Caprivi Elephant, 2006 with Classic Safaris.

Non-Trophy Elephant for Traditional Communal Feast.

Coordinated with Wendell Reich and Vaughan Fulton.
Travel arrangements by Steve at Gracy Travel.

Firearms: CZ 550 Safari in 404 Jeffery. Converted from .375 H&H by Dennis Olson.
Shooting Woodleigh FMJ at 2400 fps.

Left on July 21st and returned on August 3rd.

This trip was set up with the main goal being to shoot one non-trophy bull elephant for the Traditional communal feast to take place in Bukalo in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia. I had considered taking other game such as Impala and Warthog on this trip but later surprise plans didn’t allow enough time to really pursue these animals.

The travel went great, Denver to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was no problem, sure the seats are small but that’s to be expected in todays Economy class. We did get a day room at the Sheraton in Frankfurt and both the wife and I figured that the money was well spent to gain a shower, and a nice bed to take an afternoon nap in. We made the connection flight on Air Namibia to Windhoek with no problems. The Airbus A340 seemed to have more leg room then the 747 from Denver to Frankfurt. We spent the night in Windhoek at the Thule hotel overlooking Klein Windhoek. Nice quiet place with views of the hills surrounding Windhoek.

Monday morning we caught the Air Namibia flight to the Mpacha airport near Katima Mulilo and were shuttled to camp soon after. Vaughan was out with his other clients so Rochelle and I were able to spend a relaxing afternoon taking pictures and glassing the various animals which were coming down to the Chobe to water. Most came from the Chobe National Park of Botswanna which is directly across the river. In one afternoon we looked over Waterbuck, Impala, Warthog, Baboon, Zebra, Kudu, Cape Buffalo, Crocodile, Hippo and more birds then we could count, including Ground Hornbill.

On Tuesday evening we got a surprise which changed the small game plans. It turned out that the Tribal Council didn’t need one elephant for the feast, they needed two. As Vaughan was headed to a different location to get his other client into a Cape Buffalo and it was an unexpected change he asked me if I could get both elephants. That’s not an opportunity that a hunter will turn down, or at least I wasn’t about to turn it down! But, they needed the two elephant before Sunday. Two elephant bulls in 4 days? That seemed like an unattainable goal to me.

We met with our PH Chris Burger on Tuesday evening and started getting acquainted quickly. Chris had never hunted the areas we were in but we soon found out he was more then up to the task of finding elephant in new areas.

Wednesday was spent looking for fresh spoor we could follow. We found the tracks of a large bull that the trackers James and Albious, and the Game Scout Mike thought were fresh enough to go after. The tracks ended up getting mixed up with a large number of elephant spoor and we ended up heading back to the truck. We didn’t find fresh spoor again until late in the evening and ended up finding two bulls watering at a pan. It was getting close to the end of shooting light so we immediately went after one bull that had a broken tusk and would never be a trophy bull. Both bulls knew we were there, and they both were showing that they didn’t want us any closer. Flaring their ears, throwing their trunks and kicking the mud and water. Chris took us in closer and when we were within 40 yards we set up for the shot. The broken tusk bull finally turned sideways and I put a shot into his chest, quickly followed by another into the chest and one into the hip as he went into the trees. We were waiting, well, I was blowing and shaking, when we heard him fall. That’s a most amazing sound, more like falling a large pine tree. I never thought I would hear that heavy of a sound just from an animal falling. It’s a sound I’ll never forget. It was too late in the day to start the butchering process so we returned the next morning with additional help and started butchering around 11:00 AM. We finally returned to camp at 2:30 the next morning after finishing the butchering and meat delivery process.







Friday morning we slept in a bit. Later in the afternoon we went back out to try to find elephant #2. No fresh tracks were found which would be worth following up. We did see several bunches of impala but I wanted to get the second elephant before I went for plains game as I new that the Tribal Council and Vaughan was counting on me to supply the second elephant for their feast.

Saturday morning we decided to hunt in a new area and were soon seeing tracks everywhere. We stopped by some local villages to inquire about elephant and they all stated that they were definitely around. In fact they were lighting fires at night to keep them away from the villages.

It wasn’t long and we were working out the tracks and direction of a large herd of elephant. A couple bulls and a lot of cows and calves. Chris was concerned about the number of cows and calves as that can make for a herd that’s not altogether friendly towards people hunting them. We eventually caught up with the herd and there was a young bull on our side. After some careful glassing and planning we snuck within about 28 yards of the young bull. I had told Chris that my original intentions of going for a brain shot on the bull didn’t necessarily have to be done. Was I intimidated? Damn right I was, being within 28 yards of something that large, in a group of 25-30 other elephant made me throw my chest thumping, he-man ideas right out the window. We moved a bit to our left to get a good angle on the bull. Again, I fired two shots into his chest and one in the hip as he was running away. Both the second and third shots probably weren’t necessary as he went to his knees within 10 yards, recovered and turned to his left only to go about 20 yards before falling. I then put two insurance shots into his spine and head. Turns out the one shot into the back of the head/neck is the only bullet we recovered. The 400 grain woodleigh solids in my 404 Jeffery all performed great. The chest shots were all pass throughs.





Two bull elephants in 4 days hunting. I was ecstatic. Not only had I accomplished something I never ever figured I would do but the Council was going to get its meat for the traditional feast.

The following pictures show the quality of elephant taken for "Non-Trophy" elephants. Not a bad take for 4 days hunting. All tusks remain propoerty of the Namibian Government of course.........





Another long night of butchering followed with us finally returning to camp at 4:30 Sunday morning. A few hours of sleep and I was up again. We did go out later in the evening to look for warthog but only saw young males and sows. Disappointing? No way. I’d done something that very few people will get to do, and I let the flush of success take over the next few days in camp while waiting to fly back to Windhoek. I can think of very few things more satisfying then sitting on the banks of the Chobe, glassing crocodile, big waterbuck bulls, warthogs, hippo and impala and enjoying a cold Tafel after shooting two bull elephants. Yes they were non-trophy bulls and I won’t have anything to hang on my walls other then pictures; pictures and great memories of a once in a lifetime hunt with new found friends.

General Notes:

As always, Vaughan runs a great camp. The staff are friendly and helpful, Sara the cook made wonderful meals and desserts that Rochelle could not turn down and I think is a bit jealous of some of the recipes. The accommodations are quite nice. Clean tents with attached shower and toilet facilities, hot water was always available for showers even though we had some very odd hours. Each night we could hear Hippos grunting near camp. The elephants were close by and trumpeting to each other, one morning we found the tracks of a cow and calf 30 yards from our tent flap. Some nights the Cape Buffalo could be heard down on the river bottoms. I think a person SHOULD have the experience of lying in bed, listening to the elephants or hippos and wondering “just how close are they?â€

We didn’t get to spend much time with Vaughan on this trip as he was busy with his other client. Chris Burger ended up being a great man to be around. Polite, knowledgeable and steady with a great sense of humor. We formed a life long friendship in the short time we hunted together. Silvia, who now works for Vaughan in the office is a great help in getting last minute details coordinated and making sure your stay in Windhoek is just the way you want it.

In both cases, the bulls I shot were not the biggest bulls in the group. The first one was with a much larger bull then the one I shot. The second bull was in a large group which had a bull in it that Chris estimated to be 75 pounds to the side. If a person wanted a bull in the 75 to 80 pound range I wouldn’t hesitate to hunt the same area.

Air Namibia now only runs to Katima once a week so a charter is necessary for hunts lasting more then 7 days or which start or end some time other then Mondays.

We spent two nights in the Safari Court Hotel in Windhoek on our return. The Safari Court is a nice place with on site restaurants if you do not want to travel for meals. We had a great late lunch with Chris and his wife Doris at the Cattle Baron. A great place more along the lines of an American steak house. We didn’t go to Joes Beer House this year due to our short and odd schedules.

On our return trip we once again got a day room in Frankfurt for the 8 hour layover. It seems like a lot of money to spend for such a short stay but the showers and naps between flights is extremely nice. Relaxing without the drone of hundreds of people and the chance to get cleaned up before the second leg of the flight is well worth it.

I can post more pictures when I get them processed.

Thanks for your patience in reading a long winded report!!!

Great trip report

I'm envious.

TerryR

Congrats on a great hunt!

Congratulations on your hunt. The report was not long at all (despite your disclaimer) and I look forward to more photos when you have them.

You're very lucky to have had the chance to do that hunt. Congrats!

Dean

Great hunt... congrats on your two for one trophy!

So, you were the lucky one! Congrats on a great hunt. Thanks for sharing.

Very envious.
You probably did not realise that your appearance and poses were quite like those of E.Hemingway when he had his major safari, which incidently, bankrupt him and caused a great need to write.
Good reporting and nice pictures that are appreciated by those of us stuck where we must remain.

Nice job on the hunt and the report.

Many thanks for taking the time to let us share the experience!

Mark T:

Have you looked into having someone make replicas of those tusks? Why not? They do it with fish all the time. But the pics are good memories of the hunt as well, and after all, that is why most of us have taxidermy in the first place.

Thanks for all of your comments.

I have spoken with some taxidermists about getting replicas made and hopefully I'll be able to get them cast to do so. We'll see how that turns out.

In the mean time here are some additional pictures of the general area and it's game.....







Kind of makes a person want to return.......

Thanks for the report.

Logically, the Caprivi looks like a combination of the areas I've hunting in Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Kyler