NAMIBIA: Hunting The Highlands A Namibian Adventure

AJT

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Ever since spending a couple of weeks in Zimbabwe last year on what was supposed to be a once in a lifetime hunting trip to Africa, the continent had been calling me back.

That call proved too strong to ignore (as seems to be the case for many hunters) and so in September I found myself heading back to Africa. This time, however, instead of the bush of Hwange District in Zimbabwe, I was heading to the highlands of the Khomas Region in Namibia to spend a week with Dietmar and Philip Hennings and the team at Khomas Highland Hunting Safaris in the quest for a trophy gemsbok.

Having grown up hunting in the mountains of the South Island of New Zealand, I was instantly attracted to Khomas Highland Hunting Safaris as they offer free range hunts on foot in the mountains of Namibia. By chance, they also happened to be the first outfit I came across when I began planning my trip, and after looking through what they had to offer on their website and reading a couple of great stories online about them, I was quick to book my trip with Philip.

I was met at the airport in Windhoek by Dietmar and we were soon on the road to the family’s farm up in the Khomas Highlands an hour or so west of the city. As we made our way through the city and out into the countryside, Dietmar and I chatted away like old friends and I knew there and then that I had made the right decision in choosing to hunt with them.

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After arriving at the farm and settling in, I met my guide, Carsten (a talented and knowledgeable young hunter), and we were soon down on the range sighting in the rifle which I would be using for the week – a good old BRNO 30-06. After putting a couple of shots through the rifle, we (Carsten, Marius (our tracker), Victor (a good keen German lad who was working on the farm for a couple of months) and I)) sorted out our gear and headed out for an evening hunt. We saw a number of animals that first evening, including a good gemsbok bull, before returning to the homestead where we met another hunter, Adrian, who was on the farm for the week as well. Adrian had just managed to secure a fine hartebeest bull and would go on to secure a number of other animals during the week.

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Carsten, Marius and I spent the next couple of days hunting hard in the search for a good gemsbok bull. We saw a wide variety and number of animals during those first couple of days, including kudu, mountain zebra, gemsbok, hartebeest, wildebeest, springbok and steenbok. Then, on the evening of the third day, Carsten and I were making our way down the side of a ridge when an old gemsbok bull popped up in front of us on the opposite side of the valley. Carsten advised that he was a very old bull and we decided to try and take him. So I lay down, lined him up in the scope and managed to get a shot away before he disappeared over the top of the hill and into the next valley. He went down with the shot and we quickly made our way over to him and found that he was a great old warrior, and I couldn’t have been happier with my first gemsbok.

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We decided to keep looking for a bigger bull and spent the next few days hunting different areas on the farm. We saw a number of gemsbok during this time and I also managed to take a gemsbok cow for meat.

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Then, on the morning of the sixth day, we went back to an area where we had previously seen a decent bull and tried to stalk in on him. Although that particular bull managed to give us the slip, we found another bull in the same area and managed to follow him to his resting up spot in the bottom of a valley. We then made our way around the back of the ridge forming one side of the valley in an attempt to close the distance and try and get a shot at him. Once we had closed the distance to within shooting range, we popped over the top of the ridge so that we were looking down into the valley and located him in a stand of trees 300 metres away. We snuck in a bit closer and I got into position and thankfully the old 30-06 did the job again. We then made our way down to the animal and were rewarded with a nice gemsbok bull, which was a great result after a number of hard days hunting.

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Seeing as I still had two and a half days left before I was due to fly out, Dietmar then suggested that we try and secure a hartebeest for meat. Taking Dietmar up on his offer, we spent the next couple of days hunting hartebeest and managed to secure a hartebeest cow on the morning of the last full day I spent on the farm. We then spent my final afternoon shooting guinea fowl, which was good fun and a great way to end the trip.

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I decided to get the second gemsbok bull mounted and so the team arranged for us to stop off at the taxidermist in Windhoek on the way back to the airport to sort that out. This was extremely helpful as I got to discuss the mount with the team at the taxidermist in person and see examples of their work in their show room.

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All in all, I had an amazing week with the team at Khomas Highland Hunting Safaris. They’re good people and their hospitality is second to none. They know their stuff when it comes to hunting and provide a great experience in a beautiful part of the world. Everything they do is spot on and I’m very much looking forward to hunting with them again in the future.
 
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Thanks for the report AJT! I can't wait for my trip with Philip next summer!
 
The pictures are stunning, congrats!
 
Looks like you had a great hunt. Some nice pics. Thanks for sharing. By the way when is the next hunt? Bruce
 
Thanks for sharing! Super gemsbok!
 
Love those old warrior gemsbok. They look fantastic.
 
I like your trophy bulls bases.
You describe a good hunt all round.
Congrats and thanks for sharing your experience with us.
 
Congrats and thanks for sharing!
 
Great stuff. Really old bull that first one. Massive bases. Headed for Namibia again next year.
 
Congrats, nice old animals !
 
Thank you Aaron for the kind words about our Team! We hope to accompany your hunting adventures in the future.
 

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