An unprecedented experience
I watched intently, sitting at the base of a large Lebombo ironwood tree as a troop of baboons gingerly made their way down to drink at one of the many natural pans that dotted the concession I was hunting on, controlled by Booysen Safaris in Mozambique
The youngsters in the troop, full of energy and oblivious to the pending danger, continued to tease and torture one another. The morning hunt had been unsuccessful. The herd had managed to give us the slip and had successfully beaten us to the two-kilo metre exclusion zone with Zimbabwe and melted away. A harsh alarm bark reverberated through the bush as a martial eagle with its two metre wingspan soared over the canopy. The troop scattered as he perched on a tree across the way from us. He was absolutely majestic and, weighing in at 6.5 kg, is fully capable of knocking an adult male off his feet.