You'll remember that Waterberg National Park was another one of those government concessions that was auctioned off last year. Lamprecht had shown me photos of some big buffalo there when I initially reported about the area. Well, Alexander von Witzleben killed a bull that measured 44½ inches wide and scored 123 SCI. Lamprecht says there are a number of world class buffalo here, but that the hunting in Waterberg is "not for the light hearted; this is a tough hunting area." He says they hunted six days, seeing at least two different groups a day but losing them due to extreme conditions and getting opportunities of only a few seconds in thick cover. On the last day of von Witzleben's hunt, they cut the tracks of two buffalo traveling together. After several hours of tracking, Lamprecht says the savannah opened up to plains and for the first time in days they could see a couple of hundred yards in front of them. It was another few hundred meters of stalking before von Witzleben was finally able to take his trophy. I have one other report on the Waterberg, from subscriber Kirk Smith (see Hunt Report ID 7792). He confirms that the hunting there is challenging with extended stalking required. He also reports taking a buffalo, sable and other game.
Regarding another one of these government concessions, I have confirmed that hunting on the Mahango Game Park has been stopped by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET). I received word through two hunters whose hunts had been cancelled by operator Boet Nel. According to Nel, there is some kind of dispute over his contract and he is trying to work it out. In the meantime, he says he did not want to keep any of his clients hanging on for the resolution and has fully compensated those who were scheduled to hunt Mahango this year. He hopes to resolve things for........(continued)
