An exemplary hunting day rain season 2020
The study region
Namibia
Kunene region
The study region:
Doro !Nawas (Mik mountains)
Hunting bout rain season 2020
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Guided tour along the hunting day
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1
Preparation
Checking the map and coordinating the areas to be explored by the two teams.
2
Searching game
Team 1, including Tilman Lenssen-Erz, Jan Tsumib and Kaarina Efraim, sets out to climb the mountains in the background.
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Searching game
Rubble at the bottom of the valley draining the plateau which the team wants to explore. This makes for slow traveling.
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Searching game
Rough terrain but this can still be negotiated by some larger game animals such as gemsbok or mountain zebra.
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Searching game
Despite numerous sizeable rocks the valley is best ascended in the riverbed of the drainage.
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Searching game
The contour flattens, a first plateau is reached; only very few tracks seen so far, mainly of small animals.
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Searching game
The sleeping bay of an animal under a rock, possibly from the preceding night.
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Searching game
Tracks of antelope in the riverbed, some days old.
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Searching game
Taking notes with CyberTracker software, run on a smartphone. Fixed to the backpack the anemometer for ultrasonic measurement of wind strength and direction.
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Searching game
Another gully has to be negotiated to reach the uppermost plateau.
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Searching game
While the uppermost plateau is almost reached, more and more tracks of large game animals are found in the soft sand, but there are no fresh tracks among them.
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Searching game
Many tracks lead along the riverbed towards the uppermost plateau.
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Searching game
None of these tracks is younger than two or three days.
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Searching game
Here a bigger animal had lain down. On the side there are also tracks of leopard, but it only passed through here, no signs of an attack can be found.
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Searching game
The large number of tracks in the soft sand shows that this is a very actual main route for animals ascending to the uppermost plateau.
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Searching game
Once having reached the plateau traveling becomes very easy as it is flat with a frim surface. The shelter in the center of the picture has no signs of human occupation.
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Searching game
On the plateau animal tracks are not clearly directed into one direction but animals would roam in all directions. But still no fresh spoor.
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Searching game
A dusty dimple in the ground where animals – mainly mountain zebra – use to roll on the ground thus taking a dust "bath". No fresh spoor here.
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Searching game
Game paths are also a convenience for humans, especially if the ground is obstructed with rocks and rubble.
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Searching game
Sparse vegetation and the flat topography allow to look very far – but this is also disadvantageous for hunting since most game animals have a keen eyesight so the hunters wish that there would be more cover to hide behind.
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Searching game
In rocky terrain like this a well trampled game path enables swift and safe traveling. All larger animals use these paths so tracking on them opens a window on the variety of game that is present in the area.
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Searching game
This bush, an Euphorbia damarana, shows signs of an animal recently eating from its branches, probably a gemsbok. This is likely since the milk of this plant is highly poisonous and the only animals which can eat it are rhino and gemsbok, but only from the latter we have seen spoor during the day. We also found no rhino droppings anywhere while these are very durable and highly visible due to their size and consistence.
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Searching game
Continuously the tracks that we encounter stem from large game, but all are several days old.
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Searching game
Another bush from which an animal has been eating the tips of the branches. Could have been a gemsbok again.
25
Searching game
Sighting game: When nearing this monolithic outcrop we startle a gemsbok which runs away immediately to the right then turning behind the rock and vanishing. No chance to get it, says Jan Tsumib.
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Searching game
Sighting game: Jan Tsumib identifies the spot where the gemsbok had been resting in the shade of a small shelter from where we chased it away.
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Searching game
Other shelters in the same monolithic outcrop may also serve as resting place in the midday heat. None of these shelters has signs of human habitation.
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Searching game
Sighting game: This is the direction into which the gemsbok ran away and as Jan Tsumib had predicted, it ran so far that it is not visible anymore.
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Searching game
Sighting game: The tracks of the fleeing gemsbok.
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Searching game
Sighting game: Nearby the monolithic outcrop the gemsbok that we frightened had walked about in search for food, clearly visible in its fresh spoor.
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Searching game
Sighting game: Here the gemsbok walked around the bush browsing on its branches while passing.
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Searching game
Sighting game: The tracks that the gemsbok left behind show the erratic pattern in which it walked about in this area near to the rock – maybe a Lévy Walk pattern?
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Searching game
Sighting game: A bit of dry grass that the gemsbok had torn from the ground. All observations are recorded on CyberTracker.
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Searching game
Decision about what to do next: Since the gemsbok we saw has certainly run too far to get it and since there were no other tracks from the same days we decide to return to the camp.
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Back to camp
On our way back we pass another shelter that would seem suitable for human habitation, but no artefacts or other signs of human occupation.
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Back to camp
A short lunch break under a tree.
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Back to camp
Animals and humans alike avoid walking in soft sand for energetic economy, so as soon as the general direction of travel allows one will try to walk on the hardened river bank.
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Back to camp
Game paths are normally rather straight, so they also enable economic traveling, and if there is any obstacle, it will be easily passable for humans since the routing was "laid out" by animals whose hoofs have less grip than human feet (bare or shoed).
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Back to camp
Descending in the main drainage from the plateau only leaves a choice between soft sand or sizeable rocks, so no more comfort in traveling.
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Back to camp
Big rocks and bushes often combine in obstructing the travel route. It is conceivable that such configurations would make hunting easy as the animals could not get away quickly, but then again it is entirely unforeseeable when an animal should pass by here. Given the keen sense of smell of most animals they would stand a good chance to get the scent of humans in the valley.
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Back to camp
The animal tracks here are proof to the fact that also game animals choose this way to ascend to the plateau.
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Back to camp
The plains come in sight in the background but many boulders are still to pass.
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Back to camp
Near its lower end the valley widens and opens more options of which route to choose.
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Back to camp
We hit the ground on the margin of the plain where we had parked our car.
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Back to camp
The car comes in sight near the bottom of the hill in the background.
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Back to camp
Mission accomplished – although we did not "hunt" any animal, but a hoard of data has been collected.
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Back to camp
Watches and all other systems have to be stopped and data are first saved on the devices themselves until later in the camp they are being transferred to a computer and a mobile hard disk.
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Back to camp
Last action: switching off the GoPro camera which took all photos in this series.
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End of the tour
Driving back to our camp by car to save all the collected data on a hard drive.