NAMIBIA: KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS (Report)

[Andrew Short]

Day 4: After recovery of the Oryx, we ate a quick field lunch and rested for a while in the shade.

The goal for the afternoon was to find a Hartman‘s Zebra or Kudu. We chose to travel to a different area of the farm to begin the afternoon. This area was much more dry than the southern areas that we had previously been hunting. There was no green grass, it was much more mountainous and rocky. We spent several hours there without seeing any animals. Th decision was made to head back to the area where we had hunted the oryx earlier. We had good luck spotting several herds of zebra, wildebeest, and red hartebeest.

Later in the afternoon, a large stallion ran out in front of the truck. We immediately dismounted and attempted to follow. However, the spotter from the truck let us know that the stallion had not stopped. We walked for a few hundred more yards when we spotted another herd of zebra to our left. They were moving slowly across the bottom of a ridge. The wind was perfect, and we were able to flank the group from the adjacent ridge. Isaak and Thomas’s man identified an old stallion within the group. The sticks went up, but we waited patiently for several minutes for him to clear the acacia, black thorn, camel thorn. Steady on the sticks, I placed an A-frame into the zebras lungs. He collapsed 20 yards from where he was shot.

 

[Andrew Short]

Day 5: We hunted close to the lodge during the morning. We saw many animals, however, did not attempt a stalk. We returned to the lodge for lunch and decided to take the evening off. We rested for the remainder of the day, enjoying camaraderie with the staff and the young “ German army”.
Philip has several young men from Germany in camp who help with the daily tasks. It’s an internship of sorts. They were a lot of fun to be around!

Day 6: my father joined the action on the morning of day six. We attempted several stalks on blue wildebeest as well as red hartebeest however, we were unsuccessful. It was very windy making them nervous. As I mentioned previously, we had seen several sable as we drove around the properties. One of these sable bulls was an a magnificent old, non-breeding bull. Philip had previously told us that he was over 12 years old and past his prime. After our fourth build stock on wildebeest,Dad and I truly debated if we wanted to hunt him. My father decided that he wanted to hunt him so off we went.

We parked the truck where we had last spotted the group of bulls. We had not traveled more than a couple hundred meters when my father spotted the group to our right. The old bull was in the back, separated from the group by 30–40m. Isaak set up the sticks, my father settled in. You could hear his voice shaking with nervousness as we all discussed what we were seeing.As I looked through my binoculars, the shot rang out. The bull was hit hard just behind the shoulder. The group disappeared out of our sight over the crest of the hill. We assumed tracking which was very short. The bull had ran perhaps 50m before collapsing. My father was very emotional when we reached the bull. It was a very cool moment for us all.

 

[Andrew Short]

Day 6 continued:

After recovery of the sable we returned to the lodge where we spent time with Philip and the crew at the skinning shed. We ate a very nice lunch and rested until 4 PM. We sat out again looking for Kudu and Wildebeest. We drove around for a while, spotting a very nice old warthog. I told FX that we should make a stalk! How can you turn down an old old warthog?

We stopped down a steep heel, across a dry creek bed and up onto a flat. The wind was whipping around in every direction. We could not see or hear the warthog at all. We slowly moved around and a half moon pattern until we saw the warthog. He was close at 40 yards. The sticks went up, I settled in and squeezed off a shot. He didn’t wiggle. The 300 grain A-frame did major damage.

After recovery of the warthog, we cruised around for a remainder of the evening, seeing herds of Oryx, red hartebeest, springbok, as well as giraffes.

After spotting the herd of red hartebeest, we attempted to make a stalk. They were moving from our left to right, across the valley. We snaked through the acacia and black thorn, coming up on a little rise above them. Isaak took his time finding a very large bull. He was constantly moving in and out, between the females. The sticks went up, my father settled in and squeezed off a shot. The bull was hit hard and expired about 30 yards from where he was hit.

 

[Flying.Parrott]

Great report so far @Andrew Short! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Andrew Short]

Day 7: At dinner the night prior, Phillip informed us that we would be traveling to another neighboring farm approximately 1.5 hours away in search of Kudu. We hunted all day, spotting female Kudu, wildebeest, oryx, zebra, Steinbok and warthogs. We decided not to stalk any of these animals in effort to pursue Kudu. We ended the day without any sightings of bull Kudu.

 

[BryceM]

That country is much more green than when I was there in June. Good to see. The entire region had a pretty bad drought going on.

Hard to find bull kudu. Very hard to find bull kudu when there is a lot of vegetation.

Great report so far!

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on your hunt and thanks for sharing!

 

[Andrew Short]

Final day: i’m nothing but an honest man, so I will tell you straightforward that I made a mistake on our itinerary. I misread the dates, and thought we had an additional day of hunting when we did not. I woke around 5 AM, looking at my itinerary, formulating a plan for the following day, when I realize that my flight was leaving in two hours. Knowing that I would miss the flight, I went ahead and rebooked via Airlink to Johannesburg for 1 PM that afternoon. I informed Phillip of my mistake, we settled all of our business, said our goodbyes. We then traveled to the taxidermist and then to the airport.


Here’s where things become interesting. Airlink will allow you to fly from Johannesburg to Windhoek Namibia with ammunition in your checked bag. They will not allow you to fkybwith ammunition in your checked bag on the return flight. It has to be in a locked container and checked just like your baggage. It is the same airline with a different policy on the same flights… This makes zero sense. Juan who had escorted us to the airport was very unhappy about this. I ended up leaving $200 worth of ammo with Juan.

After we checked in, I realized another mistake had been made. In all of the commotion of trying to settle the ammunition issue with the airline, Namibian police, and our crew, somehow the information of our connecting flighthad been ignored. The lady at the desk had asked us if we had a connecting flight, we replied that we did and gave her the itinerary. She only checked my bags to Johannesburg instead of Atlanta, Georgia. Now I should have called this earlier than I did. But things had been heated at the desk and we had been to three different counters at this time.

I then realized that I would have to recover my rifle in South Africa. I used Henry with rifle permits on the way over, I was satisfied with their services at that time. I again reached out to Henry to let him know the upcoming issue, he stated that he could not mobilize anyone in that amount of time. I want to clarify that this was four hours prior to my arrival in Johannesburg. He wished me good luck. On the way over, we apparently did not have a Saps520 permit as we were just in transit. I never received anything from Henry so I do not know this to be 100% true. Knowing what kind of issue this would be, I reached out to Philip Glass, and attempted to contact anyone else that could help. I was able to speak with Anne at air2000/hunters help. And also realized the severity of this issue. She stated that she would help anyway she could. Before she could correspond with me again, we had to board the plane. On my arrival to Windhoek, we were met by two gentlemen from Menzies aviation on the tarmac. They were assigned by Anne to help me matriculate through this process.
We were picked up in a luxury van, driven to the terminal. We were escorted through security, baggage claim, etc. We were the escorted to the SAPS office where Maxwell explained the situation to the officer. The officer was very reluctant to help us, but we were ultimately able to make a deal.After some negotiation, we were able to obtain a one-day permit, and we then escorted to the Delta desk.

Now let me be clear here, I was satisfied with the performance of rifle permits on the way over. Having said that, knowing the issue that this could have been, we received zero help from them. Also, the police officer explained to us that we should still have a permit for transiting which we were not provided, or I was not given. Moving forward, on my future trips, I will never not use Hunter‘s help/air2000. That was a true VIP process for less than what I paid with riflepermits. They were willing to help and mobilized within half of the time that riflepermits could not. If you use @TRAVEL EXPRESS They are aware of this entity as well. I highly recommend them.


So in conclusion, if you have any hesitation to book with @KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS let me assure you that those are unfounded hesitations or concerns. Philip and his crew are 100% top-notch, will work for you and provide you with a very memorable experience. The food, accommodations and people are second to none. I may not have taken my Kudu, Eland, or Wildebeest but that’s just another reason to go back, and I will be going back!!!

If you have any questions regarding any of this, my experiences, or thoughts feel free to reach out to me via p.m. I’m happy to talk with anyone over pm or phone.

 

[Andrew Short]

That country is much more green than when I was there in June. Good to see. The entire region had a pretty bad drought going on.

Hard to find bull kudu. Very hard to find bull kudu when there is a lot of vegetation.

Great report so far!

Absolutely! The animals are dispersed, due to all the water and vegetation. Very hard hunting!

 

[Mekaniks]

Thank You for sharing Andrew!

 

[375Fox]

I enjoyed the report. It’s a nice time of year to be in Africa even if tougher hunting for animals like a kudu. Really nice to see the good rains. It was scary dry in central Namibia early March 2024.

Airlink is the best airline for firearms in southern Africa. It’s unfortunate what happened on your first trip, but I don’t think you’ll make the mistake again. They shouldn’t have allowed you to put your ammo in your checked bag in Namibia. Their policy should be any firearm and ammo going to Johannesburg needs checked separately or it can lead to complications in Johannesburg. I would have requested it be checked separately because I’ve previously been through it, but you don’t know until you know. I don’t understand why you had to leave your ammo behind though? I haven’t used rifle permits, but Africa Sky hands me the in-transit rifle permit for me to keep. That’s something I only realized after Gracy didn’t do that could have caused issues for me if they weren’t there to assist coming through if an issue was to arise.

 

[Andrew Short]

I enjoyed the report. It’s a nice time of year to be in Africa even if tougher hunting for animals like a kudu. Really nice to see the good rains. It was scary dry in central Namibia early March 2024.

Airlink is the best airline for firearms in southern Africa. It’s unfortunate what happened on your first trip, but I don’t think you’ll make the mistake again. They shouldn’t have allowed you to put your ammo in your checked bag in Namibia. Their policy should be any firearm and ammo going to Johannesburg needs checked separately or it can lead to complications in Johannesburg. I would have requested it be checked separately because I’ve previously been through it, but you don’t know until you know. I don’t understand why you had to leave your ammo behind though? I haven’t used rifle permits, but Africa Sky hands me the in-transit rifle permit for me to keep. That’s something I only realized after Gracy didn’t do that could have caused issues for me if they weren’t there to assist coming through if an issue was to arise.

It was a great time, lessons learned! Right. The permit should have been in my hand if issues were to arise… definitely wasn’t though.