For my youngest daughter's 20th birthday I offered to take her to Namibia from the 5th to the 18th of July (later I mentioned that I would like to hunt a few days while there). We hunted for one week with Francois Marais and then we camped for one week in areas south and southwest of Windhoek. The hunting was arranged by Karl Stumpfe (Ndumo Hunting Safaris).

First, the trophy pictures:

The Gemsbok




The Springbok




The Mountain Zebra, the PH Francois Marais and his dog Crumble (or Crumbs or bread morsels or something like that but lost in translation).




A typical view of the Kalahari landscape where I hunted




I used my Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H, shooting Nosler 260 grain Accubond bullets which I handloaded with 72 grains of VihtaVuori N140 propellant. The scope is a Leupold 1.5 to 5. I also could have taken Red Hartebeest, Steenbok and Duiker in the area I hunted but decided to leave something for another trip and because my wife has increasing doubts about the esthetics of our interior decorating as time goes by. Do people shoot ostrich?


The Namib Desert is more than your average collection of dunes and I enjoyed being there immensely. I was told it is the oldest desert in the world. Proof for this amazing statement is that it was already there when Ray Atkinson first hunted in Namibia. Here are some photos taken in Sossusvlei:

My daughter walking through Deadvlei




The rest are just pictures of the desert at Sossusvlei (the nearest sleeping accomodations are at Sesriem).







I haven't had time to really enhance the colors with Photoshop, and for the photo-jealous I have let Photobucket downgrade the quality automatically before posting. This is one technicolor desert, even with the camera on point-and-shoot automation, you have to see it to believe it. Photographs taken with a Nikon D90 and the Nikkor 18-200mm lens and a Nikon D60 with an 18-105mm.

Awesome photos.

Thanks for sharing

Beautiful pictures of the country which I also have the previlege to live in. You can be proud of your trophies. I know Francois very well as well as his younger brothers. We live and hunt in the same area and together with his brothers, we did a lot of shooting together. They know how to shoot and know the animals! That is obvious when one looks at the trophies you harvested.

MCD
Uitspan Hunting Ranch, Namibia

Michael, Gerhard, thank you for the kind words. From Gochas (what we call in the Western USA a one-horse-town) to the South African border I think everyone knows Francois. In fact, I thought about calling my post "Everyone Knows Francois". We couldn't poney-up to the bar at Stoney's without someone offering us a drink (having my daughter with us didn't hurt) and striking up a conversation in Afrikaans. As Francois told me, "they only speak English in self-defense." Did eleven years with the Namibian Police Force colour his humour? I must say, we got along just fine. From the row of shooting medals in his home I also figured he knew how to shoot, and he is enough of a gentlemen to have refrained from any comments on my shooting.

Since I filled out my dance card on the 5th day, Francois asked if I would like to do some wing-shooting, ie. sand grouse, over a water hole on his ranch the following morning. It was a very windy day. For those of you who haven't done this, prepare yourself for a few (or a lot of) misses. I shot around 30 birds but won't admit to how many empty shells were at my feet. I'm hoping Francois will keep this information confidential.

Great photos.

Beautiful photos and animals.

Brett

Great pictures. Looks like an excellent trip.

Beautiful pics Wink, maybe you can post a few more? Congrats on your hunt, David

Someone does a good job taking photo's.

I really like the zebra picture. Thanks for sharing.

David, at your request:

Another dune view



By the way, this dune stuff could go on forever

















Tunnel vision of the bar at Tsauchab on a white hot day?



This has to be the youngest giraffe I have ever seen, probably only one or two weeks old.



Some ostrich in Sossusvlei


The hotel zebra at the Rostok Ritz


Our 4WD camping car at the Rostok Ritz campsite.




I think anyone going to Namibia should consider taking a couple of days to visit the Rostok Ritz and Sossusvlei. It would be a shame to miss them.

Great pictures! I hunted with Francois last year and Cremmel took a liking to my boot.

Great photos. It looks like you had a great hunt.

Congratulations, you took some nice animals, and great photographs, I enjoyed them very much.

Regards
Aziz

Great pictures !!!! Thank you very much.
Walking up and down those sand dunes after game must be very tiring for a lazy flat country guy like me !!!

L

Good stuff.Felicitations!

Great photography and animals. Those dunes are somethin' else.....WOW!

The Photographer:




The Producer:




We also took pictures with a pocket camera:



The End

Thanks, thanks and more thanks

Beatiful pictures. From the six african countries I have been so far, Namibia is my favourite !!

L

Wink, Thank you and your Daughter for posting some of the best photos of Namib I've ever seen. Absolutely stunnng! You should publish these. No doubt they would sell.
Cheers,
David

Wonderful, Wink - now I know I just gotta go back!

Thank you for posting your report and such great pictures Wink! It stirred a lot of fond memories about Namibia and also reminded me of the excellent trophy potential for Gemsbok (what a beautiful animal you got BTW), Springbok, Mtn Zebra (d.o.) and several others are concerned in that part of the world.

Best,

Chris

Wink:

Wow! Exceptional photos from an exceptional country. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Very nice. I love the color of the sand there.

Looks like a great trip...

Can I ask who did you use for the truck rental etc....

thanks
Dinsdale

.........and I thought there was something to this genetics thing........

Great pics and a beautiful daughter......I suppose SOMEONE had to serve as the foil......

Beautiful Pictures!!!

ddj

Beautiful trophies and OUTSTANDING Images!!!!

Thank you for sharing!!!

quote:

Originally posted by dinsdale:
Looks like a great trip...

Can I ask who did you use for the truck rental etc....

thanks
Dinsdale

Dinsdale, for the week of camping and touring, arrangements were made for me by ATI Namibia through Mariette: mariette@infotour-africa.com They used Advanced Car Hire for the vehicle:

http://www.advancedcarhire.com/

Hope this helps.

Nice one Wink, looks like you really enjoyed the trip. That one dune is most probably the most photopraghed dune in the world, it stay beautiful. I notice a new look, some facial camo

When are you stopping over in RSA again? There are a couple of margurita's haunting me.

Wink outstanding photos... Good to see you make a trip back to Africa a hunting trip also... Tell the pic taker fantastic job...

Mike

Great fotos Wink, thanks for sharing. Sounds like you's had a great time.

What day were at the Tropic of Capricorn? Must have just missed you, was just there 14 July! This sign was just north of Kalkrand, looks like the same one you were at, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

Dom, we took the Tropic picture on Saturday 11 July, on our way to Windhoek, coming back from Gochas, at most likely the very same spot, but on the other side of the road.

Hi Wink

Thanks for a nice hunting report, was nice having you and Claire over here, you guys are welcome to come back anytime.

To get back to the sand-grouse, lots in your favor, windy, mickey-mouse gun, skeet loads and much more, don't feel tooo embarrassed, you did well.

Very nice photos, looks like you guys had a nice trip after I left you.

You are right, our photo is just on the other side of the road.

Well done Wink... beautiful pictures and great trophies along with spending time with your daughter on a trip you both will treasure forever!

Nice report, Wink! congratulations!

I wonder, is Francois related to Louis Marais of Eastern Cape, RSA? He had a heck of a backyard...

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that François never made any disparaging comments about my shooting. That wasn't entirely true. Below you will see the entrance hole on the zebra I took. Francois told me the shot was "supposed" to be about an inch to the left, at the apex of the triangle made by the stripes. I promise to try harder next time.

Great pics taken by your daughter!! Looks like a fine safari was had.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Earlier in this thread I mentioned that François never made any disparaging comments about my shooting. That wasn't entirely true. Below you will see the entrance hole on the zebra I took. Francois told me the shot was "supposed" to be about an inch to the left, at the apex of the triangle made by the stripes. I promise to try harder next time.

That's funny! Francois says to aim for the top of the white triangle on the shoulder.

I got the same talking to about shooting one inch left.

Andy
No relation of mine (Louis Marais)as far as I know.

Fjold/Wink
Both very good shots, and very dead Zebra, must say somthing, couldn't let you guys get of so easily. Fjold, yours was only about 150 yards further.

Keep well guys
Francois