NAMIBIA: Our Hunt With Orpa Hunting Safaris

[chundoo]

My wife and I recently returned from our trip to Namibia where we hunted with Dirk Smit at Orpa Hunting Safaris. I will attempt to provide a report on our hunt to share some of the highlights of our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our 19 days there and the time we spent with Dirk and his lovely wife Thea. I was hunting a leopard plus a few plains game I hadn't hunted on my two previous safaris and my wife was after a zebra and an oryx. There were two main reasons for choosing Orpa for this trip, free ranging animals (no high fences) and they only take one group at a time.

 

[chundoo]

We arrived at Orpa around 4 PM on Sept 10, spent about an hour getting settled into our room, then off we went to the rifle range to verify the rifles were zeroed. Then took a short drive around part of the farm to check leopard baits and get a brief introduction to the farm. Dirk and Thea decided to keep the safari operation on a personal level so only accommodate one group at a time. There are four rooms so the group can have a number of people in it. The lodge and dining areas are on the second floor above the rooms with a bar and very nice grill complete with pizza oven. Thea does all the cooking unless Dirk does it on the grill. Dirk does all the driving, tracking, and PH work himself unless the group is too large in which case he enlists the aid of one or more of his neighbors which are also licensed PHs. Thea also handles all the housekeeping and laundry with assistance from two native women. Orpa is a working farm so has cattle, sheep, and goats which require water and salt which the wildlife enjoy sharing. No feed is put out for the animals at all, they thrive on the wild forage available. Dirk’s farm has 16,000 hectares which is about 40,000 acres. He also has access to hunt several neighbors’ farms of about the same size. None of these farms are high fenced, one one of the neighboring farms is high fenced which was done in early 2014 but Dirk never hunted there anyway. Consequently, all the animals we saw were free ranging with the ability to come and go at will. Obviously some species prefer specific habitat so can usually be found there. Each species prefer to eat certain types of plants which dictate these areas and as long as the rainy season is good those plants will continue to thrive and the species will hang around, otherwise they’ll migrate to other areas which provide them what they desire. The grass was quite high while we were there making it difficult to spot smaller species in the thick bush but the high grass is good for all the grazers so can’t be considered a negative thing at all. It did make it hard to find a nice trophy duiker since they prefer the thickest areas and are short enough that the tall grass really made it difficult to spot them. We saw a typically gorgeous African sunset that evening and then returned for supper and conversation until 10 followed by a shower and some sleep in preparation for our first day on safari.

 

[ROCKET]

Well....here We are looking forward in yor hunting trip mate.....good start but as you know.....pictures, write up is what We want, more and more.....no limits.......!!!!!.......

 

[CAustin]

Hope you will share some pictures with us.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Look forward to those pictures and any details you want to share.
Love to read hunt reports.

 

[gillettehunter]

Good start. Don't stop so soon. Bruce

 

[dory]

You cant stop there I just put my seatbelt on and settled in for a good read
More please .!

 

[baas303]

I see a good story coming, Don't let us wait too long LOL. Just kidding, take as long as you will... but not too long....

Dries

 

[Royal27]

Great start - keep it coming!!!!

 

[Wheels]

Looking forward to the rest of your report and the photos.

All the best.

 

[chundoo]

I apologize, I got distracted on other things and never followed through with the rest of the report. I will try to get it finished and include many pictures along the way. Please bare with me.

 

[chundoo]

We saw many spectacular African sunsets during our time there.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I apologize, I got distracted on other things and never followed through with the rest of the report. I will try to get it finished and include many pictures along the way. Please bare with me.

We're still here and looking forward to the next instalments.

 

[Deleted member 15212]

We're still here and looking forward to the next instalments.

what he said^^^

 

[Warbird782]

19 days on the ground should equate one heck of a good hunt story!

 

[johnnyblues]

AND.....................your killin me....I leave for Namibia in September for the same exact hunt....I anxiously await the rest of your report!

 

[Bobpuckett]

Good start really want to read the rest of it. Awesome Sunset!