NAMIBIA: Leopard Deal That Turned Into Eventually 11 Days

[drew416]

In May of this year on this forum, Roy Van Der Merwe of Otjandaue Safari's had, an advertised Leopard hunt deal for a 12 day set special price. The thought of retuning to Africa appealed to my sense of adventure, especially with the opportunity of visiting somewhere new and exciting with the opportunity of see/ maybe even taking different animal never seen or taken before.

After a bit of hesitation, deliberation, and reference checks- a deposit was hastily sent for the originally advertised Leopard hunt as advertised, reduced to 10 days as this is all my work would allow time off for including travel time with a few Plains Game animals thrown in for good measure. This is when things started to go wrong. From bad to worse, to ridiculous.

It really started with my retrenchment from my work exactly 30 days after paying my deposit and airfares. Now not being tied into work I could now extend the hunt into the 12 days as originally advertised for. With no work even being advertised I had to really sacrifice and budget for the next 4 months.

Finally the day came for disembarkation and waiting a seeming eternity. This is where is started to get worse..

My flight from Brisbane to Perth was a nightmare. I was seated next to a screaming uncontrolled child that ensured I had a splitting headache, ready to battle Customs at Perth Int Airport for my departure to J'Berg.
Sometimes I personally believe that it is the parent, not the child, that needs the smack behind the ear. Sorry if I offend anyone but I was brought up with the belief that "children should be seen but not heard"!

My next drama occurred at everybody's favourite airport, O.R. Tambo.

The overnight flight from Perth arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule. However this did not give me enough time to make it through Transit Passport control and Security to the departure gate for my flight to Windhoek. My luggage made it but my Pelican 1750 case and Ammo box weren't subject to the exceedingly slow service of Passport Control and Security checks that I was subject to. I didn't " dilly- dally" and made straight for the departure gate only to find the gate closed and flight departed....

I never heard my name called out over the PA system to "hurry to gate", which I was doing anyhow.
Long story short.. I had to pay for another flight to Windhoek as my original ticket didn't allow for this. Was told that there was a next flight at 0900 and was booked onto this flight at the SAA lounge, not fsr from my original departure gate. BUT I had to go out to the front of the airport to the ticketing office and pay. O.K. I said, what about my luggage? Was told that it would have been taken off for a no show, and to collect it at Oversize Baggage Collection Area 1. After finding the collection area, and waiting over an hour my brown bag containing my ammunition was delivered to me. Great, what about my rifle case- " rifle case, what rifle case sir?". It was missing!

After an hour screaming match, a lonely baggage handler happened to be passing by, recognized my brown bag and come over to ask me if it was accompanied by a green rectangle Pelican rifle case? Yes that's it, I said. "Oh I left that on the plane sir" he said- great!

Anyhow after collecting half my luggage,I paid for a new flight to Windhoek, that was already oversold anyhow..... After more hours of trying to be polite and courteous, I eventually found a Supervisor who wanted to work. The nice white lady apologized for the inconvenience, sympathized with me, and got me onto the next flight to Windhoek with seats still available. This flight left J'berg at 1630, I got to Windhoek on time.
A nasty letter has been sent to SAA over my situation and treatment. Hopefully a full refund might come my way? I will be just happy with an "sorry sir".

Relieved to see my rifles waiting for me in the Police Office in the arrival area of Windhoek airport.Went through formalities of Namibian Customs and Police with no drama's or problems. Met Roy outside and were straight off to his camp. We arrived at 2100pm, I unpack to find some sticky fingered c#nt in J'berg has cut my bag open. Nothing missing thank goodness, just was a new bag!

My first day, wasted!
Oh, but wait. It gets much worse before it starts to all fall into place to being a very memorable trip for me indeed.....

 

[Bsums]

That sucks. I had a bad experience like that over the summer. We got to J berg and as we are heading through to get onto our flight to Windhoek they assured us our guns were being taken care of and were being loaded onto the next plane. We get to Windhoek, no guns. We wait and wait and stark talking to the lost baggage, no one knows were it is. The lady could barely speak and whispered. We were told they will look into it. We call our agent to see if she can help by calling SA. We spend the night in town and are 1 day behind schedule now. The guns were still sitting at J.berg. So we took off, it was a 10hr drive and we couldn't sit around waiting for days. The rifles never arrived until the evening on the second to last day, a week later. So we had our rifles for 1 day out of a 7 day hunt. I think you want to travel with plain looking baggage cause if they see it looking brand new/fancy then its more appealing to steal.

 

[BRICKBURN]

An inauspicious start for sure.
This has to regress toward the mean at some point…. right?

 

[James.Grage]

sounds good...

jo'berg is a place for VIP services when on a short time schedule. Try to have at least 4 hours or more to make it through customs, firearm control and recheck in.

 

[drew416]

Day 2: this is when it gets ridiculous.

For the next 4 days it is overcast, blowing 30-50 knot winds from constantly changing directions, gusting to 60 kn at times. Drizzling rain in the early mornings and afternoons.

First morning I wake up before everyone else (i think)in anticipation for a days hunting, I find Roy working on his main hunting vehicle out the front of the garage. It has 3 flat tyres and is running like a hairy goat.
Falling back on my Engineering schooling I start helping with diagnosing/trying to fix the problem with him.

Again long story short- Roy's twin-cab Land Cruiser with 4.5L Pertrol Engine has no compression in no.s 5 and 6 cylinders. We later find out it is a blown head gasket. The flat tyres are now a minor problem..

Luckily we resort to the older Green Land Cruiser diesel engined single cab as our vehicle. A bit rougher in ride with it's 4 leaf spring suspension compared to coil springs- but it beats walking everywhere.

Alright- To keep everyone's attention-
Day 5- We see absolutely nothing all day. Roy and I check all the Leopard baits and trail camera photos all morning, so we start heading back to the homestead for Lunch and download the cards out of the trail cameras. Going down one of Roy's newly made roads/tracks we spot a lone Blue wildebeest Bull out to our right in the thickest of thick Camel Thorn growths Roy has on his 25000 Ac property. We both glassed him. I expressed to Roy that he would make an excellent rug mount as he had a spectacular coat even though his horns were worn down, I would still like him Euro Mounted. " Yes I see what you mean" said Roy. "Let's try and flank him".
We left the old car and started walking into the wind through the thick growth trying to get onto him for a shot. With the wind constantly shifting and the thickness of the camel thorns I happen to pick up my GPS out of my pack with a bottle of water before we started on what was to be a 4 hour quest from start to finish. Just as well.

When we finally caught up the only shot offered was a high lung shot. On the sticks the crosshairs rested on the only spot visible through the scrub. My 8mm Rem Mag barked. The bull ran off, seemingly unhurt.
After a long and exhaustive search, one of Roy's Fox Terriers re-found the carcass again for us- not even 100 m from where he was shot( GPS does not lie). Not much of a blood trail even though a through- through shot. He just bled out internally. According to the GPS we had walked 400m through the thick shit to only go 200m from the car and 100m from where the shot was taken.

 

[bluey]

so did you enjoy the travel.....
nice bwb,

 

[ROCKET]

Waiting to keep on reading the story to see if it turn in beeter luck in some part.....

 

[Wheels]

Bummer of a start.

Agree with Brickburn....regression toward the mean has to start sometime.

Looking forward to the rest.

All the best.

 

[drew416]

Well could it get any worse?
Apparently, yes. Another contributing factor to my problems was the Gemsbok/Oryx had calved out very late this year. There are literally hundreds of them in the bush at the moment. It is just like a MacDonald's drive through for the Leopard in Namibia at this point in time.

The baiting programme was in full swing. Fresh baits hung in areas where fresh track were found. Roy, like most land owners in Namibia, has an active anti-poaching patrol with one guy named Oscar who has a very good eye for detail and is very quick to spot anything like new tracks or out of place.

fresh track-8mm Rem Mag loaded round for comparison.

A young Eland cow was found dead near a bait in a dry gully that had fresh Leopard tracks in it. The carcass was moved a few meter's into a better position. Wind direction checked and a blind erected.
We sat in this blind for a few times. the only things we saw were badgers that hit the fresh kill/bait. Just on dusk a large Brown Hyena came in and stood on top of the bait and proceeded to feed. Not knowing what might have followed him in, and not sure about the legality of importing the Hyena back to Australia- I left him to enjoy the free meal. I never had the opportunity to see another that size for the rest of my stay.

Roy sent of a quick e mail to Mr Peter De Villiers, the head of Windhoek's Pronto Global Direct freight, the agent they use when shipping trophies. A reply was back that afternoon. Peter had forwarded the question onto Nick Spence of Riatt International Freight( the experts that I happen to use, based in Brisbane, to handle my trophy importation). Apparently I could bring home a Brown Hyena!

Lucky I didn't shoot as the Brown Hyena is a nocturnal animal, a special Namibian permit is required before it could be harvested. As hyena was not on the menu, Roy had never put in the application for a Hyena tag!!!!

Off topic: but something that I find interesting.
Oscar,head of Roy's anti poaching team, keen eye found these in one of the front paddocks, close to the main dirt road heading back to Omaruru. It is guessed that these shackles date back to the old German colonial days and could have been used in prisoner transport back to the coast.
Something is wrong, it won't let me upload the photos of the handcuff's!

 

[drew416]

Have managed to upload the handcuff/shackles photo's into "my photo's" section.

 

[bluey]

there wasn't a pile of bones scattered around the cuffs?

 

[drew416]

No Bluey, no human remain found near them. The steel pieces were just scattered close to each other.

Since being made redundant I thought that I would be able now to extend my trip to the originally planned 12 full days. A quick cal to the airline a month before departure (Qantas for the return flights home), and all was settled. It became 11 days since missing the J'berg-Windhoek connection. My special thanks to all the unhelpful and lazy staff at O.R. Tambo.

By this stage I was now half way through my trip with only the Wildebeest in the salt. Red Hartibeest was also on the menu and we happen to spot a few running with a bachelor group of Impala. We surprise the mob on a water trough, dismounted the old Land Cruiser and proceeded on foot to case. The wind kept swirling making it difficult to get close. A shooting chance was offered by a fine looking mature male, but I didn't take it. There was just too much bush between us and I honestly could not see anything more than is head through the Leupold 3-9X50. A moments hesitation was all that was needed for him to simply vanish. I never saw another Hartibeest for the rest of my stay.

The baiting programme was progressing and I looked forward to every morning going out to check/re-bait and down load the cameras. Let me say there are some big Cat's in the area that include Roy's farm in their home range. But they don't get big by being Stupid. The older cat's seem to know what a bait is and won't touch it or start looking for the blind.

As can been seen this monster size Cat is either to full from the abundance on Oryx calves or knows what's going on. A quick sniff..... and gone....These are the only trail camera photo's of this Cat.

 

[Royal27]

He needs to go on a diet worse than I do!

 

[Bsums]

That cats belly is nearly dragging on the ground. He must be going to the all you can eat oryx buffet.

 

[BnC 04]

Keep it coming...Anticipation is killin' me.

 

[drew416]

Whilst sitting around the fire one night, with Roy doing one of his specialty bar-b-ques, I mentioned that I was unable to take I nice Kudu last year in Zim. Roy said that he has had some monster size bulls on his property but hasn't seen them for a while. He hoped that rabies hadn't taken them as he had a few stock losses to the disease and we found a few dead Kudu's to support the theory. The Eland cow we used for bait may have even been taken by the disease??

Next morning we were scouring the dry river and creek beds that crisscross Roy's farm looking for the elusive Kudu. After all morning and afternoon and seeing dozens of Cows and immature Bull's Roy asks if I would be ok with the idea of trying our luck on a property 10km away called Narcoco. I held no objections. A quick call was made to Ziggy, one of the partners, and we were of next morning.

On arrival at Narcoco we were greeted by Ziggy and were offered to use his newer model Land Cruiser with much quieter Petrol engine and smooth coil spring suspension as our hunting vehicle. Ziggy said he had seen many large bulls in the river banks on his place. He even phoned Royin the afternoon to tell him this 3-4 days ago, but Roy said we were about to head to the blind to wait, and that we will be back later. As we did.

Ziggy is not a real farmer, he is just one of 4 partners who jointly own the farm. He is however the only partner who is a keen hunter and gives Roy exclusive hunting rights.

Alas Ziggy's "big bulls" were all to immature to harvest. Again we saw many cows and bachelor bull herds but nothing a keeper. Roy explained that the Kudu's, Eland and Leopard are all truly "free ranging' animals. They just jump over or go through the fences. " What was on my property this morning could be poached on next doors farm in the afternoon" Roy said.( some farmers just don't have the time, manpower or care factor to peruse an anti-poaching programme). We headed back to Otjandaue Farm empty handed that morning.

When we returned to camp I got to see fist hand what Roy was saying. About a few hundred meters from the building I stayed in (hunter lodge) is the cattle yards, with gates wide open so horses and cattle can drink from the trough inside. I watched as the cows jumped the fence next to the open gate.

 

[CAustin]

Great story so far keep it coming

 

[drew416]

We head back out to Ziggy's, again in the afternoon that day. Do the customary vehicle swap again and head out from the house complex to the river systems once again.

This time both Roy and I spot a Bull that "wasn't there this morning". Roy says he's not the biggest he's seen but he is mature, and it is my decision. I ask if we can line up a shot?

The Older bull didn't play the "stare at us game" like his younger brothers, and was off. Crashing through the thick growth on the banks of a large dry river bed. Just about out of sight he stopped to give us one last look- as though he was giving us "the finger". I shouldered the 8mm and shot offhand. The bull ran to the report of the firing and was now out of sight with me in hot pursuit. Roy asks " Did you get him". I reply "yes but I know it was a bad shot".

We force our way through the riverbank growth to emerge in the sand. No Kudu but see some fresh tracks where something has ran through the sand. It wasn't till we were on the other side of the large dry river that one of Roy's Fox Terriers picks up the scent and is off like a bullet. In fact it is the dogs name.
Roy calls him back so we can all reassemble together, as we were all spread out on the bank looking for tracks, and head after the dog as one.

It was easy to follow once I knew which way to go and the drops of blood were getting bigger and more frequent. Then it is noticed he is dragging one leg.

Now even I could track this animal blindfolded. The amount of blood is now not drops but small pools. The drag marks are getting longer and after what seemed a short distance to me, ( actually was closer to a couple of km), Ziggy spots the majestic creature. Standing there looking straight at us waiting patently for his coup de grace. Another shot and he was down.

Not the biggest , but a mature bull all the same, but a nice wide "V". For those who are interested in inches (I am not by the way) he was perfectly symmetrical at 50" -50" .

For those still interested in inches- Roy shot this 60"er on his farm and was mounted by his wife Janet who does all the taxidermy "in house"

He hangs on the wall in Roy's thatched roof dining area, along with other displays of Janet's work. I will share these later when I bring the topic of conversation around to her and specifically, her work.

 

[James.Grage]

keep it rolling...

 

[ROCKET]

I got hoocked with the size of that cat in the trail cam......He looks out of his shape, I saw that with a couple of Jaguars.....when the neck is biggest and widest than his head, get ready.....you are in front of a mounster trophy......!!!!!

Please......keep going with this great hunting tale buddye.....!!!!!