Huntinamibia - My Namibian Adventure - Grappling with a leopard
Leopard occur almost everywhere in Namibia. Foreign trophy hunters stand a very good chance of success when hunting leopard in this country. That a visiting sportsman, however, is attacked by an unprovoked leopard is somewhat unusual.
Jim Corbett wrote many tales on man-eaters. One of his most famous stories is about the man-eating leopard of Rudraprayak in India’s Ganges region. Due to unprofessional efforts to hunt this leopard down, the animal became so clever that it developed into the shadowy, evasive nightmare of an entire region. Between 1918 and 1925 the leopard killed 125 people before finally being destroyed by the immortal Jim Corbett. "Sights have been seen which would have caused a stone to weep" is how JIm described his experience of man-eaters in India. Jim described his experiences of man-eaters in India. t could have been the start of a reign of terror of a man-eater on the banks of the Okavango River on the afternoon of July 6, 2002, had it been a local Kavan-go woman fetching water, or a child playing on the river bank, instead of a professional hunter who walked into the fangs of an old, ill-humoured and morose leopard, driven from its territory by a younger rival.
Had it indeed been a woman or a child instead of the professional hunter, the leopard most probably would have overpowered and killed its helpless victim. As it was a very hungry beast in poor condition, it most probably would have fed on its human kill and thereby started a grizzly career as a man-eater.
But as fate would have it, on that same afternoon PH Gerrit Utz and a client were paddling in a dug-out canoe down the Okavango River to watch game on the banks. They were gliding silently down the great river when, turning a bend, they spotted a herd of elephant on the western bank in the distance. With the intention of having a closer look at the elephant, they steered to the shore. The client jumped out and started climbing up the riverbank, while Gerrit pulled the canoe out of the water to secure it.
An old leopard, injured in a recent territorial fight and lying up at this precise spot on the riverbank, must have been watching the hunters’ silent approach. With his back turned towards the riverbank, Gerrit bent down to secure the rope. Then he heard a terrifying roar. Looking back over his shoulder he saw, to his horror, a leopard flying towards his client, who flung up an arm, trying to shield his throat. In an instant the leopard landed onto the man and fastened his fangs into his prey’s forearm, whereupon man and beast crashed down the bank towards Gerrit.
Lying on top of the unfortunate man, the leopard started to maul him. The only weapon at hand, for Gerrit’s rifle was stacked away in a soft bag on the bottom of the boat, was the paddle. Running up to the scene courageously, he smacked the animal on the back of its neck with all his might. The leopard let go of its prey, and slowly disappeared out of sight onto the riverbank.
Gerrit quickly ran back to the canoe, retrieved his rifle from the bag and ran back up the bank, just in time to see the animal disappear into a cluster of palm bushes. He fired two shots, not knowing whether he had hit or not. But there was no time find out, because the injured hunter on the shore needed help. He was bleeding profusely, but luckily no arteries had been ruptured. Fortunately he was wearing a wristwatch, which prevented one of the lower fangs from penetrating his wrist. Rowing as fast as a set of paddles would allow, Gerrit took him back to camp and dressed the wounds as best he could. Later on, at the Catholic Clinic at Andara, a doctor cut open and cleaned the bite and scratch wounds to prevent infection. Repairing the damage took a total of 30 stitches.
In the meantime, the leopard was declared a problem animal by the Ministry of Environment and the local game warden accompanied Gerrit and his tracker to find it. As it subsequently turned out, it had indeed been wounded by one of Gerrit’s two bullets. Upon inspection of the surrounding area, they realised that the leopard still had to be lying low in the same cluster of palm bushes into which it had disappeared the previous afternoon. The three men squeezed themselves into the cabin of the vehicle, Gerrit placing his rifle across their laps to have it ready in an instant. They slowly drove up to the bushes. Then, from close by, the leopard suddenly charged the vehicle, jumping up and biting into the bull bar. Inside the cabin the terrified passengers clutched onto the rifle for dear life, making it impossible for Gerrit to climb out and shoot.
The leopard backed off, retreating into the bushes and the hunting party regrouped, Gerrit now making sure that nobody could hold onto the rifle in case of a similar event. They approached the bushes. The leopard charged again, this time with fatal consequences – Gerrit shot and killed it.
It turned out to be a very old, exceptionally large animal, weighing 75 kilograms, with extremely worn teeth. On its right hind leg a deep wound, open to the bone, was evidence, most probably, of a territorial fight.
All in all, a great story and the stuff of which adventure is made.
