I am posting this for a PH/friend (Fred Bezuidenhout) from Namibia. I hunted twice with last year in the Caprivi Strip, where Fred does big game (ele, lion, buffalo, leopard) hunts for Kuzikus Safaris. Fred's a former Rhodesian, and an excellent hunter and all round good guy. In addition to guiding in the Caprivi, he and his wonderful wife Rose run a Game Lodge outside of Windhoek, where he does some limited plainsgame hunting.

Day rates are about $230/day for a 12-day hunt, with low trophy fees: kudu $700, oryx $450, springbok $320, warthog $350, red hartebeest $450, and either mountain or Hartman's zebra $650. He also offers package hunts.

Fred forwarded me a price list, which I posted to my webspace. It may load slow, but here is the link: Packages

Fred & Rose also have a website for the Game Farm that includes a bit about the hunting, which is at: Webpage

If anybody is looking to hunt plainsgame in Namibia with one of the country's top PH's, send Fred an email. fredbez@iway.na

Feel free to email me w/general questions, but please contact Fred direct w/anything related to the packages, prices, etc. Regards, Bill

Picture of Fred & I with the 7-foot 2-inch Leopard shot May-03:

ARe these ranch hunts? What is the size of the area they operate?

Fred was my PH this past May and I can vouch for him as well. As a matter of fact, my son and I will be hunting at Kansimba with Fred this next May too. He is a phenomenal guy, expert guide, master SCI measurer, qualified bow hunting guide and on and on. Book a hunt with Fred, you will not regret it. The last I heard from him, he was planning on going to the SCI convention in Reno. He also guides for Kuzikus in the Caprivi (Dr. Fritz Reinhard's concession).

John

I hosted Fred a couple of years ago when he was representing La Rochelle at some shows here and met Rose when she too worked for La Rochelle. He is a good guy. Is this his place? Ku-dude

See next post...

Following is some updated info received from Fred regarding the size of the property and related hunting:

"Our ranch is 25000 acres in size with quite a diverse habitat and terrain, ideal for the glassing and walk/stalk type of hunt, which is the way we conduct hunts here. Believe you me, it is "Fair Chase". We do the hunting of the Eland and Mountain Zebra and all the other animals on our ranch, we do not have to travel else where which helps in not loosing any hunting time by traveling. We do use as normal, a vehicle to move around the property, but, no shooting is done from the car ever. We do use blinds occasionally, only for the sole purpose of trying to shoot a warthog, should we not be successful on foot, which happens quite often, as you could relate to this, these are extremely weary animals and always on the move. I can tell you that even within a fenced area such as this, the hunting is always challenging and not always does the client fill his bag, but goes away satisfied." < !--color-->

Fred's around the farm now, his email is fredbez@iway.na if anybody's interested. Bill

BTT one more time. I've been emailing w/Fred in regards to a tracking/foot hunt for eland + native species in 06 potentially with another PH, and he said that he has openings yet for 2005 for plainsgame on his 50,000 acre farm.

Note also that on the flyer, the trophy fee for warthog should be added and is $350.

Bill, I'd like to learn more about your Leopard hunt. BTW I just sent an e-mail to Fred.

quote:

Originally posted by mark65x55:
Bill, I'd like to learn more about your Leopard hunt. BTW I just sent an e-mail to Fred.

Mark, I shot that leopard in the West Caprivi which separates Botswana from Angola, and it was a "traditional" leopard hunt. I found the process of hunting leopard to be challenging, frustrating, depressing, dull, relaxing, exciting, and ultimately very rewarding. It is like a good chess match, pitting your cumulative wits against that of the leopard. This particular one was hunted twice the year prior but they never got a shot on him. We hunted him for 12-days using all sorts of tricks such as relocating the blind to an open area, baiting for hyena, teaching the lead tracker to drive so he could depart in the truck, etc. He'd visit the bait after dark... and our blind so he obviously knew the game well. After many nights and mornings in the blind, and near the end of the hunt, we were driving to the bait to relocate it to another area as we had given up on this particular cat. As we pulled up, the Game Scout spotted the leopard not more then 150 yards away. I glassed him through the 6x scope and wrote it off to be a hyena. Turned out it was the leopard, who turned and trotted off. We initially left in pursuit, but Fred soon thought better of this and we sat in the blind. After an hour, it must have been about 2 in the afternoon, here he comes trotting in. Not taking any chances with this wily old cat, I shot him before he got to the bait tree/stump.

As others have said on your other thread, typical hunting on the farms in Namibia is a different story. Many/most (excluding the "frozen cats" you hear about) are shot during plainsgame hunts as chance encounters (and the day rates reflect this). There are obviously some areas that are better then others, and some PH's who are particularly successful with this type of hunt. I THINK (I'm no "Expert" ) that night hunting for leopard is prohibited on all land in Namibia, but as there is no Game Scout on private lands, it is commonly done. This means sitting in a blind all night. Before I booked the hunt in the Caprivi, I looked into this and most PH's will tell you straight-up what the odds are. Sometimes they know of a cat and can pattern it somewhat, which increases the odds.

I personally considered a hunt behind dogs with a PH by the name of Cat Briadenhann from Waldeck Safaris (http://www.natron.net/waldeck/index.html). I think (I'm no "Expert" ) they most/all use dog teams out of SA, the difference is their "network" of other farmers who have leopards on their properties. Prior to a hunter coming out, they put the word out there that they are looking for a leopard, and the farmers call when they have a Tom in the area. To some extent one can do this on a hunt without dogs, but not nearly with the same degree of success. And I don't know (I'm no "Expert" ) that this would make for a good "husband/wife" type of hunt.

Fred will be able to tell you what the odds are on his farm, but again, the leopard I shot was in a "big game" area in the West Caprivi strip (which is basically Botswana style hunting but cheaper). If looking at Namibia, somebody else you may want to contact is a German PH by the name of Kai-Uwe Denker who offers leopard hunts in his Nyae Nyae Conservancy (Bushmanland) concession. I understand these are not "fancy" hunts and Denker likes to hunt hard and is passionate about his style of hunting. He advertises a hunt for $5500 + $3500 trophy fee, and says in his flyer after discussing the elephant hunts: "We furthermore offer leopard hunts with very high success rates. The leopards of this area take to bait easily. On both the elephant as well as the leopard safaris several antelope species can be hunted additionally." His email is denkerk@iafrica.com.na. He does not have a website, but email me if you want a copy of his brochure.

Buffalo??

Thanks,

JW

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Wemmer:
Buffalo??

JW, No, buffalo in Namibia are limited to the Caprivi (East Caprivi, see another recent post reg Vaughan Fulton's area, and West Caprivi which is yet to be awarded to an outfitter and here the quota will be only perhaps 8 tags). Lots of options for buffalo, including Zim, Zambia, Tanzania & Mozambique.

Thanks Bill.

Figured as much. Heading to Zim this year, Tanz next most likely.

Appreciate the reply,

JW