This hunt was with Japsie Blaauw and Dzombo Safaris in the Nyae Nyae area of Namibia. Leopard only, this trip and maybe a good Kudu if we could find one. We flew Qatar from DFW, check in was easy if not a bit lengthy (one thing I've noticed about Qatar and Emirates at DFW, if you show up with a rifle case, they will move you to the head of the line). We had all of the approvals for carriage of a firearm, had copies of all the needed documents and found out when we checked in that they had a new firearms declaration form and the form from their website wouldn't work (at DFW, anyway). Took only five minutes to fix that. Firearms and ammo were to be checked thru to Windhoek, but found out we would have to claim in Joburg since Airlink wouldn't check thru. This created a problem as I didn't have an in-transit permit, but we were prepared for that as well with prefilled forms. Arrived in Joburg and went to SAPS office, presented forms to officer, he checked serial number and proceeded to enter the permit in their computer. The system wouldn't accept the permit and he called a supervisor to assist, the supervisor tried with same results and called someone else, who told her that in-transit permits would only be issued at Pretoria. We had only a four hour layover so that wasn't going to work. After several minutes of the supervisor and Eagle Eye Security arguing about what to do, I was allowed to carry my bags to Airlink and see if they would check them with no permit. They did check them and I had to carry the bags back to SAPS, where security took over.
Arrival in Windhoek was uneventful, two planes arrived at almost the same time so immigration was crowded, we had pre-approved visas and there were 6 or 8 dedicated booths handling those visas, took only about 15 minutes to get thru and another 10 to get my rifle permit. We overnighted in Windhoek and drove to camp the next day, about a 6 hour drive.
The outfitter had sent photos of three leopards they had on bait the previous week, two of which were shootable males. Camp staff was supposed to rehang baits the morning we were arriving, but had trouble finding buyable donkeys to use for bait and only hung the baits as we arrived (one can't use game animals for bait on govt owned conservancies).
Day 1 of hunt, we checked baits in the morning and both of the two baits hung had been eaten on, with only a small amount left, game cameras showed one small male and one much larger male. We didn't refresh that morning but spent the morning building a very nice blind. We went back in the afternoon to replenish the bait and sit in the blind and found that the cat had returned during the day and finished the bait. We hung a new donkey quarter and sat in the blind until dark but didn't see anything.
Day 2 of the hunt we started by checking the newly placed bait and game cameras and found that the cat had come to the tree at 5:40 pm but we couldn't see him because of tall, green grass. The cat came and went thru the night and ate a good portion of the bait. The other baits showed no activity. That afternoon we went to the blind about 3:30 and were planning on sitting again until dark. Each of us took a book to read (Out in the Midday Shade, York) in my case. The PH had guessed the cat would show up at 6:30, my guess was 5:00 pm, I had read for about an hour and decided to stop for a while and set my book beside my chair. When I turned back around the cat was there and leapt up onto the truck of the tree, sat about a second and jumped to the limb with the bait, I touched the PH on the leg, got the OK and shot the leopard in the space of about 8-10 seconds, I think I shot him at 5:18, really nice leopard. I have a video clip compiled from two game cameras that shows this sequence and will try and get it posted with other photos very soon.
Day 3 we went and checked water points looking for Kudu and just to check the condition of the water holes. The grass and vegetation was still very green and thick, so seeing plains game anywhere other than the pans was nearly impossible. A bit of excitement on day three, while driving out of camp, maybe 3/4 mile from camp a big mamba raised up in the grass beside the truck (my side) at least as high as my head and struck at something away from the truck. I'm glad my window was rolled up as it was only about 18" away, the trackers on the back were not real enthused about that event. And, on the way in that evening we ran over a pretty big puff adder in about the same area. In all of our previous trips I had seen only one other poisonous snake.
Day 4 we had a "bush brunch" at a huge leaning baobab tree with a young couple that owned a hunting farm further north and had stopped by for a visit. Looked for Kudu again that evening but saw only a couple of cows.
Day 5 we decided to try and change our flights and return early as it was pretty apparent the Kudu weren't going to cooperate and I wasn't feeling well. We accomplished the flight change and drove to Windhoek, spent two nights there, did some touristy things, one thing was visiting a local market where food, textiles, TV's or just about anything could be found. Interesting thing to me was that they slaughtered a cow (or cows) every morning, the vendors bought the parts they wanted and cooked the cow all day long. All of the cow!
The flight home was pretty uneventful, baggage was checked thru to DFW, (also on Airlink) but still expected issues in Joburg since I had no permit. This proved to be the case, we were paged by Qatar at the lounge and sent to the gate to meet an "agent", not sure who he worked for but he took all of my paperwork and disappeared for about an hour, finally returning as the plane was boarding and told me we were good to go.
The hunt wasn't all good, though... I had been having gall bladder problem symptoms for quite some time and my Dr's couldn't figure it out, their scans could find nothing wrong with the gall bladder or ducts.. I had a really bad episode about a week before we left, another as soon as we got to Namibia, yet another while in camp (hence the desire to leave early), another in Windhoek and was miserable on the 30 plus hour flight home. Another the day after we arrived home, went to Dr had three scans which showed nothing. My physician told me that if I had any more episodes that I should go to ER, which I did the very next night. Arrived at nearest good ER (30 miles) at about 2:00 am, had another scan by 5:00 am, where they were able to see stones and had procedure to remove or dislodge stones. Next day had gall bladder removed and now (2 days out) seem to be recovering nicely. For once, I'm glad we quit hunting when we did or I would've likely had the last bad attack either in camp, in Joburg, Doha or the airplane. Two of those choices would not have been so good. I'll get photos posted as soon as I can.

Congratulations Karl! A leopard in the daylight on Day 2 -fantastic! Good thing you decided to come home early. I wish you a speedy recovery, and look forward to the photos and video.

Kudos to you and Dzombo for such quick success on your leopard!

Glad you got home when you did to get the health care you needed.

That was the smart move.

Get well soon.

Congratulations, Karl!

I told Alan that you wanted to apologize for not holding out and shooting a small leopard. He asked what the hell was wrong with you as he thought you guys had a big Tom feeding. Then I showed him the picture you’d shared. Alan… “Eish, that’s a really big leopard! Karl is fortunate to take such a good cat, and so quickly. Tell him I said congratulations”.

Glad to read you got health issue dealt with are are doing much better.

Great leopard, buddy!

Congratulations on your leopard, Karl. Looking forward to pictures. Glad to hear your gallbladder held out till you were stateside!

Good deal Karl!

Did you see any of the Nyae Nyae elephants?

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Good deal Karl!
Did you see any of the Nyae Nyae elephants?

Thanks, yes, we saw a few elephants, the bush is so thick right now even elephants were hard to see. Didn’t see any big bulls but a guy that left the day after we arrived had taken a bull with 73 & 70 lb ivory, nice tusks.

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Congratulations and speedy recovery. Look forward to the pictures+


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Karl,

Sorry for your health issues and wish you a speedy recovery. Sounds like a great hunt with some adventure. A mamba always spices things up. They are terrifying but fascinating at the same time. Not sure why,

Interesting about having to use donkeys as bait on a government concession. Didn't know that but never hunted leopard in Namibia.

Get well soon.

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Interesting about having to use donkeys as bait on a government concession. Didn't know that but never hunted leopard in Namibia.

In most other African hunting destinations the hunting laws prohibit the use of domestic animals for baiting purposes.

Why? ... because of the likelihood that the taste of goat, donkey, cow or whatever may lead to increased predatory attacks on livestock.