Report by: PH John Greeff
Location: Luwego Camp, Selous game reserve
Date: 20 July 2006
Greetings from the Luwego Camp in the Selous!
I flew back in to Luwego today after a nice ten day break at home with my family in Zimbabwe. I met Murray, Arnold, Clive and George at the airport and together we caught a 90 minute flight, arriving at the Luwego Camp in time for lunch. We then spent the afternoon sighting in the three weapons that Murray and Arnold would be using on their safari.
Day 1
Since we needed meat for leopard bait, we started the day looking for buffalo sign. About thirty minutes from camp, George spotted a buffalo bull on a hillside. After one look, I told Murray to get his rifle as it was a good one. It was across a huge ravine and by the time we got to the other side, (about an hour later) the old bull had laid up in a big thicket. We approached to within 20 yards, but could still see nothing. We started working our way around when we heard the bull crashing out on the far side. We ran around, but were too late. 
The bull had gotten into the ravine and crossed it. Even though we tracked him for another hour, he never stopped running. We went back to the truck and carried on looking for buffalo sign. We found sign from two herds and got to see another group of about 40, but there were no old bulls in the group.
We stopped and had lunch in the bush and I suggested we return to the river and look for hippo. I knew there was a really big bull that had attacked Jack’s bull hippo after he had shot in during a previous safari. We went to three different pods of hippo before we finally found the big one. Unfortunately it was 6:20 PM, and I decided it would be best to locate and shoot him the following day, so we returned to camp.
Day 2
Since we had seen a really good bull hippo yesterday, we went back to that spot first and sure enough, there he was! I went through shot placement first with Murray and we decided on a frontal brain as he was aggressive and had been mock charging us when we got close. We approached to 25 yards and the big bull got half out of the water. That was as far as he got though, because Murray put in a perfect brain shot, dropping him in his tracks.
The bull was with three females, and as we went down to try and get closer, 
the cows, which had moved off about50 yards,started to get really aggressive. One cow charged us and we were forced to run up onto some rocks. She tried to follow us up, but couldn’t get her back feet up and fell off. If she had kept coming, I would have had to shoot her. We then had to shoot three shots into the water to get the small pod to move away before we could recover the bull.
The rest of the day was spent cutting up the hippo for bait. We were then able to hang four baits in areas I had seen some good leopard sign.
Day 3
Today we left camp early and arrived at one of the leopard baits. As we were about to check on the tracks, Davey, my tracker, pointed towards the bush showing us where a civet cat was laying. I got the sticks and went forward with Murray. I set him up and he shot straight over him. The cat stood up, but stayed where he was. I told Murray to load and shoot again. This time, Murray hit him and he ran a little way. We tracked him following the blood trail. When we found him, we were happy to see he was a really big one. We were very lucky to see a civet in daylight, as they are nocturnal, so it was a great find.
We carried on checking baits and looking for buffalo. At 10 AM we discovered that a herd of 80+ buffalo had crossed the road during the night. Since it was fresh enough, I decided we should follow and try and get a bull. The herd was trying to find water and was going from one dry water point to another. At 1:00 PM we caught up with them coming out from a spring. The bush was thick and noisy and we spooked them, causing the herd to split in two. I decided we should leave them and follow in the afternoon when they started to feed again. We made our way out to the nearest road and sent for the truck.
At 4:00 PM, after lunch and a rest, we walked the 2 KM back in and started to follow the smaller herd, as it had a good bull track in it. About an hour later, we caught them feeding in open hilly country and got within 90 yards of a good bull. I got Murray to lean on a tree and he made a good shot when the bull turned broadside. The bull ran into the group and they stood around him, making it impossible to see where he was. We had to get 30 yards from the group before they would run off. Murray’s buffalo was dead behind where the herd had been standing. He was a really nice old bull. We knew we would have to recover him in the morning, so we set up a scarecrow with Murray’s shirt to keep the hyenas away. After that, we started the 4 KM walk back to the truck since it was getting dark already.
Day 4
This morning we sent another vehicle to recover Murray’s buffalo and went to look for a Roosevelt sable for Arnold, as this was his main trophy. Arnold has taken over 126 African species, so he wanted a sable to add to his impressive list of 20+ years of hunting. We did stalk two bulls, but they winded us and we never saw them again. Later in the day, Murray managed to get a zebra. With the available meat, we were about to hang eight baits and had two spare. We were very happy with this, as we had two female leopards feeding on the other baits.
Today Murray shot a very nice impala for the Selous, with a measurement of 22½”. We checked baits and found we now have five leopards feeding. Unfortunately, none of them are quite big enough though. We checked out another trail camera and saw we are getting some nice photos of hyena, a leopard with cubs and a really big lion, all at one bait.
We tried to get up on a small group of sable today with a good bull, but a cow spotted us and they took off.
Day 6
At 10 AM we spotted a group of sable feeding over 3 KM away. We didn’t see a road close to them, so we hiked through many valleys and ravines. Three hours later, we finally got to where the sable had been, only to find they had moved off to drink and gone into thick brush. Unfortunately, we never saw them again. On the way back we saw three really nice buffalo bulls which we stalked, but they went into a thick ravine and winded us and we never got a chance at them. We finally had one of our baits fed on by a big leopard today, but we arrived at the bait site late so all we could do was put up a blind for a morning sit.
Day 7
We got into our blind at 5:00 AM, about an hour before sunrise and waited till 7:00 but the leopard did not show. When we checked the trail camera we had some great photos of him feeding at both 11PM and then again at 4AM.
We had been trying to shoot a hartebeest for a trophy as well as camp meat and today after them eluding us on many other stalks Murray shot a really big lone bull.
We sat again for the leopard this evening from 4:30 until legal last light at 6:40 PM but he never showed.
Day 8
We sat again this morning on the leopard but he did not come while we were there. When we checked the camera, we saw he had arrived at 7:10 PM last night, only 30 minutes after we left. He was back again for a final feeding at 4:30 AM. Today we checked all other baits and we have six females and one good male feeding. We saw plenty of game today as it is beginning to dry out, but only had failed attempts on a really big kudu, bushbuck and warthog.
The bonus of today was seeing a lioness and then a really big elephant with extremely long tusks only about two feet off the ground. We went back and sat on our leopard male but once again he was a no show.
Day 9
We started again today in the blind but no cat. He never came to the bait. I decided to move the bait to a tree where we could do a walk-in blind if he returned. We had no other males feeding so we decided not to sit in the blind and headed out to hunt for sable.
In the early afternoon we spotted a really nice sable bull lying on a hillside. We tried using the radios so Herman, our camp manager, who has been accompanying us every day, could keep us informed of where the bull was at all times. But Murphy’s law, the wind was playing up and as we got to 100 yards, the bull got up and moved into our wind spooking him. We then spooked another bull we had not seen and nearly got a shot off, but he moved away before Arnold could shoot. Another day to the leopard and sable.
Day 10
We checked all our baits and now have seven female leopard and two males on bait. Our big cat was back in the new tree.
We decided to go to the sable area and do a walk through the hills. As we got close to the spring we saw a big kudu with four cows. As we approached, they ran from us so we followed them for 30 minutes. We got on a little rise and the kudu were moving through a small opening. I quickly set up the sticks and told Murray the bull will follow. Sure enough, he started through the opening and Murray shot. 
Unfortunately, he thought the bull was moving faster and led in front and the shot went into the dirt in front of him. He jumped and took off unhurt and we never got back onto him.
As we were in the sable area we decided to walk from the spring. A big baboon was shouting at us and as we walked he kept making a racket warning all the game in the area. After an unbelievable ten minutes of walking with him following at a distance and continuing to shout, I set up the sticks and Arnold shot him. We then went for a walk in another area and on the way back we saw a really good hartebeest walking. We stalked him and Arnold shot him twice wounding him. We then tracked him for an hour finally shooting him again. As luck would have it he died 40 yards from the road, so recovery was easy. We walked into our blind and sat until 6:40 PM but again, no leopard.
Day 11
We walked into the blind at 5:30 AM, and once again, no cat. When we checked the camera, he had fed up until 5 AM. It looks like this cat is a night feeder only. We went and checked all the other baits and dropped some that were just too rotten. We now have two males and a female with a cub on one of our baits so we built a blind and sat from 4:30 to 6:40 PM but no luck. We also had no luck with sable today.
Day 12
We walked into the blind at 5:30 AM and sat till 7:00 with no luck. We had many photos of the leopards feeding throughout the night. We dropped all our rotten bait leaving only five active baits. We found that some had been finished by female leopard. We spent the day hunting sable and chased 2 different kudu with no luck. Once again this evening we sat on the leopard with no luck.
Lucky 13 for sable! We walked in on the leopard bait and sat until 7 AM with no luck. We went back to camp to pick up Arnold, George and Clive. Ten minutes from camp we saw a herd of sable and went after them. They had run away from the truck. 
We tracked them for 30 minute and spotted them feeding on a hillside. Arnold and I stalked slowly up the hill alone and as we got near the crest I saw the bulls head and horns. He had seen us and was trying to make out what we were. For once the wind was good and we moved into a better position, about ten yards closer. I put Arnold on the sticks as I could see the sables chest, but Arnold is shorter than I am and he couldn’t see the him in the grass. Then Diana smiled on us as the sable got real curious and walked about ten yards forward turning slightly broadside at 60 yards. At this point, Arnold could see him well and shot him perfectly in the front of the shoulder, angling the bullet in. He ran 100 yards and died. We were really happy as it had been a good hunt and many days looking for a good sable. This was also a new species for Arnold, and a great trophy.
We sat again this evening from 4:30 till 6:40 for the leopard with no luck.
Day 14
This was our last hunting day. We once again started in the blind for the leopard from 5:30 to 7:00 in the morning, but no luck. We left there and went to look for some of the animals on Murray’s list.
One area I had been wanting to walk to for a while was an area I had been burned on in my first safari with Dick and Cody Idol. The new grass was nice and green and there were lots of tracks.
We walked about 1 KM and then Davey spotted a black face in the brush. When I looked through the binos it was a huge eland bull looking at us from about 100 yards. I quickly set up the sticks and Murray shot him behind the shoulder. He jumped to the shot and ran 100 yards and then died. We walked up and he was huge in body (about 1700 lbs) and his horns were 37" long, a really great trophy in my book. It is also some of the best eating game meat you could hope for.
We then had lunch and headed in the direction of the blind to sit again for the leopard. On the way, Davey spotted a duiker feeding in some thick brush. We walked back up the road, about 300 yards, and saw him moving at about 50 yards. Murray made a really good shot as we could only see a small piece of him. He was a nice trophy with a small piece of one horn worn down from age.
We again sat in the blind for our last sit of the hunt and at 6:30 PM we heard the baboon start to shout about 500 yards up the river. I told Murray the cat was moving and the baboons had spotted him. As we were leaving the blind the leopard called about 200 yards away and I told Murray he was saying good-bye to him and that he will have to come back for his cat.\
Day 15
We retrieved our camera this morning to see pictures of the leopard arriving at the bait at 6:59 PM, almost exactly the time we got back to the truck to go back to camp. That’s cat hunting for you!
We flew back to Dar es Salaam today. Murray shot eight really nice trophies and Arnold got three plus his long sought after sable. The group was really happy with the camp and their hunting experiences.
For Murray on his first African hunt I’m sure he will be back, as it gets in you blood.
Till the next hunt, take care.
John