What an experience! The people were great and the hunting was an experience that will be etched in my memorey for life. My father and I harvested Oryx, Kudu, Steenbuck, Springbok, Red Hartebeest and I was fortunate enough to take a mountain zebra north of Windhoek.

Thanks to all of the voices of experience here for gear and traveling advice. One of the gentlemen in our party had hunted the ranch before, but the information I got from this site was very helpful. The simple words and phrases in Afrikaans I learned was also of great help and added some spice to the hunt. I'll post more later, but this was a wonderful first time to the continent. What a difference in hunting style from my norm of whitetail in Michigan and Indiana. The most special moment was video taping a cheetah with my dad in a waterhole tree blind. We were the only one that actually got video tape of a cheetah at the ranch. Only a few have even been sighted by other hunters. To see the look on my dad's face, a truck driver by trade(and turning 61 years old the day we got back to the states), was priceless. He was ready to book another hunt before we even left.
I'll post again soon when I get my work caught up in a few days.

Thanks again to all and to Saeed for this site.

Chuck

I am look foward to reading about you adventures.

T.A.

great to hear you had a good trip!

Now, Photo's!!!!

Kurick1, Okay times up! Where's the report and pictures? Just kidding, glad you had a good trip, my Dad was supposed to go with me this year but had both his knees replaced instead! Where you live in Detroit? I was born in Redford Township. Can't wait for the details. Joe

Kurick,
Congratulations on your hunt and for doing it with your dad! That makes it doubly special. Who was your outfitter and PH? Look forward to your pix.

Did your dad get to use that 416 Model 70 he bought from me in Bedford TX?

Glad you had a good hunt.

Well here it goes. I'll give this a shot. We hunted with Jan Visser at Klawerberg Game Ranch. He has a huge area that he owns and belongs to a conservancy also. We also hunted with a friend of his on his ranch north of Windhoek in the mountains for mountain zebra. I used a Remington Model 700 in 338 Ultra Mag with a 225 gr Barnes X bullet at about 2985 fps. a Leupold Vari X II 3x9x40 and a safari sling(a life saver on long stalks) from Cabelas. Per advise here I bought a pair of Russels, no blisters and very comfortable.
My first animals was the Steenbok, I got this bugger at about 35 yards while on a stalk for a gemsbok.
My dad with his Steenbuck
Being a first timer I was not used to having to pull the trigger so quick. I missed the first huge bull Gemsbok we saw at 50 yards. Talk about buck fever and cardiac arrest when he popped up that close. The second day my friend and I both got mountain zebras. This one is a huge mare. She was very old and from what everyone said was huge. We thought it was the stallion. Her teeth were almost gone but she was still healthy. A break line broke on the truck and we ended up having to play MacGyver with a plastic piece off a sunglasses case and a hose clamp. We finished the rest of the day with 3 brakes and were able to get my buddies mountain zebra stallion. We were out of radio range at that point, so that will be a story to remember.
Then we get into me trying to redeem myself for missing the first gemsbok and screwing the pooch again by shooting the wrong one. She was pretty but had a messed up horn. Jan took pitty on me and let me shoot another animal, this nice bull.
Then we got the hartebeest that evening. This one could read and write according to Jan. He had outsmarted several hunters for a couple of years. I made a long shot beyond my ability(bad decision), but we got the animal within an hour after the first shot. I was just a few inches low, and took the leg out. These animals are capable of amazing speeds with only three legs.
The next day was spent chasing Kudu that thought they were Klipspringers up in the hills. We chased several bulls for 5 hours and couldn't get them to turn for a good shot. This fat boy was tired after that. We were able to take this awesome springbok at 314 long paces( about 1 meter per step). What a stalk, we crawled hands and knees forever and got caught several times setting the herd in motion and us getting up and running behind them. This was just too cool, we caught up to them and got this great ram in the late evening(thus the dark pictures) My last animal was my kudu, he was a great representation, but I really wish we could have caught up to the old and wide bulls we had seen in previous days. The ivory tips are cool though. Oh, make fun if you like I creeped up on the scope and cracked myself a couple of times. Some people have tatoos to remember an event, I put scope dings on my forehead to remember my animals. Below are some of my dad's animals as well. His kudu bull was really old and just a special trophy for him.

My buddy Mike shot a mountain zebra and this awesome blesbok.
I've got some more photos I'm working on of eland, the cheetah that came to the water, the giraffes and other stuff.
Sorry about the length, but I'm still so excited about the experience I didn't know when to stop. My dad was ready to book again before we left. Our experience has been priceless. Oh, he used a Weatherby 375 H&H 270 gr Barnes XlC and a Weatherby 280 Remington 160 gr Barnes XlC.

Very Nice! Thanks for the great pictures. We can read the excitement you feel, and that is what it is really all about.

An excellent hunt with friends and family -- what else can you ask for?

Harry, We got the rifle for our collection, I'm the lefty in the family. I decided not to take it with us because my dad and our friend thought they would do some bird hunting. I just took the 338 RUM and an over/under shotgun. Hopefully the 375 will either go as a backup/plainsgame rifle or be rebarreled to a 458 Lott. Not sure at this point, I'm planning a Kahles 1.5-6 by the end of the year though.

Another note:::
Every experience teaches you a lesson and I've come to the conclusion I should have opted for a lighter bullet in my case. I think I'll go with a 185 grain Barnes the next time for flatter trajectory on plains game. The bullets held together very well (225 grain Barnes X I recovered two out of the Oryx everything else was a pass thru). I could have used the slightly flatter trajectory and could have taken advantage of a slightly higher velocity. I was also impressed with the performance of a 160 grain Barnes XLC in a 280 Remington. If I were a two rifle man, I would own a 300 Win mag and a 375 H&H for all around hunting. I like oddball cartridges, but I was really impressed with my friends 300 Winnie even with bullets I don't think I would have used (Hornady SST factory). The bullets performed very well for him.

The cheapest item I forgot to bring was a scope bikini to keep out the dust. The lens pen was a life saver. The limbsaver recoil pad was awesome too. I also found that wide brimmed hats were great for sun protection but were a pain on a long stalk. My wife bought me a carribeaner style watch that was cool, I was able to hang my military black leather gloves off it when not in use. It also has a red led light. I was nicknamed "Inspector Gadget" for all the little things I had.

My only negative experience with the whole trip was the travel agent when the chips were down and South African Airlines with the strike and them not telling the truth to there customers.