Cameroon, Northern Savannah

OUTFITTER- Mayo Oldiri

PH- Guav Johnson

RIFLE/AMMO- Rented a camp rifle - Winchester Model 70 .375 H&H, 300 grain Barnes X factory loads

AREA - Mayo Nduelle (10 days), Mayo Vaimba (2.5 days)

AIR TRAVEL - Outbound: United - Brussels Airlines - Camair
Homeward: Camair - Air France - Delta

Travel Agent- PWP Travel

DATES -Early January 2025

HOTELS- Star Land in Douala, Shalom City Hotel in Garoua

WEATHER - Mid 90's in the afternoon, Mid 60's in early AM

Game Animals Seen: Lord Derby Eland, Savannah Buffalo, Western Roan, Sing-Sing Waterbuck, Korrigum (Giant Topi), Western Hartebeest, Western Cob, Nigerian Bohor Reedbuck, Harnessed Bushbuck, Warthog, Oribi, Western Bush Duiker, Red-Flanked Duiker, Baboon

Animals pursued and not taken: Red-flanked duiker - we worked hard and saw at least one every day, but only had opportunities at females. The rest were red blurs running through the grass. I think the large amount of remaining grass in the early season hindered us.


I went with my dad who hunted out of a different camp (Mayo Vaimba) for most of the hunt. He was successful on LDE, Savannah Buffalo, Western Bush Duiker and a harnessed bushbuck. He had done a plains game hunt with Mayo Oldiri about 20 years ago and had already taken most of the other game animals on license previously. I joined him at Vaimba for the last 2.5 days which was about a 2 hour drive away. Both the hotel in Douala and Garoua were nothing fancy, but nice. Camair-Co is highly unreliable on their flight times and even if they will fly at all. We left on our scheduled day, but on the way back were initially going to be delayed 2 days because they had cancelled all flights for the prior 2 days. Luckily they flew on our scheduled day and some well placed dollars got us bumped up to a late night flight which just barely made our connection. Brussels airlines cancelled our return flight for no apparent reason and rebooked us a week later. They had no openings on any flights for the entire week. Patrick with PWP travel was able to get us out on Air France - Delta but we had to buy a whole new set of tickets and are still fighting United/Brussels for a refund or credit.

It was about an 8 hour drive from Garoua to camp. My dad remarked that there are a lot more people and villages along the roadsides than 20 years ago. Most people look to live in poverty and herd cows and grow cotton. Plastic bags and trash carpet the ground in most villages. Camp was comfortable with concrete rondavels that cooled off at night and stayed cooler than the ambient temperature during the day. The food was simple, but good. Buffalo-tail and eland-tail stew is excellent and all the game was very good eating. The bread was great at Nduelle. Hunting was in the AM and late afternoon with a break from noon to 3PM on most days. The rains appeared to have been heavy last year and later than normal. Lots of areas still had tall grass that would not burn and a few roads were impassable. Guav was an excellent PH who knew the area extremely well. He hunted hard and was good company.

My only mistake was in choice of footwear. I had Merrell Moabs and a stiff mountain hunting boot (I brought this because I had been having some foot trouble prior to the hunt and these were supportive and comfortable). Both of them have foam midsoles, and on the worm mounds the foam midsole seems to amplify the sound of the mound crushing and is shockingly loud. It made it impossible to walk quietly in many areas. A boot with a solid rubber sole like Jim Greens, Courteneys, Russells, etc. would have been much quieter. Guav's tire tread sandals and the trackers rubber shoes were much quieter.

All in all, it was a successful hunt. With the burgeoning population in Cameroon and the Islamic insurgent problem to the North, I am not very optimistic that this hunt will be feasible in 10 years time. Hearing the stories from 20 years ago, it definitely sounds like the best times have passed, unless something changes.

I will let the pictures tell the story. They are mostly in chronological order.

Camp dining area



Checking salt licks for tracks.



Eland sign of broken trees, and tracks in the burnt soil.





Glassing for eland off the hilltops.



Savannah Buffalo



Western Cob



Lord Derby Eland





All the camp workers divvying up the Eland meat. I was the first hunter of the year in this camp, and they were very happy to get meat.



Western Hartebeest



The results from hunting at Mayo Nduelle.



The cattle which are very common as soon as you leave the hunting blocks.



Views up and down the river from the porch of the dining area at Mayo Vaimba.





Fishing just above camp at Mayo Vaimba. The group caught some tigerfish and catfish. There are Nile perch, but we did not catch any.



Harnessed Bushbuck



Bohor Reedbuck



There were lots of birds. This is just a small sampling of some I took pictures of when hanging around camp during the midday Siestas.

Red-throated bee eater


Speckled pigeon


Bateleur


Giant Kingfisher


Fish Eagle


Marabou Stork

Working on editing images to a better viewing size.

.

Congratulations on a great hunt! Great pictures and a good read. Thanks for sharing!

.

Congrats.

I sympathize with you on Cam Air. I had similar issues .

Great animals! Congrats to you and your dad!

I can appreciate your problems with Cam Air. Pretty much par for the course unfortunately. But Brussels? That’s outrageous.

Hope they step up and make you whole for your extra costs.

One expects better from a first world airline.

Congratulations and Guav is one of the best Guides working in Africa today.

Congratulations on a great hunt!

Sad to hear things continue to get worse there.

Looks like you had a very successful hunt. Congratulations!

Excellent report and some fine trophies! I'm booked with Mayo in Early January 2027. I am hoping travel with Cam Air is more reliable by then.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanajay:
Excellent report and some fine trophies! I'm booked with Mayo in Early January 2027. I am hoping travel with Cam Air is more reliable by then.

It won’t be!

Thanks for the report and great photos, and congratulations!

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:

quote:

Originally posted by bwanajay:
Excellent report and some fine trophies! I'm booked with Mayo in Early January 2027. I am hoping travel with Cam Air is more reliable by then.

It won’t be!

I hunted there in 2014. Same bullshit, different decade…

I am not very optimistic that this hunt will be feasible in 10 years time.

Having hunted the block to the east of 20 last season, I’m afraid your statement is correct. It’s definitely a hunt to do sooner than later. Very nice eland and buffalo.

thank you for the report and photos.

wow we have been spoiled two hunting reports from cameroon. thank you guys.

quote:

Originally posted by medved:
thank you for the report and photos.

wow we have been spoiled two hunting reports from cameroon. thank you guys.

Another guy is on his way back. Might be a third.

Excellent report and pix. Congrats on some fine trophies.