I hunted few times in Namibia, but never in the Caprivi. After many years in Zim, Im'very curious to visit this very famous hunting place. In the Hunting Report I saw a couple of very interesting reports of last november about two elephant hunts conducted from John Wamback in a concession in the West caprivi. Both the hunters took very big tuskers and saw very many Buffaloes and Sables. Now I have contacted John for a Sable hunt there in early July, but I havent the idea of the sable trophy quality in the area and if that is the same of the nearest Zambia or Zimbabwe. Maybe I can add to my a leopard or a buffalo. Also I dont know if so early in the season the herds are subject to migration as I saw in others posts regarding the area of Vaughann Fulton in the past years.
Who have hunted in this area ?

Hey Mario, do a search on "Caprivi" and you will get a lot of hits, some for the WEST Caprivi (Strip) and others for the EAST Caprivi. Be careful to differentiate between these areas when reading the posts.

I wanted to hunt Botswana but couldn't justify the cost at the time. So I hunted the WEST Caprivi [Strip] which is basically the same environment, twice in 03 - April and October, offering two very different hunts. It was very pretty in April with a lot of game (especially elephant, some real nice ones too), and terribly hot and somewhat bleak in October (didn't see even one buffalo track, but still some ele bulls hanging around).

The owner of the concession at the time, Fritz Reinhard, who had it for some 8-years then, said that he suggested all buffalo hunts take place early in the year (by June, July at the latest and then one needed to hope for late rains) while there is a better then reasonable chance of water in the pans and mud holes. If not, the buffalo move off to Botswana (maybe Angola now too that the war is over). Or, end of the season (November) providing the early rains (thunderstorms) come on schedule. They shot some nice buff bulls in February and March. Disclaimers….things change year to year and in a wet year it would be totally different, others will have different opinions, this does not apply to elephant hunting, and again the two WEST concessions are different then the various EAST concessions.

Leopards can be tuff, although this is where I shot mine. I think I was lucky, although it took 12-days to get this luck!

The Sable I saw were excellent, and with just a few on quota (like just 2/yr at that time), quality was awesome (my PH was shooting 44"+). More important to me, in the sand they can be TRACKED, offering a very sporting way to hunt such a magnificent trophy. I hunted and shot a Southern Roan in this manner (Oct hunt, okay time for them actually given their habits), but there was no Sable on quota. With so little, available, they was being sold w/the expensive "Big 4" hunts. But if you want to track your Sable, this might be the place, just have to drive by any 45-inchers that you see along the road!!!

What are the expected costs for Ellie in the Caprivi?

They were reasonable last season when Dirk was doing them. The new operator has jacked the prices up a lot, can't remember the actual number but there are no bargains. I think $40K?

Allan Cilliers had some deals last season due to the late offering. Rumor was that a group of Spanish hunters bought all he had and came out with a remarkable bag in just a few days. I heard he was at SCI reno and don't know how he is priced or booked this seson

I hunted elephant with Vaughn this past summer, and the elephant hunting in the east was excellent. We did not see many plains game animals at that time (late August), but we were not looking for them either. Kudude

Bill C.
nice to hear you. Thanks for the infos: I saw your reports about the hunts in the Caprivi but I had the impression you have seen not many Sable or Roan.

The cost charged from Mr. Wamback are approx. 10.000 for a sable hunt, 40.000 for an elephant, 12.000 for a buffalo.
In the hunts mentioned on the reports of November the cost for an elephant hunt were 25.000. But probably the reason is because they are late in the season hunts.

Allan Cilliers has Kwando in the Caprivi and 14 day elephant only is $23000 plus a $12000 trophy fee. Not really too bad when you consider that a realistic expectation is a 60 pounder if you are willing to look over a few bulls.

Mark

seems that in the Caprivi and generally in northern Namibia, at this time, the elephant trophy quality is very high. More that in Zimbabwe.
But at the moment I dont look for an elephant. I prefer looking for horned antelopes and the Sable is still not in my pocket.

Mario,

Allan gets one sable on quota. Last year he took a 46". A tracking hunt for leopard plus buff (38"-40+)and sable would be $29,950 plus trophy fees for 1x1 16 days.

Mark

mark, thank you for the proposal, but I look only for a weekof hunt