Lion Hunt

IT STARTED WITH a telepho all from Toon Gilfillan, a friend who farmed in the Kar ear Middleburg in the Cap How would you like to go to Botswana and hunt that buffalo you’ve been talking about b for o long?” he asked. “I would like that very much,” I answered, “there’s only one problem: I can’t afford it.” At that, Toon offered to pay for me and said I was to pay him back whenever I could afford to. It took me only a second to see that this was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

There were four hunters on the safari: Toon Gilfillan; Charlie Ayliff, a friend who farmed near Toon; Attie Louw, a doctor from Middleburg who I knew from springbuck shoots at Toon’s farm; and me. We were joined by Toon’s wife, Antoinette, and the pilots of the two light aircraft; Ted Baines, who had