Be prepared to account for EVERY round of ammo you use while in Zim. They are religiously counting ammo when it comes in and goes out. I am not sure what's behind this .. but at least 2 visitors have ended up staying in Zim longer than they planned, and in the end they screw you for money.

quote:

and in the end they screw you for money

That's what's behind it Russ

Hi Russ

It is pretty simple:

Hypothetically, if you arrive in Zimbabwe and declare lets say 60 rounds of . 375, conduct your safari and then depart, they want to make sure that
1. You are not leaving with 80 rounds
2. That you are leaving the country with the same caliber you arrived with

And remember, unlike most other countries,

3. There is no charge on ammo used in Zim, and they are not worried how many rounds you fire, it is just a precaution by the customs authorities.

So as per any other country, one has to be truthful on the declaration form especially when it comes to firearms and ammunition.

So, if you fire off, or ' use' 59 rounds, just say so and there is no issue

Mart

What if you tell the authorities that you fired all your rounds but in fact you left some with your PH? Do they have a way of checking?

I can't help but wonder if this is yet another way for the fine upstanding African government officials to part you from your money (such as the so-called ammunition tax which they want paid in cash and no reciept of any kind is given). I loved hunting in Africa but it's disappointing to see the same old s**t over and over again which is dragging the whole f***ing continent down. I guess there should be no suprises when it comes to Africa.

hey Pegleg, we all know what ammo means to us here, especially when a box of 20 .375 rounds is $ 400!!!

As I said, oh we fired all our rounds, there are no questions after that.

As for taxes, Zimbabwe does not have an ' ammo ' tax, or a ' firearm' tax, unlike Botswana where you are charged for every round on entry, and there is no refund for unfired rounds on departure...............funny how they don't charge the photo guys a 'film ' tax.......

Africa.......talk fast, smile slowly,deny any wrong doing, drink lots of beer and enjoy the hunting.

Mart

I guess that the real question is whether or not you have to pick up your spent cartridges and show that you shot that many and are taking back the rest.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
I guess that the real question is whether or not you have to pick up your spent cartridges and show that you shot that many and are taking back the rest.

That's a good question, I wonder if we'll get the answer?

I've never been asked to account for empty cartridges, but let them read this and "Monkey see....Monkey do."

quote:

Africa.......talk fast, smile slowly,deny any wrong doing, drink lots of beer and enjoy the hunting.

Hah! Amen to that Brother Pieters!

They paid my guy a visit today and searched his premises ....

I don't know why anyone would take ammo back home with them. It is just extra weight and the cost is negligible compared to the hunt.

There is no way the authorities can account for every round you used or did not use.

'Your guy' has upset someone or not complied with the local regulations.

[QUOTE]
BigfiveHQ.com
They paid my guy a visit today and searched his premises ....

B5HQ
Who is They?
Searched the client or the outfitter?

ps. I go to Zim every year, so actually quite curious.

Can't imagine why the Zim gov't wouldn't want whites to have enough ammo to resist when the "war vets" roll in to take possession of the safari operations.

The empty shells were ejected into the high grass and lost Bwana.

and a happy April 1st to you as well!

Rich

this has got to be a joke, right?

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:

quote:

Africa.......talk fast, smile slowly,deny any wrong doing, drink lots of beer and enjoy the hunting.

Hah! Amen to that Brother Pieters!

So does that mean there is lots of Beer at camp?

Hey Adam from memory you better take a few bottles of JD for Marty aleast i think he enjoied it when we met up again in bula's after my hunt for the show back in 2008. Can't really say as Stanton and i were well gassed

I'm with Idaho. This is April Fools, BS, or Urban Legend. The times I've hunted Zim, the people at the airport couldn't have been nicer.

The pains in the ass were the American middle-aged couple standing in my way when I was trying to show the authorities my gun. They were trying to remember all the shots they fired.

Back and forth. "I fired two on the buffalo". "No, you fired three". "Oh, yeah, right."Then I fired six at the warthog". "No, I think it was five". "You fired seven at the target, remember?" "I think it was only six".

This went on for between five and ten minutes. I was about ready to tell them what idiots they were, and how nobody really gave a shit how many shots they fired, when a frustrated baggage handler pushed by them and I dove through the opening. When I went back in the terminal, the husband and wife were still trying to remember whether they shot twice at the impala, or three times, and of course they were still standing in everybody's way.

No sadly kensco..not April fools BS...BUT as always, the trouble was at Vic falls airport. Every tourist I know who has had trouble has had it at vic falls.

In Zim, you can bring a handgun, no problem - if you fly into Harare, but if you fly into vic falls, the PH better be holding a pre aranged temp license...

Still in this instance as is normal, it is a means to screw the operator rather than the client.

This is ABSOLUTELY not an April fools joke.

The staff at Vic Falls Airport have developed a habit of troubling tourists, and hunters, with firearms and ammo are easy targets for fleecing. And there are some scary people there running the Customs/Security/ Baggage business.

Be sure to completely itemize your ammo on the permit / firearms import documents.
Do not import components without disclosing them.
Preferably, do not take any ammo home with you if you are leaving from Vic Falls. I recommend shooting it all up in a target competion at the end of your hunt, or something like that.

Les

quote:

Originally posted by LHowell:
This is ABSOLUTELY not an April fools joke.

The staff at Vic Falls Airport have developed a habit of troubling tourists, and hunters, with firearms and ammo are easy targets for fleecing. And there are some scary people there running the Customs/Security/ Baggage business.

Be sure to completely itemize your ammo on the permit / firearms import documents.
Do not import components without disclosing them.
Preferably, do not take any ammo home with you if you are leaving from Vic Falls. I recommend shooting it all up in a target competion at the end of your hunt, or something like that.

Les

Ah the Vic Falls customs officers. I was flying out of there a couple of years ago and had bought a kudu horn carved with the big five. When I got to customs, the officer said I needed an export permit for it. My wife accused him of wanting to steal it so he could sell it to the next guy in line. $50 made the export permit unnecessary.

quote:

So does that mean there is lots of Beer at camp?

Yep and I also enjoy the hunting! And when I enjoy the hunting I have a hard time smiling slowly....

This is not a joke. "They" are the CID (the uber police) and even worse, CIO people. CIO are Zim's CIA. They showed up at my the lodge where I stayed and searched the premises, checking all firearms and permits at the same time. This is not something the outfitter brought on himself. It was triggered by a very nasty piece of work of the female gender who checks these things at Vic Falls airport. She doesn't understand that you can easily burn though 50-100 rounds of shotgun ammo on birds.

And the more ammo you use up, the more questions they ask. So shooting up your ammo is going to make things worse, not better.

Take in a modest amount, shoot a justifiable number of rounds, and bring out what you don't shoot (including your empties, to prove you didn't leave any live ammo behind).

It's PRECISELY you guys handing out $50 notes that have made this situation what it is. Even the guy at check-in asked me for money, even though he didn't do a darn thing other than put a baggage tag on my bag. Don't give money to people to do the jobs they are paid to do. If someone goes out of his way to help you, fine, give him a modest tip. But you should not fall for a shakedown. Just answer the questions calmly and don't offer money. Call the bluff. Take out your pen and take names if they get pushy.

Kensco, those "Idiots" explaining how much ammo they used could easily have been you. They weren't doing it to be sociable, they were getting the treatment.

quote:

Don't give money to people to do the jobs they are paid to do.

This is Africa we're talking about. Shakedowns are common to every African country I've been to, and I worked there for quite while. The Joburg airport has gotten really bad since black empowerment. Never used to be that way. Nairobi is legendary. You are usually going to have to bribe somebody. Not always, but often, no matter where you are.

Mexico and Indonesia are just as bad.

I've never been pressured at Vic Falls by anyone. Going in, smooth as could be. One luggage tag had been torn off a bag. The handler brought it to me. Didn't have the right change, was asked politely to step aside and was given the correct change in about 90 seconds.

Going out; perfect service. A young lady changed my flights the day before; more efficient than in the U.S. and South Africa.

Gun inspection, perfect again; quick and efficient, except for the American couple who stood in everyone's way pretending to know what they were doing.

The last time through Vic Falls was 2008, so I can't speak for the last two years, but if you had trouble prior to that, you created it yourself. Drop the attitude next time through, and just get on with it.

Having lived and traveled overseas for the last twenty years I've watched and listened to a lot of pseudo-travellers make a mess of things; pay to make things happen, where if they had just shut-up they would have gotten the same result for free.

Personally, I think if you look stupid and act stupid in a foreign airport, you'll get tried on for size. The airport servicing Caracas, Venezuela is probably the worst for scams. If they sense that you don't know what you are doing, you are easy prey.

I always leave a box or two of 375 H&H behind as part of the PH's tip if he expresses an interest.

I'll probably be back to Vic Falls in 2012. I'll be curious to see whether things have changed.

quote:

I always leave a box or two of 375 H&H behind as part of the PH's tip if he expresses an interest.

Be sure to take an extra $500 to buy your way out of jail, and an extra $1000 to pay the airline's "change" fee.

quote:

Be sure to take an extra $500 to buy your way out of jail, and an extra $1000 to pay the airline's "change" fee.

It's probably going to be a good bit more than $500 to "buy" your way out, [dollarization has raised the price of everything else too.] but the good news is the airlines [SAA] might not be so punitive under the circumstances!

I'm wondering if driving across to Livingstone wouldn't be a better alternative? Anybody done that?

Les

People at the Harare airport have always been a pleasant surprise for me. I have had the usual minor shakedowns at JoBerg.
I was getting hasseled about cartridges going into Beira in 2006. The "cartouches" were in the "valise" being loaded into the bush plane while my guns were being inspected. "Big problem." The bush pilot came back, told the goons that he'd bring them some more meat on Tuesday, and the problem went away. Petty corruption at its finest.
I think the scariest airport to bring guns and ammo through customs was Moscow. Having a local guide to meet and greet and handle the officials and bribes was a lifesaver. This was in 2001, and I don't know if it's better, worse, or the same.

quote:

scariest airport to bring guns and ammo through customs was Moscow.

A Canadian hunter I was chatting to told me of a similar issue he had in central Asia (Kyrgyzstan if memory serves correct). He was told to account for all fired ammo and on his way out he was missing a single .300WM fired case. The customs lady was giving him hell and he couldn't understand her. He was trying to explain that he ejected the casdes in the heat of hunt and lost it. During this time a guy in military uniform sees the dispute and walks up. The guys telling the story then thought that things were going to get worse, when this military guy proceeded to tear a strip off the customs lady, apoplogized for her in English and handed his ammo box back to him...

Will outfitters begin keeping their used cartridges to make up for any that clients loose in the bush (of the same caliber of course)?

Russ if I believed every ghost story I ever heard about overseas travel I'd be hiding under my bed in Oregon.

Did the problem you describe just start happening in 2009, or this year? When did the "two visitors" visit Zim, and get detained? I would like to hear more of that story.

Usually when someone gets "detained" in a foreign country they turned "smart-ass" early in the disagreement, and that will get you no where.

We used to carry what we called a throw-down wallet in Venezuela. If the Transito stopped you and you were in a hurry you reached up behind the visor, showed him you only had $5.00 in your wallet, apologized, gave it to him and you were on your way. If you weren't in a hurry, or just not in the mood, they would pull you over because you wouldn't "cooperate" and fifteen minutes later they would walk over and ask if you changed your mind. I would let them know I had all day sit there, and they would wave me on.

In an airport, for the most part if anyone, unsolicited, walks up and offers to help you, don't acknowledge they exist, walk on.

If you've seen a pack of wolves bring down a moose, that's what it was like in the "Caracas" airport. It was a team sport, and they were good. I warned a friend of mine his first trip to Venezuela, and he still got nailed. He looked dumb, so the con-man asked if he could help. Robert told him he needed to go to the National Terminal. The guy led him out to the curb, hailed a taxi, told Robert it would be $40. He didn't see the man pay the taxi driver, but he probably paid him $10. Robert settled-in to the back seat and about 15 seconds later the driver had pulled forward to the National Terminal, a distance of about 100 yards, and that was that.

In 2008 we were catching an internal flight from Harare to Vic Falls.The official at the airport counted every round for all four rifles and inspected all the paper work and rifles -polite but VERY thorough.We then found out we were "over weight " for the flight but $US,about $90 from memory ,fixed it.The only place in the world I have ever had my ammo weighed was flying from Bulawayo to Harare,
again polite but VERY thorough.

I left all of my extra .375 HH ammo in Zambia after my safari in Sept. 2009. My PH and his apprentice acted like they really appreciated it.
There was no inspection or questions about anything at the airport.

This practice probably should be thought over before I did it again.

Zambian man arrested

Chinhoyi Bureau
April 6, 2010

A Zambian businessman has been arrested in connection with smuggling more than 3000 rounds of ammunition, shoes and a television set into Zimbabwe en-route to Zambia in breach of the Customs and Excise Act.

Simon Banda (age not given) will also be charged with contravening the Firearms Act for insecure handling of ammunition after it was discovered that the consignment was loaded into an ordinary trailer. The consignment was coming from Cape Town in South Africa. The offence was discovered when the driver of a haulage truck, Lovemore Mukono Muzavazi made a report that two boxes of 70mm 12 Bore rounds had been stolen between Chinhoyi and Karoi along the Harare-Chirundu Road after unknown suspects had cut a tent covering the load.

Each box contained 250 rounds of ammunition.

Muzavazi is assisting police with investigations.

Acting Mashonaland West police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ian Kohwera, yesterday confirmed the arrest, adding that the suspects were being held at Karoi Police Station. "I can confirm that we received a report of theft of ammunition between Chinhoyi and Karoi by the driver of a haulage truck after discovering that the tent covering the consignment had been cut," he said.

He said Muzavazi reported that after checking the load, he discovered that two boxes containing 70mm 12 Bore rounds were missing and made a report at Karoi Rural Police Station.

The matter was handed over to CID for investigations who established that the truck left Cape Town on March 21, but noted that the consignment of 319 514 units of 70mm 12 Bore rounds and 354 units of 9 mm pistol rounds as reflected on the consignment note was in an ordinary trailer in contravention of arms handling, which stipulates that they have to be in a container.

Banda and Muzavazi reportedly told the police that the consignment was loaded in a container before the truck broke down in South Africa and another truck with an ordinary trailer was summoned from Harare to recover the load.

Muzavazi works for Gravity Haulage Company while Banda who is believed to be the owner of the consignment runs an ammunition company based in Lusaka, Zambia.

After initial investigations the truck was cleared to leave for Chirundu Border Post where further checks would be made. Checks by Zimra established that there were 12 extra boxes that were not declared at Beitbridge Border Post.

It also established that there were 16 pairs of shoes, nine boxes of snooker game accessories, 50 cartons of plastic clips, a 32 inch colour TV set and stand and groceries that were not declared belonging to Banda.

He will be charged with contravening sections of the Customs and Excise Act for smuggling and the Firearms Act for insecure handling of ammunition.

"The 12 extra boxes did not appear on the bill of entry leading to his (Banda) immediate arrest. He is expected to appear in court soon to answer to two charges of smuggling and insecure handling of ammunition," Asst Insp Kohwera said.