The final leg of our trip takes us back to the local SCI dinner/auction. Another African plainsgame hunt was on the board, an 8 day safari, inclusive of 6 trophy fees, with Justus Brits of AfriHunt Safaris in the mountains of Northern Namibia near Etosha Park. The closest town was Otavi, just on the news for the gunfight with a rhino poacher. This hunt had no bidders at all! I finally put my hand up to open at $500 and that is where it stayed. The oddest thing was that these two hunts were on either side of a high fence whitetail hunt in Indiana that sold for $5,000! There's no explaining some folks!
I checked some references on Justus, including a report on AH, all seemed great. I contacted him and invited him to stay with us during his travels in the USA
, which he was able to do. We hit it off immediately and my concerns over the 'too good to be true' factor were alleviated.
In order to simplify travel, I almost always spend a night at Africa Sky guest house in Johannesburg between flights. This trip was no exception with stays at Africa Sky on our arrival in Africa, between the Limpopo and Zimbabwe hunts, and between the Zimbabwe and Namibia hunts. This takes tremendous pressure off the travel, not to mention that Queen, Leoni, Gibson, Willard and the rest of the Africa Sky staff make us feel like family. So, after a great dinner and restful night, we were back on a South African Air flight bound for Namibia. I should mention that our son Ben joined us for this leg of the trip which was outstanding! He thought that last years trip to Botswana was his once in a lifetime hunt in Africa, little did he know that he would be back almost exactly one year later!
Arrival and processing in Windhoek was the smoothest such experience that I have had in Africa. These folks appreciate hunters and make you feel welcome!
Justus was waiting for us and we were quickly on the road to his farm. It was a bit of a trek, about six hours with stops. Farm was a bit of a misnomer, this place is huge and Justus has access to many surrounding areas totaling on the order of a million acres. Basically, if we could see it, we could hunt it.
I gave Ben my allotment of package tags and told Justus that Ben and Sue were the priority but I would take a good eland if the opportunity arose. This is not ranch hunting like South Africa. The border fences between ranches are typically not game fences and the animals move freely throughout the country. Justus has exceptional trackers, in fact, his tracker from his elephant hunting days works on the farm and is pressed into duty for the more difficult assignments. Ben's gemsbok was one such after the first shot went somewhat awry. The tracking took us through miles of thick bush but ultimately ended successfully.
A beautiful black wildebeest. These were fascinating animals to hunt, very wary and prone to disappearing in a cloud of dust.
Sue made a wonderful shot on this absolutely outstanding springbok.
Sue has regretted her decision to do a european and flatskin on the oryx from Botswana last year. This fellow paid the price for that decision as he will be mounted on a pedestal. We watched the stalk, which went for at least a mile, from the top of a water tank.
A sociable weaver bird nest.
A last minute gift, Ben's red hartebeest is remarkably similar in size and configuration to Sue's.
Justus wanted this one horned eland taken out of the herd. He is not really the age class to shoot, but the one horned rascals are dangerous in the rut, frequently injuring or killing bulls with two horns. This was a cull shot not a serious stalk. Interesting, the shot was 300 yards off the sticks with the 9.3x62. I am VERY impressed with the 9.3!
Another fantastic African Sunset!
Following the hunt we made a trip to the skeleton coast, spending two nights in Swokomund and visiting Walvis Bay. Ben and I had an absolutely outstanding 4 wheeler trip into the Namib desert, highly recommended if you find yourself in the area!
