on the hunt in the selous in 1989 we were driving along one of the many sand river beds looking to see what was around, and to put a lion bait up. as we were slowly motoring along we saw a couple of lionesses in the bushes and grass on the edge of the sand. alistair decided to get the trackers and game scout to throw the bait out in the middle of the sand river bed to see if a good male might come out so we could then set baits up. things didnt quite go to plan.......as we werent far away when two 3/4 grown lions came running out of the bushes and picked up the bait and started running off! alistair wasnt too happy with this as it was our only spare bait at the time, so chased the lions and as they jumped into a gulley in the river bank that was approx the same height as the cruiser bonnet alistair launched himself out of the cruiser and grabbed the part of the bait that was in reach. the cruiser didnt have a cab on it, so there were we ( me in the passenger seat and my brother and trackers and game scout on the hunting seat or standing in the back) staring in amazement at alistair screaming and shouting at the lions while holding on to his end of the bait, and the lions a few feet away growling and having a tug of war with alistair over the bait!!!!! i stood to the side with my .416 (rigby of course
) wondering what the f--k was going on or going to happen, as the shouting and growling intensified. the game scout now was shouting at ali to let go and give it to the lions ,with ali telling him in no uncertain fashion the &%^?@&*&%£ etc lions wernt having his last bait. now the game scout had only recently come back to work at the camp, as the staff were drying a load of meat, and as in those days there were huge amounts of hyaenas around they had the meat drying in and around their sleeping area so they could guard it, but one night if i remember his name correctly joseph the game scout neeeded a pee so he got up and walked into a lion that then attacked him not too badly but enough for him to now be having a total meltdown with ali due to the lions being way too close for him.....this continued for what seemed ages but was probaly 3 or 4 minutes when joseph shouted to ali he would allow us to shoot another animal for bait if he let go. now ali between shouting abuse at the lions started to negotiate what animal we could shoot
and until joseph agreed to a hartebeest and ali made him repeat it for good measure did ali let go............i said what the f--k would have happened if the lions decided to have a go at you ? and he laughed and said you had the .416 so not a problem!!!!!!!! oh if only they had made small video cameras in those days
ali hope they have some good scotch and port where you have gone.
