African Outfitter is an international monthly publication promoting
fair hunting and ethical business practices within the hunting industry.
From a hunting perspective, the preservation of biodiversity on the
African continent is the first and foremost priority. The emphasis
is however also on the sustainable utilisation of wildlife.

Bongo – the ghost of the rainforest

The bongo is an aristocratic member of the Tragelaphini tribe, meaning “with twisted or spiralled horns”, which forms part of the Bovinae subfamily. It is also divided into two subspecies: 
• Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus:  the Western or lowland bongo, found in West and Central Africa, from Sierra Leone to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and southern Sudan;
• Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci: the Eastern or mountain bongo, only found at high altitude in some of Kenya’s mountains. This subspecies has bigger horns and a chestnut coat even brighter than that of the other subspecies.
            The bongo was originally discovered in West Equatorial Africa early in the 19th century and the first official description was done by Ogilby in 1836, thanks to a complete skull coming from Gabon. The East Africa bongo was known to science many years later, in the 20th century, thanks to a specimen shot by FW Isaac in 1902 in Eldoma Ravine in the then British East Africa (renamed Kenya in 1920). Studied by the zoologist Thomas, it was found to be a new subspecies and he named it Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci to honour the hunter that discovered it. Up to 1920, only four bongos belonging to this new subspecies were obtained by European hunters. One of these was a female shot by Kermit Roosevelt in the Mau Escarpment during the famous safari with his father, former US president, Theodore Roosevelt. This safari started in Mombasa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean, and ended 11 months later in 1910 in Khartoum, Sudan.
            It also has a short, bristly and vertical brown ridge of hair along the spine from the shoulder to the rump; the white stripes run into this ridge. The bongo sports a beautiful chestnut coat, which is darker in the old males, and a tufted tail. The female is more reddish in colour, which helps the hunter to spot the males in herds when they are moving or feeding in thick forest where visibility is poor and difficult. The bongo has a short, bristly mane running along the spine, all along the body to the tail. Several white stripes run from the mane down onto the shoulders, flanks and hindquarters. There are between 8 and 14 stripes on each side – the number of stripes on each side is rarely the same. There is also a white patch on the chest, a white chevron between the eyes and two white spots on the cheek below each eye. The legs have some white patches and dark markings and the underparts are black.
            In general the Eastern bongo found in Kenya is heavier and darker in colour than the lowland bongo of West and Central Africa. This could perhaps be attributed to the cold mountain habitat and high altitude as well as a particular diet, which also produces better trophies. The world record bongo was shot in Kenya, sporting horns measuring 391/2 inches, compared to the no.1 lowland bongo with horns measuring 371/4 inches hunted in the Central African Republic.
            Both the male and female have horns, which could be a problem for the hunter, but only to a certain degree as it is very easy to spot the differences between the two sexes. The male is bigger and has much larger horns. The horns of the male are thick and massive, straighter and in the form of an open spiral with the tips well separated. Exactly the opposite goes for the female – the horns are much thinner and turning a little over the back, with the tips very close together and quite often even touching. The only thing the hunter must do is take his time, select the proper trophy and shoot when he is completely sure of the identity of his target, if he wants to avoid a lot of frustration. The horns are brown, turning into a lighter ivory at the tips, giving a particular character and adding more beauty to the trophy. The minimum length to enter in the Rowland Ward Record Book for both subspecies, is 26 inches (66 centimetres), following the curve.      


Read More on this article in the Feb/Mar Edition of African Outfitter Magazine