gillettehunter
AH ambassador
This first part is preparations. I’ll write about the hunt as it progresses.
Last Feb I was looking at hunt reports on the other network. Christophe Morieo had some pictures up of some great Bongo and Forest Sitatunga. Been wanting a Sitatunga for 5 yrs so I sent him a message. Upshot was they had 1 slot left for this year. I decided to book for July.
I made arrangements for flight’s and got my visa squared away. I learned something interesting. There is a republic of Congo and a Democratic Republic of Congo. For some reason it was $600 cheaper to fly into the DRC. We are hunting in the RC so that’s where you fly. The airports are only like 12 miles apart.
I had my left hip replaced last Jan. When the right one started acting up I made an appointment. Decided to have the surgery after the hunt.
In June I got a text message from Christophe asking if I’d be able to postpone my hunt. He said that elephant poachers were causing problems in their hunting area. I try to follow my PH’s advice so I agreed. When dates were suggested I agreed to Sept into Oct. 2023. I hoped for enough time to get the hip done before the hunt but circumstances beyond my control didn’t allow that to happen.
I drove the 6 hrs to Denver on Friday the 15th. Got to the airport early on the 16th. When my luggage couldn’t be checked all the way I discovered that I’m an idiot. My first flight was to Washington DC. The 2nd to Addis Abba. The 3rd was Addis to Brazzaville. The issue was I arrived in DC at 7:20 pm but the next flight was 15 hours later at 10:30 am and not the PM I had thought.
I texted my buddy @LivingTheDream and upshot was he kindly picked me up and I got a good nights sleep at his place. Got to check out the progress on his trophy room. Pretty impressive!
Flight went fine. At over 13 hrs it’s awful long. No rifle transfer as Christophe wanted me to use the camp rifle. Apparently it’s a pain to get a firearm into the RC.
The Addis airport is a disaster. They need to double its size. On arrival you get off and are transported by bus to the terminal. Go through security and the head to international departures. The departures area was a zoo. Here’s a picture from my place in line
There was another 1/3 of the building behind me just as packed.
Get on a bus and head to the plane. 4 more hours and I’ve made it to Brazzaville. Customs wasn’t too bad. Congo forest safari’s has a couple of people there to run you through the VIP area. Worked just fine. Then a cab ride to the hotel.
I’m at the hotel Hippocampe. With the date change I got her 1 1/2 days prior to transport to camp. The extra day has been nice to rest the hip. Not many English speakers here tho! The menu is in French. Never exactly sure what I’m ordering off of the menu although Google helps a lot. Food is decent. Was not impressed with the food from Ethiopian air tho.
4 meals and 2 night’s stay is $250. Clean room. AC and a decent shower. Bring your own shampoo tho. Restaurant has 2 sides that are simply poles every 2 feet. So open air. Bar at one end and a TV at the other. All in all a nice place. Don’t take credit cards so bring cash.
Tomorrow I’m being picked up at 5 AM. The driver will take me either to camp or to meet Christophe near camp. If flights were regular I’d of flown into Quesso. Brazzaville is in the SW part of the country and Quesso is in the NE. 12 hour drive across a good share of the Republic of this Congo. Should be an interesting day. Internet is ok but I’ll post a couple more pics in the next post with a couple of game camera pics.
Bruce
Last Feb I was looking at hunt reports on the other network. Christophe Morieo had some pictures up of some great Bongo and Forest Sitatunga. Been wanting a Sitatunga for 5 yrs so I sent him a message. Upshot was they had 1 slot left for this year. I decided to book for July.
I made arrangements for flight’s and got my visa squared away. I learned something interesting. There is a republic of Congo and a Democratic Republic of Congo. For some reason it was $600 cheaper to fly into the DRC. We are hunting in the RC so that’s where you fly. The airports are only like 12 miles apart.
I had my left hip replaced last Jan. When the right one started acting up I made an appointment. Decided to have the surgery after the hunt.
In June I got a text message from Christophe asking if I’d be able to postpone my hunt. He said that elephant poachers were causing problems in their hunting area. I try to follow my PH’s advice so I agreed. When dates were suggested I agreed to Sept into Oct. 2023. I hoped for enough time to get the hip done before the hunt but circumstances beyond my control didn’t allow that to happen.
I drove the 6 hrs to Denver on Friday the 15th. Got to the airport early on the 16th. When my luggage couldn’t be checked all the way I discovered that I’m an idiot. My first flight was to Washington DC. The 2nd to Addis Abba. The 3rd was Addis to Brazzaville. The issue was I arrived in DC at 7:20 pm but the next flight was 15 hours later at 10:30 am and not the PM I had thought.
I texted my buddy @LivingTheDream and upshot was he kindly picked me up and I got a good nights sleep at his place. Got to check out the progress on his trophy room. Pretty impressive!
Flight went fine. At over 13 hrs it’s awful long. No rifle transfer as Christophe wanted me to use the camp rifle. Apparently it’s a pain to get a firearm into the RC.
The Addis airport is a disaster. They need to double its size. On arrival you get off and are transported by bus to the terminal. Go through security and the head to international departures. The departures area was a zoo. Here’s a picture from my place in line
There was another 1/3 of the building behind me just as packed.
Get on a bus and head to the plane. 4 more hours and I’ve made it to Brazzaville. Customs wasn’t too bad. Congo forest safari’s has a couple of people there to run you through the VIP area. Worked just fine. Then a cab ride to the hotel.
I’m at the hotel Hippocampe. With the date change I got her 1 1/2 days prior to transport to camp. The extra day has been nice to rest the hip. Not many English speakers here tho! The menu is in French. Never exactly sure what I’m ordering off of the menu although Google helps a lot. Food is decent. Was not impressed with the food from Ethiopian air tho.
4 meals and 2 night’s stay is $250. Clean room. AC and a decent shower. Bring your own shampoo tho. Restaurant has 2 sides that are simply poles every 2 feet. So open air. Bar at one end and a TV at the other. All in all a nice place. Don’t take credit cards so bring cash.
Tomorrow I’m being picked up at 5 AM. The driver will take me either to camp or to meet Christophe near camp. If flights were regular I’d of flown into Quesso. Brazzaville is in the SW part of the country and Quesso is in the NE. 12 hour drive across a good share of the Republic of this Congo. Should be an interesting day. Internet is ok but I’ll post a couple more pics in the next post with a couple of game camera pics.
Bruce
it will make your hip feel better……if you drink 3 you won’t feel them at all
