Birds & Flowers of Namibia Video

Mostly Pictures

The not-so-clever wart hog that Jackie helped to get. Read earlier blog.

The way we traveled. Trackers Zachariah, left, and David right. Professional Hunter, center, Dirk de Bod

I'm not a dog lover, but this dog I "fell" for. He was so smart!!

Standing at the top of a dam, built in the 1880's - - amazing that they got the concrete from Windhoek to here!!

Duck hunting. They had a blast figuratively and literally.

Steenbok - 5 or 6 years old.

Blue Wildebeest, came up close to Vern, while he was sitting behind a bush, that created a blind. I think he was catching on.

Gemsbok - beautiful animal

Vern watched this fight while sitting behind some brush.....really something to see!

Impala - - This impala scored the most points. He was within 1/2 inch of Namibia's top 10.

Springbok

Blesbok

Red Hartebeest

Blue Wildebeest

Our home for 2 weeks are tent structure - very nice with king bed and bathroom attached.

First animal harvested - Gemsbok.

Vern's first day of hunting.

He was pumped!!

Last Post

We're in Frankfurt, Germany.

There were six days that no flights went from Windhoek to Frankfurt. Day 7, our day to fly out. The airplane flew and we were on it. We feel so fortunate!! You can imagine it was a very full plane. It felt like a long 10 hour night, but we're safe and it looks like our next plane will be on time. We hope the volcano stays quiet. Our next destination is Philadelphia and then Canton/Akron.

Windhoek is a lovely city. We enjoyed the morning looking around and had lunch at a small German cafe'.

This is probably my last post. If you want to see our pictures, just let us know. We'd love to share them. I'm making up a movie of the whole adventure.

Thanks for reading my blog, and sharing our fun.

Shirley

An even better wart hog story....

You won’t believe this. I have an even better wart hog story, that happened the following day. In the morning, I was up bright and early - 6 AM, and ready for breakfast by 6:30 AM. I’ve started reading another book, at Heidi’s suggestion, “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” I love it. For those interested, the book is written from the perspective of a dog, and now when I talk to Jackie, I really wonder what he’s thinking! Anyway, I find minutes here and there, if I have to wait for anything, I'm reading again, and was even reading at the breakfast table.............between polite conversation, of course. :o)

In the morning Vern got his second gemsbok. Vern has been a great shot, even though he hasn’t hit the target quite every time, and Dirk is using him to get some meat for the camp, their help, the neighbors, an orphanage and a school, plus like I said before, Dirk needs to do some culling.

In the afternoon, I decided to skip the afternoon hunt..........and of course, I missed a wild adventure.

They found a much bigger wart hog, than the one Vern shot. Dirk told him to shoot it (for free) as they need the meat. Vern shot; the wart hog went down.....end of story? - Not quite. Zachie and Jackie headed into the bush to confirm his death.............suddenly, Vern saw Zachie waving his arms to come and come quick!

Vern and Dirk started running and what a sight to behold. The wart hog had gotten up and was running in circles, with Jackie hanging on to his tail. The wart hog was going around fast enough to raise Jackie off his feet........he was almost flying straight out.

Thankfully, this has happened before. Dirk told Vern not to shoot, but be ready. Finally Jackie let go of the tail, and Dirk yelled, “Shoot.” Vern did, and this time the pig went down, and stayed down.

Tuesday:

This morning we had our final hunt. Vern shot two blue wildebeests, once again for meat. He made two very, very good shots, that dropped both of them within about 30 seconds of each other. And then it was time to pack up and say good bye to some very dear people, that will be our friends for life.

About 2:30 PM, Dirk, Vern, and I headed for Windhoek. We gave up a trip to the coast. The winds are bad......just came in, in the last few days. We also felt like we needed to be in Windhoek. If we learn our flight will go, we won't have far to go to get to the airport, to hopefully claim our seats. We know we'll need to be there hours before the flight. We were told tonight's flight would go, but then we learned it didn't go...........it doesn't look good for us, but one can hope.

We're staying with Dirk & his family at the edge of Windhoek. They have lovely guest quarters, and I even have fast internet. What fun!

Windhoek is a beautiful city, and Dirk's wife Rina, is all prepared to show us around a bit tomorrow.

Stay tuned to the news, and pray that the European airports can SAFELY open soon.

Suggested reading from Vern is African hunting stories, which he's been reading most of his life, and he was even reading them during these two weeks. Dirk, of course, has quite a collection. If you want specifics, he'd be glad to loan you a few books or make suggestions.

That's all from Windhoek, for now. I may post a few more pictures.

Love to all.......Shirley

The Clever Pig has been Out-Clevered

Is out-clevered a word? Probably not, but it fits.

A friend of Dirk’s dropped in yesterday - truly dropped in, since he landed his helicopter just about 50 feet from the main lodge. His name is Lambert, but they call him Lammie. He’s a very talkative, interesting guy to have around, however this morning, Dirk admitted to us that his non-stop talking “drives me crazy.” You have to roll all your Rs to the get affect of how Dirk says it.

Dirk had invited Vern to do some culling, and Vern was pretty happy about that. I wasn’t sure I was going to go on the afternoon culling hunt; I was thinking about catching up with my pictures. Vern expressed his desire for me to go, and Lammie quickly sided with him, that “one never knows what we will see today, that we’ve never seen before.” I agreed to go, as I had already skipped a number of afternoon hunts. (I haven’t missed a morning.)

We loaded up on the Land Cruiser, with David driving, Vern, Dirk and myself on the high seat behind, and Zachie and Lammie behind us, standing. We weren’t looking for a wart hog or duiker! We were culling, probably for another gemsbok.........everyone that is except sharp-eyed Zachie.

About two minutes out of camp, Zachie made a sound, that to us immediately means - LOOK! Dirks tapped the window so David would stop. There, to our left, about 120 yards away stood a male wart hog. All we could see was his black face, framed with those white tusks.

Vern grabbed the 270, rested it on a pillow-type thing that Dirk threw on top of the truck. Vern aimed and pulled the trigger. The hog dropped in his tracks.

It wasn’t the biggest one. It ranks in the bronze category, but that’s okay. (Most of Vern’s trophies are in the gold category, with the impala a high gold, just under Namibia’s top ten.)

There was a round of hand-shakes and high-fives. Lammie tried to take credit, since he was the new guy along, but believe me, Zachie gets the credit for seeing that one, as has been the case most of the time.

They hauled him in, loaded him in a big plastic tub and took off, only to have everyone in the back yell! The pig had slid right off the truck, onto the ground. What a laugh. We loaded him a second time and this time he stayed.

Today we learned that Frankfurt airport is still closed. I’m not sure, but I think the airport may have opened and then closed again. The flights from Windhoek are really getting backed up. We’re not sure about our Wednesday flight. We just hope it goes with us on it.

Shirley

Duck Hunting

Vern & Dirk, after the first water hole. In all they got 2 Shell Ducks, 4 Egyptian Geese, & 7 Red Billed Teals.

We see our vacation coming to an end. We're making plans for the last few days and what we need to do to get ready to come home.

It been a wonderful trip, and the most different for me. I guess Vern's trip to WY for elk would have some similarities and yet very different too.

The incredible views we've experienced from valley to valley and peak to peak have been spectacular!

To be continued......sh

The Clever Pig.....

The clever pig is still very clever, and it’s getting almost funny. Vern hunted and hunted for the big wart hog, but his chance at a shot, never came. Last night we did a nighttime Duiker hunt with no results either. Dirk told Vern he had a funeral song ready to play, when he gets that wart hog. I think it’s called, ”Another one bites the dust.”

Last night Vern and Dirk decided to stop hunting for the wart hog or duiker, and just have a fun duck hunting day. Did they ever have a blast, literally and figuratively speaking. They missed a lot, but also hit a lot. Those two were whooping it up like teenagers. We came home with 13 ducks. They’ll make for some very good eating.

So far we’ve eaten gemsbok, kudu, blue & black wildebeest, springbok, red hartebeest, sable, roan, and impala. A lot of this was meat from their freezer, shot by previous hunters.

Jack, the dog. Did I write about him before? I can’t quickly check because I’m writing offline, and I can’t remember if I blogged or wrote in my journal. Those of you that know me well, know that I’m not a dog lover. Jack has really found his way into Vern’s heart and I’ve gotta say, he’s pretty much got me as well.

Jack is about 6 years old; he’s in his prime. What Dirk will ever do without him, is something Dirk doesn’t want to think about. He’s a long-legged Jack Russell. He waits in the back of the Land Cruiser until he’s told he can find the downed animal. He anticipates going, so much his little body shivers and shakes in anticipation. Today, when duck hunting, he waited until Dirk called and while genetically, he is not a retriever, we’d send him into the water, and he’d bring the downed duck, back to shore.

The other night he hurt his foot, when going after a spring rabbit (looks like a miniature kangaroo). His foot swelled up and Dirk put him on antibiotics. He’s been using this foot, to get all the attention possible. He’s a pro at walking on three legs. Anytime Vern is sitting around the campfire, Jack is at his feet waiting to be told he can jump up into Vern’s lap. Vern seldom lets him down.

Today is Saturday. Flora Jean and her family have been in our thoughts and prayers. We will miss not being there to grieve with them. We’re glad Flora Jean has great family, and many other friends that will walk with her.

Love to each of you......... Shirley