Plains game hunt in Namibia in June 2022 with Shona Hunting Safaris. PH Johann Veldsman. Package hunt advertised on AR and booked from New Zealand.
Hunted on Johann's home farm on the Huab River using his Marlin 30-06.
Species hunted and taken. Gemsbok, Kudu, Hartmanns Mountain Zebra, Springbok, Black-backed Jackal, Bush Duiker.
Flights, Heathrow to Frankfurt on Lufthansa, then EuroWings to Windhoek. Premier Economy. Seating and service in Premier Economy not quite what you would expect on a Middle Eastern Airline and the Business Class seats looked like Premier Economy on Qatar or Emirates flights. Lufthansa flights to and from Frankfurt were both over an hour late so allow plenty of time for flight transfers. Heathrow was functioning well.
Met at Windhoek by an apprentice PH known as SJ. Very pleasant young man who drove well for 6 hours to the lodge, North-West of Outjo.
First impressions of Namibia were that it was clean and well-run by African standards with well-maintained roads, housing and infrastructure.
The lodge and meals were as good as you would expect in the best places in South Africa.
Farm Huab is about 16,000 acres and used to be a cattle ranch so there are numerous bores and water holes. There are still very porous cattle fences on some boundaries but they didn't seem to impede the plains game or the elephants that feed up and down the ephemeral Huab river. This was the dry season of course so there was no surface water but they had good rains this year so the grass was high. After the bad drought in 2019 animal numbers are still not what they were and some species, like Warthogs, are not common enough to be hunted.
Apart from the above species which I took, I also saw Chacma Baboons and a fine Red Hartebeest near the Windhoek airport, Noki (Dassie Rat), Rock Hyrax, and Congo Rope squirrel at the lodge, and Aardvarks, Cape Hares, Angolan Slender Mongoose, Banded Mongoose, Bar Eared Foxes, Warthogs, Giraffes, Steenbok, Klipspringers and Damara Dikdik on the farm.
There was a wealth of birdlife around the lodge including the Rockrunner, Ruppells Parrot and Hartlaubs Francolin.
Johann was a careful, management-orientated PH who looked over the available Gemsbok, Kudu and Springbok males with care before selecting the oldest specimens which had already contributed their genetics. This suited me fine. We left longer horned young males of all the species while searching for something past it's best.
We went across the main road to a neighbour's farm to call for jackals one evening. The owner, Laurens Du Plessis, is the father of the well-known PH, Jan Du Plessis. When we called at his house he was on two crutches but with a 9mm pistol in a shoulder holster. Be Prepared! He told me to shoot any hyaenas or Cheetahs we saw as well as the jackals, but we saw nothing so I had no hard decisions to make!
Once we had taken all the species in the package Johann drove me a long way north to a property bordering the Etosha National Park to try for Red Hartebeest. The farm was 100,000acres, owned by an elderly German who had left the property in charge of his Namibian girlfriend but she had gone off somewhere and the staff didn't know when she would be back. A few weeks previously Johann had hunted there and Hartebeest and other species were everywhere. Now there were a lot of Giraffes but little else. We saw a few Black-faced Impala, Springbok, Zebra and Wildebeest but they spooked the sight of the truck at 500 yards. There wasn't a Hartebeest left on the place. In a few weeks it had been poached right out. Very sad, but the owner should have employed a competant, no-nonsense, farm manager.
While the Gemsbok, Kudu and Springbok were very fine and much better specimens than I have taken in South Africa, the Mountain Zebra was a new species for me and we really had to work for him. 3 1/2 hours of walking and climbing kopjes before I finally got him off the top of the rocks.
However, the highlight of the trip was actually the Bush duiker. I have taken the species before but there was one particular old male that we tried for over and over again, stalking through his territory but the long grass and his experience defeated us. On the last hunting day we went through his territory again but started walking from a very long way off. Finally I got a clear shot at his chest and he ran off spouting lung blood but then he had the decency to drop dead right on the track so we didn't even have to carry him. 4 1/2 inches of horn isn't a record-beater but to me he was a real trophy that we really worked for.
In summary, Johann Veldsman and his team at Shona hunting Safaris are running a great operation and I thoroughly recommend it as a place for both novices and experienced hunters with their families.

quote:

the Mountain Zebra was a new species for me and we really had to work for him. 3 1/2 hours of walking and climbing kopjes before I finally got him off the top of the rocks.

Congrats on your hunt! Was there a reason why you didn't take a Damara dik dik? Yes, hunting Mountain Zebra was one of the toughest hunts that I have been on. Often they're not easy, but well worth it!

Sounds like you were quite close to where I hunted with Jan Du Plessis in 2017. Also met Laurens while there. I enjoyed the vistas there as much as the hunting. I thought that area quite scenic.
Thankyou for the hunt report and congrats and well done on a successful hunt.
Are you planning on shipping trophies back to NZ ? Current costs to do so I find a bit daunting.

The reasons I didn't take Damara Dikdik were that a quota has to be applied for and Johann is not inclined to apply for it, given their limited numbers and their high rate of predation by Leopards and Jackals.
However, Johann has other places we could have gone to hunt them but I wasn't keen. I already have Guenthers Dikdik and Harar Dikdik fully mounted. They were expensive to hunt and even more expensive to have fully mounted and no one but me has any interest in them. I was happy to admire the handsome tiny antelope and let them be.
30.06king
Johann and Jan are neighbours and good friends.
Johann's place is farther north and on the other side of the road from Jan du Plessis. Most of his farm is similar to Jan's but he has the advantage of the riverine woodland along the river giving even more varied and attractive scenery.
I am planning to bring the trophies back to NZ but I haven't seen a quote yet. It might make my cojones shrivel and my wallet twitch!

Thanks for the Report Pom. During my last hunt with Jan du Plessis in 2019 we shot and hung bait animals for Johann for a Leopard hunter from Malta. We provided a cull Gemsbok, a Zebra and a cow carcass. Jan’s dad Lourens packs a pistol for good reason. In December 2020 he was savagely beaten and robbed by some natives from the Outjo area. In short order the perps were apprehended and arrested.

Johann is a fine PH and a good neighbor to Jan and vice versa. I leave in 18 days for my sixth hunt with Jan.

Good luck on your hunt with Jan, Bud. The grass is high on his place too. What species are you after this time?

Pom: My #1 target is a big bull Eland. Second target is a Springbok larger than the 16” Springbok I shot in 2019. I also would like to shoot as many Male Baboons that Jan will let me go after. I really like to go after Warthogs but Jan tells me the draught of 2019 has really put a huge dent in their numbers. In prior years we hunted Spotted Hyenas but I have a tough time staying awake in the blind, and I snore like a chain saw when I nod off.

Bud: What have you hunted in the last 5 safaris with Jan?

UEG: In my last 5 hunts with Jan I’ve harvested 1 Eland, 2 Waterbuck, a Blue Wildebeest, a Black Wildebeest, 2 Springbok, 1 Steenbok, 7 Gemsbok, 3 Kudus, 3 Warthogs, 3 Jackals, 5 Baboons, 1 Red Hartebeest, 1 Mountain Zebra and a lone Rock Hyrax. The only species I’ve struck out on are Impala and Spotted Hyenas. I leave two weeks from tomorrow and I’m already packed.

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
Thanks for the Report Pom. During my last hunt with Jan du Plessis in 2019 we shot and hung bait animals for Johann for a Leopard hunter from Malta. We provided a cull Gemsbok, a Zebra and a cow carcass. Jan’s dad Lourens packs a pistol for good reason. In December 2020 he was savagely beaten and robbed by some natives from the Outjo area. In short order the perps were apprehended and arrested.

Johann is a fine PH and a good neighbor to Jan and vice versa. I leave in 18 days for my sixth hunt with Jan.

Bud,
Please tell Jan and Marissa (sp?) that Jeff and Steve (bpesteve here) often savor our memories of the hunt there in 2016, and hope they are all well. Never got to meet his dad. Sorry to hear he was attacked. Being armed is a good idea.

the Pom,
Thank you for the enjoyable report. Congrats on your successful hunt. Unlikely I will get to return, but it calls forward fond memories of the countryside and animals. Very scenic, as you said. Reading your post, I was glad to have taken a good Red Hartebeest when I did.

the Pom, I can very well understand that you enjoyed hunting with Johann on Shona.
I was there in 2004 .

The other farm could have been Kaoka Etosha?
I hunted there as well, and it was owned by a German and border the Etosha National Park.

On the two farms I got mountain zebra, kudu, gemsbok, three springbok and black wildebeest.

Fantastic nature, nice people, and Johann runs a very professional outfit.

I hunted twice with Johann @ Shona several years ago. It was a first class operation in every respect.

I'm curious to know the name of the other property mentioned in the OP.

During one of my hunts with Shona we spent 3 nights at another property, Ermo, looking for
eland. Ermo is surrounded on three sides by Etosha. While this was several years ago, the Ermo property was a nice property with very good game numbers. It's also quite picturesque.

In any event, the Shona operation continues as a first class Namibian outfit, as does the adjoining du Plessis property Bud Meadows mentions.