NAMIBIA: Namibian Plains Game With Kowas Adventure Safaris

[375Ruger416]

Waiting for boarding in the airport at Windhoek, Namibia. Hasn’t really fully settled in yet that our trip is ending. Lots of great memories and great hunting. Here’s a teaser pic of my eland which, for whatever reason, was immediately added to my priority list as soon as I read about them.

Happily, my wife and I are talking about a return with the kids in 2026 and I’ve begun planning my first buffalo hunt . Travel safe gentleman…

 

[buck wild]

Looks like a fantastic eland

 

[K-man]

I recognize that P.H. !! Nice eland!

 

[375Ruger416]

Ok, home last night after traveling from Windhoek to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Calgary. 1 good nights sleep under my belt and another trip report coming today!

 

[375Ruger416]

Well, so much for good intentions. I apologize for letting this drag on so long. Hunt reports are one of my favourite parts of this forum. I have one previous post saved on another device that I hope to post later on our arrival in Namibia, but am going to jump right into the hunt report!

I had the pleasure of hunting with Mathieu who has been part of the Kowas team for 28 years. He has the distinction of being the first black PH in Namibia. He and Humphreys were a joy to travel and hunt with for the 7 days of my plains game hunt in central Namibia at Kowas home base. They are both quiet, soft spoken gentleman but they have a great knowledge of the local game, terrain, and were good company.

The weather was hot - 30 to 34 C daytime highs - and Namibia is in the midst of a drought. Despite this, game was plentiful and in good condition overall no doubt owing to the efforts of Kowas in maintaining their water holes. My hunting dates were Sept 4-11, 2024. It is late in the dry season and coming towards the end of the hunting season so graze and browse are getting thin on the ground.

Overall, we rose for breakfast and departed by 630 am most days and returned to the main lodge by noon for lunch and an afternoon nap. We would have coffee and a visit and head out again at 330 and hunt until sundown around 7. Hunting was primarily spot and stalk from a land cruiser though we did do a significant amount of walking each day in promising areas or to try to put a stalk on game we had spotted from a distance. Additionally, we did glass from nearby 'mountains' and even from trees and windmills at times to get a direction on animals. I was amazed by how well the various animals disappear into the vegetation and terrain. Despite knowing better, I expected colourful animals such as zebras, giraffes, and gemsbok to really 'pop' out of the terrain but this is not the case at all. Additionally, the challenge of many eyes (and species) compared to hunting in North America makes putting a stalk on challenging. If hunting springbok, you may get busted by a dik dik, or wildebeest, zebra, oryx, etc and vice versa. I really enjoyed this aspect - seeing so much game and observing their behaviour and how perfectly they are adapted for their environment.

My wife traveled with me and, as a non-hunter, she found plenty to do. She often spent time observing the animals at the waterhole near our cabin or in a hide near another waterhole where she could observe the game more closely without being observed. The Kowa's staff and the entire Strauss family are excellent company so in addition to doing some shopping and a spa day she enjoyed her quiet week enjoying the wonder of Africa.

 

[375Ruger416]

Upon our arrival at Kowa's, I borrowed a suppressor from them (I had previously arranged this) and proceeded to the range to re-zero my rifle. This was quickly accomplished and I proved to myself and Mathieu's, my PH, that I could shoot accurately enough from my tripod and bipod for our purposes. To my chagrin, suppressors are illegal here in Canada so I was delighted to have the opportunity to hunt with one. It did add approximately 6" to my 24" barrel as well as 3 or 4 inches back over my barrel. In any case, it worked well. I had hoped to use a Blaser R8 on this hunt, but it did not arrive in time for me to familiarize myself with it prior to the hunt. I have ordered a 375 barrel for it and hope to use it on DG some day - most likely cape buffalo which, of the big 5, interest me the most and happily are the closest to my budget.

I hoped to hunt Kudu, oryx, springbok, impala, and eland. Happily, I enjoy the process of hunting as well as a successful harvest so was sure I would enjoy myself regardless of how many or few animals we harvested. In addition, I have taken to heart the advice from this website, Joseph Von Benedikt of Rifle Shooter magazine and the Backcountry Hunting Podcast, and John McAdams of the Big Game Hunting Podcast to 'take what Africa gives you.' The kudu and eland had finished rutting shortly before we arrived and the impala were skittish from being hunted recently so I was open to what we saw. Having a great African safari experience and enjoying the wilderness of Africa meant far more to me than harvesting an animal of a certain size. I was interested in mature bucks and bulls, ideally a little long in the tooth in order to ensure a challenging hunt and a sustainable harvest. I got exactly what I hoped for, and my wife, to my surprise encouraged me to take some animals not originally on my list. Black wildebeest and blesbuck ended up on my list after frequently observing them for a few days and falling in love with their antics and distinctive appearances. In the interests of fiscal responsibility and keeping in mind my wife's disinterest in displaying my pronghorn or bull moose euro mount in a public space in our home, I had planned to do euro mounts of my game. To my surprise, she encouraged me to do shoulder or pedestal mounts of the African game which are so beautiful and unique. Growing up in Saskatchewan, whitetail, mule deer, moose, elk and pronghorn have little interest for her, but displaying an oryx, kudu, eland or wildebeest appeals to her and she convinced me without much difficulty to mount and display some of these animals in our home. Our visit to Trophendienste (https://www.trophaendienste.com/en) to see the taxidermy enroute to Kowas cemented this decision if we should be fortunate enough to harvest these animals.