kai-Uwe Denker pays tribute to Felix Marnewecke
On 1.4.2024 Felix Marnewecke tragically passed away in Cameroon.
I still met Felix immediately before his departure to Cameroon when he hunted with Swedish clients from my son’s camp at Ameib. Sitting together on the low veranda wall in front of my wife’s office at Ameib Guesthouse in uncomplicated fashion so typical for Felix, dangling our legs and gossiping, of course talking about hunting, Felix mentioning that this time he would hunt a Bongo in Cameroon for himself as well, none of us could imagine that this was the last time that we would share time with this dear friend.
Felix and I were close friends since the early 2000s, sharing common interests, believing in many of the same ideals and standing up for them in NAPHA and elsewhere, sharing a booth at the “Jagd und Hund Fair” in Dortmund for many years, being on hunts together or just sharing time in, as I said – and this is to me very memorable about Felix – so utterly relaxed, so naturally friendly and uncomplicated fashion.
If I am asked who Felix was, I would of course, as hunting was a mainspring of his life, want to mention that he was a fine, true hunter, a lover of all things unadulterated African and of its original wilderness. In this he lived and experienced many of the risks and dangers the African hunters of old had to face. He related the ice-cold fear of an incident to me, when he and a friend were pulling a boat to shore of an island somewhere in Zambia, when the head of a huge crocodile suddenly appeared from the river next to them, the crocodile, however, had somehow miscalculated its attack or was hesitant in the very last moment, and the gruesome mug sank back into the water. Some years ago, Felix was badly gored by a buffalo in the Zambezi region. Recently he told me that on a hunt in the rainforest a red forest buffalo had eyed him from very close distance in a way which brought back all the horror of that near-fatal encounter and that he feared that a buffalo would bring about his end. But the African wilderness holds other, often neglected dangers. Felix contracted Typhus in the rainforest and died of the complications.
Above all Felix was a trustworthy, reliable friend. He was very decent. Not in a way a well-behaved model boy is. No, we all know that in many ways he was sort of chaotic and had no problem, if need be, in “letting five be even”. There was very much an other trait to him: he was of truly decent and honest character. In a rare and truthful way. Of ready and uncomplicated helpfulness whenever needed. That is why we will dearly miss him.
I still grapple making peace with Felix’s passing. He was like a younger brother to me. It appears to me as though all of a sudden, he just vanished into the rainforest of Cameroon. Somehow, I can’t come to terms with this. Having been trapped in the rainforest myself in 1993 with a bad injury and with malaria in 1998, I think I can imagine how very miserable his end must have been, and this makes matters almost unbearable. I very deeply would have wished him that he at least would have gotten his Bongo. It seems to me – and I hope that in a way I can express what I feel – that his spirit is still away chasing a bongo in that gloomy forest. But life continues and we must accept the ways of fate.
Apart of the things mentioned, for me Felix will always be remembered as one of the six founding members of the “Erongo Verzeichnis” which developed the Age-Related Trophy Measuring System: Felix Marnewecke, Ernst-Ludwig Cramer, Sigurd Hess, Gerd Liedtke, Ernst Scholz and myself. A happy gang of dedicated African hunters.
I would be hard pressed if asked to mention anyone more passionately interested in and fascinated by the raw beauty of good mature hunting trophies – I will dearly miss our get-togethers, rest in peace my friend.
From the 2025 issue of Huntinamibia
Every accolade credited to Africa is well earned. Perhaps William Burchell’s thought most accurately sums them all up: “Nothing but breathing the air of Africa, and actually walking through it, can communicate the indescribable sensations.” Words are a paltry attempt to raise images of buffalo charging out of the reeds or burning sunsets beyond brilliance in the minds of those who have not been favoured to set foot on the continent.
For fifty years, the Namibia Professional HuntersAssociation (NAPHA) has stood as a beacon of ethical hunting, conservation and community. This golden anniversary marks a significant milestone on a journey defined by dedication to the land, respect for wildlife and the preservation of Namibia’s unique hunting heritage.
An opportunity arose to hunt a trophy lion in the Torra Conservancy in north- western Namibia. For the past years the lion population had grown in this area and the human-wildlife conflict increased as a result. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism invited professional hunters to the opportunity to hunt these problem animals, rather than taking the risk that entire prides are poisoned by communal farmers who lose their livestock.
