This is my first post and I hope it finds you all doing well. I am in need of some advice/recommendations from this well experienced forum. I am planning my first safari for either 2019/2020 for my 40th birthday. The target animals will be plains game with a very slight chance of buffalo. This is where it gets tricky. I would prefer (if possible) a free ranging or at least a very large concession where I dont feel confined. This is just my personal preference and is no way shape or form passing judgement of any kind on those that hunt in smaller enclosures. Tricky part number 2: My wife and my 4yr old daughter (at the time of travel) will also be accompanying me. I really want to take them along for this adventure. The final trick is that I will be hunting with a handgun only. I will carry either my FA 454 or FA 475 and a XP in a 284. Im looking for outfitter recommendations that would also cater to my wife's and daughter's enjoyment. They will need things to keep them occupied. I will more than likely break my hunt up into intervals to spend time with them as well. ANY helpful information would be greatly appreciated. My main priority is that my wife and daughter enjoy this adventure as much if not more than I do. Any and all forum members whether it be an outfitter or hunter is more than welcome to comment or PM me. Thanks in advance!!!!

Andy

Hi XP284

Contact Guy Whittall who is a member on here and I'm sure he will be able to put something together for you. The outfitter is Roger Whittall Safaris who run Humani on the Save Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe.

Welcome. I just did my first and it was great. Look at the link below as you can see a lot about my trip. Andrew Renton at Kei River Hunting Safaris did a perfect job on every aspect of my trip. What was also very nice was my lady desired to go at the last minute and Andrew work in plans for place of interest to her. Even though I hunted with a rifle, Andrew does a lot of handgun hunts. Many of the references were repeat handgun hunters.

Wade Derby, at Crosshairs Consulting, is the U.S booking agent. Both Wade and Andrew post here. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. You and the family will have the time of you life. We did and are looking at returning next year.

Welcome to AR. You will find a wealth of wisdom here whether you ask for it, or not

There are lots of good operations out there that can accommodate your needs.

The search function is your friend. All the info you need to plan a great safari, is available on this site.

For instance do a search on Roger whittall and read all the hunt reports that are on here.

Id recommend you check into the Duckworths too.

Just a thought since you mentioned your wife and very young daughter and that you want wife to enjoy trip as much as you. You might want to contact Jofie Lamprecht in Namibia. He and his wife are in a similar family situation as they have a toddler plus one more on the way. That might make your wife/daughter's time better.
www.jlsafaris.com.

All those mentioned above have fine reputations earned by excellent service. You might want to contact Tania Kaiser at Unico Safaris in the Limpopo Province RSA. The properties are fenced, but the only time you see a fence is on entrance and exit. Unico will custom taylor your safari and has superb facilities and activities for family,children, and non hunters . Jerry Hoover

Check out Settlers Safaris located near Grahamstown S.A. They are great people and have two children of their own. Stuff for your family to see (they can set up tours for you and your family). My last trip I hunted five days and allocated two days just for sightseeing. We went to a game reserve and saw white lion, ele's hippo and several species of plains game etc. one day and toured some museums and the coast another day.

XP284, our main camps in Limpopo and Botswana are family oriented and family structured. Our smallest concession is between 5000-6000 acres and up to 40,000 acres and we have close to 200,000 acres that we manage. I would be glad to discuss your plans with you in detail. Just shoot me a PM if interested and I'll give you my phone and email. You can visit our website at www.tgsafari.co.za. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Contact Michelle Buchanan, Buchanan Hunts. She has three kids, two very young, and is familiar with many venues. I would seriously consider the Save (multiple ranches there). Michelle knows many ways to occupy wives and kids of various ages on safari. If you don't keep the wife happy this may be your only safari-if she goes home happy it may be your first of many.

Thank you to all for the responses and recommendations. Its greatly appreciated

Generally speaking, you are either hunting buffalo or not. The daily rate is 2x if you are. The exception might be a fenced operation in RSA where the daily rates tend to be fixed and the buffalo premium is in the trophy fee. So you are not likely to find an operator who will allow you to take a buffalo on an accidental encounter ... or if he does expect the "upcharge" to be about $8-10K

Also you pay to hunt each day (ie the vehicles, staff and concession are at your disposal) whether you are taking the day off or not. But you will have time from late morning til afternoon generally to spend time with family, as most lodge-based operations expect you to siesta during the heat of the day.

Wives are not hard to occupy. They can go out with you, stay in camp and read, swim in the pool (in some places), go on little excursions even for shopping in some places! But 4 year-olds are another story. The wilder and more remote the area, the less wife/child friendly it will be. There is also the risk of crime once you get off the concession especially in South Africa.

Finally the flight is a killer for folks who are not pumped up about hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by drj:
Contact Michelle Buchanan, Buchanan Hunts. She has three kids, two very young, and is familiar with many venues. I would seriously consider the Save (multiple ranches there). Michelle knows many ways to occupy wives and kids of various ages on safari. If you don't keep the wife happy this may be your only safari-if she goes home happy it may be your first of many.

Excellent advice. She is working up a hunt for me and she takes care of all the travel arrangements. Her two brothers, Ray and Andy, video hunts too. I would recommend if at ALL possible have your hunt videoed.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
Generally speaking, you are either hunting buffalo or not. The daily rate is 2x if you are. The exception might be a fenced operation in RSA where the daily rates tend to be fixed and the buffalo premium is in the trophy fee. So you are not likely to find an operator who will allow you to take a buffalo on an accidental encounter ... or if he does expect the "upcharge" to be about $8-10K

Also you pay to hunt each day (ie the vehicles, staff and concession are at your disposal) whether you are taking the day off or not. But you will have time from late morning til afternoon generally to spend time with family, as most lodge-based operations expect you to siesta during the heat of the day.

Wives are not hard to occupy. They can go out with you, stay in camp and read, swim in the pool (in some places), go on little excursions even for shopping in some places! But 4 year-olds are another story. The wilder and more remote the area, the less wife/child friendly it will be. There is also the risk of crime once you get off the concession especially in South Africa.

Finally the flight is a killer for folks who are not pumped up about hunting.

Interesting on how the market has changed. Back in 2003, I killed a buffalo as an "add on" during an elephant hunt and the trophy fee was only $2000.00.

BH63

Avoid wild areas that have mosquitos and tsetse flies.