For those of you planning on waiting until January to book a hunt in RSA (looking better all the time) understand that not all game is available "over the counter." What I mean is, for game such as Oribi, Red Duiker, Livingstons Suni, Cape Grysbok etc., you may need a permit. This can vary from Province to region, so be sure to check with your Hunting Consultant, booking agent or PH. I applied a year in advance for my Oribi and Grysbok permit and received both. Others in our party didn't and they did not get a permit. In some areas, permits for Red Duiker and Suni may already be gone for next year, so plan ahead if you want any of the above.
For DG: Cape Buffalo can be had most anytime with advance notice to sort out the paperwork with current prices ranging from $12K-$20K depending upon the area. Quality is generally good to exceptional. Black Rhino....my advice is sell your Lear Jet and we'll talk...just kidding. White Rhino are available as 7 day packages starting at $35K but they continue to increase like the national debt...ours. Expect to shell out $100K and up for exceptional record Bulls. Lion: hunts will be available until February of 2008 unless they (RSA Gov't) finds a new jerk of the chain to change something. Lioness hunts are available until then in the $8K range plus daily rates for mature females; males average $18K-$35K depending upon the age. No immature Lion's are available via myself or others I represent so please don't ask. Leopard requires a permit (CITES and RSA) so look into these far in advance. Plan accordingly. US CITES permits are taking 3-6 months to acquire, so I would hunt the Leopard first, then apply right away once home. Price again depends upon the Province, bait vs dogs etc. Same with Elephant. Plan ahead. Price will run $25K-$30K dependant upon the class of ivory you seek.
There are plenty of species available in the plains game department, along with a few exotics. However, South Africa is prohibiting the introduction of exotics into areas/ranches where they aren't already established. So I do not look for exotics to spread like they have here at home. The outlook in RSA is very bright as they offer a great list of options besides hunting. Photo safaris and family vacations are becoming popular, and many in conjunction with hunting. I have found the people of South Africa to be very friendly, and the PH's to be of the highest standards. If I sound too much like an advertisement, sorry, but I mean every word I say. South Africa is a fun and exciting place to hunt or visit. I like the other countries too, very much, but I realize many of your concerns with what's going on elsewhere. Would I hunt Zimbabwe right now: absolutely. Tanzania: not until I knew the final deal on the fee increase. What a crock to dump on all the PH's and Outfitters. I'm hoping they will get the injunction and at least put it off until next year. It is only motivated by greed and controlling the hunting industry IMHO. Good hunting and stay safe, David

Good post David,

Also you need to add TIA "This is Africa" and we could end up with another strike like this year where government workers striked for over a month. Pushing back and pilling up a lot of paperwork. Trophies that had to be shipped in that time just had to wait to get cleared. So fix the paperwork as long as you can ahead.

I was lucky to get the hippo and croc permit for CChunter in time of the strike as the animals are not your avg. bag and one of the top "white" officials in the area handled the permits. Luckily because of his contact I could get baboon permits as well this was all during the strike, you could phone head office in Polokwane untill your ears fell off but nobody would answer.

On the subject of baboons and monkeys especially in Limpopo the permit for shooting the animals must be issued while the hunt is in progress if your permit comes after the date of the hunt the trophy baboon or moneky will not get exported. So make sure with the outfitter to arrange baboon or monkey permit before hand or while on the hunt if you have the need to export either of those, the permits are not expensive.

Then to shoot the baboon or monkey and not export it make sure you shoot it in the right season. Then you could just add that the owner shot it if out of season you still need to get a permit I doubt that people will really check but if you get caught it could get nasty.
Thanx to Bunny huggers a group called "Save the monkeys" these rules are in place.

It can get very expensive if you decide to mount the ape and not have the right paperwork and they cannot ship it.

Primates and swine makes our USDA folks jittery. I was with two agents yesterday as they unpacked a large shipment of African game. Although they inspected and checked off every cape, skin, horn and skull, they didn't seem concerned until Mr Warthog showed up. They put the gloves on right away. Meanwhile a crate shows up with yellow quarantine tape all over it. Seems Mr. Hunter took some Opossums while he was down under in NZ. Man, you should have heard them. I didn't realize they carried everything from A to Z. I listen and learn. We don't want any dread disease entering the country and that's why our respective countries require their "process." TIA was something I learned quickly Thanks for the info Frederik. Everyone should take note of it when planning their next hunt. Good hunting, David