Bruce
AH elite
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2013
- Messages
- 1,220
- Reaction score
- 1,020
- Location
- South Africa
- Media
- 59
- Articles
- 1
- Member of
- SAGA/ Cape Hunters/ SA Hunters Association
- Hunted
- Namibia/Zimbabwe/Zambia/ South Africa/ Botswana/ Tanzania
https://www.africahunting.com/threads/last-minute-namibia-caprivi-hunt-safari.51275/
OK...so huge apologies first off for such a delay. I "lost' my mobile fone with all data etc. It was on silent so could not be traced by ringing it!
I started rewriting etc and collecting fotos from my son and the PH... RECENTLY the fone appeared, so here goes..
DAY -1:
We caught the Windoek flight from Cape Town, short stop over in Walvis Bay.
The outfitter could not get us on the Windhoek Katima Mulilo domestic flight as it was full...we were met by an agent at Windhoek International and driven to Grootfontein, about 4,5 hrs drive, where we overnighted at the PONDOKI REST CAMP just outside Grootfontein. We arrived well into the night, but the owners left us some food and cold beers so we were sorted!
NOTE: This was a special hunt to supply meat for the annual festival held by the Chief of the area. This is a HUGE event and caters for tens of thousands of people, with invited dignataries from neighbouring countries also attending. The TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY( ta) arranged and supervised the whole thing, with various quotas being released to suit animal numbers in the various conservancies.
In ALL INSTANCES, the quotas referred to NON TROPHY and NON EXPORTABLE animals only.
OUR QUOTA-:
1x non trophy elephant
1x non trophy buffalo
1x non trophy hippo
1x zebra
We had the option to hunt additional 1x elephant, 1x zebra and 1x hippo ( not additional buffalo unfortunately)
DAY 1:
We awoke to a freezing cold Namibia morning at PONDOKI, -3°C which for us is bone shattering!!! Are a well prepared breakfast and we're met by our PH Jaco, who then drove us the remaing 8,5 hrs to our hunting camp!!
On both drives, the roads were good and we saw plenty of game along the way.
Marvellous Kudu, eland, warthog, Impala and if course Oryx( gemsbok). The scenery also spectacular varied from sand to semi desert to bush, but showed the results of the awful drought experienced in the country.
We arrived in our camp in the LUSESE CONSERVANCY, met the camp staff in the traditional meet and greet style with cold cocktails and warm towels to refresh our sweaty hands and faces . Dropped our luggage in the chalets and set off for a quick drive around and to check the rifles.
NOTE: Due to sudden, recent changes in South Africa, I could not take my own rifles as EXPORT PERMIT applications need to NOW be applied for 90 days in advance!!
We were to use borrowed scoped 375H&H Magnum and open sight 416 Rigby. Both rifles shot spot on and we drove around until subset getting familiar with the layout etc
The Caprivi flood plains were BONE dry, save for a few deeper canals with these vast open expanses home to thousands of zebra.
First night in camp around the fire catching up on old and new stories and getting to know our young PH better.
DAY 2:
Sunrise quite late in winter, so we only took off at 06h30( still dark). Got into first decent elephant tracks at 09h00 and tracked until 11h00, but these proved to be nothing. Decided to head off for the water canals/ pools and see what hippos they held...
We stalked onto a sleeping hippo lying in shallow water. This entailed negotiating very uneven hardened clay covered by calf length grass. The closer we got to the river canal the wetter it got and we found ourselves walking on burnt out reed beds, sometimes slipping down into knee deep stinking mud! Myself and 1x tracker stayed back and Thomas, the PH and other tracker stalked closer to get a decent shot.
The hippo sensed them, jumped up onto all fours and Thomas put it down with a well placed heart shot and backed up by Jaco ( using his 416 Remmington Magnum). The shot was at 13h30.
Sone locals with a Mkoro were called to assist with getting a rope around a leg and the hunting vehicle winched the carcass onto dry land, where butchering started immediately!!
The local Induna, Mr Chibungu, was called vis mobile done and he arrived together with the camp recovery vehicle.
The Induna had to verify the kill and that all was in order, as per TA regulations.
He complained to me that the hippo was small...I promised to get him a bigger one the next day!!!
We left the butchering crew to their work and went off to the elephant area again.
Got done tracks at 17h00, walked into the herd at 17h15 which showed a young bull, another bill with short thick tusks and many cows and calves.
I was thinking.." No way...so quickly onto a shootable Ellie...WOW!
BUT, as we know, elephant hunting is full of surprises and twists!!
We were within 20m of the slowly moving herd, they in quite thick trees and bush, totally unaware of is. We had to follow along parallel to the moving herd, waiting for one of these bulls to move out from the cows and offer s shot.
NOT TO BE...the cows kept themselves in the way and although the wind was perfect for us we could not get in a shot.
Darkness descended on us in an instant almost screaming at us..." That'll teach yer!!!"
DAY 3:
Returned at 06h30 to the Ellie area, looking for fresh tracks. Walked for 2 hrs but got nothing of interest!!
THERE'S TWO THINGS THAT I HATE ABOUT WALKING-
1) SAND
2) MORE SAND...
this area is pure Kalahari sand and I paid the price, slipping and sliding, painful lower back( arthritis), blisters due to my heels continually sliding down inside the boots..but, undaunted we continue!!
We left a teacher to continue looking for fresh spoor and drove back to the hippo pools area, but not the same as the previous day. While driving we spotted a HUGE hippo in the middle of the canal, but far off! Started the stalk across the similar muddy/ reedy terrain trying to get within shooting distance of this hippo.
As it was smack bang in the middle of this larger wide canal it would need to be a brain shot to prevent the carcass being lost " downstream" etc...did I mention....these canals were host to various LARGE Crocs, so entering the water was not an option for hippo recovery!!
The terrain was open and flatyidheith very sparse cover. We used a lower lying section to get nearer and then stalked up behind two very small bush/ trees..at 11h45 and from 66m off the sticks, I sent a 300g Barnes Triple Shock into the frontal brain area. The 375 did its job perfectly and the hippo just slipped underwater, stone dead!
Recovery again using locals and a handy Mkoro took 3 hrs, with the continual beady eyed Crocs looking on!!
Mr Chibungu duly arrived and was VERY satisfied with the much larger hippo( as promised the previous day). Butchering commenced and we drove off to a nearby conservancy, bordering Botswana. VERY beautiful area, with lots of tourist lodges across the Chobe on the Botswana side.
Here game was abundant...lots of Ellies, Impala, kudu, zebra, buffalo, some giraffe. The trick here was that nothing could be taken within 500m of the Chobe, so it became s waiting game...timing was crucial to get the Ellies either crossing from Botswana and into Namibia to feed late afternoon ( minimal food for them on Botswana side) OR early morning as they crossed back. Inevitably, this always happened during darkness or when we were not there!
( To be continued)
OK...so huge apologies first off for such a delay. I "lost' my mobile fone with all data etc. It was on silent so could not be traced by ringing it!
I started rewriting etc and collecting fotos from my son and the PH... RECENTLY the fone appeared, so here goes..
DAY -1:
We caught the Windoek flight from Cape Town, short stop over in Walvis Bay.
The outfitter could not get us on the Windhoek Katima Mulilo domestic flight as it was full...we were met by an agent at Windhoek International and driven to Grootfontein, about 4,5 hrs drive, where we overnighted at the PONDOKI REST CAMP just outside Grootfontein. We arrived well into the night, but the owners left us some food and cold beers so we were sorted!
NOTE: This was a special hunt to supply meat for the annual festival held by the Chief of the area. This is a HUGE event and caters for tens of thousands of people, with invited dignataries from neighbouring countries also attending. The TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY( ta) arranged and supervised the whole thing, with various quotas being released to suit animal numbers in the various conservancies.
In ALL INSTANCES, the quotas referred to NON TROPHY and NON EXPORTABLE animals only.
OUR QUOTA-:
1x non trophy elephant
1x non trophy buffalo
1x non trophy hippo
1x zebra
We had the option to hunt additional 1x elephant, 1x zebra and 1x hippo ( not additional buffalo unfortunately)
DAY 1:
We awoke to a freezing cold Namibia morning at PONDOKI, -3°C which for us is bone shattering!!! Are a well prepared breakfast and we're met by our PH Jaco, who then drove us the remaing 8,5 hrs to our hunting camp!!
On both drives, the roads were good and we saw plenty of game along the way.
Marvellous Kudu, eland, warthog, Impala and if course Oryx( gemsbok). The scenery also spectacular varied from sand to semi desert to bush, but showed the results of the awful drought experienced in the country.
We arrived in our camp in the LUSESE CONSERVANCY, met the camp staff in the traditional meet and greet style with cold cocktails and warm towels to refresh our sweaty hands and faces . Dropped our luggage in the chalets and set off for a quick drive around and to check the rifles.
NOTE: Due to sudden, recent changes in South Africa, I could not take my own rifles as EXPORT PERMIT applications need to NOW be applied for 90 days in advance!!
We were to use borrowed scoped 375H&H Magnum and open sight 416 Rigby. Both rifles shot spot on and we drove around until subset getting familiar with the layout etc
The Caprivi flood plains were BONE dry, save for a few deeper canals with these vast open expanses home to thousands of zebra.
First night in camp around the fire catching up on old and new stories and getting to know our young PH better.
DAY 2:
Sunrise quite late in winter, so we only took off at 06h30( still dark). Got into first decent elephant tracks at 09h00 and tracked until 11h00, but these proved to be nothing. Decided to head off for the water canals/ pools and see what hippos they held...
We stalked onto a sleeping hippo lying in shallow water. This entailed negotiating very uneven hardened clay covered by calf length grass. The closer we got to the river canal the wetter it got and we found ourselves walking on burnt out reed beds, sometimes slipping down into knee deep stinking mud! Myself and 1x tracker stayed back and Thomas, the PH and other tracker stalked closer to get a decent shot.
The hippo sensed them, jumped up onto all fours and Thomas put it down with a well placed heart shot and backed up by Jaco ( using his 416 Remmington Magnum). The shot was at 13h30.
Sone locals with a Mkoro were called to assist with getting a rope around a leg and the hunting vehicle winched the carcass onto dry land, where butchering started immediately!!
The local Induna, Mr Chibungu, was called vis mobile done and he arrived together with the camp recovery vehicle.
The Induna had to verify the kill and that all was in order, as per TA regulations.
He complained to me that the hippo was small...I promised to get him a bigger one the next day!!!
We left the butchering crew to their work and went off to the elephant area again.
Got done tracks at 17h00, walked into the herd at 17h15 which showed a young bull, another bill with short thick tusks and many cows and calves.
I was thinking.." No way...so quickly onto a shootable Ellie...WOW!
BUT, as we know, elephant hunting is full of surprises and twists!!
We were within 20m of the slowly moving herd, they in quite thick trees and bush, totally unaware of is. We had to follow along parallel to the moving herd, waiting for one of these bulls to move out from the cows and offer s shot.
NOT TO BE...the cows kept themselves in the way and although the wind was perfect for us we could not get in a shot.
Darkness descended on us in an instant almost screaming at us..." That'll teach yer!!!"
DAY 3:
Returned at 06h30 to the Ellie area, looking for fresh tracks. Walked for 2 hrs but got nothing of interest!!
THERE'S TWO THINGS THAT I HATE ABOUT WALKING-
1) SAND
2) MORE SAND...
this area is pure Kalahari sand and I paid the price, slipping and sliding, painful lower back( arthritis), blisters due to my heels continually sliding down inside the boots..but, undaunted we continue!!
We left a teacher to continue looking for fresh spoor and drove back to the hippo pools area, but not the same as the previous day. While driving we spotted a HUGE hippo in the middle of the canal, but far off! Started the stalk across the similar muddy/ reedy terrain trying to get within shooting distance of this hippo.
As it was smack bang in the middle of this larger wide canal it would need to be a brain shot to prevent the carcass being lost " downstream" etc...did I mention....these canals were host to various LARGE Crocs, so entering the water was not an option for hippo recovery!!
The terrain was open and flatyidheith very sparse cover. We used a lower lying section to get nearer and then stalked up behind two very small bush/ trees..at 11h45 and from 66m off the sticks, I sent a 300g Barnes Triple Shock into the frontal brain area. The 375 did its job perfectly and the hippo just slipped underwater, stone dead!
Recovery again using locals and a handy Mkoro took 3 hrs, with the continual beady eyed Crocs looking on!!
Mr Chibungu duly arrived and was VERY satisfied with the much larger hippo( as promised the previous day). Butchering commenced and we drove off to a nearby conservancy, bordering Botswana. VERY beautiful area, with lots of tourist lodges across the Chobe on the Botswana side.
Here game was abundant...lots of Ellies, Impala, kudu, zebra, buffalo, some giraffe. The trick here was that nothing could be taken within 500m of the Chobe, so it became s waiting game...timing was crucial to get the Ellies either crossing from Botswana and into Namibia to feed late afternoon ( minimal food for them on Botswana side) OR early morning as they crossed back. Inevitably, this always happened during darkness or when we were not there!
( To be continued)
Last edited by a moderator:
This is exciting!
