NAMIBIA: Backpack Safari For Mountain Zebra Hunt

Arizona..................That was an awesome hunt. Hope you post more about it. How far did you hike daily? What about water? where did you sleep? What did you do the rest of your hunt? (except pack meat). Would you do it again?.............thanks................................FWB
 
Congratulations. I heard of your outfitter he specializes in back pack hunting in Namibia. Beautiful trophy. I ran out of time last year when I hunted Namibia as it was primarily a leopard hunt, although I did manage to take 6 plains game trophies including berchells zebra, mtn zebra I was told is a hunt in itself.
 
Arizona..................That was an awesome hunt. Hope you post more about it. How far did you hike daily? What about water? where did you sleep? What did you do the rest of your hunt? (except pack meat). Would you do it again?.............thanks................................FWB

Thank you,

The pack pack in this area is tough. There is very little water so you are required to pack your own water, for 3 days out, I packed 15 liters of water, that is about 30 pounds, plus my tent, sleeping pad and bag, ammo, food, binos, ammo, rifle, backpack stove, clothes and other supplies. It was a heavy pack. It is just you and the PH, and he is tough as nails. Elevation was about 4800 - 5000 feet, the hardest part is the mountains are all rocks, you literally are almost never walking or climbing on dirt, it's rocks. I trained hard, but I am old and the strain of a heavy pack got to me (balance as one gets older is harder), I fell more than I care to count. Even though I had the very necessary trekking poles, this was a real challenge. However, that's exactly what I wanted.
The distance we traveled was not that far, but the rugged mountains still took it out of me quickly. Of course my pace dictated how far and how fast we went. As it was very dry, the Mountain Zebra were concentrated in the mountains and I saw 30-50 a day. Some to far to put a stalk on, lot easier to see than get close too. This area has no fences, and is almost completed uninhabited, very remote with desert elephants and black rhinos in the area.
Baboons were numerous and barked at us all the time. Other game in the area were Gemsbok (Oryx) Springbok, Kudu, again, nothing is introduced to the area, it's all endemic animals, and the place is unforgiving. It is not a hunt for everyone, certainly not for a first trip unless you do a lot of mountain hunting. But is was very rewarding. My stallion was very hard earned in it's natural wild habitat and I was one of my most memorable experiences. I went only for mountain zebra, I have gotten most all the other plains game in the area, and had no desire to pack out anything else. It is a inexpensive hunt, you are doing away with all the frills, I would do it again any time, the rewards of doing this are fantastic, If you want a challenge and if the experience is more important than any thing else, I highly recommend it.

Since I didn't want to take any additional animals, my guide took me to explore the Skeleton Coast and the dunes in the Namib desert for the next 3 days, more on that in the next installment.

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Namibia - Skeleton Coast was about a 2 hour drive from John's camp, and after dropping off my Zebra for the pack and d
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ip we drove to the coast for 3 days,
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Nice pics. And again a very challenging and rewarding experience. I take it that trying this with a bow would be difficult? I assume there had to be some waterholes?
 
Nice pics. And again a very challenging and rewarding experience. I take it that trying this with a bow would be difficult? I assume there had to be some waterholes?
Bow would be very difficult. It would be very hard to put on a stalk in some of the rocky area without making enough noise to spook them, but certainly not impossible.
 
Zebra need water, so are there any waterholes ?
 
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Zebra need water, so are there any waterholes ?
Lee, sure but hard to find, the desert elephant also survive here. I spend all my time in the mountains, didn't see much.
 
15 liters of water for three days? At the end, how much water did you walk out with?
Planning a backpack hunt in Arizona,,,,,

Thanks,
 
15 liters of water for three days? At the end, how much water did you walk out with?
Planning a backpack hunt in Arizona,,,,,

Thanks,
Greyfox, The plan was for at least 3-4 liters a day. It's prudent to carry more than you think you will need. I find that backpacking in the mountains here in Arizona during the warmer months I drink a lot of water, we lose a lot of people every year because of heat/water related issues. In the mountains in Namibia, you are faced with similar conditions, high altitude, very dry, and hard hiking conditions. and it was warm during the days, with winds coming up in the evenings. I carried two 6 liter bladders and one 3 liter one that I drink out of constantly. Heat exhaustion or serious dehydration issues in this remote area could be hard to recover from.
 
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