10 May 2015, 00:01
Jungleboy2015 Leopard in Sango with PH Thierry Labat
DATES: April 18-April 25, 2015AREA: Sango Ranch (tented camp), SAVE Conservancy, Zimbabwe
OUTFITTER: Zambezi Hunters, Alistair Pole
PH: Thierry Labat (aka Knuckle)
TRACKERS: Mudini, Ishmael & Enok
GAME SEEN: pretty much everything including the Big 5
GAME HARVESTED: Leopard, Zebra (5), Wildebeest (2), Impala (2), Baboon (2), Waterbuck
FIREARMS: Dakota 375 H&H with Swarovski 3-10 illuminated scope (loaner rifle)
Fortunately, I had already taken a nice leopard in Tanzania in 2010 (hunt report below), which
took some of the pressure off of "having" to get a cat , but I was really hoping to get one of the
big lowveld Tom's that Sango & Thierry are known for:
http://forums.accuratereloadin...461082341#2461082341
For some reason I really like the strategy of hunting leopards. I tried leopards with hounds
in the swamps of Mozambique & three other leopard hunts (Zim x2, Tanz) with only one
leopard to my credit. After reading so many good reports about Sango & PH Thierry Labat here
on AR (Safari Lawyer, Nube, Fish4Eyes,..) I decided to book with him. It was 2011 at
SCI & I scheduled for May 2013. Unfortunately, Sango did not get their permits that year. I was
offered some options, Nuanetsi cattle section, Midlands or Sango next available (2015).
I really wanted to hunt Sango, so rebooked for 2015. It was a LONG wait! (but worth it)
My buddy Gregg had never hunted Africa & wanted to come along as an observer. We used
my AMEX/Delta skymiles to upgrade to First/Business class. Being relatively big guys,
6'5" & 6'2", the extra room is definitely worth it. We did have to take an unusual route, I normally
fly to Johannesburg, but this time we did Billings-Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Nairobi-Harare.
Everything went smoothly, nice to be able to sleep on the long flights. Here's Gregg in Delta Business
We took a 1hr 15min charter to Sango & were ready for our adventure. We ended up using a
loaner rifle from our PH, Thierry. He has a very nice Dakota 375 H&H, synthetic stock with a
Swarovski 3-10 Illuminated scope. I typically bring my own rifle which happens to be a Dakota
375 H&H traveler so felt very comfortable using his. Important to have a reliable accurate rifle with
good optics when after leopard!
Thierry prebaited with one zebra the day of our arrival so we had 4 baits up. Like most cat hunts
we immediately set off to get more bait. In Sango this means Zebra.
Sango has a very nice cooler/freezer at the skinning shed which allows you to keep the baits
longer & available. We ended up taking 5 zebra & 1 impala for bait. We had a total of 15 different
baits up, 12 at any one time! Zebra are really a beautiful animal (even an old stallion without a
tail!)
It rained our second day & we were worried about how this would affect the cats. Thierry also
succeeded in getting us really stuck once as well.
Luckily help arrived & pulled us out!
It dried up quickly after this & we really had good weather from then on out.
We spent the next few days checking baits, refreshing baits & checking game cameras.
In six days we had 4 female leopards, 2 male leopards, numerous lion, genets, civets,... on bait
Thierry uses game cameras on all baits if possible, I brought two Bushnell Bone Collectors
for him (his camera of choice). Two cameras were smashed by elephant & one chewed on by a lion
during our hunt. Here's a female & male leopard on a bait, quite a difference in size.
They even came around during the day to eat!
This was a nice male, much bigger than the cat I took in Tanzania, however we had a male on
another bait that Thierry thought was older & bigger. The quality of cats in Sango is unreal.
One of the main reasons we chose Sango was to be around the Big 5. We saw elephant & buff daily,
watched a pride of lions with two big males in a riverbed at dusk, saw two Black Rhino at
a mudhole & even saw two female leopards along the rode in daytime. Pretty spectacular.
This female stood next to the road for a minute or so & just stared at us with those beautiful
yellow leopard eyes. Thierry took this great photo
Sango Ranch is quite an operation. The tented camp is in the Eastern Half (pretty plush)
The ranch manager & skinning shed are in the middle, & the Ingwe camp is in the Western half.
The Ingwe camp is unreal, it's actually a 5 star quality resort, definitely a place to take the wife!
The ranch is huge & there is plenty of room for two hunts at one time. We were the only hunters
during our period. We did run into graduate students from England, South Africa,... who were
doing research there on Wild Dogs, Hyena, Leopard,... They also have a very serious Rhino
anti-poaching program in place. This was the first safari where I've never seen a snare!
Truly a well run, safe place to safari. The end result of all this work is high quality game
Gregg was able to take a nice old, big Wildebeest & a phenomenal Waterbuck (31") in between
checking baits
Thierry, Gregg & giant Waterbuck
On the morning of our sixth day we had a nice male hit bait #13. He ate at 5:30 am & again at
7:30 am. Luckily he found the bait late & didn't eat too much. Thierry thought he was a great cat
so we quickly built a blind (9:30am) with the idea of sitting that evening. Here he is that morning
I've had the opportunity to hunt with quite a few PH's. Thierry is easily the most obsessed with
leopards. He is very adamant in making sure the cat approaches the bait properly & will give you
a good shooting angle. With every bait he puts up he thinks about the wind & preliminarily
clears a shooting lane & gets a blind area prepared, so if you do set up a blind it is quiet & quick!
He has never taken a leopard in daylight in Sango, apparently most come in right after dusk
so he has a rheostat light set-up. We had good feelings about this cat so we got back to the blind early,
around 3:30. At 4:35 I was reading a novel when he tapped my leg & motioned to the bait. At first I
didn't see anything but then his ear twitched & there sat the big Tom at the base of the tree!
He walked around about a minute, looked directly at the blind once & jumped up onto the
bait pole. This was all happening in broad daylight! Thierry gave me the "OK" & luckily I made a good shot (47 yards).
We sat & listened to him thrashing around, grunting next to the tree. 15 minutes later we
walked down & 40 yards away lay the most beautiful creature in nature! (other than my wife)
We had a nice, mature Zimbabwe Lowveld leopard! (total of 1 hr 5 min in the blind!)
Thierry was psyched that we could take pictures during the day! We radioed the team to
come pick us up. Mudini had to hold the cat once!
We took him back to the skinning shed where they meticulously skinned him & prepared the
hide, cleaned the skull & got the floating bones.
In summary, this safari far exceeded my expectations (which were fairly high to begin
with). Sango is a gem for a safari area & almost any safari there should be successful.
Thierry Labat is truly a leopard machine,
he's a pleasure to be around & very competent in his craft.
Alistair Pole & Zambezi Hunters have been great to work with, moving deposits two years &
finding a place to fit us in. They have an American Bank to wire to & have great email
communication.
Already thinking about going back, the problem is next available is 2018!
Once again, a huge thanks to Thierry & Alistair!
