Two big elephants have been taken in the newly opened Makuya communal area bordering Krueger National Park. You'll recall I told you that Limpopo Travel started booking Makuya just this season, and the first clients in killed some very nice buffalo, averaging 44 inches, and a 49- and 68-pound elephant. Two huge jumbo have since hit the ground there - an 80-pounder and a 70-pounder. Hunting Report subscriber killed the smaller of the two, which was estimated from 65 to 70 years of age. In a quick e-mail sent me, he writes, "It seems the area is living up to its promises. We are passing on 44-inch buffalo several times a day. This is a great area, a great PH and very nice hunt." I'm working on getting photographs of both trophies and hope to have them posted to our web site's Trophy Gallery by the time you read this. In the meantime, you can see photos of the other trophies coming out of Makuya under the Website Uploads section.
I should also mention that they had called me before his safari with some concerns. Seems he also wanted to hunt lion but was told that they could not get any lion permits. I called Ulla Fregerslev of Limpopo Travel to find out what the problem was. She says the problem seemed to be political, and that they were not sure whether they would receive any lion permits for 2009. Until the problem was resolved, she said they would continue to book hunts for elephant, buffalo and plains game species. Lion in Makuya are a species of opportunity anyway, she says. They are not allowed to bait for lions, so the cats are hunted only when the PH and client come on a fresh spoor or a cat is sighted. Lions in Makuya can only be hunted by tracking them and calling them in. Success, as you can imagine, is quite low, but what an exciting way to hunt a lion! At press time, I learned that Limpopo Travel was able to get a lion permit afterall. Next month, I hope to know whether they........(continued)
