I am planning a trip to Namibia for a PG hunt and have never hunted Africa before. I'm new to the game.

There seems to be a spread in the daily rates in Namibia. Can anyone tell me the difference between $225/day vs. $500/ day?

Thank you for your help.

Basically, a part time PH/ hunting guide with very little overheads vs a established safari company with a highly experienced PH doing it full time.

Most established companies (note, not hunting farms or guest farms) charge US$ 350-450, and if you add the 15% VAT, that equates to about 400-517 a day. Mostly, you will be gald you paid the little extra, for one, if you do not for instance find a kudu big enough in the area you are hunting in, you can move to another area. Hunting guides are limited to 1 area/ farm, master hunting guides to 3 areas or farms, and only a PH can take you to virtually any available area/ farm in Namibia. Another side of looking at it- a HG can only hunt on his own/ (read one) farm, so might pressure you into shooting an inferior trophy, as he know that is the biggest around.
I hope I have not opened too big a can of worms, and my HG friends are welcome to start throwing the bricks. Just thought it should answer smokepole's question....

On one end you may be staying in farmer Adolphs farmhouse in a spare bedroom. Adolphs wife will set an extra plate for you at the table and a farm hand will haul you out to set at a windmill to watch for game.

At the other extreme you may be on a 100,000+ acre tribal concession in a tented camp where there are ten or more staff hired to just make you happy. Your PH will drive you around all day, everyday if necessary, looking for game or to high points to look for game. Once spotted, you will then make a stalk on foot.

With Namibia in particular, you have to decide up front what kind of experience you want. There are lots of choices and you have to ask questions and check references.

Good luck!

Karl

Thanks for explaining why some of these Namibian hunts are so much cheaper than others. Basically you just are not getting the same experience for $250 per day as you might for $450. Our guy there can hunt anywhere and charges $350 per day which seems to be about where the good quality hunts start.

THX

Mark

Karl speaking of Namibia, I just sent you an email about our June hunt.

Thanks,
Josh

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On one end you may be staying in farmer Adolphs farmhouse in a spare bedroom. Adolphs wife will set an extra plate for you at the table and a farm hand will haul you out to set at a windmill to watch for game.

True, but don't sell "Adolf" short. The Adolf I stayed and hunted with had a degree in biology and genetics, knew and loved his game, he or his son personally hunted with us every day, and took great pride in our killing his gold medal trophies of the nine different species we chose. He appreciated marksmanship and well-placed shots. His "spare bedrooms" had private baths for each of us and were as comfortable as any four star hotel -- complete with private sitting room, bar, and gunsafe for our guns and valuables. And his staff of (countless) farm hands were absolutely expert trackers and skinners who did the most beautiful job of caping and full-body skinning I've ever seen. His domestic help kept our accomodations spotless and our clothes meticulously laundered (even the underwear was pressed!) And his daily rates were below the lowest figure mentioned above. His trophy fees were very competitive. No, this isn't a trek in the wilderness with high adventure and snakes crawling through your bedding, but we saw a total of two humans the whole time who were not a part of our hunting contingent and felt like kings of the 140,000 acres of Namibia we "owned" for the week.

I'm sure there are plenty of farm hunts that don't match the quality of ours, but I'm sure there are at least a few others that do.

Stonecreek, who did you hunt with?

I'm with Stonecreek

I have hunted with farm owners that were PH's in Namibia, had a completely separate guesthouse with your own facilities. The trophy quality was great as well. I think it was 6-7 years ago and price was $200 a day. Of course they can do this because it isn't their only game for making money and it doesn't cost as much as a remote camp in Tanzania of course. The ones I hunted with are PH's, not guides and there is a difference. Not a wilderness hunt, but if that's what you want, go elsewhere. In most of Namibia, unless it's changed, it is not fenced in as S Africa is. I can send you a PM if you desire some info on the folks I hunted with. They will be highly recommended, are still friends. Also, I had heard some horror stories on trophy shipping, I hunted the end of May/1st June and my trophies were at the taxidermists on the 10th of August.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Karl

Thanks for explaining why some of these Namibian hunts are so much cheaper than others. Basically you just are not getting the same experience for $250 per day as you might for $450. Our guy there can hunt anywhere and charges $350 per day which seems to be about where the good quality hunts start.

THX

Mark

+1

A couple years ago, my son and I hunted in Namibia with Van Heerden Safaries. Small outfit. No agent, no outfitter, one man show. He has a nice truck, 2 dogs, a tracker and a driver. He was born and raised in Namibia. The local farmers were old friends of his. We had several thousand acres to hunt on. We stayed in a German family's bed and breakfast and a tent camp. Not 5 star but excellent in my opinion.
We shot 4 animals that went in the Rowland Ward book. We were not trophy hunting.
His daily rates and trophy fees were among the cheapest around. He had low overhead so was able to charge less, and still make money.
Just because you pay big bucks for a hunt, doesn't mean your getting the best one around.
By the way, bird hunting was free, so was jackals, Namibia beer, cheap Scotch and baboons.
If you want 5 star accommodations go somewhere else. If you want a great time and above average animals, I recommend him.

Namibia by far the most affordable African country to hunt and there are some truly great deals in Namibia for anyone looking at a hunt in 2010. Booking are way down!!! Some by 50%

Potential problems to look out for.

Most Namibian outfitters are German descent and a very large portion of their clients are from Germany. Ask all US clients if they had any problems with there guide speaking in German in there presence? If they did forget about hunting with that outfitter! Believe me this can make you feel very uncomfortable ruin a otherwise great hunt.
( people will down play this but it is a real problem!)

High fenced ranches and non indigenous animals. Some outfitters will not tell unless you ask if the land they hunt is high fenced.If you see Black wildebeest, Roan, Waterbuck or Sable listed its generally high fenced. If thats the kind of you want, So be it. It's not my cup of tea.

Watch out for misleading claims, Like we are part of the so and so 600,000 Conservancy! If you are hunting a small ranch that is part of a conservancy you will be hunting a small ranch! Being part of a conservancy does not give you hunting rights to the area!

Do a web search on NAPHA and you will have hundreds of outfitters to choose from. You will find the best deal (prices) come for outfitters that do not have web pages. Namibian outfitters do not rely on the internet like Americans do. Sometime they take a few days to respond back to your emails. Its up to you to decide how much you want to spend, what find of lodging and what kind of hunt you want. I have personally had great hunts for as little as $200 a day and bad hunts for $400 a day.

Spend as many days as you can, my last hunt was for five weeks and it still went to fast! No matter who you hunt with talk to last years clients! (Even if you go with a booking agent) Ask them about their hunt, What did the shoot, Is there an animal they did get? How many ranches did they hunt, Size of ranches? What would they do different? Most of the time they will tell you about problems if you let them talk about their hunt.

Namibia Professional Hunting Association - NAPHA
PH - Professional Hunter ( For all farms in Namibia with concent of the owner)
MHG - Master Hunting Guide (on his own and two additional farms where the hunting rights are registered in his name)
HG - Hunting Guide ( only on his own farm)
BGH - Big Game Hunting ( guide qualified for big game hunting)

quote:

Originally posted by smokepole paul:
I am planning a trip to Namibia for a PG hunt and have never hunted Africa before. I'm new to the game.

There seems to be a spread in the daily rates in Namibia. Can anyone tell me the difference between $225/day vs. $500/ day?

Thank you for your help.

$275 but I am not math genius. Was this a trick question?


As things are in life, you get what you pay for. I would rather pay too much than not enough and not get what I wanted.

quote:

$275 but I am not math genius. Was this a trick question?

To quote a tracker that I worked with in Zim: "Too good!!!"

+1 for "Adolf"

I would not sell the independent operators short either. First of all, they do not have the 10-15% commission built in to their fees.

Second, they can and do have many contacts, friends and relatives that can offer species not available on his farm. Last summer, we were able to drive a few hours to a farm which had free range mountain zebra. After a few exciting, busted stalks, we were able to connect with a beautiful stallion. Trophy fee - 650, daily rate 225.

I LOVE Namibia!

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Second, they can and do have many contacts, friends and relatives that can offer species not available on his farm.

Jack, sorry but that does not mean they can LEGALLY hunt there.

quote:

Namibia Professional Hunting Association - NAPHA
PH - Professional Hunter ( For all farms in Namibia with concent of the owner)
MHG - Master Hunting Guide (on his own and two additional farms where the hunting rights are registered in his name)
HG - Hunting Guide ( only on his own farm)
BGH - Big Game Hunting ( guide qualified for big game hunting)

As you can see by the comments on this thread, there is sometimes a little friction between farmowners and non-landowner guides (professional hunters). The farmowners may hunt thier farms and perahps neighboring farms either as their primary or secondary occupation. Professional hunters usually operate on either public/tribal concessions or on land for which they pay a trespass fee to the private landowner. At any rate, the Professional Hunter has to pay for each "use" of the hunting area, whereas the landowner's land costs are amortized in the price of the land.

Both can offer you a great hunt; and either can provide you with pain and disappointment. From the reports I've heard, the ratios are similar between the groups.