January 10, 2025
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.
January 10, 2025
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.
January 10, 2025
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.
January 10, 2025
Royston Wright, a devoted conservationist and stalwart of sustainable hunting, passed away unexpectedly on 4 February 2024, leaving behind a legacy of education, passion and commitment to Namibia’s wildlife. For over 20 years, Royston made an indelible mark on the conservation and hunting community through his work with SCI International, SCI Alaska, the Namibia Tourism Board and the Namibia Professional Hunting Association (NAPHA)
January 10, 2025
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.
January 10, 2025
Having grown up in Namibia, surrounded by its rugged landscapes and abundant wildlife, I have always been a nature lover and conservation enthusiast. This love is what guided my life toward the path of storytelling, with a focus on travel, tourism, conservation and, of course, hunting. As the editor of a hunting magazine that celebrates responsible hunting practices, it felt only right that I should experience a proper trophy hunt firsthand.
January 10, 2025
On a hunt earlier in the season we had witnessed from a distance how a leopard (we had four leopard sightings in broad daylight on that safari) had tried to snatch a young baboon on the granite ridge on which we were sitting now. When the rest of the baboons noticed what happened they quickly turned against the leopard, chasing him around between the boulders and crevices. It was a huge commotion with lots of screaming from the baboons and growling from the leopard.
January 10, 2025
Another Namibian conservation success story is that of the Black Rhino Custodianship Program. This initiative has achieved unparalleled success, resulting in significant population growth and allowing for regulated trophy hunting of older bulls. Kirsty Watermeyer
January 10, 2025
Many times it doesn’t end this well for clients. Animals are wounded and lost or never seen. The professional hunter receives, and often accepts, the blame despite bearing none of its responsibility. The teamwork needed for success is the result of the PH and client giving one hundred percent. Hailing from around Southern Africa, I asked three of those who make their living taking hunters into the bush what clients can do to ensure they get exactly what they are pursuing on safari.
January 9, 2025
There is a sense of sovereignty that comes from atop a mountain, a perception of privacy and isolation, even of dominion. I love the painful cold of the morning, the brittle new frost beneath my boots, the breathless clarity of the sky. Put both of these together, combine space and time, weather and opportunity, and possibly there culminates a moment where a kudu hunt embarks.
January 9, 2025
In Namibia, the struggle for the survival of the African wild dog unfolds in what the program coordinator at the Kalahari African Wild Dog Conservation Project describes as a “war zone”. Local farmers, fearing for their livestock, often resort to killing these endangered animals. Nadja le Roux reports that the impact of this persecution is alarming.
January 9, 2025
My son, Chris, had the 30-06 Ruger Hawkeye rifle steady on the sticks, with Robin giving extra support with his left shoulder, his well-worn floppy hat shading his eyes from the slanting sun rays. It was just after 10h00 and we had been following different groups of springbok since early morning.
January 8, 2025
A decade ago, my mother Isabelle and I embarked on a journey that started with a simple realisation. A classmate of mine boldly declared that the source of meat was the grocery store. It struck me – not just because it seemed comically naive, but because I was fortunate enough to have grown up on a farm surrounded by nature and two professional hunters. This seemingly innocent comment planted a seed that germinated into a project near and dear to our hearts.
January 8, 2025
With my gun case and rucksack I set off to Namibia on my own at the end of May 2024. I was looking forward to my second attempt to bag a mature old kudu bull according to the rules of the Erongo Verzeichnis. Like the previous year, my destination is Hagen Denker's hunting ground at the south-western foothills of the Erongo Mountains.
January 8, 2025
In the vast untamed landscapes of Namibia, hunting is more than just a sport. It is a tradition, a way of life that connects us deeply with the land. The Young Hunters Committee of Namibia carries the responsibility and honour of safeguarding this legacy for future generations.
January 8, 2025
I like old things. In my house I’ve got a wooden carving from a Flemish church dating from the 1800s, some pewter tankards from the mid-1600s, and a smoking pipe of New Zealand origin from around the last war. My usual hunting rifle is an early 1970s Heckler and Koch .308, obtained via the deceased estate of a friend of Erich Honecker, the former communist East German party leader.
January 8, 2025
Robust, collaborative and driven by science. This is how you can describe the process that the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has adopted to set quotas in communal conservancies. Richard Fryer, the Control Warden for Human-Wildlife Conflict and Conservation Hunting at MEFT, who manages this process, explains that they needed their quota-setting system to include a more robust process that could withstand scrutiny from anti-hunting critics.
January 8, 2025
The Namibian Escarpment is perhaps the most prominent geological feature of the country. People have described this rugged escarpment, where the coastal plains of the Namib Desert rise steeply towards the Central Highlands, as the rocky backbone which runs through the entire country parallel to the coastline. At times these fissured badlands amidst the arid country are of such rough inhospitality that people have called Namibia the country that ‘God created in anger`.