Hunting the Spiral Horns, Bongo and Nyala – The Elite African Trophies

This is the fifth and final book on hunting the spiral-horned antelope species. For five years Peter Flack produced a book a year on these iconic animals. The previous ones were on kudu, eland, bushbuck and sitatunga. The sitatunga book was outstanding, probably the best one of the series, or so I thought until I had a good look at the bongo and nyala book – it is simply outstanding.

Peter writes that the forestloving bongo changed his life. Already in his 30s, Peter had no idea what a bongo was, but when he found out, this beautiful antelope lit a fire inside of his soul. He would not rest until he had hunted one. Hunting in a rainforest where everything is a monotonous green and sight almost always limited to a few metres is not fun. Peter and his hunting guides once followed a bull for ten days before he managed to shoot it. That was after they had slept on the animal’s trail after day nine.

He eventually shot the trophy of a lifetime in the Cent Central African Republic – the new world record Western bongo. The longest horn measured 36⅛” and topped the previous record by almost an inch.

Finding a decent mountain nyala trophy is also very difficult due to this animal’s very limited distribution in Africa. For these animals you have to go to Ethiopia. They are only known to occur in three mountain ranges that define the east side of the Great Rift Valley in that country.

The ordinary or “common” nyala we know in South Africa is an abundant species thanks to modern game farming. They can now be found all over our country and shooting a good, “semi-tame” trophy is not difficult at all. However, to find a truly wild one with horns measuring 30” or longer is very hard. Although he has hunted nyala many times, Peter still has to bag that magical 30” bull.

Covering the two subspecies of bongo (Eastern & Western) and the two nyala species, this final book on the spiral-horned species is a real blockbuster. It has 432 pages, 679 photos (642 in full colour) and weighs a “ton”. Twenty four prominent hunters, all experts in their respective fields have written articles for this book.

The book is divided into four parts. Part I (pages 3 to 131) covers the bongo. Part II (pages 135 to 249) deals with the common nyala (Tragelaphus Angasi) while Part III discusses the mountain nyala in detail. Part IV (pages 357 to 403) covers hunting clothing and equipment, a rainforest checklist, rifles and ammunition for bongo and nyala, the current state of bongo conservation and field preparation and trophy care.

BONGO

Although bongos have been the least studied of all the spiralhorned antelope species, this book is a well of information on these forest-loving animals. Everything about the bongo is covered, from its taxonomy, distribution, habitat, reproduction, to its food and current numbers. A fact that I did not know is that bongo males and sitatunga females apparently have produced fertile hybrids in captivity.

The general information on the bongo is followed by tips on how to hunt them and here experts such as Christophe Morio and Rudy Lubin share their knowledge.

NYALA

It was the early explorer George French Angas who brought the nyala to the attention of scientists. During his visits to Southern Africa he collected samples of this specie on the western shore of Lake St Lucia. Nyalas were quite scares in South Africa then (1848) due to uncontrolled hunting by local tribes, unsuitable habitat and the fact that where they occurred in our country, (Northern Zululand in Kwa Zulu-Natal) was right on the edge of the species’ then distribution. Back then nyalas actually occurred mostly in Mozambique.

Several prominent South African hunters, among them Coenraad Vermaak, Tony Tomkinson, Peter Kennedy and the young Danie Geel (a bow hunter) tell of their experiences and how to hunt nyala.

MOUNTAIN NYALA

The mountain nyala or gedemsa ( Tragelaphus buxtoni), as it is known to the local Oromo people in Ethiopia, was hunted for the first time by westerners in 1908 (Major Ivor Buxton and his associate MC Albright). They presented Richard Lydekker of the South Kensington Museum with samples and he described it in an article in 1910 as a “spotted kudu”.

Peter’s contribution to this part of the book is a very good piece titled: Everything you always wanted to know about mountain nyala hunting but were afraid to ask”. If you ever want to visit Ethiopia, be prepared for the widespread corruption and bureaucracy. And when you hunt in Ethiopia there is probably no one better than the father and son team of Nassos and Jason Roussos of Ethiopian Rift Valley Safaris. The legendary Roussos team certainly knows their stuff when it comes to mountain nyalas.

The part that covers hunting clothes and equipment as well as rifles and ammunition for bongo and nyala is very informative and provide sound, practical advice.

This book is certainly worth reading and belongs on every hunter’s bookshelf, even if you have no plans to hunt a bongo or nyala. We thoroughly enjoyed the bongo and nyala book and recommend it highly. It really is a book of the highest quality. The standard book retails for R950 and the limited edition for R1 950. • To order visit www.peterflackproductions.co.za or email peter@peterflackproductions. com