NAMIBIA: All Across Namibia

[Fatback]

I’ve been back from my most recent hunt in Namibia and have finally settled enough to try and put together a hunt report.

I left home on August 6th. I was on Delta 200 from Atlanta to Joburg. No issues with the flight. Watched a couple of movies, got some sleep and before I knew it we are landing at OR Tambo. I have always used Gracy Travel for all of my hunting related travel and I was met by one of their representatives as I walked off the jet bridge. We breezed through passport control and made it to baggage claim. My checked bag was there so after getting it loaded up on the buggy we were off the the police office. After about a 20 minute wait, my rifle case showed up and in less than 5 minutes my rifles were cleared and it’s off to the CitiLodge for a shower, a good burger and some well earned sleep.

August 8th. Up early, great breakfast and then back to the airport to get checked in for my flight to Windhoek. With Gracy Travel, this went smoothly and then it’s about a 2 hour flight into Windhoek. Upon arrival there, I had already gotten a pre-approved Visa, which is now required to enter Namibia. Get cleared through customs, get my checked bag and off to the police station to meet my PH. Once at the police station, rifle and ammo box are there, get that sorted and get my Namibian gun permit and we load up in the cruiser and start our trek north to the Caprivi. The plan is to go 5-6 hours to Roy’s Camp, spend the night and head on into camp the next day, so that just what we did. We get to Roy’s camp about 7:00 pm, get settled in, have a nice dinner and head to bed early. Roy’s camp was quite comfortable and I was glad to have another good night’s sleep before continuing our journey to the Caprivi.

August 9th. Up early for a quick breakfast and on the road north. One neat thing about Roy’s camp is there are quite a few DikDiks that come into camp and are quite tame acting.

This is the sign we see as we get on the way towards our destination. A few hours later we cross the veterinarian line, into the communal areas and the driving gets much more interesting, dodging live stock all in the road, etc….

About noon we stop to have a sandwich just inside the buffalo gate.

Then about half mile further down the road we have to slow down for

crossing the road. Hopefully this will be a harbinger of things to come…..

 

[Mekaniks]

Awesome! Looking forward to the rest

 

[BRICKBURN]

Keep it coming..

 

[Fatback]

Aug. 9th continued. We were en-route to Thormalen and Chochran’s Kabula-bula concession located on the very Eastern tip of the Caprivi strip on the Chobe River. The other side of the river is Chobe National Park in Botswana. After watching the buffalo cross the road we still had 6 more hours of driving ahead of us with the last 2 hours driving across the flood plains, through channels and basically having a 4 wheel drive, off road adventure.

At the end of this journey lies a very well appointed tented camp. The tent I was in was on a concrete slab with two twin sized beds, running water, flush toilet and hot water for showers. So, 71 hours after checking in for my flights at my local airport, I am finally in buffalo camp.

After getting my gear sorted out in the tent, I head to the dining area of camp, pull up a chair at the campfire and enjoy the sunset and a cold drink before dinner.

After enjoying the sun set, dinner was served and as all the meals I’ve ever eaten in a safari camp, it was very good.

The plans for the next day are discussed. Breakfast will be served at 6:30, go shoot my rifle to confirm zero then we will take a boat ride down the Chobe, looking for buffalo on the Namibia side and try and find a buffalo that we can make a play on. So it’s off to get a shower and a good nights sleep. Once the generator is shut off for the night, I can hear hippos calling near by then the roar of a lion cuts through the night air and makes the hair on my neck and arms stand up. I listen to the night sounds of Africa and drift off to sleep, travel weary, but so grateful to be in this wonderful place with the potential for an adventure awaiting in the morning…..

 

[Fatback]

August 10th. I am awake before my alarm goes off. There is a definite chill in the air, especially since u am coming from South Georgia and it was 95 degrees with very high humidity the previous 6 weeks before I left. I lay there enjoying the warmth of the bed for a few minutes just enjoying everything and giving thanks that I have safely arrived in camp after such a long journey and I pray that I am able to do what needs to be done if given the opportunity to stalk snd shoot a buffalo so that I can provide a clean, quick death to an old buffalo while ensuring my safety and the safety of the entire hunting party.

I get up and dressed and walk over to the dining area for a quick bite to eat and then I’m back at my tent and gathering up my gear to go co firm Zero on my rifle and then a it off to the river and a boat ride to see what we can see.

One shot confirms the rifle has survived the trip unscathed. A little about my rifle. It is a left handed custom built Winchester Model 70 in 416 Rem. I purchased the rifle earlier this year from fellow forum member @JMJ888, who was a true gentlemen to deal with.

From one of my practice sessions leading up to the hunt.

We drive a few miles to the boat, load our gear and the entire team and headed out on the Chobe looking for Buffalo. Along the way we see all sorts of bird life and animals.

 

[Fatback]

August 10th continued….
After several hours in the river and no buffalo sighted we make our way back toward the camp.

Pulling into camp we spot a group of six, mud caked, ill tempered buffalo.

They appear to be bedding down for a mid day rest, so it’s off to lunch and to try and sort out a plan of attack for this afternoon that will lead to that group of buffalo and me crossing paths, at bit more than 50 yards…..

 

[MontanaPat]

Looking forward to your report!

 

[Sika98k]

Waaah ! Cliffhanger !

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Love the story so far as the Caprivi is a special place. Keep it coming.

HH

 

[Fatback]

August 10th continued

After a great lunch and some rest we are back on the cruiser going to see if we can find the group of buffalo from earlier. I think it is important to mention that this concession is populated with several villages and one of their mainstays is cattle, so when we get to where we last saw the buffalo we are greeted with a herd of about 50 cattle and a couple of people hearing them back towards a village for the night. We will continue on and a few miles down the two track we spot the buffalo way out across the flood plain. This is where we spotted the buffalo from the cruiser.

We have a pretty good wind and there are a couple of depressions we can get in to hide our approach, so we set off. After about an hour, we are 50 yards from the 6 buffalo. We are studying them closely as I want to take as old and narly buffalo as possible. After a few minutes we agree on the one to take, now it’s a matter of waiting for a clear shot.

Then it happens, a swirl of the wind and they go from relaxed and feeding to on alter and getting ready to bug out. They start to move off to my right and a well timed bellow from the PH gets the one I want to stop and stare directly at us. That’s all the opportunity I’m gonna get, so I settle the firedot just under his chin and send a 400 grain Aframe the 50 yards and the bull absolutely nose plants and starts spinning in a circle, I run the bolt and give him another one that enters mid body and ends up in the opposite shoulder and the bull is down, kicks his legs in the air and he appears to be done. I top of the magazine and we approach the downed bull. At about 20 yards be begins to struggle a bit and I give him an insurance shot between the shoulders and it is done. He is true “dagga boy”, covered in mud because he doesn’t have any hair left on his body. During the butchering process we find he has a bad wound on his right shoulder from a fight and he was in a bad way from that. It would not have been long before he fell to lions or hyenas in his current state. My well placed bullet have him a quick and humane death and I am grateful for that.

 

[sniper7]

Excellent story thanks for sharing! I love the Caprivi and have been to that camp twice. It’s incredible!

 

[miket1]

Very, very cool! Congrats!

 

[Fatback]

@sniper7, this was my second hunt in the Caprivi but my first in this camp. I was an incredible area and camp for sure.

 

[Lancaster]

Sounds like a perfect shot on a perfect buffalo, well done! Hoping to head to the Caprivi next year

 

[Fatback]

August 10 continued…

Once we get back to camp, it’s showers, supper and a few cold drinks around the fire. A great way to end a great day.

August 11.

Sleep in the morning and we meet for breakfast at 8:00. After breakfast we load up in the boat and head up river to Kasane, Botswana. They need to get some supplies for camp and drop off a boat motor for repairs. It it a wonderful trip their and back for wildlife viewing. We see all sorts of cool stuff, fish eagles, hippos, crocs, elephants, giraffes, kudu, waterbuck, impala, zebras and more different birds than I could count.

Once we get back to camp, we have a late lunch and a rest. Later this afternoon/evening we go down river a ways and go fishing. We catch several catfish and the guys in camp are excited for some fresh fish.

We get to watch a spectacular African sunset and then head back to camp. Then it’s dinner and another great episode of “bush TV”.

 

[Fatback]

August 12

We are up early and it’s breakfast and we leave to Katima Mulilo. We are going to spend the afternoon on the Zambezi trying to catch a tiger fish. It is about a 3 hour drive to Katima, we spend some time knocking around town there and get to where we are staying and fishing around 2:00 pm. We get settled in our rooms and meet the boat at 3:00 for our fishing trip. The fishing was slow but I did manage to catch one small tiger fish, my first.

We were tested to another great sunset in the river.

Here is the sign at the lodge we stayed.

Once we are back from fishing, it’s dinner and on to bed for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow we start our journey to Bushmanland to look for an own use/non-trophy elephant.

 

[Fatback]

August 13th. On the road again. We leave Katima at 6:00 am on our way to the Ondjou Conservancy in Bushmanland. We spend 11 hours traveling. Some of the road signs give me hope we are headed to the right place.

We get to camp a little after 5:00 pm. We shake down our gear in the tents and go to the range to shoot the rifle again, as it’s been a rough ride and I am switching over to Barnes Flatnosed solids for elephant. 1 shot and all is good. Back to camp for dinner and some more bush TV. Then it’s off to bed. These tents are set up just like the ones in the Caprivi and are quite comfortable. We will be up early tomorrow to try and find fresh tracks to follow.

August 14th. Up early, eat breakfast and off to the first water point to look for tracks. Word on the street is there has been a line bull coming to water here most nights so I am hopeful as we head out. Get to the water and the bull has been here last night. Ok, this is real now, I am headed off after the largest land animal on earth. This is something I’ve only ever dreamed about and it is now reality. We take the track and start tracking. We track this elephant for 14 miles in some of the nastiest thorn brush I could have ever imagined. I look like I’ve been wrestling with a weed eater and I’ve been wearing long pants and long sleeved shirt. The elephant never really slowed and feed and we have to break off the track and head back if we are going to have any chance of getting back to the cruiser before dark. We are all pretty whipped and fortunately there was a cattle station about 6 miles from where we stopped tracking and we make for there. Once we get there the tracker gets a donkey ride back to the cruiser and drives to pick the rest of us up. So I wound up walking 20 miles on my first day of elephant hunting, without ever seeing an elephant. I am thinking, what in the world have I gotten myself into??

I wear a Fitbit fitness tracker and this is the screen shot of that day. Once we get back to camp it’s shower, dinner and straight to bed. Tomorrow we leave at 4:00 am to go check another water hole and it’s about a 2 hour drive and we want to be there early.

 

[PARA45]

Man, what a wonderful adventure. Keep it coming.

 

[Scott CWO]

Helluva start and congrats!

 

[Fatback]

August 15th. Up was early and on the road at 4:15 am. We drive to the south, almost to the southern border of the concession, the west on a two track for 40 miles. Then it’s about a 4 mile walk into the waterhole. We get there about the time the sun is cresting the horizon.

There has been a couple of elephants there but the tracks are a couple days old so it’s back to the cruiser and the search continues. We drive and look for track the rest of the day to no avail. We get back to camp a little early and it some welcomed down time after the long day yesterday. The typical evening routine of cleaning up, dinner and time around the fire are enjoyed and it’s off for another good night’s sleep because it’s going to be another early start tomorrow.

August 16th, 17th and 18th are all repeats of the 15th. Up early, drive, check water points, drive some more, check more water points All without finding any tracks fresh enough to take up. It is decided that in the morning we will go to the northern border of the concession and head West. This is the only direction we haven’t been yet and we are hopeful that this new direction will be where we find what we are looking for. I think it is importantly to note that this is nearly a 2 million acre concession that doesn’t have the best road system, so we are limited in where we can drive and check for tracks and with the record rains earlier in the year, there are still natural water holes in the bush that the elephants must be using that we don’t know where they are at so it’s kinda like trying to find the proverbial “needle in a haystack”. As I go to bed on the night of the 18th I start to have some doubts about whether or not we will even see an elephant on this leg of my adventure, let alone one to hunt. Then I reminded myself to the thankful to be in such a unique part of the world and that I am seeing new areas everyday and that this is something I’ve always wanted to do and may never get to do again, so be grateful for the opportunity I have, now, and make the best of it. A whole new set of possibilities will open up with the rising of the sun on the 19th…..