'Roar, Lions of Botswana'


Echo (Gaborone)

December 15, 2005
Posted to the web December 15, 2005

Bashi Letsididi
Gaborone

The lifting of the ban on the killing of lions enabled the ministry of environment, wildlife and tourism to issue quotas for 31 lions this year. Minister Pelonomi Venson revealed this good/bad news to parliament last week.

"Some of that quota has been specifically issued for areas known to be hotspots. The rationale was to target problem animals in those areas for commercial hunts.

In her address, the minister noted that farmers should take care of their livestock and kraal them at night particularly in areas known to have predators like lions.

In another lion-related detail, the minister informed parliament that her ministry has teamed up with National Geographic to sell Botswana through a film entitled "ROAR, Lions of the Kgalagadi".


"Market research in the USA shows that the film has already increased interest from tourists in that market,' she said. The film, which was shot in Botswana, currently yields 98 results on the Yahoo search engine.

In addition to the hunting quota for lions, there is another one for 270 elephants, 18 of which are in the Mmadinare area. Elephants in the Mmadinare are notorious for rampaging through ploughing fields in the area destroying crops.

I saw this lion in Botswana in October. I imagine plenty of people would be happy to hunt him - look at that mane!

From what I have heard Bots has excellent lions but they are expensive. Last season some poor guy paid 130,000 for a lion and came back without one....Ouch!

What a magnificent picture cjw!
Was this lion with a pride?

Don't know if this'll work, but here's some images I took a few weeks ago of his cousin !

Amazing pictures Steve!

STeve,

I want to know if that big boy running caught what he was after?? and what was he after??

Mike

Great photo's!

What super Lions! my dream!!

Glad you liked the pics..... There's quite a story to that Lion, but I'll save it for when I can tell it face to face over a beer!

Guess I should thank TC for his guidance in how to post pics. - so thanks Terry.

I don't post many images as I'm not exactly good at it and I've found in the past they get hijacked by people and before I know it, my pics are on other company websites without my permission or any credit - but I'm not too worried about those ones......

Talk about MGM. Truly trophies of a lifetime!

Shakari, Where were the pics taken?

All 3 pics are of the same Lion and I took them in Namibia earlier this year while I was hunting a client up there......Pretty cool huh? - That said, this Lion was very aggressive hence the charge.

Here's a pic of a (camp raiding) Lion one of my clients took earlier this year in Tanzania. The sheer size of the paw really shows you just how incredibly powerful a Lion is.......

I didn't realize that Namibia had such good lions. Very impressive. Thanks for the pics. They are definitely getting saved on my computer.

Is lion hunting still open in Namibia and is this lion at all typical of the quality? I realize that it is a tottaly exceptional lion but is the average good for Africa?

CJW, Where in Bots did you see that lion?

Now I've worked out how to post pics, - here's an interesting one. The photo was taken from where I & a collegue were when we both (simultaneously) shot a charging Leopard at night....... I'm the guy in the picture and am where the Leopard fell.....distance between the two is 6 yards. When you look at how thick the bush is, it's a wonder we ever saw the damn thing.

We'll be posting a pic of the Leopard itself on our website asap......

Steve - great photos! I especially like the one with the lion running. (Too bad about the brush in front.)

bulldog - I was in the Savuti region of Chobe

boghossian - there was one other female near this guy. We did see a pride of 20-25 lions with several males in the group earlier.

Glad you like the pic...... I was a bit disappointed about the bush but that's part of this type of photography...... guess I could always take it out with photoshop.......

Shakari, Where in Namibia did you take the lion pics. His mane is unreal. I'm guessing it was mainly grassland with not much thorn brush.

Fellas if these lions stand so well to have their portraits taken dosent that suggest that they are basically sitting ducks for a rifle instead of the camera if one wished? I`m sure that threading a nice big 416 into one of those lions standing all picture perfect wouldnt pose a problem to the majority on this forum...yes?

Im sure like all game they would know when they are being hunted, and wouldnt hang about. Its strange that when your not iut hunting them they hang about and pose for the camera, but when they are on the agenda they never hang about

Nevster, it is just like bear here. I get my tag for them most years in case I see one while deer hunting, I never put my food up in a tree, cook meat out on the fire etc. I never have them wander into camp, seems only the campers that don't want to see them do.

Those are beautiful lions, damnit, why you gotta get those pics in my mind like that? Does anybody know the stats on their speed? My stepfather says that they can cover 100yds in 4 seconds, but that is really damn fast so I don't know if I believe it. Anybody know?

Red

I hope that lion runs all the way to the Selous R2

Mike

Capstick claims they can cover 100yds in less then 4 seconds. I think he said 3...

quote:

Originally posted by bulldog563:
Capstick claims they can cover 100yds in less then 4 seconds. I think he said 3...I have seen a Lion running flat out and unwounded I would say less then 4 seconds would be a fair guess. Granted I wasn't timing it but they sure can move when they are motivated. I am sure there are many on this site who have more experience then me so they would be more qualified to answer.

Considering that the world's fastest human did it in 7.93 seconds (later disqualified for steroid use - Ben Johnson), I'd think that most of us want to have a helluva head start on an angry Simba.

Then again, there's the old joke that you only have to outrun the person with you...

Err it was actually 9 sumpin seconds that BJ did mate...7.93 would have him winning a 100 sprint by twenty metres hahaha

Look at it this way...If he was coming at you at 30 yds. with a bolt gun you would get one shot and 3/4 of a bolt stroke...If you had a double you would get 2 shots...Preferedly accurate shots..

Mike

Ah ha but you didnt make allowance in that timing for the slowing effects of the first shot (if connected) so a second shot from ma bolt action is very feasible.