Namibia Plains Game Hunt

Divemaster · 04-20-2008, 01:46

Ok, I'll bust the cherry on the Hunting & Fishing forum. I'm in the early planning stages of a safari to Namibia in 2009. Has anyone here been there already?

Rogue · 04-20-2008, 15:04

Haven't been there personally, hunted in South Africa over 20 years ago, and things have drastically changed. A good reference would be "Under Wild Sky" magazine put out by Sporting Classics. Their circulation manager Carol A. Tolley (carol@sportingclassics.net) just returned from safari at Camp Eden in Namibia a couple of weeks ago. Maybe she may be a good source of current first hand knowledge.

Divemaster · 05-01-2008, 00:37

I've gotten a lot of information on hunting in Namibia from the forums on Accurate Reloading and Nitro Express.

Since I'm home on leave for a couple of weeks, I took the wife to Cabela's for her light Africa rifle the other day. We decided on a Ruger M77 in .30-06. She shoots that round well, I like the controlled round feed, and it is adequate on plains game. Her priorities will be kudu, gemsbok, zebra and warthog. We bought a Nikon Monarch 2.5x10 scope with the BDC reticle. We'll get out to the range next week and she'll have to practice a lot on her own after I go back to the box.

I'll be shooting a Remington 700 in .300 Win Mag topped with a Leupold VX-I. That is unless I buy myself another rifle before hand. Our last two gun purchases have both been for the Mrs. so I figure I'm due.

The 700 is a push feed design, but we're not hunting dangerous game and I'm comfortable with the design thanks time behind the M24.

I'll also be looking for a kudu and gemsbok, but would like to add an eland and red hartebeest. Dangerous game is a bit out of our price range this time around, but I'm pretty sure if we go again the wife is going to insist on hunting leopard and I'll want to hunt Cape buffalo.

Have any members, Rogue of course, hunted (animals, not bad guys) in Africa?

Rogue, would love to read details of your safari.

Rogue · 05-01-2008, 06:18

i'll guess i'll have to sit back and put all the details down shortly. I had taken a kudu while there, using a .300 Weatherby with an original Wby Scope. I have my own Weatherby's, however this Wby was owned by Karl, the bank manager in Johannesburg for whom I was setting up security at the time. I wish i would have had more time, as i would have loved to have had the chance to take a couple of other species, however work took precedence over pleasure back then. My goal as well is Cape Buffalo, when funds permit.....

BTW..... is www.veteransjewelry.com your place?

Rogue · 05-02-2008, 08:24

Back in the early 1990’s, after having worked 8 straight months, seven days a week, fourteen hours a day, I had the good fortune of receiving an offer of 7 days of hunting and fishing with the principle I was working for in Johannesburg. Four days were spent on safari at Blaauwkrantz in the malaria-free Eastern Cape, South Africa. About a 45-minute drive from Port Elizabeth. Blaauwkrantz is a 60 000 acre hunting ranch with access to millions of more acres. This area holds the East Cape Kudu (largest herd in Africa). Beautiful lodge, and even more beautiful rolling hills of valley bushveld with an abundance of plains game. I had hoped to take Kudu and Impala. Only a Kudu was taken, with a .300 Weatherby, which was a tad overkill…. A .257 Weatherby would have sufficed. The food was excellent, as was the service. The final three days of this holiday were spent fly fishing for brown and rainbow trout at KwaZulu Natal. Talk about a hidden gem. Breathtaking still water and streams, with trout averaging 4-5 pounds. Pristine nature at it’s best. Seven days of true relaxation and enjoyment.