- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 27
- Location
- Reno, NV
- Member of
- SCI, DSC, WSF, DU, CWA
- Hunted
- US, Alaska, Alberta, BC, Nunavet, Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, NZ, South Africa, Namibia, Cameroon, Tajikistan, Mongolia
I’ve been a long time stalker on this site but have contributed very little. This last fall I bought a cancellation hunt advertised on AfricaHunting.com and thought I could make a small contribution to the site by discussing my Lord Derby eland hunt with Faro East.
Mostly as a matter of economics, I search for cancellation and auction hunts for most of my current hunting. I am only searching for very specific set of animals and locations and Faro East had a cancellation hunt for a Lord Derby eland, one of my “Tier 1” bucket list animals. After some internet research, a phone call to a guy who had hunted nearby, and a number of emails with Romain Dahlan, I booked.
It was a 12 day hunt that turned into a 13 day hunt because planes do not fly into Ngaoundéré (pronounced something like “Gone da ray”) on Sunday.
This was my second Cameroon hunt, the previous one was a successful bongo hunt in the forest. I was going to be the first hunter of the season for Faro East. I used Debbie Gracie (of Gracie Travel) and Mattias of Iles & Voyages to arrange the flights, guns and meet and greet. I believe that no matter who you go through, if you are bringing a gun with you into Cameroon, you go through Mathias and that he can organize everything for you. I flew Delta and even though my Salt Lake flight was delayed I still managed to make my connection in Paris.
I live in Reno, Nevada, on the west coast of the US, so it is always a long trip to Africa. In the evening when I landed in Douala, Faro had organized a “meet and greet.” Benoit and Bruno helped with the gun clearance and got my luggage. My experience this time was much better and faster than on my bongo hunt. I was in my hotel room, with all of my baggage and gun at about 11:00 PM. I stayed at La Falaise, where the room was clean and the breakfast buffet was good.
Pic from my hotel room
The next morning, I was picked up by Benoit and we met Bruno at the airport. On this domestic flight, they made me go down through security with my paperwork to do the gun check and count my ammo without the “meet and greeters.” Before heading through the customs door, Benoit was adamant that I pay no bribes while I was down there as it was all taken care of. If you haven’t been to Cameroon, my impression is that bribery is common for most government interactions but whenever you are with a guide or a “meet and greet-er”, they take care of it for you.
When I landed in Ngaoundéré I was greeted by Faro East’s man Bakari. He was a heavy-set friendly man with a big laugh who made you feel comfortable right away. He handled the customs people and after 5 minutes we headed to a camp truck, a newer model Toyota.
Mosque near the airport in Ngaoundéré
Cattle on the road to ZIC 5
We got gas and supplies in Ngaoundéré, and I was in camp around 3:00 PM. Upon my arrival, I met Patrick (the patriarch), Marteen (his wife and the mother of) Romain Dahlan. Romain handles all of the organizing and booking and also guides when he is in Cameroon. Romain and Marteen were going to be in camp for the first part of my hunt but then needed to fly home to Europe. I was warmly welcomed and Patrick urged us to go out that afternoon. It was a nice way to start shaking off the jet lag and to work the kinks earned during the long couple of days flying.
We went out and I shot my rifle, an old Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H, and it was hitting about where it was shooting before I left. That evening we saw hartebeest, buffalo and roan, but nothing Patrick thought worth taking.
During a fantastic dinner, when we were talking about animals, I mentioned to Patrick, that I liked to shoot older animals when possible. I prefer animals that are heavier and wider and do not mind worn down horns. I like the character of the horns and the mass and in a weird way I feel I am taking less from the animal and species when the animal is nearer to the end of his life rather than at its peak.
That night I went to my hut, heard the sounds of nearby lions, locked my door and fell asleep.
Fire Pit at main Camp
Part 2
Over the next week or so I had success with almost all the animals I wanted, the one exception being a red river hog (Patrick said the RRH were now difficult now because he had so many elephants on his property and the elephants were terrorizing the hogs and so the hogs were both wary and unpredictable in their bedding locations) and all were fantastic animals. As I had mentioned the first evening, Patrick guided me towards animals that were older and heavier. I shot a kob, a western hartebeest, a red flanked duiker, a really cool old roan, a savannah buffalo and a Lord Derby eland.
Patrick, Me and the crew with Red Flanked Duiker
Most of the shooting was pretty normal Africa plains game hunting, 30-70 yard shots off sticks, fantastic trackers and beautiful country.
The Roan
We saw roan most days but Patrick was sure he could find me a special one. On a particularly fun hunt, one of the trackers spotted some roan on a hillside where they thought no animals lived (because of the poachers). The roan were on the top of a small mountain maybe ¾ of a mile away. Patrick asked if I wanted to try them and being someone who enjoys going new places by foot I said “yes.” So, Patrick, Romain, a couple of the trackers and I hiked up the mountain. From the top we spotted them across the valley on another mountain and so we climbed down and back up the next mountain. I enjoy the excitement and uncertainty of new places, we kicked up baboons, some duikers but never caught up with those roan. At one point, we thought we came across a poachers’ camp but it turned out to be one of the camps of the anti-poaching team. We cut across streams and had a truly wonderful little adventure. It will be a day I remember fondly for the rest of my life. I shot my roan a day or two later not too far from the road on the way to see if we could re-find an eland we had seen the previous night. I thought my roan was an exceptional animal.
One of the trackers on top of hillside where we explored (unsuccessfully) for roan
Patrick, Me, and the crew with my roan-Bakari on far right of picture
The Savannah Buffalo
So, some readers may recognize that Cameroon has A, B, and C species. On your license, you are only allowed 2 A animals. An eland is an A, a buffalo is an A, and a roan is an A. To get over this obstacle, at least at Faro East, you can buy a second license, which I bought. Originally, I didn’t plan to shoot a buffalo but I had finished my A animals and killed all the animals I had originally planned. Even though getting another A license animal was beyond what I had budgeted, I justified it to myself by asking when would I have another chance to hunt one, when you factor in the cost of the flights, time and all the rest, I figured I might as well do it now and bought the second license.
In the dining area there were a number of old buffalo skulls on the wall. Patrick asked what sort of buffalo I liked. He said they had two general types, long horned ones that were narrower and wider shorter heavier horns. I said I preferred the wider and heavier ones.
I also mentioned something I heard from another hunter on the plane to Ngaoundéré. The other hunter was hunting at a nearby camp, his second eland hunt in two years. He had not killed an eland on his previous year’s hunt but had killed a black buffalo and said on this trip he wanted an eland and a red buffalo.
I would guess that like most hunters, I almost always try to shoot the animals with the biggest horns, antlers, etc. I think the only animals I have ever shot for their coats were mountain goats in the US, a couple tahr in New Zealand and a mountain grizzly. I thought it was an interesting idea so I threw in that, all else being equal, I would like to shoot a red one over a black one. I have a few cape buffalo that are black and thought a red buff would be kind of cool.
We saw buffalo nearly every day but none Patrick liked enough to turn me loose on. Eventually when we were travelling through a new place (for me) on the property, we saw a herd of buffalo walking and feeding on the other side of a valley. We hiked down with the wind in our face and intercepted them. Patrick told me to shoot the one third from the back. I put one right on his shoulder. Two more shots and he was down for good.
When we got up to him, he was an awesome bull. Heavy wide, and both black and red. He had striated ridges on his horns, a fantastic animal.
Close up picture of striated horns
The Lord Derby Eland
Patrick has been hunting eland in Cameroon for 30 years. Of all the people I spoke with, I haven’t heard of anyone returning without at least a chance to take an eland on one of his hunts. However, hunting eland with Faro East is far from an easy or canned hunt. The eland are very wild. I think Patrick’s success comes from experience as a professional hunter and the quality of his property.
About the 5th evening, we found a herd of eland. We watched as they weaved in and out of some trees. There were probably 15-20. Patrick told me to get ready. I was set up on the sticks and fairly solid. Patrick pointed to one and said “That’s a good bull.” He was about 80 yards away. The eland was standing still and sort of quartering towards me.
Normally, it would not have been a particularly difficult shot. He was awesome, big bases, wide, and long, a real trophy. The problem for me was that there were a bunch of cows and young bulls milling around him. Behind him, walking in front of him, flanking him. I thought a mis-timed wobble or poorly timed trigger squeeze could easily end up with my shot hitting the wrong animal. There was one cow in particular that covered the back 1/4 of his body or so. She was intently staring at something straight in front of them. As I tried to settle in and concentrate, I found my attention continually wandering back to the cow and the worry that if I started my trigger squeeze she could walk in in front of the bull. So, I waited for her to leave, move forward, or do something. Then momentarily the bull stepped forward and turned more broadside, giving me a clear shoulder but I hesitated and the bull walked off.
I was pretty disappointed that evening as we walked back. After seeing the bull in my scope, I knew he was as good as anyone could hope for and better than I had anticipated. I knew I would be happy with him but I had hesitated and he had gotten away. As we were walking back, I tried to explain to Patrick my concern about the other eland surrounding him. Patrick said we would see if we could find him again the next day.
The next morning as we were going back to where we had seen my bull, I shot my roan. The camp crew came out, met us and took the roan back to camp in another vehicle. It took another hour to get back to the spot where we had seen the bull the night before so we had something of a late start.
By the time we got there, the sun was up and it was warm. The trackers followed the previous evening’s tracks. We walked. It got hot. We walked more. It got hotter. Then, in the heat of the day, maybe 100 degrees Fahrenheit, one of the trackers, whose name was pronounced something like “Go-Dall” froze and we all stopped. I strained to see something but saw nothing. We tried to hide in the bottom of a little valley in the open in waist high grass.
We eventually sat down where we had stopped. We were pinned down for maybe an hour while eland milled in front of us and were feeding in the shade. Patrick called me over and I set up on the sticks. We were concentrating on a shady spot near the back of the canyon. A smaller bull kept wandering into sight and would then disappear. Patrick told me to be ready for a big bull to cross in the area where the smaller bull was. I was set solidly on the sticks and the smaller bull was maybe 90 yards away. After what seemed like a long time, the small bull headed off to the left and the bigger bull stepped out.
“That’s him” whispered Patrick.
I set my crosshairs on the bull’s shoulder and squeezed off a quick shot. Chaos erupted in front of us and eland were running everywhere. I put a fresh round in the chamber and looked over the top of my scope hoping to identify my bull, who had disappeared. Nothing. Maybe he had gone over the top and we hadn’t seen him or maybe he had gone another way. I had definitely heard the thump of my 300 grain Hornady soft point hitting him and I felt good about my shot. Maybe he was dead or still hiding in the brush because he was hurt.
Finally, a minute or so after all the other eland had cleared, a big bodied eland went up towards the ridgeline after the rest of the herd. I wasn’t sure he was mine and I didn’t shoot. When we got to the ridgeline there he lay dead, 30 yards from where we were standing. He’d travelled maybe 60 yards total after the shot.
I was elated! Patrick told me he was the same bull from the night before. He was old and worn and, wide. Patrick said he would go 48”. While 50” may be a magical number for some, I would gladly give up 2” for the width, age and mass this guy had. Patrick thought he was 8 or 9 years old and weighed something like 700 kilos (1500 lbs.).
Odds and Ends
The Food
Food was elegant and delicious. I am not a foodie and so I think much of the preparation and quality of the food was wasted on me, but I still enjoyed trying it. The meals were like eating in a fancy restaurant every night. No two meals were the same. TJ, the cook, was quite the surprise, with so many elegant dishes. Patrick told me there were mostly two types of clients when it came to the food, the ones who like fancy cuisine and the ones who enjoy more basic, good food, pasta, hamburgers, steaks, etc. and they are capable of both.
I enjoyed the fancier food because it was something outside of my everyday experience. In addition to the food, Patrick is also very knowledgeable when it comes to wines and it is surprising the variety of things the Patrick and the staff can come up with in the bush.
The Property
Patrick’s property is in ZIC 5. He spends a great deal of time working his property, in particular digging waterholes and his efforts to control poachers. The poachers are a special priority for Faro East. Patrick has seven full time antipoaching teams out in the field every day. He trained them and monitors them real time using some kind of Garmin system so he knows where they are working and what part of the property they have been working in at all times.
At the end of the hunt, if you hunted with Patrick, instead of accepting a tip, he puts the money you intend for him, back into the property. He always had an anti-poaching team or two in the field and though he still thinks he has poachers I would guess it far fewer than on nearby properties.
Overall
If a good Lord Derby eland is on your bucket list, and you want to hunt in what I like to think of as “old Africa” I cannot recommend Faro East highly enough. The things they could control, food, camp cleanliness, trackers, etc. were all of the highest order. They have a great success rate and took fantastic care of me while I was there.
End
Mostly as a matter of economics, I search for cancellation and auction hunts for most of my current hunting. I am only searching for very specific set of animals and locations and Faro East had a cancellation hunt for a Lord Derby eland, one of my “Tier 1” bucket list animals. After some internet research, a phone call to a guy who had hunted nearby, and a number of emails with Romain Dahlan, I booked.
It was a 12 day hunt that turned into a 13 day hunt because planes do not fly into Ngaoundéré (pronounced something like “Gone da ray”) on Sunday.
This was my second Cameroon hunt, the previous one was a successful bongo hunt in the forest. I was going to be the first hunter of the season for Faro East. I used Debbie Gracie (of Gracie Travel) and Mattias of Iles & Voyages to arrange the flights, guns and meet and greet. I believe that no matter who you go through, if you are bringing a gun with you into Cameroon, you go through Mathias and that he can organize everything for you. I flew Delta and even though my Salt Lake flight was delayed I still managed to make my connection in Paris.
I live in Reno, Nevada, on the west coast of the US, so it is always a long trip to Africa. In the evening when I landed in Douala, Faro had organized a “meet and greet.” Benoit and Bruno helped with the gun clearance and got my luggage. My experience this time was much better and faster than on my bongo hunt. I was in my hotel room, with all of my baggage and gun at about 11:00 PM. I stayed at La Falaise, where the room was clean and the breakfast buffet was good.
Pic from my hotel room
The next morning, I was picked up by Benoit and we met Bruno at the airport. On this domestic flight, they made me go down through security with my paperwork to do the gun check and count my ammo without the “meet and greeters.” Before heading through the customs door, Benoit was adamant that I pay no bribes while I was down there as it was all taken care of. If you haven’t been to Cameroon, my impression is that bribery is common for most government interactions but whenever you are with a guide or a “meet and greet-er”, they take care of it for you.
When I landed in Ngaoundéré I was greeted by Faro East’s man Bakari. He was a heavy-set friendly man with a big laugh who made you feel comfortable right away. He handled the customs people and after 5 minutes we headed to a camp truck, a newer model Toyota.
Mosque near the airport in Ngaoundéré
Cattle on the road to ZIC 5
We got gas and supplies in Ngaoundéré, and I was in camp around 3:00 PM. Upon my arrival, I met Patrick (the patriarch), Marteen (his wife and the mother of) Romain Dahlan. Romain handles all of the organizing and booking and also guides when he is in Cameroon. Romain and Marteen were going to be in camp for the first part of my hunt but then needed to fly home to Europe. I was warmly welcomed and Patrick urged us to go out that afternoon. It was a nice way to start shaking off the jet lag and to work the kinks earned during the long couple of days flying.
We went out and I shot my rifle, an old Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H, and it was hitting about where it was shooting before I left. That evening we saw hartebeest, buffalo and roan, but nothing Patrick thought worth taking.
During a fantastic dinner, when we were talking about animals, I mentioned to Patrick, that I liked to shoot older animals when possible. I prefer animals that are heavier and wider and do not mind worn down horns. I like the character of the horns and the mass and in a weird way I feel I am taking less from the animal and species when the animal is nearer to the end of his life rather than at its peak.
That night I went to my hut, heard the sounds of nearby lions, locked my door and fell asleep.
Fire Pit at main Camp
Part 2
Over the next week or so I had success with almost all the animals I wanted, the one exception being a red river hog (Patrick said the RRH were now difficult now because he had so many elephants on his property and the elephants were terrorizing the hogs and so the hogs were both wary and unpredictable in their bedding locations) and all were fantastic animals. As I had mentioned the first evening, Patrick guided me towards animals that were older and heavier. I shot a kob, a western hartebeest, a red flanked duiker, a really cool old roan, a savannah buffalo and a Lord Derby eland.
Patrick, Me and the crew with Red Flanked Duiker
Most of the shooting was pretty normal Africa plains game hunting, 30-70 yard shots off sticks, fantastic trackers and beautiful country.
The Roan
We saw roan most days but Patrick was sure he could find me a special one. On a particularly fun hunt, one of the trackers spotted some roan on a hillside where they thought no animals lived (because of the poachers). The roan were on the top of a small mountain maybe ¾ of a mile away. Patrick asked if I wanted to try them and being someone who enjoys going new places by foot I said “yes.” So, Patrick, Romain, a couple of the trackers and I hiked up the mountain. From the top we spotted them across the valley on another mountain and so we climbed down and back up the next mountain. I enjoy the excitement and uncertainty of new places, we kicked up baboons, some duikers but never caught up with those roan. At one point, we thought we came across a poachers’ camp but it turned out to be one of the camps of the anti-poaching team. We cut across streams and had a truly wonderful little adventure. It will be a day I remember fondly for the rest of my life. I shot my roan a day or two later not too far from the road on the way to see if we could re-find an eland we had seen the previous night. I thought my roan was an exceptional animal.
One of the trackers on top of hillside where we explored (unsuccessfully) for roan
Patrick, Me, and the crew with my roan-Bakari on far right of picture
The Savannah Buffalo
So, some readers may recognize that Cameroon has A, B, and C species. On your license, you are only allowed 2 A animals. An eland is an A, a buffalo is an A, and a roan is an A. To get over this obstacle, at least at Faro East, you can buy a second license, which I bought. Originally, I didn’t plan to shoot a buffalo but I had finished my A animals and killed all the animals I had originally planned. Even though getting another A license animal was beyond what I had budgeted, I justified it to myself by asking when would I have another chance to hunt one, when you factor in the cost of the flights, time and all the rest, I figured I might as well do it now and bought the second license.
In the dining area there were a number of old buffalo skulls on the wall. Patrick asked what sort of buffalo I liked. He said they had two general types, long horned ones that were narrower and wider shorter heavier horns. I said I preferred the wider and heavier ones.
I also mentioned something I heard from another hunter on the plane to Ngaoundéré. The other hunter was hunting at a nearby camp, his second eland hunt in two years. He had not killed an eland on his previous year’s hunt but had killed a black buffalo and said on this trip he wanted an eland and a red buffalo.
I would guess that like most hunters, I almost always try to shoot the animals with the biggest horns, antlers, etc. I think the only animals I have ever shot for their coats were mountain goats in the US, a couple tahr in New Zealand and a mountain grizzly. I thought it was an interesting idea so I threw in that, all else being equal, I would like to shoot a red one over a black one. I have a few cape buffalo that are black and thought a red buff would be kind of cool.
We saw buffalo nearly every day but none Patrick liked enough to turn me loose on. Eventually when we were travelling through a new place (for me) on the property, we saw a herd of buffalo walking and feeding on the other side of a valley. We hiked down with the wind in our face and intercepted them. Patrick told me to shoot the one third from the back. I put one right on his shoulder. Two more shots and he was down for good.
When we got up to him, he was an awesome bull. Heavy wide, and both black and red. He had striated ridges on his horns, a fantastic animal.
Close up picture of striated horns
The Lord Derby Eland
Patrick has been hunting eland in Cameroon for 30 years. Of all the people I spoke with, I haven’t heard of anyone returning without at least a chance to take an eland on one of his hunts. However, hunting eland with Faro East is far from an easy or canned hunt. The eland are very wild. I think Patrick’s success comes from experience as a professional hunter and the quality of his property.
About the 5th evening, we found a herd of eland. We watched as they weaved in and out of some trees. There were probably 15-20. Patrick told me to get ready. I was set up on the sticks and fairly solid. Patrick pointed to one and said “That’s a good bull.” He was about 80 yards away. The eland was standing still and sort of quartering towards me.
Normally, it would not have been a particularly difficult shot. He was awesome, big bases, wide, and long, a real trophy. The problem for me was that there were a bunch of cows and young bulls milling around him. Behind him, walking in front of him, flanking him. I thought a mis-timed wobble or poorly timed trigger squeeze could easily end up with my shot hitting the wrong animal. There was one cow in particular that covered the back 1/4 of his body or so. She was intently staring at something straight in front of them. As I tried to settle in and concentrate, I found my attention continually wandering back to the cow and the worry that if I started my trigger squeeze she could walk in in front of the bull. So, I waited for her to leave, move forward, or do something. Then momentarily the bull stepped forward and turned more broadside, giving me a clear shoulder but I hesitated and the bull walked off.
I was pretty disappointed that evening as we walked back. After seeing the bull in my scope, I knew he was as good as anyone could hope for and better than I had anticipated. I knew I would be happy with him but I had hesitated and he had gotten away. As we were walking back, I tried to explain to Patrick my concern about the other eland surrounding him. Patrick said we would see if we could find him again the next day.
The next morning as we were going back to where we had seen my bull, I shot my roan. The camp crew came out, met us and took the roan back to camp in another vehicle. It took another hour to get back to the spot where we had seen the bull the night before so we had something of a late start.
By the time we got there, the sun was up and it was warm. The trackers followed the previous evening’s tracks. We walked. It got hot. We walked more. It got hotter. Then, in the heat of the day, maybe 100 degrees Fahrenheit, one of the trackers, whose name was pronounced something like “Go-Dall” froze and we all stopped. I strained to see something but saw nothing. We tried to hide in the bottom of a little valley in the open in waist high grass.
We eventually sat down where we had stopped. We were pinned down for maybe an hour while eland milled in front of us and were feeding in the shade. Patrick called me over and I set up on the sticks. We were concentrating on a shady spot near the back of the canyon. A smaller bull kept wandering into sight and would then disappear. Patrick told me to be ready for a big bull to cross in the area where the smaller bull was. I was set solidly on the sticks and the smaller bull was maybe 90 yards away. After what seemed like a long time, the small bull headed off to the left and the bigger bull stepped out.
“That’s him” whispered Patrick.
I set my crosshairs on the bull’s shoulder and squeezed off a quick shot. Chaos erupted in front of us and eland were running everywhere. I put a fresh round in the chamber and looked over the top of my scope hoping to identify my bull, who had disappeared. Nothing. Maybe he had gone over the top and we hadn’t seen him or maybe he had gone another way. I had definitely heard the thump of my 300 grain Hornady soft point hitting him and I felt good about my shot. Maybe he was dead or still hiding in the brush because he was hurt.
Finally, a minute or so after all the other eland had cleared, a big bodied eland went up towards the ridgeline after the rest of the herd. I wasn’t sure he was mine and I didn’t shoot. When we got to the ridgeline there he lay dead, 30 yards from where we were standing. He’d travelled maybe 60 yards total after the shot.
I was elated! Patrick told me he was the same bull from the night before. He was old and worn and, wide. Patrick said he would go 48”. While 50” may be a magical number for some, I would gladly give up 2” for the width, age and mass this guy had. Patrick thought he was 8 or 9 years old and weighed something like 700 kilos (1500 lbs.).
Odds and Ends
The Food
Food was elegant and delicious. I am not a foodie and so I think much of the preparation and quality of the food was wasted on me, but I still enjoyed trying it. The meals were like eating in a fancy restaurant every night. No two meals were the same. TJ, the cook, was quite the surprise, with so many elegant dishes. Patrick told me there were mostly two types of clients when it came to the food, the ones who like fancy cuisine and the ones who enjoy more basic, good food, pasta, hamburgers, steaks, etc. and they are capable of both.
I enjoyed the fancier food because it was something outside of my everyday experience. In addition to the food, Patrick is also very knowledgeable when it comes to wines and it is surprising the variety of things the Patrick and the staff can come up with in the bush.
The Property
Patrick’s property is in ZIC 5. He spends a great deal of time working his property, in particular digging waterholes and his efforts to control poachers. The poachers are a special priority for Faro East. Patrick has seven full time antipoaching teams out in the field every day. He trained them and monitors them real time using some kind of Garmin system so he knows where they are working and what part of the property they have been working in at all times.
At the end of the hunt, if you hunted with Patrick, instead of accepting a tip, he puts the money you intend for him, back into the property. He always had an anti-poaching team or two in the field and though he still thinks he has poachers I would guess it far fewer than on nearby properties.
Overall
If a good Lord Derby eland is on your bucket list, and you want to hunt in what I like to think of as “old Africa” I cannot recommend Faro East highly enough. The things they could control, food, camp cleanliness, trackers, etc. were all of the highest order. They have a great success rate and took fantastic care of me while I was there.
End
