Dates: 6 Sept.-18 Sept., 2005. 8-Day Hunt.

Location: Namibia-6 hours NNE of Windhoek in the Grootfontein area.

Outfitter/PH: Antonie Louw, Makalaan Safaris.

Website: Makalaan Safaris

Travel: Kathi Klimes of course.

Animals Taken: Greater Kudu, Gemsbok, Impala, Springbok, Blesbok, Burchell's Zebra.

Rifles Used: Whitworth African Express 375 H&H, Savage 7mm-08.

After four years of planning and a lot of help from y'all at AR, I finally got to go on my fist safari to Africa.

I can't believe we are already back from Namibia. It was a great 13 day trip. We had 8 days of actual hunting with Antonie Louw of Makalaan Safari's. The area we hunted was about 6 hours north of Windhoek, the capital. Tony has access to over 200,000 acres to hunt. The four of us hunted about 60,000 acres. It took us 27 straight hours to get from home to Windhoek. We stayed at a very nice Pension, the Onganga (Guinea Fowl) [Onganga website], in Windhoek the first night. After resting up a bit we headed out to the world famous Joe's Beerhouse for gemsbok filets. That really set the tone for the week. Gemsbok is the best game meat I have ever eaten. The next morning we headed for the artisans market in downtown Windhoek to get out souvenir shopping done.....or at least most of it.

The Posse at Onganga.


Tony picked us up at 1 PM and we did the 6 1/2 hour drive to Makalaan. That night we had the first of our spectacular meals.......gembsok lasagne!! All of the meals were an adventure. The food was exceptional and just kept getting better!! We had gemsbok and eland filets, leg of duiker, kudu meatloaf (or was it gemsbok), etc.!!!! Melinda, Tony's wife, is the cook. She is magic in the kitchen....with the deserts too!!

We started hunting after breakfast the next day. Our goal was to try and get everyone's gemsbok first. I have to say that this safari was the hardest I have ever hunted. It was also the most fun. Most of my animals were taken by still hunting or spot and stalk. Only two were ambush hunts. Fritz, the bushman tracker, or Tony would drive the Range Rover and either cut fresh tracks or spot an animal and we would start stalking through the bush. My stalks with Tony and Fritz averaged from 1-3 hours each.

The other three got their gemsbok on the ground fairly early in the week. I hunted gemsbok hard for 3 1/2 days with no luck. I did manage to take my kudu while hunting gemsbok on the 3rd day. I was hunting with Fritz. Fritz spotted the big bull deep in the bush and we slipped out to try and stalk him. We slipped up on him and I was able to squeeze off a neck shot with the 375 H&H and drop him in his tracks.



After hunting long and hard with Fritz I got my gemsbok. Fritz would just cut a fresh trail and off we would go into the bush and try to get on an animal. He can look at a track and tell if it is 3 minutes, 3 hours, or 3 days old.......in the sand! We finally got on a nice bull. After stalking him for over an hour and a half we spotted him. He was not going to stop so I had to shoot him on the move. Again, he dropped in his tracks with the 375 H&H. I finally had my gemsbok!!



Tony and Melinda run a top notch hunting operation. We stayed in two different cabins. Neither had electricity. There were some lights that were solar powered. Each afternoon one of their workers would go gather firewood and start a fire under our water tanks so we would have hot water for our showers.

This is the hut Sarge and I shared.



This is the lapa or Zulu "front porch, dining room, and general hang out and social center".



On the fourth day of the hunt I was able to take my impala in the morning and my springbok in the late afternoon. We hunted two different ranches for these. Both of these were ambush hunts.

This is a shot of my impala. FOs took his impala here as well a few days later.



As many of you know, springbok was high on my list of animals to hunt. They are close cousins to the blackbucks. One thing I didn't know about springboks is that when they are shot the hair opens up on back half of their bodies and spreads out in a white plume. This only lasts for 3-4 minutes so you need to get some photos quickly or you miss it. I have never seen photos of this before. Both VPD10's and mine opened up perfectly.....and we got photos!!

This is my springbok "opened up".


This is after it closed up.


The next animal I hunted was a Burchell's zebra. I hunted more days for the gemsbok, but I hunted much harder for the zebra. They are the toughest animal to get a shot on I have ever hunted. If anyone tells you it is like shooting a horse....smack 'em with a 2x4!

They run in small herds in the thick bush. The thicker the better. I still hunted them with Fritz for a day and a half. We got on them several times but could never get a clear shot. Finally, after a two hour stalk without seeing a stripe we slipped up on about eight of them. They were moving slowly, grazing through the bush. We tried to set up on them twice, but the bush was just too thick for a shot. We ended up on our hands and knees more than once moving through the bush so they wouldn't bust us. They slowed down a bit and we got a chance to try and get ahead of them. As we started walking to cut them off we jumped a group of blue wildebeest and everyone was off to the races. Fritz gave me a hand signal telling me to go ahead and take a running shot at the fourth zebra. I swung the 375 H&H and fired. To my amazement, I not only hit a zebra, I hit the correct one. We did have to track him for a couple of hundred yards and finish him off. I am as proud of this trophy as any animal I have taken.

Here is my "pajama donkey" as Melinda calls them.


Here are some more shots of our camp.

This is me in front of the lapa with a bushmen bow. They are small, but the bushmen use poisoned arrows. They have to be good trackers to get close enough to shoot these. Getting to hunt with and watch a bushman track and stalk in the bush is worth the price of admission all by itself. It was a profound honor to get to hunt with Fritz.


One night we got to cook our own stir fry......african style. This is a shot of the "wok" we used. Melinda put out and assortment of game meat, veggies, and sauces. We each mixed and cooked our own. If is was good, it was our doing. If it was bad, it was our fault! Fortunately, everyones turned out great!!

The first day, Tony told us to watch out for the small thorns. They are the ones that will get you. He was correct! We nicknamed these little darlings "cat claw thorns" because they are shaped that way and when they grab you they don't let go. Our arms and legs were in various stages of bleeding and healing throughout the week.


The vehicle I hunted out of most was the Range Rover. Shades of Hatari!!



The last animal I hunted was the blesbok. All during the week we had seen them out in an open area in front of our camp. I had been joking with Sarge that we could take them as a last minute trophy if we wanted to. Never make fun of blesbok. Fritz got me on them twice on my last day of hunting. I missed both times at 150 and 100 yards after fairly short stalks. Chip shots!!

Of course the Posse was very understanding and sympathetic.......

That afternoon, Fritz and I stalked them for almost 3 hours. About a third of our stalk was on our hands and knees. We had to hunker down under some scrub a few times to keep from getting busted. We walked, crouched, and crawled until we were within shooting distance. I finally let the 7mm-08 try one more time. This time he went down. I was back in Fritz' good graces again.

Here is my blesbok.


Here is a photo of Fritz and me with my blesbok.


These guys were everywhere we went.




I ended up with six animals. A greater kudu, gemsbok (oryx), impala, springbok, zebra, and a blesbok. I took the kudu, gemsbok, and zebra with my 375 H&H. I took the impala, springbok, and blesbok with my 7mm-08.

My first safari to Africa far exceeded all of my expectations. Antonie and Melinda are wonderful people and did everything in their power to make our hunt as memorable as it was. Namibia is a great country and I look forward to returning. Hunting with Fritz is something I will remember the rest of my life. The bushmen are the real deal!!

Good Hunting,

Bob

Bob,

Congratulations, sounds like a great safari. Who is that rough crowd you are running with (in the first photo)?

Regards,

Terry

P.S.
I added a link to Makalaan's Website in your first post along with a link to Hotel Onganga's website.

Congratulations on a great trip and a safe return!

Excellent Photos. They are posed just right. These memeories will last you a lifetime and hopefully inspire someone else to take the plunge and visit Africa. Congratulations on your success and an excellent report.

Great report, Bob. Very informative and well written. Excellent photos, too.

Congratulations and thanks for posting and sharing your experience with us.

Bob, I've been waiting to hear your report. It was worth it! Well done, both the hunt and the report. Have you started planning your next safari yet?

Bob,

Congratulations on a fine hunt. You took some beautiful trophies.

BigBullet

Sounds like you've got the addiction now!!! Congratulations on your trophies, wonderful hunt and great report.

Best regards, D. Nelson

Nice pictures and story. You did good sir!

Excellent report and pictures!!

I'm working at my house today because of hurricane Rita, so I am on a dial up connection. When I opened your report I read it while the pictures loaded. Then I came across the below caption

quote:

Originally posted by Bob in TX:

Here is my "pajama donkey"

I wasn't sure if I wanted to wait for the pictures to load in case the "pajama donkey" was related to the "trouser snake."

Fantastic.
My first Namibia trip was this past May. When to go back???????? Sooner than later I hope

Congrats.
Thanks for sharing the pictures and that big simle with all of us !!! That is what I call a happy hunter

L

Congrats Bob on a successful safari.

Yeap, my next safari will be to Namibia after reading more of these excellent hunting opportunities.

You mentioned you had leg of duiker. I thought duiker was not considered appropriate table fair because of them hanging out around the sewer dump and feasting on what might come down the pipe. When I was in SA last June my PH said he would rather have waterbuck before duiker because of what duikers sometimes eat.

Congrats again,

Bob, great story and can relate on the hard hunting in big areas..Those damn pajama donkeys can sure get invisible...

Mike

What an excellent experience for a first trip to Africa, you guys did it the right way and I bet had a ball.

Did you see many eland on the property(s)? Of the 60,000 acres, did you focus on one ranch, or several during the hunt?

Great hunt, pictures and story, thanks Bob!

Bob,

Congratulations on a great trip!

I can see you found it! The Africa smile. Most who go seem to find that unique smile that glows from the deepest core of your soul and touches the hearts of all who know it!

Great pics.

Melody
http://www.long-grass.com

Bob,
Glad you had a great time with Antonie and his crew. I hunted there in late August of 2004. I took 8 animals including eland. Fritz was great to watch, his tracking skill seemed to extend to simply knowing where the animal would go, impressive.

Nice pictures also. I took a digital camera with me and took 284 photos with it! The whole experience was great. It's nice to see you had a great time also.

Bob-

Congratulations!! Looks like you had a great time. I'd love to hear more details. Perhaps I could buy you a cup of coffee and catch up.

Bob,
Great report!! Your trophy photos are really top quality - excellent job.

Phil

Thanks again, y'all. I really do owe the success of my first african hunt to the folks here at AR, from Terry C. and all of his data to the PM's and phone calls back and forth with fellow members and the hundreds of threads I have read and studied here over the last four years while I was dreaming and planning this hunt. Yes Judge G, I did listen, study, and plan.

DR & hikerbum-I am already making arrangements for next September.

graybird-I guess our duiker had better dining habits....no sewer pipes! It was good eating. It did have a more "gamey" taste to it than the other animals we ate.

Bill C-We hunted 5 different ranches. Of the 200,000 acres we actually hunted about 60,000.....too much of it on my hands an knees at the end of the stalks with Fritz!! I loved every minute though!

Melody-The smile is still there. I guess you noticed the Long Grass shooting sticks in some of the photos?!? They worked great and I left them as a gift for Antonie, our PH. He kept fondling them and I was afraid to try and leave with them! Tell Gerald "Hey" for me!

HM-You are right about Fritz. Those bushmen are truly magic!!

Mark-I am sure you can twist my arm to meet for a cup of coffee and get a chance to talk about my hunt again. Give me a call and we'll set it up!

Thanks Again!!

Bob

Bob,
Great story and super photos. We used 7/08 in Namibia too and it works great.
Thanks for sharing your hunt.
Better tomorrows,
Mims

Heck, Bob looks like you had a great time! Congrats!

Bob,
Congratulations on a wonderful first safari to Namibia. Looks like a great time was had by all and nice trophies to boot! Cheers!

Bob

My brother got back yesterday and he is as full of the joy that IS Africa as you guys are.He took a couple of gemsbok,a couple of warthogs,a 51 inch kudu,a jackal, and a giraffe.He also shot a gemsbok cow that was busted up in the back end ,as a mercy, not a trophy.

I hope his pictures turn out as nice as yours!

For those not in the know about this,Doug was bowhunting with the same PH as BOB ,Antonie Loew at Makalaan Safaris.

Are you guys planning your next trip yet.Me and my son are counting the days.....eyedoc

Hey Doc,

It sounds like Doug had a great hunt as well!! I am going to be taking 3 hunters back to hunt with Antonie next September. Then I am going to get my leopard/buff hunt organized. The african addiction is fimrly implanted in me now.

Thanks again for all the help,

Bob

Bob, glad you had a good time. Very nice trophies!