Top_Heavy's World

The evening of August 11, was very special, that day was my first wedding anniversary. Not many men are able to say they wished their wife "Happy Anniversary" from a satelite phone in Africa! I will never forget long pauses and then the clicks and static between what we said... After all of these years I am still married to that beautiful woman and she still puts up with my crazy adventures.
I was in Africa with a man from Iowa named Denny. I won't bore you with Denny much, he got into a lot of trouble on this safari, tonight is part of why! Denny was in Africa to shoot a leopard and a sable. The sable was fairly easy, there were several nice bulls on the ranch... and Denny wasn't picky. He shot a nice 36" bull, not really a trophy due to size, but a bull none the less. Tonight, August 11, would be one of the biggest mistakes a hunter can make.
The baits had been hung and checked for several days, an average leopard had been patterned and a blind was constructed. Denny, a drunk... perhaps that is unfair, he might have only been drunk everytime I saw him and not a true drunk by definition... the part time PH and the hunter (Denny) were drinking in the blind to try and create enough courage to sit in the bush in the dark, when noises could be heard on the bait tree. The reastat was turned and the light beam was slowly increased until the cat was visible and Denny shot it at 50 yards with a .375 H&H Magnum. They brought the cat back to camp and we all shared in the story. The blood running down his face was worth having to hear the story over and over again, and his drunken spitting and horrible whiskey breath added flavor to the vulgar references to manhood created by overcoming fears. Anyway... I had brought a very serious first aid kit, and it came in handy as I had to patch Denny's eyebrow where he was busted by the massive recoil. He wasn't ready for stitches, I am very good with a #5 line and a small fish hook needle, but the alcohol must have been wearing off... or his bravery was, so I used butterfly closures and cleaned him up. Denny would later be sentenced to 5 years of probation and loss of international hunting priveledges, in part for shooting this young female, that was still nursing cubs, a CITES violation!
The leopard was fantastic! The hair was almost nondirectional, you could rub it in any direction and it still felt like velvet. The black spots were fantastic, each a little different, all as deep in color as the depth of the ocean. The back drop for these dark patches was a gold, as brilliant as the sun. About 7' long with the tail, she wasn't a huge cat, but her claws, teeth and huge eyes were made to do one thing... hunt! I was able to hold, examine and photograph the majestic creature before the skinners took her. I am glad Denny lost the skin in the raid on his farm house, his slob American style was/is nothing that I want to be compared to.

I am sorry if I sound confused, bitter, and still sort of dissappointed in this story. This man really hurt my trip, the memories, the flight home with me where he got drunk and wouldn't sut up, the customs officers that came to my house and questioned me about Denny, the phone calls and threats I received by his friends who believed I turned him in... I might have... The only bad part of an African Safari, is the people you have to share camp with!