My wife and I just returned from a great trip with Jamy Traut Safaris in Namibia. We flew from Atlanta to Frankfurt on Delta and Frankfurt to Windhoek via Air Namibia. The first priority in Frankfurt was to shower. We booked a day room at the Sheraton on our first trip. We used the showers in the Crown Room on our second trip. We found a cheaper alternative on this trip. Terminal 2 has public showers in the gate area (6 euros or $8). The layover in Frankfurt is lengthy, so we decided to catch the train and visit Rudesheim on the Rhine River.


Bingen Castle viewed from Rudesheim


We hit the showers again after our day trip, and boarded Air Namibia for the long flight in.

The flights were uneventful and all of our bags arrived in good order (except for a spare Zeiss Conquest scope with loose internal lenses). The Air Namibia flight lands at 0500 and we were out the door a little after 0600. We arrived at Jamy's Panorama Ranch after a pleasant 1.5 hour drive. We dropped off the bags in our tent, ate lunch, and sighted the rifle in.



Days 2 through 4 were spent looking for a mature eland bull on the main ranch and on another ranch about 60 miles North. The ranches have a variety of terrain including grasslands, red sand dunes and hills. I killed a springbuck and a gemsbuck for camp meat while we were looking for my eland. Spot and stalk was the hunting technique of choice.

We made a new plan and headed north to Mylpaal Game Reserve near Grootfontein. Dawn, Jamy, his wife Rentia, son Nicky, and I made the 7 hour drive to the new location. Mylpaal is owned by Jamy's friends Tobie and Lizelle Englebrech. The main lodge is very nice and has several varieties of citrus growing in the yard.





The Englebrechts are excellent hosts and serve delicious meals. The hunting can be very challenging due to thick blocks of thornbush. The reserve also has some year round natural water holes.



The dense brush mandated a tracking style of hunt. Tobie and Jamy sent me out with PH Emile Kirscher and local trackers. We cruised roads until fresh tracks were spotted and then began the long trek. We saw eland several times, but only after they spotted or smelled us first. Long walks were followed by crashing brush and thundering hooves. Days 5 and 6 followed this pattern. We ended day 6 by dragging the roads to prepare a fresh canvas for tracks.

Day 7 began with a 0500 wake up. We began searching for tracks at first light. We spotted fresh spoor after about 15 minutes and the hunt was on. We were within 50 yards of 4 mature bulls on three occasions, but they spotted us first each time. Tobie and Jamy made a new plan. Three trackers entered a very thick block while Emile and I waited in an clearing at the opposite end of the area.

We had waited for about 20 minutes when we heard what sounded like a rapidly approaching freight train. Our eland were on the way! We determined that the eland were going to enter the field several hundred yards south of our position. Emile and I sprinted for probably 250 yards and set up again. Two bulls burst into the field about 150 yards from us. Emile said to take the rear bull. I led the bull about 2 feet and touched off the Sako 375 H&H. The bull slowed a bit and Emile shouted to lead him more. I increased the lead to 4 feet and fired again. I was thrilled to see the big bull go down with the shot. I ended up placing a final finishing shot in his chest to end the fight. The 270 grain Triple Shocks performed well as usual and were not recovered.





Day 8 was spent driving back to Panorama. We returned on day 9, but managed to have a bonus hunt before we left for the airport. Dawn brought her trusty old 12 gauge Ithaca 37, so we decided to look for doves and sand grouse at a water hole. We only had about 30 minutes of shooting, but she managed to bag a few of each species.



To sum it up, we had a great time. The company, facilities, and food were outstanding. The sun set on our journey, but I have already began to plan my next hunt with Jamy.

Nice brown tuft on the forehead....the sign of a great Eland!

Nice mature eland - love the look of the dense brush on the forehead. Congrats.

Nice ruff on the bull, great pictures!

Well done! Were you only after eland?

Best regards, D. Nelson

quote:

Tobie and Lizelle Englebrech

Any idea if these folks are kin to Willie, who was in Safari South with Selby, Kingsley-Heath, et al?

Welcome home.

quote:

Originally posted by D. Nelson:
Well done! Were you only after eland?

Best regards, D. Nelson

Yes, this was an eland specific hunt. I had read a lot about the challenge of tracking eland. I now believe the hype. I probably averaged 7 miles per day on the track. Great experience and fun hunt. I would have taken a big warthog, but I did not see the right one. I would eagerly hunt eland with Jamy and/or Tobie again in the future.

Nice Eland. Any problems with your firearms with the airlines?

No problems at all with the firearms. Delta and Air Namibia have baggage handling agreements.

Very well done.