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Hunting Namibia with Frontier Safaris
I departed June 6th along with my wife and four other couples for Namibia. We were all booked in to hunt 10 Days with Frontier Safaris on their 130,000 acre Daweb Sud game farm in southern Namibia near Keetmanshoop. It was a very attractive package that the group was on. It was 10 Days and 6 trophy animals for $4995.
Namibia is really my favorite place in Africa. That desert and its people have really stolen my heart. I have hunted and visited most of Namibia over the years.
For me I didn’t have a big wish list for this safari. An old Kudu and a nice Golden Gemsbuck would do nicely and then just see how it goes.
This game ranch has some incredible scenery which varies from hills to flats to scattered rocky koppies. Namibia experienced what they have called a 500 year drought a few years ago. That along with the Covid lockdowns combined to really hurt the people there. The game was surprisingly plentiful and it made me wonder what kind of paradise this place must have been just a few years ago. Something in the neighborhood of 75% of the game was lost to the drought. Now there is grass and babies most everywhere!
I was to have a fairly short hunt since Jennifer and I had planned to spend a few days on our friends Dorper sheep ranch nearby.
On day 1, I was most fortunate to take a nice 10 year old Kudu bull. From the crack of dawn we were seeing Kudu, Springbuck, and Golden and Common Gemsbuck most everywhere. We spotted two broken horn Kudu bulls so it seemed the rut was on. My Kudu was one of those surprises where there he is and the PH says shoot! It is always nice to get such an old trophy.
All of these animals have incredible eyesight and could see the bakkie from a mile or more away. This meant climbing many koppies and stalking from miles away at times. As my PH Fred Burchell says "we will take the shoelace express to get there"!
It was a difficult hunt for me and it was day four before I connected on a mature representative Golden Gemsbuck. We spent the rest of the hunt searching for an exceptional Golden Gemsbuck bull. They were calving early with all the rains so we had to be certain to take only bulls. I must stop here and tell the story of the Golden Gemsbuck. Barry Burchell, owner of Frontier Safaris, along with his father identified the Golden Gemsbuck scattered around on farms in this area many years ago. The farmers would just shoot them thinking they were genetically inferior and also infertile. If this kind of thinking persisted they would be extinct today. Thankfully the Burchell's captured and propagated them and now have predominantly Goldens on their game ranch.
Now to search for an exceptional one. The biggest bulls were in the largest herds with the most eyes looking for us. It was not to be on this trip and I would just have to return one day to hunt these incredible animals.
My wife and I were off for a couple of days with our Dorper sheep friends nearby. As soon as we arrived the springbuck culling began! There were an overabundance in some pastures and I was eager to be of help. I was able to take a nice trophy ram first. He was mature and displayed the hooks that are so desirable in a big trophy. A few more down and it was time to have a braai in a dry pan for lunch. We had the best lambs chops, boerewors, and biltong here with our dear friends.
Sadly it was time to head back to camp with the group and prepare for our departure. As usual we shared many hunting stories around the campfire on my last night in camp. This was an exceptional group I had in camp with me and they all said that the hunt exceeded their expectations. They all took many big trophy animals. The only issue on this hunt was the fact that all my hunters used camp guns. This did prove challenging versus having their own rifles.
Next I was to head to the Eastern Cape to meet the next safari group and Jennifer was to go back home.
Namibia, for me, is always a wonderful time. I'll be back someday soon!
I departed June 6th along with my wife and four other couples for Namibia. We were all booked in to hunt 10 Days with Frontier Safaris on their 130,000 acre Daweb Sud game farm in southern Namibia near Keetmanshoop. It was a very attractive package that the group was on. It was 10 Days and 6 trophy animals for $4995.
Namibia is really my favorite place in Africa. That desert and its people have really stolen my heart. I have hunted and visited most of Namibia over the years.
For me I didn’t have a big wish list for this safari. An old Kudu and a nice Golden Gemsbuck would do nicely and then just see how it goes.
This game ranch has some incredible scenery which varies from hills to flats to scattered rocky koppies. Namibia experienced what they have called a 500 year drought a few years ago. That along with the Covid lockdowns combined to really hurt the people there. The game was surprisingly plentiful and it made me wonder what kind of paradise this place must have been just a few years ago. Something in the neighborhood of 75% of the game was lost to the drought. Now there is grass and babies most everywhere!
I was to have a fairly short hunt since Jennifer and I had planned to spend a few days on our friends Dorper sheep ranch nearby.
On day 1, I was most fortunate to take a nice 10 year old Kudu bull. From the crack of dawn we were seeing Kudu, Springbuck, and Golden and Common Gemsbuck most everywhere. We spotted two broken horn Kudu bulls so it seemed the rut was on. My Kudu was one of those surprises where there he is and the PH says shoot! It is always nice to get such an old trophy.
All of these animals have incredible eyesight and could see the bakkie from a mile or more away. This meant climbing many koppies and stalking from miles away at times. As my PH Fred Burchell says "we will take the shoelace express to get there"!
It was a difficult hunt for me and it was day four before I connected on a mature representative Golden Gemsbuck. We spent the rest of the hunt searching for an exceptional Golden Gemsbuck bull. They were calving early with all the rains so we had to be certain to take only bulls. I must stop here and tell the story of the Golden Gemsbuck. Barry Burchell, owner of Frontier Safaris, along with his father identified the Golden Gemsbuck scattered around on farms in this area many years ago. The farmers would just shoot them thinking they were genetically inferior and also infertile. If this kind of thinking persisted they would be extinct today. Thankfully the Burchell's captured and propagated them and now have predominantly Goldens on their game ranch.
Now to search for an exceptional one. The biggest bulls were in the largest herds with the most eyes looking for us. It was not to be on this trip and I would just have to return one day to hunt these incredible animals.
My wife and I were off for a couple of days with our Dorper sheep friends nearby. As soon as we arrived the springbuck culling began! There were an overabundance in some pastures and I was eager to be of help. I was able to take a nice trophy ram first. He was mature and displayed the hooks that are so desirable in a big trophy. A few more down and it was time to have a braai in a dry pan for lunch. We had the best lambs chops, boerewors, and biltong here with our dear friends.
Sadly it was time to head back to camp with the group and prepare for our departure. As usual we shared many hunting stories around the campfire on my last night in camp. This was an exceptional group I had in camp with me and they all said that the hunt exceeded their expectations. They all took many big trophy animals. The only issue on this hunt was the fact that all my hunters used camp guns. This did prove challenging versus having their own rifles.
Next I was to head to the Eastern Cape to meet the next safari group and Jennifer was to go back home.
Namibia, for me, is always a wonderful time. I'll be back someday soon!
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