Go to this website and check out the prices for Inafrica Safaris: http://www.inafricasafaris.net/Pricelist.html. HOLY SH*T!!! Are you kidding me? Almost makes me feel bad about paying so little for our trip to Namibia this coming June (not really). What has gotten into some of these outfitters in RSA? They charge FIVE TIMES what we're paying for a Kudu.

RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Gee, I think the sable at $15,500 trophy tax is a great deal. Once you add in the $500 a day in the Limpopo it might tend to get expensive though.

If a guy is willing to pay thousands of $$$ for a single ticket to watch 60 + year old Mick and Keith sing and play, why shouldn't the seller charge that figure for his ticket?

If an outfit can find a buyer at these high prices, he's a good business/marketer man I guess....

I hunted with them in 2001 for my first African hunt. Four of us bought a donated hunt at our local Safari Club fundraiser. The daily rate came to about $100/day. I thought the trophy fees then were higher than those listed by other safari outfitters, but with the lower daily rate, the total came to about the same. Their trophy fees then were about 1/3 of what is listed on this website.

I guess all of Kan's exposure on "The Safari Hunter's Journal" on the Outdoor Channel went to his head.

'n Toe bek is 'n heel bek.

Andrew McLaren

Translation?

quote:

Translation?

quote:

'n Toe bek is 'n heel bek.

It means, literally, "a closed/ quiet mouth is a intact/ in-one-piece mouth."

BTW Nitrox, I see they stole your idea of a photo on their homepage!

.

Andrew is right, BUT I have to explain something that I HEARD the other day.....

In principal I agree. The prices are high, and it is sad, because one of the big attractions to visit our country, is that you get a good value for money hunting holiday.

I think they do not realy make a living out of the hunting, and do it as if and when some one wants to book with them......Then they pocket big time.

What I heard was a concerning issue regarding trophy Kudu prices. To make my point I need to explain a bit in detail. We can only shoot 2 Big Bull's on our farm a year(5000acres), so we have to hunt in other areas as well.We can't get a Kudu above 50" nowadays for under R10000.00 (where you stand a fair change of seeing it in 7 days). That means COST price for us to pay the landwoner is about $1600.00. (I'm working on averages here)This is NOT the Eastern Cape Kudu.......

And nowadays EVERY client wants a 50" plus kudu. These animals takes a decade to reach that size. And Biltong hunters do not want to shoot Big Bulls(younger ones are tastier, and less expensive). So the younger animals get slaughtered as well.

Our main hunting area for Plains Game is not far from Lydenburg, and 3 of the top 10 Kudu comes from this area, and the one topping the list at #1 being one of them. They occur natural and abound (no put and take).

So if supply and demand rules, then there will be a shortage of BIG kudu in SA within the next ten years.

Landowners already know the demand is high, so they push up the prices. Good game management practice dictates that you shoot 30% of the Kudu male population in a year. How many trophy bulls make part of that if you are lucky to have 20 Bulls on 1500ha. 1/2????

So what I heard from a well known game rancher in the Bella Bella area, is that Kudu will be as expensive as Sable in the next ten years......True or not....I do not know, I personaly do not think that far ahead, (something with horns or teeth just my end it all tomorrow).....BUT these prices are already the first red lights that this is about to happen.

Visit www.nbsafaris.co.za for another look at prices, to see what I'm talking about, and then compare the prices of AR members like Andrew, Chris,Jaco,Frederik, Myself, and some of the others with that.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Gee, I think the sable at $15,500 trophy tax is a great deal. Once you add in the $500 a day in the Limpopo it might tend to get expensive though.

I'll give you one for $10 000.00 and you give me $320.00 per day for 7 days.......Total of $12240.00. Is that an even better deal???

infinito, trophy fee still inflated for that sable

Here is where we are going in June: OkandukaSeibe. Check out Dirk's prices. He has the 2008 prices listed, but we are going based on the 2006 prices which are approximately 10-15% lower. We are going for $160/day. I wonder if Namibia is going to go the same route as South Africa eventually. I imagine so, but hopefully it will stay this way for a good while. Who knows.

I hate to poop on your party but those prices are cheap compaired to a trophy whitetail hunt in Texas. Look at those if you want to see how fast you can go through $25,000.00. A whitetail deer is the most expensive thing you can hunt, excepting a black rhino maybe.

Whitetail Deer are also the most popular game animal on earth.

quote:

Whitetail Deer are also the most popular game animal on earth.

Is this a fact? Where do you get this info from, and on what is it based?

I'm not 100% sure this is fact, but many hunting shows and magazines talk about this being fact. I'm pretty sure it's true. I believe it is based on the total number of people who hunt Whitetail Deer. Don't hold me to it though.

These prices are very high.

I have a hard time understanding why they are so high. I understand one or two species being on the high side because some places don't have ready availability of certain animals. But all of these prices seem very high.

This price list bring 2 things to mind:

1) They can't charge these prices if nobody pays them...so who is paying these prices?

2) Notice that the price list repeats over and over that "donated hunts" are "subject to" this or that, and that "donated hunts" can be "upgraded" to this or that.

My guess is that this is because they are using fund raising banquets as a primary marketing source. I don't think you can make a living donating hunts and having them sell for .10 to .50 cents on the dollar without making it up somewhere. So what I think they may be doing is adding a huge premium to their daily rate and trophy fees to make it up.

I don't know if they are doing this or not, I am just speculating on what I see on the price list.

I don't donate hunts unless I want to make a DONATION. If it gets some name recognition for my company that's fine but I don't like the idea of trying to make a living that way.

Todd

Hard to disagree with anything said so far. As a businessman myself, I can appreciate getting the higher numbers if you can. If people are willing to pay their numbers and have a good time...so be it. BUT....there are substantially better prices with outstanding PH's available in the same area....I know because I was there.

And yes, statistically the whitetail is the most hunted animal. And you think they aren't expensive to hunt?.....go to the Sanctuary....you could probably go on 3 PG Safaris for the price of one "trophy" whitetail.

But...that's what freedom is for...choose your own destiny.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer

I aggree the prices are high in comparison to others, US$3000+ for kudu and nyala is very high, as is that sable, but SA has never been the most affordable sable country, so no surprises...

BUT..I aggree with ALF, I was recently chatting to some CWD researchers who said guys are willing to drop $10 000 on 'canned' captive raised Elk in Sask (400 plus B&C, correct me if that sounds off, I am not familar with antlered animal measuring)....ten grand, for an Elk farm hunt (inner circle scores of course)!!!!! You could have a 7 day PG safai for less than that!

And apprently its not isolated cases either, its getting all the more common, hence the worry about CWD and moving animals around...

Also, just becasue a Whitetail is the the 'most popular' game animal on earth (what ever that proves), that justifies $20000 prices? By that logic, impala and springbuck, the most popular game animals south of the Zambezi in terms of numbers of animals shot (I won't make fanciful claims about the whole planet), should then carry much higher prices tags?

Eitherway, most African hunting is way cheaper, as has been noted, than single species hunts in many other places. Yes, the overheads are lower in most cases, but so are they (I assume) in Central Asia, Pakistan etc where a Argali/Markhor/Urial etc hunt costs what...$20 000 before you wipe the shit out of your eyes, plus all the other costs? (I may be wrong, so please correct me if so on the Asian price issues)

They better supply a good amount of alcohol. Because 500 a day for a hunter. AND 200 for an OBSERVER!!!! If I was an observer, it would be open bar all day long.

10 days for 5 grand with NO ANIMALS!!! Thats money well spent there.

Sign me up.

quote:

Originally posted by TJR:
These prices are very high.

I have a hard time understanding why they are so high. I understand one or two species being on the high side because some places don't have ready availability of certain animals. But all of these prices seem very high.

This price list bring 2 things to mind:

1) They can't charge these prices if nobody pays them...so who is paying these prices?

2) Notice that the price list repeats over and over that "donated hunts" are "subject to" this or that, and that "donated hunts" can be "upgraded" to this or that.

My guess is that this is because they are using fund raising banquets as a primary marketing source. I don't think you can make a living donating hunts and having them sell for .10 to .50 cents on the dollar without making it up somewhere. So what I think they may be doing is adding a huge premium to their daily rate and trophy fees to make it up.

I don't know if they are doing this or not, I am just speculating on what I see on the price list.

I don't donate hunts unless I want to make a DONATION. If it gets some name recognition for my company that's fine but I don't like the idea of trying to make a living that way.

Todd

Good point Todd......

A 220" whitetail can be had in Michigan for just $36,000 at a private land hunt. I would rather go for an elephant for that kind of money or a three week plains game hunt and bring back 10-12 animals. While I will likely never see such a whitetail in the wild and have a chance to take such a one, so what? I would go back to Africa any day over that price tag..

If you do not like the prices, don't go. The law of supply and demand will dictate pricing.

I prefer Africa due to the type of hunting I like to do. I consider the prices charged for a Canadian Stone Sheep hunt to be off the scale of too high - so what do I do? I don't go. Simple as that.

With 5000+ safari operators in South Africa, several hundred in Namibia, Zim, Bots, Zambia and up to 50 in Moz - there is healthy competition in this business. Competition forces the various companies to donate hunts to SCI and other entities, they travel to Europe and the US to be at shows, so I say - let the market place rule this business.

I do not see anyone complaining about the 3000 or so high fence ranch hunts in Texas where you can buy a whitetail for up to $20,000. If there was no demand for this - it would disappear. Same for canned lion hunts or rhino darting "adventures".

To each his own...

I would never pay for a whitetail hunt, but if someone wants to pay $20,000 for one, it's their choice. I would rather just buy a hunting license (in my state, or out of state) and hunt them for much cheaper.

I've hunted whitetail in Pennsylvania all my life. Does that mean I'm being counted as thinking 'Whitetail Deer are also the most popular game animal on earth.'?

I hunt whitetail more than Impala and other African species for one reason: they're in Pennsylvania. That does not mean I enjoy whitetail hunting more than hunting in Africa. My trip to Africa last may was one of the most enjoyable hunts I've ever been on (and my only 'paid' hunt to date) and I can't wait to go back. I will not be paying $20,000 to hunt whitetail (which I do every year for the cost of an in state hunting license).

Again, to each his own. If you want to spend the $20,000, that's your choice.

quote:

Originally posted by Brain1:
I hate to poop on your party but those prices are cheap compaired to a trophy whitetail hunt in Texas. Look at those if you want to see how fast you can go through $25,000.00. A whitetail deer is the most expensive thing you can hunt, excepting a black rhino maybe.

There is an article that covers the business of pen raising deer and then selling them to ranches here in Texas. Incredible amounts of money to be made it seams.. to me it is shooting not hunting.

John

What a deal! Hartman Zebra $6550 Eland $3250, Kudu $3050 Daily rate $800. It proves one thing, There a sucker born every day!

quote:

Originally posted by sierrabravo45:
They better supply a good amount of alcohol.

Unless things have changed since 2004, you also must pay for your alcohol. That was one of the things we thought tacky - nickle and diming hunters for drinks at night around the fire.

As to the prices, I'd say they are like many things in life - "negotiable". My sable was less than half the cost of what is listed.

Brad

quote:

Originally posted by Ropes:

quote:

Originally posted by Brain1:
I hate to poop on your party but those prices are cheap compaired to a trophy whitetail hunt in Texas. Look at those if you want to see how fast you can go through $25,000.00. A whitetail deer is the most expensive thing you can hunt, excepting a black rhino maybe.

There is an article that covers the business of pen raising deer and then selling them to ranches here in Texas. Incredible amounts of money to be made it seams.. to me it is shooting not hunting.

John

Well, you are partially right. If you are shooting deer that were raised in pens, then it is shooting and not hunting. BUT if the deer you are hunting are descendants from pen raised deer, then it is the same as hunting regular deer.

There is lots of money to be made. The most expensive buck to date to be sold was "Dreambuck", who was sold here in Texas for $450,000!!!

quote:

and not to even speak of a Bighorn hunt.

15,000 bucks plus

Put it in perspective though ALF...there are only 3,500 bighorns in all of BC. Only about 14,000 stone sheep in the whole world.

Supply and demand.

Cheers,
Canuck

/

You missed my point ALF. I don't doubt the economics of the business in RSA, nor was I disputing the legitimacy of price increases there. My comment was specific to what outfitters are charging for sheep hunting in BC.

Only 25 to 30 bighorns get killed by non-residents in BC every year. How many thousands of hunters want to hunt bighorns in BC every year? Supply and demand.

[sidebar: Since you wanted to relate this to kudu in RSA, by all means.... I know there are probably individual ranches in RSA that kill more than 30 kudu every year...and how many ranches total can provide kudu? and how many countries can you hunt them in? Hunting 2 cape buff in 10 days cost me as much as a stone sheep hunt....I am sure more than 30 buff get whacked in each concession in Tanz every year.]

The thinhorns are a little different, but not much...approx 185 get killed by non-residents every year. Quite a few more than the bighorns but WAY WAY less than the demand.

I am sure the prices are just going to keep climbing for sheep...its just simple economics. Outfitters charge no more than the market will bear. Price seldom has much to do with what it costs to supply, and almost everything to do with what people will pay.

Sheep hunting, like Africa, gets in your blood. You may not appreciate hunting in "My BC" (to steal your way of talking about RSA) like I do, but you might want to make sure you take advantage of being able to hunt sheep with a $50 over-the-counter tag while you can. There are a lot of guys that would give up body parts to be able to do that.

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
Go to this website and check out the prices for Inafrica Safaris: http://www.inafricasafaris.net/Pricelist.html. HOLY SH*T!!! Are you kidding me? Almost makes me feel bad about paying so little for our trip to Namibia this coming June (not really). What has gotten into some of these outfitters in RSA? They charge FIVE TIMES what we're paying for a Kudu.

Why Namibia is such great value!!!

Plus from the looks of it, ALL the animals you would get would have been purchased at auction and released that year on that place. The reason the cost is so high. They would have to go out and buy it for you first! JMO anyway.


***

Those whitetail prices are rediculous. Any animal is just a set of horns or antlers and some venison.

Obviously bragging costs money.

My son and I are going July 2007 with www.huntersgame.co.za We chose the second package and 2x1 we are getting 10 days instead of 8 and we signed up prior to the price increase of about 15%. This was the first time nihan had raised prices since 2004.

quote:

Originally posted by martinbns:
My son and I are going July 2007 with www.huntersgame.co.za We chose the second package and 2x1 we are getting 10 days instead of 8 and we signed up prior to the price increase of about 15%. This was the first time nihan had raised prices since 2004.

That seems pretty reasonable. That same amount of money might get you a baboon and a hyrax at Inafrica Safaris' prices.

I hunted with JohnX Safaris on the East Cape of RSA in 2003 and paid the FULL amount -- no discounts. Before I actually booked with them, though, I compared the basic hunt cost and additional trophy fees for more animals to many, many other outfitters.

The long and short of it -- it cost me a hair under $10,000 for everything involving John X. The cost included lodging, food, alcohol, tips, VAT, trophy prep and PH/tracker, of course.

The original 1-on-1, 10-day hunt was $4,995, which included an impala, springbok, kudu, gemsbok and blesbok. I added a nyala (highest trophy fee at $1,700), zebra, bushbuck, warthog and both blue and black wildebeests. My PH threw in an extra springbok ram because I wanted one for a full rug. That's a total of 12 critters.

All, including the free springbok, were above-average specimens, with about 80% large enough to make the SCI books. Plus, the accomodations, food and every other service were top notch. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend John X to anyone.

The bad news, the airfare and everything AFTER the hunt cost me about $12,000 more. -TONY

I think Todd hit this one on the head. I will agree that demand has driven the price of kudu up. That is also true for zebra. Those are probably the 2 animals of the common plains game that I have seen the most dramatic rise in over the last 5 years. However, it would appear these folks are making up for "donated" hunts with the inflated pricing. When pricing one outfitter to another it is not uncommon to find large discrepances in pricing of daily rates and trophy fees. What you will usually see though is that in the end most of the good ones will all come in at about the same total. I do not mean that as justification for this however and actually know nothing about this outfitter. I just dont want anyone to misunderstand.

Mike,

You're dead on. When I started comparing prices, some outfits had very high daily rates but low trophy fees, and vice-versa. End result was pretty much a wash for most of them. John X seemed to have lower fees for both as part of its package deals, however; that's why I booked with them.

Also, the critters included in the package were species I really wanted, and although I planned to add another animal or two before I got there, I eventually added a BUNCH because once I started hunting, I decided it would probably be the ONLY trip I would ever make to Africa -- or at least to South Africa. For the most part, it seemed as if I was hunting Coues deer in southern AZ.

We arrived at the lodge from Pt. Elizabeth in the dark. When I walked out on the deck the next morning, the terrain and vegetation were muc like what we have here. Main diff were the monkeys bouncing from tree to tree. -TONY