Our curiosity was more than aroused when the three of us boarded the plane from Frankfurt to Windhoek at the beginning of June 2024. After arriving in the morning, we immediately flew on to Tsumkwe in a Cessna C 208. Our PH (Professional Hunter) Jacobus picked us up at the airstrip. My impression was that not much has changed in Tsumke in the last 10 years. The locals still meet at the only petrol station at the main road junction, but people are now also equipped with smartphones and connected to the world. The drive to the new camp north of Tsumkwe takes about an hour.
This is what the Nyae Nyae Concervancy in Namibia looks like today
When Stefan Jacobs stopped leasing the "Nyae Nyae Concervancy" last year, Japsie Blaauw from Dzombo Safaris and his lovely wife Razan took over this 250,000 hectare nature reserve. In the past, it was a tented camp in the traditional sense. Japsie Blaauw has invested a lot of money and built very high-quality and spacious bungalows in three months. These are built from the typical bricks of the Bushmanland region, have plenty of space, large king-size beds and a large ensuite area with wardrobe and storage facilities behind them. Everything is lovingly furnished, clean and gives the guest a wonderful holiday feeling. From the bed you have a wonderful view of nature and the large waterhole.
The large lounge bungalow has a cosy seating area, a bar where drinks are always available for self-catering and a large table with seating for 8. WIFI is available as well as a large flat screen TV. And if you look outside over the large fireplace, you can see elephant, roan antelope, kudu, blue wildebeest, jackal and striped hyena at the waterhole. The cuisine is excellent and every wish has been fulfilled, from game, T-bone steaks, tomahawk steaks, poultry, lamb fillets and pork chops to tasty soups and fresh salads and vegetables every day.
After returning from the hunt, the first thing we had was a cold beer or ice-cold gin & tonic and some snacks at the raised fire pit. If you got cold in the "arse", some embers were placed under the chair and so the hours by the fire before and after dinner could be bridged well. Clear air with a high oxygen content, a starry sky, a waxing moon and the Southern Cross above you as well as the giggling striped hyenas and grumbling elephants...Africa, that's what makes you so unique.
The large king-size beds with box-spring mattresses quickly lulled us into a deep sleep. We easily recognised the elephants roaming through the camp at night and the giggling hyenas in our sleep and woke up in the morning without any back pain.
Hunting in the Rhino Sanctuary in Namibia
After a quick breakfast, we set off towards the hunting grounds at around 6.00 am. We wanted to hunt buffalo in the 14,000 hectare "Rhino Sanctuary", which has been home to around 50 black rhino since 2008 and around 500 buffalo. The artificial waterholes are monitored by high-resolution cameras and a lot of money is spent on protecting the rhinos. Travelling for kilometres along the trails, searching for buffalo tracks of individual bulls, checking the game observation cameras at the waterholes and then suddenly it's time to get off the bakkie, assess the tracks in the sand and listen to the assessment of the San/Bushmen. If they decide to follow the track at all costs, then it's time to gear up. Pack water bottles, energy bars and biltong, check your optics and gun, check your radio and satellite phone and off you go on the hunt.
On the afternoon of our arrival, we had test-fired our guns in .416 Remington Magnum and .300 Winchester Magnum and achieved excellent shots. Whether with the variable driven hunt optics or the red dot sight, we are prepared for everything.
With K&K Premium Hunting: stalking the "Big Five" in Nambia with big game guns from Blaser, Sauer and Krieghoff
Stalking in the thick bush. Face to face with the buffalo at close range. What big game hunter with nerves of steel doesn't dream of this? Following the bushmen at a snail's pace. Keeping an eye on the constantly churning wind, we head further and further into the thick bush. Avoiding contact with rhinos. Because the black rhino is much more aggressive than the white rhino.
When you see Cape buffalo, you have to keep calm. Approaching them in the thick bush is a real challenge. Especially if you are looking for "that special buffalo". It is not uncommon to stand so close to the buffalo that the herd catches wind. Then you have to wait, let the herd calm down and follow slowly until a strong, mature bull is confirmed.
Hunting the buffalo on the trail with the Bushmen is the supreme discipline. Comparable to hunting under the leadership of the pygmies in Cameroon. This is the big difference to the open areas in Mozambique or Tanzania, where you can see the herds from a great distance and then follow a specific buffalo.
Hunting on the buffalo tracks of a "Dagga Boy" in the thick bush is pure excitement and thrills. Shooting distances are between 20-80 metres. Shooting with open sights or red dot sights is ideal up to a shooting distance of 50 metres. However, as soon as branches or thick bushes are in the field of fire, it is advisable to quickly switch to a variable driven hunt riflescope. The stalking distances were between 1,000 metres until the successful kill at 40 metres on the 6th day and before that 14 kilometres on the third day at 60 metres.
Stalking is easy as the terrain is flat but sandy. Thick bush means thorns. Tear-resistant but lightweight trousers are ideal. Also light stalking boots without a membrane and thin leather gloves. We shot the buffalo with .416 Remington Magnum from two Blaser R 8s, with .375 H&H Magnum from a Sauer 90 and a Krieghoff Classic Double Rifle in 500/416 N.E.
Outside the "Rhino Sanctuary" you can expect a believable size of territory. Of the 250,000 hectares, only around 80,000-100,000 hectares have been developed so far. Most of this wilderness is not hunted at all.
Video: More about the Krieghoff "Big Five" Double Rifle in the impressive .500 N.E. big game caliber
Nyae Nyae Concervancy: sharp increase in elephant population destroying habitat
What is striking is the fact that the population of plains game has generally declined somewhat in recent years. Whereas in the past we mainly had bull elephants in the conservancy, it is now populated by hundreds of cow elephants and calves. However, the high grazing pressure from the elephant herds travelling to and from Botswana is currently causing large areas of trees to be destroyed and desert-like landscapes to form. The 5 shooting licences are "a drop in the ocean". There is an acute need for action to protect the habitat of many species.
To hunt a mature bull elephant, you need to plan about 14 days on site. For buffalo, 5-8 days are sufficient. Plains game mainly includes kudu, blue wildebeest, roan, gemsbok, duiker, steenbok, springbok, eland, warthog and hartebeest. Here you are free to decide how many days you want to hunt these game species.
We recommend travelling by charter plane from Windhoek Airport directly to Tsumkwe. If you want to travel the route by car, it takes about 8 hours. Buffalo hunting in the thick bush with the Bushmen is a completely different kind of buffalo hunting than hunting herds of buffalo that are visible from afar. It is exciting, challenging, sometimes frustrating, at other times exhilarating and a great hunting experience. And there's another little insider tip: like everywhere else in southern Africa, there are millions of pigeons and the morning flight to the waterholes is a spectacle and every flying game enthusiast gets their money's worth here. Why not include one or two flying game days or hunt big game later at around 8.00 am? Our conclusion: the Nyae Nyae myth lives on. The new camp is excellent, the support is professional. And there are no better trackers than the Bushmen.
Anyone who would like more information and would like to hunt in these game-rich hunting grounds, whether alone or in a small group, is welcome to contact K&K Premiumjagd at Info@premium-jagdreisen.de.
