I am going on my first trip this year to Namibia for a plains game hunt and am planning to try and Hunt Buffalo in 2010. I was thinking the Selous would be the place that I wanted to go, but don't know if I am just dreaming because of cost. The Safari minimum is not 10 days, so I guess the daily rates would be around 750 a day, that puts you at 7500 before tropy fees. I am guessing to do that type of hunt one would be looking at 15,000. Am I in the right ball park?

With Trophy fees and charter the Selous Buff hunt will be $20,000

No, Botswana can be more expensive, for dangerous game. Actually there are some very good prices on plainsgame on large private ranches in Botswana. Better values than some of these SA packages (notice I said beter value, not better price).

Yes, Tanzania has climbed up there. The "bargain" Selous hunts at $10,000 or so are long gone.

A 10-day hunt in Masailand is currently $20k without Buffalo trophy fees. Now, that is a top notch hunt, never was a bargain hunt. Add 5K for 2 Buffalo and you have yourself a pretty pricey hunt.

But, they still sell. There will always be the consumer looking for quality.

When I hunted the selous in 05 and 06 one could hunt 2on1 using only 1 license for 7 days which involved sharing a limited bag of plains game. Both of these outfitters were very good and without the new price increase the hunt could have been done for 9k or so all in. This would have included r/t air charter as well. Bear in mind that taking 2 good hard bossed bulls in seven days is not a slam dunk. IMHO 15k may be a bit low in 2010 as the dollar and the U.S. economy continue to slide, that is if you are hunting 1on1. There are bigger buff(on average) other places but the Selous is a wonderful place to hunt. BTW the daily rate under the new scheme will probably exceed 1200 usd, with a 10 day license. Go anyway!

a phenomenal buffalo hunt can still be had in zimbabwe and if $$ is a major factor , i think ist hard to beat ...

10 days all in with trophy fees in most areas is about 12000 in some case perhaps 11 000

they are good areas where in a ten day hunt you will see hundreds of buffalo , trophy expectation should be around 38 with a good solid boss , of course some large ones come out, in excess of 40 but rather exceed your expectation that come home dissapointed

To make a rather broad based question more easy to compare and/or evalute in different countries here is OUR OWN (base price guideline) to use to comparive prices for a cape buffalo hunt in 2008

As there is much speculation and generilisation I will quote the specific price we charge (no hidden costs) for a RANCH HUNT in Zambia.

Special (5-day package price / plus the arrival & depart day - total 7-day package)

Price Includes:

1 x cape buffalo bull specie
air charter (for the plane) ex: Livingstone Ngoma Livingstone
non-hunting arrival day & depart day
rifle import export permit OR loan of a suitable rifle & ammunition
dip pack crate & consignment documentation

$11,300

The only other costs NOT INCLUDED are

FREIGHT ex: Lusaka to destination
Accommodation if/as required in Livingstone befor or after the hunt
Any add on plains game (excluding sable roan) or 2nd buff bull or cow/s at standard listed species fee

PS: Please can some others whom know for sure post the prices for an equivalent type of hunt in other neighbouring Southern Africa countries

All the best for 2008 ..

Cheers, Peter

I'll try to reply to both your posts here.

Every country offers a different hunting experience so it's often like comparing apples to oranges. If you want guaranteed big horns for example, one of the best places is South Africa, but you'll be hunting in a fenced area, usually a very large one, but a fenced area nevertheless and it may well be decided before you even arrive, which animal you'll be taking. Because SA Buff are usually classified as 'clean' these hunts don't come cheap.

If price is your primary criteria, you'll probably find some of the least expensive deals to be Zimbabwe, but as we all know, the country does suffer shortages and other problems. - If you stick to the well known operators of good repute, you shouldn't have too many problems.

Zambia and Namibia are sometimes also good choices to look at and you'll have a lot of choices of type of hunt in these countries.

Masailand in Tanzania can be very good for big Buff, but most of the areas are extremely rain dependent and changeable and populations per square Km are lower than many other places in Tanzania. There's also the factor of having the Masai around. - Some people enjoy that and others hate it. Selous has a huge number of Buff so shooting opportunities may well be more numerous. - Regarding populations, according to the Frankfurt Zoological Society who do an immense amount of research work in Africa tell us that Tanzania has more Buffalo than all the other East and Southern African countries combined.

Someone mentioned shared licences. For the sake of clarity, I should point out that legally only the person named on the licence is permitted to hunt.

Mozambique can also be good, but hunting is generally very tough going and camps are not always of the same quality as many other places in Africa. (although this is changing in recent years) some people also claim that landmines are still a factor in some areas - The BBC recently quoted a 9 digit figure for this, which I believe has to be complete nonsense. - My guess is that most of these got washed out to sea in the floods of 2000(?) - Certainly, I haven't heard of a hunter treading on a landmine for many, many years. Good advice here, would be to stick to the coutada areas if at all possible...... and maybe let the tracker walk a few yards ahead!

Botswana has some great Buff hunting but it doesn't come cheap and you have to nominate each animal you want to hunt beforehand - and pay for the licence to hunt it. This fee is non-returnable if you don't take that animal.

Craig Boddington once wrote something along the lines of: Big buffalo occur wherever you find 'em and that you should judge a Buff trophy by the hunt itself rather than by mere inches........ as usual, he was quite right.

One piece of advice I would offer, is that it's never a good idea to choose the cheapest price alone. - No matter where you hunt, quality comes at a price and there's no such thing as a free lunch. - If you go for the cheapest deal, you'll almost certainly not get good quality.

Great post Steve.

To answer the original question directly, yes, Tanzania is expensive. If not the top, darn close to it. Air Charters make it worse. CAR is similar if you want a mixed bag with Lord Derby Eland.

Thanks for the compliment.

I'll add that one also needs to remember that no matter which African country you go to, there are a wide variety of standards of camps and hunting areas etc and obviously the more expensive areas are that way for good reason.

You can hunt in what might be termed a 'standard issue' safari camp and area, which will have fairly good game populations, vehicles, staff and catering etc or you can hunt in a more expensive area which will have a more luxurious camp, sometimes even with persian carpets on the floor and silver service dining. These areas will often also pay for the entire quota every year and only hunt maybe half of that quota.

There's also camps and areas of every standard in-between with prices equally varying.

In the end you only get what you pay for - or more accurately, you never get what you don't pay for.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
.... or you can hunt in a more expensive area which will have a more luxurious camp, sometimes even with persian carpets on the floor and silver service dining....

Darn, I knew there was something essential I had been missing until now! Now I know what to inquire for next - for sure!

(Not shooting at you here, Shakari. I realize we all have our priorities, and for some exceptional luxury may be one of them. For me, the sunset over Africa enjoyed from a folding chair next to the fireplace easily makes up for missing silverware. But to each his own, I guess.)

- mike

Mike,

No offence taken! - There's room in the market for all levels of camp and accommodation and the existance of such stylish camps for so many years proves that........ They really come into their own for clients who like to bring their wife and family and for those clients who want a particularly good trophy and don't have to worry about the cost...... because these areas limit their offtake, they tend to have better than average trophy quality. - Some of the Tanzanian areas have (for example) Leopards like Lionesses massive tuskers and fabulous Lions etc, but a 21 day safari will be in the region of US$100K........... and they're usually fully booked at least two years ahead.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
.......... and they're usually fully booked at least two years ahead.

Steve, apart from my personal preferences (and options), that is a darn good business reason to offer such services. Absolute luxury seems to be more and more a fact of life, as affluence spreads ever wider - witness super luxury car brands, mega yachts etc etc.

The rest of us will have to live on the "trickle-down" effect. But I guess if that includes hunting in Africa (even without Persian rugs...), we can't really complain.

- mike

Mike,

The stylish camps are very nice but quite honestly, most hunters can live without them without any problems. They're very popular with the wives etc though.

Where I think these areas REALLY win out is in their game management policies. The trophies they take in their areas are absolutely phenomenal.