Let me preface this by saying that I am really not interested in posting personal hunting tales, but several people have asked me to give a report and my impressions of our recent trip to Namibia. The real holdup has been adding pictures, so I finally decided I'd do the report and then add pics if I found the time to sort a few relevant ones out of the hundreds I took. In the hopes that this recount might help someone else have as much fun as my son and I did I am plunging into the report.

Second, I want to thank John Crighton (see his report on Otjikoko posted earlier) for starting me down the path to this great experience. He mentioned late last year that he was going to Namibia and was looking for a hunting partner. I replied, and he sent me information on Otjikoko and their booking agent Geoff Hashimoto. I then said, I'd likely be taking at least my 14 yr old son and possibly my wife and two daughters along. He quickly decided that was not his cup of tea which I found perfectly understandable, no harm, no foul. From that I contacted Geoff Hashimoto (posts as Geoff on AR) the booking agent for Otjikoko who, while I've never met him did all that a booking agent could do and then some. He is a gentleman from the old school (yes I can recognize one even if I ain't) and really was a pleasure to work with. While I'm thinking about it, there is an "Otjikoko" Namibian hunting site on the web. That is NOT the Otjikoko that I, John Crighton, and late bloomer (see his report in the African Hunting section) hunted on.

Third I want to thank Kathi Klimes of Wildnet Travel for her services and knowledge or ALL of the relevant rules and regulations. She made the airline part of the trip as easy as it can be. I've used numerous travel agents over the years and I can tell you that she is a gem. Highly recommended.

At any rate, after several false starts on what and when I was going to hunt, with the help of Geoff Hashimoto, Ursi Walters, and Marion Hall and her son and Ph Rodney Hall, we decided that Adam, my son, 14 years old and I would tour Northern Namibia for a few days before going hunting. I believe this was the right decision, more like foreplay before the main event, so to speak.

We left DFW 6/19 and arrived in Frankfurt the next morning, which was a Friday. Frankfurt is supposedly the busiest freight airport in the world and it may well be but it is a confusing place that handles passengers poorly in my opinion. After wandering around for a while, we found the correct customs area and we left our guns (tuffpak) and ammo in bond with the German customs which was relatively smooth. Then took a shuttle to Holiday Inn Nord, which was a decent and relatively inexpensive place to stay. They have an exceptional breakfast (included with room, I believe, but that is from memory) and lunch buffet (not included but really excellent and reasonably priced).Then the Euro/dollar shock set in....had lunch, 1/2 liter Heninger beer (made in Frankfurt and quite good) cost about $8 US. Adam had a .2L (about 7 ounces) coke which cost $7 US. Only place I've ever been where beer was cheaper than coca-cola ounce for ounce. Needless to say, I saved money and continued to drink beer. The current Euro/dollar conversion rate makes Germany a very expensive layover. Frankly, prices in Namibia are so much more reasonable that, in retrospect, I think we would have had more fun for our money if we had just flown straight through. Luckily the costs (that is we weren't on a strict budget) were not the real issue, but the whole time I was in Germany I felt like I was getting screwed without a kiss.

The next day we took a bus/boat tour down the Rhine River and saw quite a few castles as well. It was fun but I quickly remembered why I hate group tours.

Sunday, we fly out to Namibia that evening. Due to my imagined concerns over the potential problems of checking our tuffpak and ammo in, we were the first in line for Air Namibia. Not such a bad idea since the line got quite long as we stood there. At any rate, the ticket lady handed me over two baggage claim checks that I took downstairs to customs and they applied them to our two items and said they'd would personally put them on the plane. Ammo and tuffpak arrived with us in Windhoek without problems. German customs were helpful and efficient in all of our dealings with them.

More later.

We arrived Windhoek Monday Morning early and after going through the paperwork for our guns and ammo, passed on throught the "nothing to declare" doors to meet our "tour" guide and Ph for the first half of our hunt, Rodney Hall.

Rodney is a good man and we enjoyed his efforts as a driver and tour guide and his professionalism as a PH.

Following Rodney's advice, we changed a couple of thousand US for Namibian at the airport. Unlike in almost anywhere else in the world you get some of the, if not the best exchange rates in Namibia at the airport.

We then proceeded to spend the night at Otjikoko (our hunting ranch and about a 3 hour drive from WDH, about 40k out of Omaruru) and meet Ursi Walter, wife of Martin Walter who are the owners of the farms we hunted on. Mr. Walter was still in Germany but returned about the time we returned from our touring. She is a outgoing, caring person who is really concerned with your comfort and enjoyment of their operation. We also met Marion Hall and her husband, Tommy who are Rodney's parents. Tommy would serve as our Ph for the last half of our hunting time there as Rodney had some other earlier committments.

After lunch and a nap (still recovering from flight) we went and checked zeros on our guns. Adam used his Christmas present, a Tikka T3 Camo in .308 (for Stonecreek with a 3-9 Leupie on it ) shooting 165gr TBBCs and I used my "go to" everyday ranch gun, a Shilen barreled, pre64 M70 in .300WM using 200gr Partitions. I semi-agonized over using my old 3-12x56 Kahles scope (I had just bought several new and better Zeiss and S&Bs) that I had on my rifle, but being the procrastinator that I am, and after taking into account the Murphy factor, I chose to use the leave the Kahles on that I knew had taken a beating for years on 4 wheelers and in trucks and maintained zero as opposed to mounting a new one on there that was untested in the field. To be honest, procrastination, which is second nature to me, had a lot to do with the decision. Both rifles were sighted in at 200m and were dead on, that is about 3 inches high at 100m when we tested them. As it turns out, in this area, a 100m is a relatively long shot so, following Rodney's advice, we lowered Adam's scope 2 1/2 inches or just above dead on at 100m. Since I keep mine sighted in for longer shots and am used to using it set up that way, we left mine alone. After that we drove around, spotting a few animals. Adam had a chance on a good kudu and a possibility on an oryx but passed, much to my chagrin. I asked him why and he said he wanted to wait until we really started hunting. Go figure.....

Had a great dinner, cooked by Pedro, the Walter's friend and very good chef from Italy.

To back up for a moment, thanks to the efforts of Geoff and Marion Hall, we had arranged for the hire of one of Otjikokos vehicles with Rodney Hall as the driver. The rate which may and probably should be higher in the future was extremely reasonable. Since I didn't want to fool with the problems of renting a car and what to do with it while we were hunting as well as the little detail of Namibians driving on the wrong side of the road from us, it was a great deal and a good decision. I paid for car and driver with a fixed rate and had to pay for fuel, and Rodney's room and board.

For the next few days, we toured, in order, the Cheetah farm, Otjitotongwe, Etosha (scheduled for two days but I'd had all of looking at animals I wanted after one, so we spent one night there instead of two, blew off about $400 of non-refundable room charges and went to Twyfelfontein Lodge for the next night), Twyfelfontein where we saw some of the famous 6000 year old rock art, then on to Swakopmund and a Walvis Bay boat tour the last morning of touring.

I am inserting part of a PM that I sent to a fellow ARer describing parts of our touring.....this might help someone in the future......so here it is.....

We drove from Etosha, leaving mid morning, to Twyfelfontein Lodge, arriving late afternoon, after some stops along the way.

The Lodge is a really pretty lodge/hotel with the rooms located in separate buildings to the right as you face the Lodge. Parking is kind of weird.

Lodge is one of the rare (only one I've seen) two story Lapa (that is thatch roofed, timber framed outdoor, mostly open air building)....most permanent hunting camps in SA and Namibia have some type of Lapa. Twy. Lodge is architecturally designed to blend and fit into the red rock hill/mt side that rises behind and around it. Really pretty and very well done, first floor is reception, toilets, and offices, second floor, as you face building is bar area on left with large dining area on rt. The swimming pool, quite cool this time of year, is in front of lodge, below bar area. This is a well known tourist place and is expensive for namibia, roughly $120/person for the 3 of us, but that included b'fast and dinner buffets (dinner buffet not included with room rates but included in above cost), which as I've noted were exceptionally good.

If you go there and are into HOT!! look over the condiments and get some "Bushman's Revenge" hot sauce from SA. I burned our guide to the ground with it, but we really like HOT sauce, Tobasco is quite mild for us, and believe me, this is HOT. Tried to buy some to take home, but could not find any in Swakopmund and didn't spend anytime in WDH. BTW they also have other "Bushman's" products which are marked as to heat totals, some of which are quite tame.

BTW, as in everywhere we went in Namibia, the lodging include b'fast, which is usually much more substantial than what we consider as the European style breakfasts that come with lodging in the states.

Twyfelfontein Lodge is kind of neat but other than eating and staying there, there is nothing to really do right at the lodge. I'm not sure of the distance but relatively close to the lodge, 2 to 5k, is the entrance to another canyon which has the rock paintings on it. They are pictured in guide books and are somewhat more or an adult appreciation viewing than for juveniles, so I'd consult with my kids whether I wanted to do this or not. The rock paintings, of giraffes, rhinos, Oryx, lions, etc are roughly 6000 years old and were made by the native people who hunted this area. Game was concentrated there by a spring. At any rate, if you decide to go, there is a parking charge, and a charge for the guided walks. Charges are about $4/person. All prices I quote, unless noted, are in US dollars. As I understand it there are 3 available guided trips. We took the middle one, which took about 45 minutes and was not as strenuous as the "Dancing Kudu" trail but saw most of the most interesting rock paintings. The two of us tipped our guide about $2 when it was over. I found it interesting and enjoyable, but it is probably pretty marginal for computer age kids.

There are other well know rock paintings in the area, I wanted to see what is probably the most well known, The White Lady of Brandberg, but due to time constraints and being in the "wrong" direction we gave it a miss. Hopefully another time.

One other thing, Twy. Lodge rooms are NOT air conditioned and while we were there it was a bit warm at night, not really unbearable, rooms were prob 80F, and there were ceiling fans, but not really comfortable either. If you go, you'll be there later in winter and this will probably not apply. I would NEVER consider going there in the Namibian summer. From Twy Lodge and the rock paintings we drove on to Swakopmund (BTW I never did get the pronunciation down just right but it is swakopMOONd, with the accent on last syllable)which takes a while to go over.

This is also part of a PM I sent to someone who wanted more information so if it is a little hard to follow bear with me.....


Once we arrived in Swakopmund, we had enough time after checking in to go a few miles South of town on the beach (and only) highway going towards Walvis Bay to a place that rents, among other things 4 wheelers, known as quads in Namibia to ride among the giant dunes that parallel the beach all the way down the African coast from there. As far as I know there are two places that rent quads, one is very close to town, just on the South edge and then this one which is roughly 5 or 6 mile south of town where the dunes start to get bigger, and I mean BIGGER. Our PH had a preference for this one. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it, but you can't miss it if you drive South, it is the only thing around and is easily recognizable for a tourist attraction. (After going back thru some ad flyers we picked up, I'm 99% certain it is called Outback Orange.) My son, 14, who is a reasonably accomplished 4 wheeler driver and I rented two of their 4 wheelers for a guided (that is, the guide picks a route and you follow him after some minimal instruction)ride throught these dunes. It was an absolute blast BUT, and this is a big BUT, there is serious potential for someone who doesn't know how to ride one to get hurt, and I mean really hurt. People get killed out there all the time on their own rolling off the slip face of the dunes. The same place also rents pieces of masonite which the renter can then wax and slide down the dunes. I understand with practice the slider can reach 50mph. We didn't try it, both for lack of time and for the Daddy consideration that I didn't want Adam to get hurt just before we got to the hunting part of the trip. However, it is relatively safe and kids should love it. We were the last set of rented 4wheelers that day so we had a beer and soft drinks, furnised with our hour and a half ride, as we sat way up on top of a 800-1000 foot dune with the sun setting over the Atlantic. Pretty cool.

That night we ate at the Lighthouse Rest. Food was good, but it was crowded and service was just fair. I may post a pic of my son's "Lighthouse" hamburger he ordered when I do a hunt report, it was about 8 inches tall and cost $6.50. While I didn't eat there, the Tug Restaurant which is relatively close, is reputed to be one of the best in Swakop. The next night we ate a Kucki's which was superb, a small place we lucked into because I was looking for some good raw oysters. BTW, the raw oysters here, all grown in Walvis Bay, are REALLY good, but fairly expensive, roughly a US dollar plus each. However well worth it for an oyster lover.

Let's see, next day we scheduled a fishing trip, and went out on a roughly 24 foot catamaran hulled boat. Supposedly the sea (Atlantic) was fairly smooth that day, but smooth is a relative term and I'd call the waves 4 to 6 with bigger ones intermittently. My son after catching two or three fish was horribly seasick for about 5 hours until we got back to the beach. I had a good time, minus being concerned for him, and caught quite a few of the local fish called Kavalhao (sp) which look like and, without doubt, are some relative of what we call a white or sand trout in the Gulf of Mexico but get much bigger, up to about 50 pounds. All the ones we caught were in the 1 to 5 pound range. I don't have a phone number for the boat but I can give you the name by looking it up in my pics. The caveat is the seasickness, if you go and ANYONE has the slightest tendency towards motion sickness be sure to medicine up well before boarding. If you have any interest, let me know and I'll get you the boat name which should make it easy. The captain was good and the trip was good, but unless you rent the whole boat, you're in for the whole time, sick or well. Poor Adam chummed the fish for about 5 hours. We fished from roughly 8:30 AM to 2 PM. Recommended for adults who like to fish, kids maybe if they don't get motion sickness. BTW, Adam has been out several times before and did not get sick, so we didn't think he would be in any danger on this trip....WRONG.

Next morning we took what was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip, which was a BOAT tour of Walvis Bay. Doesn't sound like much but it was a lot of fun. Before I go any farther, there are boat tours and catamaran tours. Based on what I saw and our experience, I would have an EXTREMELY strong preference for the boat tour run by Pelican Tours, phone +264 64 207644. mobile +264 81 1245123. The Cat boats, which are motor sailers, are NOT sailed but motored around. The ones we saw were packed with people and due to the boat design cannot cover nearly as much ground as a regular boat. Several semi-wild seals climbed up into interior of our boat for passengers to feed, pet, one probably went 500 pounds or so.....captain whistles and pelicans come to boat, flying by...all great pics....as well as seeing seal colony, dolphins. They spotted some whales the day before, and apparently this is the whale spotting season, so to speak, but we didn't see any. I stress the boat is MUCH better. After all of that and some more sightseeing, Chinese prisoner fishing boats, seized Russian fishing boats, etc, we had a light snack finger sandwiches and some raw oysters if you wanted them (duh! in my and my son's case) as well as several glasses of South African "champagne". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. BTW, since the Bay is protected, there is no real rough water and almost no danger of seasickness unless someone is extremely susceptible.

Oh yeah, afternoon before we went to the Kristall Galerie. Since you mentioned one of your son's is into rocks and science, it is not to be missed. Huge quartz crystals as well as other minerals from Namibia. As someone who is pretty familiar with rock values, I found the prices in the museum shop to be quite high, but they did have some interesting pieces. Not to be missed if you're into rocks and doesn't take long, a couple of hours would be plenty of time, and you can do it easily in 45 minutes or less.

Things we didn't do that should be considered.....they have beach fishing for sharks, obviously no seasickness and should be fun for kids with adults along.....According to my guidebook, free tours of Hansa brewery on Tues and Thurs with advance reservations.....National Marine Aquarium....horseback riding (have no knowledge of quality).....kayaking in Walvis Bay around seal colony......possibly seeing flamingos on salt lagoons at Walvis Bay, not sure if this is season or not but supposedly many of them.

After the boat tour of Walvis Bay we were off to our hunting ranch so I'll end here.

More later......

quote:

Gatogordo

Gatogordo
I fished off the beach last September for sharks with a guide ($125US/day). Great fishing! I watched boats fishing off shore in 6-10" seas.
25' boats in 10" seas, was I glade I was on shore!
Great report keep it coming

Robert:

I really wanted to try the beach fishing too but we just ran out of time. It is a "must do" on my next trip. Actually, I intend to do a bit more research and hope to do some surf type fishing (that is casting) as well. This was my first trip to Namibia but will not be my last. As a matter of fact, I seriously considered going back next month, but am going to South Africa instead.....looking forward to it but SA ain't Namibia.

The boat fishing we did was fun and was well run and costs about $100/person ($N800) but as you observed and as I mentioned, the Atlantic on the Namibia coast, with some thousands of miles of open water behind it, is not a bathtub and 10 foot waves were common. And this was on a "smooth" day. I like fishing but I do almost everything I do for fun, not to prove something, and if it got any less "smooth" than what we experienced, I'd MUCH rather be on the beach. Needless to say, Adam was thrilled to step on dry land again.

We arrived back at Otjikoko-Martin Walter farms Sunday evening just in time for a South African cold front to move in. It seems the Namibians blame most unpleasant things on South Africa.... We hunted 9 days and the high in the morning was about 34F and the low was about 25F. The Namibians were freezing, I thought it was just damn fine air conditioning after leaving a Texas summer. But it would warm up rapidly with the sunrise and by 9 it was usually shirt sleeve weather with it getting to 60 to 70 in the afternoon, and, reversing rapidly when the sunset.

Whether this cold front affected the animal movement or it was just an extension of my Kudu Kurse is subject to debate. However, it is not debatable that we had slow hunting luck for most of the trip. The animals were there, we just couldn't get a shot, or they'd run, or the wind was wrong, or impalas would break them, or......on and on. The first day I shot a jackal on way back in after dark, only shot fired. Second day we hunted, as in most days, from about 6:30 (sunrise about 7:30) to lunch, two hour break, and hunt to dark. The ranch or farm as they call it in Namibia is actually 3 contiguous farms owned by the same person comprising about 65,000 acres. It is a very long rectangular shape. Because I wanted to be with my son when he shot on his first trip to Africa, we hunted 2x1 with Rodney Hall as our PH on the first part of trip. Towards end of second day, and by far not for the first time, Adam and Rodney, along with the tracker Absalom, made a stalk on a waterhole and found a decent Oryx bull rubbing in the mud. Adam shot him at about 80m, he ran about 40m and collapsed. First African animal for my son and it was a good moment. Other than that I would never hunt 2x1, it cost both of us, mostly me a lot of hunting time, since I was giving Adam first shot at any new animal, after he shot one, I was up for that animal. However, the following warthog didn't follow the script.....

Next day (third), we're driving along and a good warthog pops up out of brush next to truck. Rodney says "Take him if you can, so I grab gun and just as warthog is disappearing behind the brush get on him, know I'm too far back, but that was all I had, so shot anyway and he collapsed, rolled around, creating giant dust cloud, I can't see anything but the occasional leg, but following the theory that any shot is better than none, shot into dust cloud and didn't hit hog. Luckily he died in about 10 seconds without really getting back up.

The next day (fourth hunting day) we are driving along one of the river beds and Rodney spots a really good Kudu bull so the deadly trio take off after him, me sitting in truck reading a book. After a while, no shots heard, Absalom comes back to truck and we start down the river to pick Adam and Rodney up. I'm thinking they'll be just around the next bend or something....we drive about a mile and see a bunch of baboons about 500m down the riverbed. Absalom indicates that I should shoot one, they're running and I have NO idea where Adam and Rodney are. I'm shooting 200 gr Partitions, I'm not about to just "shoot in amongst them", without knowing that my son and his PH are not in the area. I just tell him "too far", but as we get closer, a few of them are running down bank about 200me.....Absalom stops truck, waiting for me to shoot....I ask "Where is Rodney?" He points behind us......about that time a big male jumps out of the bushes and is going dead away about 100m....one more time....."Where's Rodney?" He points other direction and obviously wants me to shoot, (baboons are free at Otjikoko, Ursi Walter hates them), so I put it on his butt and shoot. Baboon drops out of sight as I'm in recoil. I think I've got him but ask Absalom, who nods yes. Big male that couldn't stand a Namibian heart shot....they called it a Texas heart shot, but I renamed it. We retrieve baboon and drive for miles by road to pick up Rodney and Adam. They had pursued kudu for at least 2 miles cross country, maybe farther. Had one good chance for a shot and kudu stopped with tree between Adam and him, covering all of vital area, they move for a better angle and he takes off again. No shots fired and they passed up a really big impala while chasing kudu.

That afternoon just after the lunch break, we spot a decent impala and he gets nervous. After some hide and seek, Adam makes a good shot and he has his first impala.

Later, we are driving another river bed, and spot a good oryx bull who trots off into the brush. Since Adam has shot one, I get out, with R & A, and we go after him. Not a big deal, we walked maybe 200m and the oryx is looking at us from behind a bush. He starts to run, steps into opening, and then stops for one more look, giving me a quartering shot with his left shoulder facing me.....I shoot him on inside point of shoulder going for heart and lungs. He jumps and runs about 200m, collapses and dies. We can't see any of this due to brush, and, not surprising to those who have watched good trackers, Rodney and Absalom trotted up to him just like he was laying in the middle of a parking lot. I thought I had made a good shot, but it's always a good feeling to find them. He was a good bull, a bit better than Adam's. That was it for that day....

More later.

BTW, just to clarify the matter, I really think Rodney was a little concerned about Adam's age and shooting. But Adam killed his first deer by himself when he was 9 (.223) and has killed quite a few since then as well as many hogs. I knew he could and would shoot but I could certainly understand Rodney's concerns. Since I had just moved Adam up to a .308 from his .243, I got some low recoil loads for his Tikka .308 and we both practiced pretty extensively for the hunt by shooting beer bottles on our ranch offhand at 100y and using the sticks intermittently at 100, 200, and 300. As I've mentioned in another place, a lot of our practice was done with a NS22 in .22 Long Rifle, it has the same feel as a bigger rifle and the practice seemed to pay off. I told Rodney Adam was easily good up to 200m off the sticks. Rodney looked at me like I was crazy and said, "We won't be shooting that far." It was rather difficult to get any kind of clear shot that far, especially in the riverine habitat which was about half of the ranch.

I've always stressed firearms safety with Adam and he is a very safe gun handler which was a relief to both of the Halls as well, since they've had some very close calls thanks to idiots with loaded guns.

More later....

On day 5 we had a change of PH, as mentioned earlier, Rodney Hall had prior committments and we were handed off to his Dad, Tommy Hall, who is the ranch manager for Otjikoko. Tommy is really a great guy and a fantastic hunter, who I enjoyed talking and hunting with. He is big 5 qualified in Namibia and worked for the Namibia Game Conservation Dept for years before going out on his own. His son, Rodney, has a tough act to follow but is holding up to the challenge. Tommy runs the outside ranch activities and his wife, Marion, another pearl, manages the office along with Ursi.

Everyone, especially Ursi and her husband, Walter, the owners, was very concerned with our "feelings" about the relatively poor hunting results we were having. I honestly told them that "It's hunting, the game is here, I'm not upset at all." I'm not sure they believed me, they're used to a lot of bitching from some of their European clients but that's the way I felt. EVERYONE at the ranch went out of their way to insure that we had a good time and a good hunt, which we did.

At any rate, we talked over dinner and Tommy said he had a new hide (blind) where he thought we would have a good chance at a kudu the next morning. Up early, in hide before sunrise, about 30 degreesF, and Tommy says, "Who's going to shoot?" Of course, I said, "Adam." So Adam gets in front. After about an hour, Tommy says, there's two groups of kudu working down the hillside, should take them 30 to 45 minutes to get here. After about 45 minutes, some kudu cows come out, then a couple of young bulls, and then we see a nice wide Kudu bull who Tommy says is good, but not great, if you want him take him when I say. He is really wide and I ask Adam what he thinks, he said, "Looks good to me." So I said, shoot him when Tommy says to....about that time, two bull Oryx show up and they spot the blind....stand there looking and looking at it....I'm sure they're going to spook and run the kudus off....meanwhile Adam is shaking like a dog passing peach pits, to use a local expression.....I ask him if he's Ok and he nods.....kudu bull is behind a tree....I'd have shot him in the spine but Adam waited and waited and waited for him to step out.....finally he does and Adam shoots, kudu bolts and runs into brush.....Tommmy says, "He's down." He was a beautiful wide kudu, not a monster, but a really nice trophy, I was probably happier than Adam if that was possible.

We tried for a warthog for Adam midday, and then looked for kudu for me that afternoon, no luck.

Next day, we're on the lookout for a kudu for me. In the first 30 minutes, I've got a solid shot at a 51-52 incher but narrow. Tommy says, "Ahhhh, no problem, we can get a better one than that." so we let him walk off but I knew when I heard it that was the kiss of death.....Did I mention that I'm kudu kursed?

Adam takes a decent warthog at midday watering. He and Tommy stalk up and Adam shoots it at about 60m or so......warthog runs right by them....Adam tries a second shot running off sticks.....misses, but first shot did the deed and warthog piles up in about 100m. I told Adam, if they're running, come off the sticks and swing like a shotgun but that was after the fact.

Nothing for rest of day.

Nothing next day.

Nothing next day, day 8 of all day hunting and looking and tomorrow is the last hunting day. Kudu Kurse is working overtime......we're not even seeing any decent animals, much less getting shots at them.

More later.

LOL, at least you're in good humor about your "kurse".

Gato: Loving it. Please continue. I was west of Otjiwarongo and then on north along the Huab River in May of 07. Miss it terribly.

The ninth and last day of our hunting on Otjikoko was one of those better experiences that don't come along all that often.

To better understand the circumstances, I'll give you a bit of background. Of the 65,000 acres comprising Otjikoko, approx 4000 hectares or 10,000 acres, relatively close to the headquarters is game fenced. Until this year, which had been quite wet during the season, Namibia has suffered from pretty severe drought conditions for several years. Many, and I mean, many animals died, both here and everywhere in Namibia. Tommmy Hall with his conservation experience, determined that there were way too many oryx inside the fenced area (best guess was approximately 400) so he contracted with a South African game catching outfit to capture and take to market in SA, the Oryx. This was going on while we were touring. I really wanted to see the process but by the time we returned, it was all over but the shouting. Suffice it to say that the game catchers didn't hold up their end of the bargain and Tommy was hot. The upshot was there were still about 300 Oryx left in the game fenced area that needed to be removed. Unfortunately this was the beginning of calving season for the Oryx cows so I was reluctant to take one. I realize in the larger scheme of things it's not a big deal, but I'm personally not fond of shooting whitetail does that are well along in their pregnancy on my ranch and feel the same way about Oryx. At any rate, the drought had really killed off a lot of game inside (and outside) the fence and all over Namibia. Our package included a springbok for each of us, but there was only one small herd of springboks left inside the fence, only saw a couple of does outside the whole time and, while not a purist by any stretch of imagination, I am not fond of shooting stuff inside a fence even if it is a big fence, as in this case. I told Adam we were going to pass on the springboks and maybe use the credit for some other animal. Of course, by this point in the trip, that "credit" looked like it was going to waste. Adam did shoot his two impalas there (his and mine in our package price), but there were impalas inside and outside and, for whatever reason, I like to shoot impalas, or, in this case, watch my son shoot them.

At any rate, while looking for an impala the first day, we had spotted a couple of decent, but not great kudu bulls in the game fenced area. Rodney and I, with skill on his part, and luck on mine, had both said, kind of with a shrug....ummmmm, about 49-50 inches, good but not a real shooter. By the last day, in the full throes of my continued kudu kurse (which goes way beyond this trip I might add) "good" was looking a lot better.

Having mentally given up on a kudu, I suggested to Tommy that if Adam could shoot a good long cow Oryx the trophies (my male and his female) would look good mounted side by side, if he could pick one out that was not pregnant, he wanted shot, etc. He said that shouldn't be a problem so early the last morning we're off to the game fenced area to get one of the "cull" Oryx cows. It really was almost like some kind of cartoon, if you were hunting an animal, you couldn't find one, couldn't get a shot, etc. but once you had one, they were EVERYWHERE. We hunted Oryx pretty hard for several days to find a couple of good ones, after that they posed for us constantly, flexing their muscles and, I'm sure, giving us a mental bronx cheer. I want to stress, there is plenty of game on this ranch, we just hit a slow spell, or maybe the KURSE is stronger than I suspected.

So, we're inside the game fence about 7 AM, about 30 minutes before sunrise. Drive a mile or two and there is the same "good" but not great kudu bull along with his harem of maybe 10 cows. Tommy says, "What do you think." I thought about it and said, "Sure, let's take him if we can." A few minutes of manuvering....as he hid behind every clump on brush in sight....and finally he is going to walk across a small opening between clumps of trees about 125m or so......he steps into it walking at a medium pace, I lead him a bit, holding on front edge of body and shoot, he goes about 50m and drops, and I've got my kudu for the trip. Not as big as I would have wanted, but a decent specimen and I'm going to keep fighting the Kurse until I can find a monster if I make it that long.

After a few pics, loading up kudu, we take him back to ranch and drop him off at skinning shed, by this time it is roughly 8 o'clock. Since there are oryx everywhere on the ranch, Tommy has Absalom drive us toward a waterhole, this on the low fenced free range land, hoping to see a cow oryx for Adam.....instead, he spots this really GOOD oryx bull down standing next to road......he tells Adam, "That's a GOOD bull, do you want him?" Only dumb question I heard Tommy make the whole trip. He's standing beside road about 100m off so he tells Adam to take him from truck. Adam leans over top of rack, and fires....."Ow, Ow, Owwwwww......" is all I hear....Oryx runs off. Damn, what now? I know he's been hit by the scope, so I grab him and look......luckily he was wearing a heavy duty knit cap (like I said, it was quite cool every morning and it was probably 35f by this time, riding in back of Land Cruiser was a bit airish, if I do say so myself......Tommmy was doing his Eskimo imitation, wrapped up like a mummy) and the folds of the knit cap took the brunt of the hit......Adam just had a nice semi-circular dent in the bridge of his nose but not a cut. I told him, "I told you to be sure you had the gun firmly into your shoulder.", as Tommy and I were both laughing. Turns out it is quite the common occurence over there with even very experienced hunters getting excited and getting "THE ring" above their eye. Meanwhile, Oryx has run about 100m and died with perfect lung shot. He is really a good bull, and especially good for this area, the biggest shot on ranch in a couple of years which is more than 200 animals. I'll have to look up measurements but about 105cm on one and 100 on other. So now we're shoulder mounting Adam's bull, not mine.

Take pics, load him up and we're back at ranch skinning shed before 9. Tommy says, let's go to the Osera Omera (which is the fartherest ranch from the HQ, over an hours drive on the ranch roads,) with some mountains (mountains, keep that in mind, it will be critical to following story) on it). While he's arranging the skinning, I think about it a while and ask him when he gets back, "Why don't we got back for an impala, hopefully find one pretty quick, eat and early lunch, and THEN go to the Osera, where we'll have all afternoon to try for a good kudu." Tommy says this is a good idea, and we're back off to fenced area. After a few minutes driving around, spot a decent impala, and Tommy says, "Well, he's not as good as Adam's but he's a decent trophy.", thinking I'm going to shoot him. I say, "That's okay, Adam is going to shoot mine anyway, let's go." A few minutes later and Adam has his second impala.

So we take it back to skinning shed and its just after 10:30 or so. We (well, I) have a beer or three out of the tap in the Lapa (it was roughing it, but they never ran out of been on draft...... ) and we eat an early lunch, take an hour nap, and head for the Osera about 1 PM.

I mean really, Kudu Kurse Kontinued, we've hunted a good kudu HARD for me for 4 days, finally I settle for a respectable but not exceptional trophy, and while driving over to the Osera, we see, NOT one, NOT two, NOT three, but FOUR frigging kudu bulls, all that were likely shootable and ALL bigger than the one I shot. Tommy said, "What do you want to do?" and I said, "No, if I shoot a second one, I want him to be at least 55 inches (they've killed one 64 on ranch a couple of years back)." All of these were nice but I don't think any of them were that big....but I'll post a picture of one who posed for us eating nara melons and he was damn nice. Just stood there looking at us at about 75m, chewing on his melons. This after we've looked for them high, low, and hard for 8 days.

I sent the following in a PM to a fellow ARer, and it pretty much takes up where we drive off from the melon munching kudu and on to the mountains a few miles North from there.

All in all it was a wonderful trip, capped by a really interesting zebra kill the last afternoon by me. Of all the game I've ever shot, this is the one I'd like to have had a video of.

Long story, but we were going for a bigger kudu, and happened on this lone Zebra Stallion (Hartmann's) WAAAY up the side of a junior mountain. Most of the area we hunted in lent itself to shorter range shots, 25 to 100m, with all the brush and trees, it was generally pretty difficult to get a clear shot much farther than that. However, this area was hiller and a bit more open in spots, PH, who was incredible on whole trip, referring to kudu, asked me how far I could shoot well, I said, "Well, assuming no real wind factors, I am very comfortable out to 300m but would prefer it to be 200m or less, naturally. I can hit them a helluva lot farther than that, but to really feel comfortable about a good shot 300m is about my limit." I'm not sure he believed me but we went anyway. Actually I'm pretty comfortable much farther than that with my normal loads, but these were 200 gr Nosler Partitions in my .300 WM and one, they aren't as accurate in my rifle as some, and two, I hadn't shot them more than 300 yards, so wasn't that sure of drop farther out. I hate guessing, especially on big critters. At any rate, we spot this mountain zebra, way UUUP this frigging mountain (if you've seen pictures of me, you probable have figured out that I'm a shooter not a mountain climber anymore......rotund would be a polite way of describing me.....LOL). There are almost no zebras in this area, but PH told me after the fact that there are one or two small herds way back in these mountains. They haven't killed a zebra on the ranch in years. At any rate, this ranch is 65,000 acres, low fenced and this zebra is standing right on fence line between us and next ranch, about 600 yards up, and I mean way up, a mountain. We think about it a bit and talk it over and, I say, "Yeah, I'll take him if we get a chance." (Adam was along, but I figured this wasn't going to be a shot I wanted him to take) So......actually tracker (Absalom) volunteers to run up side of mountain, up wind from zebra and see if he'll move around to where, a, we can get some kind of decent shot, and b, where if I hit him wrong, he won't get over on neighbor's property. Amazingly, this actually works and zebra, in a nonchalant manner trots across a couple of small peaks and about half way down this mountain face, watching his back and us at the same time. We drive a half mile or so on trail, and then go off road a bit, finally stopping where zebra is about 450 yards UPPP the side of this mountain. PH says, "well, that's it for the land cruiser, let's see if we can get closer before he runs." So up the side of this mountain we go in some fairly thick brush, trees, which were ripping the crap out of my arms, since I didn't have time to pick and choose my route. Finally, we get in a small grove of trees, about 3 inches in diameter and about 8 feet tall, 244 yards to zebra as measured by Tommy and his Geovids, which normally would be a duck soup shot, BUT wind was gusting 15 to 20 dead crossing the zebra, that is at 90 degrees to bullet path. Too much low brush and limbs for sticks, I set up on side of tree, Ph breaks a couple of small limbs out of way, and, after catching my breath for few seconds, I'm ready to shoot....except for tree is swaying anytime wind blows and that alone is covering whole zebra and about a foot on each side as well, who is facing dead straight on looking at us, (naturally, I'd have much prefered a side view, but that's all we had).....I tell PH....I've got to catch a break in wind or I can't shoot......finally...a break....I hate to tell this, but it's a fact, I didn't load scrambling up mountain because I didn't really think we'd get a shot, and because I don't normally ever load behind PH unless shooting is imminent. Long story short, I start to shoot and realize safety is on, which reminds me, duh, you moron, you didn't chamber a round.....wind starts to blow again.....damn.....chamber a round, all the time feeling like a complete idiot and rookie, and wait a little while which seemed like an hour and catch a break in a gust....hold on left point of shoulder for wind, and hit him dead center due to wind drift....he takes two short jumps and collapses and falls, rolls, tumbles about 50 or 60m down side of this mountain. PH is whooping, "Great shot." and then, "Oh shit, the hide, the hide." Turns out hide was still good, stallion was about 25 years old, probably had been driven off of one of small herds there. But that zebra falling down that mountain was a sight to see. What an ending to a great trip!

Final summary to follow, but as far as hunting goes, like the cartoon, "tttthat's allll folks."

I've enjoyed the stories, Gato. Got an acquaintance from Houston in Namibia right now and can't wait for him to get back with his tales. How 'bout some pics?

Holy hell, Gato! I hadn't realized you actually ended up going to Otjikoko after we stopped emailing each other! Wow, it was so nice to read your unt report and relive so many of my experiences there. I felt like I was back there!

Sorry to hear bout some of your luck, but looks like you made the most of it and you and your son had a great time. You are really luck to have been able to hunt with Tommy, Rodney, and Absolom. In fact, you got a lot more work out of Absolom than I did - LOL. But then again, I got damned lucky with my animals and all of them dropped hard and fast and no tracking or mountain climbing was needed.

Marion, Ursi, and Pedro are just great people, too. Had Jon-Jon had his horn removal surgery by the time you were there? That was one ornery baby Eland!

Glad you had a great time throughout the rest of the country as well - yeah, the oysters at Walvis Bay were pretty amazing too, eh?

Sigh, now I'm "homesick" for my other home, Namibia. I really hope to revisit the farm there again someday - you just can't find nicer people than the Halls.

Hope to see pics soon!

Eric aka JC

PS - gotta LOVE those Tikka rifles, eh?

Eric,

Claudia from Casa Piccolo sends her best regards and she only has a half a bottle of your maple syrup left

quote:

Originally posted by Blair338/378:
Eric,

Claudia from Casa Piccolo sends her best regards and she only has a half a bottle of your maple syrup left

I'm amazed she still has THAT much left! Can't wait to hear about your hunt and stay there. I assume the wine you sent went over well?