Safari Operator: Eintracht Jagd Safaris www.eintrach.iway.na
PH: Pieter Delport
Country: Namibia
Rifle: .300 Weatherby Magnum

My wife and I took our first trip to Africa in late August. We spent 7 days hunting plains game with Pieter Delport followed by a siteseeing trip to Etosha. The hunt started as a donation hunt with another outfitter. When this initial hunt didn’t work out as planned Pieter stepped in and honored the entire donation and made sure everything worked out perfectly.

We started by flying from KC to NY and on to J-Burg. After the long flight overnighting at the Afton House felt great. Everyone at Afton House was friendly and helpful. The next morning we caught the noon flight into Windhoek were Pieter’s father picked us up right no time. Overall the entire trip over was much easier than anticipated, we didn’t have any problems with luggage or meeting our parties in the airport. Even the firearms transfer permit in SA was easy with help from VIP Services. Spending the night in Jo-Burg helped tremendously with overcoming any potential jet-lag problems.

Since it was my first time in Africa, seeing warthogs and steinbucks right outside of the airport had me all fired up.

The Pieters farm is approximately 1 hour east of the airport right off the main highway. It is actually 4 family owned farms in one block with additional neighboring farms available as well. All hunting on these farms as well as on the farms we hunted west of Windhoek were free-range.

The accommodations were very nice. Even my non-hunting, shower loving, need to fix my hair wife was happy with the setup.



On day one we found a nice kudu bull almost immediately however the stalk was spoiled by a jackal. It was still encouraging considering the impact rabies has had on herd numbers in this area. I had heard estimates that as many as 70% of the kudu in this area have died off due to rabies. Considering the number of kudu cows we saw two things come to mind, first the pre-rabies herd must have been impressive, and second it won’t take long for the herd to come back.

After the foiled stalk we drove on and an hour or so later ran across an outstanding Steinbuck which I proceeded to miss. After I missed my first ever shot in Africa Pieter was nice enough to write it off to excitement. It was only a few days later after I had redeemed myself that he let me know it was probably the Steinbuck of a lifetime.

After such a poor start I was a little nervous when we came across a herd of gemsbok and Pieter said to follow him. There were probably 10 – 15 gemsbok in the herd with a couple nice cows and a very nice bull. After Pieter set up the sticks it took a little while to figure out which one we were looking for but when I finally saw the bull it was obvious (something about sticking his nose up the back side of another animal gave it away). The shot was about 360 yards through the neck. He was a little over 36 inches and very thick.




To finish off a great first day I also took another very nice female gemsbok and later that afternoon I took my first jackal as well.

The second day started a little slower, we spent the morning helping another hunter in camp track a gemsbok he had wounded the night before. It was after lunch before we started hunting seriously. Springbok on Pieter’s immediate farms have been hit hard by the leopards and cheetahs so went to another farm about 10 miles away.

At the other farm it took all of 10 minutes to locate a nice herd of all bucks. It took another hour to stalk into range, wait for the cows to move and wait for the herd to spread out enough to size them all up. I’d like to say I got the big one but I missed him with my first shot. After they ran about 30 yards and stopped it took me two more shots to get a nice 15 inch springbok, not the biggest one in the herd but a very good looking buck.



The third day we traveled to another farm Pieter hunts west of Windhoek to hunt mountain zebra and kudu. This farm is covered with mountain zebra, warthogs, gemsbok, and kudu. The farmer had asked that we shoot a gemsbok for his farm hands, with the number of animals available it took all of 15 minutes to find a nice old bull and help the farmer out.

After taking care of the farmers request we started concentrating on zebra and kudu. The first animal we stalked was a nice 52-53 inch kudu bull that gave us the slip. Not sure what happened but I’d like to see that one again in a couple years.

After the kudu we noticed a herd of zebra in a stalkable location and started making our way towards them. As we started getting close we spooked a herd (?) of baboons that ran in the absolute wrong direction, right at the zebra. While most of the zebra were spooked off, for some reason three of them ran up the valley towards us. We got set up and when they stopped across the valley from us the stallion stood broadside long enough for me to get a clean shot on him. The 180 grain tipped TSX performed perfectly on the 400 meter shot and the stallion was down with one shot. I was surprised at how big zebra really are.

After cleaning up the zebra we worked our way to another part of this farm were we saw and stalked a herd of three kudu bulls. We got within 100 yards of the bulls and looked them over for about 10 minutes before we decided they were not what we were looking for and moved on. It was a good decision as about 1 mile further down the road we ran into a very old bull. While not the longest horned animal we saw he was very old and an absolutely great trophy. Also what a way to end a great day, start with a gemsbok for the farmer, followed by a nice zebra and then finish it off with this nice 50inch kudu bull.



First Kudu



The fourth day was spent looking for another kudu. While we were looking around we ran into another outfitter hunting leopards with dogs. They had run the leopard onto our land where it had holed up in a small cave. They finished it off just as we approached. I had to thank the other hunter for letting me take pictures with his cat. I may never have the cash to pay for a leopard hunt but I at least have the pictures to make it look like I took one.

After looking over the cat for a while we took off again. About 2 miles from where the cat was we ran into a nice warthog. He was with a couple of females and none of them were in a big hurry to leave. They were about 300 yards out behind a bush when we found them. The boar didn’t appear too worried about us since as soon as we found them he laid down and took a short nap. After trying everything we could to get him up he finally woke up and moved into a position that allowed me to shoot. It took two shots over 300 yards both in the backside but he ended up being a nice sized warthog.



Later that day we were still looking for kudu when we saw another nice bull with very deep curls. We chased him around a large hill for a while but couldn’t catch up with him. However on the way back we had a little excitement. Pieter was a few feet in front of me when he quickly turns around and says “go backâ€, after I finished my Olympic style long jump I asked what he had seen. He calmly says there was an 8-9 foot black mamba trying to get into a hole in front of him. Enough said, after that whatever Pieter said I did and I only stepped where Pieter stepped.

Dreams that night consisted of kudu bulls being attached by monstrous snakes. It was a very confusing night.

Day five we get up early to try and beat the kudu to their beds. Where else would we go but right back to mamba hill. We found the deep curl bull with a cow and another smaller bull right away but once again they give us the slip. Now I understand why they are called “grey ghostsâ€. Of course they could have been three feet away from me the whole time for all I know, since we were back on mamba hill my eyes never strayed more than three inches off the ground in front of me.

After the kudu gave us the slip the wife and I took a little break that morning and went to see some of the local bushman art while Pieter helped another hunter collect his zebra.

In the afternoon it was back to the kudu hunt. Pieter had found a couple of nice kudu while helping the other hunter. We went back to the area where he saw them and immediately found them again. We found the big bull laying up in some bushes right below a heard of gemsbok. The bull stood quartering towards us long enough to let the .300 do its thing. Once again the .300 performed perfectly, a single shot at 300 yards and the bull only ran 20 yards before piling up.

The first kudu was a great trophy because of his age and condition, this one was also a great old bull but he had the great horns to match. When we finally put a tape on him he was 56.25 inches on the left and 57.5 inches on the right. All of the animals we took were great trophies but this was the one I had wanted more than anything else.



At this point I had pretty well taken everything I had wanted so day 6 was spent trying to redeem my earlier steinbuck miss. We spent the morning looking and saw quite a few but nothing compared to the first one I missed. Pieter was right, I had missed the steinbuck of a lifetime. In the afternoon we finally found a nice sized trophy. One shot at 120 yards and I had a nice Steinbuck to go opposite the springbuck in my dining room.



Later that day I missed another jackal but redeemed myself by taking a porcupine. The .300 was probably a little too much gun for the porcupine.

Day seven was a truly relaxing day. We spent an hour in the morning shooting sand grouse over a water hole then spent the rest of the day looking for a good duiker. We did find a nice duiker however he wouldn’t leave the bushes. After looking through the bushes trying to find an open path I finally found what I thought was a clear line but it wasn’t. I ended up missing completely. But by this time my taxidermy bill was looking large enough that it was probably a good thing I missed one animal.


After the hunt my wife and I rented a car and drove up to Etosha park in northern Namibia where we had a great time. We stayed at the Halali Inn located in the middle of the park. The first night there we were able watch a mother black rhino and her calf by a waterhole right next to the camp. The next couple of days were spent driving through the park watching cheetah’s, leapords, giraffes, elephants, kudu, zebra, wildebeest, and a multitude of other animals. The trip was topped off on the very last night when we had a pride of lions walk past our car close enough that we could have reached out an touched them. All in all, Etosha was a great way to end the trip.









Overall the entire trip was tremendous. Pieter runs a first rate outfit and I couldn’t have asked for a better hunt, I can’t say enough good things about him and his outfit. The quantity and quality of game was stunning. I went into this trip thinking it would be a one time trip so I could say I’d hunted Africa, now I can’t wait until my next trip and I’m wondering how many times I can come over before Pieter gets tired of me.

Congratulations and nice story.

Very nice trophies and photos. That is a most unusual zebra at the waterhole!

Congrats. Nice report and photos. That is a fantastic Kudu!

Congrats on your trip.

Congrats on a great hunt

Very, very nice trophies, it looks like you had a great time.

River
Very nice report and trophies.

My first in Africa was at a Kudu and I missed. For six days I had to listen about the one that got away and how he was bigger than one I shot. It gives you another reason to go back.
Yea, like I need another reason.