ETHIOPIA: Northern Operations Africa 2016

[LivingTheDream]

I am so looking forward to this report. I have to agree that Ethiopian Airlines is surprisingly nice. I flew coach on my way over and it wasn't bad either. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[cpr0312]

Welcome back, look forward to the report

 

[Hank2211]

T

@Hank2211 Welcome back! Over a certain size images will not display within the post but will only show as attachments. If you reduce the size of your images a bit you will be able to insert the images within your post. I resized your images to half their original size and now they will display within the post. Feel free to let me know if you need any further help! looking forward to reading about your journey in Ethiopia!

Thanks Jerome.

The picture of the mountainside was a picture of the view from my tent. Here is a picture of the tent itself:

This is what most of the mountains in the area look like (this used to be mountain nyala habitat):

 

[BRICKBURN]

Awesome view.

Ouch on the eco remodel.

 

[Hank2211]

Day 1: Nov. 5

I'm told that nyala shots tend to be long, so we sighted in the gun yesterday afternoon. Dead on at 200 yards, which means a drop of 19 inches at 400. I hope I won't be taking shots that far away, but it pays to be prepared (or so they tell me).

On the first day of our hunt we are up at about 4.15 am (I don't even know what that is in Ethiopian time - they use a different clock and calendar here!), with breakfast being served at 4.30 am. Out the door before 5, driving to a spot as near as possible to where we plan to sit this morning. A good Mountain Nyala has been seen on a ridge not far from where we are sitting. We have also dropped some other camp staff with binos at various spots to increase our chances of spotting something. As things turn out, we see nothing, other than some very nice Menelik's bushbuck, which we aren't hunting.

I am a bit surprised that we can hear all sorts of noise - horns, music, etc., from "down below" - sound seems to travel very well here. I'm told the animals are used to it. Another thing they are apparently used to is the presence of people. There are people everywhere, herding animals or gathering firewood. It seems every inch of Ethiopia is covered in people. My PH tells me though that due to religious laws regarding halal meat, there is very little poaching. This doesn't quite jibe with what we find on our way back to camp. . .

On our drive to our Nyala watching spot we had passed one of our leopard baits hanging from a tree. On our return drive, that bait was lying on the ground, and a large chunk of meat was missing from the middle. Cut out by a knife. And the rope which tied the bait to the branch was missing. As best as we can figure, someone climbed the tree and took the rope, helping themselves to some (not so fresh) meat at the same time. Never seen that before. I think it's fair to say that daily life for most people here is a struggle, but I hadn't seen anyone looking like they were hungry enough to help themselves to a bait. Rope, on the other hand, is apparently very valuable, particularly for tying firewood together.

A common sight. We see women (and young girls) walking through our camp every afternoon, carrying firewood to the village about 7 km below us. And I think I recognize our rope on the first one!

We finally leave our glassing spot around 10 am, to head back to camp. Two interesting things of note here. First, it turns out we have walked 6km (total) from the vehicle and back. We have also apparently gone up and down 46 flights of stairs. So says someone's watch. One lesson learned, although not sure how much good it will do me. My hunting boots are really plains game boots - flat soles, which are very quiet. But they are not really the thing for this up and down. I slide on grass and have a hard time getting a grip on rock. A more aggressive sole would have been a better idea.

I should also add that I'm gaining a new respect for sheep and goat hunters. I'm 58, in reasonable shape for someone who spends his life behind a desk, and I'm finding that the altitude is presenting some challenges. I'm out of breath without almost no reason, and walking uphill is a significant chore. I tell myself I should have worked out harder - more stairs - for this hunt, but I'm not sure it would have helped with the altitude. Wouldn't have done me any harm though!

We get back to camp just past 11. A quick wash up, and it's time for brunch. We are then free until about 4 pm, when we're going to go out again. Not a lot to do around camp, so it's time for a nap.

One emergency measure that was put in place was the death of the internet. I was told that had happened, but wasn't sure how the government accomplished it. Well, now I know. They just killed the entire 3G-telephone system, so all you can do with a phone or an iPod, smart or otherwise, is talk. I can call out of Ethiopia, but for some reason people can’t call me. So I couldn't organize a demonstration, even if I wanted to. Which I don't. I'm Canadian, and we're too polite for demonstrations (those people you saw last year protesting the Africa Hunting show in Toronto were imported). Apparently that's news to the government here, and my phone is as useless as everyone else's.

This means no surfing the web, no reading the news, and pretending that there isn't a US election in a couple of days. Freedom! But it also means you better have some reading material, or you could get bored with four hours in the middle of each day to occupy yourself. This will change if and when we get the Nyala, but until then, that's our schedule.

The afternoon was as uneventful as the morning, the only difference being the weather. In the morning, it was very cold but quickly warmed up as the sun came up; in the afternoon it is warm verging on hot until the wind picks up and the sun goes down. Then it's back to very cold.

I have my shower when I return to camp. To preserve the water in the bag, I keep it at a low trickle. I get wet, lather up, and rinse off at full blast. Such as it is. I then run like a madman for my tent, which is no warmer than outside but is out of the wind. I imagine the locals get a kick out of seeing an old, pasty white man running naked to a tent. I have only one thing to say in my defense, and that’s, to quote George Costanza, "it's cold." And we'll leave it at that.

Everything here runs on a generator, which is run for a couple of hours in the morning, and then again once it gets dark, until about 8 pm. Since we head to bed at around 8, that's not a big problem, but it does mean you need a headlamp or a flashlight in case you have to get up. I was thinking about leaving my tent to go to the bathroom at about 2 am, but the hyenas were calling, with one sounding like it was within a few yards of the tent (confirmed in the morning by tracks), so I decided to hold on.

Like I said, roughing it.

 

[cpr0312]

Wow, nice view from the tent!

 

[BRICKBURN]

hmm Hyena for Bladder control. Never thought of that one either, did you?

On one hand wild enough to have Hyena in camp and on the other music, bells and twig walkers all day. That's different alright.

 

[Redruff]

Welcome back Hank! Looking forward to this report. Keep it coming.

R.

 

[Hank2211]

hmm Hyena for Bladder control. Never thought of that one either, did you?

On one hand wild enough to have Hyena in camp and on the other music, bells and twig walkers all day. That's different alright.

Who said anything about bladder control?

 

[billc]

Who said anything about bladder control?

The bladder does not control the parts to stop pooping yourself for having hyena at your tent door.

Welcome back hank

 

[rinehart0050]

Welcome home Hank! glad to hear you made it back safely.

Been looking forward to this report for a while now!

 

[Hank2211]

Sunrise from the glassing spot on the mountain meadow

Glassing spot for the plateau


Day 2: Nov. 6

Same drill today as yesterday, and I expect for the foreseeable future. Up at 4.20, breakfast and out before 5. Drive and walk to glassing spot - same as yesterday. Today, some excitement. We see three Nyala females, and can't help thinking there is a bull somewhere, if he would only show himself. No such luck. One female walked to within a hundred yards of us, and clearly saw us, but she wasn't sure what we were. She stared at us for some time, and then retreated back to the thick cover. And when I say thick, it is impenetrably thick. We have high hopes, but all we see, apart from the females, is about a dozen Melenik's bushbuck, both males and females, and even a baby. I am worried about the bushbuck - they seem to be everywhere, and they have the potential to bust any stalk.

The female mountain nyala

A Melenik's bushbuck

It doesn't help that we are quite the team. There is me and my PH, of course, and Dean, my outfitter/cameraman. There is also Ficker, who is our Ethiopian professional hunter (only Ethiopians can hold PH licenses), as well as two game scouts - one from the federal game department, and one from the local government. We then have two others who carry gear, and depending on where we are, at least two more who will be dropped off to act as spotters in different locations, and we have someone who watches the vehicles when they are parked. So when we move, it's more of a procession than anything else.

Anyone who suggests that hunters don't create employment need only look to this team. There are at least 15 staff at the camp (all required by law, I think) and when you add in the people I have with me, there is no doubt that a hunter creates local employment. I don't think that any photographic safari would have anywhere near this staff-to-person ratio.

For our afternoon outing, we went to a glassing spot, overlooking (if 800 - 1000 meters can be called overlooking) an area where a bull has been spotted in the past. We see about a dozen bushbuck (never knew they traveled in herds, but they seem to here), a sounder of warthogs, and two female Nyala. We keep an eye on the female Nyala, but no bull seems to present himself. We are about to head out when Ficker whispers, "there is the bull"! And there, indeed, was a beautiful mature Mountain Nyala bull! We watch, and try to take pictures, but the distance is too much for most cameras. It is about an hour's walk to the area he is feeding in, and we only have a half hour of shooting light left, so we hope he can be found in the morning.

A bit hard to see, but he's in the middle-left of the yellow bushes, across a valley and a kilometre away!

Day 3

We left early today - 4.30, heading to the place where we had seen the Nyala last night. A short drive, followed by a walk which I thought would be the end of me. I swear I worked out and prepared for this trip. I even had a trainer! Perhaps it's the altitude, but as I said, even small exertions leave me breathless, and this walk was no small excursion. First, we were walking in the dark. Second, the walk was a long steep uphill portion followed by an equally steep downhill portion. I gave myself nightmares thinking about the return trip! The nightmares would have been worse had I seen the cliffs on my left as we walked in . . . sometimes, best not to look.

We finally made it to our observation spot, and settled in, waiting for the hoped-for Nyala to show himself. We had spotters on the other side of valley, where we had been the night before, so felt we'd be ready. In the meantime, I found that once again, I had the wrong clothes, except that this time, I don't think there were any right clothes. I had worked up an enormous sweat on the walk in, and was peeling off layers in order to dry out. But as that happened, I became colder and colder, and found that before long, I had to put some wet clothes back on to avoid teeth chattering. Now I seemed to be both wet and freezing, at the same time.

While all of this was going on, we'd seen no activity and we were wondering why we'd heard nothing from our spotter. Suddenly one of the spotters ran out of the woods to our spot and told us the bull was on the hill but some distance from us. When asked why he hadn't called, he said he had. Quick check of phones showed we had sat down in a no service zone! Nevertheless, we were excited and moved our position somewhat to try to intercept the bull. After a frustrating hour, again without intelligence due to the phones, we suddenly say the bull on the mountain, heading uphill. He was about 350 yards away, which Jacques deemed too far for a moving shot, so we quickly got up and began to move towards the mountain in a hurry. And doing anything in a hurry gets me breathing hard all over again!

When we got to where we had seen the bull, he was nowhere to be seen, and we could only assume he had headed up the mountain to his resting place. This had been a short feed, and while we wondered if he'd been disturbed (by us or someone else), we saw no evidence of concern on his part. It was a disappointed hunting party which headed back to camp though. However, we knew he was in the area, and we decided to go back for the afternoon sit, in the hopes of catching him as he came down the mountain. My only thought was great, another walk through hell. But if we could get him, it would be worth it.

One other note. On our way back to camp we stopped to check another leopard bait. Once again, the bait had been cut down, and the rope was missing. From the marks on the ground it looked as if a hyena had gotten a hold of the bait once it was down, and pulled it somewhere we chose not to follow. That's two now.

Today is market day in town, so we expected fewer people on the mountain. But not in the morning. Many had rushed up the mountain to pick onions or potatoes to sell, and we had to negotiate a long string of donkeys carrying these items to town. The local people know the mountain like the back of their hand, and think nothing of a walk up and down which would have me in a cardiac ward. Given the rags on the people we see, and the old (and very young) women carrying loads of firewood that would be impossible for most of us to even hoist, let alone carry for kilometers, it's hard to begrudge them a livelihood.

This is one of the most significant differences between hunting here and elsewhere in Africa. Here, there are simply people everywhere. Our camp, near the top of a mountain, is surrounded by lovely meadows, where animals graze every day. People go to and fro through the camp at all times of day, with our without animals, and with our without firewood. You can be watching an area you think is deserted, as we once were, when a donkey carrying firewood can come down an invisible path not feet from you. This takes some getting used to, but we're told that this is Ethiopia, and we are allowed to hunt these areas but the local people are also entitled to use them. And they do use them.

We did have two hyena sightings today, one a bit close for comfort. On our drive out in the morning, we almost drove over an enormous hyena camped out by the side of the road. Ficker believes she must be pregnant by the size. And when our waiter was bringing dinner to our eating area, he was intercepted by another hyena - this time, in the dark, and in the middle of camp with many people about. We got a powerful flashlight, and watched the animal slink away, far too slowly for my taste. And for Dean's, whose tent door doesn't close all the way!

I don't think it will be a problem to fill the hyena tag, but I am a lot more careful walking about camp at night.

In the afternoon we returned to the same spot where we had seen the Nyala in the morning, but no luck. Nothing but bushbuck everywhere. Back to camp, dinner, and off to a freezing bed. Never really warmed up today.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Who said anything about bladder control?

Projections on my part.

 

[Hank2211]

Projections on my part.

Frankly, I had no control over my bladder at that point!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Where's Waldo? I see too much yellow.... Help me out here would ya.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Those Hyena seem a little too used to humans. Yeesh!

 

[Hank2211]

Where's Waldo? I see too much yellow.... Help me out here would ya.
View attachment 165075

On my screen, the picture is about 11.5 x 8 inches. He is 3.5 inches from the top and 5 inches from the right. You will have to adjust depending on the size of the picture, but the ratios should be the same.

If I had a program that let me draw on a picture . . .

 

[Hank2211]

Those Hyena seem a little too used to humans. Yeesh!

Stay tuned . . .

 

[Aaron N]

Where's Waldo? I see too much yellow.... Help me out here would ya.
View attachment 165075

Is he just to the left of that lone tree on the right? Just behind the yellow brush?

 

[Pheroze]

Fantastic report! I am totally engrossed and enjoying the detail. Thanks