked up at us, and the tom sprinted away to a large termite hill (covered with good size trees), and climbed up a cactus, and then into another tree.


The lion and 2 lionesses were right behind, and they stayed at the base of the tree.
I had an easy shot at the leopard, but I hadn’t really planned on shooting one. If I could take a leopard and a lion as a double, that was something different.

We got off the truck and waited about an hour for a better glimpse of the lion (we could see him, but he was obscured by brush, and we couldn’t judge the trophy). What was interesting was that it was clear that the leopard was far more concerned about us than he was the lions. I felt a certain empathy with him at that moment, but have to admit I still would have shot him.

It began to get late, so we got back in the truck to drive over to the other side of the termite hill, which took us into the long grass (4 feet tall), and close to a water hole that had been out of our line of sight.

Just as we got on the opposite side of the hill, the leopard charged the truck. He had been trying to sneak away through the grass, I guess as our movement distracted the lions.
He hit the bumper with his front paws, and I thought he was coming up on the hood (the PH and I were on back, standing up). I had my rifle up and safety off without even realizing I had done it. The leopard turned around and ran back to a tree on the hill, with a lioness right on his ass.

I don't think I could have gotten off a good shot in that instant if he had kept coming.

We waited until dark, but never got another good look at the lion. The PH encouraged me to take the leopard, but I just didn’t have the heart to do it. I also believe (and still do), that as soon as the leopard hit the ground from my shot (assuming I connected), there would have been about 12 ounces of fur left after the lions finished. That is an expensive scrap of skin for a trophy.

We never saw that particular male lion again, but ended up being stalked (another day) by 3 of lionesses...which is different story.

I had a great hunt, got to shoot a lot, but the whole price of safari was worth watching all that.

Garrett

That was a great read -- thanks.

Very nice story.

Very interesting.

That's one to remember.

Kyler

Garrett, great story!

Wow, that was something to witness!

Damn! That must have been incredible to see. Not many people can say they've seen Mr. spots and the king tie up like that. Experience of a life time! Thanks for sharing it.

Cool.

I had always heard that lions would not tolerate leopards. As a matter of fact it was interesting to me that in Namibia, the pH said they did not bait leopards by hanging a bait in a tree. His explanation was that where lions were common, they baited them in a tree, but where there were no lions, there was no reason for them to take it into a tree. Their leopards were baited on the ground.

awesome--thanks for sharing---chris

It is amazing what one sees in Africa, or in fact, anyplace where wild animals roam!

That was a great discription of the happening. Thanks for the mind's eye, movie of that sceen!

N.Garrett,

That incident you witnessed is what really makes safari what it is. There always is the potential to witness something that others only see on TV. You were very fortuate. BTW Great read. Nice!

Mark