NAMIBIA: Namibia Chapter Two

[CAustin]

Delta has really down graded the amenity kit in business class. This didn’t have a comb or a tooth brush. This was no big deal to me but it is an obvious cost savings measure.

 

[375er]

View attachment 606404View attachment 606405View attachment 606406The new Kansas City airport is so much nicer than the old three terminal setup with limited services.Now there are several restaurants and the brand new Delta Club. So after check in I hung out there until time to board for Atlanta. @PHOENIX PHIL if you get stuck in this one you will have a better time for sure.

Studly hunter!

 

[CAustin]

So the meal going over really was pretty good. Soup, salad, shrimp and bread for the starter. Main course was a braised beef rib with potatoes and green beans went down well with a bourbon and coke. Ice cream for dessert! No complaints.

 

[CAustin]

After a good nights sleep at a friends home he got me back to OR Tambo bright and early for the flight up to Windhoek. As previously mentioned AirLink hits you up for about $30 per rifle and your ammo has to be out of your luggage in a locked container. i was surprised there wasn’t a charge for that. I didn’t have to wait long in their departure area to board a bus to go out to the plane. No jet bridge for them folks. You board the Emberair 190 the old fashioned way via stairs.

 

[CAustin]

The AirLink flight up to Windhoek is about two hours! And those folks serve you a lunch. You will not get that on a US carrier for a two hour flight. Landed right on time and you walk about half a mile to the passport control area. You have fill out an arrivals declaration form so if you go make sure you take a pen because none are available. I dug one out of my carry on and was lucky I had it. The process was quick however and my main bag was already sitting beside the luggage conveyer. Now everyone else was standing in a line to run your suitcase through an X-ray but an officer waved me on around it and out into the arrivals area. Pieter Delport was waiting as promised and he took me to the police window outside to collect my ammo and gun case. You guessed it no police there but Pieter has there phone number. He called and someone came in just a couple of minutes. I already had the forms filled out before leaving the states so getting the permit was really easy.
Then it was about a fifty minute drive north east to the ranch.

 

[CAustin]

The ranch has a rail road track that runs through it and there is a siding for loading cattle!

 

[CAustin]

So the arrival day we went out to the main bait so that I could get a look at the lay if the land and the blind that had been put up in a camel thorn tree. It was about ten feet off the ground overlooking a cattle coral and watering station. We hung some fresh meat for Mr. Spots and left the area. The camera files watched back at the lodge indicted the male had been eating for 21 days straight. But wouldn’t you know it a lady cat was also coming around which would throw off Tom’s visits as he patrolled his area for other males.

 

[CAustin]

The lodge at Eintracht is very comfortable! A lot of renovations going on right now along with some additions. So the room I had in 2021 was unavailable this time. My room was the last door on the right behind the pool.

 

[CAustin]

Ina the cook made us a great meal and with a bourbon or two I had a great nights sleep.

 

[CAustin]

So while we had a good meal and a nice relaxing evening Mr Spots came and had his meal as well. Because of the Lady cat he didn’t return the next two days. Did I mention leopards in this part of Namibia love warthog!

 

[CAustin]

This male cat Pieter dubbed long stride as his tracks were ……you guessed it far apart and all over the roads. His activity absent a camera set up was not hard for Pieter Delport and his son Donie to follow.

 

[CAustin]

So we sat the next two days with no cat activity at all. This lady cat had definitely put a wrench in the equation.

 

[CAustin]

The next day was a Friday and we did nit go to the blind and let the area be quiet with no man sent. But the camp needed meat so Pieter had me shoot an old blue wildebeest cow.

 

[CAustin]

And of course we checked the camera to find that spots and his lady friend had been to the bait. And you know what that rascal had managed to pull the bait down and proceeded to drag it away about 150 yards.
he stuffed it under a blackthorn bus! Pieter said well he stole our bait so now we take it back. He had a tracker, Hans, put a strap on the thing and use a different path to take the bait back to the tree.
Now following that drag mark through some pretty thick areas was a little intense. But with four of use there were lots of eyes looking everywhere!

 

[CAustin]

That afternoon we sat in the tree blind for the last time. The female came to the water right at sundow! Pieter touched my shoulder, which was the signal to get ready, as from where he was sitting he could see more to the right and down…which I could not. My leaning forward made the footboards squeak a little and the she cat bolted! We later found evidence that the male was laying down in the rod not far from the water.the boards were just attached to the poles by fence wire which wasn’t as tight as maybe it should have been.

Yep that yellow thing is a car seat and to the right is a metal yard chair with a cushion I was sitting on.

 

[CAustin]

The next day was busy. i shot a cull oryx for bait, established another bait area, and put up a two man ground blind with natural camo in front and sides,

 

[CAustin]

 

[CAustin]

The ground blind increased the shot distance from 58 yards to 80 but I didn’t see it as a challenge for the Ruger #1 in 300 WinMag. But we did resite the rifle just to be on the safe side. The new blind was much more comfortable with nice padded chairs and a steel work table with a been bag shooting rest atop to sit my rifle in.

 

[medvedhunting]

cant wait to read the rest of your adventures. thank you for sharing.

 

[CAustin]

The look through the scope to the bait tree turns out to be about as close to true North as one can get.