The First Leopard
The famed tiger hunter goes after a cat of a different stripe. A simple bird hunt turned into an unforgettable encounter with dangerous game for Jim Corbett.
The Old Man’s Leopard and the Omen
It had to be an evil omen. The first glow of the sun eased out the night and pinked the peaks of the majestic Water Berg Range. Towering mountains, like a series of huge waves about to crash onto the land below and a crumbling old stone house guarded by flat-topped...
Mamba By Any Other Name
It had happened so incredibly fast. The snake had bitten him before he could even think of reacting. And now he was alone, a wave of nausea wracking his entire body. He was going to die.
Man Is The Prey
James Clarke has lived in Africa since his early 20s and was news editor of The Star in Johannesburg when his book, Man Is the Prey, was published in 1969. Clarke leads us on an investigation into the curious and unpredictable actions and motives of the leopard, a...
Man-Eaters: Tiger, Tiger, in the Night
Elsewhere, man-eaters were quickly shot. In Corbett’s India, they kept killing. Deeply rutted pads and a cleft across the right forefoot distinguished the prints of the eldest cat. The toes were also exceptionally long. By February 1929, the tigers – by their sign an...Night of the Leopard
As night fell, a dense bank of fog from the Indian Ocean pushed inland over the Mozambique coast, blocking the moonlight and cloaking the forest in darkness. Condensation that had formed high in the jungle canopy literally rained down onto the leaf litter below. Just...
Sharing Shelter with the African Leopard
Whether a croc or leopard, the brave young woman handled each close encounter with the same degree of calmness. Mary left the dugout canoe and started to walk through a forest. The rain was coming down hard, but it was warm rain, not the cold rain of her native...
Death In The Dust
The author discovers “the most thrilling experience of my life” when a cow elephant decides to get even. It was Rick Stoeckel’s second African hunt. As with most, he had cut his teeth on plains game and couldn’t wait to return for something big. By the time our...
Standoff in Lion Country
There’s a grumpy old lioness that’s been causing all kinds of trouble. This one could get exciting ’cause she’s almost certain to charge on sight.