@Jerycmeach You’ve obviously enjoyed some excellent hunts with Hervé, operated through Mayo Oldiri, as have most of their hunters. Hell, you were even fortunate to take a forest elephant, something very few forest hunters have an opportunity to do. I’m truly glad that you’ve enjoyed great success with M.O., just as have the vast majority of their hunters…. In the past.
Hervé is an excellent and widely respected PH who also seems like a great guy. He’s enjoyed great success on M.O.’s areas through the years and he’s fortunate to do the bulk of his Savannah hunting on their one premier area. I only had interaction with him in Garoua but immediately liked him and his hunter enjoyed a superb hunt on Djibao, IIRC he took 11 or 12 animals. Hervé is one of the reasons M.O. has enjoyed a stellar reputation over the years.
The problems I’ve mentioned and why I wouldn’t hunt with them again are, I believe, worth passing along to others and worthy of mention to anyone contemplating a Savannah hunt that’s currently going to cost north of $75,000.00, all-in (thankfully, it was less when I booked mine) and for Djibao, probably north of $100,000 by the time they’re done.
I’ve spoken directly with more than a couple other recent M.O. hunters who’ve privately told me they had various concerns about their hunts and wouldn’t go back due to the current state of affairs. The most common complaint being game populations and densities that were not as expected, but also other concerns.
Jerry, I spoke in fairly broad terms about my dissatisfaction, but I could get a lot more specific if you think it’d be appropriate. I don’t think it’d be beneficial to M.O. though. I wish them no harm, but they need to do a better job managing most of their areas. I think other hunters going there should have current information to enable them to make fully informed decisions for their own hunts. Most who go will have successful hunts despite the current state of affairs. Some won’t.
I know of several other hunters who only got an eland by going to Djibao at the very end of their hunt and not all of them shot eland that were larger than low 40’s. A hunter last year went home without an eland and he was a guy who walked his ass off, logging heavy miles in the heat. I shot the first eland bull I saw and was fortunate to take a wonderful, very old bull on the 2nd day. Then, we only saw 1 more eland over the remainder of my hunt and that was on one of my last days. He was a big bull in his prime but I never saw a single other eland except the herd containing my bull on day 2. My understanding from other hunters I spoke with who’d hunted prior to the pandemic was that game populations were much more robust prior to the pandemic. Some of the other species seemed heavily depleted where I hunted, buffalo, bushbuck & reedbuck in particular based on my limited time there.
M.O. does a lot of things right. The food was very good. The crews are good, hard working people. My trackers, Ngumna in particular, were very good and enjoyable to be around. They’ve got very good P.H.’s who’ve earned their reputations through many years of great hunts and satisfied clients. Accommodations were fairly comfortable, except for no air conditioners which sucked in the high heat. My trophies were well prepared, despite what a customs agent said. But they’re currently experiencing some problems which others contemplating such a hunt should be aware of before they go. Most of them will have good hunts, especially if they know what to expect going in.
Jerry, it might be more appropriate to discuss your & my thoughts privately, if you’re so inclined. I’m open to sharing other observations privately that I don’t think are necessary to post publicly. Your choice, which I’ll respect. Good luck with your whitetail season. Sorry you don’t care for hunters from California.
