This year, Mark ventured into the Zambezi region, and once again, he was on the prowl for something wild. His latest quest? A leopard hunt in the Makuti hills, a notorious leopard hotspot. Mark had a peculiar request: he wanted a daytime cat.
However, hunting during the rainy season presented its own challenges—the grass was sky high! This made targeting bait quite the endeavour. Our trackers, with their eagle eyes, spotted a klipspringer hidden in the tall savannah grass. With a short stalk and a precise shot, we had ourselves a beautiful ram. These creatures are quite the lookers, tiny yet majestic.
On the way back to camp with our klipspringer trophy, our eagle-eyed trackers pulled another rabbit—er, grysbok—out of a hat. Imagine spotting something the size of a rabbit in all that grass! After an almost miraculous aim, the grysbok was hit but darted away and decided it preferred the comfort of an aardvark’s hole. Now it’s not often that you dig antelopes out of holes in the ground, but that’s what we had to do to get our prize.
Next, the struggle for bait continued as those elusive buffalo kept evading us. We switched to impala as bait—not quite the caliber of a buffalo buffet, but it sufficed. Lo and behold, we soon had a hefty male leopard feeding at our party.
Blind built, the waiting game began. But like a guest who ghosted their own surprise party, the big male did not show. A thousand questions and only guesstimates for answers. We could only hope he’d reappear.
Just when tension was threatening to spoil the fun, our big cat finally decided to make a grand entrance. At 4:30 in the afternoon, in perfect golden lighting, no less.
This leopard decided to model for us, rolling around for a good while before giving Mark the perfect shot opportunity. Boom! One shot with a 7mm Remington Magnum, and our superstar hit the ground without knowing what hit him.
On our safari’s final day, we stalked what I can only describe as the Usain Bolt of buffalos. This guy, identified by his unique hoof gap, thought he could slip past us again. After hours through the dense jungle, our trusty trackers spotted him lounging in the shade. But when the first shot was fired, he decided to make things interesting by charging straight at us.
Several pulse-quickening moments and five shots later, the buffalo learned he couldn’t outrun or outsmart Mark’s determination. Once the dust settled, nervous laughter and high-fives filled the air. What an adventure! And guess what? Mark’s already planning his next thrill-seeking safari, aiming for Mozambique’s sable and, you guessed it, more of those addictive buffalo hunts.
