This is my first try at posting pictures on here, so hopefully it will work.
I found out about Classic Safaris through my friend Jorge400 who hunted with them two years ago. Originally my hunt was supposed to be with another friend and was supposed to include a week of plains game hunting and a week in the Caprivi Strip with buffalo on the menu. For various reasons that didn't pan out, but my plains game hunt was still on. I ended up going by myself with no problems.

I booked the hunt through Wendell Reich and used Shawn with Gracy Travel. Both were very accommodating and answered all of my questions. I would recommend both without hesitation.

I traveled Delta from Atlanta to Frankfurt and then to Windhoek. I bought the Crown Club membership and found that was a good option. I was able to find a quiet corner to take a nap in, plus the snacks were welcome.

Larry Weishun was on the flight over from Atlanta. He was really a friendly guy and we talked a lot about guns and hunting. He was there filming a television show, and this was his fourth trip to Namibia.

I saw my first African game from the window of the aircraft. As we were landing I saw a male hartebeest and two females on the airport property. That was a good start!

I stayed in Windhoek two nights before the hunt and two nights after the hunt. Before the hunt I stayed at the Onganga Pension Hotel. It was very comfortable and serves a great gemsbok steak in the restaurant. After the hunt I stayed at the Safari Court Hotel, which had a very good breakfast.

Here is a picture of a mountain on the outskirts of Windhoek. I took this picture from my hotel room at the Onganga. I actually saw a really nice kudu bull right behind the Onganga restaurant. That really got me pumped up for the hunt.




There are some really great markets in Windhoek. I bought some gifts for my wife and son.




One thing I didn't care for in Windhoek was their choice of street names. I saw Robert Mugabe Avenue and this choice street.



My ph was Gert van der Walt, and he picked me up at 4 a.m. on my first hunting day. We then drove to the concession, and were there about 8 a.m. We saw lots of African animals in the pre-dawn hours. That included a big kudu bull that came a little too close for comfort to the Toyota.

After picking up the trackers and confirming the zero on my Ruger Hawkeye .30-06 we started hunting. I took that rifle and the new .375 Ruger African model. We picked up the trackers and were off. The concession is about 3,500 square miles around the Brandberg Mountain. It is huge and free-range. No fences.

We had been driving about 15 minutes when we ran into a herd of 12 gemsbok. There was a big bull in the group. Gert and I followed them for about 2 miles. They never let us get closer than 500 yards from them. Finally, Gert, Richard (the tracker) and I climbed a rock hill to get a better view and hopefully ambush the gemsbok. The wind finally shifted and our stalk was blown.

We returned to camp for lunch that day since we hadn't eaten yet. Most days we carried a cooler with lunch in it. The food was excellent.

After lunch we drove around looking for springbok. The Tsiseb is known for huge springbok, and there are estimated to be 6,000 springbok on the concession. That number was probably low in my opinion. I saw vast numbers of them. None of the ones we saw that afternoon met with Gert's approval. They looked pretty big to me. But, he knew the potential that the property held.

We were losing daylight when we drove down a dry riverbed near the town of Uis. There were a group of kudu stopped near the truck in the thick brush. All I saw was a young bull and some cows, but Gert got excited about a big bull back in the brush that I couldn't see. They took off, and Gert and I bailed out of the vehicle in pursuit.
The kudu went straight over a rock-covered hillside. Gert and I followed. By the time we got to the top, with me huffing and puffing all the way, the kudu were cresting the next ridge over. I had a fleeting shot at about 300 yards, but Gert said that was a last day shot, not a first day shot. That statement turned out to be so true. I just didn't know at the time.
We climbed around the slope of the hill the kudu were on, looked down and saw nothing. Then we slowly picked our way around the hill. Gert was in front, looked to his left and said, "they're close." The cows and young bull bolted from cover to my left. The big bull jumped up, Gert stopped him with a sound and I shot him through the heart at 200 yards with the .30-06. He ran less than 30 yards. Gert left me with my prize while he got the truck. I found it ironic that Ernest Hemmingway had to find the old man and the far-off valley to find the kudu when I shot mine on the first day.
He measured 50-inches for those who care about that sort of thing.



I'll post more later.

Hunting Day 2 - After breakfast we went out to the plains near the mountain. We saw hundreds of springbok and some kudu. We had a couple of failed stalks on springbok, when we saw a male steenbok. I didn't think anything about it because we had seen a large number of these little antelope. Gert said this one was exceptional.
He ran into an area of long grass near the mountain. We glassed the plain but couldn't see him. Finally, Gert spotted his head in the sea of grass. He spooked and we followed. He stopped at 120 yards and looked back at us. I was shooting the .375 Ruger, so Gert told me to hit him a little far back so I would have something left to mount. I complied and he dropped at the shot. There was a lot of damage, but I will have a shoulder mount. He measured 4.5 inches.

Let's try the photo of the steenbok again.

After dressing and caping the steenbok we ate lunch under the shade of a camelthorn tree at the base of the mountain.




Gert said we would climb up part of the way and check some "fountains" as they call it that usually hold water. Basically they are stairstep rock areas that can hold water when it rains infrequently. According to Gert, the mountain is full of zebras. We climbed up there, and it was a pretty steep climb for this flatlander. We didn't find any water or game, but there were lots of game sign. Still, the view from up there was worth it.
We did find the pug marks of a large male leopard.




After we climbed down we went on the hunt again. I saw my first two mountain zebras, but they spooked at over a mile and went up to the safety of the Brandberg. We also struck out on springbok again.
That night the sky was spectacular. Gert showed me the inverted big dipper. Also, we could see satellites, the space station and several meteors.

Hunting day three was the toughest. We spotted a group of seven gemsbok about a mile out of camp. We went on a 5+ mile stalk over rock-covered hills only to have it spoiled by a lone springbok that was noticed too late. By the time I got back to the truck I was ready to collapse. It was brutal after duckwalking, and crawling only to be thwarted in the end.

Hunting day four was much more exciting. Gert said he was taking me to a far off section of the concession to look for zebra and gemsbok. Since Gert is an avid mountain climber he has been coming to the Brandberg Mountain for years. So when Vaughan acquired this concession he had very little scouting to do to learn this property.
We drove for a long time and made two short stalks on gemsbok. We got close on a pair and they turned out to be cows, with one heavily pregnant. The other was a young bull.
We drove around the side of one of the foothills of the mountain when two zebra stallions ran out in front of us. They galloped over one of the rocky foothills.
We then parked the truck and began the stalk. We crept up over the hill and looked down into the valley. No zebras. We glassed the mountain side and there were no zebras. So, they had to be between the next hill and the mountain itself. We crept up the next hill and Gert had me and Matthew (the tracker) stay behind a little. He came down and told me to take the one on the left. I popped up and spined the stallion at about 100 yards. He dropped at the shot. The .375 Ruger didn't exit, but did its job.




This will make an impressive rug.

Great kudu picture with the sunset in the background. Congrats on a wonderful hunt.

I had the pleasure of hunting with both Vaughan and Gert in 2005. I am glad that Gert is still with Vaughan as he is a real professional and a great guide. I also stayed at Onganga and spent a couple of days in Windhoek. Namibia offers a great first safari experience and Vaughan and Gert made mine a very memorable one. Are you planning your next trip yet? I hope to return in 2009!
John

I'm still getting over the jet lag right now. I'll be back though. There's no question about that.

Back to the report. After skinning and caping the zebra, we went deeper into the concession. We headed for a valley between the Brandberg and another mountain. The canyon started getting steeper and I started noticing more and more brush.
We saw two big kudu bulls in there. One was about the size of the one I shot. The other Gert said would go at least 55 inches.
We saw a lot of elephant damaged trees in there and rhino tracks. Yes, black rhino tracks. We also found a carcass in the brush of a dead rhino. Gert wasn't sure if it had died of natural causes or had been poached. Still, his head had been removed. Gert said it was possible the head was removed by rhino conservation to keep anyone from taking it. But, the tracks weren't from the dead one.
It's nice to know that there are still black rhinos around in unfenced habitat.

There was standing water in the canyon. This oasis was visited by a stunning array of game. It also makes the rhino and elephant population possible this deep into this arid region.

After seeing the rhino tracks it was time to head back to camp. On the way there we tried to find a springbok again. We found a suitable candidate, but he wouldn't cooperate. He knew something wasn't right and just kept running. I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get a springbok.
That night, Vaughan and one of my friends from Georgia who goes by Jorge400 on this board showed up in camp. They had been hunting in the northern part of the country on a cattle ranch for eland. After 8 days Jorge400 took a large blue bull and a trophy warthog. Jorge was in camp looking for one of the Tsiseb springbok that were giving me fits.
Here are Jorge, Vaughan and Matthew sighting in rifles before the day's hunt.



That morning we headed out of camp and saw very little game for the first couple of hours. We then rounded a corner and saw a lone male springbok. He ran and we hid the car behind a euphoria bush. Gert and I bailed out while the tracker kept driving. It's an old trick, but it worked.
I got on the sticks and drilled the springbok at 180 yards with the .375. Obviously he dropped at the shot.



He was 15.2 inches and I was thrilled. I could tell Gert was a little disappointed in the horns. I had no frame of reference, but I knew I had worked hard for it and was proud of it.

That afternoon we drove deep into the desert proper to find a trophy gemsbok. We kept driving for several hours, but the only game we saw were groups of ostriches. They were on the game list, but I had no desire to shoot an ostrich. I have feather dusters at my house already. I'm not trying to take anything away from someone else's ostrich trophy, but it doesn't appeal to me.
When I had just about given up we saw a lone bull gemsbok in a dry river bed. He jumped up and ran into the plain beyond where we couldn't see him. The river bed gave us some cover, and after a short stalk and two shots from the .375 he was down. The first was in the shoulder, with the second a running shot that spined him. When I walked up he was still swinging his horns. I found that gemsbok are a little tougher than kudu.

Some very nice looking animals. Sounded like a great trip.
We were in Namibia just a couple weeks before you.

I think I saw that mountain just out of Windhoek. But being on the wrong side of the road kept me from looking closely.

On day 6 I was looking for a bigger springbok. That morning we got a late start and didn't see a lot except several jackals, steenbok, ground squirrels and kori bustards. We finally found a big springbok and had a long, unsuccessful stalk. I thought that the second springbok wasn't going to happen.
To complicate matters, we drove into a dry river bed and had a flat tire. There were elephant tracks all through the river bed. Gert said they were of a big bull, a cow and a young elephant. I wanted to see one really bad.



Another interesting thing was that while Gert and Richard were fixing the flat. Two big bull giraffes came over to investigate. They aren't on quota on this concession, but they were very inquisitive. They passed within 50 yards of us.

After the giraffe incident and fixing the flat tire, Gert wanted to check a river bed with some lingering water for game. So, we drove to the border of the concession, but the only game we found were Egyptian Geese, Guinea fowl and some baboons.
We went kept driving and glassing, driving and glassing, and right before dark, Gert saw a huge springbok at some distance away. We stalked and crawled closer. There were two trophy-class springbok with one larger than the other. I rushed a frontal chest shot at 200 yards and missed clean. The ram ran up the hill and was now over 300 yards. I got on the sticks on the ground, took a deep breath, used the second crosshair on my Burris scope and slowly squeezed the trigger.
The 180-grain Nosler Partition from the .30-06 dropped him right there. Gert said it was a fitting end to a safari and he could now send me home with a good springbok. He was 16.5 inches with a lot of mass. I worked hard for him and am extremely proud.


Here is a closeup of his horns.

Here are some photos of the camp.

The dining area

The water system




Here is the view from the dining area looking back toward the mountain.



Here is the sunset on my last hunting day. I don't know if I did it justice, but it was beautiful.

After the hunt, Vaughan drove me back to Windhoek to the Safari Court. High marks for that hotel as well.
The next night I went out with Vaughan, his wife Patricia and his daughters to celebrate. We went to Joe's Beerhouse. What a great place! Vaughan proved himself to be a good host and his family was a lot of fun.
I know I would recommend this hunt to anyone who can shoot and isn't afraid to work for their game. I know this hunt is something I will tell my grandchildren about someday.

I am speachless, what a nice story and beatiful pictures...thanks

I have hunted Namibia near Kamanjab and I don't see the hour to go back to that country.

L

Awesome report and hunt. That really makes me want to go back to Namibia. I loved it there.

Congradulations on the great hunt! Awesome trophies. Shawn and Wendell are great to work with. I haven't hunted with Vaughn, but I am booked to hunt Buff in '08! Thanks for sharing.

Excellent report and photography - and trophies too. Thanks for taking the time to post this. I love the look of the new concessions. Mountains and desert both. Truly beautiful country.

Vaughan and Gert are among the very best! I only wish I were hunting with them again this year.

Congrats!

That is one great hunting report!

Great pictures too.

I'll be seeing Vaughan in the Caprivi in 4 weeks but am jealous of these plains game hunts already!

Congratulations on a great trip. I think you'll be calling Wendell about another trip in the not too distant future!

Great report and pictures! I look forward to talking to you about it soon.

Great story and excellent photos. I can hardly wait for my African experience.
Jeff

Out standing!

Great to get a look at the new concession as I will be hunting there in Sept this year after our trip to Tanzania. Great country and game-how many days did you hunt?

Yes, another great hunting story with wonderful pics. Thanks for sharing them with us. I will be in Namibia in less than 30 days.

Thanks for all the comments. I just wanted to add a couple of things.
1. If anyone is hunting with Gert, he is a chocoholic and loves Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and M&M's. Neither of those things are imported into Namibia, so that would be a great thing to bring.
2. Someone took his long grass shooting sticks out of the back of his truck at a gas station. He could use an extra pair. He has other sticks, but prefers the long grass sticks.
If anyone is going on a plains game hunt with them later this year maybe they could help him out.

Jim,

Great report. I know the others who are headed to hunt with Vaughan this year appreciate the pictures.

I spoke with Vaughan again this morning. The two hunters who followed you were hunting 2x1 on a 7 day hunt. They took 2 Kudu, 2 Gemsbuck, 2 Springbuck and 2 Zebra.

The truck even got charged by a Black Rhino!

Great hunt report. I know the vastness of Namibia, but can this statement really be true?

"The concession is about 3,500 square miles around the Brandberg Mountain. It is huge and free-range. No fences."

That's almost 60 miles on each side.

That's what I was told. And after driving the area for 6 days I believe it.

onefunzr2.

From what I can tell from the map posted about the concervancies and comparing it to the rivers on Google Earth it seems well within reason that it is 3500 square miles. One leading edge mapped out at roughly 80 miles.

No reason to doubt it with that information in mind. It is one of the top 5 largest concervancies in Namibia....

That's one big hunting area!

Excellent report and congratulations of some fine trophies. Well done.

It doesn't just include the Tsiseb Conservancy, but the Otjimboyo as well. We only crossed the border into the Otjimboyo once, but went right back into the Tsiseb.

Fantastic report and photos.

Great report and wonderful pictures. My son and I are booked with Vaughn for Aug 08 and reports like your's make it hard to wait!

SFC E7 Retired

quote:

Originally posted by Mark T:
That's one big hunting area!

I guess it was the square miles that threw me for a loop. It's usually acres or hectares, or some such. In this case, a number that large takes all the ambiguity out of the phrase, 'free range.'

Congratulations on your first and very successful Safari!

Tsiseb is 8,083 square kilometers (or 1,997,309 acres)

I think it is safe to go ahead and round it up to 2 million acres. Once you add the Otjimboyo, it is well over 2 million.

Otjimboyo looks like a spec on the map compared to Tsiseb, but it is over 110,000 acres alone. not a small piece of property. You would be hard pressed to hunt it alone in one week.

Here si some more info:

Tsiseb:
Unusual or important features: Brandberg, Petrified Forest, White Lady rock paintings, Ugab River, Messum Crater.

Major wildlife resources: Elephant, Black Rhino, Leopard, Cheetah, Mountain Zebra, Kudu, Oryx, Ostrich, Springbok, Steenbok, Jackal, Klipspringer.

Otjimboyo:

Area: 448 square kilometers (110,656 acres)
Major wildlife resources: Elephant, Leopard, Cheetah, Kudu, Oryx, Ostrich, Springbok, Steenbok, Duiker

Very nice report and photography, thanks.

I was startled by your kudu picture, I think your kudu is the older twin of the one I bagged last year:

It does have a similar horn configuration. Where did you take it?

quote:

Originally posted by Jriley:
It does have a similar horn configuration. Where did you take it?

Okatjuru Safaris, about 90 miles NE of Windhoek--so certainly no close blood relation at all, but the overall shape and the sunset picture just really jumped out at me.

Your bull has a couple more inches of twist at the top, it appears. Very nice!

That's a really nice little zebra stallion you got there. You're absolutely right - it will make a beautiful rug!
Dave

Great report Jim! Congratulations again.