no ph in Africa will allow you to take anyother shot than at a non feeding cat straight up the rear of the front leg 1/3 the way up the body...if one tells you to try for a head shot or something else you'd better find a new PH and if you go into camp with a big (50MM) scope that has a varible range over 9X you're really tagging yourself. Most any leapord hunt I ever heard of for a baited cat has shots well under 100 yds...most under 50 yds. If your doing a hound hunt a low power such as a 2x with heavy crosshairs is your best bet
a good all around scope is 2x7x40 or 42
Buy yourself a copy of Robertson's Perfect Shot and study that.

your average shot distance for leopard would be about 50-75 yards, but in a low light situation. depending on what else you may be hunting, and the number of rifles to be taken, a lower power scope for the leopard will be fine. if you will be taking longer shots, as for zebra or gemsbok, then a 3-9x40 would be more practical for the whole hunt. most of my PHs have preferred a scope on my rifles.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm looking very forward to my Namibian trip.

I'm curious about the "lost luggage" aspects of a Namibian trip. Does this happen often? Rarely? I'd hate to arrive in Windhoek withOUT my rifle or suitcase. I travel light, so I think I would only with two suitcases, rifle and personal items.

Where can I access this information? I know many hunters, but NONE who have been to Africa.

Thanks again.

the majority of lost/hassles luggage i have seen were on united, delta, and south african air. i flew lufthansa on my last trip from houston to frankfurt and had no problems at all, then air namibia to windhoek and againa no problems. both of these were direct flights.