You can hunt two species in Ghana presently not found anywhere else in the world, and also a third rare specie. At Miemia the local hunter, who assists the PH, will take you for Royal Antelope and the Maxwell Duiker. This local hunter is "Accra Boy," nicknamed "Cowboy." At Kakum, the local hunter, named Asari, nicknamed "John Wayne" for the movie "Hatari," will take you for the Royal Antelope, Maxwell, and Black Duiker.

The Royal Antelope ("Adowa" locally) male weighs between 2 and 2 ½ kilos. It is pure reddish in color. You only hunt them at night. The female is slightly larger. The Maxwell ("Ochwee" locally) weighs about 70% more, is hunted at night also, and has a streak down both sides of its face. The Black Duiker ("Oyo" locally) is hunted at early morning and late evening deep in the forest sitting and waiting and calling by a producing palm nut or fig tree. They are pure black with a shine and an orange tuff on the top of their head and a white underside to their tail. They are very rare with the local hunter not seeing one in four months, but their tracks are there.

You almost have to hunt the eight days on the dark side of the moon as these animals see incredibly well. The Royal Antelope has huge eyes as they probably have always been nocturnal. The best time is between 8 and 10 pm, but anytime until about 1 or 2 am. You hunt in the thickest part of the forest next to local palm tree fields. It is very hilly and super thick. The best hunting is after or during a light rain. The rainy season is late April to August, with July and August probably too severe a rain to hunt.

This is a tough hunt using a shotgun, number 1 buckshot, and a red light on your ball cap. You will be soaking, 100% wet from the high humidity near the ocean. All night it is 89 or 90 degrees. The forest has very few birds, no monkeys, and few, very few predators other than a stray genet or civet (rare).

Being the first hunter was rather exploratory as we hunted each camp 4 nights. The first night the gun misfired due to packing grease. Carburetor cleaner fixed that the next day. I took a female Royal the second night and only saw eyes for a split second nights 3 and 4. At the second camp, Kakum, I missed a Royal behind a tree and shot what should be the new #1 record Maxwell. There was a Royal too quick in the light one night and I wounded a Maxwell at about 45 yards that we could not find. That was an unusual shot because most shots are 8 to 12 yards because it is so thick.

The accommodations at both places are clean with 5 channel, fuzzy satellite reception, and no CNN. The food is acceptable, especially at Miemia where you stay right on the ocean and get plenty of fresh seafood. Steve has an excellent South African PH assisting him, Ian, "Tweak," Roodt.

I rate the hunt very high. I was two animals for four shots. I saw seven animals in eight nights. We spent two days just for the rare Black Duiker. There are lots of mosquitoes in Ghana. You need to wear soft, ankle high shoes, long pants (a must) and long sleeve, light cotton shirts because the branches will scratch you good. Light leather gloves would help if you can shoot with them.

You will walk three to seven kilometers a night, about 4 to 4 ½ hours. There was no wind when I hunted, but could be at the ocean camp. They do not use dogs to hunt. Poaching is condoned as each village has a couple local hunters with a shotgun. Local shells are $13 U.S. per box. They sell the Duikers and Royals on the road every day. Royals go for about $15 U.S. The animals are hunted so they are spooky.

KLM flies non-stop to Accra from Amsterdam. The price of the hunt is $15,000 but it includes all transportation, lodging, meals, trophy care, and supplies. There are no trophy fees. The hunting license and export papers are one day deals, about the easiest in Africa. Your hunting license looks like a passport which you keep and just stamp to renew. If you want to hunt a deep forest, thick with undergrowth, test your snap shooting ability in illuminated darkness, this is the place because the reward is high ... three of the very hardest to find animals in Africa. I saw no evidence of snares as all local hunters have a shotgun. The one hunter wounded 3 bongo in 3 months. I believe Ghana is the only place you can get some of these trophies besides Liberia and the Ivory Coast. You will see more Royals than Maxwells. If you see a Black Duiker, don't miss. A great time with great people.