EP23: Faro Safaris (Outfitter Spotlight)

<p>Three generations, one concession in Cameroon, fifty five years of guiding the same wild country. Xavier Vannier of Faro Safaris joins the show to explain why the Lord Derby Eland has become the animal that defines hunting in northern Cameroon, and why it is considered one of the most difficult trophies to close on anywhere in Africa.</p><p>Faro Safaris was founded in 1971 by Xavier&#39;s grandfather, who got his start in the bush with the help of Xavier&#39;s great grandfather, already working in Cameroon since the 1940s. Xavier&#39;s father took over the operation in 2003, and Xavier joined full time in 2016, having spent his entire childhood immersed in the bush. Today the family holds one of the smaller hunting concessions in Cameroon by size, seventy five thousand hectares, but by their own account runs among the highest quota density per hectare of any area in the country.</p><p>Xavier walks through what actually makes the Eland so hard to hunt: a January to March breeding season unlike any other species in the region, a herd structure built around wary, watchful females, and terrain so unstable underfoot that a single misstep can end a stalk. He and Robbie get into what a twelve day tracking hunt actually looks like day to day, the physical and mental demands it puts on a hunter, and a couple of specific hunts that stuck with Xavier for what they taught him about patience and pressure.</p><p>The conversation also covers the making of Eden, a documentary filmed on the Faro Safaris concession during the COVID years, and the conservation side of the operation: anti poaching patrols, community relations, and a nonprofit called the Faro Conservancy Project that runs on hunting revenue, a published photo book, paid conservation trips for non hunters, and international conservation funding.</p><p>If you&#39;re weighing a first guided hunt in Cameroon, trying to understand what an Eland hunt actually demands physically and mentally, or just want a straight account of how a well run, multi generational African outfit funds its own conservation work, this episode covers all of it in detail.</p><p><br></p><p>Faro Safaris:🌐 farosafaris.com📸 @farosafariclubcameroon</p><p><br></p><p>Let&#39;s Go Guided:Website + email signup: letsgoguided.comInstagram: @letsgoguided_Facebook: Let&#39;s Go Guided</p><p><br></p><p>Photography credit: Courtesy of Faro Safaris</p>