07 November 2015, 01:28
AtticusNamibia with Afrika Jag
Company: Afrika Jag safaris, Outjo, NamibiaPH: Lukas Holtzhausen, Carl (whose last name I can’t recall—getting old)
Trackers: Kluta and Manuel
Area: 3 days outside of Outjo, Namibia and 5 in the Etosha conservancy
Dates: September 6-14, 2015
Guns: Borrowed camp rifles; Remington .300 H&H magnum and a customized Savage.25-06 with a suppressor.
Weather: Hot, dry, dusty, temps around 100F every day.
Accommodations: very nice bungalow for 3 nights and a tent for 5 nights—which was great!
Game taken: oryx for meat, Eland, Spotted Hyena, 2 (1 bait) warthogs, several jackals, sand grouse
Things I haven’t seen before: Lion (heard), aardwolf, python, African wild cat
It had been 7 long years since my last trip to Africa and it was great to be back! This trip was a combination family vacation and 50th birthday present for both my wife and me. My grown daughter took time off from work and joined us for her first trip to Africa and I revealed in seeing it through her eyes.
We started in Swakpmund and did the desert stuff first then to Etosha for 3 nights, where we saw lots of lions (21 in 3 days!). After that, my wife and daughter went to Cape Town for a week of sightseeing and I went hunting with Lukas Holtzhausen at Afrika Jag safaris.
The primary species was Eland and Hyena along with some bird shooting and predator control. It was a wonderful hunt! Lukas runs a terrific operation and is a great guy to hunt with.
We started with a few days hunting Eland in a classic tracking type hunt, on a property about 50 KM from Outjo. As mentioned above, it was hot and dry and we had trouble getting to within range of the Eland.
I was able to take a huge eland bull on day 3 after much tracking. We caught up with him at last light near a waterhole. We crawled through some brush to get a good view then taking a seated position and a rest on Lukas' shoulder, I hit him with the 300 H&H. His front left foot went forward and I knew it was a good shot, however as it was getting dark, Lukas told me to keep shooting to avoid leaving him out in the bush all night. I hit him 3 more times and he was down. You never really think Eland are as big as they are until you get up close. He was absolutely huge; a beautiful bull and wonderful trophy. Not to mention hundreds of kilos of the best meat on the continent! Eland is one of my favorite things to eat!
The next day we moved up to a 40,000 HA ranch on the border with Etosha National Park. The target now was a spotted Hyena, something I have wanted to hunt for a long time. The camp was rustic but perfect for my needs. It was my first time sleeping where I could hear Lions and Hyenas at night and I loved every minute of it!
My tent
Guides tent/kitchen/dining room
My favorite spot
Food was great--all cooked over the fire or in a cast iron pot.
I made a new friend--Puner the baby meerkat
The area was again Hot and Dry (it’s Namibia after all!) and very dusty. It was like walking and driving around in a sea of talcum powder. It sure made the tracking easy. Even I could recognize and follow some of them.
Lion Track. The only thing that gives you more of a pucker factor than seeing your first lion track is hearing him that night in a tent. We never saw them and in hind sight, I’m glad we didn’t. If we had there would have been an expensive decision to make.
Hyena track
One morning we found a python sitting by a water hole. He was at least 10 feet long!
Thankfully only one sign of a poacher was found--an old snare which had the skeleton of a dead oryx next to it.
Evidence of lion depredation on local cattle was there to be seen. There appear to be LOTS of lions in northern Namibia.
I am a passionate upland hunter and was very happy to get in several nights of sand grouse shooting over waterholes. More like a dove than our grouse but they are fast, fun and taste great!
I was asked to do some predator hunting to get rid of a few jackals while I was there. It was a lot of fun calling them in with a foxpro call, which they responded to readily.
The hyena and jackal hunting was done at night so I had the added enjoyment of the unbelievably dark Namibian sky. We don’t see sky like that here in the Northeastern US and I absolutely love looking at it. One shooting star was so bright the trees cast shadows.
The Hyena was the highlight of the trip though. We had hunted using bait, tracking and calling but were coming up empty despite the whooping around the camp at night. On the 5th night we drove out to an area near a couple hills ant set up at about 1230am. Again using the FoxPro—the electronic sounds of a hyena feeding frenzy echoing around in the night. After a few series of calls, we could hear in the distance, a couple of hyena whooping in reply. Estimated to be a couple kilometers away, we would call and they whooped, getting closer each time. After about 45 minutes Lukas said he could see one in the beam of his red flashlight. I couldn’t find them in the scope and they melted away into the night.
Lukas quietly told me we would try a stalk. We crept along in the pitch dark for a few hundred meters until we hit a cattle fence. Lukas shined the light down the fence line and 2 red eyes looked back. The fence prevented us from getting the sticks in place correctly so I leaned out over the fence using the sling for support, and steadied myself on the sticks which were set like a monopod. I looked through the scope and saw the eyes still looking at us and, aiming low and left, squeezed off a shot with the .25-06. I promptly told Lukas I was not confident in the shot but he was grinning at me! The rifle was fitted with a suppressor and he said he heard a "thump".
We carefully and slowly walked up the fence line, Lukas and Kluta (the Damara tracker) looking for tracks with me scanning the bush with the rifle and my flashlight. We heard another hyena whooping a few hundred yards away and then some rustling in the bushes close at hand. Kluta found the tracks, then blood followed by some tissue. 50 more yards and I had my Hyena. It turned out to be a well-placed shot estimated by Lukas at 180 meters.
I'll remember that shot and stalk up the fence line for a long, long time.
It was only at about 2am, over a celebratory beer around the fire that we talked about what else we could've run into during that stalk in the dark.....
I was looking for a trophy warthog too and was lucky enough to come across this guy after getting busted on a Kudu stalk (HUGE kudu!). He was drinking by himself near mid-day at a cattle dam. We edged our way up along some brush and, again using Lukas’ shoulder as a rest, hit him with the 300 H&H. I can still see him do a backwards summersault at the impact. While Lukas went for the truck I walked up on my first trophy warthog. As I approached him the tusks just kept getting bigger and bigger! Lukas was elated with him saying it was a huge hog for Namibia. I couldn't get over how long he was.
I had mentioned to my friends that I thought after this trip, my 4th, I would have Africa out of my system. However, while enjoying a Windhoek Draft that last night, looking up at the Southern Cross and the Milky Way, basking in the glow of the Mopane fire, I was no longer sure.
I am positive I'll be back in Africa again.
