Bushman drawings under the rock overhangs on Wayne's
concession in the Matobo Hills area in Zimbabwe near the
border with Botswana.
lack of leopards and lions to share the area with us. As an added
bonus, the lake offers some of the best Nile crocodile hunting
in Africa. It is also full of hippo, and the fishing for species
like tigerfish was incredible. The lion kept things interesting
on our daily walks to check the leopard baits. A pride actually
took over the bait on which we had found our largest leopard
track. Lions will kill a leopard, and when the lion find the bait
the leopard will vanish.
Each day consisted of rising before daylight and splitting
into two teams to check the baits. We also created new baits if
fresh spoor was found in an area that offered favourable habitat
for a big male leopard. Wayne or Sean led the efforts and took
active supervision in the establishment of all baits. To them,
The mature male leopard was a beautiful specimen for
the area. The author is to the left with PH Wayne Grant
on the right.
hunting a leopard is an art, and they are masters of the art. No
detail was too little to be ignored, and they worked tirelessly
to enhance our chances of success. The baits consisted of goats
purchased from the natives of local villages whose livelihood
consisted of fishing the lake with nets from hand-crafted canoes
and meagre farm crops they were able to scratch out in the
surrounding forest. When we could no longer find goats available
to purchase, I shot a bull hippo to augment our bait supply.
The hippo also provided the camp staff and local natives with
a wealth of meat. Centre console boats powered by outboard
motors were used to navigate to different locations from which
we then walked to the bait tree. Some baits were close to the
lake’s edge, with most located a mile or so from the water. The
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