Non-exportable bull elephant hunt, eastern Caprivi, Namibia
Dates- 19 May-9 June, 2015
Outfitter-Ndumo Safaris, PH-Karl Stumpfe
Airlines used- United/Emirates( business class)to Joburg, SAA to Kasane
Rifle used- camp rifle- Winchester M70, 416 Rem caliber with Trijicon reflex open sight

as an FYI, this trip was my 2nd elephant hunt with Karl(fourth with him overall), my 13th safari, but the first time on safari for my fiancee- and she absolutely loved it. We are already planning to go back next Sept for another elephant. It was a 10 day hunt but Karl had told us that if we wanted to come 1-2 days early to fish, relax, and get over jet lag for starting the hunt, that would be fine( and at no additional cost).That's what we did and it worked great. After the hunt, we spent 3 days in Kasane visiting Chobe NP, then transferred to Vic Falls for 4 days of further sightseeing. I will touch briefly on the non hunting parts, as well as the travel itself but generally skip the details.
19 May-20 May- Departure from Columbia SC to Washington, then Emirates to Joburg via Dubai. overnight at African Sky Guesthouse( great place and people)
21 May- fly to Kasane Bots on SAA. met there by Karl's camp manager( Gerhardt). 3 hours later pitched up at the Sikunga camp on the Zambezi.On the drive through Chobe NP, Becky got to see her first wild elephants up close.If there is 1 thing the park has, it's PLENTY of elephants!!




sundowners, dinner, and early to bed.
22 May- slept late( 7:30) then spent the morning fishing, with decent luck
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drove into Katima Mulilo in the afternoon, picked up Karl at the airport( he had been in Windhoek on business), then drove on to Sobbe camp, where the hunt would occur. It was good the see the trackers and staff I had hunted with previously. The reports were good- lots of elephants in the area, as well as lions visiting the camp environs nightly. This got Becky's attention......
22 May- up at 05:30, breakfast, quick check of the Trijicon( as an aside, I really like this sight- it had a post with a lighted red triangle on top). everything spot on. The sight used available light only( no battery), which became a slight issue later.5 minutes after leaving camp, we spotted a herd of roan with several nice bulls( this became a very frequent occurrence)and quickly found a lot of cow, calf, and small bull elephant tracks. Saw several groups of elephants near the "road" but no shooters. Back to camp for lunch and a siesta. Out again about 15:30 and found a cow herd that intermittently had a nice bull track mixed in. Took up the spoor and closed with them but the bull had buggered off. The brush was really thick as the mopani hadn't dropped it's leaves yet. Out of this mess came 2 cows on what turned out to be a bluff charge, which we shouted down and turned at about 15 yards. It made for some good video footage. Becky had asked Karl in advance what to do in a charge and was told to absolutely stay put until he said to run. This she did, even though the game scout and 2 assistant trackers hightailed it. I was pleased and proud, as was she! overall it was a good first day of hunting. As an aside, a non exportable elephant permit allows you to shoot either sex. I had a great opportunity to shoot a large cow with very nice. symetrical ivory but passed on it. Why shoot a cow when you can shoot a bull??? And there was no shortage of elephants in the area, so it was just a matter of patience.
24 May- out early. today we saw more plains game than I have ever seen in this concession- and the most common was roan! Lota of zebra, giraffe, sable. Saw a few small elephant herds but nothing tempting.
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25 May- Memorial Day- and it certainly was...
in the morning, the only bull tracks we found were leaving the concession heading into the adjacent NP. after lunch/siesta, things were the same until about 16:30, when we found 3 bull tracks crossing the road.We were about 1 hour behind them so we had to move fast to close in before dark. Luckily the soil was mostly sand and fast tracking was no problem- except for the effort required to move quickly though the thick brush that was usually over head high.According to the GPS, it was a brutal 4 1/2 miles covered in an hour and a half. At 18:00 we spotted the bulls and Karl and I moved in. It was rapidly getting dark and we had less than 15 minutes of legal shooting light left to close things out.At 15 yards Karl said wait until he turns his head a bit more, then brain him( he was facing at a mild angle left to right). I had a bit of difficulty picking out the left ear hole on his dark body in the fading light and the lighted triangle was none too bright either. Bottom line, though is I missed the brain. He fell but was back up almost immediately, wheeled around and proceded to bugger off parallel to us, right to left.. Karl slammed 2 chest shots into him with his .577 which had no visible effect( although post mortem showed they would have been fatal shortly). By then, I was reloaded and ready to roll( all this took place in probably less than 6-8 seconds). I found his ear hole, lead him a bit, then whacked him again. The effect was dramatic- hind quarters collapse, trunk straight up, then fore quarters collapse.What should have happened with the first shot and no excuses on my part...The largest bull in the group proceed to charge but we successfully shouted it down. I walked up, paid the insurance, and it was done. A Memorial Day to remember. It was too dark to take any pictures, so we headed out to the nearest road( about a 1/2 mile away) and called in the truck. That little hike was a real bitch in the dark, as I had neglected to throw my flashlight in my pack. It didn't help me much sitting on the night stand by our bed in camp! Becky was not too pleased as she worried about snakes and lions( we had killed a 4' black mamba in camp the first day). On arrival in camp, the staff greeted us with Jaegermeister shots and a victory dance. Too many sundowners and an excellent dinner followed but who cares- tomorrow we sleep in a bit, then go retrieve the elephant and take some pictures.

26 May-With a crew of 10 villagers and the camp guys, we cut a road in to the kill site the next morning. 2 Land Cruisers and a trailer made retrieval easier.A lot of pictures were taken and Wilhelm( Karl's head tracker) talked Karl into letting him fire the .577 at the elephant. He weighs about 125 lbs( maybe) and is about 5'10" and is 55+ years old. Needless to say, the shot rocked him backward, although to his credit, he held on and hit where he aimed.
road building









buried skull


We left before the actual processing started and went back to camp for an afternoon of leisurely reading and relaxing. Gerhardt( camp manager) and Johaness( the appy) left in mid afternoon for Katima, then on to Windhoek for a short vacation/break from working- there first in several months...
27 May- we moved back to Sikunga camp for a few days of fishing/total relaxation.
28 May- 30 May For the next 3 full days, we did absolutely nothing that required any effort. Fish, fiddle about, read, relax. It was glorius.









my left arm after brush bashing chasing the elephants. The other arm and both legs looked about the same


31 May. Karl drove us to Kasane where we had reservations at the Chobe Sfari Lodge, right on the Chobe River and a few miles from the national park. After lunch, Karl flew home for some quality family time before his next hunt and we began part 2 of our vacation. This concludes the actual hunt report. Over the next few days, I will post more pictures and narrative about our stays in Kasane and Vic Falls.....

Congratulations, and keep it coming!

Jerry,

Love the smile on Becky's face. It says it all.

Cheers
Jim

I haven't been to the new camp yet...looks great. Karl in a beard?

the beard came off the day he headed home for a family visit. I wonder why???????? the new camp is very nice. the jacuzzi should be finished by now.....

Congrats on a wonderful hunt...well done

Congratulations on a fine safari. Very successful all around!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Congrats again on another great adventure!

Thanks for the report, love hunting those eles. The cows can add some excitement too.

Hey Jerry -

Looks like you and the GF had a terrific time with Karl. I particularly enjoyed the camp pics as when Beau and I were last there The construction was underway but nothing had been completed. I did predict it would be a beautiful camp located on a back bay of the mighty Zambezi River. Your pics confirm my prediction.

Nice own use bull, BTW. You always seem to do well in that category with Karl's Ndumo Safaris. Weight?

don't know the weight as the tusks were pulled after i left and i never bothered to follow up. Karl guessed them to be 20-25 lbs. camp had changed quite a bit since i was there with my BIL last June. raised walkways connected the chalets and boma, extended pier out from the boma, another pier for the boat to tie up to, new furniture, hot tub, etc.

A fantastic trip Jerry! Well done and an excellent elephant bull. I am glad the lady liked it as well... she is definitely a keeper!

Very nice Jerry!

I remember Wilhelm, he was the lead tracker on my Namibia plains game hunt back in 2008. I remember that he was always smiling, I enjoyed his company.

Congrats - thanks for sharing

Morten

Thats the way to do it. Well done all round and Karl delivers once again.

Awesome hunt, and one I dream of experiencing someday.

Well done on another great ele hunt. Lovely camp and great set up ,
Namibia is definitely on my radar now!!!

Cheers

Nick

Congrats on a fine hunt! Thanks for sharing your report and experience.

Congratulations on a wonderful hunt!

Thanks for the report and great photos. Congrats.

Jerry,

Well done!

Mark

Good stuff

Mike

a fantastic experience. Contrats. Did you seen many shootable bulls?

Jerry,

Well done, a couple weeks hunting with Karl, a nice bull

elephant & Jaeger shots. Doesn't get much better than that!

Congrats,

Jim

Congrats on a fine hunt - thanks for sharing your report!

quote:

Originally posted by Mario:
a fantastic experience. Contrats. Did you seen many shootable bulls?

yes. the bull that was with the one i shot and bluff charged was a nice 40+ lb bull.

well done

Congratulations on your hunt, Jerry. Smart, good test for a fiancee--she passed. Congratulations there as well.

Jim

Loved reading your report. Congrats on a fine safari. Steve

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
I will post more pictures and narrative about our stays in Kasane

I have traveled over quite a bit of Africa but I can say that Kasane was one of my favorite places. I look forward to reading that report.

Fantastic report Jerry. Glad all is well.

Will

Hunt Report part 2

This part is for anyone interested in the after hunt trip we took to Kasane/Chobe NP and then Vic Falls.
May 31 We arranged an afternoon game drive by boat up the Chobe River into the Park, leaving about 15:00 and returning about 18:30 to the dock at the lodge- just a few steps from our room. We saw huge numbers of elephants, buffalo, and the usual assortment of plains game coming down to the river and also wading/swimming out to the various islands.









our room was very nice and a real bargain with a favorable exchange rate.


1 June. wildlife was abundant on the lodge grounds and all around our veranda.




that's our room on the bottom floor in the middle





We took an afternoon game drive into the park. Again the usual assortment, mainly elephants.



maribou stork with the moon behind him


2 June. We took the day off and lounged around the pool. Caught up on emails( hotel had wifi) and put a dent in the bar supplies.

June3. We hired a driver for the 2 hour transfer to Vic Falls. No problems at the border and a scenic drive. When we arrived in town, we went straight to Shearwater Adventures office and booked the evening booze cruise above the Falls. Then on to the Hotel( The Kingdom at Vic Falls- very nice indeed and again, a bargain). We were on the river by 15:30. I will pick up the narrative from here later.

Way to go.
Was that Karl playing a video game in the boat?
Ha ha ha

June 3- We arrived in Vic Falls about 13:00 and immediately arranged to go on the 15:30 booze cruise above the Falls. saw a lot of game, especially elephant


the hotel was very nice, well priced and an easy walk to the Falls or town center.



June 4 slept in,arranged to take the afternoon helicopter flight. what a way to see the Falls!



June 5- decided to take a ride on an elephant. sounds sort of okie but i must admit it was great fun and definitely something different.




June 6 Took a night game game drive, followed by a very nice dinner served in the bush. This was on the Stanley and Livingstone Private Game Reserve. It is home to all the big five. none of the pictures I took where worth showing but we had a great time. At 1 point during dinner, an elephant approached to within 50' of the campfire and proceeded to feed on a mopane tree.
June7 left at midday for an overnight stay at African Sky.
June 8- homeward bound on Emirates. got home the next day.

Afterthoughts.This was my fiancee's( now my wife) first safari and she fell in love with the whole experience. We are already set to go back next Sept for another elephant. I was frankly amazed to see her stand her ground during 3 (bluff) elephant charges. We enjoyed the after hunt a great deal and are planning on spending time in the Okavango next year after the hunt ends.

safari done just right

Well done. Sounds like a great trip!