I've had at least two vendors mention being able to get pre-approval for my firearm. What are they talking about? It seems to me that when I went before I just had to fill out a lengthy form (SAPS 520?) to get approval. I've asked both to explain but have gotten vague responses.

Having a service clear your firearms for you upon arrival. I used www.riflepermits.com It was about $100 and well worth it. I think there are many threads in the African Travel forum here or visit the website above. Others also provide the service.

Thanks. Interesting that at that link they keep step 8 secret, which implies that what they offer is something easy that anyone could do with that bit of knowledge.

you can take it or leave it , it womnt save more than 15 minutes of your time , most time is spent waiting for the guns to get to the police or for people in line - the form is not that lengthy , the saps 520 is long but most doesnt need to be filled in , i do it 5 or 6 times a year and havent had any holdups

well worth the while is the extra to be met off the plan and escorted through customs etc - now that will save you some waiting in line time which is not what you feel like after 17 hours of flight !

The VIP service is the way to go...

Saves time to head of the line and out the door...

When i did not use it it took me over 2 hours just waiting in line to start the process.

it really depend on the time of year and how many other hunters are on your flight or flight that arrive at the same time.

I've done it both ways for the last 10 trips and in August we did it ourselves again. We always have everything filled out and the appropriate copies attached of the additional documents that SAPS requires, all ahead of time. Even though we didn't pay for the service, Geoffrey of Africa Sky helped get it through a little bit faster since he was waiting to take us to the guest house. We did have to wait until some of the others had theirs done, as SAPS seems to provide them with preferential treatment even if you are there in the SAPS office before them. Just depends on whether or not you want to fork out the extra $100.

We have used Air 2000 on every trip and it is money well spent. Expedited thru passport control and speedy service in the firearms office.

Karl

depending on how many people are in front of you at saps vip service can save some time.

My wife and I paid Gracy Travel for their "meet and greet" service in Joburg last June. . From the time we exited the plane, cleared Customs, collected baggage, and cleared SAPS was not more than 30 minutes. Worth every penny for those of us who don't do this sort of thing every year.
Cheers,
Tim

Tim,

That's perfect. If you follow Gracy's suggestions they will make transiting O.R. Tembo an absolute yawn. I always use them and recommend them to all my clients.

Mark

Mark:

I have a hunt upcoming and I am considering going thru JNB via BA. Is three hours enough of a connection time? I know you like BA...

John,

Yes! One thing about BA is that you might be the only hunter on the airplane making the whole process even less time consuming. We did not do the full package with the meet/greet on the jetway but gathered our own luggage and met Lucky the Gracy rep in the Arrival Hall. He whipped us through everything and saw us to security outside of our gate. Total from jetway to gate could not have been more than 30 minutes flat.

On this trip we transited through an airport 15 times and handled our luggage 12 times with no problems at all. Every place outside of the US we were treated very well and ushered to the front of ever line because we had guns.

Now Chicago was a different story.

Mark

Thanks Mark. There is a direct flight from PHX to London. BUT, I have no status with BA. On Delta or United I get the economy plus for free.