DryFly1995
AH member
Just did a quick intro, but thought I’d start with a trip report. I just just finished my first African safari in Namibia with @ZANA BOTES SAFARI. Along my journey, I found the resources of this forum invaluable. I hope this adds a little bit of value back.
I didn’t grow up with romanticized dreams of traveling to Africa, let alone hunting in Africa. As a kid, Africa was Heart of Darkness, Live Aid and famine, Rwandan genocide, the shadows of Apartheid, Gothic Serpent, and wide-spread coups.
When I started hunting as an adult, the Africa of Hemingway, Roosevelt, Ruark, Bell, Capstick, and Selous just weren’t on my radar.
At this point I don’t even remember what initially piqued my interest in Africa, but at some point, I started to wonder.
It didn’t take long before I stumbled across this forum and started reading every trip report and all the logistical advice I could find. I started researching how conservation and hunting worked in Africa. Africa’s conservation model was a bit of a mystery and admittedly, I had a lot of erroneous preconceptions.
The more research I did, the more I became interested in hunting Africa, and mentally committed to giving it a try.
For a multitude of reasons, I eventually decided on a plains game hunt in Namibia. After reading multiple trip reports, I reached out the three Namibian outfitters/PHs, one of which was Zana Botes of @ZANA BOTES SAFARI . Zana was quick to respond, answered all my initial questions, and offered the opportunity to talk with previous clients. After a couple more months of due diligence, about two years out from my desired trip dates, I committed and sent a deposit for 10 days of hunting with Zana in central Namibia.
Since I was renting a camp rifle, packing was extremely light: a backpack and roller carry-on. It wasn’t until I was through security at the airport that it seemed like I was finally headed for Africa.
I connected through Newark to Johannesburg, supported by Jennifer at @TRAVEL EXPRESS . Travel went smooth, but it was comforting to know I had someone to help if I needed it. After the 15 hour trans-Atlantic leg, I had a welcome overnight at Africa Sky. After a great dinner, a little bit of sleep, and a solid breakfast, it was back to the OR Tambo airport for a quick two hour flight to Windhoek.
I arrived early afternoon, Zana met me at arrivals, and we left for the one hour drive to his property. That afternoon, I put a few rounds through the suppressed Blaser 300WM camp rifle and we drove around looking for game. That first evening, we stalked on some wildebeest, which I am pretty sure was as much an analysis of me in the field as it was a stalk.
One of the reasons I chose Zana Botes Safari is that it was a family run operation that had a single client/party at a time. The facilities were spectacular. We ate dinner with the PHs and Zana’s family every night. I had a clean comfortable room with a private bath and hot shower. When not hunting, we spent most our time in the open air common area which was part dining area, bar, braai, lounge, and hunt planning area.
The food was amazing and prepared by Zana’s wife Tanya and a small staff. Every meal (at my request) had wild game as the main protein. We routinely had impala, oryx, springbok, blue wildebeest, black wildebeest, and eland.
I’m not much of a breakfast eater, so our day typically started with a couple cups of coffee and we’d depart about 30 minutes prior to BMNT, depending on where we were headed. We’d hunt all morning, which included driving, walking to known water holes, or climbing up to a glassing knob looking for game. If we weren’t in direct pursuit or had an animal on the ground, we’d break in the middle of the day for a 2+ hour hearty lunch. Then go back out for a late afternoon and evening hunt, getting back after dark. Then a quick shower, cocktail hour, review of the day and discussion of tomorrow, dinner, and to bed by 10p.
This was my first guided hunt and Zana and his staff exceeded all expectations. Eddie was the primary PH, but almost everyday Zana was out with us all day. We also had an apprentice PH, driver/tracker (an outstanding fellow, Moses), and sometimes the skinner/tracker would come along.
I said from the outset, my top priority was a trophy kudu, but we agreed that we would pursue other animals as we saw them. Before arriving, I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to pursue, but as I spent time on the ground, some animals I was keen on where less impressive. But, there were also other animals that I was marginally interested in, but once I saw them, they moved up “the list.”
Every stalk, every shot, every animal is a memory and a story, but to keep things brief I’ll stick to the highlights and more memorable instances that even now seem a bit of a blur.
The first few days moved very fast and it took me a while to settle into the rhythm of the hunt. Very early in the trip, I was able to take a zebra, management oryx, and impala. In between, we were looking for kudu. We’d see one from a distance, try to get closer, and try to re-locate. They really do just disappear into the landscape.
From the start I told the team, I would potentially be interested in a second impala. We found a large buck near a small lake and set up on the sticks. I made the shot through a small opening in the brush and the lakeside exploded with animals. Other impala, waterbuck, black wildebeest, springbok, and warthogs appeared out of nowhere and started running in every direction. While I am still watching the impala I just shot, I hear the Zana say, “wow, that’s a big waterbuck.”
We quickly find the dead impala and go through the normal rituals of pictures and loading the animal onto the truck, when Zana says what becomes one of my favorite phrases, “let’s go for a walk.” I immediately know we’re going to look for the waterbuck. After a mile or two of walking, Zana and Eddie indicated they could smell the waterbucks. We made a wide arching circle making sure to keep the wind in our favor. Eventually, as we moved from bush to bush, we saw a group of cows and set up the sticks. Zana and Eddie were pretty sure the large male was in the group. As the cows started to get restless, a large male stood up and he was much larger than I expected. Over the past few days, we’d seen a couple younger males and a bunch of females and for some reason in my head, I thought the bulls were slightly bigger than a mule deer: in reality, he was much larger. The male big male stood up, stayed broadside for a second, and I took my shot. Definitely an animal that was a much better trophy than I had anticipated.
I also had the opportunity to take a springbok which was a fun dynamic hunt. We snuck within 100-200yds of a herd of about 50 males and females. After locating the largest buck, I watched through the scope as he maneuvered in front, behind, and through the herd. Eddie was keeping him in the binoculars and giving me vectors whenever I’d lose him in the group. For what seems like forever, he moved amongst the group and Eddie and I quietly gave each other updates on movement and shot obscurations. The buck finally stepped away by a few yards and turned broadside giving a clear shot.
After an overnight rain shower, we decided the next day, we’d look for eland and rely on the fresh dirt for tracks. We found a lone large eland bull track early and followed it’s meanderings until midday when it crossed a dirt road. We decided to break for lunch, since we knew exactly where we could pick the tracks back up. After a short lunch break we followed the tracks until evening when they commingled with other tracks and got lost in an open area of tall grasses. The next morning, we spotted a group of bulls and made an approach. We lightly bumped them and began the tracking process again. Throughout the day we continually tracked and bumped the small herd. Again the next morning, from a glassing knob we saw a lone bull and made an approach. We tracked him for about a half mile until we could hear his “clicking” and we step by step maneuvered around the bush. We knew he was just on the other side of a bush, probably 40-50yds in front of us. We continued the slow step by step approach using his “clocks” to gives an estimated location. We knew he was there, we just couldn’t see him. We set up the sticks and waited. After a couple minutes his head appeared and stared straight towards us. He knew something was there, he just couldn’t see. After a few minutes, he took one more step and turned his head and neck broadside providing a clear shot with the 375 H&H.
During the last third of the trip, we spent a large amount of time looking for kudu. We’d seen quite a few throughout the week, but either they were too young, too small, or when they were big enough continually gave us the slip and faded into the bush. As we looked for kudu, I was able to take a trophy oryx and warthog.
The last afternoon of my last day of hunting, we spotted a small group of kudu about a mile away that looked to have a large male with them. We watched for a couple hours, until they started to move, the sun was getting lower, and it was now or never. We closed the distance and knew we were within a few hundred yards of where we last saw them. We slowed our movements and saw a couple cows single file slowly moving up a hillside through an opening. We closed the distance and set-up the sticks. I lined up on the cows hoping the bull would be in trail.
Eddie and Zana quietly, but emphatically said, “look left, look left, you’re too far right, the bull is left of the cows. I swung the rifle left, still on the sticks. In my scope, I could just see his head, neck, and spine. But, his front shoulder and leg were obscured. He was also about 50-60yds further than I’d shot all week. It just felt too rushed with too many variables. I felt like if I pulled the trigger, I’d just be throwing a round out there and hoping it worked. He never took the step or two I needed to feel confident and after a few seconds turned and went uphill.
I had very mixed feelings about passing on that shot. In the last hour of the last day, Eddie and Zana did everything to get me into the best position possible for the best kudu opportunity we’d had in the past 10 days. I just couldn’t do it. I was willing to end the trip not pulling the trigger. I wasn’t willing to end the trip blood trailing an animal in the dark or early the next morning and possibly not recover him, because I decided to rely on “I hope it works” rather than a confident shot. Even now, as I reflect on the experience, I still have mixed emotions, but I’m confident I made the right choice for me at that time.
Overall, it was an amazing trip and an amazing experience. It’s hard to understand the number of animals you see, the number of stalks you get, and the number of shot opportunities. I tried to keep track one morning and estimated 400-500 mammals before 11am. 20 impala here. 6 zebra there. 7 giraffe over there. 3 kudu. 4 warthog. One 10-day plains game hunt gives the experience and repetitions it would take years to accumulate in the U.S. All parts of the animals are used and consumed. Zana and the team genuinely care about their animals and take great diligence in managing the health of the habitat and the animal populations.
Throughout the trip, I saw: warthog, springbok, kudu, francolin, guinea fowl, baboon, ostrich, hartebeest, black wildebeest, blue wildebeest, Hartmann zebra, jackal, bat-eared fox, giraffe, gemsbok, sable, waterbuck, lechwe, impala, eland, porcupine, duiker, sandgrouse, Egyptian goose, steenbok, and I am sure numerous other interesting birds I can’t name.
I was able to take a zebra, two impala, waterbuck, springbok, eland, oryx, warthog, and management oryx.
Now I am just bracing for the taxidermy bill and mentally planning my next trip to Africa.
I hope this write-up is just as useful to others as all the trip reports on this forum were invaluable to me. I would absolutely go back to hunt with Zana and recommend the experience to anyone interested.
I didn’t grow up with romanticized dreams of traveling to Africa, let alone hunting in Africa. As a kid, Africa was Heart of Darkness, Live Aid and famine, Rwandan genocide, the shadows of Apartheid, Gothic Serpent, and wide-spread coups.
When I started hunting as an adult, the Africa of Hemingway, Roosevelt, Ruark, Bell, Capstick, and Selous just weren’t on my radar.
At this point I don’t even remember what initially piqued my interest in Africa, but at some point, I started to wonder.
It didn’t take long before I stumbled across this forum and started reading every trip report and all the logistical advice I could find. I started researching how conservation and hunting worked in Africa. Africa’s conservation model was a bit of a mystery and admittedly, I had a lot of erroneous preconceptions.
The more research I did, the more I became interested in hunting Africa, and mentally committed to giving it a try.
For a multitude of reasons, I eventually decided on a plains game hunt in Namibia. After reading multiple trip reports, I reached out the three Namibian outfitters/PHs, one of which was Zana Botes of @ZANA BOTES SAFARI . Zana was quick to respond, answered all my initial questions, and offered the opportunity to talk with previous clients. After a couple more months of due diligence, about two years out from my desired trip dates, I committed and sent a deposit for 10 days of hunting with Zana in central Namibia.
Since I was renting a camp rifle, packing was extremely light: a backpack and roller carry-on. It wasn’t until I was through security at the airport that it seemed like I was finally headed for Africa.
I connected through Newark to Johannesburg, supported by Jennifer at @TRAVEL EXPRESS . Travel went smooth, but it was comforting to know I had someone to help if I needed it. After the 15 hour trans-Atlantic leg, I had a welcome overnight at Africa Sky. After a great dinner, a little bit of sleep, and a solid breakfast, it was back to the OR Tambo airport for a quick two hour flight to Windhoek.
I arrived early afternoon, Zana met me at arrivals, and we left for the one hour drive to his property. That afternoon, I put a few rounds through the suppressed Blaser 300WM camp rifle and we drove around looking for game. That first evening, we stalked on some wildebeest, which I am pretty sure was as much an analysis of me in the field as it was a stalk.
One of the reasons I chose Zana Botes Safari is that it was a family run operation that had a single client/party at a time. The facilities were spectacular. We ate dinner with the PHs and Zana’s family every night. I had a clean comfortable room with a private bath and hot shower. When not hunting, we spent most our time in the open air common area which was part dining area, bar, braai, lounge, and hunt planning area.
The food was amazing and prepared by Zana’s wife Tanya and a small staff. Every meal (at my request) had wild game as the main protein. We routinely had impala, oryx, springbok, blue wildebeest, black wildebeest, and eland.
I’m not much of a breakfast eater, so our day typically started with a couple cups of coffee and we’d depart about 30 minutes prior to BMNT, depending on where we were headed. We’d hunt all morning, which included driving, walking to known water holes, or climbing up to a glassing knob looking for game. If we weren’t in direct pursuit or had an animal on the ground, we’d break in the middle of the day for a 2+ hour hearty lunch. Then go back out for a late afternoon and evening hunt, getting back after dark. Then a quick shower, cocktail hour, review of the day and discussion of tomorrow, dinner, and to bed by 10p.
This was my first guided hunt and Zana and his staff exceeded all expectations. Eddie was the primary PH, but almost everyday Zana was out with us all day. We also had an apprentice PH, driver/tracker (an outstanding fellow, Moses), and sometimes the skinner/tracker would come along.
I said from the outset, my top priority was a trophy kudu, but we agreed that we would pursue other animals as we saw them. Before arriving, I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to pursue, but as I spent time on the ground, some animals I was keen on where less impressive. But, there were also other animals that I was marginally interested in, but once I saw them, they moved up “the list.”
Every stalk, every shot, every animal is a memory and a story, but to keep things brief I’ll stick to the highlights and more memorable instances that even now seem a bit of a blur.
The first few days moved very fast and it took me a while to settle into the rhythm of the hunt. Very early in the trip, I was able to take a zebra, management oryx, and impala. In between, we were looking for kudu. We’d see one from a distance, try to get closer, and try to re-locate. They really do just disappear into the landscape.
From the start I told the team, I would potentially be interested in a second impala. We found a large buck near a small lake and set up on the sticks. I made the shot through a small opening in the brush and the lakeside exploded with animals. Other impala, waterbuck, black wildebeest, springbok, and warthogs appeared out of nowhere and started running in every direction. While I am still watching the impala I just shot, I hear the Zana say, “wow, that’s a big waterbuck.”
We quickly find the dead impala and go through the normal rituals of pictures and loading the animal onto the truck, when Zana says what becomes one of my favorite phrases, “let’s go for a walk.” I immediately know we’re going to look for the waterbuck. After a mile or two of walking, Zana and Eddie indicated they could smell the waterbucks. We made a wide arching circle making sure to keep the wind in our favor. Eventually, as we moved from bush to bush, we saw a group of cows and set up the sticks. Zana and Eddie were pretty sure the large male was in the group. As the cows started to get restless, a large male stood up and he was much larger than I expected. Over the past few days, we’d seen a couple younger males and a bunch of females and for some reason in my head, I thought the bulls were slightly bigger than a mule deer: in reality, he was much larger. The male big male stood up, stayed broadside for a second, and I took my shot. Definitely an animal that was a much better trophy than I had anticipated.
I also had the opportunity to take a springbok which was a fun dynamic hunt. We snuck within 100-200yds of a herd of about 50 males and females. After locating the largest buck, I watched through the scope as he maneuvered in front, behind, and through the herd. Eddie was keeping him in the binoculars and giving me vectors whenever I’d lose him in the group. For what seems like forever, he moved amongst the group and Eddie and I quietly gave each other updates on movement and shot obscurations. The buck finally stepped away by a few yards and turned broadside giving a clear shot.
After an overnight rain shower, we decided the next day, we’d look for eland and rely on the fresh dirt for tracks. We found a lone large eland bull track early and followed it’s meanderings until midday when it crossed a dirt road. We decided to break for lunch, since we knew exactly where we could pick the tracks back up. After a short lunch break we followed the tracks until evening when they commingled with other tracks and got lost in an open area of tall grasses. The next morning, we spotted a group of bulls and made an approach. We lightly bumped them and began the tracking process again. Throughout the day we continually tracked and bumped the small herd. Again the next morning, from a glassing knob we saw a lone bull and made an approach. We tracked him for about a half mile until we could hear his “clicking” and we step by step maneuvered around the bush. We knew he was just on the other side of a bush, probably 40-50yds in front of us. We continued the slow step by step approach using his “clocks” to gives an estimated location. We knew he was there, we just couldn’t see him. We set up the sticks and waited. After a couple minutes his head appeared and stared straight towards us. He knew something was there, he just couldn’t see. After a few minutes, he took one more step and turned his head and neck broadside providing a clear shot with the 375 H&H.
During the last third of the trip, we spent a large amount of time looking for kudu. We’d seen quite a few throughout the week, but either they were too young, too small, or when they were big enough continually gave us the slip and faded into the bush. As we looked for kudu, I was able to take a trophy oryx and warthog.
The last afternoon of my last day of hunting, we spotted a small group of kudu about a mile away that looked to have a large male with them. We watched for a couple hours, until they started to move, the sun was getting lower, and it was now or never. We closed the distance and knew we were within a few hundred yards of where we last saw them. We slowed our movements and saw a couple cows single file slowly moving up a hillside through an opening. We closed the distance and set-up the sticks. I lined up on the cows hoping the bull would be in trail.
Eddie and Zana quietly, but emphatically said, “look left, look left, you’re too far right, the bull is left of the cows. I swung the rifle left, still on the sticks. In my scope, I could just see his head, neck, and spine. But, his front shoulder and leg were obscured. He was also about 50-60yds further than I’d shot all week. It just felt too rushed with too many variables. I felt like if I pulled the trigger, I’d just be throwing a round out there and hoping it worked. He never took the step or two I needed to feel confident and after a few seconds turned and went uphill.
I had very mixed feelings about passing on that shot. In the last hour of the last day, Eddie and Zana did everything to get me into the best position possible for the best kudu opportunity we’d had in the past 10 days. I just couldn’t do it. I was willing to end the trip not pulling the trigger. I wasn’t willing to end the trip blood trailing an animal in the dark or early the next morning and possibly not recover him, because I decided to rely on “I hope it works” rather than a confident shot. Even now, as I reflect on the experience, I still have mixed emotions, but I’m confident I made the right choice for me at that time.
Overall, it was an amazing trip and an amazing experience. It’s hard to understand the number of animals you see, the number of stalks you get, and the number of shot opportunities. I tried to keep track one morning and estimated 400-500 mammals before 11am. 20 impala here. 6 zebra there. 7 giraffe over there. 3 kudu. 4 warthog. One 10-day plains game hunt gives the experience and repetitions it would take years to accumulate in the U.S. All parts of the animals are used and consumed. Zana and the team genuinely care about their animals and take great diligence in managing the health of the habitat and the animal populations.
Throughout the trip, I saw: warthog, springbok, kudu, francolin, guinea fowl, baboon, ostrich, hartebeest, black wildebeest, blue wildebeest, Hartmann zebra, jackal, bat-eared fox, giraffe, gemsbok, sable, waterbuck, lechwe, impala, eland, porcupine, duiker, sandgrouse, Egyptian goose, steenbok, and I am sure numerous other interesting birds I can’t name.
I was able to take a zebra, two impala, waterbuck, springbok, eland, oryx, warthog, and management oryx.
Now I am just bracing for the taxidermy bill and mentally planning my next trip to Africa.
I hope this write-up is just as useful to others as all the trip reports on this forum were invaluable to me. I would absolutely go back to hunt with Zana and recommend the experience to anyone interested.
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