Finding Wild Africa

[Kevin Peacocke]

Big 5 of course includes rhino. Save in Zimbabwe has all you want and you will actually see them, not just know they are 'there somewhere'. Very wild. Speak to Mokore.

 

[Bearbait1]

Thanks to all

 

[Scott CWO]

Thanks to all

Kevin lives in Zim so lots of knowledge there.

 

[WAB]

I would recommend you talk to Jamy traut safaris directly. Leopard legend safaris has a conservancy there too still I believe. When I hunted there in 2018 it was the first year in 6 years the area had received significant rain, but it didn’t affect the hunting. I know 2019 was a bad year, but the quotas in these areas are extremely low and it’s a absolutely huge area so the affect may not be as significant as you may think. @Tra3 hunted there in 2021. My photos from 2018 are in this thread.

Hunting in Kaokoland?

Like most, I’m dreaming about better times ahead someday... I’d like to learn about options and information for hunting in Kaokoland. The landscape intrigues and fascinates me. I would be interested in zebra, kudu and gemsbok - possibly eland. And I should also think about springbok as they...

www.africahunting.com

We hunted a neighboring ranch to Jamy’s in 2019. It was dry but game was still plentiful and we took mature animals. While this is a beautiful area with excellent hunting, it is not the wild Africa the OP states he is looking for.

 

[375Fox]

We hunted a neighboring ranch to Jamy’s in 2019. It was dry but game was still plentiful and we took mature animals. While this is a beautiful area with excellent hunting, it is not the wild Africa the OP states he is looking for.

Kaokoland is the area west of etosha and north of the veterinary fence. It is all communal land. This area is what he is asking for. Their home base is not, I agree, but I was recommending Kaokoland. It is by far the most wild area I’ve had opportunity to hunt.

 

[Red Leg]

We hunted a neighboring ranch to Jamy’s in 2019. It was dry but game was still plentiful and we took mature animals. While this is a beautiful area with excellent hunting, it is not the wild Africa the OP states he is looking for.

Different area. He has concessions in several areas. His Kaokoland concession is in the Northwest beyond the cattle ranch region. As @375Fox notes it is communal land. It is about as wild an area as you will find without being on communal ground in Zim, Moz, Zambia, or Tanzania.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Sengwa Research Area in Zimbabwe with Mokore. Beautiful, iconic Africa.

 

[375Fox]

Different area. He has concessions in several areas. His Kaokoland concession is in the Northwest beyond his cattle ranch region. As @375Fox notes it is communal land. It is about as wild an area as you will find without being on communal ground in Zim, Moz, Zambia, or Tanzania.

I would actually put it in the same class as wild areas in the countries you listed or better. There aren’t many regions left in Africa that are as large or sparsely populated. The hunting I did I can’t imagine being much different 100 years ago besides the land cruiser. We traveled between natural springs and had to cover large distances to find pockets of game, then lions pushed them out of one of the major valleys we hunted. My hunts in Zimbabwe and Zambia were great but no where near the vastness of Kaokoland. Unfortunately the dangerous game quota there only exists for leopard and problem animals or it would have more of a reputation as a top destination.

 

[Tra3]

We hunted a neighboring ranch to Jamy’s in 2019. It was dry but game was still plentiful and we took mature animals. While this is a beautiful area with excellent hunting, it is not the wild Africa the OP states he is looking for.

To add to this: Panorama is the home base 100,000 acre property. The other 4 areas the have camps are massive conservancies with no fences and wild africa.

Panorama is a beautiful place to hunt and worth visiting in any hunt plan.

 

[Pieter Oosthuizen]

Good day Bearbait, Game Trackers Africa has the areas that will meet and exceed your expectations in Namibia and Tanzania, large untamed wilderness areas. Please feel free to contact us for more information.

 

[Happy Myles]

Earlier, someone mentioned going two places in Tanzania, Maasailand and the Selous. I concur. These are as close as you will get these days to African wild places of yore. My experience includes hunting all over Africa annually for fifty years, minimum of 21 days up tp 60 days per year. Sadly, at 83 years of age my safari days are coming to a close. Loved every minute of it. A very, very lucky man. The Lukwati area in Tanzania is still good too

 

[Happy Myles]

Maswa, Rungwa, and Ugalla areas in Tanzania are wonderful too

 

[WAB]

Kaokoland is the area west of etosha and north of the veterinary fence. It is all communal land. This area is what he is asking for. Their home base is not, I agree, but I was recommending Kaokoland. It is by far the most wild area I’ve had opportunity to hunt.

My mistake, it sounds like an area I need to visit!

 

[WY ME]

Bearbait

To maybe somewhat answer your earlier post about the drought, here's what I've been told. I'm going back to Namibia this spring after an 8 year hiatus and have the same concerns about the impacts of the 2019 drought. My PH (owner of a large, unfenced ranch) who has always been upfront and honest with me about the animals on his place told me that the warthog population was decimated from the drought. The hartebeest also took a severe hit. Kudu are now finally coming back from the rabies epidemic that that hit them so hard all across Namibia long before the drought was even a twinkle in Mother Nature's eye. He described the kudu population as young and healthy with not a lot of large (53"+) bulls in the herd just yet. Oryx did well and are in great shape. Eland and impala did okay and the giraffes weren't affected at all.

I hope this helps.

 

[CJW]

Bearbait

To maybe somewhat answer your earlier post about the drought, here's what I've been told. I'm going back to Namibia this spring after an 8 year hiatus and have the same concerns about the impacts of the 2019 drought. My PH (owner of a large, unfenced ranch) who has always been upfront and honest with me about the animals on his place told me that the warthog population was decimated from the drought. The hartebeest also took a severe hit. Kudu are now finally coming back from the rabies epidemic that that hit them so hard all across Namibia long before the drought was even a twinkle in Mother Nature's eye. He described the kudu population as young and healthy with not a lot of large (53"+) bulls in the herd just yet. Oryx did well and are in great shape. Eland and impala did okay and the giraffes weren't affected at all.

I hope this helps.

My experience in Namibia in Sep. mirrors these sentiments. Yes the warthogs were decimated. My PH told me at a water hole over lunch that one time he and his clients counted over 100 warthogs there. The most we saw at one time was maybe 5. All but 3 kudu I saw were female, calves or young bulls. Oryx were repopulating well with lots of calves. Hartebeest were off limits to me except on one property where I only had a brief opportunity at one. Zebra and wildebeest were few. Springbok were hit hard and only in small groups. The fenced black wildebeest especially were decimated. I only saw the butt end of one eland and no impala.

I hunted in knee to waist high grass the entire time and my PH said the grass in a normal year would have been down to ankle height at that time.

The jackals on the other hand were thick as fleas.

I hunted an hour east of Windhoek and I will do much more due dilligence before my next hunt.

 

[Bearbait1]

thanks to everyone for the opinions

 

[WAB]

thanks to everyone for the opinions

Something we have in abundance!

 

[C.W. Richter]

If you really want oryx, Namibia is the place (also in SA.) I've never seen one in (more lush, less wide-open) Zim, as they don't occur naturally and are primarily desert dwellers. You can see most of the dangerous 7 in Namib plus cheetahs, but you'll likely hit some parks or the Caprivi for that (photo safari separate from hunting area unless it has particularly good water features and food). If you wish to be in a wild place, seeing elephant, hippo, buffalo near camp (and lions once you have something in the skinning area, hearing leopards at night) while hunting PG, S. or SE Zim is the place to go. If you can give up the oryx, several areas have lion, buffalo, leopard where you can hunt PG (kudu, eland, waterbuck, bushbuck, some blue wildebeest), Zim is the place to go (also several parks and conservancies in SE Zim where you can see all sorts of game!) Namib (and SA) additionally have springbok in the same areas as the oryx (the oryx are everywhere in "mainland" Namib-it's their national animal! My son participated in several oryx cull/meat hunts in the past. They're as prevalent as whitetail deer are here, but you'll not see 'em in most of the well-watered caprivi (which is loaded with DG/crocs/hippo, b. zebra-, lechwe-you'll even see DG across the Chobe river from the caprivi, in Botswana, and if you take the vic falls tour you drive through several national parks with all sorts of DG/PG along the way.) 'Saw giraffe in all 3 countries on past PG hunting trips (and took a nice old bull in Zim). 'Wanted an oryx on my first trip to Africa long ago, so my PH picked me up in SA, we hunted the limpopo region for 'em (also got lucky on a nice nyala) and then drove over the border to "wilder" Zim for the balance of the hunt (spiral horn slam, impala, warthog, wildebeest) and saw plenty of DG from camp and while hunting along the Limpopo and Save Rivers (as well as others draining into them-Bubi, Mkwasine, etc.) Good luck & have fun!

 

[Scott CWO]

If you really want oryx, Namibia is the place (also in SA.) I've never seen one in (more lush, less wide-open) Zim, as they don't occur naturally and are primarily desert dwellers. You can see most of the dangerous 7 in Namib plus cheetahs, but you'll likely hit some parks or the Caprivi for that (photo safari separate from hunting area unless it has particularly good water features and food). If you wish to be in a wild place, seeing elephant, hippo, buffalo near camp (and lions once you have something in the skinning area, hearing leopards at night) while hunting PG, S. or SE Zim is the place to go. If you can give up the oryx, several areas have lion, buffalo, leopard where you can hunt PG (kudu, eland, waterbuck, bushbuck, some blue wildebeest), Zim is the place to go (also several parks and conservancies in SE Zim where you can see all sorts of game!) Namib (and SA) additionally have springbok in the same areas as the oryx (the oryx are everywhere in "mainland" Namib-it's their national animal! My son participated in several oryx cull/meat hunts in the past. They're as prevalent as whitetail deer are here, but you'll not see 'em in most of the well-watered caprivi (which is loaded with DG/crocs/hippo, b. zebra-, lechwe-you'll even see DG across the Chobe river from the caprivi, in Botswana, and if you take the vic falls tour you drive through several national parks with all sorts of DG/PG along the way.) 'Saw giraffe in all 3 countries on past PG hunting trips (and took a nice old bull in Zim). 'Wanted an oryx on my first trip to Africa long ago, so my PH picked me up in SA, we hunted the limpopo region for 'em (also got lucky on a nice nyala) and then drove over the border to "wilder" Zim for the balance of the hunt (spiral horn slam, impala, warthog, wildebeest) and saw plenty of DG from camp and while hunting along the Limpopo and Save Rivers (as well as others draining into them-Bubi, Mkwasine, etc.) Good luck & have fun!

Good advice here. The Save and Mkwasine drainages have lots of game. I also suggest dropping the oryx from your list since it’s a desert animal and you can get one on another trip or on a side trip.

 

[Kowas Adventure Safaris]

I am trying to figure out where I want to do my first PG safari. I am looking for an area that has the iconic game of Africa such as big 5, hyena, wild dogs, hippo, croc, etc. I realize I won’t likely find an area that has all these critters and wouldn’t likely see many of them even if they were around. However, I want to know they are there and see some tracks, hear them at night, etc. I would like to take a few critters such as kudu, warthog, oryx but I mainly want to experience Africa. Any suggestions for an area that fits this description are welcome. Thanks

Dear Bearbait1

It looks like if you know what you are looking for.
Enjoy the planning process of your adventure to Africa.