Lions and Leopards – Up Close and Personal By: DJ Part 2 – Lions and Leopards, up-close and personal After delivering my Impala Buck to the skinning shed, it was time to scout out the pan, just beyond where we had setup our Hyena baits. This large flat area of elephant grass and scrub trees was known to hold good Sable. Darren had seen good Sable in this area before. It was about a 10 miles across some local flatlands, a bit of rolling hills and then down to the pan’s main trail. This would be an easier ride than the cross country trek we took the prior day where we were crossing streams, climbing hills and blazing trails. Following the main trail to camp we circled around the back side of the field and exiting the safari truck. The team composed of Darren the PH, our two trackers, the government game scout and myself started to peel off our cold weather layer that insulated us against the cold winter morning. Thirty five degrees is not uncommon during the African winter, but warming up into the 70’s by mid day is just as common. With our vehicle covered in outerwear, the team headed down a well worn game trail that paralleled the grass. This gave us a reasonable opportunity to see anything working the edges. The grasslands can be both safe and extremely dangerous for game. It offers the safety of the cover, but doesn’t prevent game from walking into a deadly close encounter with a predator as we would soon experience. Working the edges of the grassland requires quiet stalking, an eye for movement and the ability to stay low and out of sight. About a city block into our stalk we spotted the black rump of a mature Sable bull. As luck would have it, the business end of the Sable was totally obscured by a rather thick clump of brush. The inability for us to see his horns left us wondering just what we had. After a few brief minutes, the Sable turned to look back. I can only presume he heard us talking. I’m not sure who was more anxious, us or him. Once our eyes met, we both reacted. He ducked into the grass which was twice as tall as he was, while I tried to pull up the rifle to make a shot. He was faster. That left Darren and I looking at each other with wide eyes and eager grins. Darren motioned for the team to follow him at a brisk trot. Down the trail we went while still   paralleling the grassland. Circling in about a 500 yards down, Darren instructed one of our trackers to climb a tree and see if he could identify which way the Sable went. His dark black coat should stand out nicely against the dull yellow of the grass. The dexterity of our tracker was amazing. Up the tree, limb to limb bending slightly under his thinly weighted frame he reached a vantage point. Pointing is hand he looked down at us and motioned the direction of the sable. In only minutes we were headed into the grass on an interception route. It can’t be this easy I thought, as I pushed back the ten foot poles of grass just bending enough to let me pass. I wondered what the heck I would do if we came face to face with this 500 pound Sable in this tall grass. I could barely make out the guy ahead of me let alone a fast moving Sable. I’m sure I’ll need to think of something if it happens I said to myself. After crossing the field, it was obvious our prey was no dummy. He circled back the way he came, mixed is tracks with those of other animals, headed across the trail we cut and disappeared into the thick tangled bush beyond the grassland. To the credit of our trackers, we were able to follow him for a few miles. He had us at a disadvantage since he knew where he was going and we didn’t, all we could do was follow. With no way to catch him at his pace, so we stopped and decided to back off. Tomorrow or the next day we can check this area again. I was told that Sable bulls are rather territorial. They can be found either with their herd or patrolling their area looking for other bull intruders to run off. Since we knew where the herd was, we could start to pattern this big guy.