Anyone hunt Burkina Faso or Benin recently?

[johnnyblues]

Hey guys myself and another member are looking into hunting in Burkina Faso in 2020. Has anyone hunted either there or Benin recently? I ask because one concern was Trophy import. I spoke with Rosella from SSI today, she said due to political turmoil their should wouldn’t handle anything from either country. There’s no guarantee she could get the trophies out. Anyone have any input?

 

[Mekaniks]

Christophe Morio will know. I think some of the folks around here know how to get in touch with him. He is also on FB.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Not I

 

[jacques smith]

Ernest from Spear used to run camps in Burkina Faso Johnny
He can maybe help

 

[johnnyblues]

Yes that’s who we’ve been looking at and talking too. He said as of this year everyone’s trophy’s made it out. Strangely SSI won’t handle anything from there with all the political turmoil. Hunters international claims they are still importing.

 

[Bushwise]

I hunted Benin in 2008 with Club Faune in Pendjari Park. I used Well Worldwide Logistics out of Houston Texas and had no problems getting trophies out. I hunted Burkina Faso in 2015 with Echo Safaris and used DHL out of Chicago to import my trophies. Again, a couple of hitches but I got my trophies out. Some outfitters in BF are used to European clients and European customs in shipping of trophies. American customs is different. I met Ernest Dyason in Zambia last October and would bet he would have no issues working with a shipping company to get your cargo to the States.

 

[stug]

@johnnyblues

 

[edward]

Yes that’s who we’ve been looking at and talking too. He said as of this year everyone’s trophy’s made it out. Strangely SSI won’t handle anything from there with all the political turmoil. Hunters international claims they are still importing.

maria at hunters international is great,i have used them 3 times and will again if i ever go back johnny,and ive hunted with ernest 3 times and hes great.

 

[johnnyblues]

Mike @LivingTheDream who is looking at this hunt with me also had high remarks for Hunters International. Right now we’ve pretty much decided on Francois Guillet of FG safaris. He has been excellent on getting back to us with pricing on dip/pack and putting together packages for us. We did look at Africa Echo too but his dip and pack prices were ridiculous. Just one more detail with FG Safaris to work out. 2020 is a long way off I know but it’s fun to look forward too.

 

[Spear Safaris]

John, I have not met Francois Guillet personally but I believe he is a great guy. A client of mine hunted with him and am sure he will not mind giving you pointers, if you wanted to chat with him.
All my Hunters trophy's made it out this year, although it took longer than previous years. Exporter I used in Ouaga was Patrick Beriou.
Maria Fellix , Matt Mayers and Coppersmith are all Clearing agents that has received and cleared in the USA all without problems this year and previous years.

I did very recently however, receive disturbing Information about Jihadist fighting in the area encompassing Pama and Arly park, Basically all of the east of Burkina.
This was directly from the Warden in Pama, but I have not been able to confirm this on any Global news. For now I am not taking bookings for 2019, but as soon as things clear we will look at 2019 again. We can just hope that it all clears as Burkina Faso, especially the block that I hunt, is my favorite hunting area all round.
I attach pictures of the Buffalo we took this year, it may be good to mention that 2 of these Bulls are top 20 in SCI. One ties for no 6 and the other ties no 15. We also took a Bushbuck that should take no 5 sci.

 

[johnnyblues]

Great bushbuck. I’d be happy with those trophies.

 

[TravisfromNC]

Great video, the hunter conveyed his love and respect for wilderness and wildlife well! It's not always about the trophy!

I am also interested in hunting West Africa one day, looks like it has an old Africa feel!

 

[johnnyblues]

Ernest although we spoke extensively today on WhatsApp (lol) I forgot to ask you are you hunting herd bulls or solitary dugga boys?

 

[johnnyblues]

I keep drooling over That bushbuck. I’d lifesze that sucker!

 

[Spear Safaris]

We take what we find and is old, sometimes in herds sometimes solitary. Sometimes batchelor groups. The bulls join and leave the herds