Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Namibia too

Partway through my hunt. So far a nice impala, nice gemsbok and 4 hartebeests. Passed on a lot of other stuff. Just north of Groot Fontaine today. Looking for kudu.
Can't do photos yet. Having a great time

As I suggested. You still have buff on the list?

Have a great time

No permits came through.

I got back last night. I went to work today. I came home to 116 temps and humidity.

I killed eland, kudu, gemsbok, duiker,wildebeest, warthog, hartebeest, and some cats. I shot several of some species. Had a great time. Loved the weather. Only thing I didn't get that I wanted was a steenbok and I saw a bunch of them, just not a great one.

I shot most of the stuff with my 300 H&H but did use my 458 and a 22 LR. Recovered 3 bullets even though I shot 20++.

Ate red meat for every meal there it seems. I thought eland was as good as anything and impala the next best. Had lamb ribs that were out of this world. I even ate cheetah- nobody else would, not even the blacks.

PICS!!!!!

Sounds like a great trip Dennis.

I'll try to post a few













I shot quite a bit more but this will do for now.

Thats some exceptional stuff!

Very nice. I really like the eland — the ‘gift of the gods’ — the one animal I wanted the most but missed out on.

Thanks, guys. I had no idea what the trophy quality is- the PH could always be blowing smoke up your butt. I killed a blue that is
really wide I guess. I didn't even care if I killed a kudu but we spotted it, made a stalk and I made a 410 yard shot of the stupid shooting sticks and found it myself while the tracker was looking for blood. Better to be lucky than good they say.

Here is the blue

Congrats Dennis, you took some exceptional animals with some age. Looks like a hell of a trip.

That IS a whopper Blue!

Love the pics dennis. Beautiful trophies. Love the eland pic, as it's the only big antelope I haven't shot. I was very surprised how beautiful the colors are in the hide of a blue wildebeest. In the sunlight they really are an awesome sight. Of all the pics to leave out, you left out the kudu??????? WTH?????? Congrats on a great adventure.

Hi Dennis,

Sounds like you had a great time!

The animals you took are all fine, mature animals. One of the great things about Africa is that unless culling, the PH isn't going to let you shoot a less-than-mature trophy--unlike some North American outfitters.


The biggie about Africa for me is the sheer abundance and variety of of Nature, including vegetation and smaller animals, such as birds. Probably mentioned this in one of our PM's, but almost every safari is like going hunting for the first time--unless, of course, you keep going back to the same place. Africa varies as much as North America from Arizona to Alabama to Alaska.

Did you go see the meteorite near Grootfontein?

Amazing pics. That 300 has done many things well in many climes!

Amen. Instead of doing the nap thing after lunch, I always had them drop me off at a water hole so I could just watch stuff with the binos. There is always an amazing array of animals around water. Once day we had probably 20 meerkats come in close and watching them was a real treat, and a few days later we had what looked like a 4ft long monitor lizard swim across the water towards us. I had no clue there were any there. The most beautiful creature I have ever seen in my 57 years was a lilac breasted roller.....so full of color you would think it was a bird from a cartoon.

Aren't lilac-breasted rollers amazing?

Have seen a number of other amazing birds (and animals) in Africa, one reason I always go not just with a copy of Jonathon Kingdon's FIElD GUIDE TO AFRICAN ANIMALS, but a couple of bird books. Southern Africa, just the part south of the Congo Basin, has more species of birds than have been seen in all of North America.

JGR: I always made it a point to spend quite a bit of time on waterholes-under the guise of looking for a warthog- I can ( and have..) sat there all day long as there is ALWAYS something to watch coming and going...lots of cool critters, great and small!

The whole experience was wild; the way they view animals, the way they hunt and their perception of Americans. I told them that we were experiencing way too much down-time. I wanted to hunt dawn til dark with no lunch. They didn't want to hunt that hard.

The area where we stayed had a bad rabies die-off of Kudu. I was the only one to see or kill a kudu on their place. We drove several hours north to a large farm north of Grootfontaine to hunt kudu. I saw some immature bulls and lots of cows. I killed my eland there as well as a duiker and some smaller stuff.

We hunted out of blinds a lot on that property and the PH hated it. I loved seeing all the birds that came in; hornbills, Leuries, francolins, guineas etc. I asked them if we couldn't get up early and track eland. They said we would give it a try. Skipped breakfast and drove the sandy roads looking for spoor. Found eland tracks and off we went. Caught up with a group and I shot the biggest bull. We spent the better part of 4 days trying to get kudu. I told them I could care less about kudu and to sweat it. I think the other two guys shot an impala and warthog between them.

When we got back we went to the only hilly area near us and I spotted two kudu bulls. One I eventually shot. After the first two days they saw how good we could shoot and expected us to shoot at ANYTHING. I killed my kudu at 410 yards (ranged AFTER I shot) off the stupid shooting sticks. Hit him high and he ran 125 yards before piling up. I found him while the tracker and PH scoured for blood. It was this laid back approach that let me enjoy it thoroughly.

After this I insisted on sitting in a couple of blinds that overlooked large pans where I could use my 15s on a tripod. I told the PH I didn't want him in the blind so they dropped me off with a peanut butter sandwich and a banana and I sat. I glassed up a horn point in a dried mud hole. I hiked over and dug a kudu bull out.

I had animals right in front of me for several hours, particularly one very nice black wildebeest. None of them smelled me or cared except the pigs and they ALL smelled me when they got down wind- even at 300 meters.

I shot two warthogs out of one blind and almost got my ostrich but a pig blew up when he smelled me and took them away. I eventually walked back to get a truck to load my pigs. They were stunned that I would walk a mile by myself... I did try for days to get a nice steenbok but it was not to be!