Hi Folks

I have been meaning to post a report of my lion hunt in Burkina Faso, arranged for me by Arjun Reddy of Huntersnetworks.com.

Will post a detailed report over time, here are some photos to start with:

http://s5.photobucket.com/albu...?albumview=slideshow

DC

Nice photos. Looking forward to your report.

Fabulous! I'm looking forward to the report!

Brett

+1!

Great photos!

Nils-Ole

great photos, looks like a magnificent hunt!

quote:

Nice photos. Looking forward to your report.

+1

I am green, great photos.

Excellent Pictures, cant wait to read the report!!

looks like a real adventure!

Nice... looking forward to the full report!

very nice.
congratulations!
rgds,
Andy

DSC,

Excellent slide show. Beautiful trophies. I noted the AC in your room. I expect that was very nice for sleeping.

Mark

Great safari. A country I would like to see. Nice photos.

looks like a great safari. More lion pictures please

Very impressive. That hunt looks like an adventure.

Looking forward to the report. Any language barriors?

Congratulations, can't wait for more.

D. Nelson

Nice BF lion hunt. That's on the "bucket list"!

Nice photos, thanks for sharing.

Nice photos and amazing hunt. The lions look like the Gir lions with just a ruff and no real mane!!

Here is the report of my lion hunt in Burkina Faso.

After a long tiring flight from India via London and Paris we landed in Ouagdougou, capital of Burkina Faso. My wife and I were met at the airport by PH, Richard Julia and his wife. We were taken to hotel Ricardo which belongs to Richard and after a good night’s rest, we left the next day on our five hour journey to camp located towards the border of Benin and the Pendjari river which was our hunting block.

The camp was fairly basic but comfortable, consisting of single room cottages with attached bathrooms and a small air conditioner that worked when the generator ran! The next morning after the usual rifle sighting in ceremony we started off after lion, which was my main quest. Arjun Reddy of HuntersNetworks had told me that based on prior years’s hunts the chance of taking a lion was more or less 100% but as it was a wild hunt naturally no guarantees could be given.

The first day saw us seeing many elephant a herd of buffalo and various West African antelope. We focused on lion exclusively for six days. The hunt was a tracking hunt and we would find tracks early morning and track them until we ran into lions every day. At times we would hear them moving off in front of us and at times we saw them jump up in front of us before vanishing into the tall grass, on one occasion the lions were no more than 15 yards from us. The trackers called them ghosts. All in all tracking lions is a very exciting and heart pounding experience. Richard’s team of trackers were the best I have ever seen in seven safaris to Africa, tracking lion on hard ground is not an easy task and we would find the lions every day after a few hours tracking.

Along the way I picked up a red duiker, kob and a very nice old bushbuck. On the sixth day after tracking for two and a half hours at about just over 100 yards we saw the lion I was to shoot. The lion was crouching facing us in an opening in the high grass. Richard had warned me before hand that when the shot came it would have to be a quick shot to be taken without hesitation. After verifying that this was the lion to be taken the shooting sticks came up and a frontal shot was taken by me using a 375H&H, with regular 300 grain hornady SN handloads. The lion took the shot and with a tremendous bound disappeared into the tall grass. Everyone was confident that the lion was hit hard and much discussion was had in French between Richard and the trackers and they assured me the lion was down. On reaching the spot no lion was to be found but we found a good size pool of blood. Since the grass was over 8 feet high they suggested that we better use the vehicle to push through the grass and somehow follow the lion.

Going was slow and we covered about 150 yards in about half an hour when the lion was spotted in the shadows under a tree on his last legs swaying from side to side. A quick follow up shot finished the job and I saw my first lion close up. As with most Burkina lions, it had the usual scruff but was a nice mature male.

Since it was extremely hot around 107 F, we decided to head back to camp which was about 2.5 hours away. After the lion was skinned I discovered that the locals were going to eat it so no part went to waste! Between pegs the lion measured around 3 meters. After the lion was down we could all relax a bit and hunted buffalo which again was by tracking. I shot my buffalo on the 9th day of my safari, after following multiple herds but not finding a suitable bull. I was disappointed not to get a Roan later on in the hunt after passing up a couple of chances when we were hunting the lion. I also shot a warthog and oribi later on in the hunt.

I would highly recommend this hunt for hunters looking to shoot lion on foot and also take other west African species. It is however not a trip for those looking for an easy and luxurious hunt, accommodations and food is basic, however there is a lot of game especially buffalo and lion. The people were all very friendly and ready to help. Language was not a problem when talking to Richard, but the trackers and locals only spoke French. Staying at Richards hotel was a real treat and the service was very good.

Arjun was very helpful in arranging the whole hunt and described the conditions as they were. I can recommend his hunt booking services highly to anyone looking to book a hunt with him. He has also recently informed me of his new connections in Benin which offers the same species as Burkina as well as other countries in West Africa for other desirable species such as Bongo, Lord Derby Eland, etc.

If anyone has any questions about this hunt feel free to PM me.

Sincerely,

DC

Congrats on your lion. Wonderfull pictures, THANKS for sharing!

Thanks for the report. So many places to hunt! Sigh, I don't think that I'm going to get to all of them.