Hi everyone: I'm getting serious about booking my first leopard hunt. I'd really appreciate hearing from those who have done it:
1. What's your favorite area for leopard, and why?
2. Who's your favorite PH for leopard, and why?

I'm planning this as if I'll only be able to do it once. Hopefully that's not the case, but I do fear an import ban being imposed by the most successful anti-hunting organization of all time (USF&W).

Also, do I have a decent understanding & expectation of cat size:
I know that some absolute 'monster size' cats come from Zim's lowveld and Namibia, but I understand they're quite difficult to hunt & not the success rate of other areas.

On average, do the next biggest come out of the Luangwa in Zambia?

Seems like, from there, in the other wild places (Tanzania, Zambezi Valley, Botswana) some areas have great success on nice, mature toms, but they don't seem to very often produce those monster size cats?

Thanks for any information!

I did a hunt in April with Charlton McCallum Safaris in the Zambezi Valley and got a very nice cat. This was my second attempt. There seemed to be lots of cats in the area. Based on ten years of guiding for mountain lions in Colorado, I think my cat was in the 140-150 lb. range. Leopards are shorter and stockier than a mountain lion, but I think I was close. Keith Wall was the PH I hunted with and he did an excellent job. I would definitely hunt with him again. CMS also has other excellent PHs.

To me the best areas for big leopard are as follows;

Tanzania: Burko, Monduli, Losimingor, Longido, Natron Mountains of Masailand and Maswa Game Reserves all Northern Tanzania. These areas produce large leopard but note that the Masai leopard can be very cunning. Mike Fell has taken some monsters from Maswa North GR.

Zambia: Western GMAs surrounding Kafue National Park i. e. Lunga, Kasonso, Mumbwa West. Also, Andrew Baldry and his place: Royal Kafue. The PHs are Richard Bell-Cross (Lunga) and Fico Vidale (Kasonso).

For better chances of success and GENERALLY smaller leopard;

Tanzania: Rungwa-Kizigo, Lukwati and Rukwa Game Reserves and most of the Western GCAs i. e. Rungwa River, Mlele, Nyonga etc.

Zambia: Luangwa Valley GMAs and private areas i. e. Munyadmadzi GR, Nyamvu.

Those are the places I know- if I had not shot a leopard I'd head to the Luangwa Valley or Western Tanzania. The areas and PHs are so good in these places (Mike Angelides, Alan Vincent, Thor Kirchner, Andrew Baldry, Adam Buske) that if you have enough time one can actually be selective with leopard.

No slight intended here to all the great PHs hunting in other countries- I'm just telling you what I know.

Good Luck!

I don’t know him other than here and other forums, but Thierry Labatt (I hope I spelled that correctly) seems to be a cat master.

Many here have hunted with him with great success.

Leopard hunting success depends on pure luck, as long as they are in that area.

I hunt leopard every year, and have had plenty feeding, and some years we saw only females and young one, despite seeing tracks at the bait of large males.

I wonder nobody is mentioning the Selous for Leopard hunting. There are plenty there. Bodysize are more average compare to Masailand or Southern ZIM Areas

Plenty in the Selous
Got one there every year.

Thanks a lot for the input, gentlemen.

This has given me some places & PHs that I hadn't even considered. Please, keep them coming!

The most I ever had on bait was in the Selous.

Most sign noted was in Selous (MH3), Maswa N, and in multiple areas in the Luangwa valley.

While there are lots of PH’s who do well with cats, the guy I have had the best results with personally is Brian Van Blerk.

Big cat vs best success are different criteria. Maswa has both, but is quite expensive.

We send around 10-12 leopard clients per season to Zambia. The Kafue has, on average, larger cats. Luangwa areas typically have higher cat densities and sometimes a tom surprises you size wise. I shot a cat on day 3 of my hunt in the Luangwa in 2019 that was 7'8" and heavy enough that taking photos holding it up was a chore.

Both Kafue and Luangwa offer long-term success rates (25+ years) of nearly 100%.

Greg

loveld

Interesting Mozambique and the Niassa Reserve is not mentioned. We killed two representative Leopards in 10 days of baiting.

Hunt Report

Mine is the lowveld of Zimbabwe for the big ranch cats. My last one was 8'1" and 180 lbs, taken with PH John Hunt of Georgia Safaris. Wayne Grant is the consummate PH on leopard and has written the book "Into The Thorns". Wayne's favorite area was the Matopos Hills of Zimbabwe.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
Interesting Mozambique and the Niassa Reserve is not mentioned. We killed two representative Leopards in 10 days of baiting.

Hunt Report

I agree.
I had 3 feeding after 1 day of baiting. Shot a good one on day 4
Had more in the same tree a hour after we shot the first one.
That was Block "B"

I shot my one and only leopard in 2008. My PH was Andy Hunter and we were in Chewore North. We had a number of female cats on bait. We shifted our efforts to a cove way down river where Andy had sighted big tracks over several years. We set bait in a tree no more than 50yards off the Zambezi. A rock with rushing water gave us some noise cover. We were way down river from camp and stopped our boat a good mile from the blind. The leopard showed up immediately and was feeding day and night. His tracks were huge. Had to resupply the bait and the next day (day 10) we caught him feeding at 4:00 PM. Perfect set up. Sooo remote. He was dead under the tree after the shot. Back at camp Andy and pal Ian Gibson said it looked like a lowveld leopard. Long heavy with worn teeth and chewed ears. Told this story not to tell where to go but rather choose a area that will create maximum adventure plus success.

My only leopard came out of nowhere.

One second there was no leopard, then, the next second, he came out of nowhere and was suddenly there, and the following second, I shot him dead.

If I had any sense, I would go on all of my safaris to nowhere.

That seems to be where the best trophies come from.

The prime concessions of Luangwa have one of the highest densities of Leopard in Africa and you will shoot a good cat there. Although the Kafue Leopards are bigger they can be street-wise.

In Zambia, I would recommend the early season for Leopard especially Luangwa.

Prices vary so you need to be selective and do some research.