All went well as we hurried toward the bush, hidden from the lions. We reached it only to find they were nowhere to be seen. Had they somehow sensed our presence and moved off? Surely not. The wind, what little there was, appeared to be in our favor.

I kept scanning the area where we had last seen them with the binoculars and finally spotted a little black blur moving in the short grass. I climbed a low tree and there they were about 300 yds. off lying absolutely flat in the grass. What I had seen was the tip of a swishing lion’s tail.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, one of the lionesses stood up, yawned and looked around. Presently, the other lioness stood up and, as if summoned to do so, his lordship did likewise. They started walking very slowly, stopping every now and then, directly toward us. Chito had found a good steady rest for the Remington on a low branch. We just patiently waited, watching as they came toward us very slowly. When they got to about 80 yds. from where we crouched, I began to explain to Chito where to aim for a frontal shot.

When the leading lioness reached a point about 50 yds. from us, I was about to tell Chito to put the bullet into the lion’s mane directly below his chin. Suddenly, all three animals turned broadside to us as if they had heard something from the direction they now faced. The situation could not have been better, and Chito fired, hitting the lion fairly on the shoulder. He roared and reared forward, ran a short distance and collapsed.

One of the lionesses became very aggressive, and it looked as though I might have to shoot her, which is the last thing a professional hunter wants to do. Fortunately, she eventually slunk off after the other lioness toward a distant treeline. This was the Model 721’s first lion.

By this time, several of the leopard baits had been fed on and we decided the time had come to sit and wait at the bait from which the sign appeared most promising. A large amount of meat had been consumed from a warthog indicating either a very large leopard or more than one animal had fed.

We decided to wait in the previously constructed blind that evening and re-sighted the Model 721 to the precise distance between the bait and blind before leaving camp. The Land Rover dropped us off at the blind and we settled ourselves in as the sun began to sink toward the western horizon.

At first, it was very quiet sitting motionless in the blind until the odd spurfowl called followed by the chatter of monkeys indicating that the leopard had started to move. We tensed. He could appear anytime now, but instead a hyena came strolling warily along and stood at the base of the tree. He looked all about him to make sure the coast was clear and then started picking up bits and pieces the leopard had dropped from the kill above.

Suddenly, a very large leopard burst from the bush and there followed a brief rough and tumble between him and the hyena, both of them growling furiously. Lasting only a few seconds, the leopard sprang back into the bush as suddenly as he had emerged. The hyena shook himself, looked around and resumed his scavenging. He appeared totally unhurt and presently wandered off, passing close to our blind.

Although this was the only time I actually observed such behavior, I am sure it happens from time to time, possibly at night, as whenever I have seen a hyena approach a bait tree where a leopard has been feeding, it is always with caution, stopping and peering toward the bush frequently and never hanging about after picking up the crumbs from the leopard’s table.
Another 10 minutes passed, and I became anxious as the light was beginning to fade. Then, like a phantom, the leopard suddenly appeared in the lower fork of the tree, having approached from behind it, unseen by us. He stared straight at the blind and I whispered to Chitito, “Don’t move.” After what seemed to us a lifetime, he moved to a branch higher up and lay down on it with all four legs dangling down on either side.

The shoulder was not clear, and I asked Chitito if he felt comfortable aiming for the head-neck area. He replied that he felt totally confident so I said, “Go ahead.” Chitito fired and the leopard fell legs up from the tree. We scrambled out of the blind and when we reached the base of the tree, found a very large and beautiful male leopard in his prime stone dead. Chitito’s bullet had pierced the brain. It was a truly magnificent trophy and the Model 721’s first leopard.

We moved the safari further south to the Ugalla / Rungwa River area where luck was with us and we wound up the safari collecting kudu, sable and Lichenstein’s hartebeest. Chito could not resist the temptation to take another elephant and we tracked and killed a 65-pounder.

We had a most interesting kudu hunt. We were driving along a sandy track traversing a thick patch of miombo forest when five kudu bulls bounded across the track a couple of hundred yards ahead. Even at that distance I could tell that two or maybe three of them carried trophy heads.

I drove the hunting car to a spot under a shady tree, and as it was nearing midday had a quiet snack while waiting for the kudu to move on and settle down. I knew they would be stopping to look back from time to time and wanted to give them about an hour to settle down before we commenced tracking.

We left Chito in the car while Chitito, myself and the two trackers walked to where the bulls had crossed the track and began the very easy job of tracking in the soft sandy soil. We progressed very slowly, however, with all eyes focused ahead as we followed the spoor first through dense miombo forest then into more open scrub country where patches of long grass had escaped the raging fires of a couple of months before. Here visibility was better, and we hoped to catch a glimpse of the bulls before they realized we were following them. Surprisingly the tracks indicated the group continued moving, albeit slowly, all the time. Occasionally, scattered fresh green leaves on the ground indicated a place where the bulls had done some nibbling.

This continued for a couple of miles, and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever close with the “grey ghosts.”

We were brought to a sudden stop by a strange clacking noise emanating from behind a curtain of long grass just ahead of us. What could it be? One of the trackers indicated to me with his arms that two of the bulls were locking horns. We quickly reached the curtain of grass and crouching, carefully made our way to its far edge, and there not 60 yards away in a little clearing were the kudu with two mature bulls in the act of sparring. They would face each other then lunge forward smashing their great horns together briefly before backing off again. This was repeated every few minutes.

We crept up to a convenient tree close by, and I told Chitito to get a rest for the Model 721 and be ready to shoot. I glassed the awesome scene, noting that the two combatants carried the best heads with both sets of horns going well over 50 inches. The other three bulls were standing about watching in different directions, and although mature, they were not as good as the battlers.

“Take the one on the right when I say, ‘OK’ as his horns look more massive,” I told Chotito

When Chitito was ready and aiming I said, “OK, take him.”

At that moment the bulls were about to lock horns again, and as the shot went off their horns clashed together. The selected bull collapsed, and the other bull, assuming he had triumphed, kept up the assault on his fallen opponent. At the shot the other three bulls immediately dashed off and it was a little while before the survivor realized something was not right. Disentangling his horns he dashed off after the others. It was the culmination of a most interesting hunt

We arrived back in Nairobi with a very creditable selection of trophies all having been collected with the .30-06 Model 721 with the exception of the elephants, rhino and buffalo, which were taken with the .470s.

The Longorias were a very large family, and I conducted at least six more safaris with Chito and other members of his family and friends during the 1950s and early ‘60’s. During all those safaris, the same guns were used, which Chito had brought on the first safari, and the Model 721 was responsible for collecting most of the plains game plus a number of lions and leopards.