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From Ethiopia with love

Here is a short report of my friend François’s safari in Ethiopia

François opted for an open area high in the mountains where one takes advantage of large vistas for spotting Mountain Nyala.

This plateau offers a nice place for setting the tents and spotting was easy not more than 400 from the camp.
The surprise arrived the first morning when getting up and seeing nyalas not 200m far from the tents. All the hunting consists in thoroughly spotting along a tremendous canyon thick with ferns where Nyalas feel home. In this very dense cover, the camouflaged nyalas are hard to spot. When one happens to see some one has to look for a real trophy.
The ambiance is quite unreal. Everywhere people are treading, chanting, calling. Goats are strolling and kids are uncontrollable. They have never seen any white men and they come from everywhere, first very shy and more and more confident. They get very excited and you have to friendly cool them down.

The nyala is undisturbed by all this appalling din. It’s their natural habitat and they are accustomed with the vivid life of the locals.

Eventually action appears with a fantastic male nyala. The morale wasn’t very high for last month, male nyala were hard to find and unpredictable, it was rut time. Seems that rut is over.
The huntress measured the distance, 450 m (500 yards). The 300Win barked, clean miss a tad over the nyala. A most fast reloading and the spined nyala hit the dust.
But what an ordeal to get to the nyala and recover it, no less than 8 hours.
A real fantastic animal, a 37 incher. Mission accomplished.

The following days spot and stalk for a Menelik bushbuck, luck happened.

But luck failed for leopard. No way to bait them either with a carcass on a bait tree or a living tethered goat. Leopard have plenty of goats everywhere and can feed day and night.

Ethiopia, a wonderful country with friendly nice people, a must for a hunter.

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"I don't want to create an encyclopedic atmosphere here when we might be having a beer instead" P H Capstick in "Safari the last adventure."

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