REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Bongo In The Congo Second Try

[Tgood1]

Fantastic report and congratulations

 

[Hunt anything]

Great report and a fantastic hunt. One of my favorite write ups in a while outside of any write ups that deal with the outfits I’ve hunted with. They bring back memories and you good sir have created a dream hunt for me!

 

[spotnspook]

Thank you for posting this. I've enjoying following along. Congratulations on your trophies. Hope the trip home goes as smooth as possible for you and looking forward to the final updates.

 

[DLSJR]

Bruce, congratulations on another excellent adventure in the jungle. You’ve had great luck with Christophe across your hunts! Thank you for the great report and how you took us along with you. Safe travels!

 

[Arañuel]

Thanks for telling us this history, Bongo still in my bucket list, try to go many times but I'm not confidence to go yet.

 

[lhook7]

Thanks for the great report and congratulations on your hunt!

 

[JES Adventures]

Thanks Bruce for another great report and CONGRATS on the amazing trophies.

I’m planning to hunt with Christophe for Forest Sitatunga, I am shooting for next year about this time. He seems to have them dialed now and the success is very high. The forest seems to be a lover/hate relationship for a lot of hunters. I said I would never go back but times change!

That Blue Duiker - WOW! I shot a really long one in Cameroon back in 96 but didn’t have the mass yours does. That was an old guy for sure.

Safe travels.

John Ed

 

[Happy Myles]

I really enjoyed your report

 

[Oil & Dirt]

A lot of commitment to stick with a hunt like that and even more to keep us all informed. Thank you and wonderful animals

 

[PARA45]

I meant to ask you, how bad were the ticks in the jungle? Me being a tick (not a chick) magnet, I'm sure I'd be covered from head to toe.

 

[gillettehunter]

I’m sitting in JFK waiting a flight to Denver and thought I’d post a few more thoughts.

These are the 2 bullets from the .375. 300 gr Hornady DGS. Expansion looks pretty good. I was a little surprised that they didn’t pass through the Bongo. They are essentially the size of an elk. Hard to complain.
The .222 that I used was running 50 gr P ammo. Expanded well and seemed to shoot very accurately. I was surprised just how good it was.
Food. I enjoyed most meals. Their chef has French training. Christophe and the owners are French so that is the general food style. On days we slept at camp we’d get up as early as 4 or as late as 5 depending on where we’re going. Breakfast was usually just coffee for Christophe and maybe a glass of juice. I usually had 2 scrambled eggs plus juice and hot chocolate.
Lunch was usually at 12:30 and normally the biggest meal of the day. It would be 3 courses. Usually some chopped vegetables/ lettuce “salad” for an appetizer. Meat and potatoes or veggies for the main course and then a dessert. Main courses included bongo steaks, pork chops, chicken, shrimp and lobster. Generally quite good although the pork chops were overcooked and dry.
The evening meal was usually around 7pm. Usually a meat with veggies. The veggies were usually fried till soft. A little overcooked in my mind.
If in a machan then breakfast was hot chocolate, yogurt (sometimes) and a sweet bread with jam. The bread was a little dry….
Evening meal in the machan was usually a small bag of chips and a sandwich in a hoagie style bun. Chopped meat with veggies usually. Filling, but less appealing than what was served at the lodge.
Travel time ranges from 50 minutes to 1 1/2 hrs each direction. They have lots of bridges. I wouldn’t have thought that about the jungle. Some have drops of 20 feet. All bridges are made of local wood. Occasionally some time was taken for some bridge repairs. Christophe refused to cross one that reputedly went to a savanna.
Bruce

 

[gillettehunter]

I meant to ask you, how bad were the ticks in the jungle? Me being a tick (not a chick) magnet, I'm sure I'd be covered from head to toe.

The day we got the Bongo I had 3 ticks on me. I was apprehensive about the rest of the trip. Wishing I’d of done the permethrin treatment. As far as I can tell I had 0 more for the rest of the trip. Christophe tells me that Bongos have ticks….. I’ll have my wife check carefully when I get home in case I missed any.

Check out the fangs on this monkey. Putty nosed. Christophe pronounced it puddy like puddy tat……..

One of my roommates. This one was about 3 inches long. Saw some up to around 7 inches. Not a lot of movement at night but trying to nap in the afternoon could be difficult because of their movement. I’m sure I had fewer insects around because of them.

Part of the local housing. The white on the ground is cassava. It’s being dried in the sun. Important food for people in that region.
Bruce

 

[gillettehunter]

Few more pictures:

Christophe posing with me and the bongo. He measured him at 25 inches after I left…

One of the bridges that Christophe was leary of.

This tree is absolutely huge. We saw at least 1 other that was significantly bigger. These guys seem to be 200 ft tall. Real monsters.
Bruce

 

[Tgood1]

keep the reports and pics coming, awesome.

 

[gillettehunter]

Travel home is a PITA. The drive to and from camp is 12-13 hrs depending on stops and how fast the driver will go. We leave at 5 AM. It’s a diesel Mitsubishi truck. We get back to paved road in just over an hour. Perhaps an hour later we get stopped by the police and qualify for an inspection. Yes he has a fire extinguisher. Yes he has paperwork. Apparently something about the left front tire. I looked while some sort of paperwork was being done and it had virtually no tread on it.
Off we go. Around 11 he pulls over and dumps in 5 gallons of fuel into the truck from a plastic jug in the back. I wondered why we didn’t fill the truck at a fuel station in the large town when we put in the jug.
At noon I started getting hungry. The driver spoke no English. I thought well I expect we’ll stop soon. Never did stop for food…..
Around 3 PM the low fuel light came on. Made our way into the next town and stopped. He motions that we’re waiting for a jug of fuel. What the…………. So we waited an hour for a guy to show up with a jug of fuel. During that time I realized that there was a cooler box in the back seat with the safari companies name on it. Lunch was in there with drinks. Frustrated that wasn’t pointed out. I’ve paid 2,500 euros for the round trip and wish it was a better experience. Apparently fuel is in short supply but I still can’t think of a good reason to run out of fuel.
Got to the hotel around 6:30. My flight the next day is not until 7pm. Hotel lets me stay in room until 4 and then I go order a meal. The hotel is decent. My biggest complaint is they won’t take credit card and the exchange isn’t as competitive as I’d like. Not big issues. Just a little annoying.
Jean Luc is half owner of the company. He came to the hotel and took me to the airport. Had a nice visit and he handed me off to their representative at the airport. The airport representative got me through customs as well as security. Picture and fingerprinting occurs on exit .
My flight was an hour late leaving. Originally I have about 2 hr layover in Paris. Due to a scheduling change it’s 65 minutes. With the delay I figure I won’t make my connection. Somehow we make up some time and my Paris to JFK flight is in the same terminal as where I arrived. Luckily my flight still has a few people in the boarding line…. Onward to JFK and then a 5 hr layover there before going on the Denver. Another 1 hour delay at JFK. Finally arrive in Denver at 7:30 PM. I am picked up at the airport by my sister in law’s wife. I was fed a good meal and off to bed. Up this AM around 4 AM and on the road by 4:30. Home finally 10:30 AM. 3 1/2 days of travel. Luggage arrives just fine so alls good on that front. I’ll add a couple of pictures from the trip.

Meat being cooked by a street vendor.

Street vendor as you enter Brazzaville.

 

[gillettehunter]

Notice the yellow jugs. Used for both water or fuel. The. 1 liter bottles under the yellow peaked roof are bottles of gas or diesel. Particularly in small villages no gas stations are around. You buy fuel by the liter. They use any 1 liter bottle they can find. Motorcycles don’t need a lot so it works…..

Lots of stuff carried on the head. See it all of the time.
Bruce

 

[Hunt anything]

Good to be home I’m sure!
You would think the safari company would hire someone with a truck that has everything you need. Did you ever find out why they wouldn’t put fuel straight in the fuel tank?

 

[Scott CWO]

I’m sitting in JFK waiting a flight to Denver and thought I’d post a few more thoughts. View attachment 696451
These are the 2 bullets from the .375. 300 gr Hornady DGS. Expansion looks pretty good. I was a little surprised that they didn’t pass through the Bongo. They are essentially the size of an elk. Hard to complain.
The .222 that I used was running 50 gr P ammo. Expanded well and seemed to shoot very accurately. I was surprised just how good it was.
Food. I enjoyed most meals. Their chef has French training. Christophe and the owners are French so that is the general food style. On days we slept at camp we’d get up as early as 4 or as late as 5 depending on where we’re going. Breakfast was usually just coffee for Christophe and maybe a glass of juice. I usually had 2 scrambled eggs plus juice and hot chocolate.
Lunch was usually at 12:30 and normally the biggest meal of the day. It would be 3 courses. Usually some chopped vegetables/ lettuce “salad” for an appetizer. Meat and potatoes or veggies for the main course and then a dessert. Main courses included bongo steaks, pork chops, chicken, shrimp and lobster. Generally quite good although the pork chops were overcooked and dry.
The evening meal was usually around 7pm. Usually a meat with veggies. The veggies were usually fried till soft. A little overcooked in my mind.
If in a machan then breakfast was hot chocolate, yogurt (sometimes) and a sweet bread with jam. The bread was a little dry….
Evening meal in the machan was usually a small bag of chips and a sandwich in a hoagie style bun. Chopped meat with veggies usually. Filling, but less appealing than what was served at the lodge.
Travel time ranges from 50 minutes to 1 1/2 hrs each direction. They have lots of bridges. I wouldn’t have thought that about the jungle. Some have drops of 20 feet. All bridges are made of local wood. Occasionally some time was taken for some bridge repairs. Christophe refused to cross one that reputedly went to a savanna.
Bruce

Pretty good food actually for a jungle hunt. On my bongo hunt we had no refrigeration or meat except for what I killed - Guinea fowl, blue duiker, bush pig and bongo but started with nothing. We lived off the land. I didn’t know it was going to be that way but we made it work. Congrats on your hunt and well done.

 

[enysse]

Congratulations, what an adventure! Bongo and forest sitatunga! What an incredible achievement!

 

[gillettehunter]

Good to be home I’m sure!
You would think the safari company would hire someone with a truck that has everything you need. Did you ever find out why they wouldn’t put fuel straight in the fuel tank?

I’m sure the truck’s fuel tank started off completely full. The 5 gallons was extra. Unfortunately they needed 10 gallons extra or a place to purchase fuel. Some gas stations along the way were closed. Fuel shortages apparently. I had time so it wasn’t a disaster by any means. TIA!!
It was GOOD food. No complaints from me. I told about it so people would have an idea of what to expect when hunting there. You won’t go hungry!
Bruce