I would like to poll the AR forum members as to area that afford huge leopard. Best I can tell would be:

Masialand, Tanzania
Rungwa, Tanzania
Humani, Zimbabwe
Low Veld, Central Veld Private Concessions, Zimbabwe(Lemco).
Am I missing anything????

It would seem that the lowveld in Zim produces some exceptional leopards. Barrie Duckworth's Mokore Safaris has killed some real pigs on the Save but they are quite sophisticated and not easy to hunt. Also there are areas in RSA where a huge leopard can occur.Garry Kelly killed one recently that actually weigh a 185lb. on the scales.

I only have experience with leopards in the miombo like the Rungwa area. I am sure that there are some big leopards that come out of this area but for monster leopards I don't think Rungwa compares to Masailand. I have hunted Lukwati twice, and the concession is contiguous to the Rungwa River, and Kisigo once which is a little north of the Rungwa area. I killed leopards at each place but I was told by the hunters I hunted with that the cats were much bigger up north in Tanzania.

I'm the unluckiest guy in the world with leopard, but I think the hilly country in Masailand produces monsters, as does the whole block between northern Transvaal and southeastern Zimbabwe. Those cats are educated and very hard to hunt, but there are real monsters in that region. First day I was in camp with Barrie Duckworth in '79 my partner, Ron Norman (who arrived earlier) pitched up with a huge cat he took with Roger Whittall. I saw it on the cattle scales: 225 pounds! I don't think many areas are capable of producing leopards that large.

I shot a leopard in the Muhesi/Kisigo area that went about 140-150. As mufasa said it would seem that is not the norm for Rungwa area since the crew absolutely went nuts. They said it was the biggest leopard that they had killed there. Most big toms in that area evidently go about 120.

Regards,

Mark

Russ Broom has killed some huge leopards in the tribal areas around binga. As they can be hunted at night they can be shot with a light.

I concurr that Southeastern Zimbabwe has some big cats. I took one last July in the Mateke Hills that went 176#

The Masai Steepe has the biggest Leopards..they feed on Masai cattle...Take a look at the one we shot last year with Dietmar who posts here on ocassion...he is holding him head high and the leopards butt is on the ground, the biggest I have ever seen..I think that leopard is probably on my web page by now but it was posted on AR at one time....

I book for Leopard in Zimbabwe and Tanzania, my choice for success is Tanzania and I think the Leopard are bigger on average...

There is one scientific therory that the further North you go anywhere in the world the larger the animals get and that seem to be pretty much the truth I think...

I like the way leopards are hunted in Tanzania, and I like the quality of leopards that come out of Tanzania.

I took a real monster in Tanzania's Mlele North game control area, and I've seen other huge toms come out of the same place.

Rungwa has also produced more than it's share of giant leopards, and I'd feel extremely good about the odds of taking a world-class specimen out of there as well.

AD

The Gwanda area of Zimbabwe.

Leopard get big by.........eating a lot. That means the big ones are in areas with an excellent food supply (impala, warthog, etc.).

But when there is plenty of feed around, it is hard to bait the cat.

Ray.....the name of the scientist who first wrote about the theory you mentioned was referring to the fact that larger animals of a species handle the cold better than smaller ones because as animals grow larger the ratio of surface area (where animals lose body heat) to body mass (where body heat is produced) grows smaller....basically this means big moose will lose body heat slower than small moose.

But...and this is a big "but"....this is toally due to heat conservation in cold areas and so applies to the Northern Hemisphere....in the Southern Hemisphere the direction would be South.

KINO,

Very nice!! "Good Action"

DB,

DON'T TELL ME THAT!!

I am not too sure as far as average weight/size goes but the biggest leopards have come out of Zimbabwe! I have yet to hear of a 220+ lbs leopard come out of tanzania!

Having said that, the Masaailand leopards are "generaly" larger and weigh more than those found in Miombo country such as Rungwa/Selous. For sure there are huge 180 lbs class chui's in Western Tz (read Moyowosi) and in the Mountain forests (above 5,000 ft a.s.l.) around Northern Masaailand. In Maswa (Western Serengeti) the average trophy chui will weigh 140 - 160 lbs and that is a big cat!

I had spent 53 days hunting mr spots looking for the big ones. finally settled on jumbo moore and his area in the save in zim. 54th days got a 200#+ the loveld in zim has always had a rep for big leopards, its just that in most of it they are so persecuted by ranchers that they have grown so damn smart that it's really tough to even find one, leave alone shooting it.