So far I've been waiting ten months for my last trophies to make the short journey from Northern Mozambique to my taxidermist in South Africa. And, these were trophies taken at the very tail end of the season, so they weren't sitting around for months in a skinning shed -- or at least they shouldn't have been.

Ten months and they haven't even been measured, let alone had the taxidermy work started. And, in the shipment is a Leopard -- CITES permit required to get the license to shoot it -- so, I've had to renew the import permit once already and will likely have to renew again before it's all said and done -- a crap shoot that I'd never take on just for drill. Polar Bear trophies forever stuck in Canada might well foreshadow Leopard trophies forever stuck in Africa one day soon.

I may have led a sheltered life, but I've never seen anything like this after any of my prior African trips and this all seems nothing short of ridiculous. The hunting business must be VERY good in Africa nowadays! As has been the usual case, I was actively planning my next African trip before I finished my last one -- but I've put all those plans on hold because of this trophy snafu. And, I'm also considering a change to my traditional tipping routine. I like to tip well, but from now on I think that I'll tip all but the camp staff with personal UN-SIGNED checks -- the signature to be forthcoming when/if my trophies actually get delivered.

Wonderful hunt memories are quickly being overshadowed by sloppy follow-up. Am I over-reacting, or have I just always been lucky before now?

Long waits for Mozambique trophy shipment is not unusual in my experience. A year would be about right but there are problems associated with the wait. I had hides boxed and prepared that sat on the tarmac awaiting a flight that went through extreme heat and rain and suffered damage from rats that got into the box and chewed on the ear of a #1 Sunni w/handgun. There is a lack of inside storage in Beira so it is apparently not unusual for crates to remain outside exposed to the elements.

Good luck and I hope your trophies arrive soon and undamaged.

OHG

Mokore Safaris arranged for us to use Trophy Export Mozambique when we hunted Coutada 9 in '07. Cost was not cheap but the trophies arrived in a timely fashion and in excellent condition.

Time between safari and trophy arrival Stateside has a lot to do with who your safari operator is, if they do their own dip/pack and who handles their shipping. Trophy shipping delays are not always a condition of the country they are coming from.

Mark

We used Trophy Exports Mozambique. We hunted in Sept 2008 and the trophies were home (Michigan) in early June 2009.

It would be interesting to know when your PH delivered them to your exporter.

405wcf

hunted Coutada 10 with Bahati Adventures in late Oct, 2009. trophies hit Joburg in Feb and Houston in March.Johan used Trophy Ex. Moz to get them from Moz to RSA and they were quick and stayed in touch. seamless process with no problems.

It happens that, within hours of my asking this question, my Mozambique trophies were delivered to my South African taxidermist. They haven't unpacked and inspected them yet, but I'll assume that they've made the trip without incident until I hear differently.

I gather, from the comments here and elsewhere that, that ten months time is not all that unusual when dealing with trophies from Mozambique -- and I suspect that having a CITES I trophy in the lot makes the ordeal of Moz Government approval of any shipment longer, rather than shorter.

For those that asked, my outfitter used Mochaba to handle the paperwork and government approvals and they, in turn, used Safari Air Cargo Systems for the actual transit. I've used both companies before and have always been happy with their performance and particularly happy with their focus on timely communication among all of the parties involved. I have nothing but praise for both of these organizations.

When compared to the horror stories I hear about shipments from Zimbabwe, my Mozambique experience, while not pleasant, doesn't register very high on the scales of trophy disasters.