Southern Africa’s central Kalahari Desert in Botswana truly offers some of the finest sandgrouse shooting Africa has to offer. This is the bird that Hemingway wrote about so passionately and loved to hunt. Predominantly Burchells and the occasional Namaqua sandgrouse arrive at waterholes at a gentlemanly hour of 09-00 and the Double Banded Sandgrouse just before it’s too dark to shoot in the evening.
The strategy of Sandgrouse shooting has been carefully worked out and honed at each waterhole, by the guns forming an outward facing circle around the water hole leaving an un-shot area in the middle large enough for incoming sandgrouse to land and drink. With the guns at distance from the waterhole, the incoming packs of sandgrouse are fair game at a high range and are extremely sporting. Once the birds have passed over the guns, they drop down to the waterhole to get their fill and then fly out once again to run the gauntlet.
All in all, they offer fantastic shooting and great table fair. Sandgrouse season is September and October in Namibia and only October in Botswana.
