My flight from Katima to Windhoek made a stop in Maun, Botswana. Maun is a significant sized town with a modern airport with a considerable amount of tourism related activities. Lots of helicopters and Cessna Caravans located on the tarmac. What makes this flight somewhat unique is the fact that passengers getting on and off at Maun are doing an international flight and everyone else going from Katima to Windhoek is doing a domestic flight. The seating rows on the plane are segregated with international passengers up front. They deplane and walk to the international terminal and then the rest of us get off and go to the domestic terminal.
Isabel Nolte has a shuttle driver lined up to meet me and we connect immediately as I walk out of the baggage area. The driver will take me to a Windhoek hotel for Friday night and then drive me to the lodge on Saturday morning.
Based on Isabel’s recommendation, I am staying at the Windhoek Luxury Suites. An excellent hotel, especially for the price, a little over $100/night. Located across the street is an excellent restaurant, Stellenbosch.
The shuttle driver picked me up Saturday morning at 6am and we arrived at the lodge at 9am.
After dropping my gear off in my room, Nick Nolte and I, along with a tracker, started making the rounds of checking baits. If a bait was several days old, a new bait would be added. We continued this routine for several days,
Nick explained to me that during prior years, during the drought, the native grass was almost nonexistent. If a leopard made a kill, either a small calf or PG, it was relatively easy to spot the kill or the drag marks to where the leopard would stash the animal. If you find a fresh kill, you set up a blind nearby and wait for the leopard to come back the next day or two. With the grass being tall as a result of all the rain Namibia received earlier this year, it was difficult to find a fresh kill. So we were relying primarily on getting a Tom to come into a bait. So far, based on tracks and a few camera shots, only female leopards and hyenas had hit the baits.
Tuesday marked day 18 of my quest for a leopard. I had 3 hunting day before I was scheduled to head home. Our morning routine started as usual, driving to the various bait locations and checking them out. Many times you can tell a bait hasn’t been hit, as soon as you drive up to it. Other times, you get excited when you can easily see that a good portion of a zebra quarter is gone. Excitement rapidly disappears when further examination indicates a female leopard or hyena dined on the bait.
Upon reaching another bait, late in the morning, our excitement level was again raised by the sight of a bait that had been hit. We all got out and Nick, along with the tracker, surveyed the bait and the surrounding area for tracks. As typical, a lengthy and very animated conversation in Afrikaan takes place. Almost all Afrikaan conversations are very animated!
I asked Nick what he and the tracker thought. Nick, in a very low key way calmly said, “We think this is a good leopard, we’ll set up a blind and sit here this afternoon.”
The surrounding area is scouted for more tracks to see how the leopard entered and exited the area. Also, the morning wind direction and afternoon direction are usually different, so that needs to be factored into the plan. We departed the area and went back to the lodge for lunch and a short nap.
Over the course of the prior 17 hunting days, we had sat in a blind 4 afternoons/evenings and came up empty each time. One afternoon, right at sunset, a hyena came to the bait and just sat there like a dog. The bait is hung high enough that it is difficult for a hyena to reach. Unlike other parts of Africa, the bait is not hung way up in a large tree. The leopards in this part of Namibia are mainly on the ground.
