My wife and I just returned from a wonderful hunt with PH Jan duPlessis in Namibia.

Dates: August 24-September 3

Location: Sebra Hunting Adventures near Kamanjab

Animals taken: Gemsbok 38+" Kudu 54"
Mountain zebra
All taken with my Remington 700 mountain rifle in 30-06. 180 Barnes Triple Shocks

We also toured Etosha for one day and rented a car and toured Kruger park for 6 nights after the hunt.

I can not say one bad thing about this hunt. The scenery was beautiful and the food, camp and company were all outstanding. Hunting was done by glassing from koppies and stalking. We covered a lot of miles on foot and this is the way we like to do it.


Here is my gemsbok bull





My wife took this nice kudu



After hunting them a few days, I finally connected with this mountain zebra on top of a mountain



It was late in the day so we started skinning for a rug right away



It was a long dark walk back to the truck with the skin. We packed the meat out the next morning.



Here is PH Jan duPlessis glassing



Beautiful scenery, mountains, rocks, mopane, grasslands





Home sweet home



Nothing better than Tafel Lager and a fire



I really did not want to come home after this trip.

Thanks to all who take the time to post on this site. There is some really good information here.

Congratulations on your hunt. It sounds as though you and your wife had a wonderful time. I hunted Northwest of Kamanjab this past may. Were you hunting on a private ranch, or on a conservancy?

Very well done! I love mountain zebra. Jan was the first person I experienced Africa with. I had an excellent adventure with him. The property was gorgeous, your photos brought back many memories. Looks like Jan still wears his Ruger .44?

Well done!!
Thanks for de pictures!!
Kamanjab is one of my favourites places on earth !!

L

I really enjoyed the hunting in Namibia and sounds like you had a great hunt as well. That is an excellent gemsbok and your wife's kudu bull is solid! How I miss the Tofel's around a campfire!

Mikeh416Rigby, Jan's property is part of a conservancy.

Grafton: I too am booked with Jan and his wife next August/thru Rick Wilks..he books up fast lke the good ones always do!! Tell us more about the hunt and weather. Did Jan mention anything about his new camp that he is building? Did you see any good warthogs?
Feel free to PM me, Cats

Nice trophies!! It seems that everyone who posts a Namibia report really enjoyed their trip. I can hardly wait until May when I go there.

Cats, I am sure that Jan can find you a good warthog if it is a priority for you. One problem is that with all of the rocky ground they often break their teeth off. I believe that in the more sandy, softer soil areas is Namibia this is not as big of a problem. The weather is getting warm in August and I think early August may be a bit more comfortable than late, however we were still comfortable. The mornings and nights are cool. We normally would have lunch and rest for a couple of hours during the very hot part of the day. I think it probably got close to 90F in the middle of the day during the last few days of our hunt. It was a pleasure compared to central Virginia in July/August with our near 100% humidity. We felt fortunate to be the last clients to stay in the tented camp as I prefer the "camp" atmosphere. The new camp for next year will be chalets. The views will be nice however and I think they will still be able to save some of the tented camp atmosphere. Im sure you will have a great trip. I wish I were able to go back next year! You will find that Jan is excellent at field judging animals and will hunt the way you want to hunt and work hard to reach your goals.

I love the old stove by the campfire.

Grafton thank you for your reply. At this point I am traveling alone with the camp to myself, which has it's advantages and disadvantages at the same time.
One of the reasons I booked with Jan is I have heard nothing but good things about him. Another is the size of his gemsbok and kudu.
As much as I enjoy a good tent camp both here and abroad 8 days into a 10 day trip the roughing it gets a tad old to me a bed vs a cot, a flush toilet vs a outhouse,a tiled shower vs a water bucket over a limb.
Here's another question ....the area is semi arid did you carry water in a hydration pack or did Jan keep bottled water in the truck/ cats

Do you have a website for either the PH or the booking agent?

Cats, actually at the tented camp they built a very nice stone bathroom/shower and there was a double bed in the tent so, we were not exactly roughing it! The camp was more of a semi-permanent set up with a concrete slab under the cook tent etc.. This kind of set up has the best of both worlds in my opinion. You get the luxury of flush toilets, hot showers, and a good bed but you still get to wake up with nothing between you and Africa but a thin sheet of canvas. You can hear all the birds in the morning and sometimes things moving around at night. There was no electricity but they had propane freezers/fridge in the cook tent.

Jan kept bottled water in the truck but I filled up water bottles each morning as well. I had a couple of one liter plastic water bottles that I filled with water and gatorade mix. I usually carried one for my wife and I to share when we walked. Jan also carried a small pack for the longer walks. A hydration pack would be nice or just a belt canteen. It is dry there and I could feel the moisture being sucked out of my eyes, nose and skin. I found I could not wear contacts for very long and my nose was always a bit dry and stuffy.

A head net is useful for the mopane flies (bees). Also bring either gaitors or high boots to keep out the grass seeds. I wore a pair of well broken in hiking boots with gaitors and they were fine. If you plan on doing some walking you will want somthing with good ankle support as you could easily twist an ankle on all the rocks. Also as Im sure you know, a good pair of binocs is a must as you will do a lot of glassing. Will you please try and shoot a baboon for me when you go? they made a fool of us more than once!

JVinAK, Rick Wilks is the booking agent. His web site is http://www.wilks-hunting-adv.com I believe he is in Zimbabwe at the moment.

Grafton,

Congrats on your Namibian safari!! I agree about a cold Tafel at the end of the day!!

Bob

Jan helped out with our trip last year at a neighbors farm. He is a fantastic hunter and tracker. I see you didn't have any better luck getting him to smile for the camera than I did.

Great looking trophies!!