Tasos
AH member
Area :- West Nicholson, Insiza
Outfitter :- @Mbalabala Safaris
PH :- Mike Blignaut
Calibers used : 270 Win (150gr Nosler partition)
375 Winchester magnum (300gr Swift A frame)
Hello All, Firstly I must sincerely apologies for not writing this sooner. Time waits for no-one and with recent events of the pandemic, I figured I better put pen to paper whilst The Good Lord above, allows me time here on earth. I’m going to do a summary of my 2 hunts as I hunted successfully with Mike and Mbalabala Safaris in both August 2018 and March 2019. Some details are a little sketchy so please bear with me. I’m going to call them hunt 1, and hunt 2
Due to the nature of my work, I couldn’t make a 14 leopard trip. So when I saw Lin’s post on here for 10 days I jumped at the opportunity.
Hunt 1 :- West Nicholson/ Insiza
This Hunt was fast paced and intense. Lin and Mike already had baits up between these 2 areas. They are like 3hours drive apart, and when I arrived everyone was excited. We started off in West Nic where 2 Leopards had been feeding, We sat the very first night but only a young male came in. The 2 larger leopards hadn't returned.
One Male that was feeding prior to my arrival
We left the blind and drove through an area with cell reception, Mike’s phone beeped. There were 3 leopards feeding in Insiza District, (which encompasses Fort Rixon, Limerick Farm, and Filabusi farming area). This we already knew. Fortunately for us, one of the males had killed a donkey the night before. The local farmers had tied the unfortunate donkey to a tree for the evening. On his returning the next morning he discovered it dead, partially eaten and covered with branches. He immediately reached out to Mike. Happily we rushed over, built a blind and were sitting in the blind by 1700hrs. We sat all night and nothing!!!!! We discussed our options and decided to let the area settle down. We were off to our other baits.
The next thing we know we are building yet another blind near a bass dam by Limerick farm. We sat again….. Nothing!!!! Only brown hyena and Bush pigs. The next day found us building another blind near a huge mountain range about 30 miles away. Needless to say we were getting quite good at making blinds. The tracks indicated a male and female feeding. At 1952hrs Mike tapped me on the shoulder to get ready, light on, but alas the female. Light off and she carried on feeding into the night. The male didn’t show.
My first 4 nights of the safari, in a blind, and I’d seen 2 leopards already. This was going be a good hunt, I could feel it. Mike who is a character around the fire, was intensely focused.
One day later we were back in West Nic where a leopard killed a calf, but hadn’t returned to finish it. It actually fed on a previous zebra bait about 2 miles away. Upon examining both bait sites, Mike decided we sit by the calf. We were actually going to sit all night. Somewhere around 8pm Mike and I both heard the most wonderful sounds a leopard hunter can hear. The faint sound of bones crushing! The red light went on, there he was. The most magnificent leopard. Time almost stood still. A muffled hiss from Mike, snapped me out of it, I squeezed the trigger. I’ll let the pics do the talking from here as I prepare the next story.
Both Mike and I struggled to hold it up. And yes, Mike is considerably shorter than I am. Sorry Mike...
.270 is more than an adequate caliber for a leopard
Hunt 2
After thoroughly enjoying myself on the first hunt, I was eager to get back. Again due to the nature of my work, 10 days was all the time could spare. I spoke to Mike who with Lin arranged everything. Baits had been hung, and leopards had fed but had not returned upon my arrival. It was a less intense hunt I must say, and I took a fine zebra and giraffe. We had 2 females in different areas feeding but no males.
Notice the shadow stripes. I love those....
Unlike our last trip there wasn't as much leopard activity. We diligently checked and refreshed daily. As we set off on day 9, a thick fog had set in and I honestly didn’t think we would get a shot at “Mr Spots” this time around. We were doing the usual bait run, while I was reflecting on the hunt. I had seen some really interesting ruins in the area, got to pull the trigger a few times, even heard spotted hyenas. Until we checked the very last bait. Yup, you guessed it, a male had climbed into the tree and eaten a little bit, marked his territory with a huge skat and moved off. The game was back on!!!!!!!
Notice the thick fog
Blind was built, bait refreshed and we left the area to relax and have some lunch. Mike was adamant we were going to sit the whole night. We tested Mike's 375 and it was good to go. The scope was having issues so we pulled out the 375. Lights checked, new batteries etc and we found ourselves in the blind at 1700hrs.
I wish I had taken a few pictures of the set up but oh well. Alas around 8:30pm Mike, who had been quietly looking through his binos, (it was a full moon), suddenly froze. He then twitched in a manner that I knew all too well from the previous year.
He was here!!!!!! In fact not just here, he was feeding. As Mike hit the light we watched him just slink away. My heart sank momentarily. Mike quietly whispered to me that he was on the ground just out of sight, and could still see his tail swishing.
“Be patient, he’ll come back” he said. Back he did come, but this time he sat right under the tree in a dog-like stance. “Take him when you're ready” is all I remember Mike saying. Boom!!!!!
We had him. We were both elated.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my summarised version of 2 great hunts. I’m looking forward to going back soon to hunt with Mike and Mbalabala Safaris, both of whom I highly recommend.
A scenic view of the Insiza Area with granite kopje’s
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