African Safari Hunts

scott_r

scott_r

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Has anybody here on CGN gone on an African Safari hunt?? What can expect to pay for one of these hunts?? Could you do one for 5-6K all inclusive?? Im not looking to do a big 5 hunt but rather some small game, maybe a cape buffalo.
Id be interested in hearing about your trips and can PM.


Cheers!!
 
1. Yes.

2. It depends on what you want to hunt.

3. Yes, for a short plains game hunt and only if you don't get an itchy
trigger finger, you pay daily rates and then a trophy fee per animal, which
varies a lot by species, eg. springbuck @ $300, kudu $1200, waterbuck
$1500, Nyala $2200.......excluding your flights of course....another
$2500, dipping, crating and shipping of trophies....another $800 to $1500
......plus taxidermy when you get home. More realistic to expect to spend
$10 to $12,000 US unless you are hardly going to shoot anything and
stick to animals with cheap trophy fees, like the smaller antelope,
warthog, etc.

4. Can't even touch the big five for $5 or $6K. In the better areas that would
just cover your trophy fee on a lion....never mind the rest of the safari
costs. As an example, 21 to 28 day safari in Tanzania for plains game,
lion, leopard, buff and elephant....daily rates, trophy fees area fees,
charters etc, etc, etc............more like $70 to $80,000 US by the time
the dust settles.

5. Cape buffalo only for about $6000 US...five to 7 day hunt in Ziimbabwe
where most hunters are not going at present..plus flights, shipping, etc,
etc. More realistically for buff and a few plains game $15K +/-.

Feel free to PM me if you want.
 
Scott r, there is a guy based in/around Regina that handles safaris for finacially challenged people like us. I think his website is DDDsafaris. or something like that. Will get back to you with his name and address.
 
Further to what Sasquatch posted - The prices quoted to me for Tanzania were $16,000 USD for 7 days - this included 2 buffalo, wildebeest, hartebeest, impala, and warthog. I was also quoted $500.00 to ship home two buffalo skulls. If you want to add cats, hippo, kudo, or sable it would be on a 21 day licence for $65,000.00 USD. Elephant is off the charts unless you are wealthy, although I understand that cow only hunts are affordable in some areas. If you are satisfied shooting plains game it can be done cheaper. Shop around for air fairs - by changing from one day to another can save you thousands - or cost you thousands. I am presently dealing with Great Canadian Travel.
 
Boomer is right, there are cheaper elephant hunts for cow and tuskless bulls. There are exceptions, but they are usually cheaper specialty hunts.....meaning that is all you hunt.

The same goes for trophy bull elephant, the best deals are an elephant only hunt and in Zimbabwe. Even so, for a 50 pounder you will be looking at a substantial chunk of change, $25 to $35,000. If you are lucky and get a bull over 70 pounds, then you might not think you are lucky with the final bill of around $50-$60,000 US.

Plains game only hunts are cheapest in South Africa and Namibia......be careful though. There are hundreds of outfitters and make sure of what you want and what you are getting. Much of the hunting in South Africa is behind fence, and some of the cheaper/low daily rate hunts will find you driving around from one fenced farm to another, shooting your trophies. There is also a difference between a fenced hunt on 25,000 acres and one that is only a couple thousand.

You can also hunt the big five in South Africa..........but they are not cheap. A buffalo you take on a fenced game ranch will end up more expensive than going on a real free range hunt for buffalo in Zimbabwe or Tanzania, as Boomer is doing.

As with all hunting.........make sure you check out who you are going with thoroughly, that way there are no surprises. And in most cases cheap isn't necessarily better.
 
I was in Tanzania for buffalo in November and am going to Namibia in June. Spent lots of time looking for good prices on hunts. The numbers mentioned above look reasonable to me, though with some searching and a bit of luck, you probably can shave a few dollars off those prices for hunts of the same quality.

As an example, my hunt in Namibia will be ~6500 US + airfare ($3500 CDN) + shipping of skulls (no taxidermy for me). This is for 10 days and includes eland ($1500 US trophy fee). Fees for kudu and oryx are ~$800 US each. I wasn't able to get a seat sale on the first leg of the flight to Windhoek, so you certainly could do better on the airfare. I would think the only way you could get a hunt for 5-6k all in would be to get a cheap flight to J'burg and take a limitted package hunt on a small fenced farm nearby. Being very alergic to fences, I'd save up for another year or two instead of going this route.

One way of finding a really good deal is to contact booking agents and hang out on Africa hunting forums looking for cancellation hunts. The trick with these is you'll have to have done all you homework beforehand and be able to go on very short notice. Sometimes as little as a week or two, meaning you may have to get your shots on spec. By homework I mean figuring out what you want, where and when are good for what you want and what the going rate for different hunts are. The hardest part about this is you'll want to be comfortable with the reputaions of the operators or at least booking agents representing them before the hunt, which may never come up, comes up. Or at least recognise some fo the warning signs of a shady operator (e.g. Lucca Safaris had a booth at the Calgary outdoors show last week. They set off ALL of the alarm bells for me). Unless you are willing to gamble a lot of money, this is a lot of work and more than a bit tricky. I haven't been able to pull it off yet. Also, most of the hunts that are worth the booking agent's time to advertise will be for more than 5-6k.

Having said all that, if you really want to go to Africa to hunt, you can find a way. It doesn't have to be as expensive as I first thought it would be. You don't have to be rich to go. I know (through the internet) a Canadian teacher who hunts in Namibia regularily, has been after water buff in South America and is going to Australia this year before heading on to Namibia again. The first African hunt I booked was the one coming up this June (Tanz was a bit of a fluke that came up suddenly). I had started out looking for a caribou hunt and found out that Africa looked better for not all that much more money.

All the best,
Dean
 
I'm lookin gat taking my son in the summer of 2007. I have found hunts with say Kudu,Gemsbuck, a couple o other large antelope (wildebeest or hartebesst) and then maybe impala. warthog etc for about $10k US for the two of us. Flights seem to be around $5k cdn, it's realtively complicated because you cant go via the US if you are taking your own rifles(and what ind of gunnut would hunt halfround the world with somebody elses gun) dipping and shipping back, taxidermy on a couple of heads, spending money, tips etc, the final bill for the two of us for 10 days will likely be $22-24k cdn.
Lots of dough, but it's kind of a gift before he goes of to university and for us it will be back to meat hunting after that.
 
makid you are right about cancellation hunts. They can offer quite a savings at times, unfortunately most people, myself included, are rarely in a position to drop everything and go, having to plan well in advance to get holidays scheduled at the right time or someone trustworthy to look after the farm. The few times that I could have managed to drop everything and go, the last minute flights were hard to arrange and grotesquely expensive....which kind of defeated the whole process. It works sometimes for some people, but I have nevere been that lucky.

Another option is you can sometimes do well at auctions if you belong to an SCI Chapter, or something like that. Donated hunts can go for about half price quite often, but they usually only include a few minor species, the PH/Company banking on the fact that once you get there you will upgrade and go wild, racking up the trophy fees.:D
 
makid said:
I had started out looking for a caribou hunt and found out that Africa looked better for not all that much more money.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I have found out when doing some searching for hunting something different then species native to Saskatchewan. I can't believe that some guys are willing to pay over $3500 us to hunt whitetail deer or bear in Saskatchewan.
 
My friend books safaris in South Africa. He just booked up his last spots for a hunt in May. He first booked with the PH he works with and did his plains game hunt (kudu, gemsbok, impala, black wildebeest, zebra and a whack of Tommys) for $6500 airfare in, but I don't think that included taxidermy.

I'm going with him for a hunt in June 2007. I'm going to figure $10K for the whole thing including taxidermy. If I'm a bit off and have extra money, so be it. If I need a bit more, I can cover that too. I can't imagine the bag I'm after (same as his pretty much) going much over that. Still, it's not usually something most guys do more than once in a lifetime, unless you're Doug who's going again this year. Perks of being the boss.

So as not to get Greentips mad at me I won't post Doug's link. If you're interested in it you can PM me and I'll get back to you with it.
 
ScottR.......$3500 for whitetail in Saskatchewan.....................why not. The average in Alberta is higher and hell, in Texas they will pay that in a heart beat for a 3 day hunt in a good area..........but usually over $4000.

We as local hunters have different views, but don't let that cloud the issue. Locals never want to pay diddly sh&t for anything. Sorry.....sad, but true.......and locals can mean other Canadians. It is the same everywhere.

In most states in the US the resident hunters do not like non-residents and they want to keep most non-residents out and most certainly they do not want them affecting their drawing position for licences.

It is the same in most areas. But......Canada and the US have something to learn from other countries where they let the land owners and hunters have more of a say in how things will be managed.
 
3. Yes, for a short plains game hunt and only if you don't get an itchy
trigger finger, you pay daily rates and then a trophy fee per animal, which
varies a lot by species, eg. springbuck @ $300, kudu $1200, waterbuck
$1500, Nyala $2200.......excluding your flights of course....another
$2500, dipping, crating and shipping of trophies....another $800 to $1500
......plus taxidermy when you get home. More realistic to expect to spend
$10 to $12,000 US unless you are hardly going to shoot anything and
stick to animals with cheap trophy fees, like the smaller antelope,
warthog, etc.
Click to expand...
I grew up there and the sad thing is that you guys get ####ed-over by the outfitters. They quadruple the price that they ask locals a local can in the RSA shoot Springbok for about R400 depending on where you are hunting that would be $80 canadian.
Kudu are expensive but not $1200.
I suggest that you find out what the locals in that area pay and then barter with your outfitter don't get screwed over.
I personally know a ####-head who charges $200 for a spring-hare we use to kick or shoot these little rodents by the hundreds when we were kids and no-one ever thought much of it. Beware there are lots of money greedy sharks out there.
 
I agree , I lived in Africa for four years and my advice would be to buy your tickets and arrange the entire hunt when you get there with the help of a local you will probably have the best time of your life for half the price !!!
 
You guys are absolutely right..............the prices are inflated but you have to be realistic about it to. There is a big difference between you going to a farmer as a local and saying "hey can I shot some springbuck" ......and having many South African friends, they are mostly meat hunting for biltong. They have a vehicle, they know who to talk too, etc, etc and there is no middle guy, ie the PH and his crew that are expecting to get paid.

Most of us do not have the time to just go and wander around setting it up when we get there., renting a vehicle and what ever else is required. It can be done but it isn't practical in most instances......for people who have jobs, etc.

That way of doing things is also only practical where you could do it as a non-resident and that is on farms through the owners. Just try to do it elsewhere, like Tanzania, the Zambezi River Valley, etc on government consessions..ain't going to happen.
 
boer, you need to become a PH and take your CGN buddies out on a beast clobbering.
Click to expand...
I almost did land a job with Jack Rall safaris but then you have to stay in Africa and I planned on getting the hell out before I have my throught slit by some racist native
 
Boer suen.............I know what you mean. I almost moved to South Africa when I had a job offer at a safari company. We had everything in order and then the change of government loomed and we bowed out. Very glad we did now.

It's a shame............beautiful country in southern Africa! On the plus side for Canada........we would have next to no doctors, especially in thr rural areas if it wasn't for all the South African doctors immigrating over here.:)
 
Boer suen.............I thin scott_r is right. With all of your connections in South Africa, you should line something up for a group of CGN guys to go there for plains game at bargain prices. I would imagine you wouldn't have too much trouble getting enough to commit. :D
 
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