The 3 species mentioned are the premier animals in Masailand. Why would a safari company want to shoot out their quota in a few short safaris? I'd be very wary of a deal like that.

Mark

I've just received the same e-mail and in the middle of it, it says: "And as you are probably aware the price mentioned works out to $1700 per day. Clients will still have to pay the other fees required by Tanzania laws"......so in other words, it probably doesn't include the 21 days of Government Conservation fees, rifle import, dip & pack etc.



Add this lot on and the price becomes more realistic, but it is still very cheap.

Same e-mail offers ele and sable for 12,500...'good ivory' and all in 12 days....oh and carmen electra will be your bed warmer too

I just got an e-mail from the agent wanting me to assure all here it is legit and explaining it all in detail. I do not know the guy and am not doing that. I also won't say it's a sham, as I don't know, but I'd still be wary, very much so.

I apologize for the delay in addressing this. My wife gave birth to twin girls yesterday evening so as you can imagine things have been quite busy.

The hunt is with an outfitter with a sterling reputation- Danny McCallum Safaris. Danny also operates Old Nyika Safaris and Safari Royal. If you are familiar with the top Tanzania outfitters then you know this is a legit operation, and one of the best at that. Danny's wife Joanna contacted me earlier this week and told me that they had some extra quota available for the species mentioned (enough to conduct two hunts only so there is not just a huge quota available as some mentioned). They have not offered this before because they have usually been booked quite full, but most of this years clients will be concentrating solely on big lion, leopard, buffalo and plains game in their other concessions. They simply have not as much demand for clients wanting the longer 28 day trips to allow them to do 21 for the cats and buffalo, and spend the additional time for these species.

This hunt is in there Ngaseri concession.

The hunt is completely legal. A 21 day license is purchased and will be taken out in the clients name. Those of you who know Danny McCallum and his staff know that he would never do anything illegal. He has a sterling repuation which I will be glad to document if requested.

The price is $1700 per day, hardly a cheap or too good to be true price. Clients will to pay the other fees required by Tanzania laws as well as the trophy fees. This is not a cheap, fly-by-night offer, nor was it marketed as such. It is simply a rare opportunity to hunt some of these species without having to pay 21 or even 28 days of daily rates.

As for the comments about "half-assed" and "be wary" I can only invite some of you to check our references, hunting reports, even our outfitters if you would like to contact them directly. I am the first to admit that I don't know everything, but do not a lot more than many of the self proclaimed experts here who have made a trip or two to Africa and now conider themselves professional booking agents.

Honesty and integrity are values we which we live by, and I would like to think our clients, their successes, and their testimonies are proof of this. Those of you that know us personally know that we do this full time. We do this on what we consider to be a professional level, and don't just try to flog a hunt over the internet here and there while we have some free time in the evening after our day jobs are over.

I apologize for my brevity and promise to reply to any further inquiries in due time.

I must go now as my girls and wife demand my attention. I have a feeling my whole life is about to change, not to mention the two trips I had planned for later (these twins came a bit earlier than expected) this month and August.

Sincerely and good hunting,
John Barth
Adventure Unlimited, Inc.
Phone 888-346-4868
email safaris@trip.net
Cell phone 361-816-0610

Thanks for the explanation John and congratulations on the twins! wifezilla gifted me with triplets 24 years ago, so I know what you're going through.

In my own mind I wonder if this much discount relates to the other strings about safaris in other countries being booked at 30-50% this year?

John, I just recieved your email and was about to copy it to the forum but see you beat me to it. Thanks for clearing this up

Part of an ad I received today. Where would this be legal? I thought most of these were on the longer lic.

Quote:

---

Rare Plains Game- hunt the most sought after species in East Africa. We have Lesser Kudu, Gerenuk, Fringe Eared Orxy, etc. available on a 7 day safari for $11,900 plus trophy fees.

---

texas

Mike,
From the species listed, it is obviously for Tanzania. Is it legal? It can be; Those species are only offered with a 21 day license. However, this does not mean you have to stay 21 days to hunt those species.

What I think is happening here is that the outfitter will apply for a 21 day permit from the GD but offer those species for a 7 day income! By paying the full Gov fees for 21 days, it becomes legal. By charging a client for only 7 days, he is shooting himself in the foot!

What the outfitter might not know is that his taxes will be assessed on a 21 day income instead of just a 7 day income.....and you don't want to have to deal with the revenue authority in tz on such issues!

There are very, very few hunting blocks in Tz that can offer reasonable success for those three species in 7 days! The ones I know off belong to outfitters that would not offer such a rare and key value specie on anything less than 16 days - and believe me they have sufficient quota of each to tempt one into doing so in order to fulfill the utilisation obligation set by the GD!

I suspect this outfitter either has a problem marketing his quota or if not, his quota allocation for these species is to high for the areas in question. Either of these should make you wary...

If you tell me the areas mentioned, I can tell you whether this is a "deal" or a .....

Happy hunting!

Got the same e-mail; wondered the same questions; deduced the same answer, especially the be wary part.

Can't be a straight deal. I wonder if it's an agent somewhere or an outfitter who doesn't know how it all works there.

It sometimes seems to me that this industry has more half assed operators than it has hunters!

That is pretty much what I thought. Thanks guys.

Surprising part is that, at least in my case, the message came from what is considered by most to be a pretty damn reputable booking agent.

John,

A veru informative & professional reply...... I've amended my post.

Congratulations on the twins........commiserations on the cost of the twins!

John,
Thanks for the explanations and congratulations on your twins! I would never doubt Danny's reputation and professional ethics. I am now sure everything is done by the book!

So let's add the sums for everyone:
$1700 x 7 days = $11,900
Gov fees for 21 days = $3,000
Trophy fees for the 3 animals + others = +-$8,000?
Dipping and packing = +-$1,000?
Incidentals like gratuities, etc = $500 ?

we are looking at around $24,400 before flights to and from Tz. Any buff available? It is still a mighty generous offer if you think there is no other country in the world that offers those species....

happy hunting!

It is good to know that decent offers are still out there! The elephant/sable deal was also addressed in an e-mail to me and references are available to back the lot. Nice to know that AR members are on their toes at all times Even if we are a little quick on the draw!

Bwanamich,



I suspect that there would also be an air charter involved.

Also a firearms import fee?



As far as any other country offering anything similar.....



In the OMO Valley we do a 15 day safari for lesser kudu (30"+), S. Gerenuk, N. Grants gazelle, Guenther's dik-dik, tiang, & serval for $21,000 including licenses, firearms import (2 rifles,) scout fees, concession fees, and daily rates. Another $3,000 covers air charter on a 1x1. A bigger plane is needed for a 2x2 or 1x1+1. A few other species (hyena, colobus, etc.) are also available on a limited quota basis. Ten years ago Beisa oryx would have been on the list but when the hunting was closed and a huge farm situated on the floor of Lake Stephanie, the oryx stopped coming. I did see two bulls and a few cows and calves this March so maybe they will recover.





Rich Elliott

I know of McCullum, and I do know John Barth personally,and inasmuch as he is the Agent involved, then I would say the deal is a good one....

congratulations on the twins, you in for a rude awakening my friend, I have twin grandsons in Corpus, a match in the making!!

I think alot of you jackasses who jumped all over this without any clue what it was about, or any thought put towards your actions, owe a few people apologies.

BTW, I'm not affiliated with any of the involved parties, just an observer who is tired of the lack of respect and character displayed all too often here.

I know John to be a man of honor and integrity. He is very serious about running a top flight operation and I would trust him to handle a hunt for me anywhere in the world.

Congratulations on the girls John!

Quote:

---

I apologize for the delay in addressing this. My wife gave birth to twin girls yesterday evening so as you can imagine things have been quite busy.

The hunt is with an outfitter with a sterling reputation- Danny McCallum Safaris. Danny also operates Old Nyika Safaris and Safari Royal. If you are familiar with the top Tanzania outfitters then you know this is a legit operation, and one of the best at that. Danny's wife Joanna contacted me earlier this week and told me that they had some extra quota available for the species mentioned (enough to conduct two hunts only so there is not just a huge quota available as some mentioned). They have not offered this before because they have usually been booked quite full, but most of this years clients will be concentrating solely on big lion, leopard, buffalo and plains game in their other concessions. They simply have not as much demand for clients wanting the longer 28 day trips to allow them to do 21 for the cats and buffalo, and spend the additional time for these species.

This hunt is in there Ngaseri concession.

The hunt is completely legal. A 21 day license is purchased and will be taken out in the clients name. Those of you who know Danny McCallum and his staff know that he would never do anything illegal. He has a sterling repuation which I will be glad to document if requested.

The price is $1700 per day, hardly a cheap or too good to be true price. Clients will to pay the other fees required by Tanzania laws as well as the trophy fees. This is not a cheap, fly-by-night offer, nor was it marketed as such. It is simply a rare opportunity to hunt some of these species without having to pay 21 or even 28 days of daily rates.

As for the comments about "half-assed" and "be wary" I can only invite some of you to check our references, hunting reports, even our outfitters if you would like to contact them directly. I am the first to admit that I don't know everything, but do not a lot more than many of the self proclaimed experts here who have made a trip or two to Africa and now conider themselves professional booking agents.

Honesty and integrity are values we which we live by, and I would like to think our clients, their successes, and their testimonies are proof of this. Those of you that know us personally know that we do this full time. We do this on what we consider to be a professional level, and don't just try to flog a hunt over the internet here and there while we have some free time in the evening after our day jobs are over.

I apologize for my brevity and promise to reply to any further inquiries in due time.

I must go now as my girls and wife demand my attention. I have a feeling my whole life is about to change, not to mention the two trips I had planned for later (these twins came a bit earlier than expected) this month and August.

Sincerely and good hunting,
John Barth
Adventure Unlimited, Inc.
Phone 888-346-4868
email safaris@trip.net
Cell phone 361-816-0610

---

I'll extend an apology, though I don't feel one is due. All I said is that I would be wary--no slamming the guy.

TrademarkTexan,

I thought that the original skepticism was warranted and after John's excellent explanation that skepticism should now be put to rest. John's got good reputation and so does McCallum. That said, Congrat's on the twins, John! < !--color-->

Rich Elliott

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their comments once I clarified everything. I have always tried my best to be as straight forward and upfront as I can.

Fjold- the "wifezilla" and "triplets" really gave me a laugh. I am going to try the "wifezilla" on her in a while after she calms downs about my "puffy and bloated" comments I made to her a while ago. They were not well received.

Boghossian- I can probably arrange the Carmen Electra bedwarmer option, but it will be a bit more than the $12,500.

The girls and the wife are doing well. I am starting to get a bit worried about 2 deb parties, 2 weddings, countless wrecked cars I am sure, and all the other things that I am sure will pop up. Hopefully they will be happy just observering on their future safaris and not wanting to hunt like their mother or I will really have a thin wallet.

If anyone knows of a good nanny looking for a job let me know. I would hire the one in Fjold's picture in a heartbeat. She sure looks qualified.

Thanks again everyone,
John Barth
Adventure Unlimited, Inc.

I dont feel you need to ask for an apology for John. If he was offended I do apologize but he should be the one to ask for it if needed. If you didnt notice we didnt mention any names and were just trying to verify facts. Being a little skeptical is not a bad thing. All is cleared up and no one said anything of a personal nature. That is the way it should be.