I notice Namibia is getting mentioned more and more as an alternative to RSA for hunting. Is it mostly desert or semi desert or are there large areas of thick bush veld similar to the Northern Province of RSA as well?

Regards,

Pete

Semi desert to desert, it's very beautiful and lots of rock outcrops and rocky hills in many areas. I'll try and post some photos when I get a chance.

Pete
I just got back on the 18th, We were 2 hours east of Winhoek. my first inpression was that it looked like New Mexico. The grass was sparse
but knee high and yellow. From the distance it looked like a sea of grass and scrb brush.
but in fact the ground is sparse sand and rocky.
Walking is easy,most of the scrub has thorns includeing a lot of the trees, most of them are no taller than 6 or 8 foot some around 12 or so
very few at 30 foot. There are a few mountian ridges quite steep and rocky but mat very tall.
Ther were no clouds in the sky in 8 out of the 9 days we spent there. You can see the milkyway at night and the southern cross. The country is quite clean and roads well kept where we were.

The trip from the airport to the ranch was beauthyfull and traffic was heavey .We passed 2 cars in two hours of driving.

Its a grat place worth the trip.

JD

overall I feel it is also a better bargain than RSA these days. notice I said overall not in every case.
Daily fees average around $200-$300 1x1 with some less and trophy fees are usually less on the same species.
If you go look to the north for big springbuck and get your Hartman's zebra (no cites for import to USA needed) Good Luck

Namibia is the most affordable African country to hunt. The daily and trophy fees are half the price charged in South Africa. Last April I paid a daily fee of $145 1x1for me and $45 for my wife to go as an observer. My wife and hunted and toured all around Namibia for 21 days, we shot 3 Kudu, 3 Springbok, 2 Steenbok, 2 Oryx, 1 Warthog, and a Hartman Zebra for a total of $9573. If we were to have hunted a similar area in Zim or South Africa we would have paid around $16.000-$20.000.

More game animals than we have birds. The people are honest ond courteous. The climate in the northern half in the country is great.

I could live there.

Very arid and open, although in some areas, the mopane scrub can be quite thick. Populated by large numbers of hardy game animals who need very little if any water to thrive and survive. Big kudu, gemsbok, Hartmann's mountain zebra, springbok, red hartebeest, eland, steenbok, damara dik-dik, klipspringer, and on ranches, many more. Dangerous game, too, including elephant and lion in the north and leopard everywhere.

Then there's the Caprivi, which is completely different, lush and wet in many areas, and more thickly vegetated as a rule. The game is also different. Bigger bodied elephant, cape buffalo, Burchell's zebra, sable, hippo, crocodile, and also lion, leopard, eland and more.

Namibia is underrated in my opinion, but that's changing.

Knowing your hunting questions will be answered let me throw in a plug for Windhoek. Parts of it remind me of European cities(no, not France) or maybe Buenos Aires. It is a GREAT city. Seems very safe. I would not hesitate to rent a car and tour on our own next (third) time.If you go and don't hit Joe's Beer House you have made a critical error!!!

Wonderful, pretty, nice, dry, people are nice, food is good, colors are beautiful, safe, good roads, good hunting and I bet you could not have a bad hunt anyplace in Namibia no matter who you were to book with and I book hunts there. Wife and I will be back there in Sept.
Go to Swakopmund, ride the Desert Express train, Etosha is nice, the Fish River Canyon is big and...you get the picture!

Leaving in early July for six weeks in that beautiful country .. Second year in a row !!!

It's like paradise....just that...

Dry, thick thorn bush, cold at night, plenty of game, nice people, safe, etc,.....as I said...paradise!!!

Richard, beware of the cows...

L

Nice hearing the comments on Namibia. I´m leaving on the 10th of Oct for a 12 day hunt, I´ll be concentrating on desert species. Has anyone ever hunted ostridge?

quote:

my first inpression was that it looked like New Mexico.

Actually it is just like West Texas, but with more Giraffes.

If my photo hosting site is working (it seems to be a bit slow lately) I have pictures of the terrain near Etosha where I hunted at the beginning of the month:

http://www.pbase.com/chelm/namib

Edit: Here are a few samples of the variety of terrain I saw.

quote:

Has anyone ever hunted ostridge?

I did not hunt them, but we saw quite a few, especially in the plains in the early part of the day.

I love hunting in Namibia. I like it better than RSA, and part of the reason is that you simply don't have to travel as much between areas if you're looking for a large, diverse bag of animals. I like to hunt open, arid country more than any other kind, and Namibia fits this preference perfectly.

AD

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

quote:

my first inpression was that it looked like New Mexico.

Actually it is just like West Texas, but with more Giraffes.

If my photo hosting site is working (it seems to be a bit slow lately) I have pictures of the terrain near Etosha where I hunted at the beginning of the month:

http://www.pbase.com/chelm/namib

Where's your complete report on your hunt?

quote:

Originally posted by Rattlesnaker:
Where's your complete report on your hunt?

It is possible that I am just too lazy to write it up...

Was it at least a good trip?

quote:

Originally posted by Rattlesnaker:
Was it at least a good trip?

Yes, I had a good trip. I was primarly looking for a leopard in what is admittedly a very difficult area for leopards. Despite some very promising activity we could not get a leopard on the bait in daylight, which was disappointing but not surprising. I was able to take all of the plainsgame species in which I was interested.

The only problem I find with Namibia is that there is no direct flight from the US, at least not that I am aware of. With all the BS a guy has to go through in SA I would assume that the country would get more Safari business if they had better flight options. It looks like a great place to visit.

quote:

Originally posted by ROSCOE:
The only problem I find with Namibia is that there is no direct flight from the US, at least not that I am aware of. With all the BS a guy has to go through in SA I would assume that the country would get more Safari business if they had better flight options. It looks like a great place to visit.

If you check your luggage though to Windhoek and do not leave the international section of the terminal in Johannesburg you should never technically enter South Africa at all (from a customs/immigration/rifle permit standpoint), assuming they do not change the rules. That does not mean that your guns will arrive the same time you do...

The immigration/customs/firearms part of entering and leaving Namibia was very easy, even going though South Africa. It helps to fill out your import permit in advance. My only problem was that my rifle case was on a later flight than me.

Pretty much all of Namibia is dry, but dry varies from dry to DRY. Just a ton of different vegetation types. The country has fabulous colours, even in Winhoek you notice the light...

A lot of Namibia is very open, so it is one of the (few) African countries, where it makes sense to bring a rifle/caliber suited to longer shots (e.g. a big .300 or a .338). Namibia has great game populations, both free ranging and fenced. Naturally, the main species are the dry country species such as Oryx, Kudu, Hartebeest, Springbok etc. Apart from the safari areas in the very far north, it is probably fair to say that countries receiving more rain have a greater variety of game. But that does not mean there is a scarcity in Namibia!!

Being an old German colony, there is a strong German influence, and it shows in the quality of the Namibian PH education. From the days when South Africa ran Namibia, a lot of Afrikaans speaking farmers also live in Namibia. Almost all everybody speaks English as well, very cosmopolitan. Strong ties are maintained both to SA and the Germany. In days past, most foreign hunters probably came from the German speaking part of the World, although that is slowly changing these days.

The Namibians have set up wonderful conservacies, where all interior game fencing has come down, and you hunt huge tracts of land. If you go to the right places, you'll even find mountains and with that great hunting on foot.

- mike

After reading all of the postings it seems to me that there a few things that are being left out. Like what time of year you are thinking of going. In October and November it starts getting hot and then the rains come, sometimes. The first of the year, hunting that is, is in May and they have the green grasses all over the place, trees were budding out in November. I just don't remember many bugs being a problem in September, but in November it seemed there were a bunch of them, with the new growth and rains. This is in the Northern area of the country, Otavi area. Planes game can be gotten all of the hunting season. If you want cooler weather go in May to September . After that it starts to warm up some. The first time I was there all I could do was to think it was like out West with rolling hills, mountains in the distance and the like. After I got to looking closer then things changed as there were different kinds of trees, and very different kinds of animals hiding behind them trying to get some shade during the middle of the day. The only issue that they have is lack of fresh water where we were. They tell you not to waste it.

Dry and rocky. It is a lot like Arizona.