NAMIBIA: Kowas Hunting Safaris Namibia In September

Chukar

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I had the pleasure of taking my first safari this past month with Kowas Safaris in Namibia.

Wow, what a complete surprise, completely beating my expectations. The land, the people, the travel.

It was booked as a cull/management hunt. My thoughts on this was that I'm a rookie, I want to learn how to hunt, how to stalk. What better way than to book a hunt with multiple opportunities to practice and train. I've hunted the state of Oregon, but this was something completely different.

Travel was difficult. I flew Emirates out of Seattle. I booked a business class seat for the long hauls (SEA-DXB and DXB-JNB). It was a treat for my upcoming 50th birthday. Flights were fantastic. The experience at DXB was fantastic. Grabbed a shower and some ch0w.

The problem with the flying is that I have a major problem with sleeping on an aircraft. The ambient noise, the other people... What are they doing? Are they watching me? Ahh, paranoia the destroyer.

Emirates, yeah, I can't think of anyway to fly long-haul other than them. Business class was fantastic. A380 on the leg back from JNB to DXB was nothing less than luxury.

To the hunting. I've been seeing a few things here recently on cull hunting. Shooting out of the truck/bakkie. It didn't happen here. Other than the extra warthogs, nothing was shot off the vehicle. Some warthogs were taken from the vehicle, the others from stand/foot. About 50/50 I would say.

So I had a deal for ten animals. When I arrived the targets were for Oryx and Red Hartebeest. The warthogs were a "bonus", due to a local rancher who wanted the hogs our of their cattle feed pens which disrupted the cattle feeding operation so needed during a drought.

The Oryx and Hartebeest were taken all spot and stalk. It was a learning experience. Not a well placed shot, you will walk! And walk and walk and walk..... I was warned on the first day that Oryx are tough and tough to hunt due to multiple eyes and a herd mentality..... Same with Hartebeest.

Thus, I am walking a good time a day to get rid of the nasty desk job that I have. I have hopefully learned.

Mattheus, my PH, was awesome. A man of few words. I can respect that a ton. The man can hunt and track like nothing I have seen. Michael, driver and tracker was awesome.

Staff and service was beyond reproach. Ansie and Danie were the perfect hosts.

I requested local foods and was so pleasantly surprised by the delightful meals that ended up on the end of my cake-hole! If Ansie is reading this, maybe next time some tongue and offal on the menu....
Would I do it again? You bet.

Memorable brain images include an Oryx running through a cattle fence at full speed, getting tossed ass over teakettle, recovering after about five seconds and concluding the escape. Fully broke two strands of wire and a few support branches.... An Aardwolf and Bat Eared Fox in daylight.

Images are poor. There is nothing more to see than the hog. One of the Oryx was a broken horned warrior that sported numerous battle scars and a broken horn that I truly respected.

The Wartpig was decent as I recon. Decent tusks and another wart over his left eyebrow which was kind of cool.

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Congrats on your first hunt and spot/stalk experience! Always a great time getting out in the bush and stalking game! Thank you for sharing with us!
 
Mattheus, my PH, was awesome. A man of few words.
Matheus is one of the great treasures of Namibia. Thanks for sharing your adventure and welcome to Team Kowas.(y)(y)(y)
 
Uh oh! The addiction begins! Grand hunt! I would have really liked to have seen the old one horned oryx. Old trophies are so cool!
So when is your second adventure?:ROFLMAO::LOL::D
 
Thanks for the report. Congrats on a fun hunt! Can you tell us how the drought is affecting the animals in the area you hunted?
 
Congratulations on a great first hunt. I hunted just down the road from Kowas in 2018. I love the diversity of terrain. What rifle and caliber did you use? Thanks for the report.
 
Congrats on a successful hunt, thanks for the report
 
Good flights, good hunting an all round good trip.
Congratulations.
 
Uh oh! The addiction begins! Grand hunt! I would have really liked to have seen the old one horned oryx. Old trophies are so cool!
So when is your second adventure?:ROFLMAO::LOL::D

I applied preventative medicine and was already booked for the AH group hunt with KMG safaris in 2020 before I departed on this trip. I'm in planning stages to go back to Kowas in 2021. The addiction is real.

Can you tell us how the drought is affecting the animals in the area you hunted?

Rick, the animals were all doing OK by my rookie eyes. I saw no signs of starvation (ribs and hips showing) on the animals that we spotted. Most of the grass was grazed down and the Oryx and Hartebeest were being culled to provide as much possible food for the cattle. Most of the cattle were doing OK but I'm sure there was quite a bit of supplemental feeding going on. I pray for a good rainy season for Namibia. I wish I could send a month of wet Oregon winter over there.

Congratulations on a great first hunt. I hunted just down the road from Kowas in 2018. I love the diversity of terrain. What rifle and caliber did you use? Thanks for the report.

That was a great report, I enjoyed reading it. The camp rifle was a model 70 in 300 WM.
 
Congrats on your hunt with Kowas.
 
Congrats, seems like you had a great time !
 

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