I am taking my 14 year old son hunting with me to Namibia for 7 days in the first week of July. Not liking long flights particularly or specifically for that matter, I booked the DFW-FRA-Winhoek route with Kathi and I built in 2 nights in Germany, leaving for Windhoek the night/evening of the third day. She suggested that I post on here to get some good ideas for what to do with 3 days and 2 nights in Germany and then what to do with a week of so far unscheduled time in Namibia. I've only been briefly in Germany before and have never been to Namibia. I am familiar with Euro travel and trains.

Is there any fishing in Namibia in the Winter? I am considering booking another hunt, but don't really want to do the same thing (plains game) we'll be doing the next week but if the terrain was differnt that might be an option as well. Bird Hunting? Cull shoot? Touring?

Any suggestions will be gratefully evaluated.

I grew up in Germany and enjoy the country - Frankfurt or "Bankfurt" is a big financial centre, but the town is compact enough, and there are a fair few museums and things to do on foot.
This will be the time jet lag kicks in from your flight from the USA so I would take it easy. Enjoy the "Kaffee und Kuchen" lifestyle - it'll be nice hot weather so find nice cafe and sit outside and enjoy watching the world go by... German girls are very easy on the eye, and your 14 year old son will thank you for it..
The Germans are very Green especially in the urban centres, so hunting is not always top of the conversation list...
If you could stomach the long journey - might be possible in a day by train, not sure, a visit to Dachau would be memorable. It's not an "easy" place to be, but then neither should it be, but it might be a good opportunity for your son to learn and see something for himself that he would remember for a long time. But it would be a long trip, and you might be better taking it easier...
7 days in Namibia - if you won't be hunting, how about game viewing in Etosha for 3-4 days, and black rhino tracking in Damaraland? You can get really close, and it's a buzz!!

I can hardily recommend the Holiday Inn Express Airport. Close to the airport and inexpensive as accommodations go in big cities (about 75USD single). There is a very nice, very traditional Gasthaus a short walk across the street and a walking park.

If I were taking a 14 year old, I'd give some thought to a cruise on the Rhine river. The day tour boats would be running. You can go down river (it flows north) as far as Cologne and then come back on the boat or the train.

Check and see if you can "check" your bags at the airport and carry some extra clothes on your carry on bags for you Germany stay. Blue jeans and knit shirts are appropriate. For the boat a light windbreaker. Kudude

Gatogordo:

Since you're not hunting and seemingly have no set schedule in Namibia I would recommend just renting a vehicle and just go wherever you feel like going. Namibia is pretty safe and it has some very good roads.

There's some pretty good ocean fishing at Henties Bay, Swakopmund, and Walvis Bay. For tigerfish, the Okavango and Zambezi Rivers up north.

I take my young sons along on my safaris and they can always find something to catch their interests. This year, I'm taking my 11 year old and he's promised his mother that he would take a springbok for her. Other than hunting, we're going camel riding, land yachting, and exploring archaeological sites of bushman paintings and petroglyphs.

Namibia is also rich in German culture and visiting the sites of brief but enduring German administration of the country can be enlightening.

Namibiahunter

Gatorgordo,

We've got two weeks after our hunt this May. We are renting a truck with camping gear and going exploring. I would consider heading to the coast and then up to Etosha for a couple of days. Think your son would love it. Believe they have some great surf fishing.

Don

Here are some earlier suggestions for Namibia:


The order of your tourism time will depend on where you will be hunting.

If you are going way south of Windhoek then you might do: arrival night in Windhoek, off to hunt next day. After hunt to Sossusvlei with the right vehicle going in from Rehoboth; or to the Fish River Canyon for a look (it's spectacular, but not worth it on a short trip unless you are in the Keetmanshoop vicinity already).

If you hunt in the Okahandja area, you can drive off to Swakopmund and hire someone there to take you to Sossusvlei for an overnight trip and stay at the Lodge if you can get in, or camp if your family likes it,and use the lodge restaurant. Then back to Swakop and drive to Okakuejo which is just under 500 km on good roads (B2, C33, C38 Swakop, Omaruru, Otjiwarongo, Outjo and on to Andersson Gate at Etosha). NOTE: Swakop is nice with the best jewelry store in the southern hemisphere located right next to the Hansa Hotel.

If your are any further north than Okahandja, you'll want to go to Etosha first and where you enter will depend on which direction you are coming from: if you hunt east of Etosha, start at Namutoni; if south of Etosha start at Okakuejo. Three days in Etosha is plenty and three nights and two full days is probably better.

Even dropping the Skeleton coast, you may be pressed for time. If so, drop Sossusvlei and instead take the airplane flight over the vlei, and over Walvis Bay and the shipwrecks from Swakopmund instead.

Lonely Planet has a good Namibia guide.

Regards, Tim

Gato,

Congrats on scheduling an African hunt with your son. He'll enjoy it, but speaking as someone who has done the same, you'll be the one who gets the most from it.

My son and I did the same route last June, but did not layover in Frankfurt (other than for the day). Are there any issues in handling your guns during the extended layover?

The part of Germany that would be great to see is the Black Forest-Munich area, but with only two days that may not be practical. Heidleburg (sp?) is not far from Frankfort and is accessable by train. It is an ancient village (town, city) that would be an excellent day trip. I'd advise reading some German travel guides for ideas.

There is definately fishing on the Namibian Coast during winter. Some hunting guides also do fishing. Check with Albert Voigts Von Schutz at albert@nomtsas.com He guides hunters on his family's large farm in the South, but he also does tourist safaris, birding, and fishing. His specialty is touring the Caprivi (virtually the same as touring the Okavango) and he will take you all the way to Vic Falls if you wish and have time. Look at his website at http://www.nomtsas.com/hunt/en/choose.html for some ideas.

Thanks to all for the suggestions, keep them coming.

Stonecreek:

You and I are roughly the same age, my son is just a lot younger than yours......took me a long time to figure out what causes them. He's a pretty good kid, but at the age where his Dad is getting dumber everyday, and, of course, he might have a point.

As far as Frankfurt is concerned, it is not clear to me at this point whether the guns are kept by Air Namibia, since they'll be checked through, or if customs will hold them during our layover, but I am assured that it is no real problem AND that customs will hold the guns for you. However, not being a starry eyed virgin to the ways of the world, I am not taking my best guns since they could disappear somewhere along the way. I probably am going to take a .300 WM for me and my son will use a .308, both with decent bullets, of course. We are on a "package" deal and are hunting 2x1, but I am planning on letting him shoot everything but a huge Kudu, a huge gemsbok and a huge warthog. I sure hope he doesn't mind being shoved out of the way when that 60 inch kudu steps out.....

Boy is a decent shot but we've both got to practice off of sticks since some of the shots could be long and I'm used to shooting offhand if there's a rush.

Are you hunting "north" or "south"? To the north of Windhoek gets a little more rain and is generally somewhat brushier (think South Texas). South of Windhoek is drier and more open (think Trans Pecos). Of course the Caprivi in the far north is tropical and parts are swampy (maybe not exactly Port Arthur, but thats about as close a comparison as we have in Texas). Then there's the skeleton coast where some species of plants have adapted to living on fog because there's never been any actual rain there!

There's some great hunting all over. Seems as if the gemsbok (and springbok) are a little better south, and the kudu and warthog may be a little better north. But the southern animals live in a tad healthier climate -- no bugs -- and seem to stay in great shape on the strong, dry grass. Any way you cut it, Namibia is super hunting country.

You may want to look into some of the recommended vaccinations if you're hunting or traveling in the North, particularly malaria prophylaxis. If you're staying central or south, then you don't really need anything -- the country is a damnsight cleaner than East Texas!

The young woman I hired as my office manager last fall is a native of Hamburg. I'll ask her about sightseeing in and around Frankfurt and drop you a PM if she has any useful suggestions.

In the meantime, I'm sure worried that if you take those old Zeiss scopes you're so fond of you won't be able to find your kudu in the little bitty eyebox and it will spoil your trip. I'll probably lay awake all night worrying about it and wishing you'd take a Leupold instead.

The shark fishing in winter is the best at Henties.

You can contact Spyker or Marina at angling@iafrica.com.na and have a look at their website.

www.AnglingNamibia.com

Please tell them that Frederik as reffered you to them and they will give you some specia service. BTW they are the people I did the whole Angola DVD for.

Stonecreek:

My current scheduled hunt is 7/2 to 7/8 in the vicinity of Omaruru which is central Namibia, a bit north (100mi?) of Windhoek.

There are a lot of hunting farms in the Omaruru area. They are generally smaller (typically 8,000-10,000 hectares, or about 20-25,000 acres) than in the south, but then being brushier, they hold denser populations of game. As I understand it, you may not have everything you want to shoot available on one farm, but your outfitter can take you to a neighboring farm for other species. You should get in plenty of shooting.

Since you'll be nearly half-way to Etosha, it would make more sense to do your touring up that way than to go south after hunting. Swapkomund over on the coast isn't too far, either. The Caprivi is a long way from anywhere, but being a couple of hours north from Windhoek already, it might be practical.

Stonecreek:

Well, kind of like the Leupold "eye box" I guess smaller depends on how you look at it. This "farm" has about 170,000 acres in total. You must be from Texas.

Gato.....

I also recommend the Holiday Inn Airport Express for folks RON in FKT. It's not too far from the Airport, shuttle available and close enough to get into the FKT downtown area where all the Glitter, Glamour, resturaunts, shopping, etc. is available.

As for the Firearms at the FKT airport; it'll be pretty much hassle free but not consistant. I've experienced the gamut from Airline's storing them until departure, relinguishing to German Customs and other options best not mentioned in this thread.

A trip to Heidelberg is an excellent idea - one hour train ride and a nice venue with the Castle, etc.; also Frankonia store in Darmstadt and the Kettner store next to the Airport, etc.

I can't guarantee my schedule this far out but if you want to PM me perhaps there could be some other opportunities?