Dates: May 31, 2011 – June 13, 2011
Area: Save Valley Conservancy - Sango.
Camp: Sango Safari Lodge (aka – Ingwe Lodge)
Outfitter: Zambezi Hunters
PH: Collen Van Der Linden
Booking Agent: Adam Clements Safari Trackers
Video: Sean Herbert & Mark G.
Rifles: CZ .375 with Leupold 3.5x10x50 with lighted reticle
Bullets: Remington factory load 300gn Swift A Frame,
Hunt: 15 day Leopard & Buffalo


This was my 7th trip in as many years to Africa, but this was to be my wife’s first trip to Africa. In doing the initial planning for this trip, I knew I would need to find a location with something more than your traditional safari camp and activities. I soon learned about the Save Conservancy and Sango. Will Parks (Safari Lawyer) provided my some very good advice and recommendations, and we were soon booked for a 15 day leopard and buffalo hunt with Zambezi Hunters.

Adam Clements and Jamie Cowan of Adam Clements Safaris Trackers did an excellent job of arranging this hunt and assisting with the details of this hunt. Jamie provided never ending assistance well after the booking and they were never more than a call away when I had questions. Well done Adam and Jamie!!!!

Our travel arrangements were booked through Kathi Klimes with Wild Travel (Washington to Joburg to Harare).

Upon arrival in Harare (late flight arrived around 9:20 pm), we collected our bags/guns and were met by Sean Herbert (“Lunch Box”) our camera man. We overnighted in Harare at the Casa Kadiki run by Mike and Les O’Riordan. Our room was great and the grounds were impeccable. Mike was extremely accommodating and breakfast was delicious. I highly recommend looking into Casa Kadiki for your overnight stay in Harare.



The next morning we chartered into the Save at Sango on a Cesna 206. The pilot, Giles, was extremely nice and gave my wife the controls for quite a while enroute to Sango. She loved it….





Upon arrival we were my by Nevin Lees May and my PH – Collen Van Der Linden. Nevin drove us to camp where we were greeted by the entirety of the staff in freshly pressed uniforms and name tags.

I must deviate from the chronological sequence here and give the highest praises to Nevin and Lindsey Lees May. Never have I met such gracious and giving hosts. They went out of their way every day to ensure my wife was taken care of whilst I was out hunting for the day (and night). Lindsey made my wife feel at home every day and ensured she was content in every way. We enjoyed listening to Nevin’s stories of hunting the Omay and other places throughout the years. I should have brought a tape recorder….. Thank you Nevin and Lindsey!!!!!

After settling into our luxurious room, Collen and I decided to check the rifle and collect our trackers and game scout for the hunt. One shot at the makeshift target on the runway and we were on our way.

I had been told about the plains game quantity and variety in the Save by others, but I was amazed at what was seen on the road to head quarters. We saw zebra, kudu, impala, giraffe, warthogs, wildebeest, klipspringer and waterbuck all in the first hour. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen on day 1 of our hunt…..


Day 1: Bait!!!!!

Collen asked me to prioritize the animals for the hunt. I informed him I wanted to focus on the leopard first and then sort out the buffalo in the remaining time. Little did I know the implications of this at the time…

We began to get a lay of the land and sought out some bait for the leopard. Johnny Hulme and his client, Pat Wallace had just finished up a successful lion hunt, so there were a couple of baits still hanging, although they were a bit old and needed to be refreshed.

While searching for zebra, we came across two buffalo bulls in a creek bed. A quick check showed one to be a young bull, but we couldn’t get a good look at the second. We decided a walk was in order and started off. Shortly into the tracking efforts a zebra was spotted and new plan was made. We played hide and seek with the small herd of zebra for 30-45 minutes before a lone zebra was spotted through some mopane trees. We had just about given up as the bush was quite thick and the distance was about 130 meters, when the zebra began to quarter away from us.

I was waiting on the sticks when the zebra stepped into an opening, and I quickly fired. A short tracking job later and we had the first 5 baits…



We quickly loaded the zebra and were off to the skinning shed. We proceeded to hang baits the remainder of Day 1, including several baits on the Save River.

Our daily routine was rather consistent for much of this hunt. Wake around 5:00 am, light breakfast and on the road by around 6:00 each day. On the way to the first bait location, we would check for buffalo tracks and follow up if they looked promising. We generally spent the rest of the day checking baits, shooting baits or hanging new baits. By the time the hunt was over, we had 12-14 baits on a route of approximately 180km.

Day 2: Bait & Wait!!!

Day 2 started off fast. On our way to check the first bait from the previous day, we encountered a lone zebra stallion. We quickly bailed from the truck and attempted to stalk back to where this zebra was seen. He had other plans and quickly moved across a dry creek bed and into a rocky outcropping. We could see him, but the shot was 200+ meters and he was facing straight on. I elected not to shoot and we attempted to move closer. He moved off, never to be spotted again.

We continued on towards the first bait, when another group of zebra was spotted. This time we were able to stalk in a bit closer as the cover was quite thick. The sticks went up once the stallion was spotted. He initially offered a nice broadside shot, but upon spotting us, he turned to face us. I took the 120 meter frontal shot and he was down within 20 meters. I was quite pleased with my shooting thus far…



We loaded the stallion and proceeded to the first bait.

Success!!! The bait had been hit and the tracks showed it to be a male. When hanging this bait, we also placed a trail camera. A quick check of the trail camera showed it to be a nice male.



I should note here that our game scout routinely assisted Dusty Joubert, the ecological manager for Sango, in his leopard research. He is quite familiar with the mature males on the Conservancy and indicated the male on camera could be the Sandota male. Collen knew this cat well, as a client had missed this cat last year not more than 250 yds away. This was an educated cat and he would prove it on this hunt.

The leopard had not eaten a great deal, so we left the existing bait and proceeded to hang more baits. We would come back to sit that evening....

Sweet! You got me excited. Where's the rest of the story?

Ski

Damn! ! Suspenders again.

After hanging baits up and down the Save River and a few in between, we headed back to the Sandota bait site and proceeded to construct a blind. After a great deal of discussion with the trackers as to the entry and exit routes of the leopard, a blind location was selected. Collen was a bit hesitant as to the location given this was an educated leopard (previously shot at and missed), but we were running out of time for that evening.

We were settled into the blind by 4:00 and the waiting began. The sky was a bit cloudy and there was no moon. Collen’s team built the blind with a roof and blankets on all four sides, so it was quite dark in the blind. By about 6:30, I was struggling to see my hand in front of my face. At times I would close my eyes for a quick nap and other times I thought my eyes were closed, only to realize I was wide awake but simply couldn’t see anything.

We heard a leopard calling off in the distance, heard some rustling/walking nearby, but no leopard came into the bait (or so we thought).

Around 9:30, we opted to leave the blind.


Day 3:

We returned early the following morning to see what happened after we left. Multiple leopards had been nearby and one had even lain down within 25 meters of the blind, but none had fed on the baits. Only genets and civet cats.






Collen began to fear the leopards knew we were in the blind and were simply not comfortable coming into the bait. We continued on to check other baits and see what other options might exits for tonight.

A female leopard had fed on one bait along the Save River and a male lion had wrecked another bait on the river.

Who says lions can’t climb trees??? This one was sure trying.







Based on the findings at all the bait sites, we determined to sit for the Sandota cat another night. This time, we decided to have the trackers come back around 8:00, make some noise near the blind and drive off again. Hoping this would fool the leopards into thinking we had departed. Did I mention this was an educated cat? He must have been one of the “Professor’s” students.


We sat until after 11:00 with no success, only genets and civets again (or so we thought). My wife was being a real trooper on these long nights. It wasn't exactly an ideal vacation only seeing me for a few hours each day, but Lindsey and Nevin were keeping her plenty busy with game drives and sundowners.


Day 4:

We got side tracked on our way to check baits by buffalo. We passed a group of bulls visible from the road and decided to give them a look. We bailed off the truck and quickly attempted to get in front of the group of bulls. Within 5 minutes I was on the sticks with a bull facing me at 20 meters. Problem was his head was stuck in a bush and we could not determine much about him. He finally raised his head and moved on without giving us much of a look. We bumped the buffalo for next 3-4 hours and finally opted to leave them for the morning. There appeared to be 9-10 bulls in this group.




As we walked to the nearest road, I spotted a very nice warthog in the clearing about 60 meters ahead. I grabbed for the shooting sticks, steadied my rifle and fired… and fired… and fired. Oops!!! I managed to miss this warthog 3 times as he was running off never to be seen again. So much for being impressed with my shooting.

After picking up my pride and the empty casings off the ground we decided to resume checking baits. Back to the Sandota bait and again, during the night the leopards were within 25-30 meters of the blind and bait, but did not feed. These cats were on to us.

We refreshed the bait in hopes of encouraging the cats to hit the bait and off we went to check the remaining baits along the Save River. No males, just females.



Due to the educated nature of the cats at the Sandota site, we decided to give the blind a rest for the evening and spend the afternoon looking for buffalo. We found were the group from the morning had bedded for the bulk of the day and chased them right up until dark. At last light we had a few bulls at about 40 meters, but it was simply too dark to assess the bulls, and it was getting a bit dangerous due to darkness. We called it a night and headed to camp for some much needed comfort from my dear friend Jack Daniels.



Day 5:

Off again to check baits and look for buffalo tracks. We quickly cut some buffalo tracks and off the truck we went. It didn’t take us long find these bulls. It was a small herd of 4 bulls consisting of three young bulls and one mature bull, but he was only about 30” inches wide. Not what I was looking for on day 5.

We returned to the Sandota bait site to see what had occurred on our night off. Well, apparently the leopards were enjoying our time away from the blind. Three leopards had fed, including the large male. Oh well, that is why it is called hunting.








We made a plan to borrow Jonny’s lion blind. This is a large tree stand type blind that would elevate us above the ground and allow us to better position the blind for these cats. We quickly placed the stand, brushed it in, and up we went for the evening……

Very cool report so far. Did anyone notice your daytime feeder has a radio collar?

Keep the story coming.

Very nice.

I hunted with Collen in 09 & 10. I am going again in October. He is a nice guy and very skilled.

I see these pictures are from Bushnell trail cams. I left 4 or 5 of them with Zambezi Hunters. I wonder if he is still using those cameras. The pictures look pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Very nice.

I hunted with Collen in 09 & 10. I am going again in October. He is a nice guy and very skilled.

I see these pictures are from Bushnell trail cams. I left 4 or 5 of them with Zambezi Hunters. I wonder if he is still using those cameras. The pictures look pretty good.

Those are your cameras Larry. An elephant apparently ate one, but they are still turning out the photos. Collen was a great PH and will certainly be at the top of my list for future hunts.

quote:

Originally posted by smarterthanu:
Very cool report so far. Did anyone notice your daytime feeder has a radio collar?

Keep the story coming.

We did note the collar. Dusty used the collars as part of his research.

So far this is really interesting, and I love the trail cam pics!!

quote:

We did note the collar. Dusty used the collars as part of his research.

Wonder how much things like that add to their educated backgrounds? It almost seems those cats in Save get harder to kill every year.

Great report!! I can not wait for the rest of the story.

LarryShores, I plan on taking a few more trails cams to leave when I go there next year. Thierry had said to get the Bushnells so I would think they are very happy with how they are working and the quality thye put out. I hope to get a camera on most of the baits I get out. I think it helps a lot to know what is going on at a bait and can save a ton of time for the hunters.

Bear with me, it is about to get more interesting....


We were in the blind by 3:30 that afternoon due to the early feeding females seen in the photos above. We sat deathly quite for the next 8 hours. We had multiple leopards within 10 meters of blind including a female that called constantly for over 2 hours. We heard leopards mating nearby and had a female on bait 2 different times. We hit her with the light twice only to be disappointed it was not a male. The female walked up and down the road calling. Circled the tower stand calling and was in and out of the area for several hours.








We stayed in the blind until 11:24. All was quiet and leopards had moved off into the distance. Make note of that time….

The following picture sequence is the epitome of cat hunting and the frustrations that come with it.


We left the blind at 11:24. This is Collen going to get the camera microphone.





Male leopard on the bait at 11:43 (19 minutes after we left). Are you serious???










Male continues to feed off and on the rest of the night.





Frustration the next morning is about to set in….






Day 6:

After learning of the disappointing events occurring the night before, we picked up some buffalo tracks that morning, but soon found out it was the same group of 4 bulls we passed on the previous day. We had them at close range, but clearly there was nothing worth shooting. We proceeded to the river to check our other baits.

No activity at the baits on the river, but we did see a nice impala ram worth shooting. A quick stalk, up go the sticks and bang!!!! Unfortunately, I made a bad shot and gut shot the ram well back of where I wanted to place the bullet. After the initial blood and tracks, we could find zero sign of this ram. There were literally hundreds of tracks in this area and a wide search proved fruitless.

I was quite disappointed in myself for taking/making a poor shot. This was not working out as I had hoped….

As we continued on to our other baits closer to the Masaize River, we got another hit. This bait was in a territory belonging to a cat named Popeye. This cat is infamous on Sango. He is a very old cat with large splayed out paws. He is notorious for only hitting a bait 1-2 times and then moving on. This has made him very elusive and difficult for hunters. A quick search for tracks indicated this cat had big feet. Unfortunately we didn’t have a camera on this bait, but the tracks indicated this was a cat we needed to sit for.

We quickly built a blind and readied ourselves for the evening hunt. We were in the blind by 4:00 and off went the truck. Around 5:45-6:00 we heard a leopard calling and some impala snorting, but nothing materialized and by 10:00 we were ready to leave.

When the truck arrived, the trackers informed us that Popeye has strolled past them around 5:30 while they were sitting in the truck. He was only 60 meters away from them. How’s that for a kick in the pants???




Day 7:

Off again to check baits and look for buffalo tracks. As we are driving along, the trackers spot a nice warthog off in some scrub mopani. We track it for about 45 minutes and come to a warthog hole with fresh tracks and urine at the entrance. Collen decides to jump up and down on the hole while Sean throws rocks down the hole. Unfortunately, no one was home. Following a bit of laughter and chit chat, Seann looks up and says, “there he is right there”, while pointing at a very nice warthog about 100 meters away. Up go the sticks and bang.

I missed again. WTH??? I am so frustrated with myself right now, I can’t believe it. After searching and looking for blood, tracks, etc… along with a review of the footage, we confirm I just missed.

We hop in the truck and proceed to headquarters for more bait when Collen soon sees another big bodied pig off in the bush… A quick look and Collen comes running back to the truck motioning for me to come.

I am totally unprepared for another stalk and shot opportunity, but I reluctantly bail out and off we go. Gabriel takes up the track in some very open terrain. Visibility is good and the pig hasn’t gone far. After 15-20 minutes we cautiously approach a fallen acacia tree with some undergrowth. Collen tells me to be ready as the pig is likely in this clump of bush.

Sure enough, not two steps later he bolts out. I make a quick hard quartering away shot and wham, jut like that I redeem myself as he falls over 15 meters later. We knew this was a good pig, but how good was soon to be determined.

This pig’s longest tusk measured 16” and was 5" in circumference at the lip. The mass on this pig was unreal. The pig was to talk of the skinning shed for several days.








As we continued to make our rounds, we noticed a general reduction in activity at the bait sites. The weather had turned cloudy and cooler. It even appeared as though rain was a possibility. Due to the lack of activity and no immediate hits, we decided to take a night off and see what would happen next. We enjoyed an evening by the fire with my wife and Nevin and Lindsey Lees May.

Nevin’s stories of hunting the Omay and other areas are legendary.

Day 8:

We need more bait, so we quickly shoot another zebra. Amazing what a little confidence will do for you. Zebra was spotted, stalk made, set up for him to cross the opening, bang, bang. That simple…

We also learned of a natural kill made by a leopard in Popeye’s area, so we quickly shot a bait impala and collected the remains of the kill and placed them in a tree.

No immediate activity on the baits, so we take the night off and spend it with good friends. My wife was happy to have us in camp for another evening.



Day 9:

Back to the routine. Not much going on. The weather has turned to crap, cloudy and warmer.

The Sandota male is not to be found, but his female friends are still hitting the baits. Popeye has not returned and the females on the river are hit or miss.

We spent the day checking baits, hanging new baits and refreshing old baits. One bait site along the Masaize river, just up from the tented camp showed some promise. We could see where a female leopard had fed, but there were also tracks of a nice sized male. I should note we did see a male leopard sitting in the road just a few hundred meters from this bait a few days earlier.

We constructed a blind and readied for another sit. This night was rather uneventful, only genets, civets and honey badgers.



Day 10:

I am seriously considering scrapping the leopard hunt and just going after a buffalo. I decide to give it another day or two and see what happens. I was very frustrated at this point in the hunt. The game was clearly there, but between my shooting and the cat games, it was wearing on me a fair bit.

We start off from camp and make a stop at a water hole to check for fresh buffalo tracks. The trackers quickly find the tracks of 4 bulls, but believe them to be those of the same 4 bulls we have tracked before. A lone bull track is located heading in another direction.

Collen cautions me about the difficulty of tracking a single bull, but it beats sitting on our thumbs. Off we go. The progress is slow at first, but picks up as we move away from the immediate area around the water hole. After about an hour, we find ourselves in the middle of a herd of impala with several zebra and wildebeest mixed in. Collen decides to show us his baseball/cricket skills and starts throwing rocks into the herd to encourage them along. It works….

Apparently the buffalo was closer than expected, because we soon saw him moving up the hill. We hurried into a dry creek bed and attempted to get around the remaining zebra in the area. We got within range of the bull, but the zebra soon busted us and ran, taking the buffalo with them.

We quickly caught up and saw the bull moving steadily ahead, into the wind. We kept up and suddenly he disappeared as we moved around a large tree. Where did he go???

A quick search showed him to be lying down underneath a tree/bush along side a dry creek. After some belly crawl, butt crawl, etc… we got to within about 70 meters of the bull. I had a decent view, but there really was no shot opportunity from that angle.

Collen thought we could belly crawl another 40 meters to an anthill, rise up and be ready for him as he stood up. Great plan, perfectly executed by us, except the buffalo forgot to stand up. A few whistles, maybe a clap or two and finally some sweater waving by the trackers got him up at a mere 30 meters. I was ready and fired immediately as he stood.

Per our previous discussions, Collen let loose with his .450 Ackley Improved. The buffalo was clearly hurt and not going too far, but we continued to sling lead until he was down.







I was quite pleased with this bull. He was a good mature bull and in my view we had hunted him in a proper manner. Nevin and Lindsey brought my wife out and we all celebrated a great buffalo hunt.

It took us a fair bit of time to cut him up and get him back to the skinning shed. Nevin was kind enough to check our baits for us, and soon reported another hit at the Msaize River bait. Unfortunately a lion had also visited the bait and demolished what was left if any.

We decided to hang a new bait, sit in the blind anyway and give it a go.

We crawled into the blind around 4:00 and were prepared to sit it out. Unfortunately for us, an elephant took a liking to our blind.

Around 8:00, a young bull (thank goodness it wasn’t a cow) began moving along the side of the river bank. It soon crossed between us and the bait, but we were not alarmed at this point.

However, he turned and made his way towards our blind which was situated behind a large fallen tree trunk. He took a liking to the vines and leaves used to make our blind and was soon standing 3 meters in front of the fallen tree trunk eating on the vines and leaves of the blind. Collen decided now was a good time to address the situation and stood at the back of the blind overlooking the ½ roof made from a blanket with his rifle. Sean and I were still under the blanket roof and helpless. I really didn't want to share a death blanket with Sean ;-)

The elephant’s trunk was directly over Sean’s head and waving in front of Collen at a distance of less than 3 feet. I decided this was going to be a horrible way die, so I just put my fingers in my ears and was waiting for the shot over my head. I had already decided to dive as close to the fallen tree trunk as possible in hopes that the elephant wouldn’t crush me when he fell.

Collen had a different idea. He flicked on his torch and shone it directly in the elephant’s eye (at 2 feet +/-). The bull didn’t like that and swayed back ever so slightly. Collen thought it would be a good idea to do it again, this time the bull backed off and moved along. That was too close for me….

Our nerves were pretty much shot and we opted to call it an evening.

Great report !!!

quote:

Originally posted by STGS:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Very nice.

I hunted with Collen in 09 & 10. I am going again in October. He is a nice guy and very skilled.

I see these pictures are from Bushnell trail cams. I left 4 or 5 of them with Zambezi Hunters. I wonder if he is still using those cameras. The pictures look pretty good.

Those are your cameras Larry. An elephant apparently ate one, but they are still turning out the photos. Collen was a great PH and will certainly be at the top of my list for future hunts.

Thierry and I fed one of Collen's / Larry's cameras to a shumba in 2010.

Day 11:

With the buffalo out of the way, a bit of pressure was removed and you could feel the relief in the air. The day started off a bit suspect as it was raining quite a bit and all signs from the night before had been washed away. We spent the morning sloshing through the rain and muck checking baits.

Not much action at the Sandota bait, the river baits are still being occupied by females, Popeye is still missing, but…. there are fresh tracks in the river at the Msaize River bait.
I should also note a lion polished off another bait and we found blonde mane hairs over 9” long. Really wish we would have had a camera on that bait…

After making all the rounds, we have lunch at the tented camp and take a much needed nap. The plan is to sit for the Msaize River cat again and hope the elephant doesn’t come back.

We are back in the blind around 3:45 and begin our sit. Around 7:30, we can clearly hear something sniffing us at the back of the blind. This animal is no more than 5-10 feet outside the blind. We can hear it sniff and then take a step every so often and then nothing….

Around 9:00, I see Collen pick up his binos and begin peering at the bait site. A few minutes pass and he motions to me that the cat is on the bait. I settle in behind my rifle which is resting in a tripod and brace fixed perfectly on the bait tree. I flick on my lighted reticle and can clearly see a cat under the light of the full moon. All I am waiting for is to see the “golden package” under his tail.

Collen flicks on the torch and of course the cat’s tail is down. It is a big bodied cat, but we can’t be sure. The cat turns and stares at the light. He then turns around on the leaning pole, showing us the “golden package” and heads down the leaning pole.

As he gets about ½ way down, I let loose with a shot from my .375. The cat bolts from the tree, huffing and coughing for 5-10 seconds, then silence.

Collen asks me what I saw, and all I saw is a flash of white light. Collen didn’t see much either. We call for the truck and trackers. We then get out and move slowly to the bait tree. Collen looks for blood and spoor. We can clearly see where the cat jumped from the tree and we know what direction he went from the coughing and huffing noises. I ask Mark to review the video and we soon see the shot. It looks good, but you can never be too sure.

Collen is deliberate and slow as he moves forward on the track. 10 meters in 10 minutes. A bit of blood is found and tracks are still visible. The truck arrives and Collen hops into the back with a spot light and shotgun.

A few minutes later, the cat is seen lying in an open area about 40 meters from the bait tree, dead.

My shot was on the money, maybe a bit low, but it went through the front left shoulder angling through and out the middle rib area on his right side.










This was an amazing hunt. Challenging yet rewarding in so many ways. I have literally hundreds of more photos, including photos of the lodge, dozens of elephants and rhinos along with some great scenery. I will continue to post more as time allows.

Thanks for following along….

quote:

Originally posted by STGS:
This bait was in a territory belonging to a cat named Popeye. This cat is infamous on Sango.

I hope to bait for Popeye in July! In 2009, Popeye and The Professor were the studs of the property, but only Popeye remains. It would be a helluva feat to have those guys as bookends in the trophy room!

Report is great. Keep it coming.

A few more of my favorite photos.




















In summary, this was an absolutely fantastic hunt. Emily and I couldn't have asked for better hosts (Lindsey & Nevin) or better accomodations (Sango Lodge).

We were fortunate to have some fantastic and unexpected guests in the form of Brent Lees May and his lovely wife Kristy. I only wish we could have killed the leopard whilst they were in camp. That would have been a party!!!!

A special thanks to Sean ("Lunch Box") and Mark ("Rambo") for doing such a wonderful job filming the hunt. I am certain the finished product will be excellent.

I can't speak highly enough about my PH - Collen Van Der Linden. His patience, knowledge and intuition proved invaluable on this hunt. He is a true professional. I look forward to the opportunity to hunt with Collen again.
Also, congratulations to Collen and Justine on the upcoming birth of their second child.


Thanks again to Adam Clements and Jamie Cowan of Adam Clements Safari Trackers. They did an excellent job in assiting me with the booking and planning for this hunt.


Lastly, thanks to my lovely wife. She came with me on her first safari and was very supportive during the whole process. I hope she was able to catch a glimpse of why I love hunting Africa so much. She was even kind enough to allow us spend our first anniversary in Africa. Lindsey and Nevin made our anniversary even better by preparing a special dinner and having champagne set up in our room. How's that for roughing it.....

I am very happy for you. Nice trophies. I loved the deep tones on the leopard. The one side of that warthog was extremely nice. I pig hunters dream.

I don't profess to know much about trail cams. The cameras that I bought were a small Bushnell. They took good pictures and apparently are pretty durable. These cameras can save a ton of time. They are good for helping determine if it is a male or female on bait. It is a serious offense in Zim to shoot a female leopard.

Some of the pictures one gets off of the trail cam can be quite amazing. For example, a lion that has jumped onto the bait holding it only with its mouth as it swings from side to side trying to get meat off the baits.

We determined we did make a mistake with the trail cams. We should have set one close to get picture so my lion as I shot it.

Once again, congrats! I am very happy for you.

I really enjoyed your report. Thanks for sharing, and Congrats on some great trophies!!!

Excellent report and congratulations on a great hunt.

Will:

If you don't get him next month, I will try him in October.

Great stuff. In these times, it's nice to see the rhino pics. Two years ago, that place was lousy with rhino. I hope it still is.

What lodge room did you stay in?

Congrats and welcome home.

quote:

Originally posted by safari-lawyer:
Great stuff. In these times, it's nice to see the rhino pics. Two years ago, that place was lousy with rhino. I hope it still is.

What lodge room did you stay in?

Congrats and welcome home.

.

Will, We stayed in the Syringa room. It was quite nice, but Emily was a bit nervous walking back every night in the dark. It is likely the farthest from the common areas.

quote:

Originally posted by safari-lawyer:
Great stuff. In these times, it's nice to see the rhino pics. Two years ago, that place was lousy with rhino. I hope it still is.

What lodge room did you stay in?

Congrats and welcome home.

.

The rhino were great. We saw several white rhino and several black rhino with youngsters as well. Unfortunately a white rhino was poached in the Conservancy while we were in camp. It happened on Leon's place. Not sure of the outcome or if anyone was captured.

Outstanding report and a great safari, congratulations.

Congratulations on your leopard. What a nice cat and well hunted! That warthog is also a beast! Looks like another A+++ hunt in the Save!

Congratulations, Nice warthog, good Leopard, thanks for the report.

Thanks for sharing a great hunt. Awesome!

Outstanding! I think my next trip to Africa will have to be for a leopard! Thanks for sharing the great story and pictures.

Hey J - I am glad your frustrating quest for Mr Spots and the Dagga boy, was successful after I left. It is a dampener when luck isn't going your way, but, when it turns - the reward is first class!! Congratulations on a fine Safari..

I must add, again, that your Hog is a KING!!

Great report; thanks for sharing

Wow, nice report!

My wife and I are doing to same hunt in exactly a year from today with ZH in the Sango Lodge.

Thanks for a great report and congrats on Mr. Spots and your other great trophies.

That warthog is unreal!

Hopefully Larry and Will leave a big cat for me next year.

Also, love the trail-cam photos, some of those are really great pics.

Chris

Congratulations on your wonderfull Safari !!

Great report and storytelling. Adding the trailcam shots was a nice touch!

Great report and photos...loved your HOG and leopard. Your ability to relate the trials and tribulations of leopard hunting was perfect.

Again, congratulations, well done.

Regards, D. Nelson

Great story.
Thanks for the report.

Bockhunter, II

Great job and a pleasure working with you on this safari!

Great report!!

Sounds like a great trip.

I really enjoyed this hunt report. Very nice trophies. Neat seeing the civits and genets, I'd love some in my collection.

Congrats on a great hunt and a HUGE warthog.