So I had promised myself to step away from this thread but this morning Herve of Mayo sent me a message and informed me of Juan, "manages all the camps for Mayo" had died in the bush. I looked into this matter and discovered that three days ago, Juan... Mayo's manager, was tragically shot and killed while doing anti-poaching. The incident was in mayo nduel and Juan and Melo, "the anti-poaching guy" ran into poachers. Melo was shot and is badly wounded and Juan was killed instantly.
You may remember my early post in which I called out DSLR with "Righteous Indignation", speaking out about all I witnessed and heard of how much Mayo was doing in the way or anti poaching when I was with them in the forest this past July for two back to back safaris. His post was way out of line... I know how he booked the trip and who he went with. I was told he did not come in the front door and go with one of Mayo's noteworthy and reputable PH's but instead came in with a PH / Booking agent that Mayo had never used and he did a poor job on this his one and only time hunting one of their areas. I was told he "kind of dumped" DSLR on us and this PH is not welcome back. With all of DSLR talk about pennies and dollars in shipping costs I can only guess that he tried to get a "deal" on his Savannah hunt and got something less than he would have if he did like I did and went to Raquel directly and booked a trip with one of the famous and experienced Mayo PH's.
The figures that DSLR throws around insinuating that he was bilked by Mayo on the shipping charges are bogus. He uses "broad brush" comparisons about his past crates from Tanzania and asserts that means he was overcharged. Mayo is "only about the money" he says! Well, I have called Wyatt Fetner of Safari Specialty Importers and asked him what my crate that is sitting in a warehouse near JFK will cost. It is a crate from Tanzania.... Just a lion skin and skull, seventeen euros, one zebra skin, and one eland cape... The price! Closing in on 10K. Wyatt said my bongo skin and horns that are coming from Cameroon at this moment will be nearly 4500, and the leopard skin and skull from Botswana a couple of years ago he said was 4500. These are just round numbers but it shows that his attempt to lead the reader to believe Mayo had way overcharged was ridiculous.
Why my renewed anger? The assertion was that Mayo does not do enough for antipoaching. What is enough????? The government would have to take a 'shoot on sight" position to quell the poaching. Even then what about the cattle and habitat loss. Now Mayo buries their manager which I am told along with others were shot while they were doing anti-poaching! Was that sacrifice enough or should they be doing more?
Well Jerry, your post demands a response I’d have preferred not to have to write. Yes, Juan and Melo were ambushed last Saturday while on anti-poaching patrol on Mayo Nduel, Zic 20 unit, The same unit where I shot my LDE. Alan Vincent messaged me with details about the tragedy on Sunday but asked that I keep it confidential for the time being out of respect for all involved. He told me Juan was killed, while Melo was in critical condition in Garoua, having been shot in the jaw and chest. There was a bit more but it’s not relevant to this discussion. I haven’t heard any update since on Melo’s condition.
Juan and Melo have been two of the bright spots in Mayo Oldiri’s operation. Melo was in camp with us on Nduel and we dined together several times, so I got to know him a bit. He’s a great guy and committed to his task. I spent some time with Juan, both at Vaimba Camp and in Garoua when we were all delayed by a day due to Cam Air not making the scheduled flight back to Douala that we were booked on. Juan smoothed the way for all of us at the airport and he was a hell of a likable fellow. He was Mayo Oldiri’s operations manager and seemed very good at his job. He will be missed by all who knew him. May he rest in peace.
You’ve certainly proved by your comments about my booking and PH, Alan Vincent, that you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, as Alan had been bringing clients to Mayo Oldiri from 2012 through 2024, mostly Savannah Lord Derby hunts but also some bongo hunts in the forest. He last hunted Mayo Nduel in 2020, right before the pandemic, then missed 21, 22 & 23 due to the pandemic, coming back with me then a 2nd LDE hunter after me last year.
I booked my hunt at full price in 2022, no discount sought or given. Alan walked me over to Mayo Oldiri’s booth at SCI, introduced me to Raquel and we discussed the booking. Racquel did tell me that Alan was the only ‘outside’ PH whom they had bring his own hunters, due to his experience and qualities and great working relationship with them. Kinda different than the false version you spouted. You completely misrepresent the truth about every aspect of my booking. Most people call that lying.
Alan is every bit the PH of Hervé or Guav, all 3 of them are excellent, first rate PH’s. I respect all 3 of them highly. Alan earned a Zimbabwe PH license 33 years ago at age 18. He’s hunted Zimbabwe since then, Tanzania for over 20 years and Cameroon through Mayo Oldiri from 2012 through last season. He’s taken Lord Derby hunters to Mayo Oldiri since 2012, which hardly matches your “PH/booking agent that Mayo had never used and he did a poor job on his one and only time hunting one of their areas”. That statement of yours is simply a bald faced lie by you (or Raquel, if she told you that, which I doubt). He’s guided multiple hunters to great Eland, Bongo and other game on most of Mayo Oldiri’s northern concessions as well as several areas in the forest over a 12-year span. He holds one of Tanzania’s top concessions, MA1/Madaba in the Selous where he conducts excellent safaris of his own. He’s still hunting Cameroon, but now has 3 concessions unrelated to Mayo Oldiri where he’ll be taking his clients, as he too was not pleased and went out and found other quality places to hunt. He doesn’t want to bring anyone back to Mayo Oldiri and that was his choice. Jerry, you demeaning Alan is every bit as dumb as if I would do that to Guav or Hervé, which I’d never do as I like and respect both of them. Your inaccurate and demeaning comments about Alan say more about you than they do him, and what it says is that you’re an ass. A lying, mischaracterizing Ass. And to think you despise Californians. You’re a disgrace to Kansans and outfitters in general as far as I’m concerned.
Mayo Oldiri is hurting right now, everyone who makes up that company is hurting over what happened. I’m not going to say anything further about why I’ll never hunt with them again out of respect for everyone there. But if someone asks, I’ll tell them the truth, unlike what you’ve said in your completely false post I’m responding to here. You DO NOT know what your talking about, so if your IQ is higher than your shoe size, you’d do well to put the shoe in your mouth and shut up before making yourself look even dumber than you just did.
