This hunt report follows on from the following post in the Africa Hunting Section:

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=...=786102738#786102738

Good news: CAMNARES is genuine (not an African scam as many suspected here) and doing Chasse Libre with them has been absolutely fascinating.

Better news: Eugene Yap from Southpoint Safaris in Hawaii (and a former SCI Outfitter of the Year) has volunteered to organize hunters for the CAMNARES bongo hunts in Kong willage where I hunted in 2008. I believe Eugene will be building proper shelters, skinning and trophy prep facilities, electricity generators, safe food & water, road access, etc. So future hunters probably won't have to go through the "original" experience I had to (ha! ha!).

The following is taken from Don Causey's The Hunting Report. Don kindly wrote up my hunt the Feb 2008 THR (if he didn't I was probably not going to have the time to write it up for AR
anytime soon!)

Some pics will follow.

BTW, I'm afraid that I won't be checking the forum. So don't be surprised if I don't answer questions. It may even take me a while to answer PMs. You would have better luck tracking down Eugene Yap or Armand Biko'o (I understand Armand is a member of this forum).

From The Hunting Report Feb 2008

"The remaining development that
deserves mention this month revolves
around a very unusual hunt
we heard about through Hunting Report
subscriber Wayne C. W. Lau. It
is a community-based bongo hunt
put together for him in Cameroon by
an organization called CAMNARES,
which stands for Cameroon National
Resources. Here is a truncated version
of the report Lau sent us on the
experience:
“CAMNARES was started by
two Cameroon students, Armand
Biko’o and Maliki Wardjomto, who
earned their degrees recently in Nature
Conservation at South Africa’s
Tshwane University through a Safari
Club International initiative called
Project Noah. On their return home,
the two students had the pioneering
idea to bring overseas hunters directly
to local villages in Cameroon.
No PHs or outfitters would be involved.
Wages would be paid directly
to village porters and trackers,
and safari fees would go directly to
the community.
“Cameraman Wouter Pienaar and
I decided to give this idea a test this
past July by booking a hunt for
bongo in the central Cameroon village
of Kong. Suffice it to say,
Piernaar and I quickly learned that
hunting in the jungle is tough. It
was doubly tough on our pilot
chasse libre hunt because, unsurprisingly,
no one had done much in
the way of developing the hunting
area - like creating hunting roads,
for example. That meant we had to
hunt the old fashioned way, traveling
on foot, cutting trails with machetes
and camping out with a team
of porters carrying equipment on
their heads. Images of Stanley and
Livingstone come to mind.
“Fortunately, we had some modern
technology that helped. Rather
than tents, Pienaar and I had light
and easy-to-set-up jungle hammocks.
We also had light-weight
stoves, fuel canisters, foldable
chairs/tables, etc. with us, even
though it turned out that the traditional
African way of cooking over
open fires and building furniture
from cut sticks worked much better
that what we had brought.
“Our gear all organized, we simply
set off on a long walk into the
jungle a few days after we arrived.
That night, we built a base camp
next to a river. The next morning,
we started hunting in dead earnest.
The village’s head tracker, Remy,
knew his stuff. Our daily routine involved
checking natural salt licks
and hollowed-out bat trees for
bongo tracks. Once we found a fresh
and large enough track, we would
stalk the bongo bull though the
jungle. When the bongo was close
enough, Remy’s dogs would bay
him. I carried my favorite weapon: a
long bow. Wouter had brought his
rifle for safety and back-up.
“The routine seemed straightforward
enough. But we soon discovered
a timing problem: If we set out
from camp soon after dawn, we had
to have a bongo down by 1:00 pm.
Otherwise, there would not be
enough time for skinning and returning
to camp for salting before
dark. That left us with a very short
daily window to move on foot to the
hunting area, find a suitable bongo
and track it.
“Moving through jungle isn’t as
bad as busting through alders in
Alaska. But it is slow. After a few
days of conditioning, I could keep
up with the others on a good, clear
trail. But frequently, my size (six
feet three inches) and my 50 years of
age meant that I could only move at
about 2/3 the speed of the team.
There was just too much bush to
squeeze through. For CAMNARES
and Kong village, it was very important
to get a bongo on this pilot trip.
Since waiting for me would take up
scarce time, we decided that Wouter
(a tough, wiry, ex-tank corps major)
and the hunting party would go
ahead. I would follow. If they
tracked down a bongo and there
wasn’t enough time for me to catch
up, Wouter would shoot the first
bongo. Once the priority mission
was accomplished, I could try to
hunt another one.
“Sure enough, Wouter and theteam tracked down and shot a wonderful
old bongo bull the next day,
just as they were hitting the deadline
around 1 pm. He was a real trophy
with a big body and thick horn
bases with symmetrical ivory tips
that had been worn down to 25
inches over the years. It was not the
highest-scoring animal, but it was a
magnificent trophy!
“After that, it was my turn. The
hunting team went ahead to scout
for tracks. But when they found
tracks of a trophy, we always ran out
of time. After a while, we started
talking about how we would do it
differently the next time. We would
use our hammocks to set up camp on
the fly wherever we happened to be
when evening came. If we ran out of
time tracking a bongo, we would
camp and then take up the track first
thing the next morning. The team
would have two groups: a hunting
group and a support group. The support
group would stay behind in the
morning, boil water, launder clothes,
cook food and then catch up with the
hunt group during the day. Meals
would be quick affairs comprised of
previously cooked food simply
warmed up. Heavy essential items
like salt (and possibly wine and
beer?) would be buried at key depots
in the area before the hunt to be
accessed when needed. It sounded
efficient and effective.
“My interest in coming back was
already kindled when Remy, in his
quiet voice, began to talk about a
legendary bongo area which had
never been hunted because it was so
remote. That sealed my decision to
come back. So did the discussion I
had later with my good friend, Eugene
Yap from Hawaii, a former SCI
Outfitter of the Year. Seems Yap has
offered to help CAMNARES build
infrastructure and find hunters for
the 2008 season.
“Plans call for Eugene to help
the villagers build a main camp with
camp beds, hot/cold showers, toilets,
electrical generator, etc. Skills training
is also planned in things such as
skinning, trophy handling, cooking
western meals, etc. The idea is to
raise the standards of community
hunts in Cameroon to a level where
they are suitable for the international
traveling hunter. If Eugene’s
ideas for the 2008 season work out, I
want to organize a Medical/Dental
Mission Hunt in 2009. The concept
is that there are many hunters who
are doctors, nurses, dentists, medical
technicians, etc. Perhaps some of
them will be interested in coming to
Kong and volunteering medical and
dental help for the village before
they go on their hunts….â€
(Postscript: At press time, we
reached Yap in Hawaii, and he confirmed
that he is indeed going to
head this project up, not for profit
but to give something back to international
hunting. He says he envisions
being able to field two teams
of hunters at once, each with a translator.
In all, he has room for eight
hunters this year between May 15
and July 31. He was not ready to
give an exact cost, but he said early
hunts would likely cost about one
third to one half what traditional safaris
cost in Cameroon. Interested
hunters need to know that he is going
to be picky in selecting clients.
Only experienced hunters who have
been to wild Africa numerous times
will be selected. Good physical condition
and an ability to identify and
judge game are also prerequisite. In
that connection, he envisions levying
a significant penalty against any
hunter who mistakenly shoots a female
bongo. The basic hunt, he says,
will be for bongo and forest buffalo
in what he calls a transition area
where forest and savannah meet. He
says there are also various duikers
around, as well as some sitatunga.
The latter are difficult to hunt and
should be considered a target of opportunity.
You can get more details
on the hunts by calling Yap at his
home: 808-322-3201. Be sure you
check local time in Hawaii before
dialing.)
Get in a good safari somewhere
in Africa this year."

a really old, old bongo. Horn inches only 25 or so. But worn down to ivory with big massive bases. Interesting thing. The area we were hunting in hadn't been hunted much before. So a big animal's tracks means an old animal, but not necessarily a high horn scoring one because the old ones (a more beautiful trophy IMHO) have their horns worn down.



Now as a teaser (and trying to see how I can get the picture smaller), look what I hunted in Feb with CAMNARES in the northern savannahs! A really old one with horn front ridges worn down to ivory! Not much for inches. But look at that black mane and head carpet of hair! Our trackers told us that all the usual ourfitters(French and Spanish mainly) go for high scoring horns of younger bulls in their prime. But are hunters missing out on this beautiful mane and head carpet (too much to be called a tuft) of a truly old warrior?

Congratulations on the eland. This is Cam, who met you in the Paris airport. I am glad you had a good hunt.

That bongo is a STUD!!

Thanks for looking!

Guess what, Cam? By chance I've meeting all these mutual acquaintances from Maria Felix to Don Causey to Joe Hosmer . . . small world indeed, huh?

SG, in the mist of my pre-Alzheimers mind, I seem to recollect that you had kindly asked some questions about the Bongo hunt before. If so, my apologies for the very, very late hunt report. Please feel free to PM me if any info is lacking.

Good hunting!

Outstanding! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.
Good hunting,
David

Congratulations and well done.