Well, it took almost exactly a year to get our trophies from Namibia from last year's hunt with Vaughan Fulton, including the 90 day quarantine at his location and the time required for taxidermy services in Windhoek. We arrived home last June on the 26th; our trophies arrived in San Francisco on the 9th. I used International Air Cargo Services in Windhoek and Hunter International in San Fran for my shipping and brokerage services. Following is the itemized price list for charges to get the trophies from the taxidermist in Windhoek (Reiser) to my front door in New Mexico. I thought you all might be interested.

Brokerage fee $ 285.00 (basic fee is $190 for 1 hunter, $95 for additional hunter)
Exam handling 85.00
Collect airfreight cost 1,113.75
Collection fee 44.55
Airline import service fee 35.00
Airline storage min. 30.00 good thru 6/20 (Monday)
Residential delivery 395.89

Total $1,989.19

This is for the following trophies: unfinished (to be mounted here) - 2 kudu horns/hides, 1 springbok head/hide, 1 hartebeest head/hide; finished - two mt. zebra rugs, warthog skull mount, 2 sprinbbok skull mounts, gemsbok skull mount, springbok rug, gemsbok rug, springbok tanned hide, hartebeest rug, hartebeest backskin, hartebeest skull mount, 2 kudu backskins, impala skull mount, impala backskin, springbok hide, and probably one or two more that I forgot. Considering what some folks have posted here, I believe I got a pretty good deal and was very pleased with the level of service received from Pam Foerster at IACS and Maria Felix at HI. You can't go wrong with these two ladies - they maintained excellent contact with me throughout the shipping process and really went the extra mile to make sure all the bases were covered. My dealings with them have been excellent and I would not hesitate to use their services again. I can't comment on the taxidermy work yet, but will put up another discussion when the trohies arrive here and I get to inspect them.

There's another post floating around with all the contact information for these three outfits if anybody is interested in using them for their Namibian hunt.

DR: Your post is almost a mirror image of my entire experience and charges, with Reiser and the same ladies. The only problem I had was in delivery of my shipment to Golden State for tanning. Somehow, it left SF and went to Sacramento instead and sat in a warehouse for 2 weeks! Maria tracked it down and got it sorted out properly. My son (Riverman) called from Namibia the other day, and has had the trip of a lifetime with similar trophies as both of ours. His shipping arrangements will be the same. He was having dinner with Wilko and the PH's at the time. Look for his report in a week or so when he returns.

The fees charged seemed fair and equitable. Hopefully coppersmith is reading this post.

After a little mixup (which was handled expertly by Hunter International) the trophies are here and unpacked. I was very pleased with the work done by Reiser Taxidermy in Windhoek.

Here are most of mine (lacking the kudu and springbok shoulder mounts which will be sent to a local taxidermist shortly).

DesertRam,

Could you give me an idea of the size of the crate(s). I'm expecting my trophies to be finished any day now.

BTW, Love the oryx rug.

Thanks,

My crate from last June's safari is nearby! The shippng co. was supposed to deliver it today but needed a lift-tailgate truck for the 390 pound crate---it's supposed to happen tomorrow.

All that plus about the same for my dad was in a single crate of about 4 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet (sorry, that's an approximation - I can measure the empty crate if you really need it). The crate weighed 91 kgs according to Pam in Windhoek. It was shipped by truck to Jo-burg, then by air to London and on to San Francisco (maybe through NYC, I'm not sure).

And thanks, I'm really tickled with the rugs too. I had the hartebeest done as a rug as well, but this picture doesn't do it justice.

DesertRam,

No need for exact measurements. I appreciate your time and thanks for the info.