Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Very Nice Namibian Leopard

Friend of mine in Namibia sent me these pictures from his trail camera. He said it fed there three nights in a row.




For Namibia, that is a very nice Tom. He's a landowner and has a tag but with the lock down and no flights........
He said he had a hunter from Europe booked but he had to cancel and not sure if he'll be able to make it later in the season once things open up. He's going to to keep a bait in that same place and hopes he can keep the cat returning every few days and keep him interested until things can open up whenever that is.

He said that while they have had some rain this year in his area, it is about 1/2 of what a normal year would be. Has some grass and it might be enough to hold the game over until the next rainy season starts. Said the natural water sources up in the mountains are already drying up and forcing the game to make the daily trips to the waterholes in the valleys.

Hope things open up soon for every bodies sake.

Yes, nice cat.

Namibian leopard in the Kalahari don't usually get as big as those in say Tanzania or Zambia, maybe average 7/8's or so the size of those. But then too, the Nam price for a 14-day leopard hunt at my friends place is a maybe 5/8's the cost of those places too. Mostly because it's private land and the PH's/Outfitters have the added expense of concession costs/fees and building/maintaining camps etc. etc.

Nice kitty! I'd take it.

FWIW, my two biggest cats were taken in the NW of Namibia. Conservancy Cats. And they were a bit bigger than the two I have taken in Zambia.

That gives my Zambian PH indigestion!

McCray - Other countries do have reputations for big cats, but as you mention, those conservancy and ranch area cats can frequently give them a serious run for the money.

There is one bright side to this. Later season leopard hunts are honestly better in that mountainous area of Namibia for several reasons.

Early in the year during and after the rainy season, there is good water available up in the mountains. Either in small pools or temporary springs from between the rocks. Later in the year, these dry up and the cats as well as prey need to make regular trips to the permanent water points.

Next, early and mid-year there are lots of newborn and young of all species for them to make relatively easy meals from.

Jun thru Aug sitting in a blind at night can freeze your nads off. By the end of Aug the nights start becoming a bit more comfortable. The trade off is by the end of Sep and into Oct and on, the nights are very nice but the days heat up very quickly.

Supposed to be in Zim leopard hunting right now. Have another trip planned to Namibia for mid July. This wait and see stuff is getting old. Hope things open up soon!

ND - agree. We were supposed to be leaving for Bots 15 Jun. Just CNX'd that trip and tickets. Still planning for the Bots Aug trip.

M3taco - Thanks for the updates. Appreciate you input here and your optimism.

No worries. I wish I had some current news direct from Namibia but seems things are still going to stay locked down tight for a bit. They have allowed a couple of their "informal markets" to open in Windhoek but news is pretty thin. My friend there messaged me this morning that it was announced that effective mid-night on the 4 May, the lockdown will be lifted. They are just not sure if that mean ONLY internally or to International travel as well. At least it's a stepping stone.

I love Namibia and loving what I've seen/experienced so far in Botswana. My honest and main goal is to do what I can to help others either get there for the first time and help those who already been, get back to maybe someplace new for them.

Things are changing sooooo fast there. While things in general are becoming more "modern", the "old charm" is fading a bit. I can see it first hand every time I go back and even more so when I think about the first time we went 15-years ago


Edited to Add:

I just remembered that my Namibian friends daughter is now working for the main newspaper publisher in Windhoek. Sent her a message for what she knew and she said the President will be making an announcement sometime tomorrow after he meets with his Cabinet. Unclear if there is a plan for going forward beyond 4 May yet or not.

I have never hunted Africa so this is probably a dumb question. Does anyone ever hunt Cheetahs?

M3Taco: Jan sent me the same Leopard pics. Did he tell you about the Spitting Cobra he found in his piano?

You CAN hunt cheetahs in Namibia, but you can’t import the trophy to the USA

Thanks. I have wondered that every time people talk about leopards.

Tex - that's actually a very good question. The short answer is, yes and the long answer is no. Since we're still on lockdown, grab a cold drink and some chips and I'll explain both answers. I can only talk about the situation in Namibian and not other countries because I'm only familiar with them there.

Yes - The cheetah populations have significantly rebounded in Namibia. That's a good thing and a bad thing. It's good in that the overall cheetah populations are way up, but the bad thing is it's so much so, the local farms/ranchers legally shoot them on sight. They can be devastating to domestic "small stock". Small stock are generally goats and sheep. While the large ranchers/farms may maintain significant herds of each or both, the the smaller black subsistence farmers are impacted the most.

Normally, the herds/flocks are kept in bommas/corrals at night. These are generally made from cutting the various species of thorn acacia bushes and piling them in windrows. Next, you have to understand one of the unique traits of a cheetah. Think of a domestic cat that is a terrific mouser. Put that cat in a closed room with a dozen or more mice and it will kill everyone of them in short order. Cheetah have the same propensity. If they get into a bomma something triggers in them and they will kill all the animals they can until they are exhausted. In the confined space of a bomma, this could be dozens of head. For the small subsistence farmer this can be a devastating loss. It can be hard on big rancher as well.

Next consideration is there are several organizations within Namibia that have honestly done a tremendous service in bringing the cheetah populations back and here is where the real friction is. They expect the local ranchers and farmers to simply accept the financial losses "their" cheetahs cause. Now, how this ties into leopard and even lion hunting.

Leopards and lions also roam in large parts of the country and their territories are expanding annually. They take game as well as livestock on the ranchers/farmers lands as well. The difference is that the ranchers/farmers are willing to tolerate some of this predation because they can apply for and receive permits to legally sell hunts and charge trophy fees to clients for export out of Namibia. These revenues, off set the cost of these species predation.

Since the cheetah don't have any "market value" they are generally shot on sight.

I did two twenty one (21) day leopard hunts in Zim and never got a shot at a leopard. Went to Namibia in 2012 and killed a leopard on the first day of a 21 day hunt. Not a huge cat by any standard, but it did finish my quest for the "Big Five".

Reasonably priced, too.

Win70 - congratulations on your "Big Five" accomplishment. Not many are getting that opportunity as much anymore. Must be some pretty good stories along with them that will live with you forever.

That is the crazy thing about leopard. Had a guy I had taken to Namibia I think twice before for PG. Third trip he decides he wants a leopard. Jan's got baits out a few weeks before we show up and has a nice tom and a couple females cycling between the baits like clockwork. Just about know to the day which one will be on what bait that night. We show up and they go to the blind. When I go, I never sit with them - too much chance for noise, smell etc. They are in a pre-done blind that had been up the entire time and that tom should have been on that bait either that night or the next. NOTHING, not even a "chuff" off in the distance. They moved to the next bait/blind he should have been on for the next two nights. Nothing. Checking baits and camera every morning at the other "hit" sites. Nothing. All three cats just vanished.

Jan call's a neighbor a couple of farms away and this guy says he's got a leopard gold mine going on. He's got 4-5 baits in a large 75m circle around a waterhole and has 3 different toms on camera and each feeding on their "own" bait tree. Different one and sometimes two every night. Same thing and a permanent high blind 70m from the waterhole. We drive there that afternoon. Landowner shows us the trail cam photos. Dates and cats confirmed. Jan and client get set up in the blind and I drive home with the truck so absolutely nothing is disturbed or changed. Next morning - nothing and the same thing for the rest of the week. I'm checking baits and cameras on the home place and nothing. We leave and late the following week the three damn cats were back at Jan's.

Another client, similar situation. Had been to Jan's twice before and the third trip he wants a leopard. We get there and first night in the blind, 6hrs. in he's got his cat. Crazy!

Didn't know if I should start a new thread or just add to this one. Jan sent me two more trail cam pictures from a second waterhole on his place with another seriously good tom on bait. This guy is in VERY good condition and fat. This waterhole bait site is about 4-5k from the one with the leopard in the first pictures.




He's been baiting primarily for spotted hyena as they've been raising hell on what few cattle he has left. That's why the baits are so low and/or on the ground and not up a tree and then these two guys show up. Was surprising for several reasons.

First, it's early in the year and just starting the gemsbok and springbok calving season. Normally, getting a cat to hit a bait with normal availability of easy meals this early in the year is surprising.

Second, so soon after the rainy season, even though his area only got about 1/2 of what it would get in a normal year, there is still water available up in the mountains.

Third, these two are in very, very good condition so they have been feeding well long before they started hitting baits.

Fourth, to have two big toms like this so close together likely means they share overlapping territories and there is a good chance they will keep coming back to patrol/mark their respective boundaries and if Jan keeps baits there, free meals too.

His plan is to keep the sites baited and checking every couple of days for activity and fresh baits. May start hanging them higher to keep the hyena activity at these two sites down.

Normally, in this area of Namibia, they will only feed on the same bait for 2-3 nights in a row then move on patrolling their territories. His hope it to keep them coming back and in the area until travel is opened back up, hopefully in the next couple of months and a hunter(s) can come and get them. He has one tag that is his that he gets every year because he's a property owner and can get a second one if needed.

Later in the year, say late Aug to late Oct would be prime time. The nights are warm enough you won't freeze your nads off but the days will starting getting pretty warm later on.

Too cool. That is one badass animal, and beautiful at the same time. Someday.......

Leopards are Territorial and patrol their area. They can be gone from a Bait for 7-10 Days before returning. Once they are on a Bait sometimes they will come to the Bait without feeding. Shoot one when you see him. Never wait until they jump into the Tree!!!

Slider1 - you're "spots" on. That is the reason Jan will only do a 14-day minimum leopard hunt. He's live on that property his entire life. He's actually 3rd generation on it. When he was growing up, his father had an old bushman that worked for him and all of Jan's free time was out on the property with the old bushman learning some pretty amazing bush craft from I guess you could say, "a master" of the craft.

The only caution I would give in the "Shoot one when you see him" is to wait a bit and make 100% certain it's a tom before pulling the trigger. Shooting a female can be a VERY costly mistake - fee is paid and you can't get an export permit along with a bit of grief from the govt about how and why. You won't make a lot of friends!

Two clients of his in the past didn't wait. One got lucky and it was a tom, the other wasn't.