|
I recently returned from a four-week safari to southeastern Cameroon in Africam Safari's Goboumo Concession and would strongly urge anyone contemplating a hunt in this area to consider reading this report.
At the time I booked the safari during the 2002 Safari Club Convention, it was Africam's second season in Boboumo and hunters were enjoying virtually 100% success on bongo and sitatunga during the course of their standard two-week hunts. Even so, I felt that collecting both these elusive antelope as well as a forest elephant and some of the more unusual duikers in only two weeks was a bit much, so I booked a four-week trip to better my chances.
All hunting was conducted in virtually the same manner. Each morning after sun-up, we drove the logging roads that bisected the concession in a pickup truck containing a team of six pygmy trackers accompanied by their pack of hunting dogs. The plan was to look for fresh tracks crossing the road and follow them of foot. Once the dogs made contact with the quarry, they would surround the animal and keep it at bay until the hunter could get close enough to look it over and make a decision on whether or not to shoot.
There is virtually no difference in the way you start your day if you are hunting bongo, elephant, or sitatunga. Since my primary objective was elephant, the search for their tracks did not interfere with finding the tracks of any of the other game. The only difference is that dogs aren't used on elephant.
After four weeks of hunting, this is what I have to report:
Elephant:
Even though this animals was to be the main focus of the safari, we were unable to find any tracks to follow. On the last day I did track a young bull through the forest just for the experience, but that was it! We did encounter tracks of female and young on five or six occasions and there might have been a male mixed in but we left them alone. Unfortunately, forest elephant were very aggressive and anyone following groups containing cows and their calves would very likely end up shooting a female in self-defense so my PH refused to follow anything other than a solitary bull and I believe that is a wise course of action.
I spoke to some of the hunters that were in the camp preceding our arrival and they reported only finding one adult bull track, and despite a lengthy pursuit, were unable to catch up with it. By the time I departed camp in late June, the concession had yet to produce a single elephant this year and the season closes at the end of July.
The trackers always want meat and encourage you to shoot anything that steps into the road - snakes, lizards, monkeys, etc. At first, I was reluctant because I feared that a lot of shooting would disturb the wildlife (especially the elephants), but I soon realized that is was pointless to resist as there is another truck coming down the road behind you and they will shoot what you pass on. The constant disturbance in the area has caused the elephants to become nocturnal and very sensitive to gunfire.
In retrospect, I would have greatly appreciated Africam being frank with me about my odds of ever finding a track, much less having the opportunity to shoot an elephant in Goboumo. The pictures of elephants displayed in their sales brochures and hanging on the walls of their Convention booth came from another concession years ago. When I inquired about this, I was assured that I could expect the same results in Goboumo as the two areas were very close to one another. The reason given for not depicting game taken from Goboumo was that it would be too expensive to print new brochures.
Bongo:
At the time of booking, this was presented as an absolute certainty as during the past two seasons the average time to find a trophy bull had been running about five days and I would be hunting 30. Unfortunately, after driving up and down the logging roads every morning for a month, we only saw a few tracks during the first two weeks of the hunt, but none were fresh enough to follow. One day while checking a bai far from the road, we found some fresh tracks belonging to two bulls and followed them, but the dogs bayed the smaller of the two, which was an immature male, so we called the dogs back and let it go.
During the first two weeks of my safari the other hunter in camp (John Pouleson) did shoot a very nice 30-inch bongo after finding its tracks on the very same logging roads we were hunting. During the second two weeks, the next hunter never saw a track using the same guide Mr. Pouleson had used and hunting the same roads.
In the two weeks prior to my arrival, there were three clients in camp all hunting bongo and they got skunked. This means that with tow and sometimes three teams of hunters in the field each day for six weeks, only one trophy bongo was taken off this concession.
Sitatunga:
We actually saw fresh tracks of male sitatunga in the road on three separate occasions. Twice, we got out and followed only to lose them during the first hour. The third set was found on the morning after a big rain and the PH felt that the conditions were ideal for bongo that day and so we passed them up. On two additional instances, animals were spotted in the brush that were believed to have been male sitatunga and the dogs jumped out of the truck to give chase. Both times the dogs lost the animal within the first five minutes because the animals quickly headed for the nearest swamp where the little dogs couldn't keep up in the mud and water.
We spent almost every afternoon sitting in a mechan overlooking a bai (small grassy opening in the forest) and although we saw at least one female each night, we only saw one immature male with six-inch horns during the entire month.
As to the various duikers:
There is an abundance of blue duiker and a good population of Peters duiker remaining in the area. Bey duikers are scarce and so are Yellow Backs (they have only gotten one so far). When I booked my hunt, I was told that this concession had Black Fronted and Gabon duikers and I would have a good chance to get one, but when I got to camp and asked my PH how many of these had been taken this season the answer was "none" and that was the last time the subject was discussed.
So what happened?
How could a well known and respected outfitter like Alain Raoul enjoy almost 100% success on bongo and sitatunga in this concession area during the first two seasons and now hunters are luck to even see a track?
I believe the answer is that the area has simply been over hunted by Alain and heavily poached by the locals. The camp is only occupied four months out of the year and there is no one there to stop the poachers during the other eight months. Actually, many of the game animals that were taken on this concession as well as the surrounding concessions had snares on their legs or showed evidence of snares.
Hunting bongo and sitatunga with packs of dogs is a bit like fishing with dynamite. It is devastatingly effective initially, but if it is continued in the same area, the resource base will be quickly depleted. Also, once an animal has been chased by a pack of dogs, it is unlikely to return any time soon. The remaining animals will retreat to inaccessible areas where they won't be harassed. Every day of the season, at least one hunting car (and sometimes two), patrol the roads looking for tracks. The animals soon learn to stay away from the roads and are sensitive to any disturbance. By the time of my departure, there were gangs of workers with motor graders and bulldozers doing much-need roadwork, but it didn't help the peach and quiet.
One must look for places that have not been hunted in these situations, but my PH did not want to get out of the truck or leave that well-traveled roads. Although this approach has been highly successful over the past two seasons, conditions have now changed and the hunting tactics need to adapt to the new reality. I don't know what it's going to take to get my PH to change his mind. Thirty days without finding any fresh bongo tracks to follow from the road seems pretty conclusive to me.
It is also clear that the male to female ratio on sitatunga is out of proportion and I suspect that this is due to over hunting as well. Virtually all the hunters want a sitatunga and they have just about wiped out the males. The clearest indication of this depletion is what size animals the PH's now consider a trophy. They have only taken three so far this season and the one that I saw with my own eyes in the skinning shed was only 13 inches. This would be considered a bit small for a bushbuck - much less a sitatunga.
I had been on four previous forest hunts (Congo twice, Liberia and CAR) and I had come to Cameroon to hunt for some specific animals to complete a collection. At first, I thought it was odd that my PH did not seem to be interested in knowing what I had come to hunt for, but if you plan is to only shoot what steps into the road, a list of animals you hope to collect becomes pretty meaningless.
On the positive side, I saw far more gorillas than I was expecting and the forest is quite beautiful. Both of the professional hunters in camp treated me well and the food and accommodations were adequate. I took the time to brush up on my French language skills before going on this trip and it helped enormously. Since we only got out of the truck to follow tracks on five occasions, I spent the majority of my time riding or sitting in a mechan. All together it was a very relaxing if non-productive trip. I may even be the first person to actually gain weight on a bongo/elephant hunt.
I was successful in taking a Dwarf buffalo bull and a Red River hog (both were the only ones taken so far this season). I also took a Bates Pygmy antelope and several Peters duikers so they provided much of the camp meat.
Although I'm very reluctant to send in a negative report on anybody's operation, there is no point in continuing my subscription to The Hunting Report if I kept quiet after a hunt like this.
Unless I receive new information that leas me to believe that the poaching in this area has been stopped and populations of bongo, elephant, and sitatunga have migrated back in; I simply cannot recommend this hunt. The hunt is very expensive and you are likely to go home with just a duiker, as was the case with the other hunter in camp during the second two weeks.
The booking agent is well aware of the situation and has already ceased booking clients with Africam for next season.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW DOCUMENT ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: August 18, 2003 To: The Hunting Report From: Gilbert Tarriere of 3W International RE: Complaint from Chris Kinsey
Chris already send to me a report on his hunt with Alain Raoul and how bad was his safari on an area completely shot out.
I will read his report when you send it to me and will answer to you accordingly. I am sure that Chris did write the truth. Unfortunately, starting from 2003 in Reno, 3W International ceased all partnership with Alain Raoul of Africam Safaris. Chris and other hunters who booked up in 2001 and 2002 came in 2003 having paid their safari. At booking time hunting results were still good, but in two years Raoul changed the situation badly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW DOCUMENT ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: September 9, 2003 To: The Hunting Report From: Alain Raoul RE: Complaint by Chris Kinsey
Following your sending of the report/ration of hunting of Mr. Kinsey, please find our answer below:
We are sorry result obtained by Mr. Kinsey but this year, because of the dryness, was one year exceptionally bad without rain it does not have there traces, the elephant and the bongos do not move without rain, the other companies had the same problems.
In spite of what we obtained seven bongos and an elephant on twelve customers is only three failures and a half failure since the hunter made an elephant. Taking into account the great dryness, the result remains correct if we compare our results with the other companies.
We are victims of the success of the other years when we obtained 100% success on the bongos with more than 200 bongos drawn.
In any safari there is a share of chance, we are not in Cameroon in a ranch.
Africam Safaris is twenty years old of existence, we are known for our serious and our honesty. We gifts will propose with the hunters whose safaris were not successful, of the interesting conditions so that they return to draw to them bongo.
|
