What is the going rate on Buff in South Africa and who would you recomend ! May have some extra dead presidents coming my way.

Here a price copied directly from the web site of one of the few places in South Africa where you can really hunt a decent hardtop buffalo on an area so big that the fact that it is actually fenced makes no difference to the hunt at all.

quote:

Cape Buffalo $8 980

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

I doubt you'll find a better price than that in a good area in RSA. - You should also expect to pay a daily rate on top of that price.

RSA is never gonna be a cheap place to hunt any DG, but if your time is limited and you want convenience, then although it's not my personal choice as the best option, it's a reasonably good one if you're willing to accept you'll not be hunting a true wilderness areas......... and as I say, the price Andrew has quoted you is a very good price indeed............

Andrew, please elaborate. Where and who....

Steve,

You very obviously know buffalo prices in South Africa. Yes the cost I quoted is just the trophy fee! In this particular instance the daily rate will not be near as high as a hunter can expect to pay in Tanzania. But the total hunt cost will be similar. Not the same, but similar. The experience? I personally would very much prefer Tanzania. But as you say, if conveniance and time is considered one can have a decent buffalo hunt in South Africa.

This particular area is in Northern KwaZulu-Natal and there are also some very good nyala on the property.

Least someone gets the wrong impression, I'm NOT offering a buffalo hunt at this cost, I've just posted the trophy fee that is on the web page. The question was "going rate" and I attempted to give a reply to that specific question.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

B Watson

$ 8 980 sounds right for the trophy fee in South Africa, excl day rates.

Another option is to go into Zim, Just north of the Kruger, I have a ten day buff hunt incl everything except aircharters and dip n ship for $ 11 000, the buff are hunted on 600 000 ha and some excellent trophies have come out of the area, last week a 44" buff was taken. It would also work out cheaper to do a 2 on 1 safari if you have a buddy who is keen on going up.

Please feel free to get in contact with me should you have any queries or would like to see more info.

Regards

Aubrey

Is that for a disease free buffalo?

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:
Is that for a disease free buffalo?

Yes they are

ive heard from 9000 to 14000 us

Disease free buffalo in Zimbabwe, just north of Kruger?

I learn new facts on this forum every day!

Andrew McLaren

SureStrike

Appologies about that, I am mistaken on that.

Andrew is spot on

The expense in RSA is due to the buff being disease free. That process does not come cheaply!

Now, you didn't ask this but personally, I would head to Zim to hunt buff. Buffalo inside a fence isn't my idea of buff hunting and you won't find disease free outside of a fence. Plains game inside a fence is one thing but dangerous game is another matter.

Zim has the best prices, the PHs (on average) are the best in Africa and the experience is as wild as you want it to be. In Zim you can get the entire hunt (not just the trophy fee) for a little more than just the trophy fee in RSA.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
The expense in RSA is due to the buff being disease free. That process does not come cheaply!

.......................................

yukon delta,

You are quite correct that the process of getting buffalo declared disease free does not come cheap at all. And they are all behind fences!

However the high prices charged for hunting trophy buffalo in South Africa, behind fences, is due to simple supply and demand market forces. The supply side is now severely affected by bovine tuberculosis, and the demand is from hunters who are in South Africa in any case, or do not want to, or can not time-wise afford to, spend 10 days on a buffalo hunt.

On a few fenced properties where there are real disease free roaming buffalo where many hunters go to hunt kudu and other plains game the "penalty" for shooting a buffalo in [ as they always claim] self-defense, runs at more than the cost of a 21 days Selous buffalo hunt. A PH taking a client there on a plains game hunt had better know how to avoid confrontation with buffalo, or have his professional indemnity policy paid up and in place! One farmer warned that the cost will be to replace the buffalo, at about typically R 125 000, and naturally more for a bull that begins to look like a decent trophy! The breeding of disease free buffalo has been going on for so long now that I'm sure that there must by now be a few old beyond breeding bulls that could be sold as trophy buffalo. I hunt on one property where such a bull died in a fight, after the land owner had turned down an offer of R 120 000 from a PH to hunt it with a client! I would hazard a guess that it will take many more years, maybe 20 or more, before there are so many disease free buffalo trophies on offer that the price of general buffalo hunting in South Africa will decrease to any significant extent. But as you said: It will still be a buffalo behind a fence!

In contrast to the very high price paid at auctions for true disease free buffalo, the live cost of "diseased" buffalo, or better said buffalo that does not have the required veterinary certificates declaring them to be “disease freeâ€, is very low as you will simply not get a permit to transport them! Such buffalo have value only in areas behind the so called "red line" that separates disease free from endemic foot and mouth disease areas. But they can be hunted as trophies even behind the “red lineâ€. As said the price of trophies are really determined by a simple supply and demand marketing mechanism.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Watson, you have a private message!!

One thing about SA Buff hunting kind of hinted at above: creature comforts. Not usually as important for the hunter as the spouse if she is along.

When the wife and step-daughter were planning on going with me that is one thing I was taking into consideration was the comfort and availability of other activities for the missus. I was looking for SA Buff, but ended up booking 1 wk RSA, 1 wk Zim.

My 2cts is that if you have never hunted buffalo before dont cheat yourself the experience by hunting one that is not truly wild in a truly wild place. I feel like you wold be doing yourself a great disservice. In other words I wouldnt hunt one in SA. If you wanted to hunt one there you could save yourself the airfare and hunt one in Texas and have the same experience.....