I'm leaving for a hunt in Botswana next week. I understand there is a tax on ammo you bring into the country. Does anyone know how the tax is calculated? Is it a percentage of the ammo value? Can I pay the tax with US currency or do I have to get some Botswana currenc?. Also since I reload all my ammo I plan to assign a value based upon my cost. I'll be bringing 40 rounds each of 375 H&H and 338 Win Mag. ammo.

Anyone have any experience with this matter? Thanks in advance for the info.

Tom,

I am not sure about Botswana.

But, normally your outfitter who arranged your import license would have asked you about the amount of ammo you were taking, and that should have been taken care of it by him.

I had to pay the tax..It is based on the number of rounds you bring into the country.Not a lot but a pain.

i think it is a buck a round

Tom,

Bots customs doesn't care about ammo value. As others said the fee is based on number of rounds. The appy that picked us up paid our fee and got reimbursed from the operator. I actually didn't pay anything. I do remember they did not take USD at least at that time.

Mark

Tell them your ammo is worth $1/cartridge. We paid using credit card although it took three people to figure out the credit card machine (that's been on their desk for years). No troubles.
I want to say it was a 20% fee, or something like that. 100 rounds would be $20 (or so).

Thanks guys for the info.
Ropati - I'll be hunting with Kanana as well. A plains game cull hunt for my cousin and myself. Should be a real wackem and stackem.

I would get some price stickers and put on your ammo boxes.

Makes your claimed value a bit more legit.

In 12, when I told the customs guy a buck per round, I got the stink eye. Trying to explain the concept of handloading and the cost savings are lost on the Bots customs officials, haha.

They insisted on local currency, but when pressed, ran my credit card.

We had some sweet old 30-06 boxes with the price sticker still on: $8.99/box!
Still told them $1/round.

Best of luck at Kanana. Please write a report. Look forward to your pics.

Yep, Big brothers always want some more fees/tax.
I don't think it changed since Greek/Roman empires
Sad world indeed and greed will rule until the humanity disappears.

quote:

Also since I reload all my ammo I plan to assign a value based upon my cost. I'll be bringing 40 rounds each of 375 H&H and 338 Win Mag. ammo.

Labman:

The value any customs officer will apply on ANY taxable item is the factory value, i.e. what a box of 375 & 338 ammo retails at the factory.

Your reloading cost is of no concern to the customs officer as he is likely to pick up a copy of Guns & Ammo and will show you the different prices at which ammo is sold and if your shell is head-stamped (Win/Rem/Fed etc.) may apply an average price and calculate the applicable tax value.

Botswana custom officials are pretty cool. They will take your word for what the ammo is worth.

They will ask for a tax payment in local currency not dollars. But they do take master card and visa. Not amex. They will give you a multi stamped copy of your tax receipt.

Mike

One simple truth I've learned in business…if you look like you know what you're doing, behave like you know what you're doing and act like you know what you're doing…

The the vast majority of the people around you will behave like you know what you're doing.

Be calm, be confident. Call it like it says it is. If it's 40 rounds that I reloaded for $40, then it's $40usd. If someone wants to fight it, weigh the value of the fight.

And don't forget: a few bucks in taxes is meaningless against the stress that fighting it causes for the rest of the safari.

Just returned from my trip to Botswana. My cousin and myself flew into Maun. As I mentioned in my original post, I took 40 rounds each of 375 H&H and 338 Win. Mag. My cousin took 50 rounds of 308 Win. and 40 rounds of 35 Whelan. We each declared a total value of $50 for our respective ammo. Nothing was said about the value we declared, but the tax appeared, from the paperwork we received to be computer generated. We were each charged $138.80 Pulas (Botswana currency) for the ammo tax. When converted to US dollars the total for the two of us was slightly less than $35.

Our outfitter mentioned to us that it seems this tax is only collected at the Maun airport. According to him, hunters arriving at different entry point in Botswana were not charged the tax. Typical stuff for Africa.