So, while delayed, this report IS before the rain forest season starts this year.



Hunter: Charles Butler

PH: Mike Fell and Churton Wright

Company: Mayo Oldiri

Agent: Adam Clements

Concession(s): Lognia and a minimal stay at Boumba North

Dates: 5/14/2017-5/30/2017


I had booked this hunt with Adam at the same time I booked my 2016 Savanna hunt. I had paid a premium for their flagship forest camp, Lognia. At the SCI show, I went and talked with Raquel at Mayo Oldiri about my hunt. I had been told that there was a possibility of adding Yellow Backed Duiker to the hunt at a bit of an upcharge, mainly due to the need to change camps. When I asked her about this, she said that permits were available and that I was first in line for one of the permits. Another bit of news was that we would be able to fly in to camp, we were assured, as there had been issues the previous year.

Adam and Raquel talked and thought that it would be best to start in Lognia and then move to Boumba North as the Yellow Back should be relatively easy to collect. Raquel said that most folks take one within a couple days, and given that they had not been permitted for a couple years there should be a lot around and the PH's had been reporting good numbers. My contract clearly stated that I would have to move to Boumba North for yellow Backed Duiker at the halfway point, as Boumba North was the only concession with this species.

Mike Fell on the Camera:



I flew over using Delta to DeGaulle, and then Air France to Douala. The flight was a bit long, but overall I was happy with the service. Apparently my high school French and making an attempt goes a long ways with the staff in Paris. I met up with Mike Fell in Paris, and we were both on the flight over. I had elected to get in a day early at Mike's request as he said if things went sideways, having an extra day to make a plan can be invaluable; and if not we could do some tourist stuff and see a animal rescue place with lots of chimps and gorillas. Mike is an accomplished photographer and since he is much better at that, and I was told we would also have a Mayo PH (Churton), Mike volunteered to do the photographic duties. The good photos are his.

Sky from camp:



The arrival day was the typical late arrival in Douala. Couple that with the usual issues with gun check in and it makes a LONG day. To top it off, the first of a collection of errors stepped in. Apparently my gun permit got transposed somewhere and they changed a 1 to an L... long story short, my shotgun for duiker shooting was impounded along with my shotshells. Well, later on one of the other hunters had the same issue occur and he was able to get his error "fixed" while mine did not... Fortunately, it was the shotgun and not the rifle that was the issue here.

Douala



The following morning, Mike and I decided to do a bit of touring as Mike was assured everything was on for leaving the following day. The hotel was not bad, but it was a hotel... and they had some serious security there- we needed to go through metal detectors and get wanded every time we came back. The touristy stuff included a trip to the beach, which was the first black sand beach I have gotten to walk on. Unfortunately, its not as scenic as one would wish, as they have some oil rigs there and the beach itself is not kept very clean (things like bottles, syringes, etc.) We also made a trip to an animal sanctuary that rescues animals from the bush meat trade. They had a bunch of apes (as they get good money for live apes) with Gorillas, Chimps, Baboons, Mandrills and monkeys there. The chimps were the biggest surprise- nasty, smelly, mean animals. The gorillas, on the other hand, definitely had a dignity to them. I felt sorry for the gorillas, they looked like they were resigned to their fate of living in a pen. They also had a few other animals, with a couple of duiker, a couple of snakes, and a fairly big crocodile.

Chimp



Gorilla



We returned to the hotel (The Starland) and at that point the other guys hunting with Mayo had arrived. It was a mostly American group, but we did have one guy who was from Spain as well. All of the guys were nice folks, and we got along well.



Beach near Douala



The next morning, we had the first bit of issues. We were told that there were issues with the plane, and we would need to fly out the following day. This became a bit of a farce where we were told one excuse after another for 2 days and we finally decided to drive out the afternoon of the second day as we were not getting any sort of feelings of assurance that the flight would happen. I later found out that the charter had issues with its planes, and as a result of not paying its pilots, they had no flight-worthy aircraft and we were to be flown on a charter brought in from the CAR. It was farcical when the guy from the CAR came and talked with us, and then both Raquel and the owner of the Cameroon company came and were mad with us as we talked with him... We were assured that we would have a flight out from the bush once we made the call to drive.

Logging truck accident on the way in:



The drive started late in the day, and went on well after dark. This was definitely not a safe trip. Around 9 PM we stopped at a hotel/restaurant and were fed- not the best food, but something- and then went on for a while before we stopped at the halfway point at a place called Hotel Christianne. This was definitely a step up from the previous stop, and the rooms actually had running water and air conditioning that you could turn on. The following day we drove all day and arrived at their base concession in the area- Covaref. This is the place where you land on the plane and drive on. We got there sufficiently late that the national parks closed their roads, so only one guy was able to drive on that night to his actual hunting spot. The rest of us were parceled into rooms- I ended up displacing Herve (the forest head PH) from his room and we got a little break.

The National Park Entrance:



The following morning we drove to our camps in a caravan. As folks met up with turn offs, we ended up getting split up. They had two of us hunting from Lognia, which they had added a second camp to. Lognia also had a bit of an issue that had occurred- there was the decision to place a mine (I heard variously that it was a gold mine or a diamond mine) that a group of Russians were developing. There were a lot more people in the concession than before, and they had a legal right to be there. Poaching had gone up, and the duiker were few and far between on the ground now. I had heard I was in the "old" camp, but that it had been redone. The "new" camp certainly looked older. The camps are sited on Pygmy villages and the village men are your guides. This was my first experience with hound hunting and we used dogs for baying the game once we had tracked close to them.

The eager pups:



Bongo Hoof: Snares are a common method of poaching in the area.



Cows on the road near camp:



My hut at Lognia



The weather was hot and muggy, and often portended rain- but really we only had one big rainstorm while I was there and a couple of light sprinkles. This made hunting rather difficult, as you need rain to knock out the old tracks and allow you to find fresh ones. The lack of rain (and we were supposedly in the height of the rain season) played hob with the hunting. All of the hunters really had to work to find animals, and most did not get much shooting.

Mike is quite the herpetologist and was constantly on the lookout for snakes. We saw a rare Mamba on the way in, but (fortunately) didn't catch him. He also enlisted me and Churton in taking pictures of snakes. This is a Tree cobra. Apparently they have backwards facing fangs...



Inside of hut:



Camp at night:



Bongo:

Fresh Bongo Track



This was my priority animal for the first part of the hunt. Unfortunately we had lost 4.5 days with the travel snafus getting out and we were on a bit of a clock at the beginning. Mike told me that normally at Lognia you saw several good tracks daily and were able to be picky about your Bongo. I had told him that I wanted a good mature one and joked that he needed to be over 30" We were on the same wavelength as to what we were looking for and Mike also set out a number of cameras so that we could get pictures of the various animals at some of the salt licks. The first couple of days were not very fruitful, with no sightings. We finally came up on a followable track and were off on our 4-5th day. This ended up being a female Bongo bayed as the bull joined a herd.

Female Bongo:



How you hunt Bongo, for those who have not done it, is that typically you drive the forest logging roads and paths. This can be fairly strenuous for the staff as trees often fall on the road and they need to get them out of the way. The most commonly used tool is a panga type knife or hand ax, but number 2 is a industrial sized chain saw. You hope to find a track of a lone bongo bull and the trackers track it for a short time to see if it is part of a herd. If it is with a herd it is not a good track, as the dogs are not discriminate and the females usually are easier to catch, so you can't really go after a group and hope to get a shot at a male.

Bongo Sign:



Churton with the Bongo:



Tracking:



Once you find a acceptable track, you follow it until the dogs can see or smell the Bongo and then they try and bay it. Bongo bulls will try and fight the dogs, so they can be bayed, but you need to be reasonably quick or they either kill a dog or two and escape or just decide they have had it and bolt on through. The Bongo will typically charge through the most open spot, which is really likely to be your only shooting lane, so getting hit or trampled by a Bongo is a real possibility- add that to the dogs tend to not want to come off and you have a situation where you want to minimize risk to the hunting party, so only lone bull tracks are selected.



Our first Bongo was a female, and I only got a brief glimpse of her before I was told to get out of the way so I would not have to shoot her in self defense. Mike got some really good photos though.



The next one we found, 2 days later was "my" Bongo. We followed the tracks for a couple of hours (but not too far by the actual distance gone) and then the dogs started baying him. He was snorting and charging them and it really was an exciting situation. I was able to get a good view of him, and when everyone was clear of the shooting zone, including the dogs, I dropped him. He was a nice older bull. No where near 30+", but an old guy. All four of his legs had snare wounds on them, and this was the first plains game animal I have shot that compares at all to buffalo for pure tick mass. His ears, butt, and scrotum were covered with them.

Ticks:





When we returned, we had a big group dance with the pygmies for the Bongo and that evening, we had some Bongo backstrap. Mike also showed that he is a bit of an expert with the culinary arts as well and made us sweet and sour Bongo as well from him.



Pygmies in their native type hut:



Pangolin- Its for supper!



Sitatunga:



My preferred secondary animal was a Forest Sitatunga. Mike noted that most of these shot are rather small, and you would think you shot a bushbuck. His comment that most were rather immature. We agreed to only shoot a mature one, and rather quickly it became we would shoot either a Sitatunga or a Buffalo, whichever we could find... as time wound on and we were supposed to go to Boumba North to hunt duiker, and nothing was being found at all, I also said I would be happy to shoot a forest elephant, even if it was spendy, and I could not import it, as we just were driving around, checking roads, salt pans, and Mikes cameras, and not seeing anything at all- except a poacher on one photo. No duiker, or even Gorilla, which Mike said had been all over the place the previous year. We actually only saw a very few gorilla tracks and no chimps. There were some duiker tracks of indeterminate age and occasionally buffalo, but they were few and far between. At first, the pygmies and Chilton said there was an old Sitatunga that lived relatively near the camp. He was really old and had a huge horn... but that was the reason he was still there, it was A horn. I was more than happy to try and get this old guy if we could. Unfortunately, he never was at any of his usual haunts when we were there.

Sitatunga (female) track



Typical logging road:



Past our noted day of camp change, Mike and Churton informed me that we were supposed to move to Boumba, but the guys hunting there had not shot anything yet, and we had not shot a second animal so Raquel was telling them we needed to stay at Lognia. This was at the point where we had seen nothing for a few days to even try and follow. We then found a big Sitatunga track- it was huge on one foot, and looked like the big guy we were hunting after. we tried following him and he gave us the slip. Ed, the guy we were sharing the concession with happened by and we chatted for a while and then after he left, one of the trackers found the track on a cross road. We were off after him again!

Leopard Tracks seen in Lognia:



The track was actually not that terribly far or long before the dogs got on him and started running, and I actually had issues keeping up with everyone running after them- not from lack of endurance, but from an inability to pick the right path... I fell a couple times and gashed my face good on a vine. I finally got caught up after some tongue lashing from Mike about hurrying as the Sitatunga could leave any time, and then a couple of the Pygmies took me under their wing and pointed where I needed to go to not get caught up in the vines... I finally got up there and the Sitatunga was bayed in the creek in the area. I was told to put a bullet into it when I got a chance and wouldn't hit the dogs. My initial angle would have been shooting towards people, so I jumped in the creek and took a shot that was at the rear end of the animal. A .416 on an animal the size of a whitetail pretty much works wherever you hit them if you center them, and I took out its hip and liver. It was still trying to get up, and I was worried about it getting away (stupid- the dogs can run down a wounded animal well...) so I got up close and took a downward shot into its heart. Unfortunately, the lead dog jumped in at the same time, and on pass through I clipped her paw. She yelped, and got under a tree and started licking. I don't know who was more upset, me or the dog... Fortunately I didn't hit any bone and she was able to walk. I used up a bunch of supplies treating her, and she was doing well when we left. Those dogs are tough. I was told I was not the first guy to shoot a dog, and I won't be the last, but it sure wasn't a moment of glory either. If you hunt with dogs, you have to expect them to do dumb things I guess.

Anyhow, this Sitatunga had a bad hoof from a snare and was in the process of losing that foot. It was also not the bull we were targeting. He had two horns and was much bigger than the one we had been targeting. The pygmies though that he was an animal that had been moved by the poaching from the national park area and we got lucky and found him as he was moving through.

Getting him out:



That evening we informed Mayo in Madrid that we had shot everything and we were going to have to move. Raquel agreed and Churton told Herve again via sat phone message that we would be there.

Duiker:

Blue Duiker at the animal rescue



This is where things didn't work out so smoothly.

On some of the evenings we tried to find duiker while at Lognia. While the yellow backed duiker are not there, there were supposedly good numbers of Bay, Peters, and Blue duiker there in the past. In fact, one of the guys at Boumba had taken several good examples in Lognia a few years back. Mike and I only found a female Blue duiker basically in camp. The staff also said there was a Bates Pygmy antelope that was just north of camp, but we never saw him either (they are pretty nocturnal.)

We did try calling duiker a few times in Lognia. I did not see anything, although one of the trackers saw a blue duiker the evening before we shot the Sitatunga.

We then moved to Boumba North, which took most of a day. The first evening on our way in we saw a Peters at a bit of a long range. I tried taking a poke at him but with a small target at over 100 yards, I did not hit him.

Map of Boumba North:

https://imgur.com/NFyLOPZ



I was allotted road 9.

That evening, we met up with the guys in the camp we were supposed to move to. Suffice to say, it was not pretty. They had not gotten a shot at anything and were unwilling to move (they were supposed to move to Covaref when I moved over to Boumba). I was told that we could sleep there that evening, but we would have to go elsewhere afterwards; and that I was not supposed to hunt on this half of the concession. I was only allowed to hunt one road representing less than 5% of the concession.

Mike also then told me that there was worse... The following day would be our only crack at Yellow Back Duiker. The plane situation was that it would not be there on our day of departure, but would be there the following day. His comment was that we probably should drive out as we had been promised the plane would be there 2-3 days in a row on the way in. If we wanted to get back on time driving we needed to leave 2 days early. While 1-2 days additional was doable for me, 4-5 was not. If we waited until the plane was supposed to get there then had to drive, it would be a week later getting back with all the costs of rescheduling flights (and I would have to pay for Mike's also) added in. In essence I was in a position where I was being told I could at rather significant added expense hunt for 1-2 more days in 5% of the concession. I didn't think this was worthwhile, and Mike didn't either. His comment was if we had 4-5 days in Boumba he felt that we could get a collection of Duiker (Bay, Peter's, Blue, and probably a Yellow Backed), but that required the full area (half the concession) for a few days, neither of which we were being offered.

Yellow Backed Duiker that Churton had taken with another hunter (they do exist!)



Anyhow, the following morning we were up and off to a spot for Yellow Backed duiker. Churton had seen one in this spot before. We set up a blind the evening before and came in at 3 AM. At about 5, Churton thought he heard something and used a red light to take a look. That was a Yellow Backed Duiker, but when it saw the red light, it bolted and never came back. (we were to wait to shoot at dawn.) We tried after that to call duiker in a few spots. One opportunity, I saw a bay duiker, but my only shot was to shoot with a shotgun like 3 inches in front of one of the Pygmy trackers' nose- not a shot. We also had a rather interesting case where we were calling and we saw leaves moving towards us. I was told to shoot when ready, the all the sudden yells of "No! and "HUP!" and off it ran... Lucky I didn't shoot... it was a leopard!

I did get another crack at a Peters' on our way out, but missed a makeable shot with the .416.

I also had a chance at a Black Fronted Duiker. That was ruined by me putting the safety on while I was waiting to see if he would come out again. He did, and then the safety didn't disengage fully and I missed the opportunity....

We did see Gorilla as well in Boumba North.

Gorilla skull that the Pygmies had picked up:



After that, we drove to Covaref that evening and met up with 3 of the guys who agreed that waiting for the plane was something we were not willing to risk. We did the 2 day drive out and got to Douala in the late afternoon. We all got cleaned up and had a leisurely supper at Douala's only pizza place and then went to the airport to head back.

Logging truck on the road:



I had no issues getting my impounded shotgun back- I had to sign the book to get it back, and I would say some of the names in that book made it obvious that errors in Cameroon's gun permitting system are legion. I'm not sure if this is some sort of scam, or if it is more an issue of their being so concerned about unvetted weapons that they have a more or less zero tolerance policy. Of course, once again, I was pulled out of the line after going through security to prove that my guns were mine in the cargo area again.

I would say that the distances for the big stuff are really short in the rain forest. Like 15 yards short. Duiker are usually hunted with shotguns. If I go again for rain forest game, I will give really strong consideration to using a camp rifle as the hassles are big.

Rain on the way out:



For equipment here, I would recommend some clothing that drys quickly. I used cotton stuff.

A battery operated fan for the hut was a godsend. It is not so brutally hot as much as always steamy humid.

I used some camouflage duct tape instead of gaiters and this did a great job of keeping insects out of my shoes and pants. Probably one of my better ideas that I heard about here first.

I would say forget a pair of nippers or pruning snips. The pygmies and PH are doing this while you are going slow, and you have no time to mess with it when the time comes.

Whatever you do, don't forget the immodium!

Stuff for treating fungus and small cuts is necessary, and whatever you don't use, someone else will need! (in my case, the pup got a lot of it...)

.

Superb! Wonderful report, quality pictures and excellent animals!

Congrations Charles!

.

Wow. Great report!

Excellent trophies. Excellent report. Excellent pictures.

Cogratulations to you!

Well done Sir.

Nice report and good trophys, thanks for posting this.

Good honest report and a superb Forest Sitatunga along with a great Bongo.

Sad to see that poaching is completely out of control and that the safari logistics not much better. However you are in good hands with Mike and he indeed takes some fantastic photographs.

Great report, thanks Chuck

Great report. Given the hurdles would you or Mike recommend this for the future? The snare wounds....?

Great trophies and congratulations! Frankly, though, for what Mayo Oldiri charges for these hunts, the general disorganization is not good.

Congrats on a great hunt. Some beautiful animals. The disorganization is very offputting. I would love to do a Bongo hunt, but this sounds like a lot of disappointed hunters. Then the fiasco on the yellow backed duiker...... I find it interesting that a client/PH can refuse to move and then only "alott" 5% of the concession to you. Doesn't make sense.
Bruce

Fantastic trophies! Thanks for posting this.

Thanks for the completely honest report. Glad you got your animals in spite of the problems. I'm headed there next month, though a different area, the DJA. I won't be taking a charter, that eliminates some problems that are pretty much out of Mayo Oldiri's control. What's most alarming is the poaching and the lack of animals. Seems like that has changed rather quickly, in the last couple of years. Congrats on your outstanding trophies, Africa is Africa and you have to go with the flow but you went above and beyond.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Great trophies and congratulations! Frankly, though, for what Mayo Oldiri charges for these hunts, the general disorganization is not good.

That was essentially what I'm thinking. They charge a premium price and should provide similar service. Good thing Mike Fell could work through it.

Fantastic report and pictures. Congratulations!

congratulations on a great hunt and an outstanding adventure . great report.

Thanks guys!

As to what Mike recommends, I would leave that to him to comment on. I know he is still doing rain forest hunts.

Personally, from what I saw, while Boumba North seemes to have fewer Bongo than Lognia it also is less encroached on. If I was going to go back with Mayo, I would go there.

The other hunters who were after Bongo were successful, but the guys who were after other animals were less so. I was the only one who got both class A animals in our group, but weather definitely played a role, as did hunter expectations and the travel issues impacting days.

That is spectacular!!!!!!

Congrats on a great safari CR! Cameroon is certainly on my bucket list.

Thanks for posting.

Well done! Well deserved trophies! Your report was very informative and your pictures told it all.

Congratulations! Best regards, D. Nelson

Doc... great hunt report and in spite of your logistical problems you took a couple of fantastic trophies! Congrats!

Mike Jines and I were in Lognia in April and I think you bunked in the same chalet I did. I shot a nice bongo but then we worked hard for Mike's elephant and just couldn't make it happen. The forest is an incredibly beautiful environment but fiercely tough place to hunt! I think I am one and done for the jungle!

Congrats again!

Great report thank you!

I love seeing the forest hunts, something I can dream about and who knows someday I can do. But for now I appreciate the reports and photos.

Superb trophies

Great report and Wonderful Trophies!!!

Very Cool. Great report!

Looks like a real African Adventure ,

Charles,

Another great adventure. Huge congrats!

Mark

Excellent report and a real adventure (even with the cockups). Hunting with Mike Fell I'm sure was a real treat. He is a great guy

I enjoyed reading about your hunt. Thanks for posting.