quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Apparently my quote is somewhat dated.

Precisely!

George Leonard Hirter wrote a book about doing a complete African safari for a few hundred dollars.

That weas dated too.

Saeed,

C-208 charter between $600 and $1200 an hour, Daily fee $1200 a day, making a complete ass of myself in public PRICELESS!!



I checked my 777 charter numbers at work today and I'll suffice to say that I was WAY off.

My apologies to you and the entire board.

Humbly

Greg

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanamich:

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
there is a donated buff hunt at the upcoming SCI conven. in the selous apparently, where one of the "not included in the donation" items is the air charter into camp- in the listing it gives the fee for that as approx $5000!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is it just me or does rhat seem a little excessive?

If the operator is based in Arusha than the quote is accurate. In this case, I'm sure the outfitter can "make a plan" to meet hunter in Dar and save on charter cost. The suggestion that the charter should originate from Arusha is so that fresh supplies can be sent with the charter. Also, some operators purely use C208B's for all their charters whether there are 1 client or 5 clients! Quotes can be had for smaller planes....

let me see if i've got this right- i pay $1200-1600/day for the daily rate, which hopefully includes food. then i pay $5000 for the flight that brings that fresh food into camp with me on board. such a deal!!

I've noticed that the "charter" rate tends to sky rocket on donated hunts. Of course the outfitter isn't getting any of the charter rate besides his 15% off the top.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanamich:

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
there is a donated buff hunt at the upcoming SCI conven. in the selous apparently, where one of the "not included in the donation" items is the air charter into camp- in the listing it gives the fee for that as approx $5000!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is it just me or does rhat seem a little excessive?

If the operator is based in Arusha than the quote is accurate. In this case, I'm sure the outfitter can "make a plan" to meet hunter in Dar and save on charter cost. The suggestion that the charter should originate from Arusha is so that fresh supplies can be sent with the charter. Also, some operators purely use C208B's for all their charters whether there are 1 client or 5 clients! Quotes can be had for smaller planes....

let me see if i've got this right- i pay $1200-1600/day for the daily rate, which hopefully includes food. then i pay $5000 for the flight that brings that fresh food into camp with me on board. such a deal!!

You got it wrong. The $5000 get's you to the Selous probably from Arusha as that is a 3-6 hour flight one way (depending on destination in the Selous). As the plane goes in the day you go to camp, outfitters send in fresh supplies such as fruits & veg and perishables as cargo. Whether you take a caravan (+-10 seater) or a 206 (+-3 seater)fresh supplies will go with. Is that a problem?


Surestrike,
you may be right or wrong on that I don't know. But in the case Jdollar explained, I'm pretty sure the reason for the $5000 is because the charter originates from Arusha. It's a long way.....

Why would anyone fly from Arusha to the Selous?

Would not be better flying from Dar?

Yes it would be better. I don't know the details of the donation in question but if a hunt involves Masaailand and Selous areas than that would happen. I know some outfitters that are based in Arusha but also have Selous blocks, receive their clients in Arusha and then charter them to selous the next day. Alternative is to have a handling agent in Dar to Meet & greet clients and get them on a cahrter from Dar. Or fly scheduled to Dar from Arusha and then connect with a charter.

Simply some people just do not care about it being more expensive. The less complicated and more direct charter is what is important to them. If they are doing a photo tour in the North or a Masailand hunt they just want to fly direct to the Selous rather than going through Dar.

Mark

quote:

Simply some people just do not care about it being more expensive

One look in Robin Hurts Charter Price sheet confirm this !

Seloushunter

quote:

Originally posted by mboga biga bwana:

quote:

Simply some people just do not care about it being more expensive

One look in Robin Hurts Charter Price sheet confirm this !

Seloushunter

Mboga,
remove 15% as commission on those rates and whatever you get is the charter operator ccost to the outfitter. you will find that they are still quite high. the general high cost of Tz charters are due to overall high costs.

why are the charter costs in Tz any high than most other places in Africa( except equatorial Africa). the old bullshit excuse about higher fuel, parts, labor etc. should apply throughout the general area. the answer is Tz operators and charter services realize they are dealing with a well-heeled clientel who are willing to pay whatever it costs to get to the bush and take advantage of a captive audience

Jdollar,
Well there is a niche for you then. Come start your charter company in TZ and undercut everyone by 50% and you'll soon be making all the money you need to hunt the rest of your life

You know this is off topic a little but since when did anyone think safari hunting and all the associated costs were anything but expensive? If a hunter can't afford a particular hunt and all it entails there are numerous other options to explore or just don't hunt. Bitching about how much something costs is, well just bitching.

Last January while in Cameroon we could have taken the extremely unreliable national airline flight from Douala to our pick up point but we didn't want to wait around possibly a couple of days on either end of the safari and maybe miss our Air France connection and/or some hunting time. We chose the offered charter in a 18 seat aircraft. It was the only thing available and incredibly expensive. If I wanted to do my hunt in the way I wanted to the charter was the only viable option. Bitching and moaning about getting ripped off would have been useless. The charter cost X and it was my choice to utilize it or not.

I guess the bottom line is if you don't like what something costs just don't buy it. I don't!

Mark

I have nothing more constructive to add but I really like Bwanamich's emoticon!

I have used Air 2000 for all my southern African destinations(RSA and Botswana) and Northern Air for charters in Tanz. I have made 8 flights on Northern Air and 12+ on Air 2000 and can highly recommend both. MUFASA