Today is the first day of my safari in Namibia with Karl Stumpfe of Ndumo Hunting Safaris.My primary goal is trophy elephant.Also on the wish list is an Own Use elephant, hippo, roan and hyena. I am also prepared to take any other animals whom opportunity may supply.

Our flight from the US is the non-stop Delta flight from Atlanta to Joberg.My wife and son are joining me so I bit the bullet and booked us in business class.Steve Turner of Travel With Guns did the booking.The flight was actually not too bad with a much upgraded meal service and the flatbed reclining seating. The staff spoke to me by name each time they addressed me, a small but nice touch.

Upon arrival we were greeted by a representative of Africa Sky Guest House who had us into SAPS right away where he produced our pre-approved gun permits. We were in and out in a flash.

Food and service was as good as always and the next morning we were escorted back to O R Tambo for our flight to Victoria Falls. From the airport we took the shuttle provided by our hotel, the historic Vic Falls Hotel. I have seen photos of the old gal before but it really wreaks of colonial times.The grounds were spectacularly manicured and the veiw just as awesome.

Hotel staff greeted me and got us set up in our rooms and delivered a message that a driver arranged by Russell Caldecote would be by to get us at 2:30 to take care of our transportation needs.

After a quick lunch our driver arrived and transported us over to the Falls Park so we could get an up-close and comprehensive look at the falls. We were not dissapointed. The river was in full flood and the Falls were just as impressive as I had imagined. Because of the mist created by the "Water That Thunders" there is a rain forrest created in an area that would otherwise be semi-desert.Monkeys , warthogs and bushbuck were spotted as we walked along the path that took us through the park.

After our tour our driver took us to the Ultimate Safari Lodge to enjoy sundowners on the patio overlooking a waterhole that was visited by elephant, impala, warthog and all sorts of waterfowl.

At 7:00 we returned to the Vic Falls for a great supper and a good nights sleep.We were in no hurry to get up the next morning and after a late breakfast at the hotel we had our driver take us to the Gorge Zipline where Angela and Todd tested their nerve by riding the zipline across the Zambesi River Gorge.From there we went to a crocidile breeding farm where we toured the facilities and bought some crocidile leather goods for the family back home.

We spent the afternoon fishing on the Zambesi for Tigerfish.We caught six and that was not a bad effort for a trip when the river was in full flood.

Supper was at Russell Caldecote's lodge and was a very good brai and at a very fair price.Here we were joined by our professional hunter Karl Stumpfe.During super we made plans to begin our transfer to the Sobbe conservancy early the next morning.It would be here that we would begin our actual hunt.As much as I enjoyed the trip so far I was really anxious for the morning and the begining of the elephant hunting.

Great report! Keep them coming!

This morning we began our day by driving from Vic Falls to the Sobbe Conservancy to begin our elephant hunt.The drive took us across the border from Zimbabwe into Botswana and through the Chobe National Park. We spotted quite a few elephant as well as ostrich and buffalo as we made our way throught the park.The border crossings were no more or less aggravating than typical crossings but by the time we crossed into Namibia at Kasane Crossing I was getting a bit tired of packing and unpacking all my guns and ammo.

From Kasane we drove on to Katima Mullilo where we got our gun permits for Namibia.Once the permits were issued we were ready to drive on to the camp at Sobbe.It was 2:30 when we made it to camp where we were greeted by and introduced to the camp staff.Our trackers would be Calicious and Zorro , a pair of Caprivians, and Willems and Petras, a couple of Kavongo natives. Simone ,our skinner was a Khoi Hottentot, as was our driver Ricardo.Our chef was Bernard, from the Herero tribe and his aides was Moses and Reagan , both Caprivian.The other camp staff who were waitresses, housekeepers and clotheswashers were Kathryn, Anita and Veronica, all Caprivians. Gotfried was the camp manager and a PH appy.

After a quick lunch we went out to check our guns and take a brief look around the hunting area.We would be ready to begin hunting in earnest early the next morning.

Thanks eyedoc.

If you are going to post somewhat daily reports of your adventure, albeit after the fact, you might consider beginning each entry with the date. It would make it easier for simpletons like me.

I spent last May with Karl in the Sobbe....you'll have a great time.

May 20, Our first full hunting day,we woke to mild temperatures and a partly cloudy sky. We spent the morning driving the park boundaries. Elephant sign was plentiful but mostly older.Broken trees and tree limbs were everywhere you looked.Droppings also were plentiful but hard and dry.It was obvious that elephants had been in the area recently but just as obvious that they were not very many in the area we checked at the present time.

We spotted a few kudu cows, some cow roan, and a small group of zebra on our afternoon drive. The zera we would have taken but they slipped across the road into the park before we could catch up for a shot.

Just at dark we got a light shower and it rained an bit more during the night. Not a heavy rain, but rain it did.

Tell Karl that I'm hoping I get to see him in Vic Falls when he brings Lee back from his leopard hunt.

Get you a 70 #'er!

May 21- Began this morning again cruising the concession/park boundary looking for sign that elephant had entered the conservancy during the night.Saw a small group of impala , which are not on quota here, and two warthogs.It is my impression that good numbers of elephant were here as recently as two weeks ago but that the concentration of elephants is much lower here now.

In the afternoon we located the tracks of a couple of bulls entering the concession and we circled the block that they had entered to see if they were still in the area.As we were driving the western border we had a nice big black mamba rush across the road directly in front of the vehicle. As we met in the road he had almost escaped cleanly but we may have just hit his tale with the wheels as we went past. He exited on the passenger side where I was sitting with my left arm draped across the window of the truck. His head was at the same height and his cobra-like neck flare had me seeing visions of Capstick musings as we went quickly past.

By the time we had confirmed that our bulls were still in the block it was too late to take the track so our plan was to be on it first thing in the morning.

Love the "real time" nature of the report.

Was Godfrey with Karl on this trip?

I'm loving it, good reporting.

Wishing you luck for a big toothed monster!

I love this daily reporting. I look forward to reading it every morning.

May 22-First thing this morning we drove out to the area where we had seen the bulls tracks the day before.We knew they came into our block night before last and that they had spent one night, so we were optimistic that they would stay in the area to take advantage of the available browse and water that was here.

The track took us along the north eastern edge of the concession and through some agricultural fields.I noticed that the corn had all been picked and that most of the grain was gone as well. But there were plenty of melons and occassionally one had been fed on.

Karl had sent a truck on ahead of us in the direction we were going. The idea is that as we get a line on where the elephant may be headed the truck can hop-scotch ahead and possibly cut the track in front of us. Also if the track leaves the concession the truck will be there to pick us up.

When we were about an hour into the track Karl's radio crackled and I heard Ricardo's voice. An old man in the village ahead of us said that the elephant had been in his fielld before daylight this morning.

We took a shortcut to the nearest road where Ricardo picked us up and from there he drove us ahead to the village. We had likely gained an hour or so with that little manuever but unfortunately it had also taken us near the boundary of our concession.

We picked up the track and began our pursuit again. Up ahead was the highway, B8, that runs through the Caprivi from end to end.We hoped that the elephant had reached the highway after daylight and that they may have stopped to avoid a daylight crossing. It was not to be. The tracks went across the highway where we could not follow.

As it was nearly noon we made our way back to camp for some lunch. It is the time of year when leaves are just starting to fall but I saw that the grounds were emaculate. The footprints from last night had even been swept away.

"Karl,why do you have them sweep the compound every day? It seems kind of futile to sweep dirt."

"It looks neat when it is swept each day. But the real reason is because if a snake comes into the compound, or any other unwanted critters for that matter, we will know it right away."

Good point.

After lunch we drove the boarders again.There was always the chance that we would see elephant from the roads. Karl assured me that three weeks ago he and his client had glassed and evaluated 50-60 elephant doing just that. But this week the numbers were just not there. Each day we would see on or two sets of tracks coming in or out of the concession. Some cows and calves, maybe some smaller bulls but nothing that got the trackers excited.Our main focus in the afternoons turned out to be plains game. This afternoon we saw some roan cows and calves and a group of four giraffe.

As we approached a small pan we noticed an eagle rise from the ground carrying something in his claws.He struggled mightily with his load and soon landed in a tree beside that road.As the truck approached he dropped his cargo and flew to another tree fifty yards off the road.We sent one of the trackers in to see what the eagle had been carrying. Turned out to be a bit less than half a guinea fowl.Don't see that everyday in downtown Manhatten.

I was beginning to get a bit concerned. This was not turning out to be the hunt that I had hoped it would be. I wanted to hunt in an area ,and at a time, when elephants would be plentiful. I wanted to be among a lot of elephant, both to give me some time in close with elephants, but also to keep the excitement level high for my wife and son. Also, hunting trophy elephant is a numbers game.You may have to kiss a lot of toads before you find that prince.We were now four days into our hunt and we had not seen the first elephant. I know that this area has good numbers of elephants in the early season.References had told me of seeing as many as two hundred elephant a week from this very same camp.Sign told me that elephants had been thick in this area recently, even though we were not seeing them now.I still had faith that we could kill an elephant if we were patient, but my expectations of sorting through a score of bulls before settling on a real monster, now seemed to be unlikely.

May 23- Today we set about on the same routine as we had established in our first days here in Sobbe camp.Up at 5:30 AM, breakfast at 6:00, on the road at 6:30. We drove boundaries looking for tracks or for plains game that was on quota.The grass was still quite high and the bush very thick this time of year and that made sightings of plains game difficult.I expected this and knowingly made the choice to hunt early in the season because I wanted to concentrate on elephant.However, seeing plains game was a pleasant diversion for my wife Angela and my son, Todd.

Today was a very slow day with only one set of tracks that was from an average bull, and he was headed into the park.

Things can change in a moment's notice. Keep at it. We went a couple days without anything, then ran into a number of groups of Ele the following day. Who knows what makes them do what they do.

May 24-At breakfast this morning Karl told us that on his way out of camp this morning Gotfried had spotted the tracks of four bulls crossing an interior camp road.We went to investigate and decided they were fresh enough to follow.

The tracks led us through some conbretum scrub that tore at my bare legs. I was loving it! Onward into some mopane where we made good time. After about an hour it became obvious that we were heading out toward B8 again and just as with the tracks two days ago, we had to give up the track when it crossed the blacktop.

In the afternoon we found another set of tracks that were of a modest bull and that seemed fresh enough to track.He was headed into an area that was fairly close to our eastern boundary, but Karl said that there was a lot of cattle along the border in this area and that he was fairly certain the bull would not go in that direction.

The track led through some very thick bush and had us taking a generally southern direction.He could go this direction for days before leaving the concession.Finally, things were looking up.

Gradually the track began to turn easterly and after about two hours the bull left the hunting area, escaping through our eastern border.

It had now been over a week since we had last seen an elephant, and that was in Chobe Park on our way to Namibia through Botswana.On our way back to camp Karl suggested we consider another option.

"I don't know what is going on with the elephants here.Normally we have really good numbers of elephants here through at least June. But they don't seem to be here now. Let's get up an hour early tomorrow and drive over to Salambala and see what it's looking like there.My game scouts are telling me that there are lots elephant moving in that area.Gotfried spent the day there scouting some areas for us and he agrees that there is some potential. What do you say we go see?"

"Sounds like a plan to me", I replied.And so our plan was set.

May 25-As per our plan we got up this morning at 4:30 for the ninety mile drive to Salambala Conservancy at the far eastern end of the Caprivi strip. It is well after daylight when we reach the conservancy headquarters and pick up our game scout.

We drove through the conservancy for a bit over an hour and saw several sets of tracks. A few were just too small to consider.A few more were cow and calve groups.It was getting close to 10:00 AM when we came across a set of tracks that seemed to hold soe promise.

Karl and the trackers examined the track for a few minutes and decided that it was a group of about six bulls, two showed potential to be pretty good, and they were definitely fresh enough to go after.That was the words we were waiting to hear!

Packs were filled with water and guns were loaded. When everyone was prepared for the march, we took the track.

Progress was good and it was obvious that we were not too terribly far behind the bulls. Fresly broken limbs and moist leaves told us that the blls were feeding actively. The droppings contained remnants of Marula fruit and although starting to dry just a bit in the morning sun, they were still very wet under the surface.

After about ninety minutes I saw Karl bend over and insert a couple fingers into the dung. When he raised up he smiled and said, "Less than an hour old."

Thirty minutes more and we had slowed down a bit. The trail was meandering a bit and several trackers took off in different directions , each claiming to have the track.We had stopped for a moment to let the guys sort things out when from just ahead we heard the sound elephant hunters love to hear. Ears flapping!

The trackers came back to Karl and a plan was devised.Some of the guys wanted to walk to where they heard the elephants but Karl insiste we stay with the track. It appeared thatthe elephants had stopped feeding and had settled in to rest a bit in the heat of the day.Karl wanted to stay with the track as he felt the elephants may have been scattered in different locations and he wanted to get a chance to look over as many as possible and also to avoid stumbling into one and possibling blowing the entire group out of the area.

We eased ahead actively searching for the elephants we now knew were just ahead. The track meandered to our right and when we had completed a semi-circle we entered some dense jess.Straining to see deeper into the bush ahead of us, I was surprised to hear a gasp from behind me.I looked back to see Simone pointing to our right.Just twenty yards away in bush we were walking past was an elephant.

The bull was looking directly at us although I am not sure he realized that we were there.In the heavy brush his myopic eyes may not have been able to pick us out.Karl and I kneeled and moved slightly back and forth in an attempt to locate all the elephants and to evaluate their tusks.

It appeared that the group we were looking at had at least three of the bulls from the group of six we were tracking. On was the bull we spotted first. He was facing straigh at us. Behind him was a second bull and on the side opposite us was a third bull.We were trying to get a look at each of the bulls tusks and also looking for the others that we knew were here somewhere. From behind us I heard a low rumble that told me at least one was somewhere behind us.

Karl moved us a few feet to our right so he could see more of the bull that was obscured by the one closest to us.

" The one to our left is the biggest bodied bull and he has thick tusks , but they are both broken off short.The one closest to us is the smallest of the three.The one on the backside is long and thin. He is the one that you want."

We moved a bit more to our right to get an angle on the bull that we were targetting.The closest bull was still facing generally in our direction and the bull we wanted was behind him and quartering away to our right.Another step to the right had us behind the last bit of cover and fifteen yards from the unsuspecting bull.

"Step out from behind the bush and shoot him in his earhole", said Karl.

That wasn't nice.

Doc,

You're killing us!

I think I hear a "BANG" !

C'mon Doc. It doesn't take a week to skin an elephant!

MORE! MORE! MORE!

Dang it, man!!!!

You definetly know how to leave people hanging!!

This was the moment we had been planning for, and looking forward to for quite a while.My wife and I have been walking several times a week.Each trip between six and twelve miles to make sure we could get to the elephant when our time came.My son had been assigned the duty of video-taping the hunt so we could preserve the moment for years to come. However at the last minute Karl had suggested that when the time came Todd could provide back-up to me and he would do the video-taping.Now when we came to the moment of truth, the brush was too thick and there were too many elephants for Karl to be tied up with the video camera.So that duty fell to my wife, Angela.

I was first in line, Karl right beside me, and Willem the tracker was just behind Karl with the shooting sticks.Next was Todd and then Angela. Angela was trying to put herself into position to get the shot on video.When Karl gave me the order to step into the open and take my shot, Willem lost his nerve and started a hasty retreat. As he passed Todd he gave the order to run and Angela accepting the notion that he had a better grasp of the situation than she did, turned tail and retreated with Willem.

At the same time I took two steps to my right, cleared the last bush and raised the 470 NE double rifle to my shoulder. I was now completely exposed to the bull facing us. He began a slow turn to his right, (my left) , and this is when Willem had broke rank.As the front bull turned he was actually giving me a bit more room to get access to the targeted bull in back.As the safety was clicked off my express sights settled on the earhole of the bull that was quartering away and still oblivious to our presence twelve paces from him.I brought pressure to the rear trigger of the 470 NE double rifle and from the left barrel came a 500 grain Woodleigh solid that struck the bull in the crease of his earhole and angled forword through the brain and into the base of the tusk on the opposite side of the skull.

The bull never heard the shot that took his life.The back legs folded and the head went up.Then the front legs collapsed and the head fell down leaving the bull setting up in classic brain shot pose.Karl shouted to let the other elephant know where we were and to encourage them to flee in the opposite direction.I shouted myself as I moved forward and dumped the front trigger of the Chapuis sending another Woodleigh solid into the crease behind the shoulder and into the vitals before entering the shoulder on the opposite side.The bull rocked a bit from the impact and rolled onto his left side. I broke the rifle sending the spent cartridges over my right shoulder and dropped a couple of fresh cartridges in the tubes of my rifle as I moved forward.

"Come up here Todd and place one between his front legs." Todd did as directed.

Karl passed Todd his 450 saying, "You wanted to shoot my rifle so give him one more in the chest with this one."

Again Todd delivered. By now the boys were returning to shake hands and offer hugs and back slapping. The nervous tension is gone now.Everyone did his job well and the celebration is ready to begin.Support staff are called in to aid in the recovery of the bull.In just a few minutes the first of the local villagers begin to arrive.They come carrying baskets or empty feed sacks, anxious to get a portion of the meat.

It is late when we arrive back at our camp in Sobbe, tired but happy that our elephant drought has been broken and now is behind us.

Yippee!!!! Fantastic!

Great story! Kept me in suspense! Congrats!!

But, "rear" trigger first??

How big was he?

Cool! Glad you got your ele, now let's see the pictures!

Willem was there, were Seeyan (sp) and Elvis also along on this trip?

Outstanding!!!!!

God I love elephant hunting. Your story telling takes me right back - thanks.

May 26- We slept in a bit late this morning after getting home late last night.Karl estimated that the tusks from my bull would be pretty evenly matched and weigh just a bit over forty lbs per side.Not a monster, actually the first he has taken this year that did not go at least fifty.But I think he sensed that it was the right time to take an elephant on this particular hunt.

On our ride back from along the Sobbe west boundary this morning we spotted a couple of Zebra and a warthog but lost track of both in the high grass before we could get a shot.We got word from one of the local headmen that he would like to have a neighboring village over to the conservancy for a bit of feasting and beer drinking and that he would be real pleased if we could round him up an elephant. Karl told him that we had a real desire to take an own-use bull but that he had been frustrated up till now by the failure of MET (Ministry of Environment and Tourism) to issue the own-use permits.Less than an hour passed and MET called to say that our permit was ready.Karl sent Gotfried in to Katima Mulillo to pick up the permit and as soon as he had the permit in hand he called to say we could begin our hunt.

On his way out of the conservancy Gotfried had crossed a set of tracks and we confirmed it was five or six bulls so we were all set to go. Todd and Angela had not got their wind back after the track from the night before so it would be just Karl, me and the trackers on this trek.

It was nearly noon before we took up the track but from early on Karl and the boys were convinced we would catch up to these elephants.The tracks were meandering back and forth and broken trees and scatterred limbs adorned the path.These guys were feeding hard.

About an hour into the track Karl reached down and stuck two fingers into some droppings and looked up to tell me that it was less than an hour old.Just a few minutes later the track led us over some hard dry ground and the boys seemed to be having a bit of a time figuring out which way they had gone.The trackers scattered out and began circling to try and relocate the track. We had been waiting just a few moments when Zorro whistled for us to come to him.He pointed to his eyes and then to the north.There, about three hundred yards to the north was a group of elephants.

The elephants were on the opposite side of a large grassy plain. We could see three bulls feeding along the edge of a mopane woodline.The wind was blowing from us to them so we began working our way to the western edge of the plains before starting north to close the distance.It became apparent that the bulls were drifting to the west also, and that if we got there ahead of them we could simply find a good ambush spot on the northwest corner and wait for them to come to us.

We got to what looked like the perfect spot and Karl began to glass the bulls as they walked and fed in our direction.At that point we noticed another bull twenty yards directly north of us that we had not seen previously because he had been in the dense bush at the edge of the woodline.The bull was busy eating branches from mopane and conbretum and was not yet aware of us.

So now we had three bulls coming toward us from about forty yards to the east and one bull twenty yards to the north.Karl looked them all over and said that any of them would be fine for own-use bulls and that I should apply a frontal brain shot to the first one that got to us.

The three bulls to the east were coming faster but they had farther to come.The bull to the north came forward a few steps and then paused.From the east, the bull in the center broke a branch from a bush and took a few more steps forward as well.The bull to the north was on a trail that would take him just a bit to the right of me. When it became obvious that he would be the first one in, I took a couple steps to the right. As he got to ten yards from us, I took one more step to the right and raised my rifle taking off the safety in the process. The bull froze in recognition of the movement in front of him and his ears flared wide as he raised his head to look down his nose at me nine paces in front of him.

The bullet took him just below eye level and a bit left of center.It exited through the neck just behind the head on the left side of center.The head went up and the back end sagged. Then the head came back down and the bull rolled onto his right side.As the other three bulls crashed off to the east I walked forward a few more steps and placed another shot into the chest from the front.Even though the bulls reaction to the first shot indicated a solid brain shot, the follow-up is simply a good practice. In the unlikely event that the brain was not actually penetrated and the elephant stunned by a near miss, the follow-up could be a life saver.

The trackers and game scout rushed in to shake hands and pat me on the back.Then they began clearing brush for photos.The recovery team was called to come and take care of retrieving the bull.

It was nearly three hours before a road could be cut and a vehicle could be brought in to the bull. There were two truck loads of local villagers to open the trail and butcher the elephant.As they arrived they were singing.

"We are happy today,
We are happy today,
We have killed elephant,
We are happy today."

I am told they had been singing this chant continously for the entire time it took them to get to us , nearly three hours.

It was again after dark when we finally reached camp, scratched ,tired and dusty.But at the same time feeling warm and happy for a safe and successful hunt.

If anyone would be kind enough to post pictures for me please send a PM and I will e-mail photos.Thanks!

Like I tell hunters when they get discouraged by the long hours with little to show for it..at any time you may be seconds away from the kill of a lifetime!!! Good job!!!

Two Jumbo's in two days Great Hunt report

Posted for eyedoc:

View from the Ultimate Safari Lodge

Vic Falls with the Zambesi at full flood

Tigers on the Zambesi

Ready to take the track

The elephant bull

A moment of quiet contemplation

Karl and Eyedoc

Family photo

The Drought is broken

Karl and Eyedoc

Own Use Bull

Ear hole entry on trophy bull

Excellent report and pics, Eyedoc. Thanks!

Great report. I'm forwarding this report to a fellow who will be with Karl in a month or so. I know he's going to love it!

BTW, which is the elephant and which is Karl?

That's a fantastic report, can't wait to read the rest.

Congrats! Nothing quite like elephant hunting!

quote:

BTW, which is the elephant and which is Karl?

You can always tell a good Elephant when it still looks big next to Herr Stumpfe !!! :-)