The first week of February, 2016 was spent in Burkina Faso on a buffalo and roan hunt. Arjun Reddy, a poster here on AR, had offered this hunt. Since I had never hunted western Africa, I bought the hunt for the adventure of a new area. (Also, the price was right) Glad I did-it was great.

Getting there was half the fun. Went through Turkey and spent two days sight seeing in Istanbul. Very interesting.

Arrived in Ougadougou and found almost no one speaks English. Even at the airport. I was greeted by a young man who helped me with the immigration and customs and gun stuff. He was sent by the safari company and was useful as he knew some English. (He was supposed to be there when I left also, but he did not make it. Got through with sign language and common sense.)

The drive to camp the next day was eye opening. Crazy traffic, pot holes, motor bikes and scooters, pedestrians and donkeys all vied for space with the big trucks. The pot holes kept the speed down so no safety issues. The second half of the drive was on dirt roads and was better than the paved part with the pot holes.

The camp was nice if a bit old and dated. Not the standards of East and Southern Africa but much better than North American hunting camps. Food the same story-not like southern Africa but better than Alaska or American West.

The hunting was the same as all over the world. Find tracks or critters, hunt and execute a stalk. The guides are not Professional Hunters but are good hunters and trackers. Arjun explained all this as did the references supplied by the booking agent and the people here on AR who had been there. It took a day or two the learn the difference between hunting with a PH and a Burkina local. When I assumed the role of a PH and used the guide and tracker for guiding and tracking things worked great. I carried the sticks so I could place them exactly where I wanted them instead of having to move them for the shot.

The second day was buffalo day. Three bulls with no cows so just picked the biggest one and shot him. They are not in the same size class as Cape buffalo, but he was an old one and the biggest one I have ever shot. (the only one) I have to say I shot poorly and had a follow up through long grass. Same story with the roan. After the last two safaris where the shots were all easy or lucky, this one humbled me a bit.

The third day was roan day. Long and hot. Walked from seven to eleven thirty and called for the cruiser. (They all have cell phones) As we started back to camp for lunch and a nap, we spotted a lone roan bull. As we followed, we realized he was the last animal in a herd of about thirty. In less than an hour we had spotted and glassed five or six different bulls and finally found one that seemed like he carried larger horns than the others. At this point I was acting as a PH and making the decisions on which animal to pass and which to take, so I decided to take him. He always stayed just out of my comfortable shooting range so I had to take a long shot. After a long follow up due to poor bullet placement, another shot ended it.

I enjoyed the whole experience from the travel to the language issue. They supply an interpreter if you don't speak French. I found that once in the field, I could communicate with facial expressions, shrugs, raised eyebrow, and other hand signals better than having the interpreter right there. I would recommend having one around though for other communication requirements such as planning the day and general questions. I plan on hunting West Africa some more if I can.

Good to read your report Tom and congratulations on a couple of fine trophies.
Best regards.

Excellent trophies! Well done. West Africa is a unique adventure and half the fun is just getting there!

Very nice. Congrats

Well done Tom and some cracking trophies you got there.

Tom.
Great to hear you had an adventurous time in Burkina and a couple of good days in Istanbul.
Thank you for your report and congratulations on your fine trophies. Sounds like you had a fine hunt there. West Africa is becoming popular.
Kind regards
Jytte

quote:

The hunting was the same as all over the world. Find tracks or critters, hunt and execute a stalk. The guides are not Professional Hunters but are good hunters and trackers. Arjun explained all this as did the references supplied by the booking agent and the people here on AR who had been there. It took a day or two the learn the difference between hunting with a PH and a Burkina local. When I assumed the role of a PH and used the guide and tracker for guiding and tracking things worked great. I carried the sticks so I could place them exactly where I wanted them instead of having to move them for the shot.

GREAT !!!
:-)

This is hunting.
I also hunt normaly "without an PH" in all parts of the world.
Because:
It is your adventure.

Awesome Tom
Wanna hear about it from horses mouth
Libby big bore shoot on July 10th
Check it out on Big bore forum

Nice!

Congratulations Tom great trophies great report I was on the hunt just before you 15 to 29 Jan you missed out on the terrorist attack

Thanks for sharing. Appreciate your willingness to step into the void with language!

Ski+3

Congratulations on some great trophies, and your adventure! Well done and thanks for sharing!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Glad you had a good hunt Tom. I actually enjoyed being the PH and deciding which animals I was going to shoot. Thanks for the report

Tom, it was a pleasure to arrange your hunt to Burkina. I see you got a photo of that toothless bull ele. I saw him nearly everyday hanging around the waterhole close to camp this year. Last year he was literally a few feet from the truck one early morning when we sped passed him in the dark. The guys said oh he is pretty harmless! I am not so sure I want to get so close to him again!

Burkina and West Africa in general is a great hunting experience. You will have a great time, if you can go with the flow and leave behind your expectations of how things should work after hunting in Southern and East Africa. Their main clientele are French hunters who have different levels of expectations, tolerance, attitude to hunting and camp life when compared to North American hunters.


Arjun Reddy
www.huntburkinafaso.com
New York
Tel: 845 259 3628

Congratulations Tom! Some good looking animals there.

CONGRATS on a well done hunt, I admire your sense of adventure