Hi all! A little behind schedule on getting this report done, but here we are. My wife and I spent all of May 2026 in Namibia hunting and traveling with Scot Burchell of Burchell Wolf Safaris. We had one hell of an adventure which I will dive into in the coming paragraphs. I can't thank Scot, Katie, Dudley, Anthea, and the entire staff enough for their hospitality. They took damn good care of us. I have now hunted with Scot's dad and brothers in South Africa at Frontier Safaris and Scot in Namibia and would not hesitate to recommend any of them for a hunt.
The plan for this hunt was to start in the Caprivi for a cape buffalo, and then hunt Scot's home ranch for plains game. Animals on the list were Mountain Zebra, Eland, Red Hartebeest and Kudu with many more available. The home ranch is near Outjo, south of Etosha NP. We had some side trips planned if time allowed, specifically Victoria Falls. My wife really wanted to make it there if possible after the buffalo.
The rifles making the trip were a Winchester Model 70 safari express in 458 Win Mag. This rifle is totally factory save for the Trijicon RMR in a Talley mount. This mount goes right into the receiver scope base holes, which is nice as it keeps the RMR mounted low. But, it is not quick-detach if a need arose to use the iron sights. I was not worried about that and it never was an issue. I keep a gunsmithing kit in my pack and would have just removed it all if necessary. I also had my Model 70 Alaskan in 30-06 for the plains game. This rifle wore an old Leupold VX-2 3-9x40. This was the last hurrah for that scope and I've swapped it out for a VX-3HD now. Should have done it before the hunt but it worked out fine.
My 458 was shooting Buffalo Bore 450 grain Barnes TSX and 450 grain Buffalo Bore solids loaded with the Lehigh Defense flat nose. It shoots both of those really well and it performed perfectly. The 30-06 was shooting factory Nosler ammunition loaded with the 180 grain partition. It shoots those really well and the Partition is time-tested. I also like a 180 TSX load for that rifle, but I had the partitions on hand so they made the trip. The bullets never let me down on this trip, just my own shooting.
We left home on May 5 and headed for the airport in St. Louis. Flight plan was STL to Newark to Johannesburg, all through United. There's a lot of folks on here with bad reports of United and Newark. I wont spend too much time on that but will say that I have done it twice and its worked perfect each time. No issues with guns, delays, etc. STL to Newark was a rough ride, lots of turbulence coming into Newark, so much so that the little boy in front of us threw up all over himself! Standard layover all day till 9ish at night for the big flight to SA which went well for us. We always book the comfort plus or economy plus for a bit of extra leg room. I was plenty comfortable. Overnight at City Lodge. VIP treatment through Gracy, so we had meet and greet etc. First time at City Lodge for us, and it seems easier than going off site. Guns stayed in the office, walked to hotel, got checked in, had a bite to eat and off to bed.
Day two was flying to Windhoek from Johannesburg. Woke up early, had a really good breakfast, then met up with the Gracy escort in the lobby of the hotel to walk back over to the airport. That flight went well, we got to Windhoek and did the gun dance which was a little more painful than in SA. We had another overnight stay here before our final flight the next day. We got our ride to Windhoek where we stayed at the AM Weinberg hotel, a very nice spot. Very cool hotel. Had lunch at the hotel, went to a spa next door, relaxed and had some beers, then went to supper at the Cape Town Fish Market for an excellent meal. No real regrets on this little stopover other than that we didn't really know what to do as far as getting ourselves into Windhoek to see the city, so we just hung out at the hotel.
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Day three was back to Windhoek airport for our flight up to Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi Strip. This part of the trip didn't go that well, the airport staff really had trouble with the guns and tickets and getting us checked in for a domestic flight. Took them a while to figure out where to send us, I feel like we walked back and forth across the airport 10 times. Luckily Hosea Kutako isn't that big. Finally got that all sorted out, turns out that the domestic terminal stays locked up until right before the flights. While it was a hassle, eventually we found the right person to help us and it went just fine after that. Gracy should get VIP set up up there in my opinion. We flew from Windhoek, dropped some folks off in Maun Botswana and got gas, the continued on to Katima. Flights were finally done for a few weeks! The airport in Katima Mulilo set the bar pretty high for smallest airport I've ever been to, pretty funny. Scot picked us up and we headed to our first camp of the trip.
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We arrived to camp on the evening of May 8th after about a 90 minute drive from the airport. Hunting out of Omujeve Safaris Ivory Camp, located on a little branch of the Kwando river in the famed Caprivi Strip. The original plan was to hunt in either Mashi or Mayuni Conservancies, but we ended up being able to hunt in the Bwabwata National Park. Very nice camp in a nice spot. Well appointed wall tents with bathrooms en suite and good comfortable beds. No complaints about this camp at all. It had a breakfast and lounge area, and then a raised dinner boma up on a big platform that overlooked a pond and floodplain. A resident hippo makes his home in that pond so we had game within 50 yards, and there was always lechwe out in the plain. The food at this camp was excellent. Lechwe, springbok, some really good lamb chops one night along the best rusks I've ever had.
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Our first day of buffalo hunting was May 9th. We spent most of the day driving, looking for tracks and sign and making a few short stalks. We covered quite a bit of country and saw a lot of game but the buffalo sign was mostly old or cows and young. We took lunch at the "Horseshoe", a big bend in a branch of the Kwando river that is a popular game viewing area. It was in the photo safari part of the national park, so we saw quite a few other trucks coming to see animals but mostly had a peaceful, quiet siesta in the presence of Lechwe, crocodile, impala, and elephants. The elephant cows and calves coming to play and drink in the river was incredibly cool. After lunch, we set back out in search of buffalo. In all, we saw buffalo, elephant, lechwe, impala, roan, sable, zebra, giraffe, kudu, and warthog in our travels this day. We encountered a young elephant bull in the road who decided to do some posturing about the truck, showing how tough he was, but after a minute he gave up. Fun to see him like that. Just before dark, we found good buffalo sign and got out for a stalk. We were into a big herd pretty quick, and eventually worked into 46 yards of a shooter bull. A good old bull who was broomed off on both sides and would have been an excellent trophy. It just got too dark on us. The bull was just a big black blob out there, and especially with just having an RMR on my rifle, it was not a good shot to take. Even with a scoped rifle I don't think I would have taken in. Scot agreed with me, and assured me to not take a shot I wasn't comfortable with. Incredibly cool experience for a my first real stalk on cape buffalo. When we got out of the truck, elephants close by were bellowing. That was amazing.
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The next day saw us return right to where we left the buffalo at dark the day before. We checked a few spots for dung and tracks, and it was not very long that we heard tapping on the roof. Buffalo in sight. We got out, loaded up and set out. After a short walk, we were in the bulls and found a shooter. Up on the sticks at about 45 yards, steady and let the shot go. It hit a little high, but the bull was hit good and he mule kicked and took off. We found good blood and found the bull down about 50 yards away. We maneuvered around and got into position to take another shot into his vitals under his shoulder. One final shot from my 458 to make sure he was dead and that was that. I had secured my first cape buffalo. Big thick bosses, covered in mud, good horn shape, I am very pleased with my bull. Huge body (to me), he seemed very big. Covered in mud, with some cool scarring on his face and ears. My only "regret" was that I feel like I didn't have to work that hard for the buffalo! I suppose I wanted to walk my legs off and stalk and work and then take a bull, but I reckon this is a don't look a gift horse in the mouth occasion. Just like the elephants that were nearby on the stalk the day before, this day we also had company in the dorm of lion. We never saw them, but saw their tracks in the road following the buffalo tracks, and we could hear them as we started the stalk, grumbling and making their presence known. Incredible.
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Loading the buffalo was quite an ordeal and fun to see in person for the first time. Land Cruisers are awesome, but for an American whose used to a full size pickup bed, there isn't much room for cargo in a Cruiser. Some creative winching and bending parts got the bull into the truck along with all of the crew and gear and off we went by 9am! We dropped the bull off at the skinning shed, did a little exploring and headed back to campo for lunch and a lazy afternoon. We spotted a leopard on the road while driving, that was cool. Didn't see him for long, but saw him at the edge of the road and then saw him running away. We had a lazy afternoon and then went to another little branch of the river for some fishing.
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On our third full day in country, May 11th, we headed for town to begin our little side-trip over to Victoria Falls. Started the trip by heading into Katima Mulilo so Scot could get some administrative work done in advance of our drive over to Victoria Falls. My wife and I sat at the Green Basket Cafe which is attached to Caprivi Adventures while Scot ran around and got some paperwork taken care of. Good coffee and good food there so that worked well. We headed out and first crossed borders into Botswana, were we drove through Chobe National Park. We saw elephants right by the road, a bunch of sable including a big bull, and a lot of warthog. We made it to Zimbabwe and got across the border there and headed towards VF. Zimbabwe along this drive was very thick bush, very cool scenery as we came out of the Caprivi style floodplain area and went into a bit of hills.
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We made it to Vic Falls, staying at Insika Lodge for a few days. Very nice place, fancy would be my word for it. Very comfortable, good food, good rooms, a pool and bar, etc. Definitely a high end tourist place but it worked out great for us. This being our first trip into Zimbabwe, it was interesting, especially being in a tourist spot like VF. High end tourist spots, lodges, big fancy houses, normal houses, and then some very poor looking places combined for some stark contrasts. We spent the afternoon and evening hitting the curio shops and stores, exploring that little area in town, and then we had a good dinner at the Three Monkeys bar and grill.
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The next day we had breakfast at Insika, and headed for the falls. We spent the morning there, that sure is a lot of water. Very neat. Saw the falls, walked across the middle of the bridge that spans the canyon over to Zambia and watched the bungee jumpers, then headed for lunch. At lunch at the Overlook Cafe which was really good and had good views of the bungee jumpers and zipliners. Went back to the lodge, lounged by the pool and relaxed. We took a sunset river cruise on the Zambezi which was fun. Saw a bunch of hippo, some giraffe and zebra, and a couple Chobe Bushbuck which was really neat. A fun little evening cruise on the river with a good sunset view. We ate dinner at the River Brewery and Smokehouse BBQ, which was excellent food and good beer as well. My wife was really hoping that we would be able to make it here to Victoria Falls, especially given how close we were in the Caprivi. I am glad we were able to make it happen!
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May 13 began day 5 of the trip as we headed back through Zim and Bots over to Nambia to head for the home ranch and the rest of the hunting. This leg of the trip hit a snag at Namibia's Ngoma border post where there just happened to NOT be an Immigration officer for about 3 hours. We stood there forever waiting. The first excuse we heard was that he was sick and went to the clinic but would be right back. Then it was that it had been shift change but the next worker never showed up. We finally heard that someone was coming from Katima, which is about 45 minutes away. Well that drive took 2 hours. What is double fun is that this immigration office ran both sides of the office, entry and exit, so there were probably close to a hundred people on each side needing to cross. Luckily, we got there at the perfect time so we were first in line. When the worker finally showed up, we got stamped and hightailed it out of there. With that over, we hit the pavement and went back to Omujeve to pick up our heavy luggage and guns and headed out. Since we lost 3 hours, we didn't make it near as far as Scot wanted to that night. We stopped at a lodge near Divundu as opposed to Rundu. This was an older lodge, Kayova River Lodge, but it was just fine for the night. Woke up to some really pretty views of the Okavango River. Back on the road again.
We headed west and south, stopping Grootfontein for coffee at a very nice little cafe, The Fig Tree. Stopped for lunch in Otjiwarongo at the crocodile farm. Ate lunch and looked at all the crocs and headed out. Cool place and got to dine on some crocodile meat for lunch. We stopped one last time in Outjo and then headed to the home ranch. A long day in the truck but it was really fun to just road trip and see the country. We made it to Scot's ranch and met the team, unloaded, and then headed out for a drive around the property. When we arrived, a neighboring ranch was on fire. We went up to the border and a high point and could see the fire. Scot ended up heading over on foot to help get it put out, and didn't get back until 2am. They were especially worried about this as it was very early in the fire season to be dealing with that. Scot's Uncle Dudley and apprentice NJ had been over there all day working to get it stopped. The fire was started by a charcoal operation that was not following the safety rules of clearing a spot for their burns, and ended up burning portions of something like 5 different farms.
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Scot's aunt and uncle, Anthea and Dudley, are the farm managers. Korporal is the head tracker and has been with them for 20 years. We had Max, who runs Scot's relatively new Khaudum elephant concession with us as well. NJ Roberts is Scot's 18 year old apprentice PH, and his buddy Divan (15 years old) was home on school break and spending a few weeks at the ranch. The ranch is very nice, well appointed, comfortable, clean, all the things you'd expect. Nice chalets with bathrooms, good hot water, comfortable beds. The boma was nice with a bar, couches, tables, beverages, coffee, all the trimmings. Scot's aunt Anthea is in a wheelchair, as is his dad Barry, so this camp is made up with some wheelchair access too for anyone that might need that! They will accomodate any hunter, they have really nice concrete/stone ground blinds to hunt out of as well.
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May 15 day 7, was the start of the plains game hunting. The property is very thick acacia and mopane scrub, with glassing being done from the mountains and high points. There are clear sections of the land as well, and also a "poison strip" that Scot's dad treated some 20 years ago. We started the morning climbing one of the hills to do some glassing. We spotted some kudu and eland pretty quickly that morning. Kept glassing, then made a stalk on a kudu bull. Scot and I stalked into around 200 yards, and took the first shot. After some tracking I ended up shooting the bull two more times and dropped him in the road which made for easy pickup. A very nice kudu bull with ivory tips and worn horns. What a good way to start the day. We spent the rest of the day glassing, seeing plenty of game but nothing to go after.
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The next morning we stalked in on some blue wildebeest finding a good bull to shoot. I got on the sticks and took a shot, but hit the tree that was in front of the bull. I rushed myself and yanked the shot, luckily it hit the tree and was a total miss on the bull. We kept after him, stalking and getting set up on the sticks two more times but he didn't stand still long enough for another shot. We spotted an eland bull on the way in for lunch, making a stalk but the wind swirled and he took off. That afternoon, I shot a nice impala ram. After spotting them, we came down a steep hillside full of ankle breaking rocks. We got into a good spot where we could see 3 rams. They went into some thick brush, and as the first one came out we waited for the others. My wife spotted the biggest ram as he came into view, and we got ready and took the shot. A well placed 30-06 dropped him in his tracks. Young Divan saddled up and carried the ram out on his back.
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To be continued!
