CAMNARES (Cameroon Natural Resources) is an association created by four young Cameroonians with the ultimate aim of contributing to conservation by empowering local communities, overcoming poverty and creating autonomic structures for the sound management and sustainable use of natural resources. CAMNARES believes that rural communities are the rightful owners of the surrounding resources and therefore deserve to enjoy the majority of benefits from these resources. The bush is their super market where all their daily needs are fulfilled in one way or the other. These natural resources are victims of heavy pressures such as demographic growth and industrialization. The only way to save these resources is through sustainable use by education of communities around these resources and empowering them to protect these resources from over-exploitation by outsiders.
CAMNARES is inviting you to come join us for an affordable adventure of a lifetime. We will meet your every need from door to door, providing all the information and services you require so that your time and emphasis is placed on the hunt. Self-guided hunting really means you are hunting without a “Great White Hunter.†However, you will be guided by “Great Black Huntersâ€. Your hunt will not only be the trophy our Baka Pygmies, Tikar, Mpiemo or Maka traditional hunters will help you obtain, but a cultural experience where you will learn about them and be humbled by their knowledge of the bush, tracking and animal behavior. You will sit around the campfire and learn about each other’s cultures, traditions, beliefs and politics, making this a unique experience.
CAMNARES will help you with all of your needs, providing you information on what is needed to get your hunting rifle and ammo into and out of Cameroon (It’s much easier than in South Africa) and recommended shots/vaccines based upon standards set by the Center For Disease Control, Atlanta. We will have one of our bilingual staff meet you at the airport and facilitate you and your rifle’s entry, place you in a comfortable hotel, arrange for your hunting license (ahead of time if possible), take you out to buy your food and other supplies, and accompany you to and from the field. Camnares will deal with the local administration and communities, organizing a trustful team of porters and trackers for the expedition. A bilingual staff member will be with you throughout your stay from beginning to end. We will assure your trophy is properly treated and all national and international papers obtained to assure your trophy of a lifetime arrives to your chosen taxidermist in a timely manner.

Where, When and What?
CAMNARES has exclusive access to community hunting concessions in savanna, transition and forest areas in Cameroon. This includes the right to hunt savanna (small tusked) and forest elephant, bongo, lord derby eland, savanna & forest buffalo, western roan, western hartebeest, kob du buffon, sing sing waterbuck, warthog, red river hog (potamochere), giant forest hog, yellow-backed duiker, forest sitatunga, blue duiker, black fronted duiker, other duikers.

The savanna hunting season is from December 1st to April 30th while the best forest and transition hunting is May, June and July during the rainy season where each morning following evening rains fresh tracks can be identified and pursued. In the savanna area, you will hunt out of one camp. The vehicle will drop you to hunt a different area on foot each morning and afternoon. You can stay out all day or return for lunch and a siesta during the heat of the day and begin hunting from about 1500 hrs to sunset. In the forest and transition areas you can hunt out of a permanent camp and/or go on a classic 14 day foot safaris – it is your choice.

What to bring?
We recommend the following:

• Though popular and an excellent caliber for both forest and savanna, the 416 Remington/Rigby ammo is not readily available in Cameroon if there is a problem;
• In the savanna it is winter and the evenings and mornings are cool while the days can be warm so bring layers of clothes that can be peeled off or put on;
• Well broken in boots, preferably Vietnam style or canvas for the transition/forest areas that will be hunted in the rainy season;
• Polypropylene under-socks to keep from blistering;
• Gaiters;
• Thin Leather gloves for the forest and transition area as all the bush cuts;
• Rachet clippers to cut vines in the forest and transition areas;
• 10x40 binoculars important for the savannah, less so in the forest and transition area where game will be up close and in person;
• Compass & GPS are nice to have but not necessary since you will be in the local hunters’ backyards;
• A two-man tent per hunter. Two grommeted tarpins that can be made into shelters by the local hunters (Note: in the savanna you can rent rooms in Bénoué National park if desired);
• Katadyne water filter and iodine purification tablets;
• Bandana in the forest and a ball cap in the transition/savanna areas;
• Two changes of hunting clothes, cotton or the newer quick drying polyester clothes;
• If on a classic foot safari, if possible bring 4 duffel bags that convert into backpacks (e.g., classic military or backpacker style as sold in South Africa);
• First aid kit (all you need can be purchased in Cameroon, including paregoric one of the best diarrheal medicines;
• Camping Gas stove for which canisters (puncture type as opposed to screw-in) can be purchased in Cameroon;
• Basic cook kit. If necessary inexpensive tin cups, plates, etc. can be purchased in Cameroon. Local hunters will bring their own supplies;
• Biltong until first game is taken, instant oatmeal in sachets that can be used for breakfast and granola bars for breakfast, lunch or snack;
• Coffee, tea, beer alcohol, cheese, etc. can be purchased in-country;
• All other necessities such as salt and food can be purchased in-country.

How much

We offer unbeatable value for your money, with a total cost 3 to 4 times cheaper than hunting with professional hunter/outfitter. Basically, for someone from South Africa and Europe the cost of a hunt assuming two hunters come together is about US$ 11,000 (R 77,000) per hunter including airfare, temporary import permit for rifle/ammo, hunting license, trophy fee for bongo or elephant or lord derby eland, salt, food for the two hunters and up to 14 porters/trackers, 1-2 days in a hotel before and after hunt, trophy preparation. This does not include trophy paperwork & shipment (e.g., about US$ 350 to South Africa). From North America the cost will be about US$ 13,000 given the extra cost in airfare and rifle export permit. Additional trophies can be obtained with the added value of the trophy fee (See below) and shipment.

CONTACTS
Armand Biko’o, bikooa@yahoo.fr
Maliki Wardjomto, wardjomto@yahoo.fr

REFERENCES FROM A FORMER CLIENT

Andre DeGeorges, degeorgespa@tut.ac.za and andred@wol.co.za

Question:
Are interested on going on a real hunt that will be coupled with a cultural experience?

Choices:
Contact me directly or any of the contacts listed in the message.
Every request received will be answered.

Question:
Are you interested on becoming a partner of Camnares and help local communities of Cameroon fight poverty through the use of natural resources?

Choices:
Please let me know.
There is a lot to do and everyone is welcome.

 

BTTT

Any comments anyone?

Also how is this poster connected to the recent "Yaya Quattara" poster?

The style of post is 100% the same?

Sounds like the same person wrote it.

"If it sounds to good to be true it probably is"

Freischutz has answered on another thread that they are different people. See "Bongo hunts in Cameroon".

Armand

I would love to hunt self-guided in Cameroon. Not this year or next but in the future.

Have you got any clients that can post their experiences.

This is obviously the same "brains behind" as the BF post.

Of the cuff, $11K x 2 is not cheap considering all you are getting for that price is the right to hunt and a tracker. No food, drink, bed, shower, vehicle...and how many days is this?

I would like to see the breakdown...daily rate and trophy fees for

After Armand's first post early this month (which no one replied for a while), I did some research and have signed up for a Bongo hunt (hopefully with my long bow) in March 2007.

So assuming that all goes well (and I'm still posting on AR then), I may be able to say something about how it goes. Also hoping to bring along a cameraman to document what this is all about.

This is my research so far (I'm as "dumb" as anybody about this so please don't think I'm trying to promote something until after I have first hand experience with it):

What Armand and Yaya from Burkino Faso have in common is that both studied or graduated from Tshwane Univerity of Technology's Nature Conservation program). Tshwane University was formed a few years ago from the merger of three technology institutes, and is now South Africa's largest residential University. A project manager in the Department named Dr. Andres DeGeorge has worked with both Armand, Yaya and other students now studying with the Department in Pretoria. Andres has been on the self guided hunt with Armand and wrote about it in a SA hunting magazine. Andres was formerly the head of SCI's Africa office (hired by former SCI President, John Jackson, who now is leading Conservation Force - a very significant hunting conservation advocacy group in the US). Andres was involved with Project Noah - the project funded by the charitable Shikar Safari Club from Chicago (entirely different from the commerical Shikar Safaris outfitter run by a Mr. Khan from Turkey). Project Noah sought to provide educations for native Africans in conservation in an effort to involve a future generation in wildlife management and conservation.

Armand's NGO only formed in Dec 2004 and has only gone through one season. They've had 3 successful bongo hunters.

The idea of Armand's NGOs is to attempt to involve local villagers/hunters directly in arranging hunts for overseas hunters (the standard model till now is that a concession is bought usualy by someone overseas and hunts are run on it with employed local staff). The intention is that if local villagers, hunters, poachers? see that wildlife is highly valuable to overseas hunters, there will be a strong incentive to conserve it rather than using it for meat, skins, etc. A similar idea has worked extremely well in Pakistan in bringing the Markhor back from the brink of extinction).

The post of Yaya and Armand probably sound the same because they both studied at the same place, under the same teachers, and are trying to do the same thing in their respective countries. From what I can gather, both of them are also recent graduates in conservation who have little experience in the commerical trophy hunting world, espeically in marketing and managing the expectations of overseas hunters.

(and in a side note to the deleted debate about Marco Polo sheep on the Afghan-Pakistan border: I didn't see any Macro Polo there either. Maybe someone should throw a fleece on a Markhor and tried to convince SCI/ GSOC / FNAWS that a new sheep species has been found? ha! ha!)

Anyway, I am in communication with Armand about my upcoming hunt. I have not been in communication with Yaya (though I have heard of him in my research). I won't have seen first hand what they are trying to do. But hopefully by April, I will have and could tell you more.

There are a lot of hunting scams out there (as many of you know first hand . . . . maybe from both sides?). But shouldn't we try to give these guys some benefit of the doubt? If they are a con, I will probably be their first victim. So there's no need to throw too much flack around AR this early on.

Hope this helps.

Hi to all of you who have answered this message.
I have not been able to look at the AR forum these days to answer you. I am Currently in Cameroon and we are very busy Evaluating our Program (Camnares)for this year. Many of you have asked if I am connected to Yaya. Yes I am, but we are advertising two completely different programs with the same approach. Yaya is my Junior at Tshwane University of Technology (South Africa). I helped him post his program on the AR Forum. Rest assured that both these programs are real and represent real hunt opportunities in two wonderful French speaking african Countries.
For the next week or 10 days, I will still not be able to Answer you all because I am still very busy but After that, All those who have shown interest to our Self guided hunting program will receive more information.

All the Best to all of you.

Armand Biko'o.
General Manager
Cameroon Natural Resources.

Has anybody got anymore ifo on this hunt

quote:

Cameroon

Wildlife Artist
I bumped into Big Kahuna in Paris, He was going to hunt Bongo. He should be back from his hunt any day. I just got back form a self guided hunt in Cameroon with a very good friend of mine. We had a great hunt! You have to be tough mentally and physically. On a ten day hunt you can expect to walk 100 miles in 90-100 degree temperatures. Coming from Alaska the heat was very hard on me! I will try to post ba full hunt report in a week or two.

Can't wait to hear about it Robert

Pictures please

Apologies to all for this very, very late field report about my Bongo hunt last year with CAMNARES (I've become very interested in these conservation and community hunts - so haven't had much time, make that any time, to check AR). Will also publish this post on the Field Report thread.

Good news: CAMNARES is genuine (not an African scam as many suspected here) and doing Chasse Libre with them has been absolutely fascinating.

Better news: Eugene Yap from Southpoint Safaris in Hawaii (and a former SCI Outfitter of the Year) has volunteered to organize hunters for the CAMNARES bongo hunts in Kong willage where I hunted in 2008. I believe Eugene will be building proper shelters, skinning and trophy prep facilities, electricity generators, safe food & water, road access, etc. So future hunters probably won't have to go through the "original" experience I had to (ha! ha!).

The following is taken from Don Causey's The Hunting Report. Don kindly wrote up my hunt the Feb 2008 THR (if he didn't I was probably not going to have the time to write it up for AR
anytime soon!)

Some pics will follow.

BTW, I'm afraid that I won't be checking the forum. So don't be surprised if I don't answer questions. It may even take me a while to answer PMs. You would have better luck tracking down Eugene Yap or Armand Biko'o (I understand Armand is a member of this forum).

From The Hunting Report Feb 2008

"The remaining development that
deserves mention this month revolves
around a very unusual hunt
we heard about through Hunting Report
subscriber Wayne C. W. Lau. It
is a community-based bongo hunt
put together for him in Cameroon by
an organization called CAMNARES,
which stands for Cameroon National
Resources. Here is a truncated version
of the report Lau sent us on the
experience:
“CAMNARES was started by
two Cameroon students, Armand
Biko’o and Maliki Wardjomto, who
earned their degrees recently in Nature
Conservation at South Africa’s
Tshwane University through a Safari
Club International initiative called
Project Noah. On their return home,
the two students had the pioneering
idea to bring overseas hunters directly
to local villages in Cameroon.
No PHs or outfitters would be involved.
Wages would be paid directly
to village porters and trackers,
and safari fees would go directly to
the community.
“Cameraman Wouter Pienaar and
I decided to give this idea a test this
past July by booking a hunt for
bongo in the central Cameroon village
of Kong. Suffice it to say,
Piernaar and I quickly learned that
hunting in the jungle is tough. It
was doubly tough on our pilot
chasse libre hunt because, unsurprisingly,
no one had done much in
the way of developing the hunting
area - like creating hunting roads,
for example. That meant we had to
hunt the old fashioned way, traveling
on foot, cutting trails with machetes
and camping out with a team
of porters carrying equipment on
their heads. Images of Stanley and
Livingstone come to mind.
“Fortunately, we had some modern
technology that helped. Rather
than tents, Pienaar and I had light
and easy-to-set-up jungle hammocks.
We also had light-weight
stoves, fuel canisters, foldable
chairs/tables, etc. with us, even
though it turned out that the traditional
African way of cooking over
open fires and building furniture
from cut sticks worked much better
that what we had brought.
“Our gear all organized, we simply
set off on a long walk into the
jungle a few days after we arrived.
That night, we built a base camp
next to a river. The next morning,
we started hunting in dead earnest.
The village’s head tracker, Remy,
knew his stuff. Our daily routine involved
checking natural salt licks
and hollowed-out bat trees for
bongo tracks. Once we found a fresh
and large enough track, we would
stalk the bongo bull though the
jungle. When the bongo was close
enough, Remy’s dogs would bay
him. I carried my favorite weapon: a
long bow. Wouter had brought his
rifle for safety and back-up.
“The routine seemed straightforward
enough. But we soon discovered
a timing problem: If we set out
from camp soon after dawn, we had
to have a bongo down by 1:00 pm.
Otherwise, there would not be
enough time for skinning and returning
to camp for salting before
dark. That left us with a very short
daily window to move on foot to the
hunting area, find a suitable bongo
and track it.
“Moving through jungle isn’t as
bad as busting through alders in
Alaska. But it is slow. After a few
days of conditioning, I could keep
up with the others on a good, clear
trail. But frequently, my size (six
feet three inches) and my 50 years of
age meant that I could only move at
about 2/3 the speed of the team.
There was just too much bush to
squeeze through. For CAMNARES
and Kong village, it was very important
to get a bongo on this pilot trip.
Since waiting for me would take up
scarce time, we decided that Wouter
(a tough, wiry, ex-tank corps major)
and the hunting party would go
ahead. I would follow. If they
tracked down a bongo and there
wasn’t enough time for me to catch
up, Wouter would shoot the first
bongo. Once the priority mission
was accomplished, I could try to
hunt another one.
“Sure enough, Wouter and theteam tracked down and shot a wonderful
old bongo bull the next day,
just as they were hitting the deadline
around 1 pm. He was a real trophy
with a big body and thick horn
bases with symmetrical ivory tips
that had been worn down to 25
inches over the years. It was not the
highest-scoring animal, but it was a
magnificent trophy!
“After that, it was my turn. The
hunting team went ahead to scout
for tracks. But when they found
tracks of a trophy, we always ran out
of time. After a while, we started
talking about how we would do it
differently the next time. We would
use our hammocks to set up camp on
the fly wherever we happened to be
when evening came. If we ran out of
time tracking a bongo, we would
camp and then take up the track first
thing the next morning. The team
would have two groups: a hunting
group and a support group. The support
group would stay behind in the
morning, boil water, launder clothes,
cook food and then catch up with the
hunt group during the day. Meals
would be quick affairs comprised of
previously cooked food simply
warmed up. Heavy essential items
like salt (and possibly wine and
beer?) would be buried at key depots
in the area before the hunt to be
accessed when needed. It sounded
efficient and effective.
“My interest in coming back was
already kindled when Remy, in his
quiet voice, began to talk about a
legendary bongo area which had
never been hunted because it was so
remote. That sealed my decision to
come back. So did the discussion I
had later with my good friend, Eugene
Yap from Hawaii, a former SCI
Outfitter of the Year. Seems Yap has
offered to help CAMNARES build
infrastructure and find hunters for
the 2008 season.
“Plans call for Eugene to help
the villagers build a main camp with
camp beds, hot/cold showers, toilets,
electrical generator, etc. Skills training
is also planned in things such as
skinning, trophy handling, cooking
western meals, etc. The idea is to
raise the standards of community
hunts in Cameroon to a level where
they are suitable for the international
traveling hunter. If Eugene’s
ideas for the 2008 season work out, I
want to organize a Medical/Dental
Mission Hunt in 2009. The concept
is that there are many hunters who
are doctors, nurses, dentists, medical
technicians, etc. Perhaps some of
them will be interested in coming to
Kong and volunteering medical and
dental help for the village before
they go on their hunts….â€
(Postscript: At press time, we
reached Yap in Hawaii, and he confirmed
that he is indeed going to
head this project up, not for profit
but to give something back to international
hunting. He says he envisions
being able to field two teams
of hunters at once, each with a translator.
In all, he has room for eight
hunters this year between May 15
and July 31. He was not ready to
give an exact cost, but he said early
hunts would likely cost about one
third to one half what traditional safaris
cost in Cameroon. Interested
hunters need to know that he is going
to be picky in selecting clients.
Only experienced hunters who have
been to wild Africa numerous times
will be selected. Good physical condition
and an ability to identify and
judge game are also prerequisite. In
that connection, he envisions levying
a significant penalty against any
hunter who mistakenly shoots a female
bongo. The basic hunt, he says,
will be for bongo and forest buffalo
in what he calls a transition area
where forest and savannah meet. He
says there are also various duikers
around, as well as some sitatunga.
The latter are difficult to hunt and
should be considered a target of opportunity.
You can get more details
on the hunts by calling Yap at his
home: 808-322-3201. Be sure you
check local time in Hawaii before
dialing.)
Get in a good safari somewhere
in Africa this year."

Sorry but I forgot how to load a pic on to a posting. Could someone PM me with instructions? Many thanks in advance!

OK. Good news again: Thanks to the post by T. Carr on the Hunt Reports thread, I'm going to try loading an image.

BAd News: this is such a pain (no wonder I forgot how to do it) to load pictures, I'm not going to be loading many!

Let's ee if this works!


[/IMG]

Didn't work, trying again.

Last time, then I'm going to give up.

OK, got it to work. But how do you make it small?

Anyway, a really old, old bongo. Horn inches only 25 or so. But worn down to ivory with big massive bases. Interesting thing. The area we were hunting in hadn't been hunted much before. So a big animal's tracks means an old animal, but not necessarily a high horn scoring one because the old ones (a more beautiful trophy IMHO) have their horns worn down.

Now as a teaser (and trying to see how I can get the picture smaller), look what I hunted in Feb with CAMNARES in the northern savannahs! A really old one with horn front ridges worn down to ivory! Not much for inches. But look at that black mane and head carpet of hair! Our trackers told us that all the usual ourfitters(French and Spanish mainly) go for high scoring horns of younger bulls in their prime. But are hunters missing out on this beautiful mane and head carpet (too much to be called a tuft) of a truly old warrior?

Shucks! Try again!

Big Kahana

Looks like you had a couple of great hunts! Cam and I had a really good time and I killed everything I wanted ( Roan, Buffalo, Bush buck, Red river Forest hog and Hartabest) Can you email me that picture of us in the Paris Airport ( I would like to put it in My photo album /jjohnson@alaska.net) Jim hunted with Cam this year, his hunt should air some time this spring. Jim is really a good guy! Every day my wife tells me were going to work on the house this year. But every night I dream about hunting Bongo and Eland!
Great pictures keep in touch

Hey Bob!

Good to hear from you! Congrats on the very nice bag of savannah trophies. Your trophy room is going to be spectacular.

Would be more than happy to email you the pic (assuming I can find it on my hard drive!). Just PM me your email address.

Cameroon chasse is really changing my thoughts on hunting. I'm going back again on another community / conservation hunt for Dwarf Forest elephant in July. Looking forward to working with the pygmies.

Keep in touch!