29 January 2025, 07:55
nmhunter4lifeCameroon - LDE with Mayo Oldiri
Cameroon, Northern SavannahOUTFITTER- 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
