Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Kowas Safaris Namibia 2016

Just completed my 4th trip to Africa, three of them with the same outfitter.....Kowas Safaris in Namibia. Neither my words, nor the pics, will do the place justice, as the hunting is world class, the Straus' family, as hosts, have no peers and few equals, and the PH"s Jacque Straus and Matheus Theofalus also have no peers and few equals, IMHO.


Kowas operates in the Dordabis Conservancy which consists of over 400,000 acres of hunting ground, with the ranches we hunted consisting of sizes from 17,500 acres to over 40,000 acres each. The locals call them "farms", us Americans would call them ranches. This is a thorn brush environment that is choked with blackthorn, camel thorn, candlethorn, and a few other types of bushes that will rip your skin to shreds if you get too close. When you do get too close you will be instantly given a reminder. The area also consists of numerous hills and low mountains which are extremely rocky and harsh, and the lower ground is predominantly a red sandy type soil. The area is also currently in drought condition, and is in the late Winter season, so vegetation shows the effects of lots of grazing.

Each and every morning at the camp we would be greeted with sun rises such as this: It never got old.

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Morning, mid-day, and evenings would find us staring at a buffet style setup in which we would serve ourselves. This particular picture was of dinner one night. It consisted of potatoes, mixed vegetables, a sweet pumpkin desert dish she called "pumpkin cakes", oryx steak cordon bleu, which is two oryx filets with a cheesy sauce and ham stuffed in between them, then lightly fried like chicken fried steak. Just to the right of that is a mushroom sauce for the steaks. To say it was good is an understatement. It has to be one of my favorite meals I've ever eaten in my life, as I am particularly fond of oryx steaks.

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.....and then make our way over to the dining area. The view was fantastic as we ate our meals. We were often distracted by waterbuck, warthogs, impala, and an occasional kudu. There were loads of guinea fowl and sand grouse in front of us in the brush, as there is a water hole there.

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The stars of the show though, at least around camp, were the two immature meerkats that for some reason had become semi-docile prior to our arrival. Their momma had gotten killed by some predator. They were the most friendly little guys you can imagine.

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One day during mid day, I had eaten lunch, sat down to learn something about rugby from the boss, and this guy came over, ate a few potato chip crumbs from my hand, and took a siesta.....

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Then came those unforgettable sunsets......

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......and to say were were spoiled by all of these things would be an understatement. The evenings around the fire pit would only top off another fantastic day of hunting.