Dear friends,

I want to share with you a fabulous experience I had in Africa on August-September 04.

A friend of mine Harald Nestroy, that happened to be the German Ambassador in Costa Rica for several  years and is also an archery nut, was transferred to Namibia several years ago where he decided to stay after retiring. For several years he begged me to go there to bow hunt with him. I was interested but never found the opportunity until this year when I decided to go with my wife Roxana in a sort of self gift for my 60th  birthday anniversary.

I have no words to express how much I enjoyed this trip and how much I regretted not going earlier in my life.

Any way this is what happened.

We went first with Angelika, Harald`s wife, to Oropoko (www.oropoko.com; www.namibia-lodge.com; oropoko@iafrica.com.na; rainer_blaeser@web.de; olympia@namibia-reisen.de), which is a first quality hunting lodge belonging to Kurt Steinhausen. Herr Steinhausen is a remarkable man, with a passion for skeet and trap shooting as well as hunting and other sports. According to his own words, at his age of 78, he expects to live forever because God and the devil will never come to an agreement as where he should go if he passes away!

Now I want to tell you about my previous hunting experience before going in detail with my adventure.

It is very simple. Nothing!, zilch!, zero, etc….

So, from ground zero, I was in the land of the big five for the first time.

I understand that before going to Africa, you should hunt some lizards before with a sling shot for sometime…

First thing I had, was a seminar about the African animals. Their names, how to distinguish male from female, their vital zones, etc….

The next day we practiced some bow shooting with my guide Volca Otto and prepared to hunt.

They offered me to shoot from a Land Rover open jeep and I did not accept. It seemed unfair for the game. Anyway, they convinced me  to try  a shot because the “kitchen needed some meat”.

Guess what…, I missed a large kudu at 18 yards!  My ego was demolished as you can understand, especially  because my friend Harald had been bragging about my archery skills a few hours before.

However, they did not pick on me and asked me to try again. So I did, and reluctantly I shot an Oryx at 25 yards just an  inch or so out of the vital zone. He ran and unfortunately we never found him after several hours of tracking.

Well, at least it was a hit and this started building up my confidence in my 58# Hoyt Ultratec and 400 St Axis arrows that fly at 258 FPS with Thunderhead broadheads. That did not prevent me of course, from feeling sorry for the animal  that for sure died in the bush.

That animal did not count as a hunting trophy according to the hunting rules, but showed up in the bill when checking out ( It was fair because it is their business…)

After this episode, I was still virgin according to the Clinton sex code….. so, I decided to go ahead, now on foot and try the sport the hard way (should I say in the  right way?...) I shot my first Warthog at 20 yards and then felt what hunting really means! I caught him in the jugular vein close to his throat as this was the only exposed area that I could look at through the bushes and a stone wall that partially covered him.

Then I received the official salute and hand shake from my guide Volca Otto. My thanks to him for his good advises. Hunting virginity was something from the past and I felt great!

The next day we took a long drive in a Toyota Land Cruiser which Harald had bought a few days earlier we drove across excellent gravel roads to beautiful country until we reached Otjompaue.  

Otjompaue was a former cattle ranch which now has game instead of cattle. It is a great hunting lodge with five top of the line suites. The best of all is the family who owns it.

You really feel at home here, not only  because the comfort of the accommodations, but because of the warmth and hospitality of Hubert and Ulrike Herzog and their son Friederich ( herzog@iafrica.com.na ).

A special word must be said for the chef, Thomas Ndnahepele and the tracker Kannemann. ( Real name Georg Wasserfall, a proud combination of bushman and german).

At Otjompaue I really get organized! ( Under the guidance of  Harald and Hubert).

We realized, that on foot it is almost impossible to get within arrow range of any big game, so I decided to shoot from blinds at waterholes.

I used the blinds provided for rifle hunting and my friends build one for me on another spot.

Upon deciding on the strategy I departed for the first time at 5 am to waterhole # 1. The blind consisted of a concrete block construction with an observatory at the top, at 40 yards from where the game came to drink. I felt an overwhelming sensation being alone 14,000 km away from home in the middle of Namibia, Southwest Africa…!

In  that immense loneliness, in different waterholes, from 5:30 am to 6:30 pm, I learned what Africa really means. The smells, the sounds, the animals I spotted by the dozens and did not want yet to disturb, proved to me that the name of the game is “Survival”.

Just to talk a little about an animal in particular, please allow me to take the Kudu as an example.

The way the Kudu male explorer approaches a waterhole is amazing! He took ½ hour to walk 35 yards from the bushes to the water and then stayed vigilant without drinking until the rest of the herd showed up and drank. By the time I recovered from my astonishment no male Kudus were in the right position or within arrow range, and I lost the opportunity to shoot one of them.

All the herds of different animals, have their way of stay alert. I was proud to be so still and quiet that I was able to photograph a Baboon herd approaching rite to the waterhole. Magnificent! ( For sure a Probosis Fetide plant nearby helped me on that task because it covered my odor with a powerful human waste smell…)

I have dozens of short stories that I will share with you with a beer in hand. In the mean time, let me tell you my once in a lifetime shot I made on an Oryx.

It happened in waterhole # 1, 12 feet above the ground.

The shelter was a square 8 x 8 feet and 6 1/2 feet high that forced me to spread my legs and bend my knees at full draw. I had two narrow windows for rifle shooting in each side of the square about 12 feet wide and 3 feet high. As I said the water was 40 feet away according to my Leica range finder.

Precisely at 11:15 am a lonely 250 Kg. male Oryx took me by surprise from my left, after waiting who knows  for how long at the bushes, and started walking very slowly towards the water as he were walking on eggshells.

First photo first distance measure, 70 yards!

Second photo, second distance measure, 50 yards!

Third photo, third distance measure, 40 yards from my position but maybe 55 yards from the water.

No more photos! “Get ready to shoot” I said to myself. you know the water is at 40 yards  slightly downhill! Then he started to pass the blind spot I had from the corner of the construction and needed to wait. He took maybe 10 seconds to clear the corner and show me all his body at the next window . The Einstein relativity theory seemed to be OK because it took 1 hour for me!

Then he stared playing games with me!

He stood in front of the water, facing me, moving his head in all directions  staying there for a long time very still and alert.

I started at his chest and did not dare to make eye ball contact as I was told not to do so.

Finally he started drinking very slowly, at short intervals, in the same position until he was satisfied. Then he started his retreat with a sudden movement to my left, and once again the f… corner. Einstein again, another hour…. And finally I saw him again at 50 yards ( I recalled the distance) showing me his big but “Bad luck” I said to myself! , he is leaving at an impossible angle and the distance to great.

I let down the bow and saw him in despair walking away slowly.

But now, guess what?, dear friends!, he changed his mind and made a big circle showing to me his vital zone at 70 yards at the limit of the bushes and stopped.

Then he saw or smelled the salt block that miraculously was there in front of me and started walking towards it!

He stopped at the block, once again facing me, showing me his chest and started licking the precious salt. A quick distance measure read 41 yards!

A waterfall of adrenaline erupted in my blood stream and I waited a few seconds ready to draw.

Then I drew, while he was still licking the salt and waited with my 40 yard pin at his chest level.

I waited and waited, Einstein once again,  for the third time. I started shaking and turned purple for sure. My upper wheel touched the metal plate roof and sounded like a rattle snake out of control, but he seemed not to be bothered by the sound ( the wind makes similar noices on the roof once in a while)

When I was about to pass away  or let down, one of the two, he finished his job and slowly turned around to leave.

That was the moment of the truth!

I lost one or two seconds to inhale some air that was abundant in my  surroundings except in my lungs and got ready to shoot…!

The strategy of the shot came to my mind in a millisecond I have to shoot that s. of a b. almost from behind in a very difficult angle to stick the arrow under his ribs and into his heart! So I did and released or maybe flinched, shuddered or double clutched or something weird happened but the arrow went exactly to the spot I wanted it to go!

I clearly saw the arrow vanes sticking out of his side and I knew it was a kill!

I stood still and quiet, as I was instructed, and saw the Oryx walk away slowly. Then he started walking kind of funny, and stopped just 25 yards away from the salt block. He started  behaving like a mad cow and fell flat on his right side after a few seconds. I am positive that he had a quick and painless death that took only 15 seconds.

When we cut him open at the lodges butchery house his liver had a large cut from one end to the other and we found the y marks of the broadhead in the center of his heart!

His internal cavity was a lake of blood.

Thomas, the chef, did a good job the day after and we had a wonderful time enjoying the Oryx meat and the excellent South African wines.   

Juan J. Wedel   

Phone: 011-506-220-4580
Fax: 011-506-220-4592
Mobile: 011-506-381-0074
House: 011-506-288-7515
Fax: 011-506-288-7516
Email: juan.wedel@oficentro.co.cr