SOUTH AFRICA: NAMIBIA: Natal To Namibia With KMG Hunting Safaris

Base camp. With the Vaal down we headed the short distance to KMGs base camp and with only a few days left to finish out and try for a Blue duiker and cape grysbuck. A nice lodge overlooking the valley and mountains that make up Mpuzi lodge. I’m sure marius was glad to be home and about sick of driving by this time even thou he never said a word.
The blue duiker I wanted to be able to selectively hunt a good male so the best option was to sit in a blind vs hunting with dog so we made a plan to hunt a place that activity baits if you will with a small watering hole and blind setup with trail cams. The hunt was a pretty short one as we drove to the area and sat. The duikers came in within a hour of sitting. This is where I made my first mistake I believe and if you have hunted with marius you know the look you get from him. As I think I left the bolt of the rifle slightly open for safety and when they came in as I got my site on the male and pulled the trigger nothing happened. So I in a panic hurried the bolt closed and either the movement or the sound of the click of the bolt smacking down closed was enough to send them scattering. Busted and what we both figured was our only chance as they are very wary critters. We backed out had some lunch and figured we were there we may as well sit this afternoon and see what happens. Well is seemed like hours. In reality probably only one or two luck would have it the male came back alone. Cautious this time working in very slowly but coming in none the less. I’m at full ready this time just as he was ready for a drink I put one into his shoulder and had my blue down right in the water hole. Which got me another look from marius. You know how he is with his pictures and now we had a wet duiker to deal with.

Great duiker!!! Congrats!!!

With the blue duiker in the salt we headed out for PE to stay the night or at least im sure so marius could get a break from me and see Kim for the night as he had been gone away for a few weeks. I got to stay at a nice B&B in town and we made a plan to hunt a new area for a cape grysbuck the following few nights.
We both headed out that night to a place marius was sure to have some good grysbuck but as we left PE for the greener fields it started to rain. And kept raining on and off most of the way there once we arrived it was pretty wet. Should we even try in this weather? It was going to be a long night I believe Spotting for these elusive critters. My thought was well this is how I will end my trip long nights the next few days and the reminiscing of how my sharps grysbuck hunt went all 9 days of looking for one. Well back to the cape hunt with a drizzle of rain still coming down I think we spotted 3-4 cape grysbuck within the first hour. Did the rain bring them out and not make them hunker down as we both anticipated? Either way we were happy to see so many in such a short time. The next bend we see a trio on a hill side as put the spot lights up for a closer look. There was our ram a great specimens just feeding away in the rain. On the first night in the first hour. What a lucky day.

Our rainy day cape grysbuck

With my bag full and two more days left we figured well why not head back to camp and see what we can do with the time we had. What had started out on the trip of both of us I’m sure wondering if we would finish in time now had us a few days to spare.
This is where marius love of bushpig I think comes in as he talked me into trying for one. Even thou I’m sure he was not impressed with my half hearted attempt. We sat for a few hours each night. My plan not his as I’m sure he would of had us camped out there all night if he got his way. And I’m sure we would of got a pig if we did. I was just not committed this go around. We did manage to do some hunting in the day as well and went for a common springbuck.

Nothing like luck to create success.
Nice Grysbuck

Looks like a great time with lots of nice trophies so far!!

With the trip to the cape wrapped up pretty much I give us some time to relax the last day and talk. Me and Marius talked of my past Safaris and countries I had been and somewhere along the way we talked of future hunts and that I was down to just needing a Dik Dik to complete my tiny ten. I had the following years hunt already booked with a group of friends back in the cape near him. But as we had talked if I ever decided to go for the Dik Dik he wanted to come along. In the mean time I was searching for a good leopard hunt in several countries with other outfitters.
Several months went by with us chatting every once in a while then as my group hunt came near I asked marius if he could squeeze away for a day and do some fishing. Kinda give me a break and some of my first time friends from hunting and do some off shore fishing. One I learned marius is not one for the water lol and not one to step on toes as I don’t think he wanted to be in the middle of another outfitter Safari. But with a little nudging on my part as I considered us friends and while I was so close to his neck of the woods I would be nice to see him again. So we planed a fishing trip day excursion. While out on the trip if give us some time to joke and talk again. One where we kind made a backup plan for if my original leopard hunt didn’t feel right. And few more months gone by and I was almost locked in on another hunt was doing my research and the outfitter and area as well as talking with a few others for a leopard my plan. Leopard, Dik Dik and a few others in Namibia when I hit marius up if he wanted to tag along on this hunt. And if he didn’t mind getting me some offers from his contacts in Namibia as well. Well if you read the start of my report you will see and I will post this for others to hopefully get the hint as well. Marius was fast and prompt with getting me info on what I wanted and what we could do as other outfitters were lagging with the questions I had Marius and KMG always get back with the answers. This alone was the deciding factor I canceled my plan with the other guy and told marius book the hunt. Let go to Namibia. And the plan was set deposit sent and we where booked for a leopard hunt and Dik Dik

So with this being what I would consider the middle or between Safaris portion. And it has focus on the hunt and animals. I will list why I choose KMG hunting safaris and Marius and will continue to use them when possible.
1 KMG is very prompt and up front with there reply’s they listen to what you want and Taylor the hunt to you and not try to make or sway you to an area or what they want. This alone is what got my first hunt booked with them. As it had a lot of travel and not to many outfitters wanted to even talk of doing it in one trip.
2 KMG is very price competitive by no means the cheapest but for the amount you get and effort they put in very hard to beat.
3 KMG pushes to get the very best for there clients I believe as far as trophy quality and a actual hunt for free range not something you feel was shot in a pen so to speak. It may be on a high fence place but you will hunt your butt off for it most the time.
4 KMG puts the client first I believe above all else. In I have hunted with some places that I have felt they just want you to shoot so they get paid or charge extra for this or that. I have never once been asked or told we should take this or that with them. Actually the opposite of we can do better let’s wait.
5 KMG checks up on you even after the hunt to make sure your stuff has shipped and how it all came home and if you where satisfied.
6 KMG has been the only outfitter so far when I have asked about a hunt. Given me a honest opinion I believe and helped to contact other outfitters in other countries with nothing for them to gain other than just helping out a client this also being I have yet to have Marius bad mouth a single other outfitter. Which speaks volumes for a guy that could I’m sure he will simply say nothing or give you a contact of someone he things may fit you better. This part is why I asked them to help with some future hunts I’m planing. Even if I book with a outfitter outside of there advise I feel it would be wise to bring Marius along on the hunt even if just as a observer again. This should speak volumes for the for the way they choose to run a business and why you should consider them

Well done and thank you for taking the time to write up a report!

My first safari was with @KMG Hunting Safaris, excellent outfit!

Sounds and looks like a fantastic hunt with an excellent outfitter. Congrats on the wonderful trophies.

Sorry I got busy and have not been able to get back to this.

Namibia the leopard hunt. My early Christmas present to myself. Out of all the dangerous game I have hunted leopard has had me the most worried not for fear of getting hurt but for fear of how many trips it could take to get one. I still think leopard is the hardest and most difficult to get out of the big five. Also the one I think if you are serious about hunting one. You should do the most research on places and outfitters for your best chances. After all a lower priced lower percentage hunt may turn into you going back a few trips to finally get one in which case it probably is going to cost you more than booking a higher priced higher percentage hunt if your lucky enough to connect on one your first trip. Still by no means a guaranty.

the arrival as with most my trips normally start with a connection thru Jo-berg as this one did and it was where I was to meet up with Marius. For those that have hunted with Marius they know he has your back 100% from the time you meet up to the time you board your plane heading home. So this was no exception even though he was not the head PH on this trip but just a mere bystander to my Namibia PHs once we landed. None the less he treated me to the lounge in Jo-berg even thou we only had a few hours until we boarded our flight to Windhoek. we made our flight and landed in Windhoek without any problems. Rifle clearance was a breeze and we where thru customs and out in no time. Met by our namibia guide and on our way for the long drive to camp. We arrived well after dark. So off to bed we went. The next morning like all first morning late up and off to check rifles. A few adjustment had to be made and we were set. The next step was to check baits as they had been baiting prior to us arriving. But not much luck as the cats had gone cold. It did give us a chance both to see the land that we would be spending the next few weeks on and shoot a few new baits animals.
this is the part where I would love to tell you we seen lots of sign of a cat on bait but it was not the case. It took days and days with nothing. It’s like there was not a leopard writhing a hundred miles. We scouted for tracks has the farm owner calling his neighbors checking if they had seen any movement coming in or out of the property we where hunting but nothing. I don’t think we seen a sign for 3-4 days then out of nowhere it seemed the cats came alive. Fresh track on some of the roads and fresh kills we had found but from the size of tracks they all seamed small and not worth a look. This by the way went on for several more days nothing then a few fresh signs then back to nothing. I think we were all getting a little depressed. I could see it in marius face by about day 9 when we had a leopard kill a small animal no more than a few hundred yards from our bait. With the drought it seemed the cats had there pick and some where not even coming back to a kill once they feed. We had found a calf that had been killed a few days earlier no more than a hundred yards of the dirt road we drove and kept checking to see is something would come back and give us hope to set a blind. But no such luck. It was down to just our last few days and not much going for us. I remember we stayed up late and had a few sundowners as there was no point in getting up early as we didn’t have any thing happening as far as baits getting hit the day or two before. Even though we were all trying to stay positive I know it was weighing on everyone’s minds and we had put in many hours and days with no success. But as luck would have it we got extremely lucky I think as we caught a fresh track of a decent size cat heading in the direction of a bait and water early the next morning and decided we didn’t have anything to lose to go sit and hope he kept going that way. I was excited and hopeful for the first time that we may have something going but also knowing how smart leopard are and that just because there was fresh track does not guarantee anything. None the less me made quick on a large loop to make our way around to where we had the bait. Hesitant to work our way closer to it we slowly stalked in. Down wind which by the way left us without a good view of the bait and we feared if we where to go check it we would have a chance os scaring off what little chance we may have so we waited what seemed like days. Thou really was only a few hours. Still way longer when your adrenaline is going sky high. Nothing no movement nothing. By now I think it was pushing 11 am I think we where all about to call it and head in for lunch to try and make a plan for later that day when someone caught movement in the bushes. I still don’t know how leopard can just appear out of nowhere but they do. A leopard in front of us at no more than maybe 60 yards slowly working his way toward the bait. The excitement went into overload. I had to try and calm myself also we still needed to confirm it was a male and of age proper enough to take. Again what seemed like a eternity was probably a minute or two. The whispers it’s good you can take him. I don’t think it was more than a second had past from the words take him to my shot as I was already steadied on his shoulder waiting for a yes or no. With a bark of my 375 the cat jumped and pulled up no more than ten yards from the shot. I had my leopard! In the middle of the day no less.

Wow!! Congrats on the leopard, thanks for sharing!

Now that is quite the cat story. I'm glad that you were able to pull it off. So many people would of just given up and stayed at the lodge drinking. Well done. Congrats
Bruce

With the leopard in the salt so to speak we had two days to try and find a Dik Dik and finish my tiny ten along with a giraffe. From the long slow days of baiting checking and repeating day after day it was time to switch gears and head a few hours to the place with Dik Dik. It was also time for me and marius to split up as you will as he had brought his bow along and had a hunt of his own to do. But being marius he stayed along as we went out for my Dik Dik first and said he would wait on taking his until I got one. He must have a sixth sense as less than a hour of looking over dozens of Dik Dik some in groups of 3-4 it seemed every few hundred yards you walked you would see another group of them. This place was loaded with them. I got lucky and we found a great one. One quick shot and I had my Dik Dik and had completed my tiny ten.

Congrats on the dik dik also!!

With the Dik Dik headed to the skinning shed me and my PH left marius with his Namibian PH to keep looking for Marius dik dik with his bow and I headed off to look for a Hartmann’s zebra giraffe and gemsbuck all in the las day before we where to head back. A tall order to fill. But really the stress was off it was all icing on the cake from here on out as I got my two key animals I was after and was happy to go home with that. We went after Hartmann’s first as it was decided it would be the hardest of the three and take the most time. I was kinda shocked when we drove to a rocky hill parked and started climbing all the way to the top and then started working the edges looking for zebra in the rocky hills defiantly different from the zebra I have hunted elsewhere. We were able to spot a small group of three not down on the bottom but right on top where we were at the had spotted us as well and made a retreat. We hurried after them and caught the lay one just topping the next ridge. Not much time and I was out of breath. I drop to the ground asked for range about 250 yards and I held over for the drop. The shot range out just as the zebra stepped over the ridge. We hurried to the last spot that we had seen them when I shot and luckily found my zebra down a hundred yards further down in a ravine belly up.