NAMIBIA - Return For Damara Dik Dik With KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS

[dchum]

I first Hunted in Namibia 2 years ago with my father and friends. Thanks to this form we had a great first hunt with @KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS

I convinced my good friend @JINKLE to go with me one day soon, so we made a pact. I knew this was a great opportunity for me to return to Namibia and try to take a unique little antelope from a country I have great interest in.

The Damara Dik Dik is a sub species of Kirk’s Dik Dik;
which is commonly found in east Africa mainly Tanzania. But all the way across the continent disconnected from his eastern cousins…lives the Damara Dik Dik. How they ended up here so discontent from all the sub species in the north east I don’t know.

I knew upon return this tiny antelope would have me travel to a new area as they do not inhabit the Khomas Highlands where we will be staying for most of the trip.

A week before I got packed and went to the ranch to do some shooting. I was bringing my Ruger #1 in 30-06 for what ever I would run into hunting in the highlands. I would be borrowing a .22 for the Dik Dik hunt.

2 inches high and ready to go! Shooting 168 gr Barnes.
Plenty for mountain zebra and Oryx, maybe even a kudu if I can’t resist myself! Will be fun hunting with no package and to just go hunting!

Flights were easy and Africa sky guest house was nice. I had done Qatar and Doha last trip. Spending the night JoBurg was good to get acclimated and have a nice meal.

South African Lamb chops and a decent wine was well received after the 15 hour flight from Newark

Short flight over the next day we landed in Namibia. Guns, bags and all. Beautiful! New E-visa was fine and noticed no different in customs speed from last trip.

My good friend and KHHS employee, Santos, was there to pick us up. Loaded up the Toyota and we were off to the highlands west of Windhoek. Just a short few hours and some rise in altitude… we made it to camp.

Shot rifles that evening and had a great dinner with late night drinks. Celebrating properly on the first night as always. We had T-bones steaks, only time we had beef the rest of the trip

A single shot off Jäger after dinner to get the “hunt” on its way…

 

[Mekaniks]

I first Hunted in Namibia 2 years ago with my father and friends. Thanks to this form we had a great first hunt with @KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS

I convinced my good friend @JINKLE to go with me one day soon, so we made a pact. I knew this was a great opportunity for me to return to Namibia and try to take a unique little antelope from a country I have great interest in.

The Damara Dik Dik is a sub species of Kirk’s Dik Dik;
which is commonly found in east Africa mainly Tanzania. But all the way across the continent disconnected from his eastern cousins…lives the Damara Dik Dik. How they ended up here so discontent from all the sub species in the north east I don’t know.

I knew upon return this tiny antelope would have me travel to a new area as they do not inhabit the Khomas Highlands where we will be staying for most of the trip.

A week before I got packed and went to the ranch to do some shooting. I was bringing my Ruger #1 in 30-06 for what ever I would run into hunting in the highlands. I would be borrowing a .22 for the Dik Dik hunt.

View attachment 688762
2 inches high and ready to go! Shooting 168 gr Barnes.
Plenty for mountain zebra and Oryx, maybe even a kudu if I can’t resist myself! Will be fun hunting with no package and to just go hunting!

Flights were easy and Africa sky guest house was nice. I had done Qatar and Doha last trip. Spending the night JoBurg was good to get acclimated and have a nice meal.

South African Lamb chops and a decent wine was well received after the 15 hour flight from Newark
View attachment 688767

Short flight over the next day we landed in Namibia. Guns, bags and all. Beautiful! New E-visa was fine and noticed no different in customs speed from last trip.

My good friend and KHHS employee, Santos, was there to pick us up. Loaded up the Toyota and we were off to the highlands west of Windhoek. Just a short few hours and some rise in altitude… we made it to camp.

Shot rifles that evening and had a great dinner with late night drinks. Celebrating properly on the first night as always. We had T-bones steaks, only time we had beef the rest of the trip
View attachment 688768
A single shot off Jäger after dinner to get the “hunt” on its way…

EXCELLENT!!! Looking forward

 

[375er]

Wait! What happened to the .22 Hornet??

 

[dchum]

The first hunting day came quick, I was still a bit tired and jet lagged. We made some tea and loaded up. It was a long first hunting day with no good luck. Fun stalks but no dice.

For day 2 day we would hunt a little different. Santos and I would get dropped off in one valley. Water bottles, shooting sticks, binos, ready! And the rest of the crew would moved on. Me and Santos waked to a salt lick in that valley and then started on a game trail. In almost 10 minuets of creeping in the now knee high grass, we bumped something. We heard the plate rocks crash, and it was close. An oryx bull runs away from us and stops. Instantly Santos says it’s a good bull shoot quickly. I never even got to see the head or horns. I was trusting Santos judgment.

Without time to even use the rear support of the quad sticks I shoot and hit the bull square in the shoulder. No more than 80 yards away he stumbled down. One more while his head was still up and it was over.

It was a grand bull - it went 90cm on the longer horn and was the first bull to do so this year for them. Right at 35 inches. Always exciting hunting these oryx on low fence cattle ranches. You never know what you will get

Not as old as my last one, but long and in his prime. I can appreciate both type of trophy’s

Santos with the 90cm bull we jumped. He was happy

It’s rare to get shots inside of 200 yards here. Bumping this bull and having him stop at 80 yards was pure luck.

 

[dchum]

Wait! What happened to the .22 Hornet??

It was my friends and he ended up not making the trip.
He still offered me to take it but I didn’t want to bring two rifles.

They had a .22 hornet waiting for me any ways! More on that

 

[hoytcanon]

Nice... waiting for the rest of your report...

 

[Hunt anything]

All of the TT have intrigue me since I laid eyes on a red duiker, the first game I ever saw in Africa.
Looking forward for the rest of the story!

 

[dchum]

We were having a blast hunting in the Khomas region and the mountains were providing. We had planed to road trip to Erongo for a Dik Dik hunt on the 4th day of the trip. But a cold front started to approach and high winds followed. These winds would make the Dik Dik hunker down, combine that with the 2 foot tall grass…

It was decided between Philip and the farm owners hosting us for the Dik Dik hunt that we should wait out the weather. We would push back the journey and continue to hunt in the Khomas region for now.

I was still eager to travel north and hoped the weather would clear soon. This Dik Dik was the reason I came back to Namibia in the first place!

We enjoyed many nice field lunches the next few days. Find a cool shady spot in a valley or a dry river bed and set up camp. Fresh baked bread and oryx sausage grilled up on open fire.

It was decided that we would push the Dik Dik hunt again one more day. All the way to 6th day of a 7 day hunt. I was now a bit worried. This did not allow us to go back or stay if we were not successful on the first try. But I can’t control the weather so you just roll with it. Me and @JINKLE would continue to hunt in the Khomas highlands.

Santos and I were dropped off in a flat scrub area. We were going to try and jump a big wart hog or duiker. We could see some mountains in the horizon and Santos would occasionally stop and glass the face of them in the distance.

Santos eventually sees a heard of 4 Hartmanns on the side of a face. I say let’s go after them if we have time. A bit surprised, Santos smiles and says ok let’s go then. The rock face and the zebra were just under 980 yards away and the wind was right

(The zebra are on the little face of this small hill. Santos was surprised to see the zebra in this area as it is not very steep

We gained ground fast and began the final approach. We jump up a steinbok,he scares us and luckily not the zebra…
We are on our knees so as to see under the brush we are using to conceal ourselves. Santos explains to me
“the stallion is facing to the left in the shade, 200 meters”
We both stand and open the quad sticks. I get settled in and can now see the zebra in my scope. All the commotion of us getting set up had alerted the small breeding group. They were now looking in our direction.

I feel very steady and take the shot. I hear the report and solid smack. A hit! I reloaded the single shot and get ready, that’s when Santos says “I think it was a gut shot…”
4 zebra all run up out of the ravine some 400 yards away but we don’t shoot, they are all healthy. As they go over to the other side and out of sight we see one more… it’s our stallion. Slowly climbing and blood on his mid side. He was going for the top. I shoot quickly as he’s cresting. Santos says he thinks he heard the hit and maybe saw the zebra drop?

The grass is tall and we still can’t find any blood. We now know that the first shot was very far back and can’t confirm the second shot even hit him. We think he might have joined up with the rest of the heard and we never saw him go over. We are searching the crest they were heading for. A good 30 minutes into the search, as the sun is fading, we find my stallion down. The grass was so tall you had to be on top of him to find him.

My second shot was pure luck and hit the back of the neck as he ran away. Glad it ended things cleanly. The zebra was a very large and very old Stallion. He will make for a great shoulder mount with his golden snout and massive dewlap.

The mountain zebra has offered the best hunts I have been on in my two short trips to Namibia. It reminds me of hunting Aoudad in west Texas. True spot and stalk with lots of glassing.

This would be the end of my hunting in the Khomas Highlands. As for my next hunt we would road trip north into the Erongo region. It would be flatter and much warmer, with small steep mountains. These are the foot hills of Mount Erongo and would be a great setting for hunting a Damra dik dik.

 

[dchum]

All of the TT have intrigue me since I laid eyes on a red duiker, the first game I ever saw in Africa.
Looking forward for the rest of the story!

Yes I saw Klippies my first safari and also hunted hard for a Steenbok. Since then I appreciate all of the tiny antelope.

On this latest trip I saw klipspringer almost daily. They are in good numbers and saw some decent rams. Next time!

I also passed on a grey/bush duiker that was just not large enough to excite me.

 

[Pablo]

I hoisted a DosXX for you at Soluna this evening!

 

[dchum]

Finally the day has come. We were up at 6:30 ready to hit the road. @JINKLE , PH Juan, and I would be the crew heading to Erongo. 6 hour round trip - We would be hunting north west of camp, but our journey had us start by going east for a bit…

Central Namibia received much rain this wet season and many of the roads were in bad shape.
So we accounted for this and took the extra time to go through Windhoek and do a big loop. That way we could stay on paved roads for as long as possible and not risk it.

We just about hit the open road and PH Juan starts to look for his phone. We pull over and do a good search of the Toyota. Nothing…
He has the gate address to the farm, the what’s app contact of the Farm owner, etc etc. He is also the only one that would have phone service. Of course Philip gave us all detailed directions but in our youthful arrogance we said “ya ya, we will just map it in the morning” I say let’s just turn around and go and get your phone Juan. We will loose 2-3 hours but at least we will get there. Juan says “Nah let’s go hunt, we will figure it out”

Long story short we get lost. We’ve tried a few exits but nothing feels right (neither of us have ever been to where we are going). We are all frustrated.
We stop at a petrol station and ask the black lady behind the counter for the WiFi password. I explain that we are lost and our guide can’t find his phone. The white gas station owner arrives and gives us wifi access. She also knew the owners of the farm we were looking for and laughs as we had ended up 100 miles off from “Okondura”. We load up again, now with screen shots of maps and written directions in German. All was sorted and we would arrive to Dik Dik country shortly. The land scape had now changed, red rocks, termite mounds, and much lower elevation.


We made it - just east of Karibib is a 4th generation Farm. Small steep hills are the start of the Erongo mountains. A long bumpy ride in and we finally see a structure. It is a home with a nice cactus garden and pool. A kind woman greet us and says we are late! she is Martina, She and her husband own the ranch. Also, her son is Ralf Liedtke - who is a resident PH for Mayo Oldiri in Cameroon. Martina is very proud of her PH son. she insisted on pouring us tea and told many hunting stories. Erongo has huge leopard it sounds like…

After tea she hands us the .22 hornet. It is a West German made Anschutz with a set trigger. We shoot a Red Bull can at 40 yards and all was good. We picked up a farm worker who would be our guide. He can speak Africans so he and Juan work well together navigating the vast ranch.

It is now late in the afternoon and we do not see any Dik Dik. We have spotted mountain zebra, klippies, kudu, and oryx but still no dik dik. The grass is very tall here in Erongo as well. It had been 6 hours of cruising and no sightings. I was loosing hope.

As the sun is getting low @JINKLE quickly points from inside the Land Cruiser. I now see two little heads in the grass bounce away. We all dismount and walk into the brush. Immediately Juan sees one looking at us. He says ram but we are not sure and it moved away. We tip-toe and sneak further after them. Now on top of a dry creek bed looking down we see bushes moving. Two female Dik Dik are feeding 30 yards away. They are not very spooked of us on foot. Glued to our binos Juan spots a ram. He whispers and motions us over. We side step 10 yards up to him and he points out the little ram. He is walking up a bank of a dry creek bed. Going away from us. I pull the set trigger and aim at his rear. The front hair trigger goes off and I see ram roll over. We run up and all smile.
From being lost, to doubtful hunting. We were now successful in the last 30 minutes of hunting that I had left.

This farm is over 40,000 acres and only receives 2 Damara Dik Dik permits a year. I was lucky to be able to use one. Not the biggest but I was so happy to get a mature ram. It was a fun adventure and I would recommend adding a Damara Dik Dik hunt to your central Namibian safari.

@KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS

 

[Mekaniks]

Finally the day has come. We were up at 6:30 ready to hit the road. @JINKLE , PH Juan, and I would be the crew heading to Erongo. 6 hour round trip - We would be hunting north west of camp, but our journey had us start by going east for a bit…

Central Namibia received much rain this wet season and many of the roads were in bad shape.
So we accounted for this and took the extra time to go through Windhoek and do a big loop. That way we could stay on paved roads for as long as possible and not risk it.

We just about hit the open road and PH Juan starts to look for his phone. We pull over and do a good search of the Toyota. Nothing…
He has the gate address to the farm, the what’s app contact of the Farm owner, etc etc. He is also the only one that would have phone service. Of course Philip gave us all detailed directions but in our youthful arrogance we said “ya ya, we will just map it in the morning” I say let’s just turn around and go and get your phone Juan. We will loose 2-3 hours but at least we will get there. Juan says “Nah let’s go hunt, we will figure it out”

Long story short we get lost. We’ve tried a few exits but nothing feels right (neither of us have ever been to where we are going). We are all frustrated.
We stop at a petrol station and ask the black lady behind the counter for the WiFi password. I explain that we are lost and our guide can’t find his phone. The white gas station owner arrives and gives us wifi access. She also knew the owners of the farm we were looking for and laughs as we had ended up 100 miles off from “Okondura”. We load up again, now with screen shots of maps and written directions in German. All was sorted and we would arrive to Dik Dik country shortly. The land scape had now changed, red rocks, termite mounds, and much lower elevation.


We made it - just east of Karibib is a 4th generation Farm. Small steep hills are the start of the Erongo mountains. A long bumpy ride in and we finally see a structure. It is a home with a nice cactus garden and pool. A kind woman greet us and says we are late! she is Martina, She and her husband own the ranch. Also, her son is Ralf Liedtke - who is a resident PH for Mayo Oldiri in Cameroon. Martina is very proud of her PH son. she insisted on pouring us tea and told many hunting stories. Erongo has huge leopard it sounds like…
View attachment 689666

After tea she hands us the .22 hornet. It is a West German made Anschutz with a set trigger. We shoot a Red Bull can at 40 yards and all was good. We picked up a farm worker who would be our guide. He can speak Africans so he and Juan work well together navigating the vast ranch.
View attachment 689662

It is now late in the afternoon and we do not see any Dik Dik. We have spotted mountain zebra, klippies, kudu, and oryx but still no dik dik. The grass is very tall here in Erongo as well. It had been 6 hours of cruising and no sightings. I was loosing hope.
View attachment 689667
View attachment 689668
As the sun is getting low @JINKLE quickly points from inside the Land Cruiser. I now see two little heads in the grass bounce away. We all dismount and walk into the brush. Immediately Juan sees one looking at us. He says ram but we are not sure and it moved away. We tip-toe and sneak further after them. Now on top of a dry creek bed looking down we see bushes moving. Two female Dik Dik are feeding 30 yards away. They are not very spooked of us on foot. Glued to our binos Juan spots a ram. He whispers and motions us over. We side step 10 yards up to him and he points out the little ram. He is walking up a bank of a dry creek bed. Going away from us. I pull the set trigger and aim at his rear. The front hair trigger goes off and I see ram roll over. We run up and all smile.
From being lost, to doubtful hunting. We were now successful in the last 30 minutes of hunting that I had left.

View attachment 689670
This farm is over 40,000 acres and only receives 2 Damara Dik Dik permits a year. I was lucky to be able to use one. Not the biggest but I was so happy to get a mature ram. It was a fun adventure and I would recommend adding a Damara Dik Dik hunt to your central Namibian safari.
View attachment 689669
View attachment 689671
@KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS

Excellent Cheers

 

[DAK]

Awesome write up! Was just in Namibia last month and saw a few dik dik, now regretting not pulling the trigger but always good to have more reasons to return. Thanks for taking us along with you!

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Congratulations!

 

[Dudders]

Congratulations on the dik dik. We missed the turning off the main road and Philip was driving luckily we didn't go to far.

 

[PARA45]

Beautiful animals taken, congratulations!

 

[dchum]

Awesome write up! Was just in Namibia last month and saw a few dik dik, now regretting not pulling the trigger but always good to have more reasons to return. Thanks for taking us along with you!

That is a good reason to go back! I know I am glad.

 

[dchum]

Excellent Cheers

Thanks chuck. You would dig the new set up!

 

[Mekaniks]

Thanks chuck. You would dig the new set up!

Yes it sounds like they have been working really hard on the new lodge for sure.
Glad you all had a good time and its great to see all the positive reports coming back this year

 

[Trogon]

@dchum, sincere congratulations on your Dik-Dik quest and all of your other trophy animals. Always hate to read of unfavorable weather conditions during a hunt. Thank you for sharing your report and photos of the trip. I'm seriously considering Namibia for my next trip, and reading your hunt report is steering me further in that direction, having never been there.