DG&Doubles
AH member
I daresay I am no modern Capstick or Hemingway unlike some of you on here, so please forgive the word butchery.
Originally, around this time last year, I had plans to be hunting in Zimbabwe, with the main goal of hunting a dangerous trio of Dugga boy, Croc and Hippo (preferably on land). But as we know, man plans and God laughs...
I decided on cancelling said Zimbabwe hunt after my father fell into ill-health, but also got to thinking that I may be able to kill two birds with one stone here. I could go "home" to Namibia, do some hunting and see my parents and family, all on the same trip.
A little background story on me and my family. My father got his PhD in Marine Biology and Ichthyology from Virginia Tech back in the Stone Age. He went on to teach at the University of Maryland before receiving grants to do studies in Africa on crocodiles and their use of thermoregulation. In particular, along the Zambezi river, in northern Namibia and in Lakes Kariba, Ngezi (Zimbabwe) and even Cahorra Basa (Mozambique), all while using radiotelemetry.
Having grown up in Namibia, I thought this would be an amazing opportunity to pay homage to the old man and hunt the country I grew up in and love so much. Enter Divan Labuschagne. Although I had not met Divan personally, I had gotten in touch with him as I know he is a hunter with similar tastes to that of myself; especially for old brutes of Elands and Tusker Warthogs. And I know he has a passion and penchant for hunting very big crocodiles.
-Its a Pirates Life for Us.
-Blackbeard himself
I flew Into Katima Mulilo Mpacha Airport on Sunday 29th September, having just missed the horrendous and devastating storms by a mere few hours after leaving Atlanta on Friday, two days prior. To any and all affected by the storms, my heart goes out to you all and God bless.
First order of business was picking up our game scouts at the Conservancy office and then going to sight in the rifle. The moment of truth came, and the first shot using Divan's Heym 375 chambered in 375 H&H was in the Black. Bullseye. I took one more shot, just to familiarize myself to the action and trigger a bit more. 3/4 inch low but dead center. We were both happy with that. I had passed the first test.
Monday 30th - 1st day of actual hunting
We would be hunting along the Mighty Zambezi river, and in particular, the Sikunga Conservancy. Our plan for the day was using the boat, we would be travelling Eastward towards the end of the conservancy and just scouting for large croc whether in water or hopefully sunning on banks. We made it all the way to the end of the Conservancy without having seen any stand-out monsters. As we turned around, we saw what was an extremely wide and likely large (from what little we could see) crocodile sunning itself on what was the Zambian side of the river, with most of its upper body and head laying down-slope, into the water.
GPS marker 1 added
Maybe 2Km back upriver we continued to where we saw another very large crocodile, what we estimated to be at least a good 13ft with good head and teeth of him before he slipped into the river and dove under.
GPS waypoint 2 added
It was getting late in the day and we had spent a good a good 8plus hours on the river so we were heading back to camp for a nice shower, meal and to gameplan the next day. And fall asleep at 2200 exhausted only to wake up at 0130 wide away and not be able to sleep again. I know I'm not the only one.
Tuesday 1st - 2nd Day of hunting
Over dinner we had decided that we would use a bait and while the bait was out, we could continue scouting the river and always return to see if the bait had been hit. We met with farmer who had some goats for sale and a deal was made. I won't go into further detail. Sacrifices were made. Thank you goat.
So, we headed out, placed the baits in what were thought were good positions, allowing for easy tracking of crocodile spoor if they came for the bait, shallow water allowing for an easier shot, as these big crocs are very wily and oftentimes do not like to show themselves completely. We thought this may lull this into a false sense of security. Sadly, we did not account for one element...
We spent much of this day scouting a channel that villagers had said there was a man-eater in.
Wednesday 2nd October - 3rd Day of hunting
Tuesday had turned out to be a pretty uneventful day, Lots of baiting, scouting around. Listening to villagers with stories about how a certain crocs had killed 5 villagers in the past few months. Next to one of our bait sights, we had found a dead, maybe 7ft crocodile, that had had it's tail completely bitten off by an obviously much larger male in the area. So that was pretty cool. The weather had gotten steadily cooler as each day went on, and it was maybe mid 80s forecasted today, but the water temperature was very cold.
We set off early as usual in the boat, at around 8am or so. We were seeing a lot of crocodiles out, much earlier than usual, likely due to the weather and the colder water temperature. It seems they were having to get as much heat as possible.
Checking the Baits
The first order of business was checking the baits, and... Drumroll... they'd been hit. by Zambians. LOL. Guess that's one of the risks you take when using meat around protein starved villagers. Oh well...
The first stalk
On the way back from checking our baits we saw what was a very big croc sunning itself on a very steep bank, on a very big island there. We moored the boat quietly and myself, Divan and one of the game scouts got out. This would be tricky. This big fella had situated himself on a very steep cliff, over very fast flowing and deep water, likely over 5m deep. Thoughts and doubts were already running through my head about his shitty placement. I've seen enough crocodile video's to know, even with an almost perfect shot, the slightest twitch of his tail and this guy would be gone.
Due to the wind, we had to stalk around and come into him, the way he was facing. Crouching low, moving slow, Divan set up the sticks, whispered for me to shoot "him right behind the horns to anchor him", I half stood up and realized due to how steep the cliff was and the fact that we had stalked within about 8m of this big croc, the angle was too steep for the sticks. "I'll freehand it" I whispered, "It's too steep". As I stood up fully the croc saw me and with a swish of his massively powerful tail, he was gone into the fast flowing river.
The Second Stalk
Exciting stuff. That had got the juices flowing. To have stalked that close to a very big crocodile was an amazing experience. We carried on back up-river and maybe after 1.5km, on the southern bank, saw a very big crocodile sunning himself. Round 2. We put in downwind, worked our way slowly towards this massive croc, I trailed and stayed back at first, waiting for Divan's say so. He had gone ahead and ushered me forward whispering in my ear "he's a big croc, but he's laying under a bank" (the crocodile was laying in a sort of J form, with tail curled under the bank from the direction from which we were approaching from). "I cant see his tail, but his head looks big, so I want you to come take a look at him". I nodded and silently trailed Divan, imitating where he stepped and made sure to limit my noise or watch for clothing getting caught on the numerous thorn and limit vibration. As Divan and myself were trading places, so I could take the lead, we startled 2 Franklin who were in a bush maybe a few meters from this massive old croc. They busted and flew and he launched off the steep bank and once again, into the river. He hadn't even seen us. As I saw its tail propel it into the water, I saw how large it truly was. It had been a very big crocodile and I had confirmed as much to Divan. Neither of us were down or dejected though. Two very good and close stalks into two very aware apex predators. I was having an absolute blast.
The Third Stalk - 3rd Times a Charm.
We continued back upriver to where we hadn't dropped a bait, but had thrown some guts, as this was sort of in-between where we had seen the two large crocodiles of the very first day, and the same rough area, where the Conservancy scouts and villagers had been saying other villagers and cattle had been eaten.
As we were scouting the sight, we saw a few very small crocodiles and carried on for maybe 500m until we saw a very large crocodile sunning itself on a flat, sandy beach and not some horrendous cliff, with fast flowing and 5m plus deep water within a tail flick distance.
Riaan, our boat guide, who had originally seen in, skirted to the opposite side of the river as to not alarm the beast and then slowly out into the bank, maybe 300m up from it. Once again, myself, Divan, and one of the Game Scouts exited.
The wind was in our favor, there was a high bank overlooking his position from the direction we put in from. All we had to do, was work our way into there, without being spotted or busted by some avian creature.
This true dinosaur was very much enjoying what little sun was out before I was able to put the first shot into his head at around 60m. 2nd and 3rd shot for insurance went into his shoulder just to anchor him. This monster of a Dinosaur measured 15ft and I can't imagine how old he is. Likely 65-70?
I don't have enough words or praise for Divan and Urbanos, or Riaan of Caprivi River Lodge. But if you want a Helluva PH and even better guy, who offers some of the best hunting in Namibia and Botswana and more than fair prices and who goes the extra mile for his clients, he is your guy.
-Adam
Originally, around this time last year, I had plans to be hunting in Zimbabwe, with the main goal of hunting a dangerous trio of Dugga boy, Croc and Hippo (preferably on land). But as we know, man plans and God laughs...
I decided on cancelling said Zimbabwe hunt after my father fell into ill-health, but also got to thinking that I may be able to kill two birds with one stone here. I could go "home" to Namibia, do some hunting and see my parents and family, all on the same trip.
A little background story on me and my family. My father got his PhD in Marine Biology and Ichthyology from Virginia Tech back in the Stone Age. He went on to teach at the University of Maryland before receiving grants to do studies in Africa on crocodiles and their use of thermoregulation. In particular, along the Zambezi river, in northern Namibia and in Lakes Kariba, Ngezi (Zimbabwe) and even Cahorra Basa (Mozambique), all while using radiotelemetry.
Having grown up in Namibia, I thought this would be an amazing opportunity to pay homage to the old man and hunt the country I grew up in and love so much. Enter Divan Labuschagne. Although I had not met Divan personally, I had gotten in touch with him as I know he is a hunter with similar tastes to that of myself; especially for old brutes of Elands and Tusker Warthogs. And I know he has a passion and penchant for hunting very big crocodiles.
-Its a Pirates Life for Us.
-Blackbeard himself
I flew Into Katima Mulilo Mpacha Airport on Sunday 29th September, having just missed the horrendous and devastating storms by a mere few hours after leaving Atlanta on Friday, two days prior. To any and all affected by the storms, my heart goes out to you all and God bless.
First order of business was picking up our game scouts at the Conservancy office and then going to sight in the rifle. The moment of truth came, and the first shot using Divan's Heym 375 chambered in 375 H&H was in the Black. Bullseye. I took one more shot, just to familiarize myself to the action and trigger a bit more. 3/4 inch low but dead center. We were both happy with that. I had passed the first test.
Monday 30th - 1st day of actual hunting
We would be hunting along the Mighty Zambezi river, and in particular, the Sikunga Conservancy. Our plan for the day was using the boat, we would be travelling Eastward towards the end of the conservancy and just scouting for large croc whether in water or hopefully sunning on banks. We made it all the way to the end of the Conservancy without having seen any stand-out monsters. As we turned around, we saw what was an extremely wide and likely large (from what little we could see) crocodile sunning itself on what was the Zambian side of the river, with most of its upper body and head laying down-slope, into the water.
GPS marker 1 added
Maybe 2Km back upriver we continued to where we saw another very large crocodile, what we estimated to be at least a good 13ft with good head and teeth of him before he slipped into the river and dove under.
GPS waypoint 2 added
It was getting late in the day and we had spent a good a good 8plus hours on the river so we were heading back to camp for a nice shower, meal and to gameplan the next day. And fall asleep at 2200 exhausted only to wake up at 0130 wide away and not be able to sleep again. I know I'm not the only one.
Tuesday 1st - 2nd Day of hunting
Over dinner we had decided that we would use a bait and while the bait was out, we could continue scouting the river and always return to see if the bait had been hit. We met with farmer who had some goats for sale and a deal was made. I won't go into further detail. Sacrifices were made. Thank you goat.
So, we headed out, placed the baits in what were thought were good positions, allowing for easy tracking of crocodile spoor if they came for the bait, shallow water allowing for an easier shot, as these big crocs are very wily and oftentimes do not like to show themselves completely. We thought this may lull this into a false sense of security. Sadly, we did not account for one element...
We spent much of this day scouting a channel that villagers had said there was a man-eater in.
Wednesday 2nd October - 3rd Day of hunting
Tuesday had turned out to be a pretty uneventful day, Lots of baiting, scouting around. Listening to villagers with stories about how a certain crocs had killed 5 villagers in the past few months. Next to one of our bait sights, we had found a dead, maybe 7ft crocodile, that had had it's tail completely bitten off by an obviously much larger male in the area. So that was pretty cool. The weather had gotten steadily cooler as each day went on, and it was maybe mid 80s forecasted today, but the water temperature was very cold.
We set off early as usual in the boat, at around 8am or so. We were seeing a lot of crocodiles out, much earlier than usual, likely due to the weather and the colder water temperature. It seems they were having to get as much heat as possible.
Checking the Baits
The first order of business was checking the baits, and... Drumroll... they'd been hit. by Zambians. LOL. Guess that's one of the risks you take when using meat around protein starved villagers. Oh well...
The first stalk
On the way back from checking our baits we saw what was a very big croc sunning itself on a very steep bank, on a very big island there. We moored the boat quietly and myself, Divan and one of the game scouts got out. This would be tricky. This big fella had situated himself on a very steep cliff, over very fast flowing and deep water, likely over 5m deep. Thoughts and doubts were already running through my head about his shitty placement. I've seen enough crocodile video's to know, even with an almost perfect shot, the slightest twitch of his tail and this guy would be gone.
Due to the wind, we had to stalk around and come into him, the way he was facing. Crouching low, moving slow, Divan set up the sticks, whispered for me to shoot "him right behind the horns to anchor him", I half stood up and realized due to how steep the cliff was and the fact that we had stalked within about 8m of this big croc, the angle was too steep for the sticks. "I'll freehand it" I whispered, "It's too steep". As I stood up fully the croc saw me and with a swish of his massively powerful tail, he was gone into the fast flowing river.
The Second Stalk
Exciting stuff. That had got the juices flowing. To have stalked that close to a very big crocodile was an amazing experience. We carried on back up-river and maybe after 1.5km, on the southern bank, saw a very big crocodile sunning himself. Round 2. We put in downwind, worked our way slowly towards this massive croc, I trailed and stayed back at first, waiting for Divan's say so. He had gone ahead and ushered me forward whispering in my ear "he's a big croc, but he's laying under a bank" (the crocodile was laying in a sort of J form, with tail curled under the bank from the direction from which we were approaching from). "I cant see his tail, but his head looks big, so I want you to come take a look at him". I nodded and silently trailed Divan, imitating where he stepped and made sure to limit my noise or watch for clothing getting caught on the numerous thorn and limit vibration. As Divan and myself were trading places, so I could take the lead, we startled 2 Franklin who were in a bush maybe a few meters from this massive old croc. They busted and flew and he launched off the steep bank and once again, into the river. He hadn't even seen us. As I saw its tail propel it into the water, I saw how large it truly was. It had been a very big crocodile and I had confirmed as much to Divan. Neither of us were down or dejected though. Two very good and close stalks into two very aware apex predators. I was having an absolute blast.
The Third Stalk - 3rd Times a Charm.
We continued back upriver to where we hadn't dropped a bait, but had thrown some guts, as this was sort of in-between where we had seen the two large crocodiles of the very first day, and the same rough area, where the Conservancy scouts and villagers had been saying other villagers and cattle had been eaten.
As we were scouting the sight, we saw a few very small crocodiles and carried on for maybe 500m until we saw a very large crocodile sunning itself on a flat, sandy beach and not some horrendous cliff, with fast flowing and 5m plus deep water within a tail flick distance.
Riaan, our boat guide, who had originally seen in, skirted to the opposite side of the river as to not alarm the beast and then slowly out into the bank, maybe 300m up from it. Once again, myself, Divan, and one of the Game Scouts exited.
The wind was in our favor, there was a high bank overlooking his position from the direction we put in from. All we had to do, was work our way into there, without being spotted or busted by some avian creature.
This true dinosaur was very much enjoying what little sun was out before I was able to put the first shot into his head at around 60m. 2nd and 3rd shot for insurance went into his shoulder just to anchor him. This monster of a Dinosaur measured 15ft and I can't imagine how old he is. Likely 65-70?
I don't have enough words or praise for Divan and Urbanos, or Riaan of Caprivi River Lodge. But if you want a Helluva PH and even better guy, who offers some of the best hunting in Namibia and Botswana and more than fair prices and who goes the extra mile for his clients, he is your guy.
-Adam
