Phil had become a very good friend of hunter Jeff and his family. Jeff had taken several of Africa’s cats over the years but wanted to go on one last big cat safari, and wanted Phil as his guide. The Save Valley Conservancy is one of the finest hunting areas in Zimbabwe, one of the largest privately owned game reserves in the world, stretching for over 700 000 acres of southeastern Zimbabwe, an area that Jeff had hunted before. Jeff chose the Sango area of the Save to come with his wife Molly and two other friends from the United States. Molly had been on a few of Jeff’s wild excursions, but it was his friends’ first African hunting experience.
Sango is the largest concession in the Save valley conservancy and stretches for over 60000 hectares or 600 square kilometers of this incredible game haven. In the east of Sango, along the Save river, 15000 hectares has been set aside for photographic safaris.
They boarded a Cessna Caravan in Harare after flying via Dubai and Johannesburg and after an hour landed on the bush airstrip in the Save Valley to be welcomed by Phil Smythe, the tracking team, and the Sango Lodge staff. I immediately took a liking to the young man - I could see there was no pretence or macho image. His humor was apparent in our first meeting.
On several previous safaris, a leopard had fed on baits that Phil had set out a few kilometers from the Sango Lodge. This tom had always fed once only on a
