Congrats Tim
Great Lion.

Very happy for you Tim. Huge congrats on a great lion!

FANTASTIC! Well done Tim!

Awesome Lion Tim, congratulations!

Congrats on a great Lion!

Great lion indeed, congratulations Tim.

That's a serious Lion and a example of the perfect Lion to take when on Safari - well done Tim and Paul.

Please give Jumbo my best.

Cheers
Brent

Wow factor on this brute is x10!!!
Good job, and especially great to just see how revved yu are!!!
Enjoy the rest of your time

I missed this as I was so busy hunting with Joel and Albert!

Congrats my friend! I wish I was there for the party.....H says what?!!!!!!

Really glad for you!

Congratulations Tim, super lion.

Arjun Reddy
Hunters Networks

BTW Tim killed a nice buff today..really good bosses.

Im sure he will report.

Congratulations Tim!

Now that's a proper lion. Great work.

Dutch

Lovely black mane on that lion - very dark.

The trophy of a lifetime! Well done Tim!

Congratulations!!! That hunt and cat may deserve several hangovers!! You did very well!!

Well Done Tim. Congrats!!

Good to see old Johnnie still at it!

We shared a camp briefly in Kennilworth in 89', He was coming in and we were leaving for Chewore.

Legendary PH.

Riveting stuff. Keep it coming Tim.

Congrats on a great lion Tim! Really liked the buffs too-thanks for sharing!

Great looking lion Tim. Using the Mark Sullivan School of Lion Aging I'd say he is at least 22 years old.

Congratulations. Looks like a great hunt.

Congratulations Tim!

Nice lion!

Sorry for the gap in the report. I have been back in Pamba for a few days feeling pretty ill with a nasty spider bite. I haven't hunted any more, but lots has gone on in camp. Frazier has taken a bushbuck and great old sable with five inches of secondary growth. A set of grandparents are here with their 13 year old grandson. Stan (grandfather) killed a nice Dugga boy on Wednesday and Harrison (grandson) took a great old leopard at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. That's another one of those broad daylight Niassa cats. Frazier is sitting now for one of 5 toms he and Johnnie have feeding. I am back in camp and feeling OK and hope to get out in the bush tomorrow. I'll post some pix when I get them from the guys. I think everyone is having a great hunt for sure.

sounds like your having a great time apart from the bite, great set of photos look forward to seeing some more.

We went out this morning for bushbuck and ended up stalking a beautiful riverine area just off the Lugenda. We worked the area one day last week and saw a dozen bushbuck, but never got an open shot.

After about a kilometer with no sightings, I saw a ewe in an open area feeding. Paul and I stopped and glassed her, and within a couple minutes, we saw two more females about a hundred yards further. Then from the corner of my eye I caught movement, and a ram came bouncing down a small slope from our right. We were standing behind a log and I dropped to take a rest, and that put me so low I could only see his horns. Paul said "he is old but has a broken tip", which did not bother me at all. He kept moving and was close to getting in the thick stuff, so I stood and shot off hand. It wasn't far but felt a bit rushed. He bounded just inside the brush, and I could see him partially. I shot again, and a bunch of brush fell between us. I knew I had missed. Wow, less than 50 yards, what an idiot...

Paul walked about 10 yards forward while I was doing a bit of TV and said, "he is lying right there dead out." My first shot was high and just creased his back, and my second shot went through the brush and hammered his shoulder. A little luck I guess. In for lunch now. I think David is going to sit with Frazier in a leopard blind this afternoon. We have a cat on bait there from our original lion bait and we kept a trail cam going. Hopefully we'll get that on film as well. Still waiting on other photos...


The guys brought me a lion claw today at lunch. I think a little big for a necklace!

pass it on to a bigger man then!

Make the necklace....GO BIG or GO HOME ;-)

Glad you're feeling better to hunt.....need more reports.

AWESOME lion Tim!!!
And that claw is impressive and surely puts it in perspective seeing it in your palm.

Glad you're feeling better from that spider bite...
Now go gettem

Roland

a few photos...

Frazier's sable and bushbuck...

Super hunt you've been on Tim. Hope the bite is healed well and done. Some great pics your posting, will catch up when you get home. Cheers, David

Just spent a couple hours with Dr Colleen Begg and she officially aged my lion at 7-9 (one of their 3 categories). This came as no surprise to anyone, but we did learn a lot of interesting things that I did not know. I thought black mane was genetic. She said it has been proven that black mane is dependent on testosterone level. Black manes have also been proven to be chosen by females as more desirable for breeding. She also said they have aged the last 60 lions shot here in Niassa. Without fail, if the nose was 50% or more black, the cat was 6 or over. (This may be a Niassa thing?) She also told us 28% of the lion population is snared annually, and only 6-8 total lions are shot annually in all the blocks up here (1-2%) and that has no impact at all on the population. Interesting stuff...

Wonderful hunt, report, and safari. So glad you now have your lion buddy!! Long time coming and well deserved.

Good info for sure! Job well done by all!

Tim that is a crying shame about the 28% annual snaring rate. Just think what would be possible if that rate could be greatly reduced.

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
Just spent a couple hours with Dr Colleen Begg and she officially aged my lion at 7-9 (one of their 3 categories). This came as no surprise to anyone, but we did learn a lot of interesting things that I did not know. I thought black mane was genetic. She said it has been proven that black mane is dependent on testosterone level. Black manes have also been proven to be chosen by females as more desirable for breeding. She also said they have aged the last 60 lions shot here in Niassa. Without fail, if the nose was 50% or more black, the cat was 6 or over. (This may be a Niassa thing?) She also told us 28% of the lion population is snared annually, and only 6-8 total lions are shot annually in all the blocks up here (1-2%) and that has no impact at all on the population. Interesting stuff...

Well Frazier has been sitting on leopards almost every day. He has had females and young males in during broad daylight, and one cat that they felt was a big male, but it was just not quite light enough for Johnnie to inspect his undercarriage and make a 100% call from 80 yards. Frazier said the shot would have been easy looking through the scope, but they wanted to be sure. He will sit this afternoon, his last evening. We are all in high hopes...

Paul and I had a good morning. After checking a leopard bait for Frazier, we found a group of about 6 kudu cows with a big bull. I find it odd that all the big bulls we have seen have been with cows, and they have been rutting. Everywhere else I have been, the kudu rut was in May.

Anyway, we made a stalk, I got on the sticks, and when I could see him, the cameraman couldn't. When he could see, I couldn't. This went on for a while in the wooded area, and finally they buggered off.

About 1.5 hours later, we were passing back through the area and spotted the same group. It was a bit thicker, but we both got on him, and I shot on a hard quartering away angle. He took off to our left and crossed an open area before we could get there for a shot.

Paul's tracker, Jethro, said I hit him good, but I wasn't sure. We quickly found blood and began tracking which was pretty easy. He was bleeding a lot, but after 250 yards, I was getting a little worried. Then we saw him down in a dry riverbed trying to get up the other side. He was in bad shape, so I put one in his shoulder, and that was that.

My observation is that these kudu are maybe as much as 200 pounds smaller than the greater kudu I have shot in Zim, RSA and Namibia. They are almost petit, but very beautiful. I know they are not officially, but I suspect they are East African kudu like those in Tanzania (only 40 miles from here). Any of the kudu here over 50" are good ones, and though I have not measured any of our animals, Paul came in at lunch and said he did measure the bull at 54". He is narrow, but long and has good curls. I think this will be a good animal and hunt to end on for the trip. I am here another 5 days but will help with leopard baits for my next two clients coming in, and get the TV portion of our trip wrapped up. I will continue to report if my other guys have more success...

Amazing looking animals love to sable and the bushbuck. good hunting guys

Well done Tim , black mane lion !!

Awesome! Love those kudu and bushbuck! Congratulations!