NAMIBIA: Omalanga Safaris, Otavi

[Just Passing Through]

I took my wife on my hunt with Omalanga Safaris (about an hour outside of Otavi) recently. We were treated well and are happy with the overall experience. We did not hunt "spot and stalk" like the literature indicates, but rather mostly from elevated blinds located about 100 yards from waterholes. The thick mopane in the area that we saw was really too thick to hunt any other way. Occasionally we saw animals on the farm roads as were driven around but they were usually a long way out - and staring at the hunting vehicle.
The tent camp was very nice and had a wonderful view of a large grassy opening where animals (giraffe, springbuck, gemsbuck, ostrich, etc.) fed often. The hunting trucks were in good condition, the people were nice, and the food was very good.
I hunted from daybreak to dark daily and took seven animals in seven days (red hartebeest, gemsbok, kudu, springbuck, impala, duiker, and warthog). The property was absolutely stiff with gemsbok, but the others were more difficult to find. This started as one of those "package" hunts, but it would have worked out much better for both me and the folks at Omalanga if it had been done as a daily rate plus trophy fees. The package put a lot of pressure on the PH to fill the shopping list as quickly as possible, which made the hunt a bit stressful for all.
A .280 Rem with 160 TSX bullets, and a .375 with Nosler 260 Partitions made the trip and about half of the animals were shot with each. No tracking was required. The TSX worked OK and the partition was great. I recovered one bullet from each rifle. The partition took the hartebeest in the frontal chest at 150 yards and was found under the skin at the tail, while the TSX did not make through the broadside kudu's offside shoulder at 75 yards.
I don't post pictures, but if you look at the review done by "Message" you will see pictures of animals almost identical to mine.
I would recommend the Omalanga hunt to couples that want a nice first trip to Africa in a clean and safe area.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for the hunt, thanks for the report.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Thanks for the hunt report!

 

[BRICKBURN]

JPT,
Glad you had a good hunt and thanks for your report.
It does point out some good issues to consider when booking.
That bush by Otavi is thick for sure. Stalking through that was an experience I'll tell you.

The concept of "pressure" to get the list is encountered often. There is a great fear of disappointing the hunter if they do not get the whole list.
My first PH was really concerned that I did not get one of the animals on my list: Kudu. "I hope you are not disappointed?"
I passed on one smaller bull and then did not want to take a shot at a decent bull through thick cover. The only two I saw the entire week.

I had a back up plan though, another hunt already scheduled.

 

[enysse]

Thanks for the hunting report!

 

[Just Passing Through]

One more small thing - although most people spoke English fairly well (some spoke it very well) German was the language of choice when they spoke to each other. It is a little uncomfortable. It might be a good idea to learn some German before the hunt. Ich spreche nicht viel Deutsch.

 

[enysse]

Well that's very typical in Namibia. I too wish I knew German! I still love Namibia it's a very underrated place to hunt!

 

[lwaters]

Where I hunted at Goedehoop Johan could not speak German as he was born in South Africa and spoke English and African. His young daughter would speak African to him and he would say Gina I don'nt understand what you're saying. They wanted her to learn her English. Johan said not being able to speak German has cost him a few hunters and sometimes he hired a German speaking PH as the hunter from Germany tended to go to the German speaking farms.

 

[Bobpuckett]

Congrats on a great hunt. Thanks for the report.

 

[James.Grage]

Sounds like a nice time was had.

They do sell German and other language learner tapes...which i have 4 now sitting on the table to go through. was able to get for $10.00 each...
1. German
2. Russian
3. French
4. Spanish

You are never to old to learn...

 

[Just Passing Through]

Although it was during the cold months in Namibia, I did kill a fairly large puff adder one morning and saw another snake that I believe was a mamba the next day. It passed within 10 feet of me but it was moving too fast to see it properly. The snake was only about 5 feet long but it was the fastest snake that I have ever seen. It crossed a wide dirt/gravel road and passed underneath of the slowly moving truck. I know that some snakes are fast - but this thing was amazing. We certainly watched where we walked and looked in the blinds carefully before entering after seeing that thing.

 

[Just Passing Through]

I had the taxidermy work done in Namibia. My finished European mounts are in the air from Windhoek now, only 70 days or so after the end of the hunt.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I had the taxidermy work done in Namibia. My finished European mounts are in the air from Windhoek now, only 70 days or so after the end of the hunt.

Who is doing the taxidermy for you?

 

[Just Passing Through]

Erongo In Otavi did the work (erongotaxidermy.com)

 

[BRICKBURN]

Look forward to seeing pictures of your work from them.

 

[bluey]

congratulations on a success ful hunt it sounds like you and your wife had a good time and took great trophies
thanks for your report

 

[Just Passing Through]

Experimenting with posting a picture.

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[Just Passing Through]

Experimenting with posting a picture - second attempt.
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[spike.t]

Experimenting with posting a picture - second attempt.
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try doing this. click the edit button,then delete the photos, then put them back on, then click on the preview the post button and then post them. for some reason this seems to work,,for me anyway

 

[Just Passing Through]

That works.