I WAS waiting in the dark pre-dawn with the night chill seeping into my body. Three years I’d been preparing for this, the second of my Big Five hunts. Hard to imagine it was finally happening. Suddenly a bukkie — a hunting car of the ute persuasion — swung into the driveway of my Jo’burg hotel and things happened quickly.
MY professional hunter, or PH, Jaco, was out from the driver’s side and pressing the flesh enthusiastically. It was evident we would be mates for the duration. He was young at 35-ish with all the enthusiasm in the world. We talked lions and hunting and lions and rifles and lions and conservation for the five-hour drive out to the concession on the edge of the Kalahari desert.
There are two methods of lion hunting commonly used in Africa today. The most common is baiting. Large pieces of game meat are hung where lions will find them, usually near water. When a lion starts feeding from a bait, a hide is built close by.
This method is illegal in some African countries. It uses
