Second Hand Lions is a great movie about the redemption a young boy brings to the lives of two old and crotchety ex-adventurers.  In the plot the elderly duo buy a mangy, broken down circus lion that they plan to release and “hunt” on their Kansas back-forty. After discovering the lion doesn’t have any fight left in it and thus not worth pursuing it is granted a reprieve to live out its last days amongst their cornfields.

Now what does this have to do with hunting in Mozambique?  Well I am pretty sure that same lion somehow made it back to the wilds of the Niassa Province, “Along the way realizing it’s definitely not in Kansas anymore,” and ended up feeding on a hindquarter of eland in our Block L1 Concession.

We had been seeing good sign of lion all season, but unfortunately had struck out prior (our first ever) to this hunt.  While driving and checking leopard baits the hunting party bumped into the eland hindquarter that hadn’t been taken down, on purpose as many times leopards will also feed on our lion baits, from the hunt before.  They caught a glimpse of a large tawny-colored cat slinking away through the elephant grass and after examining the bait site determined that it was a big male.

The client confirmed he wouldn’t be against getting an opportunity to shoot a lion on his 14 day leopard x plains game hunt and thereafter a blind was erected and the bait pile topped off with some fresh meat.  Our PH then wisely gave the lion a day to feed and settle down again after having been disturbed.  The next afternoon found the party in the blind and after a couple hours of sitting with expectations high the cat materialized in front of the bait.

The PH took a few minutes examining the lion trying to confirm that it was 6+ years old, the requirement we hold ourselves to in all of our concessions and that the Niassa Reserve mandates in its management areas, which include Block L1.  Quickly enough it became apparent that this was an old warrior on the downhill side of his life and the client was given the okay to shoot when he was ready.  The client took his time, waited for the cat to position himself favourably and then drove home a well-placed shot.  The lion broke into a “death run” and tumbled to the ground a short distance from the bait.

I am sure everyone’s adrenaline was pumping as they approached the downed cat.  Sure enough it had expired and our client had a great trophy.  The interesting part began after the kill though, when upon examining the lion our PH discovered it was nearly toothless and sported more scars than a retired prize fighter.  He stated that he had never seen a cat this old and estimated it to be 10+ years.  Since we participate in the Niassa Carnivore Project the lion will be aged officially and we will find out his true age in a few months.  Taking old lions is nothing new as we and other operators in the Niassa Reserve do it year after year.

This is a true testament to the conservation practices and sustainable use policies that have been put in place and that we adhere to stringently.

Until Next Time Good Hunting and Safe Travels!

Visit our website at www.safrique.net

Matt Hulley-Miller

MD Safrique, Mozambique

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 9:44 am and is filed under Safari Operator's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.