mcaustin
AH senior member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2018
- Messages
- 77
- Reaction score
- 196
- Media
- 14
- Hunted
- Namibia, US - Alaska, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, Virginia, and Kansas.
I just returned from a 7-day hunt with @Kowas Adventure Safaris with a good friend and both of our wives. Following the hunt, we spent a night at Gocheganas where we relaxed and had massages, then followed that up with two nights at the Erindi private game reserve. Erindi provided great opportunities to view additional game - we saw lions, cheetahs, a leopard, elephants, hippos, and two white rhinos.
On the way to Windhoek, I only had about an hour after we deplaned to boarding our next flight in Addis. I was immediately greeted by Ethiopian Airlines staff regarding my rifle, but then waited for about 30-35 minutes before any real movement happened. Finally, we were whisked through security, and I was told to stand outside near our gate area with a security person to wait for someone to take us to clear the rifle. We waited there for another 15 minutes or so, then got picked up in a van and driven to the baggage area of Addis Ababa airport for a very quick check of my serial number, then loaded back on the van along with two Norwegian hunters that were on the same flight to Windhoek. The van then sped to the airplane, and those of us with rifles boarded prior to my friends and wife getting to the airplane. It was a bit stressful, but we made it just fine and I wasn't killed in a crash in the van.
Upon arrival at Kowas on Saturday afternoon, we were greeted by Ansie, Elleni, and Jacques with drinks and asked to make ourselves comfortable before heading out for an evening game drive. We then headed out for a sunset game drive, during which Jacques pointed out oryx, black wildebeests, a blue wildebeest, a sable, numerous springbok, steenbok, and a duiker.
The following morning, my friend George and I went to the range to verify my rifle was still zeroed and for some familiarization for George with Jacques’ rifle – I believe we fired a total of about 5-6 rounds between the two of us since everything was in order. Following range time, we picked up our wives and headed out for a light hunt/game drive, wherein we saw multiple giraffes, Burchell zebras and many other animals.
Sunday afternoon we headed out looking for oryx, with George and I hunting together and our wives along for the ride. We spotted some oryx in a grassy opening amidst the Namibian mountains and their swirling winds. Jacques and Matheus decided on an approach and the girls stayed at the truck for the initial stalk. After reversing course several times due to the wind, we made it to the opening where we thought we might get a shot at an oryx or two but found a single cow oryx blocking our path forward. We then noticed a swishing tail and determined there were several blue wildebeests about 100 yards from our position – with the cow oryx about 60 yards away in the tall brush. George decided that the blue wildebeest made his list, and Jacques and Matheus determined that there was a nice bull among them. They quickly set up the sticks for a kneeling shot, and George put the bull down. The truck made it to us with the girls just as the sun was setting, and we had the first animal of the hunt down.
Monday morning, we split up with me hunting with Matheus and George hunting with Jacques. Since I had a wish list of kudu, Hartmann zebra, oryx, and red hartebeest, we set out again for oryx. After a long morning of stalking to within about 50-60 yards of 6 oryx, we found them to be cows with young bulls, so we shifted our attention to some nearby Hartmann zebra we heard. Matheus and I followed them for some time to determine that they were mares so we ended the morning hunt and went back to the lodge for lunch. George shot a nice bull oryx that morning with Jacques.
Not to be outdone, Matheus got me (with my wife) onto a nice oryx bull that was accompanied by several cows at about 125-150 yards. I put the first round into his chest as he presented facing us, standing between two other oryx. Those oryx are tough! He turned and ran straight away from us while the rest of the group took off to my right. After a few minutes, we started tracking him and after jumping him once, we found him laying in some brush. Matheus said to shoot him again, broadside at about 15 yards, so I did. As we inched closer, he was still laying there, so Matheus said to shoot him again at about 5 yards and the bull was finally done. My first African animal was down!
On Tuesday, the ladies went to Windhoek, and we set out separately for kudu. Around 10:30 Matheus and I located two very nice kudu bulls on a mountainous property about 45 minutes away from the lodge. I decided to take the wider of the two bulls, and we waited for him to continue moving toward our ridge from about 350 yards. Once he came to a tree at about 300 yards, Matheus asked if I was ok with the distance and he suggested using a rock as a rest. As I was getting set, two oryx ran through the valley, and Matheus said to shoot while his chest was facing us and his head was turned to his right to see the oryx. That round landed and the kudu began moving toward our ridge, and I hit him again when he stopped at a bush about 200 yards away where he went down. Through all of this, the second bull never flinched. Matheus quickly got to a location above our ridge to let Jacques and George know that we had another great bull about 250 yards from our position, so they started driving our way. George successfully took the second bull, and we had two great kudu bulls down in the mountains that had to be quartered in place. We made it back to the lodge that night at about 6:00 after being out all day on them. Jacques couldn’t recall a time where he’d had two great kudu within such a short time period and close proximity.
The girls rejoined us Wednesday morning and we set off with Matheus in the mountains again for a Hartmann zebra while George and his wife went to look for red hartebeest with Jacques. After spotting a nice stallion from across a small valley, we stalked up the far mountain beneath the herd and I had a great frontal shot at the stallion from about 40 yards. He turned and went down about 40 yards behind him, and we had another animal down in the mountains that had to be quartered in place for the second day in a row. George and Jacques returned to the lodge with a nice red hartebeest.
We then headed back out again Wednesday afternoon with Matheus for a red hartebeest, and George and Jacques searching for a warthog. I took this hartebeest at about 200 yards with a slight quartering to shot that put him down about 100 yards away from where it hit him. Shortly after we got back to the lodge, George arrived with a nice boar warthog.
We decided to take Thursday morning off to catch up on some sleep, then all four of us went out Thursday afternoon, with George shooting a nice impala on the side of one of the mountains.
On Friday, the ladies went to Gochegannas spa for the day, so George and I set out with Matheus looking for springbok. We had several stalks that resulted in herds of only females, zebras spooking everybody, and finally, a rushed miss by me at about 230 yards after staring at a herd of 30-40 animals for about 10-15 minutes on the sticks. I was definitely tired of standing there, and it showed when I dropped my elbow slightly and pushed that round just over the back of the springbok.
Saturday was our last day hunting, so I decided that I’d take a springbok or impala, depending upon whichever presented the best opportunity first. The ladies again joined us and we took off in search of a nice springbok. From a great mountainside vantage point, we spotted good several impala, five sable, and a decent herd of springbok. Matheus, my wife and I then stalked to within about 75-100 yards to find only females. Matheus then said we could go find some more springbok or go after the impala we had spotted from the mountain. I opted for the impala and got a nice one at about 100 yards or so.
After we dropped off the impala, the four of us loaded back up in the bakkie in search of baboons before lunch. We found a few amongst the mountains but didn't get any good shots since they were very skittish up in the mountains.
Saturday afternoon we headed out for a second oryx after Jacques mentioned that a neighbor wanted some meat. I shot this very nice cow at about 150 yards after about 50 yards of crawling due to a single springbok that had his eyes on us. She'll go nicely with my bull from Monday. George came back with another bull oryx and a really nice springbok.
I can’t say enough positive things about all of the staff at Kowas! Matheus and Jacques were great introductions to hunting with PHs in Africa, and we were all in awe of their capability to spot/stalk/track/answer any questions about any animals we saw. Danie, Ansie, and Elleni were wonderful company at every delicious meal and explained numerous traditions and customs in Namibia. Upon hearing that we have an Arabian horse, Elleni offered to take us out to see her Arabians which provided a horse fix for my wife. All of the staff, including the chefs, drivers, skinners, and housekeeping were extremely friendly and very polite.
Ansie truly went above and beyond in helping us plan, then moving and rebooking our trip when covid made things crazy last year. In addition, she helped us get everything squared away early in the morning of our departure when my wife hadn't received her pre-travel covid test results from the test the day before (but the rest of us had received them the night after the test).
All of our meals were really good and none of us had a bad thing to say about them! After I requested some heart, Ansie described a more traditional Namibian way of preparing liver (she advised they typically don’t serve some of the traditional Namibian organ dishes to clients), so we had oryx heart and liver for appetizers one evening and they were good as well.
The loding at Kowas was very nice, and my wife and I really enjoyed the Oryx room. We had nice touches like nightly turn-down service, and laundry was promptly finished each afternoon after being picked up in the morning. I had viewed all of Kowas photos of their property such as their bar and pool, but they were even nicer in person. Finally, the nightly firepit time included company that was second to none!
I would highly recommend that anybody considering a hunt in Namibia should check out Kowas and give them a call!
After reading probably every thread on here about how much ammo to take, I decided on 60 rounds for my .300 WM. After taking six animals on our seven-day hunt, with minimal range time, I would probably drop that number to 40 rounds next time around – simply to decrease the size of the hard sided locking case that I ended up taking in case Ethiopian pulled my ammo out as a separate checked bag. Two boxes of 20 fits very nicely into a much smaller Pelican-style box from Harbor Freight, as opposed to the three boxes of 20 rounds in the next size larger Pelican-style Harbor Freight box.
On the way to Windhoek, I only had about an hour after we deplaned to boarding our next flight in Addis. I was immediately greeted by Ethiopian Airlines staff regarding my rifle, but then waited for about 30-35 minutes before any real movement happened. Finally, we were whisked through security, and I was told to stand outside near our gate area with a security person to wait for someone to take us to clear the rifle. We waited there for another 15 minutes or so, then got picked up in a van and driven to the baggage area of Addis Ababa airport for a very quick check of my serial number, then loaded back on the van along with two Norwegian hunters that were on the same flight to Windhoek. The van then sped to the airplane, and those of us with rifles boarded prior to my friends and wife getting to the airplane. It was a bit stressful, but we made it just fine and I wasn't killed in a crash in the van.
Upon arrival at Kowas on Saturday afternoon, we were greeted by Ansie, Elleni, and Jacques with drinks and asked to make ourselves comfortable before heading out for an evening game drive. We then headed out for a sunset game drive, during which Jacques pointed out oryx, black wildebeests, a blue wildebeest, a sable, numerous springbok, steenbok, and a duiker.
The following morning, my friend George and I went to the range to verify my rifle was still zeroed and for some familiarization for George with Jacques’ rifle – I believe we fired a total of about 5-6 rounds between the two of us since everything was in order. Following range time, we picked up our wives and headed out for a light hunt/game drive, wherein we saw multiple giraffes, Burchell zebras and many other animals.
Sunday afternoon we headed out looking for oryx, with George and I hunting together and our wives along for the ride. We spotted some oryx in a grassy opening amidst the Namibian mountains and their swirling winds. Jacques and Matheus decided on an approach and the girls stayed at the truck for the initial stalk. After reversing course several times due to the wind, we made it to the opening where we thought we might get a shot at an oryx or two but found a single cow oryx blocking our path forward. We then noticed a swishing tail and determined there were several blue wildebeests about 100 yards from our position – with the cow oryx about 60 yards away in the tall brush. George decided that the blue wildebeest made his list, and Jacques and Matheus determined that there was a nice bull among them. They quickly set up the sticks for a kneeling shot, and George put the bull down. The truck made it to us with the girls just as the sun was setting, and we had the first animal of the hunt down.
Monday morning, we split up with me hunting with Matheus and George hunting with Jacques. Since I had a wish list of kudu, Hartmann zebra, oryx, and red hartebeest, we set out again for oryx. After a long morning of stalking to within about 50-60 yards of 6 oryx, we found them to be cows with young bulls, so we shifted our attention to some nearby Hartmann zebra we heard. Matheus and I followed them for some time to determine that they were mares so we ended the morning hunt and went back to the lodge for lunch. George shot a nice bull oryx that morning with Jacques.
Not to be outdone, Matheus got me (with my wife) onto a nice oryx bull that was accompanied by several cows at about 125-150 yards. I put the first round into his chest as he presented facing us, standing between two other oryx. Those oryx are tough! He turned and ran straight away from us while the rest of the group took off to my right. After a few minutes, we started tracking him and after jumping him once, we found him laying in some brush. Matheus said to shoot him again, broadside at about 15 yards, so I did. As we inched closer, he was still laying there, so Matheus said to shoot him again at about 5 yards and the bull was finally done. My first African animal was down!
On Tuesday, the ladies went to Windhoek, and we set out separately for kudu. Around 10:30 Matheus and I located two very nice kudu bulls on a mountainous property about 45 minutes away from the lodge. I decided to take the wider of the two bulls, and we waited for him to continue moving toward our ridge from about 350 yards. Once he came to a tree at about 300 yards, Matheus asked if I was ok with the distance and he suggested using a rock as a rest. As I was getting set, two oryx ran through the valley, and Matheus said to shoot while his chest was facing us and his head was turned to his right to see the oryx. That round landed and the kudu began moving toward our ridge, and I hit him again when he stopped at a bush about 200 yards away where he went down. Through all of this, the second bull never flinched. Matheus quickly got to a location above our ridge to let Jacques and George know that we had another great bull about 250 yards from our position, so they started driving our way. George successfully took the second bull, and we had two great kudu bulls down in the mountains that had to be quartered in place. We made it back to the lodge that night at about 6:00 after being out all day on them. Jacques couldn’t recall a time where he’d had two great kudu within such a short time period and close proximity.
The girls rejoined us Wednesday morning and we set off with Matheus in the mountains again for a Hartmann zebra while George and his wife went to look for red hartebeest with Jacques. After spotting a nice stallion from across a small valley, we stalked up the far mountain beneath the herd and I had a great frontal shot at the stallion from about 40 yards. He turned and went down about 40 yards behind him, and we had another animal down in the mountains that had to be quartered in place for the second day in a row. George and Jacques returned to the lodge with a nice red hartebeest.
We then headed back out again Wednesday afternoon with Matheus for a red hartebeest, and George and Jacques searching for a warthog. I took this hartebeest at about 200 yards with a slight quartering to shot that put him down about 100 yards away from where it hit him. Shortly after we got back to the lodge, George arrived with a nice boar warthog.
We decided to take Thursday morning off to catch up on some sleep, then all four of us went out Thursday afternoon, with George shooting a nice impala on the side of one of the mountains.
On Friday, the ladies went to Gochegannas spa for the day, so George and I set out with Matheus looking for springbok. We had several stalks that resulted in herds of only females, zebras spooking everybody, and finally, a rushed miss by me at about 230 yards after staring at a herd of 30-40 animals for about 10-15 minutes on the sticks. I was definitely tired of standing there, and it showed when I dropped my elbow slightly and pushed that round just over the back of the springbok.
Saturday was our last day hunting, so I decided that I’d take a springbok or impala, depending upon whichever presented the best opportunity first. The ladies again joined us and we took off in search of a nice springbok. From a great mountainside vantage point, we spotted good several impala, five sable, and a decent herd of springbok. Matheus, my wife and I then stalked to within about 75-100 yards to find only females. Matheus then said we could go find some more springbok or go after the impala we had spotted from the mountain. I opted for the impala and got a nice one at about 100 yards or so.
After we dropped off the impala, the four of us loaded back up in the bakkie in search of baboons before lunch. We found a few amongst the mountains but didn't get any good shots since they were very skittish up in the mountains.
Saturday afternoon we headed out for a second oryx after Jacques mentioned that a neighbor wanted some meat. I shot this very nice cow at about 150 yards after about 50 yards of crawling due to a single springbok that had his eyes on us. She'll go nicely with my bull from Monday. George came back with another bull oryx and a really nice springbok.
I can’t say enough positive things about all of the staff at Kowas! Matheus and Jacques were great introductions to hunting with PHs in Africa, and we were all in awe of their capability to spot/stalk/track/answer any questions about any animals we saw. Danie, Ansie, and Elleni were wonderful company at every delicious meal and explained numerous traditions and customs in Namibia. Upon hearing that we have an Arabian horse, Elleni offered to take us out to see her Arabians which provided a horse fix for my wife. All of the staff, including the chefs, drivers, skinners, and housekeeping were extremely friendly and very polite.
Ansie truly went above and beyond in helping us plan, then moving and rebooking our trip when covid made things crazy last year. In addition, she helped us get everything squared away early in the morning of our departure when my wife hadn't received her pre-travel covid test results from the test the day before (but the rest of us had received them the night after the test).
All of our meals were really good and none of us had a bad thing to say about them! After I requested some heart, Ansie described a more traditional Namibian way of preparing liver (she advised they typically don’t serve some of the traditional Namibian organ dishes to clients), so we had oryx heart and liver for appetizers one evening and they were good as well.
The loding at Kowas was very nice, and my wife and I really enjoyed the Oryx room. We had nice touches like nightly turn-down service, and laundry was promptly finished each afternoon after being picked up in the morning. I had viewed all of Kowas photos of their property such as their bar and pool, but they were even nicer in person. Finally, the nightly firepit time included company that was second to none!
I would highly recommend that anybody considering a hunt in Namibia should check out Kowas and give them a call!
After reading probably every thread on here about how much ammo to take, I decided on 60 rounds for my .300 WM. After taking six animals on our seven-day hunt, with minimal range time, I would probably drop that number to 40 rounds next time around – simply to decrease the size of the hard sided locking case that I ended up taking in case Ethiopian pulled my ammo out as a separate checked bag. Two boxes of 20 fits very nicely into a much smaller Pelican-style box from Harbor Freight, as opposed to the three boxes of 20 rounds in the next size larger Pelican-style Harbor Freight box.
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