The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting Newb question about total cost of tripGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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I have dreamt of an African safari for years.. And I'm trying to see if planning a trip given my current situation is a possibility. From looking over daily rates, trophy rates, fees, taxes, pack/dip costs, shipping costs, taxidermy costs... My brain is on overload trying to figure out an actual figure for my trip. As it stands now, the closest thing to hunting I have ever done is shark fishing from the Florida shores. I'm a good marksman at standing targets but I've never shot anything of note that has recoil. I have no real experience leading a moving target. My ideal animal is one of the African cats. With that being said, here is what I'm wanting to know: Is it possible to cover a trip for Lion (Lioness as an option?), or Leopard, with skull plus skin of the animal sent home, and possibly the skin of a plains animal for $15,000 USD? After looking on here, I'm guessing the answer is going to be no but that was based on looking at just a few Outfitters (CSM for example) who I have only seen positive comments on. Thanks everyone for your time, I didn't search for specific threads on this but over the last week have worked my way through almost sixty pages of threads in this subforum on reports and such to try and get my head wrapped around this. I think I just made it worse lol. | ||
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You are correct, the answer is no. Except maybe the lioness. That is excluding fenced lion hunts. For $15,000 you can have a fantastic safari though. Ive done 2 and both could have been for that or less. One in RSA where i took Kudu, gemsbok, impalla, zebra and 2 warthogs. Everything start to finish including taxidermy was about 12,000. The second was for buffalo. If had not paid for an observer and an extra buff it would have been less than $15,000. There are lots of outstanding adventures to be had. Consider yourself warned, almost no one goes only once. I have walked in the foot prints of the elephant, listened to lion roar and met the buffalo on his turf. I shall never be the same. | |||
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Welcome to the forum. That figure won't buy you a cat hunt of any (decent) standard but it will buy you a reasonably good plains game hunt. You might like to visit www.shakariconnection.com to help get your head around what you should budget for etc. | |||
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Thanks, gentlemen for your replies! While aware that it is most definitely an addiction, the means to more than one trip just wouldn't be there. As it stands, I was contemplating selling my two vehicles just to make it happen, leaving us with only the wife-to-be's SUV. Only time will tell what might happen though so I will just have to wait and see what is in the cards. I just may have to ignore the 'can't spend it when you're dead' mentality and plan on saving for a very long time. With this being a first and potentially last African safari, I owe it to myself to get everything out of it that I want without settling. Your advice is sound though so back to the drawing board! | |||
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If you can find a way to make it happen, I'd suggest you try to buy the best safari you can afford rather than the cheapest you can find because you don't get what you don't pay for. | |||
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In my experience, go for a game-rich unfenced area with a good outfitter/PH for a longer period of time versus a cheap, short, maybe-get-a-lioness, in a small concession. In my opinion you will value the beauty of the large unfenced areas and long days tracking on foot (rather then spending an excessive amount of time in a vehicle) more than any lion skin. I think it is possible to hunt buffalo within your budget in several wild areas. Shooting at baited animals is not nearly as rewarding. And even if you can't afford buffalo, get in at least ten days of hunting, preferably two weeks. Anything shorter than 10 days will just leave you wishing you'd figured out a way to stay longer. You just don't know it yet because you haven't been. Every day you get up before dawn and walk through the bush with an experienced PH and his amazing trackers will far outweigh the value of trophies on the wall. We only bring them back because they remind of us what it is we really like. Talk to outfitters at DSC about it. Talk to us about it. I recommend you look at Zimbabwe or the Selous in Tanzania or Greater Kruger in South Africa. If you speak French then Burkina Faso. I'm one of the addicted and have hunted Namibia once (with Karl Stumpfe), Tanzania once (with Pierre von Tonder), South Africa 3 times (with, in order, Jan Dumon, Jaco Human and Andrew McLaren) and Burkina Faso once (with Toufic Hanna). I've only just begun; Zambia and Zimbabwe are waiting for me. Every hunt has been good, but hunting in an area where you will come accross elephants and free ranging buffalo, even if you aren't hunting them, is its own reward. _________________________________ AR, where the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history become the nattering nabobs of negativisim. | |||
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There are really nice places for a nice plains game hunt for a reasonable amount of money. As for total cost of everything start to finish: Safari daily rate plains game: 7x400 = $2800 Game (adv) ( wildebeest,zebra,impala,gemsbok) = $3400 Plane ticket to Windhoek or jburg= $2050 Tips =$450 to $500 Taxidermy = $ 1600 Shipping crate = $1400 Misc= $400 Total cost= $ 12,150 or maybe a little less if you shop around. I have to say it is worth every penny with the stories and friendships that are made out of it. It is a true value for money. Ed DRSS Member | |||
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You may want to check out some of our resident booking agents like Wendell Reich, Mark Young, Wade Derby, and Tom Addelman just to mention a few...there's a bunch more  | |||
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If you have never hunted are you convinced that someone with zero experience has any place on a lion hunt? Being a newbie hunting and starting with a lion hunt is a bit foolish I think. I am sure that almost any outfitter in Africa is ready and willing to take your money. Perhaps you might want to hunt in the US a bit and sort out the dream from the reality.
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A few year ago I guided a client [incidentally from USA] who had quite a bit of wingshooting experience, but had never fired a rifle at an animal when he asked me about a hunt for the first time. I walked him through calibre choice and initial target shooting by e-mail. When he arrived a few months after our first message exchanges he had good & safe rifle carry and handling habits, shot reasonably well and had a hell-of-a-hunt! Admittedly there were only PG and no lion on his trophy list! Can be done though! Andrew McLaren Professional Hunter and Hunting Outfitter since 1974. http://www.mclarensafaris.com The home page to go to for custom planning of ethical and affordable hunting of plains game in South Africa! Enquire about any South African hunting directly from andrew@mclarensafaris.com After a few years of participation on forums, I have learned that: One can cure: Lack of knowledge – by instruction. Lack of skills – by practice. Lack of experience – by time doing it. One cannot cure: Stupidity – nothing helps! Anti hunting sentiments – nothing helps! Put-‘n-Take Outfitters – money rules! My very long ago ancestors needed and loved to eat meat. Today I still hunt! | |||
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I could not agree more with Shakari on this one. If you buy a safari based mostly on cost you're very likely to be sorry. Your not going to find a good cat hunt for $15,000 all in and a cat on a first safari is probably a bad idea as it often can be more work than fun until you actually get the cat on bait. A PG or PG/buff in my opinion are a much better fit for a first safari. Mark MARK H. YOUNG MARK'S EXCLUSIVE ADVENTURES 7094 Oakleigh Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89110 Office 702-848-1693 Cell, Whats App, Signal 307-250-1156 PREFERRED E-mail markttc@msn.com Website: myexclusiveadventures.com Skype: markhyhunter Check us out on https://www.facebook.com/pages...ures/627027353990716 | |||
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plus 1 on this. Cat hunting can be very boring. Do PG and maybe a buff first. I took a newbie to Africa this year with me. We both hunted buff. He shot a whooper, but only after wounding in with poor shot placement and two days of tracking. He took a frontal shot and shot low in the heat of the moment. I had spent hours and hours shooting with him doing walk thru the woods with random targets and me setting up shooting sticks, trying to make it as real as possible. And still he boogered up a 40 yd shot. So with no previous experience and nobody to really work you, maybe a PG hunt would be best. | |||
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It's a funny thing but my first hunt in Africa was for a leopard and the entire hunt cost was far less than $15,000. Admittedly this was a few years ago. The hunt was with Tony Da Costa and was a package that cost the total of $5995 for a Leopard,Kudu,Impala,Duiker,klipspringer. I got a nice leopard and all but the Klippie. This doesn't happen today ,I know, and it resulted in 7 more safaris for me and ending up costing me a bundle more. Last hunt was for a trophy elephant which I got and brought the tusks home. I think the trophy fee for the Elephant alone was $12,000 showing a slight increase in price but less than todays rate at that. While I loved Elephant hunting (I took 3)I would be quite happpy today for plainsgame only especially if you threw in a Kudu which is my absolute favorite of all African game animals. SCI Life Member NRA Patron Life Member DRSS | |||
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Don't underestimate taxidermy. Taxidermy is a huge cost that is glossed over more than any other in my very limited experience. (probably due to the fact it is 100% optional and very variable) dip/pack/ship to US/broker/ship to taxidermist/ taxidermy/ ship trophies to you will get very expensive very quickly. Hunting: Exercising dominion over creation at 2800 fps. | |||
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I'm certainly no expert (only 3 trips) but I would take Mark's advice both on price and the cats. Never hunted lions but leopards are work and sitting 13 hours in a plastic chair in the dark isn't everyone's cup of tea. I have often said if my first safaris ever had been for leopard it would have been my last. And for every person who has a great "got my cat right away" story, and it does happen, there are many more who are sadly disappointed. Many 4 and 5 times. A good plains game hunt is well within your budget and will move the odds much more in your favor than cat hunting. If you truly only go once I promise most people here will say go either for PG or PG/buffalo. Trust me, if you go 15 days and never have a bait touched it is not the trip to build memories for a lifetime unless the agony of defeat appeals to you for your only trip. Go have a blast in the daytime and harvest some great animals in Africa. Regards, Don Trust only those who stand to lose as much as you do when things go wrong. | |||
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+1  | |||
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Stretch it to ten days for another $1200 ($13,350 total) and add a cheetah for $3000 and you have a $16,650 cat hunt with some PG thrown in. If it gets to be day 8 or so with no cat, then you have some more PG money to play with too. No bringing the Cheetah skin back to the US, but still a fun hunt! | |||
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I believe that if you are on a budget, and aren't we all to one extent or another, I would suggest forgoing taxidermy, shipping etc completely. Take a good camera and take lots of pictures of your hunt and animals. You can even have some of the pics professionally enlarged and mounted. Picture and video's are easy to store and show and you will go back to them again and again. The money that you save will pay for a lot of hunting. The most dangerous thing about that first trip is that you will spend the rest of your life wanting to go back. If you own a gun and you are not a member of the NRA and other pro 2nd amendment organizations then YOU are part of the problem. | |||
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+1. I was a little surprised on the dip/pack/shipping cost. It was a little more than I actually thought it was going to be. It's a good idea to research a good taxidermist who has done African work if you are having it done stateside and a good taxidermist will quote you a price for what you may decide to do (full, shoulder, pedestal, etc.). MSG, USA (Ret.) Armor NRA Life Memeber | |||
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To be honest.. I do NOT know if a dangerous cat is a good way to start off. I can come up with many reasons why it wouldn't be and I am sure that the experienced hunters on this site can come up with many more that I haven't even thought of! While.. I guess I *know* that something like that should be built up to... But even in the US, guided hunts look to start in the $5,000USD range, taking out a big chunk of what I could apply towards my journey to the dark continent. And I don't really have any friends or acquaintences who hunt to help me gain experience on domestic animals. But I shall explore this more.
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Trip, To my new -soon to be addicted to Africa- friend, you do any hunt that YOU think is ideal. I wouldn't pay much heed to the naysayers. You have got to follow what you want to do. You may be surprised once you get there. The animal you thought you really wanted doesn't quite float your boat once you look at him - but an animal you hadn't given much fore thought makes your heart pound once you see him in the bushes. Which is one pretty good reason to find a place that has a lot of animals on quota. Another #1 for what Mark said. There is no man who should be envied more than the one planning his first safari. Have a blast!! "You only gotta do one thing well to make it in this world" - J Joplin | |||
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Don't ask just go. It will be worth it White Mountains Arizona | |||
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Go with your heart. My first trip to Africa was PG and elephant. Lots of people said to me " just do PG " for elephants you need more experience. My ass. I do what I wanna do. My mother and father couldn't tell me what to do in my teen years. Go and have fun, but choose wisely with reputable guys and practice shooting and safe handling of your gun a lot and you are gonna be OK. " Until the day breaks and the nights shadows flee away " Big ivory for my pillow and 2.5% of Neanderthal DNA flowing thru my veins. When I'm ready to go, pack a bag of gunpowder up my ass and strike a fire to my pecker, until I squeal like a boar. Yours truly , Milan The Boarkiller - World according to Milan PS I have big boar on my floor...but it ain't dead, just scared to move... Man should be happy and in good humor until the day he dies... Only fools hope to live forever “ Hávamál” | |||
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as mentioned earlier, taxidermy/shipping cost will be about the same as hunt costs for a plains game. there are any number of booking agents here who can put together a 4 animal, 10 day plains game hunt for WELL under $10,000 on a high fenced ranch in RSA or a low/high fenced ranch in Namibia. but for 4 shoulder mounts plus shipping/ broker fees, etc., you will easily add another $6000+. forget lion or leopard unless you are willing to shell out all $15,000( probably more) for a leopard( with no guarantee of success) and $60-70,000 for a lion. as a point of information, my first 2 leopard hunts were unsuccessful( and costly) but that's the way hunting goes. with cat hunts, it's easy to look at daily rates and trophy fees and think you have a handle on costs- until you have to pay for a all the bait you shoot! Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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A full body mount on your cat plus shipping is going to kill your budget. With buffalo you can just do the scull but shipping is going to be two grand. | |||
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Powertrip. You mentioned selling your vehicles and using your "wife to be's". Make sure she becomes your wife AFTER the trip, lol..otherwise you may not make one. One PH I know of hunts Zim for DG, and rates there are $1,250 a DAY, for minimum 10 days, and trophy fees. He recently took an old guy, from Japan, out and got him an elephant, lion and buff, in 5 days. Busted butt, but got lucky too. If you go to www.ktsafaris.co.za, and ask, they can tell you what their program is. He also runs pg package hunts in RSA. | |||
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Thanks everyone for all of the advice and input!!! The initial reason that I thought big cat... Was simply that when thinking of Africa, those are the animals that really sing to my soul other than big-ivoried elephant and rhino. Both of which will never be in the cards for me so I never thought about them. To me.. Buff are simply ugly, lol. I to this day do not know what appeals to people about them, but then again I have never seen one in person and that may definitely be a factor in their widespread desire! Part of the reason for this thread was not simply to get a "Hey, go do exactly what you want regardless of what people say!" thread. I knew from the start that with the animals I wanted that there were two primary factors involved with if I should pursue a cat safari. One being the obvious cost; I just couldn't figure out how to put the numbers together in order to know whether it was *financially* feasible. Truth here is that it is not for the budget I was wanting/thinking I was able to invest into this adventure at this time. The second factor and why I listed my complete lack of experience is safety. I have seen from all the threads that it takes HARD work, most of it being done by the trackers and PH to get a successful and SAFE cat in the bag so to speak. So hearing input on whether a cat for a first and potentially only safari has been a tremendous help. There is a LOT of experience to draw from on this forum and you guys have definitely not let me down. As an aside, in some of the hunt reports it looks like a lot of the leopard/lion(ess) baits did not extole additional fees. Was this just an inaccurate assumption on my part or are there animals that are available that won't incur outrageous fees. Initially I was thinking that I would get some plains game hunting done on a leopard/lion hunt just based on the fact that I would need meat harvested for the baits and such. I may in fact look VERY seriously at a plains game hunt. I just need to decide if those animals have their own songs for my soul as well as the cats. Thanks EVERYONE for their input. And anyone who has any(more) insight, please feel free to contribute! If nothing else this thread has been an enormous help to myself and hopefully it will help others who are in a similar boat of getting overwhelmed by all the numbers floating around trying to get a grip on what it takes to make a dream become a reality. As well as help give sound insight on realistic expectations and safe adventures for the first time African Hunter! | |||
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I have paid deposit on my first African hunt next year. It is primarily a buffalo hunt with any PG added on - 7 days. To give you an idea such hunts in Sept are offered as a special for around $9.5k in Zimbabwe. When I add flights from NZ, transit, trophy for 3 PG, tips & dip /pack - to comes to US$16k+. this is before taxidermy! I will be doing Euro mounts and some skins. Good luck with your trip. "When the wind stops....start rowing. When the wind starts, get the sail up quick." | |||
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Thanks Naki, and good luck on yours! | |||
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PM Sent  Dave Davenport Outfitters license HC22/2012EC Pro Hunters license PH74/2012EC www.leopardsvalley.co.za dave@leopardsvalley.co.za +27 42 24 61388 HUNT AFRICA WHILE YOU STILL CAN Follow us on FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/#!/leopardsvalley.safaris | |||
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Man, did we ever hear that over and over again in 2012.  ______________________ DRSS ______________________ Hunt Reports 2015 His & Her Leopards with Derek Littleton of Luwire Safaris - http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/2971090112 2015 Trophy Bull Elephant with CMS http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/1651069012 DIY Brooks Range Sheep Hunt 2013 - http://forums.accuratereloadin...901038191#9901038191 Zambia June/July 2012 with Andrew Baldry - Royal Kafue http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7971064771 Zambia Sept 2010- Muchinga Safaris http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4211096141 Namibia Sept 2010 - ARUB Safaris http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6781076141 | |||
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Powertrip: Your $15K max for a "cat" is probably not going to be enough. The guy I've been going to in Namibia for the past 8 years does offer a 14-day Leopard hunt for $12K with a $6K refund if you don't get your cat. This year he had two Leopard export licenses and filled them both. He had three Leopard hunters and filled two of the three so 66% for baited Leopard isn't bad - especially with the drought they've had this year. For the past several years his daily rates for PG hunts have been only $250 per person per day for 1x1 and your the only hunter on the property or "in camp". You stay in a nice private bungalow with private bath etc. You'd be the only hunter on 50K acres of low-fence, free-range, fair-chase land. He recently indicated he may have to increase a bit for 2014 as his rates have been the same for several years. His PG trophy fees are about average for that part of NW Namibia but very, very nice quality animals. While a Leopard hunt with him with airfare would keep you under your budget, you would have nothing left over for taxidermy, PG trophies of opportunity, dip/pack, shipping, tips etc. On the other hand, you could go to his place and do a 10-day PG only hunt and take a Mountain Zebra, Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok and Warthog with airfare, tips etc for under $7500. Can't give you any kind of estimate on taxidermy because there is a huge cost and shipping difference between flat skins and European mounts and full shoulder or full body mounts. Several AR members have hunted with him and like me some are repeats. PM me and I'll give you his web site info. | |||
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For your first African hunt you should definitely do plains game and leave the "dangerous game" for another day when money is not so tight and you are better prepared to deal with boredom (baited hunt). Namibia (or South Africa, but Namibia is more hunter-friendly and a little more economical) farm hunts are a great bargain. You can take a different animal every day for 7 or more days and enjoy the thrill of seeing game almost constantly. There's nothing wrong with hunting a high-fenced property if it is, like many Namibian farms, as much as 50 or even 100 square miles under one fence. Most farms also have extensive low-fenced areas which also have lots of game (try keeping an eland or kudu behind a fence of any kind!) In my opinion, full-blown taxidermy is overrated -- you can get European skull mounts, which don't deteriorate and don't require display in a climate-controlled space for only the cost of shipping. And shipping skulls and horns is a fraction of what a taxidermied shoulder mount costs to ship. Besides, your new wife, upon whose good will you must depend for transportation after trading your vehicles for a trip to Africa, will find the Euro mounts displayed on the back patio or in your man cave much less offensive than the glassy doe-eyes of mounted heads staring at her. Set aside $10,000 for a budget. Use $2500 for transportation, $5,000 for daily rate and trophy fees, and the remaining $2,500 for tips, incidentals, and shipping the dry horns and skulls home. You'll likely even have enough money left to have some of the hides tanned in Africa and sent to you with your horns. (Your bride will love the tanned hides, which she will immediately claim as her own for decorator purposes, and appreciate them MUCH more than the plaintiff stare of a dead animal on the wall.) | |||
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Stonecreek: And on the "third hand"  the place I'm talking about only charges $100 a day for the observer fee, so....take the new bride with and still under $10K for the two of them including airfare and a few days sightseeing or a side trip up to Vic Falls.My best half was a born and raised city chick. Never hunted (other than department stores) or hiked in the woods ever. Took her to Namibia the first year as an observer. She loved it so much we've been going back every year and the second year she became a "hunter" and as hunted WITH me every year since and has taken multiple head of PG. All I can say is life is MUCH easier then they love it too - never a question of money or kit...mostly how soon can we get back. One way we save money is to bring the previous years trophies back with us as checked baggage. I do all the import paperwork and Customs and USF&W inspections myself. We only bring back flat skins and rugs and European mounts. The money we save covers more than the cost of one economy r/t airline ticket. | |||
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Asking a question like this is going to get you a lot of different answers! It would be hard to find a GOOD cat hunt for $15K these days...but not impossible. $20K all in would be more realistic. Free-range Lion is probably out of the question, but leopard would be doable. The trick is to do your research ahead of time and know exactly where you'd want to hunt and who you'd want to hunt with. Then, let those PH's/outfitters know that if they ever have a good deal on a cancellation hunt to let you know. Cancellation hunts can be a great way to save boatload of money, but you need to have done your homework ahead of time, and have the flexibility to take off on 2-8 weeks notice. My own personal advice is to save up what you want to spend, then save up some more. Whether you're hunting plains game or dangerous game, a lot of the expenses are going to be the same - plane tickets, cost of time away from work, dipping and packing, taxidermy, etc. And those are a large part of the total cost. My first safari was a 14 day leopard hunt. My plan was to shoot a leopard, bait, and 4-5 trophy plains game species. I was lucky in that we had accomplished that by day six of the hunt. Since I was already there, and had all of my sunk costs covered, I decided to use my reserve and keep hunting. In the end I ended up shooting something like 25 animals total. Adding those extra plains game species only cost a few thousand dollars more, and it allowed me to hunt every day I was there. That's my advice. YMMV! | |||
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Power, You mentioned that elephants with big ivory were on the list but were not in the budget. What if it had no ivory? A tuskless cow is definitely in your budget. I just got back from my first African hunt so I am just a beginner, but the first animal I killed was a tuskless. If you think it needs ivory to be the time of your life I disagree. It was plenty intense for me and I saw lots of elephant. If you have a 15,000 budget I say book it. I had been saving a bit and decided it was time to go. I had just got married and my wife knew I had always wanted to go so she said in three or four years I could book a hunt. While she was gone one day I sent my money, so when she got home all I could say was I sent money that is never coming back. They get over it. Just go for it if that's what you want to do. Be it cats PG or whatever go hunt. Its all worth it. | |||
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literally 2 cents- double what ever you think it will cost, then you will be safe at least. A lot of good info here but personal experience tells me it will be more than less. heck I have usually spent a couple hundred on tips before i even get close to hunting-HA! | |||
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Powertrip Since you are in Illinois Take a trip to the Field Museum in Chicago. You will find the Maneaters of Tsavo and a more recent and larger maneater there as well. They have many other animals on display. Then maybe take a trip to a good zoo and view the cats especially your leopard. Then take a look at the plains game and maybe the bigger antelope. Check out the Kudu, Sable, Roan and Eland. Then Check out the bush pig and the wart hog. Finally check out cape buffalo. When you have seen all of these in person think about your hunt a little more. As far as hunting in the US there are probably more hunters in the US than anywhere on the planet. I know the annual white tail kill in Texas in 2012 was 636,000 hunters took about 546,000 deer. If you cannot find something you like in the US you can check with Canada for huge whitetails. In the mean time work hard on your marksmanship.
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Cats most likely "require" a full mount, rug or such. A plains game hunt means more enjoyable days afield, maybe take an observer, do some sightseeing etc. Namibia would be my choice as it is a wonderful Country, safe, lots to see and do and cost efficient. Consider just talking lots of quality trophy pics and video and not incur the big cost of shipping trophies home and having them mounted. This will reduce the cost to almost the level of having enough funds left over for the start of a return trip. I have a trophy room, but no longer will ever bring anything back but photos from this point on. Good luck in your planning and "just do it" in some form or fashion. Larry Sellers SCI (International) Life Member | |||
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I am frankly surprised at a lot of the opinions above. Maybe they are like everything else - colored by our own experiences - and set in stone because we know no other. If you have a desire to shoot a cat on your first safari, who but you should decide? I have followed the more traditional schedule - plains game, then leopard, then buffalo, then tuskless elephant - but nobody but you can decide what floats your boat. If you have a goal, go for it - naysayers be damned! There are many - some who have an economic interest in the decision - who will tell you you get what you pay for. That is generally true, but there are some folks who offer hunts without a lot of bells and whistles at a reduced rate. Check out leopard hunting in Namibia. Lots of cats, lots of small operators with low overhead, easy to get to, large acreages. It has been several years (2008), but I hunted there for a daily rate of $195 with observer rate of $95 and a leopard trophy fee of $2500. Granted, costs have increased, but even if they have doubled, it is still within your budget. I had a great time and bagged my cat on the 3rd or 4th evening. Thoroughly enjoyed my time in the leopard blind. The ADHD posters above who spent their time reading a book instead of sitting quietly and enjoying observing nature shouldn't leopard hunt - it isn't for everybody. You don't have to plunk down the total hunt cost at one time. You pay for your tickets (~ $2500), then a couple of months later you go on your hunt and pay for that ($10,000 or more if you shoot some plains game too), then if you choose to mount anything 3 to 6 months later you get a bill for shipping (~ $1300) and another from a customs broker ($650), then a few weeks later you send your hide & skull to the taxidermist and pay a deposit, then pay installments if you wish over several months until your finished mount is ready. Very doable for most folks. As far as taking only pictures - don't believe it. I have gone on a couple of hunts where that was my intention - but when you walk up on a trophy of a lifetime, something inside says - I can't be satisfied with a photo and a memory. That split second decision is expensive! I'm not saying you should plan to bring back everything you shoot - but know that when the time comes, the left brain can quickly stifle the right brain (or vice-versa) and you should be prepared for the outcome. Good luck - look forward to reading your hunt report! Dave | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting Newb question about total cost of trip
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