Congo Brazzaville Hunt 2011
There has been a bit of a buzz about hunting Congo Brazzaville lately so I thought I would post a report of the hunt which we just finished on June 12, 2011.
To start off with, hunting has always been open in Congo Brazzaville, there just have been no longer any professional hunters, so few hunters choose it as a destination. Add to that the fact you cannot bring in a rifle and you have a country that just is not open and friendly to hunters. At the same time I have hunted it now six times with some of the best trips in all my 45+ African adventures. This trip was by far the best of all six.
I started to hunt Congo in 1997 when I went up the Motaba river in the far north with a missionary friend. We had a great adventure but not too successful a hunt. We found many gorilla, chimp and monkeys but we were in a jungle with triple canopy and with almost no sunlight penetrated to the forest floor where the larger ungulates were conspicuously absent.
On leaving the bush we were welcomed back to civilization by the news of a coup in Brazzaville. This curtailed all air traffic and all river traffic south was subject to mortar fire. After a week of waiting around for things to calm down I found a guide who said he could lead me across the inundated forest which surrounded Impfondo and we took off. A thousand miles later I caught a plane home from Cameroun, the country of my birth.
I continued to explore Congo for five years, but civil wars on all sides pushed in thousands of refugees and I was advised to stay away. Finally last year I was advised by my missionary friends that it was calm again and I started to plan my next trip.
Whenever you plan an African adventure of this nature you have to take into account hundreds of variables and have backup plans for completely unknown situations. Fortunately we were able to work around a number of these, I will give you a few examples:
- My car came across from Cameroun (I am a registered PH in Cameroun and do many trips there annually) to meet me, as you are allowed only 20kg. of baggage on interior flight in Congo. I had to bring enough gear to mount a month long trip in the jungle. A ferry was out across a major river, so my car was trapped on the other side about 200 miles form we where I landed. My side of the river consisted of almost impassable roads and I rented three different sets of vehicles before reaching the broken down ferry at 3:00 AM.
- My business partner from Cameroun was held up by the Congolese embassy for over a week and I ended up paying a significant bribe just to get a "Laisse Pass" to bring in our car to Congo. This delay meant he was unable to get to the capitol to do paperwork, like hunting permits. I had to get another person to get us gun permits and hunting licenses at the last minute.
- Using some old connections and a few new ones I managed to borrow a number of guns including a nice .416 and a .375 along with three shotguns for duiker hunting.
- The boat we rented to take us back to Impfondo broke down only five kilometers into the 75 kilometer trip. We had to limp back upriver and re-negotiate a dugout canoe to finish the trip in the dark or we would have missed the plane. The tug boat captain who helped us said we should not go at night and regaled us with stories of throat slit corpses floating by were we were talking only 18 months before. Fortunately we had no further issues on the moonlit night, although we drifted into Congo Zaire waters a number of times when the motor quit.
- I arranged for a crew that went ahead and burned the savannahs, but unfortunately it was attacked by a huge silverback gorilla and one B'Aka (pygmy) nearly had his leg bitten off. I had to treat him extensively on my arrival for infection.
- a case containing half of the "impossible to purchase locally" ammunition "disappeared" and I was sure it had been stolen. Unknown to me the taxi driver returned it to my missionary friends, but we had to work around a shortage of ammunition.
I think that gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of challenges we had to deal with. Here is a short description of the travel arrangements:
1. Fly into Brazzaville. Make sure you have legal visa and letter of invitation as well as hotel reservations
2. Fly to Impfondo on in-country flight. Only 20kg. of baggage allowed
3. Rent car. (It breaks down and price doubles after we board.)
4. Rent a 4X4 to take us on the next section. Price triples after we load so we get out.
5. Find a 4X4 and negotiate a price and take off. We get stuck multiple times and have to hire a whole village at 2AM to push us out. Arrive in a village at 3AM and are invited into the chief's house for a welcome sleep until dawn.
6. Negotiate a canoe to take us to the other side of the river
7. Meet my car which takes us to the launching village - stuck only twice in this section.
8. Negotiate a huge dugout with 5 paddlers to take us down river. Price doubles once we are loaded (You might see a recurring theme here)
9. Carry all of our gear for 2 hours to the B'Aka village through hip deep mud and log obstacle course.
10. Load everything into "panniers" (vine and sapling backpacks) or plastic drums at 40 pounds each for portaging by the B'Aka.
11. At the end of the trip, reverse all the above except we chose to take a boat circumventing the nastiest section of road where we were stuck so many times. The boat broke down and we had to change for another one, barely making our flight
The area I had chosen was one I explored in 2002. All the B'Aka knew me so that part of the trip was the least complicated. I did not have to beg and plead like I had to in 2002 and I had also brought along my own staff of three core people from my Cameroun operation. This was invaluable, as once we had shot two buffalo the B'Aka refused to hunt. They can see no reason to shoot any more if you are already fully loaded, which I guess makes sense.
The hunting area was a series of huge "bais" or openings in the jungle. I had a Bantu helper go in a month ahead of time and burn five of these savannahs.

When we arrived the grass was shooting back up and the buffalo in particular were there in force taking advantage of the new growth. On our first day of hunting we saw seven different yellow back duikers (we shot one and missed another) and on the second day I shot a forest buffalo.

My companion shot his a couple days later.

We also called in duikers when we needed fresh meat and all in all we had a very fine hunt. Mostly it was an adventure hunt with the B'Aka but we were lucky enough to collect some good trophies as well. My companion caught a some baby red river hogs and we jumped sitatunga a number of times with no shots offered. We saw lots of birds and monkeys and even chimpanzees. We heard gorilla chest thumping, but they stayed out of sight.
The hunt itself is conducted as a portaged hunt, not unlike Teddy Roosevelt did in the early 1930's but with fewer porters (we had only 15, Teddy used over 100) and a lot more basic food and equipment. We slept in hammocks and ate rice and duiker for most meals. Buffalo steaks were a welcome alternative. The B'Aka provided honey on a regular basis.
The loads are all divided up into 40 pound charges and we had 15 porters to serve three of us. We had a professional photographer along to video the events for my Danish client and he shot over five hours of very unique footage. Among the things we managed to film were:
• How to thatch your B'Aka hut with leaves

• How to make vines into mats

• How to make red paint for face painting
• How to climb 100' up a tree to gather honey, smoke out the bees and feast on the results
• How to take the whole village on a hunting/gathering foray
• how to conduct a traditional net hunt for duikers

• how to shoot a crossbow with poison arrows.

As you can gather this was a very unique hunt with stone age people who are very happy with their lives and welcomed us to join them in their foray into the jungle. Life is very simple. You are 10 miles away from the nearest road when you start walking, which you do every day. Resting is often complicated by bees who love to dine on your salty sweat, but you soon learn to move slowly and allow them an escape route and you get along much better.
On the way out in Brazzaville I met with the Director of Fish and Game and he is very open to my coming back to explore more areas and maybe even establishing a hunting company in Congo. I already am a licensed PH in Cameroun, as well as South Africa, so this has some definite appeal, as it is just a huge country with basically unlimited opportunities.
I plan to return and explore more of the far reaches of this beautiful but complex country again soon and will welcome a fellow explorer to join me.
camshaft

Take care of yourself Camshaft. I hope you live long enough to keep writing these reports. You are a true adventurer and I admire you for that. If I ever tried this stuff it would have to come from a three Margarita decision as tequila makes me stupid. When do plan on going back?

There is a short "dry" season in August. If I can not go back myself I will get my Cameroun partenr to go and check out some places that look really interesting on google earth. My only issue is I am in Cameroun all of July and believe it or not I am still a happily married guy that likes to see his wife every once and a while.
Camshaft

What an adventure!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing

wow

if I had two good legs instead of one good leg I would love to do this trip!!!!!!!dam that sounds like a great trip even with all the problems

You, sir, are the Real Thing!!

I am not aware of any hunting adventures offered today that have the range of opportunities these portaged safaris provide. You are on your own, often 20 miles from civilzation of any sort and yet it is absolutely the most wonderful tirp you can imagine.
camshaft

Unbelievable adventure!!!!!

I put a trip like this at least a couple notches higher up on the "get-yourself-killed meter" than I do a trip to the top of Everest (not that I'd know a damned thing about either!!).

You're a courageous and fortunate man Camshaft, and DAMN I'D LOVE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS, but somehow I don't think my wife and kids would share my enthusiasm.

Someday......

Take care of yourself and regards,
Scott

I always point out to my wife that people who climb Everest and such just prove that I am not the craziest man in the world. At least I get to eat what I find on these adventures, and I never get frost bite!
camshaft

quote:

Originally posted by camshaft:
I always point out to my wife that people who climb Everest and such just prove that I am not the craziest man in the world. At least I get to eat what I find on these adventures, and I never get frost bite!
camshaft

Nope. Sorry.
Just tried that one out on her and she still said HELL NO!! Women can be so unreasonable

Great adventure CAM, nice to see that some wild places still exist. Southern Africa is so developed and commercialised in comparison.

Cool adventure... love the dwarf forest buff!

This is the real deal!! Wow

Amazing hunt & thanks for sharing. I know a hunter here in NZ who also has a missionary friend in Cameroon and hunts there each year.

Camshaft:
That is incredible, thank you for sharing you're adventure.

Paul K

This hunt would seperate the men from the boys. What an adventure!

Wild stuff.

Now that's above and beyond.

Hats off to you sir!

I would like to do something like this one day. Tomorrow in fact.

To truly escape from the grip of civilization and see some of these things is very attractive. In fact I can not think of many things I would rather do..

This appears to be a taste of the wild that is seldom enjoyed.

I am sure it is scary and frustrating at times but very rewarding and uplifting as well.

I can see how the rewards of the hunt would even be secondary to the adventure as a whole. I believe that is getting rare.

Thanks for sharing.


Cheers!

All of you guys that think this is a sexy type of hunt better think again. It's tough and it's grueling. I spent a month in the CAR in an established camp. I grew up in Houston with humidity at intolerable levels.

This hunt, my friends, ain't for the meek or mild. Being able to walk 10 or 20 miles is the least of your problems. The humidity will knock your socks off. The sweat bees will follow you incessantly. The bugs. Oh my God, the bugs. Everywhere. I had a 4 ft snake of unknown variety waiting for me at my hut one night after cocktails.

Like my 2 mntn goat hunts in Nov. in Alaska, I'm darned glad I did them but I ain't doing it again.

There is a reason the yellow back duiker, Lord Derby Eland, Bongo, among others, are so highly prized. Not every 70 yr old with a pot full of cash could make even a week there.

If you want to train for sheep hunting - you start running and doing various cardio to get into shape.

To get into Cameroun or CAR shape, camp outside in Houston or Louisiana. Get used to the bug bites and night noises.

Now go look at all of those 'trophy room' pictures and see just how many animals these big boys with big boy toys and money actually had animals from that region.

Cam,
My hat is off to ya. I hope you write a book one day and I'll be the first to buy it. That is territory Custard would not have entered knowing his outcome with the American Indians.

Camshaft, i really take my hat off to you sir, that definately is something that is not to be taken on by the faint hearted.

This is exactly the reason why we have opened the camp in the Congo, so that we can give the people that do not have that kind of steel the chance to hunt those species that abound those forests.

We have our camp in the North Eastern region, close to Ouesso. Our camp facilities are very good, running water, electricity and flushing toilets, and that makes life back in camp a bit more bearable so you don't have to sleep in huts similar to the ones the locals use.

As for the hunting, it depends on how you would like to do it, you can do the walking thing if you choose, but the game is so plentifull, we drive past several bongos almost every day, and we have sitatunga feeding at our camp site in the morning. So if you are not that fit you can make the hunt too.

Ide does speak the truth though, the humidity is very high when it is not raining, that is why we choose the rainy season (among other factors). Bugs are a problem too, humid places tend to breed the most of them. These are things we are well prepared for though, so that should not be a main concern for any hunter.

Hunting in Congo does not need to be the harrowing tale of man against forest that it used to be. If you would like more information, i would love to supply it.

Gert Saaiman
Saaiman Hunting Safaris Congo
shsafari@mweb.co.za

I almost never read these hunting reports but this one caught my eye. Dang I'm glad I read it and my sincere admiration to an adventure and adventurer "beyond the norm."

I'll be in Brazzaville next week, June 27 to 1 July (probably staying at the Hotel Saphir). Any chance of meeting someone connected with your operation there?

We'll be working on the Ketta-Ntam Road, so in the Northern region for a couple of years.

Hi cam, thank you very much for the report. What an adventure i envy you! If you ever plan to take someone with(even as observer) i'll do IT in a heartbeat .i bet my hunt in cameroun will be easy in comparison to this Trip.
Dennis

Wink,
I have a base for my operations in Cameroun. I had my chauffeur drive my Land Cruiser over to meet me for this trip. What that means is that I have no infrastructure in Congo that is there on a permanent basis. I am in California right now and will be in Cameroun the time period you are in Brazzaville.
If you are going to be in the country for a couple of years that will give you plenty of chances to do some hunting, you just have to figure out all the angles so you are not outside the law. They love nothing better than to catch a "mondele" (white person) with an infraction that they can fine you for. Season opens in My and runs to October. Problem is the rains are real heavy in September and October to the point I doubt you will be doing much road work during that time period. Real issue is getting a gun to use, but they tend to be available on a local rental basis.
If you are a serious hunter and want to sort all this out feel free to PM me. You are headed to a part of Congo that has my serious attention because it is very wild. I cannot help but think we could have a win-win situation with some cooperation.
Camshaft

Gert Saaiman,
Welcome to the AR forum. It is very good to see you jump in on this post. I think you will recognize my name from the "Hunt Report" article that announced your debut into Congo. Congratulations on your new adventure, I wish you the best of luck.
You are absolutely right, there is now an opportunity for hunters who do not wish to be as adventurous to hunt Congo with your company now in place. I am very glad you have set up camp. Can you please let me know exactly what area you hunt. (Maybe river to river would work?) I am very familiar with Eric Stockenstrom's old haunts, as I visited him several times on the Ndoki river there, but if you have flush toilets you are one up on his old camp!! I heard you were up against the Sangha river, which would make sense, as that is probably the highest concentration of bongo in the world today. Are you in the CIB logging concession? In any case if you are open to sharing where you hunt it will ensure that I do not mistakenly wander into your area, as the folks in Brazzaville either did not know or just did not want to share. There is plenty of room for all. (I have all the 1:200.000 maps for that area.)
I can assure you I do this for fun, and have no desire to be a odds, in fact the opposite. I think that since you are catering to folks who represent a very different clientele it is not an issue at all. I know a lot of the history of the area you are hunting and have walked a large portion of it in the past. It is a very special part of the world and I look forward to hearing of some of your hunts.
I walked out through Pokola in 1997 and hunted the CIB logging concessions in 1998 and 200 and 2002. I returned to Pokola in 1999 to review the possibility of a "chasse libre" concession next to Eric. Our dream was to try to leverage our anti-poaching resources to cut down on the poaching and save a large tract of land in its pristine grandeur. He was to take the logged portions of the concessions and I was to take the unlogged portions, entailing all foot safaris on my part. All that came to naught when the government bowed to NGO pressure and cut his bongo permits from 8 to 2 and he could not make any profit and left the country. (A word of warning to the wise.)
Do you have any plans to attend the SCI convention in Los Vegas this coming year? It is the largest gathering of hunters who represent the kind of clientele you are catering to. If so I would be more than happy to be a helping hand for you in whatever manner that makes sense. I serve on the Conservation Committee and share a booth with Jim Shockey, so might be able to help you out if you are interested.
I look forward to more correspondence and cooperation.
camshaft

Grafton &/or Caracal,
You are more than welcome to set up an adventure hunt with me for a future date if you are serious. I will definitely be going back next year. I plan to go back to this same area and also to try to get into some areas that may be even deeper in the jungle. PM me if you want to talk it over and I will call you.
Camshaft
http://www.bombaziwilderness.com/

Camshaft, i would love to meet you, and it would be even better if you can come and visit us in the camp. I am hunting in the same general areas that Stockenstrohm hunted those years ago, and our camp is close to Kabo but it also includes Pokola, Ndoki and Loudoungou. I will actually be up there again next week for a couple of days, but my Ph's are there during most of the season. It seems that we have the same sort of ideals as one of our big interests are also to curb the poaching dilemma, among other things.
Things are a bit hectic at the moment as i am planning to go back up, but i can assure you my journey does not entail any hard labour. Thankfully we can fly with commercial airlines all the way to Ouesso, and then from there its about an hour's drive to camp. It really is a pleasure not to have to contend with charters and the like. And man what an experience. You being and experienced hunter in that area, you should know how amazing the wildlife is there. We see gorillas en chimpanzees there every day, and the fishing! we are planning in future to have Giant Tiger fishing safaris too, so keep that one in mind if you are interested.
PM me when you are planning to go there again, maybe we can arrange to meet up. Gert

Gert,
I hear your first safaris are now completed. Can you post any photos of your trophies? I am sure people would be interested.
Camshaft

thank you for sharing your adventure.
the children look well fed and happy, unlike so many pictures you see of african children.
was this your observation as well??---cam

The children were all very cheerful and happy, but a fat stomach is not necessarily a sign of a balanced diet, only a lot of food. Quite a few of the children had red hair, a sign of malnutrition in young African children.
I brought and left as much food as we could carry in our canoe. All the women of the village lined up at the end of the hunt with pots, bowls and even leaves (the same ones they build their houses with) to get their share of rice, manioc and salt.
camshaft.

Very interesting. Can you get anywhere near there from Zambia?

Very cool, I'd like to do something like this someday though not so rough, so Gert's camp would be a great way for me to see some truly rare Africa.

Fairgame,
You just need to get to Brazzaville, so a quick flight would put you there. Thre are plenty of inter-Africa airlines, surely you can get there with a fairly inexpensive ticket.
Camshaft

Ann,
I know the area that Gert hunts and know of no area that offers the true jungle hunts with a great chance at the bongo and giant forest hog that is any better. I have done over 50 self guided safaris in Central Africa and the old Eric Stockenstrom zone was the best, barring those area that are now national parks, like the Lobeke area in Cameroon. I hunted there before it was a park and had Biblical numbers of animals in the "bais" or clearings. So many green pigeons they really did blot out the sun and at one time you could see giant forest hogs, forest buffalo, duikers, sitatunga, dwarf crocodiles and a variety of birds in a single clearing! It was truly magical, and Gert is just across the river from there!
Camshaft

Too bad none of you guys are road building engineers. I've got a couple of positions open for civil engineers with road construction experience, based in Ouesso. Imagine, living in the heart of bongo country.

If you find any road engineers they will be the first in that country! I've driven those roads and drunken monkeys could have done better in most cases! Wishing you the best of luck in your adventure.
I'll be back slogging along those roads next year, so hopefully yours will set a new standard!!
Camshaft

We'll start with Ketta to Ntam. Unfortunately a Chinese contractor was selected, so we'll have our work cut out for us.

quote:

Originally posted by Saaiman Hunting:
Camshaft, i really take my hat off to you sir, that definately is something that is not to be taken on by the faint hearted.

This is exactly the reason why we have opened the camp in the Congo, so that we can give the people that do not have that kind of steel the chance to hunt those species that abound those forests.

We have our camp in the North Eastern region, close to Ouesso. Our camp facilities are very good, running water, electricity and flushing toilets, and that makes life back in camp a bit more bearable so you don't have to sleep in huts similar to the ones the locals use.

As for the hunting, it depends on how you would like to do it, you can do the walking thing if you choose, but the game is so plentifull, we drive past several bongos almost every day, and we have sitatunga feeding at our camp site in the morning. So if you are not that fit you can make the hunt too.

Ide does speak the truth though, the humidity is very high when it is not raining, that is why we choose the rainy season (among other factors). Bugs are a problem too, humid places tend to breed the most of them. These are things we are well prepared for though, so that should not be a main concern for any hunter.

Hunting in Congo does not need to be the harrowing tale of man against forest that it used to be. If you would like more information, i would love to supply it.

Gert Saaiman
Saaiman Hunting Safaris Congo
shsafari@mweb.co.za

Thought you were in jail after some of your escapades lately.