Outfitter: Safaria (Florent Mathieu)
PH: Thibault Engelsen
Area: Mayo Bigoe (Area Number 18 bis)
Flights: Air France (premium economy), Cam-Air Co.

Game Taken: Lord Derby eland, western hartebeest, savannah buffalo, red-flanked duiker, roan, western kob, red-river hog (western African bushpig), harnessed bushbuck, warthog

Other game seen: Kordofan giraffe (protected), Bohor reedbuck, sing sing waterbuck, bush duiker, patas monkey, olive baboon, crocodile, hippo


Introduction: Like many before me, the giant eland has been a dream for years so a few years back I began planning for a trip to northern Cameroon. Hunting in Cameroon is divided into two buckets: hunting northern Cameroon for species such as Lord Derby eland, savannah buffalo, and roan while hunting in the south consists of true forest safaris typically focused on bongo. In my mind, it makes Cameroon such an incredibly desirable and unique hunting destination to offer these magnificent prizes amongst starkly contrasting biotopes. Hunts in the north take place in woodland savannah and most safaris will occur in January and February. This coincides with giant eland rut when old bulls sport swollen necks and outstanding coloration of their necks and dewlaps.

Travel: It’s a long road to any of the concessions in north Cameroon. I flew Air France from Dulles to Paris and then Paris to Douala. I chose Air France’s premium economy for this trip which for me was a nice option considering it is significantly less cost than business class but includes perks such as priority seating, priority baggage, and more legroom with bigger seats. My flight into Douala was delayed which meant I arrived very late (about 3 AM) at my overnight hotel, La Falaise Bonapriso, which was comfortable and had a nice breakfast in the morning.

As has been discussed on other recent reports, from Douala, hunters are required to take an additional flight north to either Garoua or Ngaoundere on Cam-Air. Cam-Air’s claim to fame is its well-deserved reputation of being unreliable. I was fortunate, my flights essentially ran “on-time” (Africa standards not mine). But it was an interesting experience nonetheless. When my flight from Douala to Garoua was booked, the departure time was listed as 10:45 AM. A few weeks before my arrival, I received notification that the flight departure was moved to 3:15 PM. The meet and greet team in Douala told me to meet them in the hotel lobby at 9 AM which I questioned because of the listed departure time but ultimately took their advice. At the airport, I was handed a boarding pass (ultimately they gave me a boarding pass with someone else’s name on it) which listed the departure time as 3:15 PM but was told the flight will leave at 11:45 AM. I’ve never had a flight leave hours before its scheduled departure time so this was an interesting development…c’est l’afrique. After a brief stop in Yaounde, we proceeded on to Garoua where I was greeted by the team from Safaria and we began the bumpy, six hour ride to camp.

Outfitter: Safaria, run by Florent Mathieu, has operated in multiple African hunting destinations for years. They run camps in the Selous and Rungwa in Tanzania and previously ran camps in Central African Republic before all the civil unrest. The company then transitioned to Cameroon for savannah safaris focused on Lord Derby Eland. In 2017, they purchased their current hunting area, Mayo Bigoe (area number 18 bis). Safaria runs a first-rate, high-class operation and it was a pleasure to organize the trip with them. Florent was easy to communicate with and always two-steps ahead when organizing the required documents for my entry to Cameroon.

Area: Mayo Bigoe, is a large concession (around 150,000 hectares), situated along the south bank of the mighty Faro River. The camp is situated right on the banks of the Faro as the river is the northern boundary of the concession. In all regards, the camp is marvelous. The camp was designed and decorated as a timeless, classic safari camp which is a testament to the rich-history of safari hunting. The guest chalets were extremely comfortable and spacious, it was a true home away from home. The front porch of my chalet looked out across the Faro where I would often take a few moments to watch the kob feeding, baboons splashing, or just to listen to the hippo calls. One afternoon, we were alerted to commotion in the water while sitting for lunch only to find a huge crocodile thrashing his recently caught kob…it was a true African moment!



















As for a hunting area, Mayo Bigoe was miraculous! This was my sixth safari and by far, this was the most game rich area I’ve hunted thus far. It was unusual to go more than 5 minutes without seeing some sort of game. The outstanding game-density can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, Safaria runs an aggressive, year-round anti-poaching program. Additionally, Safaria maintains excellent game densities and trophy quality by undershooting their quota; for example, they are allotted 14 eland each year but only take 8 eland hunters. Lastly, the area is geographically well protected. The northern boundary is the Faro River, with a good operator just on the northern bank (Faro Safaris I believe). To the west, is the Faro National park. On the eastern boundary is Faro Lobeke, which for years has probably been the most highly regarded hunting concession for eland in Cameroon and is now also managed by Florent Mathieu. Towards the southern end of the concession, there is a small mountain range which serves as an excellent physical boundary to keep settlements, cattle, and poachers out of the area.













PH: For my safari, I was teamed up with Thibault Engelsen. Thibault is a young French PH who began working for Safaria in CAR when he was in his early twenties and then expanded with the company to hunt Cameroon and Tanzania. Throughout our safari, Thibault had a tenacity and dedication to finding game. For each species, he had a well-formulated strategy which, as you will soon read, paid off handsomely! Thibault was the epitome of professionalism and dedication throughout the trip and I thoroughly enjoyed hunting with him.

Lord Derby Eland: The giant eland is the elegant prize which draws most hunters to this area of Cameroon. The central aspect of the concession held great numbers of eland and we daily came across fresh tracks or had sightings of large herds. Much of the hunting efforts begins by checking salines or small springs which really concentrate the game in the dry season. Early on the first day, we came across fresh tracks of a large herd which had come to the saline in the night. We began tracking the herd and followed for several hours. At times the herd remained close together while at other points the herd would spread out over a few hundred yards. After a few hours we made first contact, a cow at the periphery of the herd. Thibault and I crawled to close the gap and eventually the cow worked to within 30 yards of us. Shortly after, the herd got nervous and we began to try to flank the herd, searching for a dominant bull. At several points, we were running to get ahead of the herd in hopes of having the whole herd pass by our vantage point. During several occasions, a large bull with black neck was spotted but he was always situated in the middle of the herd. Several additional small, yet fully mature bulls, were in the herd and one even presented a clear shot opportunity. However, we really wanted to take the oldest bull possible and passed on the opportunity on the smaller mature bull. We repeated the process of running to get ahead of the herd at least 4 times without getting a shot opportunity and eventually decided to abandon our pursuit and let the herd calm down. This was a great morning of hunting which included the classic elements of hunting giant eland. I must admit, I was served a bit of humble pie on the first morning as running to outmaneuver the herd left me winded and lagging behind at times. During my pre-hunt training, I definitely should have mixed in some sprints and more aggressive running routine.

Later that afternoon, we continued checking additional salines in the center of the concession. In the early afternoon, we took an old western hartebeest bull and after a quick photo session, resumed looking for eland.

Just a short distance after checking one of the salines, we bumped in to a much smaller herd. However, the bull was at the front of this herd and we quickly maneuvered into shooting position. I was on the sticks as Thibault inspected the bull as the bull was directly facing us. “He is a good bull but I want him to turn so I can see his neck. I want to make sure he’s old enough”. As the bull turned leftward and began to walk, I was left in awe as his blackened dewlap swayed with his steps. We were going to pass the bull until he began to rake and dig his horns into the mud while facing us again which gave us a clear view of his massive, thickened neck. Within seconds of marveling at the girth of the bulls neck Thibault instructs, “We should shoot this bull!”. Already on the sticks, I readied the crosshairs as the bull lifted his head. He was quartering towards us and the shot was at slight downhill angle. The crosshairs settled on the point of the shoulder and the bull collapsed at the shot! We were elated and quickly made our way across the minefield of worm mounds to our magnificent bull.

All of the animals we pursue are special, but some animals just have an irrefutably elite status. The Lord Derby eland is one of those elite game species. Their elegance and beautiful coloration are breathtaking! We sat in awe with our first-day bull. The massive neck adorned with the beautiful colors that come with the eland breeding season was remarkable. The bulls forehead sports a mud-caked thickened tuft of hair in addition to his Roman nose. The horns are thick with worn ridges and worn tips, although, he maintains great length. Forever, I will be grateful for the opportunity to take such a magnificent animal!







Western Hartebeest: In my past trips, I’ve never had the opportunity to hunt hartebeest. To my eye, the hartebeest has an obvious African appearance. Throughout the concession, hartebeest were plentiful and we saw small groups multiple times everyday. Hunting them is often a chance opportunity when looking for other game.

In our case, we came across a small group of bulls early in the afternoon while checking for eland tracks. The old bull was to the left and we quickly stalked into position. The bull was walking and quartering away. At the shot, I felt the shot was a little too far back but the bull was clearly hit hard and slowed down after only a few yards. With quick repositioning, I put a second shot into the shoulder and the bull dropped. A really cool animal which I was extremely pleased to take!







Western Savannah Buffalo: The savannah buffalo are a smaller cousin to the cape buffalo, roughly 1/3 smaller in size. Despite their smaller size, these buffalo still have the same bad attitude and require the utmost respect. Unlike the cape buffalo, the coloration can vary from black to reddish-brown.

The approach to hunting buffalo was similar to eland, check areas frequented by buffalo in hopes of finding a good track to follow. Not long after sunrise on the second day, we came across such a track. A lone track, with rounded front hooves suggestive of the weight of an old bull. We slowly followed the tracks as the bull meandered through the woodland savannah. The bull worked his way into one of the many small, currently dry riverbeds running through the concession. As we began to reemerge from the dense undergrowth of the river bed, our lead tracker freezes and quickly retreats as he swaps position with Thibault. I creep forward to see the bull in the open feeding only 30 yards ahead. He feeds rightward and we adjust positioning. The first shot hits the bull on the shoulder and a quick follow up hits the bull as he quarters away and angles into the chest. The bull barely clears the sandy banks behind him and falls shortly after cresting the mound. We skip across the large river rocks to get in position for the coup de grace. The bull is wonderful with his horns worn smooth after years of use. He is mostly black but has some orangish hair on his chest.

Our successful morning hunt was buffalo was straight out of a storybook. Classic tracking of a solitary, old bull ending with an up close encounter. The imagery of that bull standing in the sandy river bed as we remained hidden in the dense undergrowth will stay forever burned in my memory.







Red-flanked duiker: No matter where I am, I always seem to enjoy hunting duiker. In northern Cameroon, they have bush duiker and, unique to west Africa, red-flanked duiker. The duiker hunting is usually a chance opportunity and we frequently saw them bolting through the grass. It always made me smile to see their crimson bodies darting through the grass. In our case, we spied a duiker who stopped to take cover in the shade of some dense foliage. I really struggled to find him in the scope at first as he blended in quite well amongst the shadows. With the clock ticking before he bolted, I found the shoulder in the scope and made a quick shot.





These duiker are beautiful with nearly crimson red hair. Our ram was old enough to have scattered white hairs mixed of the background of reddish hair. An animal we were really happy to take!

Western Roan: Another wonderful west African prize is the roan. Roan are distributed throughout the concession and we encountered small groups daily. In my opinion, these were the most skittish of the species we hunted.

The roan we took was a stroke of great luck. On the evening of day three, we decided to slowly stalk up one of the larger river beds at the periphery of the concession in hopes of catching a bushbuck or red river hog feeding. We had an encounter with a small bushbuck and a few warthog early in the evening. As the sun began to set, we were surprised to happen across a lone roan bull working down the sandy banks to the river bed. Luckily, we spotted him before he was aware of our presence in the riverbed. Thibault quickly confirmed the bull was mature and the bull dropped to the shot!

He is a great old bull and was missing his left ear!







Red River Hog (west African bush pig): In my opinion, the red river hog is the most handsome of the African pig species. In most cases, they are a target of opportunity as we learned the first morning of the safari when we disturbed a solitary boar from some dense brush near the road. We jumped off the truck in hot pursuit but he vanished in short order.

After we had been successful with eland, buffalo, and roan we spent considerable time trying to find these attractive pigs. Thibault’s strategy was similar to that of hunting bushbuck, spend time slowly stalking the small riverbeds in hopes of catching them feeding. The red river hogs are primarily nocturnal so our best chances for success would be the first few hours of the morning and last few hours of the evening.

One morning we came across the tracks of a sounder that had been out feeding in the bush and began slowly working along the river bed. We followed the tracks cautiously, Thibault in the lead, when he stopped to set the sticks up as he peered into a pocket of dense brush holding some standing water in the small riverbed. Before I could get on the sticks, the riverbed erupted with motion of the alerted sounder. We jumped to the other side of the riverbed but immediately doubled-back as the sounder changed course. Once again running, we took after the sounder. During our running, I fell behind a bit but Thibault encouraged me to muster up the wind for one last run at them. Thibault in the lead got the sticks set up as I was catching up with him and the pigs moved right to left. “The last one is a male”. A few females quickly scampered across the small shooting window and I confirmed, “The last one?”. Thibault confirmed, “yes”, as the last pig approached the shooting window. As the boars head entered the shooting window, I touched off a shot at the quickly moving pig and he dropped at the shot. Another fine west African prize! We were thrilled to have taken a red river hog. Thibault said they only take 1-2 each year and usually by chance opportunity; it was unusual and very special to hunt them on purpose like we had just done.











Western Kob: By far, the kob were the most numerous species throughout the concession. We saw hundreds of them daily. Hunting them was not particularly difficult and it was really just a matter of coming across the right one. At about the halfway point of the safari, we came across the right one heading back to camp. We navigated in position and I was able to make a quick shot, landing us a great old kob!





Harnessed Bushbuck: In the peak of the dry season, bushbuck can be tough as they stick close to the denser areas never the rivers. We planned strategic stalks along river beds on multiple occasions and spotted bushbuck on most outings. We had one close call with a good ram who retreated to the tall grass and I was just a little too slow on the trigger. Later the same morning we came across another, older ram. He attempted to evade us in the tall grass as well and I made a quick shot which dropped the ram. I really enjoyed our bushbuck hunting and was extremely pleased to take one; I would argue that the harnessed bushbuck has the most beautiful coloration of all the bushbuck subspecies.



Warthog: In my prior trips I had never managed to take a warthog, although, I’ve always wanted to get one. We saw warthog nearly every day but for most of the trip the good boars had eluded us. We spent several evenings still hunting along salines where Thibault knew that warthogs frequented. Late in the hunt we had a quick opportunity present itself. At the first shot, the boar did not react as if hit and ran straight away. I took a second shot before the boar disappeared in the tall grass and he dropped. Turns out the first shot was good so I remain perplexed as to why the boar showed no real reaction. The warthog here do not maintain long tusks as they easily get worn down but the hard soils. We were very pleased with our boar.





Youth Day in Mana: One morning we decided to head to the nearest village near the south end of the concession. En route, we stopped to shoot a kob as a gift for the village chief. Once we arrived, we learned that it was national youth day in Cameroon and the chief invited us to stay as guests for the youth day parade. I also brought along a half-dozen soccer balls and presented them to the school headmaster; they were greatly appreciated. We were told that having a soccer field and access to soccer balls drove up school attendance! It was a really enjoyable experience to watch the youth parade and see the pride these schoolchildren had for their village and their country.

Fishing in the Faro: Since we had enjoyed such wonderful success hunting, we decided to give fishing a try on the Faro river. One evening we headed down to a large fishing hole, made a fire on the sandy shores, and began fishing. Early in the evening we had a number of hits by tigerfish and they really did a number on our soft swim baits. I switched over to a topwater plug and got some near misses but had a lot of fun watching the tigers try to smash the bait on the surface. As light began fading quickly, we switched back to swim baits for nile perch. I was fortunate to land three nile perch on our outing; they were really a good fighting fish and I was appreciate for the opportunity to catch a few. Even better, they are delicious on the dinner plate!



Final Thoughts: I’ll start the ending of my report as I typically do…by giving thanks first and foremost to God. Once again, I was blessed with an outstanding hunting opportunity with great people and unique landscapes. One evening as we stalked along one of the sandy riverbeds, the sun began to set behind the mountains and the beautiful sight reaffirmed the Greatness of God. As always, much credit must go to my wife as my prolonged absence on a hunt like this is definitely difficult back at home. I am forever grateful for her tolerance and encouragement as I pursue my hunting dreams.

As for my PH, Thibault Engelesen, he was phenomenal! As mentioned above, Thibault was the epitome of professionalism and dedication throughout all aspects of our safari. He has a tangible passion for his craft as well as for the maintenance of this marvelous concession. While hunting, he was a predator…eager and tenacious to get us on game. I would hunt with him anywhere!

Florent Mathieu, and his company Safaria, are first rate in every regard. They were easy to communicate with, efficient, and professional throughout the hunt planning, travel arrangements, and safari. They strive to maintain the greatness of this area through aggressive anti-poaching and conservative harvests. As long as operators like Safaria are around, these wild concessions in norther Cameroon will remain great! I would highly recommend their company to anyone interested in hunting the savannah of northern Cameroon!

I’d like to thank all the AR members who offered advice and support in planning this trip. As always, the things I’ve learned from AR members who completed this hunt in the past were remarkably helpful. In addition, I’d like to thank Christophe Morio. When planning this hunt, I sought his advice and recommendations for an operator in Cameroon. Without hesitation, he referred me to Florent and the rest is history. Thank you my friend!

Congratulations on a fantastic safari in the savannah of Cameroon! And a great report... maybe I missed it in my cursory read through but did you take your own rifle or use one of the safari company's rifles? I will be hunting across the river next January in Xavier Vannier's Faro Camp so this is good info for me. Cheers!

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Congratulations on a fantastic safari in the savannah of Cameroon! And a great report... maybe I missed it in my cursory read through but did you take your own rifle or use one of the safari company's rifles? I will be hunting across the river next January in Xavier Vannier's Faro Camp so this is good info for me. Cheers!

My apologies. I should have included those details. I did not take my own rifle. Florent had Blaser rifles with Leica optics available in camp and I really did not want to go through the hassle in Douala. I'm very happy I chose to use the camp gun. In Paris, I came across two additional groups of hunters who both were already delayed one day because of issues departing with their guns with Delta and Air France.

You are in good hands next year! Thibault spoke very highly of Faro's operation. I actually met the couple who hunted with Faro Safaris in the airport and we exchanged WhatsApp messages throughout our safaris...they had a great safari as well!

thank you very much. great pictures and trophies.

A very fine report and photographs. One of the best hunts to decorate these pages in a long time. Yes you are truly blessed.

Thanks for posting such a detailed report with good photos. Your safari is what dreams are made of, congratulations!

Thanks for the great report and photos. Well done!

How many days did you hunt?

.

Great report with superb photos! Thank you for taking the time to write it up and post.

Congratulations on a most successful safari!

.

Very nice!

You got some of the harder ones to get there. Congratulations!

Top notch! Looks superb!!!

Very well written, detailed report. Brought back so many memories of my hunt on Faro East, with, near identical timing,and results. Particular congratulations on the Red River Hog. In exactly the same circumstances I hit too far back and we never recovered him. I concur on using a camp rifle there. I took my own rifle and the hassles and bribery necessary were just ridiculous.

Great report, very nice trophies

quote:

Originally posted by Hannay:
Thanks for the great report and photos. Well done!

How many days did you hunt?

Our hunt was 12 days.

Thank you all for the kind words!