NAMIBIA: Getting Nasty In Namibia With ZANA BOTES SAFARI

[Hunting Hitman]

Good Day my fellow hunting enthusiast! My wife and I are on the precipice of heading to Namibia with Zana Botes Safaris for a 28 day hunting adventure with Ndovu, Chui, and Nyati (Elephant, Leopard, and Cape Buffalo) on the menu.
This all started with the desire to get my wife a Leopard after the famous Hyena pack tearing hers to bits and running off with it last year in the Selous region of Tanzania. She was a tad upset after that and I was instructed to go get her a replacement hunt to meet our respective needs.
After interviewing quite a few operators and having some really good options I decided on Zana Botes in Namibia. I booked the hunt for the Leopard with plans on meeting with him at SCI in Nashville this past show. While at a Broadway watering hole in Nashville my phone alerted me to an own use Elephant hunt in the Caprivi Strip auction that was coming up that Zana had donated to SCI. Never let a good opportunity pass I always say, so after watching the auction climb to a bit of a stall I began to bid and ended up winning the auction.
The next day I went to the show and met Zana and his wife Tanya and hit it off. They are both very pleasant and Zana spent the better part of an hour answering all of our questions about the hunts.

HH

 

[Altitude sickness]

Very exciting.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

So after the debacle of last years travel I decided to never use BA again and went with Lufthansa. We are using Darren Ginn with Travel Express for this trip and its already been worth it. At 3:00AM I got an email from Lufthansa that our flight tomorrow has been canceled for "Weather". I will save you the 8 hours of sweating this out. Darren was able to get us a United flight to San Francisco connecting on
Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then continuing on (12 hours later) to Windhoek, Namibia. Still waiting for final/final as they say but looking good.

HH

 

[Fatback]

Looking forward to this report. I’ll be in Namibia next year for own use elephant and buffalo so this is going to be a great teaser. Best of luck to you and your wife.

 

[DillonG]

Listening…

 

[ILDRHNTR]

Sounds like a very interesting story coming soon. Can’t wait. Best of luck and safe travels.

 

[Inline6]

So after the debacle of last years travel I decided to never use BA again and went with Lufthansa. We are using Darren Ginn with Travel Express for this trip and its already been worth it. At 3:00AM I got an email from Lufthansa that our flight tomorrow has been canceled for "Weather". I will save you the 8 hours of sweating this out. Darren was able to get us a United flight to San Francisco connecting on
Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then continuing on (12 hours later) to Windhoek, Namibia. Still waiting for final/final as they say but looking good.

HH

We are using Darren too. We'll worth the piece of mind.

Good luck on your adventure!

 

[Wildwillalaska]

So after the debacle of last years travel I decided to never use BA again and went with Lufthansa. We are using Darren Ginn with Travel Express for this trip and its already been worth it. At 3:00AM I got an email from Lufthansa that our flight tomorrow has been canceled for "Weather". I will save you the 8 hours of sweating this out. Darren was able to get us a United flight to San Francisco connecting on
Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then continuing on (12 hours later) to Windhoek, Namibia. Still waiting for final/final as they say but looking good.

HH

Good luck and enjoy your hunt. Will say of my recent and first trip to Africa, the flights were the worst. My first United flight delayed multiple times ultimately making me miss the flight from Newark to Johannesburg (and that was with an almost 8hr layover). Then on my return, with Lufthansa, landed in Frankfurt to an email saying my flight to Anchorage was cancelled. They got me rebooked and after couple extra flights made it home about 9 hours later than originally scheduled.

One sore spot was that Lufthansa booked me on United in economy, not first class as I was for my cancelled flight. After a few calls back and forth between United and Lufthansa, both saying I needed to talk to the other, Luftansa refunded me big chunk of change, but not what the last minute first class upgrade was on United.

Biggest sore spot was while Luftansa sent me to United, they kept my bags for some reason. My roller made it to Anchorage around the same time as me, but didn’t go through customs with me at Ohare. My Rigby BGR didn’t show up until three days later which went through customs/TSA without me present to open so arrived with my expensive locks cut off and tossed loose inside the case and others locked on I had to grind off.

Next year will give Delta a whirl.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Armament:
For this trip I’m taking an R8 Success in 300 Win Mag with a Banish Backcountry suppressor and an R8 Selous in 458 Lott.
I had custom loads developed for both from Pendleton Ammunition.
300 Win Mag: 200 grain ELDX @ 2950 fps
458 Lott: 470 grain CEB Raptor @ 2280 fps
500 grain CEB Solids @ 2280 fps

All ammunition is incredibly accurate with most shots touching or punching through the same hole.

All loaded up and ready for the airline’s abuse.

HH

 

[Altitude sickness]

R8 Selous in 458 Lott. What a beauty!

 

[Fatback]

Those will get the job done for sure. Beautiful shooting irons.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Just getting on the Lufthansa flight and enjoying Business Class.

 

[Scott CWO]

Oh boy this will be a good one! Can’t wait!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Landed in Frankfurt and enjoying are 11 hour layover…Our friendly PH Zana sends us some photos of a big Tom that has been coming into a bait site.

Needless to say we are getting excited.

HH

 

[gillettehunter]

Sounds like a great hunt is in the works. Looking forward to your report. Rifles look beautiful. Best of luck to you and your wife.
Bruce

 

[lil 2 sleepy]

Looking forward to this as well. I have an on use elephant hunt with Zana for 2025 that I also picked up at a DSC auction. Can’t wait to see some more pics.

Good luck on the hunt

 

[Hunting Hitman]

A Quick update..Everything is going well and Zana Botes Safaris is doing a great job. The huntress is having some confidence issues at the moment and Zana is patiently helping to work them out. We have a big Cat print heading towards the bait and are just waiting to pattern him out.
Animals are hitting the deck and will give a full report on our return.

HH

 

[Frederik]

Keep us posted sounds like a good one.

 

[ChasingHemingway]

Following with anticipation

 

[Cecil Hammonds]

Best of luck to you! I did an own use elephant hunt with Zana last October and we got him on the first day!