My first ever African animal was a tuskless elephant shot in the first hour on the first morning of the first day of my first African safari! I guess thats a mouthful of firsts, but fate often seems to dictate that I do things backwards! It's not always been a bad thing!

Since then I have been on two failed elephant hunts, one before I got in to the hunt booking agency business and one after. So I have certainly paid my dues financially as well as in miles walked to the elephant Gods!

In my still to be realised dream to shoot a big elephant (ivory wise) I have done extensive research and the area and hunt that appealed the most to me was the wilderness of Khaudum National park and the hunting areas bordering the North and the South of the park. This area is most well described by the legendary Namibian PH Kai Uwe Denker in his book "Along the Hunters Path". I am led to believe that he took three 100lb elephants with clients and quite a few in the 70-90lb range. The annual quotas in these areas are not large and the cost of the trophy hunts especially are not cheap. So it remains a hunt for the few.

From what I heard Kai Uwe Denker hunted mostly with European clients. However I do know of one American Mr. B who shot over 10 elephants with Kai Uwe including a 90lb+! Mr. B told me that in the course of his hunts, he must have walked a 1000 miles behind Kai Uwe, who was well known for his desire and ability to walk miles in the deep sands of Bushmanland and East Kavango. On one occassion Mr. B told me that they followed an elephant from 8 in the morning and walked and ran on its tracks finally shooting it at 3 in the afternoon. Mind you all this in soft sand. They were so tired that they had to sleep next to the elephant and come out the next day. All the trackers on my hunt had worked for Kai Uwe and one of them was on this particular hunt and said it was pretty brutal!


Remains of Denker's old camp

They told me that he would leave camp and think nothing of taking a stroll of 18 kms to check tracks at a waterhole and then walk back!! So a cool 20 mile+ round trip! God forbid you found tracks enroute which then needed to be followed!! I cannot speak for Bushmanland, but the Northern boundary hunting area of Khaudum Park where we hunted now has a good network of roads and waterholes as well. This was not the case in the early 90s. Hence the need to have to walk miles in those days. However there is probably a greater number of game concentrated here now because of the waterholes that are pumped in the dry season.

What was amazing was the amount of plainsgame I saw. Roan was seen a few times daily, which reminded me of Burkina days. We also saw a very big kudu, quite a few eland, the biggest warthog I have ever seen and a 41+ inch oryx which I shot for meat for the game department! In the fading light one evening with meat to be provided we just wanted an oryx and after a nice stalk in thick bush I shot this beautiful Oryx. I shot another 2 down in the South on this trip but that is another story.



With the Elephant trackers Peter, Mark, me and Longman.

When driving from Windhoek after you pass the red line (the veterinary boundary) you are in real Africa.


The Red Line check post

Gone behind you are the game farms and fancy lodges. From Rundu you turn east and an hour or so later turn off to camp. When we turned off the tar road, Drikus Swanepoel the owner of the area and my PH stopped the truck to let out air from the tires. One needs to do this to get traction in the deep soft sand. Halfway between the tar road and camp we came to a small village at nighfall where we bought a couple of cold beers and proceeded to camp. We got in quite late in time for dinner. Camp had a thatched mess area for dining and sitting and there were 3 Tanzania style tents with attached bathrooms. It was very comfortable and easily one of the nicest wilderness camps I have been in. At night one could hear hyenas and elephants would show up every night around dinner time breaking branches around the tents!









The camp


The next morning we departed camp leisurely to drive around and see what we would see. We found good sign of fresh elephant tracks on the roads and also at the waterholes that we checked. At the 4th waterhole, the trackers did their customary walk around the waterhole and then started making bigger circles further and further out. I have followed in the foot steps of many trackers from India to East to West Africa and also behind the pygmies in the forest after Bongo. They are all masters of their craft. But these men were pure elephant trackers. They told me that once they start following a track they would never loose it come what may. I also found them to be used to and familiar being in the close proximity of these big beasts and not nervous which is not the case with other trackers around elephants from my experience.

While we waited at the waterhole Drikus explained to me that the elephants in this area are some of the biggest bodied of all African elephants, even bigger than the bulls from Etosha and Botswana. Here it is nothing to find a back leg track in which you can fit your two feet! Anywhere else this would be an orgasmic event! What they look for here are deep cracks and wear which show age. At times one can find a smaller track which they would also follow because of the age. What was also amazing to me is that the trackers could not only distinguish a really old bull from others but also remember a certain mark on its pad. They told me that each tracker would mentally note a different mark so if in
doubt they could concur that they were still following the same bull. This way if they followed a bull and found it not to be a shooter, if they ran in to the same track a month later they would remember that very bull. What amazing bushcraft. In grass and loose deep sand this is not easy. To our eyes one can often not even see a track!

After a while the trackers returned to say they had found a track close to the water but to be sure they had circled around until they found it again a 100 yards out and figured out the direction it had taken. They declared this was a track worth following and that it was an old bull that was travelling with 2 other bulls. They later told me that the old bull kept to itself where as the other 2 fed closer together. How they knew this following 3 sets of tracks I found pretty amazing. More on this in a bit~!

Initially we were getting ready to track from where we where, then a tracker suggested that we should drive some miles around to see if the elephant had crossed another road. After driving a few miles we came across their tracks again. This move had probably cut down our tracking by hours. It was quite hot in the afternoon sun and the trackers went to work. This way and that we followed the 3 bulls in the thick bush, walking softly in the deep sand. At one point it looked like the wind was no longer in our favor and we wondered whether to leave the tracks in the hope not to chase the elephants but allow them to come back to the waterhole maybe later that afternoon or that night and start anew! Then the direction of the wind changed and we were on again. From the tracks we figured that the elephants were meandering around feeding and looking for a place to shelter from the heat. This is a good sign and here is your best chance to get up to them. The bush here was taller than head height and pretty thick in some places and a bit open in some areas with some trees as well. Just over an hour in to this we suddenly spotted the elephant under a tree. All we could see was their head and backs and Drikus signalled that we should go around to give them a look over.

I was hunting a management bull and ideally we were looking for a broken tusked bull that was hopefully an old bull. That said the tracks told us that we were following a very old bull, this is a place where anything is possible and at the end of the tracks could be every elephant hunter's dream a giant with magical 100lb ivory. We did have a trophy tag in hand to cover that out of the world event. And in that moment I was wondering what I might have to sacrifice if I pulled the trigger on a bull like that. For sure I wasn't going to be able to walk away!

We had gone about 20 paces when I looked up and saw a monster bull elephant glaring at us over the bush from 25 yards. It was a similar picture but a bit closer as in one of the pictures in the wonderful report posted by Bama15 on his recent hunt in Bushmanland. We could clearly see the a short tusk and a broken off tusk. Drikus whispered shoot and despite all the videos, books, discussions with ele hunters and the ability to hit a knats ass at a 100 yards I believe I missed the brain at point blank range! It certainly did not go down in the typical brain shot way.

The position of the head was quite high and I gestimated the best path to the brain and shot in to the trunk to angle in to the brain. Later Drikus told me the angle seemed perfect but that the elephant moved its head as I fired. Nevertheless the elephant staggered to the Swift solid from my 470NE and swung to its left. In an instance in that thick bush there was no shot for me and I heard Drikus's 500 NE go off twice. I moved to the right to get a clear picture and the elephant had now turned again and I shot him in the opposite shoulder. As I was reloading the elephant turned and went down. It fell on the side that Drikus fired at so we couldn't see where he hit it, but he told me that his first shot was through the bush in to the neck area and his second shot was in the shoulder. Maybe someone with greater elephant hunting experience can chime in but I was under the impression that a shoulder shot elephant can run a fair distance, so was surprised that it went down so quickly. Which of course was good.

After all the miles I have tracked elephant and two failed ele hunts. This hunt was a bit too quick to fully comprehend and sink in at first.
















On examining the fallen mornarch we found that the broken tusk was infected and while I was poking around a huge piece of rotten flesh just fell out! The good tusk we estimated to be around 45lbs and the girth at the lip was just over 16". For sure it was a very old big bodied bull. The tracker's were correct the old bull has been by himself away from the two other bulls that were together under the tree which we had seen and in approaching them we stumbled on to the old bull which was by himself.

We returned to camp and fired up the tractor and flat bed to take the elephant out whole to a designated village which was to get all the meat. The guys went back and cut a road to the dead elephant and the next morning we returned. The flat bed had a massive winch which connected to the tractor and Drikus assured me that in no time the elephant would be on the flat bed and off we would go. Operations began and we roped the elephant and started to winch. There was a loud crack and a bit of smoke and we discovered the winch housing had cracked! A couple of hours later with much pulling using the tractor and the truck winch we finally managed to get the bull loaded and started off. A few miles down the road a jagged stump on a bend in the road caught one of the trailer tires and ripped it wide open.

Ever tried changing a tire with a dead 8 ton elephant on it!



The only plan was to cut two big logs and put them under the leaf springs and dig a hole under the tire and change it. This all took some more hours and finally we were on our way again. As we got to a small village the tractor got hopelessly bogged down in deep soft sand and despite best efforts it was going no where! Permission was gotten to distribute the elephant to the closest village and we left the guys with no option but to cut it up on the trailer. This task went on until late in to the night and all the meat was distributed. Talk about lucky villagers!

We cooked a piece of trunk for 2 days and had a stew. It was similar in taste and consistency to oxtail but the meat was very dark.


Elephant stew day 2 of cooking with Amigo on the spoon


The chef in camp was an Argentinian chef everyone called Amigo. He was a great cook and a good story teller as well and told us stories of how one year Benjamin Rothschild booked the entire quota of elephant and hunted there, along with all the shennanigans. By all accounts he led a full life of hunting and owning concessions in Cameroon and Mozambique.



We took a drive one day in to Khaudum National Park.


A young bull at a waterhole


I have enjoyed re-living my hunt with these words and hope that you enjoyed it as well.

In closing I can say that this is indeed a special place to hunt elephant. With an average ivory weight in the low 70s last year and the biggest in the 80s this is a quality place to hunt.

They also get a leopard on quota here which would make for a great hunt. We also talked about a serious tracking plainsgame hunt for someone who enjoys a wilderness camp and is willing to hunt hard and track and shoot some exceptional plainsgame including Roan, Big eland, oryx, warthog, duiker etc.

Please contact me for information to book a hunt here.


Arjun Reddy
Hunters Networks LLC
www.huntersnetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: +1 845 259 3628

Great hunt report! Congratulations!

Congrats Arjun and thanks for taking time to put up a report. That is a huge bodied bull! Well done.

Congratulations, well done. I know exactly what you experienced. That was indeed an great old non trophy with small tusks. Did you age him by the teeth? It would be interesting to know. Thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by Bama15:
Congratulations, well done. I know exactly what you experienced. That was indeed an great old non trophy with small tusks. Did you age him by the teeth? It would be interesting to know. Thanks for sharing.

congratulations Arjun

Congratulations, thanks for sharing.

Wonderful report, Arjun! Can’t wait to grab a beer and hear more!

Well done Arjun! That is a grand trophy in my book. Well done.

My oh my...a fantastic hunt you had...wish I could hunt in Khaudum myself...glad to see your new double come to use..

Arjun
Fantastic hunt and a wonderful,massive bodied bull indeed!
Congratulations!!

Well done, Arjun!

Congrats and thanks for sharing!!! What a fine old bull to bloody that beautiful double!!!

Great report,got me all fired up

Congrats! Great story…

Arjun….huge congrats! HUGE bodied bull. The sandy river bottoms kicks my tail!!! Brutal hunt in the sand……. But I look so forward to do it again soon!

Really nice old elephant - thanks for sharing Arjun.

Nice camp. The Verney looks good too ..

Morten

Congratulations. Awesome hunt

Great report.Congrats Arjun!

Sam

Great elephant and love the VC as well

Well played Arjun. You are a very accomplished story teller.

Well done! Congratz on a fine elephant.
I hunted my leopard with Drikus, and will be doing a similar hunt to the one you just finished at some point in the future. You are also correct that Amigo is a fantastic chef.