NAMIBIA: Getting Nasty In Namibia With ZANA BOTES SAFARI

[Doug3006]

Well???

 

[PARA45]

Yes sir, we are patiently (not) waiting for the rest of the report.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Just got back yesterday from 24 days in Namibia with Zana Botes Safaris. Starting where I left off was the business class flights were ok for comfort but nothing special.

Once underway we had no flight interruptions or delays and were picked up promptly by Zana Botes himself upon leaving baggage claim with all our luggage including rifles. We went right outside to the police station and received the rifle permit(took 10 minutes) and off to base camp we went.
Zana Botes Safaris camp has 2 parts that include both a high fence(approximately 12,000 acres) and low fence(approximately 3,000 but boarded but larger low fence properties). This traditional cattle working ranch is stocked with:
Oryx
Red Hartebeest
Black and Blue Wildebeest
Common Springbok
Impala
Eland
Sable
Lechwe
Giraffe
Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra
Kudu
And a single camp mascot Ostrich to name a few. You can check with Zana for the comprehensive list.
Not stocked but seen were:
Leopard
Cheetah
Genet
Honey Badger
Aardwolf
Jackal
Bat Eared Fox

We arrived at the lodge of which I only took a one pic.(Sorry). Nice comfortable place with our own room and bathroom. All your conveniences are there.

HH

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Within the first week of the Leopard hunt we have 3 different Leopards coming into the baits. Their names are:

Skull Rock Cat

Chubby

Stumpy

The problem is that everyone of these cats would come in and eat on a bait and then instead of coming back the next morning or early evening they would F**k off for 7-10 days. My wife sat with Zana and his apprentice PH Tertious 8 different times waiting for them to come in over the next 3 weeks but simply could not seal the deal.
Zana and team went over and above to try and get it done but alas it was not meant to be.
We did our part shooting plenty of bait animals of which here are but a sampling;

HH

 

[DPHunter4570]

24 days. That would be awesome!

 

[Philip Glass]

Good Day my fellow hunting enthusiast! My wife and I are on the precipice of heading to Namibia with Zana Botes Safaris for a 28 day hunting adventure with Ndovu, Chui, and Nyati (Elephant, Leopard, and Cape Buffalo) on the menu.
This all started with the desire to get my wife a Leopard after the famous Hyena pack tearing hers to bits and running off with it last year in the Selous region of Tanzania. She was a tad upset after that and I was instructed to go get her a replacement hunt to meet our respective needs.
After interviewing quite a few operators and having some really good options I decided on Zana Botes in Namibia. I booked the hunt for the Leopard with plans on meeting with him at SCI in Nashville this past show. While at a Broadway watering hole in Nashville my phone alerted me to an own use Elephant hunt in the Caprivi Strip auction that was coming up that Zana had donated to SCI. Never let a good opportunity pass I always say, so after watching the auction climb to a bit of a stall I began to bid and ended up winning the auction.
The next day I went to the show and met Zana and his wife Tanya and hit it off. They are both very pleasant and Zana spent the better part of an hour answering all of our questions about the hunts.

HH

You will love Hunting with Zana! I can't wait to hear the tales that will come from this adventure.

 

[Philip Glass]

Good luck and enjoy your hunt. Will say of my recent and first trip to Africa, the flights were the worst. My first United flight delayed multiple times ultimately making me miss the flight from Newark to Johannesburg (and that was with an almost 8hr layover). Then on my return, with Lufthansa, landed in Frankfurt to an email saying my flight to Anchorage was cancelled. They got me rebooked and after couple extra flights made it home about 9 hours later than originally scheduled.

One sore spot was that Lufthansa booked me on United in economy, not first class as I was for my cancelled flight. After a few calls back and forth between United and Lufthansa, both saying I needed to talk to the other, Luftansa refunded me big chunk of change, but not what the last minute first class upgrade was on United.

Biggest sore spot was while Luftansa sent me to United, they kept my bags for some reason. My roller made it to Anchorage around the same time as me, but didn’t go through customs with me at Ohare. My Rigby BGR didn’t show up until three days later which went through customs/TSA without me present to open so arrived with my expensive locks cut off and tossed loose inside the case and others locked on I had to grind off.

Next year will give Delta a whirl.

Delta and TSA locks next time.

 

[Philip Glass]

Armament:
For this trip I’m taking an R8 Success in 300 Win Mag with a Banish Backcountry suppressor and an R8 Selous in 458 Lott.
I had custom loads developed for both from Pendleton Ammunition.
300 Win Mag: 200 grain ELDX @ 2950 fps
458 Lott: 470 grain CEB Raptor @ 2280 fps
500 grain CEB Solids @ 2280 fps

All ammunition is incredibly accurate with most shots touching or punching through the same hole.


View attachment 616581

All loaded up and ready for the airline’s abuse.

HH

Wow, what a setup!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

My wife and I did take 2 very nice Red Hartebeest and spotted many more that were of this caliber. We spotted them(2 separate occasions but similar circumstances)from the truck a long ways off and preceded to make stalks to close the distance and execute the shots. Coincidentally both were located in the low fence side of the property.

HH

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Before I move on to the Caprivi I would be remiss if not mentioning the fabulous meals in camp cooked by Samuel. Here is but a sample;

All the bread is cooked fresh twice a day…

HH

 

[Hunting Hitman]

We decide to at least make a run at the Caprivi since Zana has his assistant Tertious still working on getting my wife her Leopard. With 6 days remaining we embark on the 12 hour drive to base camp.

Base camp is the traditional tented camp with power/wifi/and hot showers.

We head out the first morning to the northern part of the Bamunu Conservancy of which Zana has exclusive hunting rights to. I am holding an own use Elephant tag but had discussed with Zana my desire to only shoot a mature animal with broken or less than desirable tusks rather than just a meat bull for the village.
We have a bull in mind as we head out that morning and quickly come upon his tracks. We proceed to follow him throughout the morning but his tracks headed out to the area and we returned to camp.

That afternoon we are hunting the Chobe river side(which by the way is completely dry) of the concession and not seeing any elephants or tracks worthy of pursuing decide to go for Zebra. Nicolas informs us that a village nearby needs the meat and I’m eager to test the newly developed Cutting Edge Raptor & FPS loads I got from Pendleton Ammunition.
This area has thousands of Zebra! You can drive by them with no reaction but stop the car and they run like Usain Bolt in the 100 meter dash.
We find an island of thick brush and park the car behind it and wait for the zebra to walk by. After a few minutes we find a big stallion in the heard and wait for him to get clear for the shot.

*Side Note*
I was told about the bullets properties and wanted to follow the recommendations given to me for the 458 Lott 470 grain Raptor loads. They are simple;
1. Don’t shoot through brush
2. Make sure nothing is behind your target as the bullets will pass through it.

As the Zebra got free of the group at approximately 80 yards I aimed for the point of the shoulder and took the shot. The Zebra immediately dropped but was still kicking around a bit so I switched to a solid(500 grain Cutting edge Flat Point Solid) and aimed for the breast slightly behind and in between the front legs and take the shot. The Zebra somehow decides to get up and attempt to run away except the front half of his body no longer works. He snow plows around a bit and finally stands broadside to which i unleash another Raptor in the shoulder and that does the trick.
After Action analysis of the shots shows my first shot being about 8 inches high and the sheer impact and damage caused the Zebra to drop. The second shot and gone through its heart but the adrenaline had taken over and he was mostly dead whereas the final Raptor destroyed everything else. All bullets passed completely through the animal and honestly left a little bit of a gory scene.
Only photo I can show.

HH

 

[Hunting Hitman]

The next day we start early looking for tracks that might lead to the type of bull I’m hoping to bag. Lots of cows with calves walking through the area but we get some promising leads only to peter out after a few hours. We move to the Chobe River side of the concession to check the 2 water holes that Zana has been pumping.
We find lots of tracks of mostly cows and calves with a few younger 15-20 year old bulls. This is an example of one of those teenagers.

We continue looking for the right bull when the tracker Risco taps on the roof. We immediately get out and see what he has seen. It appears a small group of Dugga boys is working through the reads with one of them being the worn tips version that I’m looking for.

We begin the stalk through the reeds and get to within 80 yards of the group with no clear shot. The wind swirls and they bust us and begin to run away. We watch them for a bit but can tell they weren’t super spooked just caught a whiff of something and wanted to put some distance between us.

The Buffs run into a couple of other bulls and feel comfortable enough to stop and start grazing with them. We are now about 300 yards from the Botswana border and need to move quickly. We begin the stalk with Zana in the lead and me on his hip. We finally work to within 50 yards and the bulls begin to feed towards the right and are now about 200 yards from the border. The bull is third in the group and I wait patiently as he feeds into the clearing.
I place the crosshairs on his shoulder and let the 470 grain Raptor eat! The Cape is hit hard but busts to the right and I rack another bullet into the R8 barrel and let another Raptor fly which causes the buff to tumble. The Buff is laying up in the field in the process dying and I send a 500 grain Cutting Edge Flat Point Solid through his spine just above the tail aiming towards his breast plate to finish him off.

We take a look at the Raptors performance and it’s clear that it hits very hard and both shots get complete pass through. We agree that it will help with blood trails and are happy with the performance.

We are surprised to find the solid just under the skin after getting complete pass through of the Buff and looking like it’s ready to get reloaded again.

HH

 

[Fatback]

That’s a great looking buff HH, congrats.

 

[PARA45]

Wow!! What a beautiful Buffalo.

 

[gillettehunter]

Nice old buff. Congrats and good shooting.
Bruce

 

[enysse]

Really nice Cape buffalo! Congratulations!

 

[Nyati]

Nice buff, congrats !

 

[LWood]

Awesome buffalo!

 

[McKenzie Sims]

Great write up enjoyed catching up on it. Great old Buffalo bull love the worn-down tips,

I will say glancing at the food photos was not ideal as now I’m craving some good African camp food.
Congrats on the plains game for bait. I hope we get a twist to the end of the story that brings a leopard in for your wife. I loved my time in the Caprivi and getting to see your photos brings back memories, look forward to the end of the report.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Time to finish this Write up:

With one morning to go in the Caprivi we start early in search of an old track. After a few hours of searching nothing is really getting our interest when we spot a pair of warthogs with one of them flashing some ivory. One of the villages had requested a warthog for a festival of some sort and I was happy to oblige.
We got behind some reeds and began our stalk of the warthogs. They are about 500 yards away and even though we have some cover they are acting antsy so we take our time getting close. At the 106 yards to target point we have run out of cover and decide to take the shot. Sticks come up and I settle the Leupold VX6 HD firedot crosshairs on his shoulder and squeeze the trigger.

The 470 grain Raptor hits home and pancakes the warthog. No tracking is needed and hand shakes abound as we are going to have a happy village Chief.

With our time running out we head back to camp for showers, lunch, and friendly goodbyes to the Caprivi team with promises to return in the future.

We hit the road and 8 hours later stop at a guest safari lodge for the night. The next day is our fly home day so we make plans to meet the wife and some friends in Windhoek for lunch at Joe’s Beer House. We all have a great time with Zana playing tour guide and even stopping at the local taxidermist/souvenir shop so my wife can pick up some last minute gifts.

Check in at the airport goes smooth and we say out]r good to Zana Botes Safaris and Namibia with promises to comeback next year for both the Leopard and Elephants that we are missing.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Zana Botes Safaris as top notch in all facets of the Safari industry.

HH