NAMIBIA: Leopard Deal That Turned Into Eventually 11 Days

[bluey]

that dik dik , is a fine looking little guy .
sounds like your making some good mates ,on this adventure .

 

[drew416]

Please excuse my lateness. I have been busy catching up with everything since my return, let me now conclude the rest of what transpired......

Roy and I leave George and Leonard at the main house and workshop yard and drive down to the area behind a small dam. In fact the bait was moved upstream to a smaller dry gully that feeds into the dam.
A close look indicates tracks everywhere, coming and going from the dam to the bait.

We check wind direction and decide on the best possible position to set up the blind. We range it, best location is only 65m from blind to bait. Roy says it's a bit close but any further away will put us over the crest of a small rise and we will have no view of the bait, so it is as good as it can be "here". Roy scratches the ground with his boot. Oscar and the other farm hands now know where to construct.

A "lane way" about 1.5-2m is cut through the thick thorny undergrowth to enable a clear unobstructed viewing and bullet path. Roy says that there is a smart cat working this area so the blind must be well camouflaged to look like the natural bush that was in the same location before the blind was constructed.

Roy ranging me standing in front of the blind. Oscar refixing what is left of half a warthog.

The view looking from the bait up to the blind-65m away, only!

The Blind- More a work of art, than a temporary structure. Oscar and the other farm hands excelled.

All that is left to do is hang some more bait, courtesy of my Oryx, come back in the late afternoon and wait.

The anti-climax......

Roy and I sat and waited for the next two nights- but nothing came in. I was out of time. Having already changed my airfares once, I could not do it again! If only I had 2-4 more days, who knows???
Maybe the Cat would come back? All I know is he didn't perform to the pre-written script in my head.

Me helping hang a shoulder of Gemsbok-See the supervisor in the background giving the directions?

This was the last photo the trail camera took.

It is a crying shame and pity that my hunt should end just as it started, but on the whole I had a great time, went somewhere new, met some new friends and happen to take some nice trophies at the same time!
It now has given me an excuse for a return trip. Lesson learnt- next Leopard hunt will be 14 days minimum and not during the later half of the year when it's calving season and poor weather.

I will have no hesitation re-booking with Roy and Otjandaue. This is prime leopard country. We all saw the evidence of some really big cats encircling a wide home range. I am sure Roy did his very best to try and get me one but at the end of the day- You can lead a Horse to water, but can't make him drink. Never a truer saying when it comes to "bait and wait" leopard hunting.

I look forward to returning, when finances permit, and get to see the finished new homestead, hunters lodge and campfire areas on Otjandaue.

 

[BnC 04]

Outstanding report drew! Some excellent trophies taken and your Leopard will be awaiting your return.

 

[gillettehunter]

I was so afraid you weren't going to get Mr Spots... Calving season and losing days due to rain. Tough luck. Hope it works better for you next time. You did get some nice trophies. Sounds like it was a great experience. Bruce

 

[ROCKET]

Great report, and one more motive to come back there and keep on living the dream to be hunting in Africa one more time......!!!!!

 

[dory]

What a nightmare of a trip to start with !
Going to be hunting near Omaruru next year myself , glad to see it turned out ok in the end .
The country looks great , hope to shoot 2 kudu bulls while there .
Hope the rabbies hasnt done to much damage .
Did Roy say much about it Drew?

 

[huntingbigun]

great hunt and it took 14 days to take my cat, smart buggers for sure but them are some big ones there, glad you had a good hunt with some great animals, heck Airlines keep me busy working on my customer private jets as we for the same dunb ass in the US stealing and losing bags missed flights etc

 

[bluey]

sorry you didn't connect , drew , but hey what an adventure ,mate .
good people
good trophies
good times
and marvelious memories
how many aussies do you know that can say around the campfire ..... when I was in Namibia ,hunting leopard ........( I can name 3 , now )
mate I take my hat off to you , for going all that way to hunt animal ( which is in my eyes a trophy of a lifetime ), that you know damn well you cant bring home .

 

[BRICKBURN]

It's tough to see the cats on camera, know they are there and miss them like a ship in the night.
"Bait and wait" is a lot of work and a lot of luck.

Drew I still have that space on my wall for your Leopard.
Just let me know when you rebook that trip so I can start to plan.


Thanks for sharing your tale.

 

[drew416]

What a nightmare of a trip to start with !
Going to be hunting near Omaruru next year myself , glad to see it turned out ok in the end .
The country looks great , hope to shoot 2 kudu bulls while there .
Hope the rabbies hasnt done to much damage .
Did Roy say much about it Drew?

There have been stock losses due to the Rabies viral disease is only really found in the Kudu and Eland populations, so far. It was only Kudu and Eland carcasses we found. A dead young animal with no snake bite puncture wounds or cutting wounds to suggest a cat bringing it down, can only be put the cause of death to the Rabies.

Roy explained he went to a Government Convention recently where they were addressing the problem. The agency wanted the farmers to put a powder form vaccine into the dams and trough's. The farmers argued that this wouldn't work as the Kudu are browsers and only during the really dry period come into drink. They must find some way of putting the vaccine into an edible pellet.

This was still being worked on.

 

[drew416]

sorry you didn't connect , drew , but hey what an adventure ,mate .
good people
good trophies
good times
and marvelious memories
how many aussies do you know that can say around the campfire ..... when I was in Namibia ,hunting leopard ........( I can name 3 , now )
mate I take my hat off to you , for going all that way to hunt animal ( which is in my eyes a trophy of a lifetime ), that you know damn well you cant bring home .

Mate, you would be surprised just how many of us Roy has hosted. In fact next year he is hoping to expand his Australian clientele by offering some super, flexible deals for SSAA members.

Of coarse not everyone can bag a Leopard( Otjandaue is only issued 2 tags per year), but there are many other quality plains game animals to be found abound. Roy told me that he had done Buffalo and Sable hunts in the past, but prefers not to do them anymore. It is a root around going up to the concession way up in the Caprivi, and would rather stay in his local area where he has the finger on the pulse with what game is available and when.

 

[Bsums]

Sorry to hear you didn't get your leopard. Still sounds like you had a great trip though. I know a guy who has gone on six leopard hunts and has never gotten one.

 

[Wheels]

Thanks for sharing the good/bad with us.

Enjoyed the report but certainly not the hardships you dealt with.

Sounds like all the problems went into this hunt. The next two or three hunts should go smooth.

 

[drew416]

Thanks for sharing the good/bad with us.

Enjoyed the report but certainly not the hardships you dealt with.

Sounds like all the problems went into this hunt. The next two or three hunts should go smooth.

That was not the end of the hardships... Oh no... I still had to get home!

Roy and I literally get out of the blind, drive back to his farm. I have a few hours to clean, pack and try and get some broken sleep, then literally off to Hosea Kutako International Airport.

No dramas checking in my Ammo and firearms( once the Police Station was manned). Very polite and fast service. Was told my luggage was booked through to my final destination but would need to collect it in Sydney to clear Customs. "No worries, I know the drill. What about the rest of my boarding passes?".

I had put in an upgrade to Business class for the remaining legs of my journey and they could not print my boarding passes for the Business class legs in Windhoek, but would have to pick them up at the transfer desk in OR Tambo! Great I thought, this is going to be a root. "No no sir" the Windhoek check in girl assured me, "It is all here on the screen, you can see your upgrades and flights are confirmed". I looked on her computer and felt relieved. There is was in writing. all should be good? Wrong....

I get to the transit/transfer desk in OR Tambo after a very relaxing flight from Windhoek, look for the Qantas sign, wake the girl up that was behind the counter give her my printed itinerary, passport and luggage details of my firearms and ammo which had been checked all the way through to final destination.

"I can't find you in the system sir, please wait while I call someone." She is on the phone for nearly 35 minutes talking in some tribal language(it was not Afrikaans or English) then hangs up and looks at me blankly. "Well whats the story?" I ask.
"Story with what?" she says. " My flights home!" I am not yelling yet but am getting loader.
" Oh, I forgot to ask, please one moment", then gets on the phone for another 30 minutes. She hangs up and tells me my flight is cancelled!!!!! WTF!!!!

I have to wait another hour in transit until I have a boarding pass. Apparently they had to ring Qantas booking office in Sydney to get my flights reinstated so boarding pass could be issued, but for economy class only. This was excuse I was told. "Fine" I snatched it out of her charcoal hand, raced straight through passport control and security up to the lounge, found a work station, logged on to Manage My Booking on the Qantas website, and here it is still showing my upgrade, seat allocation and the cost deducted for the Business seats.

Once in Sydney it was corrected and I had Business all the way home..
Again a BIG heartfelt and sincere thank you to all the useless and lazy staff at OR Tambo.

 

[Bsums]

I really distrust the airline employee's in Africa. When it comes to remembering to put my luggage on the plane or running an efficient security line its about as reliable as the weather. Lots of the locals are very nice, just not great airline employees.

 

[Red Leg]

Johannesburg is the worst! Great hunt. That Damara Dik Dik is rarer than the leopard. And you also have a reason to return.

 

[bluey]

man you had shit luck in jbourg ,
Im the opposite both times flying from Australia to Africa , my luggage never got put on the plane in Melbourne(Tullamarine)

lucky you didn't do a kruiet, drew .....
adds to the adventure ,bloke .
great report , thanks for taking us all along with you .

 

[bluey]

did you get to see any honey badgers while you were in the blind ,drew?
or while hunting .

 

[drew416]

did you get to see any honey badgers while you were in the blind ,drew?
or while hunting .

Constantly. They are in one trail camera picture I uploaded. Janet can do a nice full mount of one too but I didn't take one.
Just like the fine specimens of Brown Hyenas seen on bait, I didn't want to shoot in case a cat was within earshot.

I think that the Hyena would really make an awesome full mount. And we can bring him home.

 

[Troy McLellan]

Thanks for sharing mate. As bluey said bloody ripper of an adventure knowing full well we can't get Mr Spots into this backward country. Would be the hunt of a lifetime to ground one regardless. Speaking to bluey a while back he was still on a high from getting his lion but, his voice kicked up a gear when leopard was mentioned. Shame about the airport stuff around, haven't had any dramas yet myself (touch wood) but, I stress every time till I collect my gear convinced some sort of cock-up is going to occur.