Africa was a dream of mine since I was 18. That was a long time ago. It took me 21 years to make it come true, but I did.
I asked my wife if she wanted to go, nope. Daughter, nope. 8 year old. Yes! So I went to SCI Vegas looking for options. Long and short of what I learned is that any of the plains game outfitters will bend over backwards to help out a kid. I ended up buying a trip with Uhlenhorst Hunting Safaris out of Namibia.
Fast forward, after 20 plus hours in airports and planes and customs, we arrive in Johannesburg about 7pm local time. We have a hotel for the night and will fly to Namibia in the morning. Johannesburg airport has NOTHING open at 3 in the morning when you wake up.
Next day was an easy flight and drive to Uhlenhorst. Shot the rifles. My son takes after his mom, not his sister. His shooting ability still has a long way to go. Outfitter needed to see what he had to work with.
We had a list of animals in the package. Some where my son's if we could get close enough. Other's were mine.
Kudu was mine and first up. The first morning we glassed this bull from about a mile away.
The next morning we went out in hopes of getting a springbuck for my son. We sat a blind over a water hole. He did me proud.
Literally as we were loading his sprinbuck in the truck we saw a really great blesbuck. Screw his bipod on and...
At this point, dad is feeling left out, so the hunt for gemsbuck starts. We see hundreds. It doesn't take long for me to figure out what we are looking for. "Yes, bull but young. Old, cow. They are about to calve." Cows can have longer horns. Bulls are heavier. When I saw him I knew.
My son's goal was a warthog. It was the only animal he really wanted. Our outfitter had a sure thing spot up north for warthog, but we tried a local spot for a morning because we were ahead of schedule. Sure enough, a shooter came in, on the other side of the concrete sheep tank. My son had about 2 inches of lung above the tank. He smoked him! We saw the blood as he left. Took us a bit to find him, like all high lung shots, not a lot of blood.
One very satisfied 9 year old.
Same 9 year old getting tired of taking pictures
Mountain zebra was next on the list of animals I wanted to hunt, but we had a day before we could go to that property, so we looked around and found an impala I couldn't refuse.
Next day off for mountain zebra, about 3 hours away. Country was a lot different.
We were hunting on a private ranch that boarders the national park set up to ensure the mountain zebras' survival. It has done it's job and they are thick on the Park and many areas around it. This old stallion had been kicked out of the herd. He was going back and forth an a little range of hills. Gave us the slip several times. We were about to quit when we saw him crossing a draw right next to the truck.
This was the most challenging animal we hunted. Kudu are like elk. They spook, they leave the country. Zebra were sneaky.
Here are a few more highlights.
Monitor lizard Hoekus caught to show my son.
Weaver bird nest in the sunset.
Bacon wrapped kudu tenderloin over camel thorn wood fire. Namibian sushi!
My springbuck.
Good beer. Can't get it here.
I asked my wife if she wanted to go, nope. Daughter, nope. 8 year old. Yes! So I went to SCI Vegas looking for options. Long and short of what I learned is that any of the plains game outfitters will bend over backwards to help out a kid. I ended up buying a trip with Uhlenhorst Hunting Safaris out of Namibia.
Fast forward, after 20 plus hours in airports and planes and customs, we arrive in Johannesburg about 7pm local time. We have a hotel for the night and will fly to Namibia in the morning. Johannesburg airport has NOTHING open at 3 in the morning when you wake up.
Next day was an easy flight and drive to Uhlenhorst. Shot the rifles. My son takes after his mom, not his sister. His shooting ability still has a long way to go. Outfitter needed to see what he had to work with.
We had a list of animals in the package. Some where my son's if we could get close enough. Other's were mine.
Kudu was mine and first up. The first morning we glassed this bull from about a mile away.
The next morning we went out in hopes of getting a springbuck for my son. We sat a blind over a water hole. He did me proud.
Literally as we were loading his sprinbuck in the truck we saw a really great blesbuck. Screw his bipod on and...
At this point, dad is feeling left out, so the hunt for gemsbuck starts. We see hundreds. It doesn't take long for me to figure out what we are looking for. "Yes, bull but young. Old, cow. They are about to calve." Cows can have longer horns. Bulls are heavier. When I saw him I knew.
My son's goal was a warthog. It was the only animal he really wanted. Our outfitter had a sure thing spot up north for warthog, but we tried a local spot for a morning because we were ahead of schedule. Sure enough, a shooter came in, on the other side of the concrete sheep tank. My son had about 2 inches of lung above the tank. He smoked him! We saw the blood as he left. Took us a bit to find him, like all high lung shots, not a lot of blood.
One very satisfied 9 year old.
Same 9 year old getting tired of taking pictures
Mountain zebra was next on the list of animals I wanted to hunt, but we had a day before we could go to that property, so we looked around and found an impala I couldn't refuse.
Next day off for mountain zebra, about 3 hours away. Country was a lot different.
We were hunting on a private ranch that boarders the national park set up to ensure the mountain zebras' survival. It has done it's job and they are thick on the Park and many areas around it. This old stallion had been kicked out of the herd. He was going back and forth an a little range of hills. Gave us the slip several times. We were about to quit when we saw him crossing a draw right next to the truck.
This was the most challenging animal we hunted. Kudu are like elk. They spook, they leave the country. Zebra were sneaky.
Here are a few more highlights.
Monitor lizard Hoekus caught to show my son.
Weaver bird nest in the sunset.
Bacon wrapped kudu tenderloin over camel thorn wood fire. Namibian sushi!
My springbuck.
Good beer. Can't get it here.