BIG-GAME HUNTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20690, 9 October 1930, Page 14

BIG-GAME HUNTERS.

AUCKLANDERS IN RHODESIA. GOOD SPORT OBTAINED. " ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE." Three New Zealand sportsmen who left Auckland last May on a big-game bunting expedition to Northern Rhodesia have written to an Auckland friend describing their adventures in the country north of the Zambesi. Mr. John Holmes, of Frankton, is tho leader of tho party, and his companions are Mr. Alec. McKinnon, of Auckland, formerly of Pukemiro, and Mr Harold Thomas, of Auckland. Mr. Holmes is paying his second visit to Rhodesia In 1925, with the late Mr. W. R. Twigg, of Auckland, ho undertook an expedition into the north-western part of the territory, where Mr. Twigg met his death in an encounter with a lion.

In a lettor prefixed, "Out in tho wilds" and dated August 3, Mr. Holmes states that although the party is hunting a month too early and tho grass is very long, making shooting very difficult, their collection of heads is growing rapidly. They have already bagged two sitatunga, two buffalo, an eland, three good pukn heads and two Warthogs, besides sassaby and reedbuck.

"We are now approaching tho best game country round here and hope to bag some elephants," he writes. We have seen elephants, lions and leopards. We were passing along a native track one day when we heard a pig give & squeal in tho bush. I went in to see, as the boys said the pig was being killed by a lion. They were in high grass, so wo climbed up a tree in order to see. I was looking on the ground for tho lion, when I discovered it was a leopard in a neighbouring tree. It had killed the pig, about 301b. in weight, and taken it up into the tree. I just got a glimpse of it as it bounded down.

"It is almost impossible to bag either a lion or a leopard in the long grass. Most of them about hero are shot from platforms in trees. Later on, after the grass is burnt, the shooting will be much better. Mr. Thomas shot a fine python, about 12ft. long, one day. I shot a largo tree snake over Oft. long. Altogether we have accounted for some half-dozen of these reptiles. Both Mr. McKinnon and Mr. Thomas are very enthusiastic about the shooting, and are as keen as mustard. They are enjoying every minute of the time and shooting very well. "The climate is excellent at this time of the year, and, being about 4500 ft. above sea-level, the heat is not great except for a couple of hours in the afternoon. As I write we are camped on the watershed between the Congo and Luangwa, the Congo flowing to the west and the Luangwa to the east into the Zambesi. Thing? have changed a great deal since 1 was over here in 1925. I think, on the whole, game is much scarcer, but there are good elephants still to bo got if one could only get into the Luangwa Valley. Mr. Hill, the magistrate at M'pika, shot a splendid bull elephant lately. The tusks were over 901b. in weight. I expect we will be very lucky if we get ours 401b." 5