Now I understand why there are so many books written about Africa . I tried to write down everything I saw, experienced and felt every day I was there, but it wasn’t possible.  I also attempted the advice provided to me by a friend who is a successful outdoor writer and who referred us to our PH who he had previously hunted with in Namibia.  He said to jot down just a few thoughts at the end of each day because recording everything would be impossible. To no avail I’d start writing and couldn’t stop until my arm felt sore.  I was trying to capture and save every tiny bit of it while also trying to use all of the right words.  Of the books and stories I’ve read and videos I’ve watched, few come vaguely close to describing the feeling accurately.  I am convinced that there aren’t words, at least not in the English language.  Africa is truly the ultimate dream hunting experience combined with what seemed to us like a trip through time to a dream.  Every day we longed to wake up from it so we could take in everything more believably. 

Part of the fog in our heads was surely contributed to the extensive trip from Oregon to Frankfurt with a six-hour layover and then another jaunt to Windhoek.  Red hartebeests were visible from the airplane window upon our descent, and we made excited, wild-eyed, unbelieving looks at each other.   Our PH, Hannes Steyn of Kalahari Trophies, happily greeted us and loaded us into his Toyota Land Cruiser pickup. What a rig that was!  We’re still trying to figure out how to import one. 

We settled in for our first hunting destination, Hochland Nest (meaning “highland” or mountains in Afrikaans) where we began our ultimate hunting adventure for kudu and mountain zebra, a.k.a. “Burchells zebra.”   I chatted with Hannes the entire way as he named various species of birds, varmints and wildlife and explaining several sites along the way.  The 6-hour drive felt like minutes. 

The similarities between the habitat and characteristics of some African and North American species fascinated us.  Francolin compares with chukar, guineafowl to our sage grouse, jackal to coyotes, kudu and elk, camel thorn (acacia) trees and juniper, minus the thorns.  We stopped under the Tropic of Capricorn sign to take photos and then remembered that we are located near the Tropic of Cancer at our home in Oregon .  We wondered if that might account for some of the similar characteristics.

We went on our first evening drive after getting settled into our hut at the lodge at Hochland Nest.  We could hardly call our room a hut; however, it was beautiful and elegantly decorated at a gorgeous lodge built into a rock wall.  We were in the mountains, so it cooled off at night.  They plugged in electric blankets for us, and we had hot showers before bed.  Wildlife was plenty in the mountains!  The spiders and what we thought they called wheat crickets were huge! Unfortunately, I accidentally grabbed one of the giant cricket-looking bugs that were on the handrail on my way down to the lodge for dinner!  They’d make the North American record books for sure!  I was afraid we’d get hung up on the spider webs that crossed the roads over our heads and the big beasts would fall on us.  Hannes chuckled at me for ducking way down in the truck every time we went under them.  The cape turtle doves cooed loudly what sounded to me like, “No Prooooblem.”  Everyone was irritated with me after telling them since it stuck in our heads every time we heard them from then on.  Several jackals were out and about.  I shot one hoping to save the pretty hide, what was left of it.  A 300 WSM is too big for the small dogs.  We regretted not bringing an extra smaller rifle.  I’ll have some pieces for a pillow at least.  I insisted on holding it up for a photo, even after Hannes’ cautions.  He was right.  Oh my, they stink! 

In the morning, the wildlife was still plentiful.  The turtle doves were at it again.  “No proooblem, no prooblem!” they cooed at us and the guineafowl kept running in the road in front of us determined to outrun the truck without having to fly.  We thought they looked tasty and wished we’d also brought a shotgun.  We spotted a large herd of zebras, so we drove closer.  Zebras are extremely wary and difficult to get close to.  In the process, we observed a number of kudu cows and immature bulls. 

We watched a small bull as we considered a safe route toward the zebra.  From several similar experiences hunting mule deer and elk, I decided to look around the vicinity of the smaller male in hopes that a large kudu bull would be nearby.  Sure enough, down the hill and to the right of a large boulder he stood munching on brush.  I wasn’t familiar with gauging the size of kudu, but he certainly appeared considerably more mature.  Hannes had already been watching him when I made the announcement. We prepared for the stalk.  

With quiet excitement we finally inched close enough to get into a good position.  Unfortunately, we could only see the smaller one.  Where did he go?  Matt guides elk hunters in Oregon , so partly out of habit and some curiosity; he glassed the area for an exit route.  Sure enough, the kudu bull was acting exactly like a mature bull elk.  He ducked his head and proceeded to sneak out of the area toward the bottom of the ridge.  I maneuvered into position with a rest on a rock and fired my first shot as soon as he stopped.  The bull leaped and started to run.  I shot him slightly low in the front leg.  I fired a few more shots knowing at least one was a successful hit as he ran and stopped, ran and stopped, working his way up the ridge.  He disappeared over the top.  Time to get the blood flowing!  Thankful for my Jazzercise classes, I ran up the ridge after the kudu. William, our tracker, spotted the slightest blood spots and desperate kudu tracks with ease.  I worried.  An elk would have been long gone, possibly never to be seen by us again.  William gave me confidence that we’d see him again soon.  In these situations, minutes can seem to drag on and feel like hours.  It wasn’t hours before I was standing in front of the broadside mature bull awaiting its final shot.  Fortunately, injured kudu stop running much sooner than bull elk.  One more shot was all it took and he fell to the ground. 

The excitement over this gorgeous trophy faded into sadness.   When I was admiring his interesting twists, I noticed he had tears running down his long nose.  I had never seen tears before on elk or deer.  I turned away from the kudu and walked from the guys for a personal moment of silence and to hide my own tears.   There’s always that risk when hunting, even with the best of hunters, but I vowed to myself anyway not to miss the mark on another African game animal.  Hannes later admitted that he saw the tears, too.  I think he was hoping I wouldn’t see it.  He said he had seen that very few times before, but didn’t believe it was related to sadness.  I am certain it was related to pain. 

We made several stalks for zebra throughout the rest of the day to no avail.  Matt shot a nice warthog as a small group of them tried to run across the road in front of us.  He must have been anxious to get something, because neither Hannes nor I could see it very well with the sun in our eyes, but Matt didn’t even hesitate and killed it with one bullet.  All we saw was a cloud of dust, but he shot the one with the teeth!  I managed to accidentally get it on video tape just by holding the camera up in the direction I thought Matt was shooting.  I couldn’t see through the viewfinder at all, so I didn’t see it get shot until I plugged the camera into the TV after we got home. 

It took us three separate hunts to eventually get close enough to the zebra again.  Boy, they were crazy spooked!  Matt and I were busy marveling again over how similar the landscape looked to the places we hunt in Oregon...um, except for that zebra standing over there!  Matt finally got a shot and took his stallion shortly before dark at the end of the day.  That was only our second hunting day in Africa! 

The next zebra was going to be mine!  We spotted them from the rig early in the hunt, but had to figure out the best way to get closer.  Luckily for us, that was Hannes’ job!  We climbed ridges and crawled over rocks and walked hunched over through creek bottoms.  We were in the mountain region of Namibia that was home to puff adders and zebra snakes, so of course, I was very nervous about crawling around in the rocks.  Hannes calmed me by teasing that he was in the front, so I wouldn’t have to worry.  We finally got the zebra in our sights again, and low and behold, there stood another group of zebras under some rocks in front of us who would be able to see us plain as day and were about to have us made.  We couldn’t get a good shot at them from where we sat, so we got down and crawled back out of there quick!  We had to rethink another approach, so we eased around the ridge to the other side.  We could no longer see any of the zebra or any tracks.  Hannes radioed the rig where Hendrick waited, a tracker and our driver, to see if he could see where they went from his location.  We started again in the direction Hendrick led us.  Eventually we found them.  Zebra are harder to see from a distance than it may seem.  They almost look black with very little white showing, even against a contrasting background. 

They were on the opposite ridge from us, all of them standing very still.  Hannes said they were sleeping.  We crawled through the grass to get within shooting range, and then Hannes told us to sit with our knees in the air, place our rifles across our bellies and inch our way through the tall grass.  The grass at home is not usually long enough to hide like this, but it was so much easier, quieter and faster to maneuver.  Matt stayed behind me since it was my turn for the shot.  At one point during the sneak, I turned around to him and mouthed, “I LOVE THIS!”  My favorite part of every hunt is the hunt itself.  This hunt was by far my favorite of the trip, with all the rest in a very tight second!

Hannes stealthily stood the shooting stick tripod into position.  I eased my gun over the top.  He had me pause so he could make sure the closest one was the stallion.  Zebras are very hard to judge, and this one was facing us to make it even harder.  I waited for him to move, but he continued to sleep, never catching sight or smell of us.  I slowly sat back down at Hannes’ advice to relax and wait.  Finally, he said I could shoot if the stallion turned its head.  He did, but I was sitting down and couldn’t put my gun up fast enough without spooking anyone.  The stallion put his head back down and stayed that way for what seemed like FOREVER!!  My heart would pound like crazy at his every twitch and then slow until the next time he flicked his tail or slightly flinched.  Aaargh!  It was becoming harder and harder to maintain my shooting composure!   I decided I’d rather wait with my gun up and ready even though it was going to make me tired.  It must have been women’s intuition or maybe just luck because just as I was back into position, he turned his head far to the right.  I was ready and squeezed off a bullet that hit him exactly where I planned.  Wheew!  He started to run, but with a 180gr Accubond where it was, he visibly had trouble and wobbled like a drunk sailor then began lifting his front legs higher with each step.  He was headed straight for a small tree.  I hoped he’d fall first, but he didn’t.  He crashed smack into it, reared up, seemed to throw his head back and toppled over.  Zebra hides are much thinner than I expected, and his was pretty scarred up.  Matt and I will be able to tell our rugs apart.

My vow held true.  I took that beautiful Burchells stallion with one shot to the middle of his chest; made up for the kudu again with a very nice gemsbok; another heart shot on a record-size red hartebeest; a big springbok also to the middle of its chest and a very nice impala, all with one bullet and quick deaths. 

Hannes Steyn is a marvelous guide, coach, mentor and host and an honest, humble, genuine man.  He was the kind of guide who taught us a lot without using any words.  We knew when to pay attention and watch and began to understand his silent expressions and that the excited gleam in his eyes meant something really great was about to happen!  Matt and I both learned a lot of valuable hunting tips and lessons, and best of all; we had the time of our lives!  I wanted to stay in Namibia , send for my kids and live there forever.  If the opportunity ever arises, no matter what the cost, everyone should go.  Forget the new cars, big screen TVs and other fancy electronics, gadgets and stuff that we all think we need in America .  Take a good rifle to Africa for an adventure that will create memories and lessons so much more valuable than anything material.  It will take a while for us to pay it off, and we will never regret a single moment or a single dollar.  As they say, it is addicting, and is so for us.  We miss Africa , and will never forget it’s magic. 

Baie Dankie! Hannes, Lyn, Gys, George, Hendrick, Willam, Berti, Retha and all the Barnard kids!!  You made ours the best African hunting experience!  Of course, the food was wonderful, the hospitality very generous, the hunting unmatched, but best of all your genuine, honest friendships mean the world to us!

Stay tuned. More of our Africa adventures are still to come...