i have enjoyed perusing the many fine stories here and all the wonderful pictures and have finally decided to report on my three trips to africa, starting with my 2003 trip to namibia. not being terribly computer apt, i will note that all picutres i will attempt to post can be found at: http://s222.photobucket.com/albims/dd263/hunterkbd/. do not be too surprised if none of them actually show up.
2003
namibia
farm ongangasemba (die Keiler group)
near otjiwarongo
PH: immo wilckens
rifle: winchester m70 .300 mag
ammo: remington corelokt 180 grain/200 grain
(i know, just factory, but it worked just fine)

after scouring the internet for hunts, i settled on namibia as it seemed cheaper and more friendly to a custom hunt, compared to some of the package hunts with a set list of animals. i scoured some more and took a flier (not knowing about this site yet) and settled on farm ongangasemba. i contacted them and thru a series of emails booked a hunt with them. my goal was for two kudu, one gemsbok, one blue wildebeest, one black wildebeest, one red hartebeest, and one warthog. they wanted a .300 mag preferably so i brought mine, with a 4-9 x 32 scope on it. i then booked my travel bymyself and it all worked out, fortunately. we settled on may for the kudu rut.
i left mcallen texas on friday,may 9, via dfw, and on to atlanta, arriving 0030 sat morning. i sat arounbd the airport talking to another hunter and then boarded south african air at 1000 to cape town. no problems on either set of flights and i thought the service was good. on arrival,may 11, i had to go through the saps checkin and since my gun was the very last off the plane, even though my connection to windhoek was the first to leave of all the hunters there, i missed the flight. i took a car tour of capetown, which was enjoyable, and then got the next flight out which put me into windhoek in the early evening. clearing the gun office was a breeze (not a hint of corruption). i met almut wilckens, who drove me off to otjiwarongo and then the farm. how exciting to see gemsbok and baboons from the truck. the scenery sure looked a lot like south texas, however. i checked into my room in the guest quarters and first thing i saw was number of shoulder mounts of springbok and blesbok. over dinner, they were added to the bag without any problem.
the food was home cooked game meat and local produce and was good. the usual daily laundry was available and quick. lunch was usually eaten in the field. mosquitos were not common and no malaria prophylaxis was needed. i am an ob/gyn by profession, so am used to long periods with little sleep, so jet lag was not a factor.
the next day,day 1, we went out for a drive to look for kudu so i loaded the 200 grain cartridges after siting in the rifle (still good). we came across a nice springbok. one shot a huge exit wound, at 100 yards, a run of ten feet and we had the first trophy in less than an hour. we loaded him ito the truck and drove some more. then we saw two blesboks and immo said the right one was good, so i shot him with a 180 grain at 120 yards, one shot, ran about 20 feet and fell. we loaded him into the truck and went looking for kudu again. we saw some in the bush and got out to stalk. after a brief foray, immo crossed a small ditch and i was following when a big kudu bull burst out of the brush not 20 feet in front of us. he yells shoot, but i have one foot on each side of the ditch, my rifle out for balance in my right hand and am too busy trying not to fall on my butt. obviously i did not get a shot off. oh well. i still think it was very funny.
day two was spent futiley chasing gemsbok and red hartebeest. no shot undr 500 yards was available. we sat over a salt lick in the late afternoon and saw a great female gemsbok, which i still regret not shooting, a caracal, a few zebra, but the hartebeest hung back in the brush and never came into view.
day three was a drive for gemsbok. we spooked a nice bunch and then circled way around and caught them in a shallow draw. immo pointed out the bull and i shot at 80 yards, using a 180 grain. it was a good shpoulder hit, he ran about 40 yards and fell. there was no blood trail, but the jack russel terrier found him and tried to bite the scrotum off. . back for lunch. we went out again for black wildebeest. a small bunch was spotted on a distant hillside, so we made a 1/2 mile stalk up a sandy riverbed to stay out of sight. that was some hard walking. we came out about 300 yards away and slowly stalked up the hillside to about 200 yards. i set up using a small tree branch and then had to wait for a while until the younger bulls moved out of the path to the biggest bull. one shot, he dropped from view. i asked where he went and was told he was down. the rest of the herd then stampeded right past us, so we stayed in the tree for protection. we went up the hill and there he was, what a sight. a high shoulder shot, breaking both shoulders with the bullet lodged just under the skin of the off shoulder. immo went for the truck and told me to watch for leopards until he got back11? i was a little nervous until i figured he must be joking, right? another good day on the hunt
day 4 was for kudu again, but nothing was seen in the morning. we ate lunch overlooking a waterhole, and a nice kudu trotted in for a drink as we sat there. i woke immo up from his nap, and he said it was a shooter, so i shot from about 70 yards, using a 200 grain into the chest, as he stared at us trying to figure out what was what. he ran, jumped a stock fence and needed a finishing shot. what a marvelous animal. we sat over another waterhole and i got the only shooter warthog seen on the trip. (no picture available)

day five came, the last day of the hunt. we were driving along when we spotted a kudu in a small clearing to the left. we jerked to a stop, and i took the 100 yard shot, again a frontal shot into the chest. he went straight down. as we came up, the terrier again tried to bite the scrotum off and almost got kicked into botswana. a finishing shot took care of that and my second kudu was down. . we loaded him up and back for luch. we went back out for the blue wildebeest in the afternoon and finally spotted some late in the afternoon. we stalked about 1/2 mile to get closer. they were milling around in the edge of the brush so we waited awhile for a shot. finally one came into the shooting lane and immo said to shoot. 130 yards, 180 grain, and it fell down. the herd milled around sme more, sniffing and pushing the dead animal, then finally moved off after about 15 minutes. we wlked up the hill and found it was a dry cow, not a bull. i was still happy, as i was not hunting for record trophies, just trophies for myself and for my memories.
that was the end of my hunt. the next day, they drove me back to windhoek, stopping for a few souvenirs in the roadside market near otjiwarongo on the way. i had 20 minutes to shop. we hunted all day for 5 straight days and it was great. the trip home was fine, windhoek to johannesburg, fortunately not going through saps, and then atlanta. clearing customs easily, back to dfw and mcallen. for not having all the good information and advice found here, i think it was an excellent trip. i will do my tanzania and other namibia trip in other posts soon. thanks

what do you know, it worked in addition, i think there was a lot of game available and the quality was good. i would recommend these folks for a hunt. the trophies measured:
kudu 324 cm -51"
kudu 297.5cm-46"
gemsbok 220.5cm - 36' length,71/4'bases
black wb 208cm
springbok 102.5cm
blesbok 113.5 cm
per napha, the big kudu, gemsbok, black wildebeest, springbok, and blesbok were all gold medal. i don't care, i just like them on my wall

Congratulations on a fine collection of animals Dr. Davis.

I'm sure they come with a lifetime of great memories as well.

With all due respect can we vote on the hat for your next safari???

Kyler

What nice animals. I hope you can make it back someday. Thanks for the post.

Great report. The hat is fine to me.

no need to apologize for remington corelokt ammo. it has worked for years. I believe Jack Oconnor even mentions using it often in his books.

Great report.
I got no problem with the hat either.
Looking forward to your next reports.

TerryR