Gentlemen:
How do you all go about paying for trophy fees and any other expenses after the hunt?

The money owed at the end of the hunt is an unknown until the last day. At times I have borught over a selection of bank checks or traveler's checks to settle up with but now many places don't accept them. My last two hunts I have wired the money after the hunt when I returned home but that is perhaps not an option if the hunter is not known by the PH. I have been asked to bring cash but I feel uncomfortable bringing a good amount of cash to Africa when I may spend 1-2 weeks before the hunt on a vacation. One PH asked for all money to be paid up front and he would return the unused portion after the hunt via wire transfer.
Just curious, what do you guys do?
Cal

I have always paid the fees afterwords, per bank, after returning home....fortunately I was thrusted to do it that way..

And as you say, I would also feel uncomfy traveling with lots of cash in Africa..

Done it both ways.

Many times I have paid in advance, and many times I have paid after the hunt.

Bottom line is trust.

Both ways.

I prepay what I think I will owe. Yes, this requires a bit of trust, but I would not hunt with someone that I did not know or trust. Never had a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Pondoro:
I have always paid the fees afterwords, per bank, after returning home....fortunately I was thrusted to do it that way.

Ditto.

I have done it three ways.

Paid in advance.

Wire transfer when I get home (that's mostly how I do it now, but I mostly hunt with the same outfitter and we know each other well)

Use a booking agent in the US and escrow the trophy fees and the booking agent releases the fees at the end of the hunt for animals taken and refunds the money for animals not taken.

Believe it or not, the only trouble I have ever had was when I escrowed with the booking agent.....he was robbing Peter to pay Paul and did not forward funds to the outfitter and I had to intervene to make sure it happened, got ugly!

And this agent screwed over quite a few of his outfitters, one I know of big time, but he isn't around anymore.

And luckily we have some very good agents here on AR!

.

Put a respectable trophy fee deposit down before I leave and pay for the rest once I get home....usually through a booking agent.

I typically pay 80-90% of what I think the hunt will end up being before I leave. More often than not outfitters I have hunted with just want a wire when I get home to pay the remainder. The hunt we got back from in June I did not see a final bill from the outfitter for a few weeks after my return.

First Hunt Paid in Advance
Second Hunt Paid in Cash
Third Hunt Paid in Cash (PH stated he would have let me shoot another animal and let me paid him upon my return to the US).

BH63

I pre-wire a substantial amount, use up cash in hand on the trip, and wire balances due as needed.

It has been a long time since I paid before I left. I won't do it any more. The risk it too great carrying that much money. There are legal issues carrying more than $10,000 out of the US without declaring it.

These days, I either wire it to the outfitter or I send a check to the booking agent.

Personally I've paid my trophy fees in all the above mentioned ways except paying them ahead directly to the safari operator. Sending your trophy fees ahead of the hunt to Africa entails more trust than I'm willing to give. The safari operator may have an impeccable reputation but any number of factors beyond his control might put him in a situation where he could not give a refund if he could not put on the hunt. I don't at present work with any African operator that requires the trophy fees up front. I've had one situation where the operator and the hunter made a side deal and the hunter sent his trophy fees ahead against my advise but all worked out well and the client was very happy. I hold the trophy fees in escrow until I'm sure the hunter and operator are on the same page about what animals were killed or wounded and lost. I then send the trophy fees to the operator. If the client has overshot his trophy fee deposit I'll bill him on his final invoice and if he has a balance left over I'll refund him. This system works very well for all involved and the hunters love not having to carry thousands in cash.

Mark

A great reason to use an agent! We hold in escrow, a trophy fee deposit prior to the hunter's departure. The outfitter feels comfortable about that, and so does the hunter. After the safari, the outfitter sends us an invoice, we confirm with the client - and then release his money to the outfitter. Safe all the way around!!

I pay in cash but make sure to keep my balance under $ 10K.

I had $$ escrowed with booking agent back in USA. At the end of hunt we agreed on trophy fees due. I e mailed the agent and he paid the safari company. I paid tips in cash at end of hunt.
On my very first safari, the safari company tried to charge more than the advertised agreed upon trophy fees. The booking agent was helpful in sorting that out.

Similar to others:
If using an agent I escrow some funds.
If not, I'll pay some in advance, carry under $10k with me. On a bigger safari, I've wired funds when I got home to cover the balance.

Pay after

quote:

I pay in cash but make sure to keep my balance under $ 10K

+1

I pay the daily rate and a significant portion of expected trophy fees up front, but not all. That way the outfitter knows I am serious and will not be left holding the bag. I also confirm upfront with the outfitter that I will plan to wire any difference after the hunt. I have never had a problem working it this way. If the outfitter is not agreeable to this arrangement, then I will not book with him. I am not willing to pay it all upfront and hope for a refund

quote:

Originally posted by LB:
I pre-wire a substantial amount, use up cash in hand on the trip, and wire balances due as needed.

This

Pick up some of the old Zim currency at the airport & just use that.
You can get trillions for around ten bucks.

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
Pick up some of the old Zim currency at the airport & just use that.
You can get trillions for around ten bucks.

At times I offer a tip to the staff and pull out the old currency. When they see me smile they laugh…but not until they see me smile.
Cal

I paid the daily rate right before I left by wire transfer. On the last day when my hunt was complete, from my phone I transferred the trophy fee by wire to the bank that I paid the daily fee into and was able to give the outfitter a print out of the wire confirmation into his account. Everyone was happy.

In Africa I always just wired it afterwards. Everywhere else I just wrote them a personal check. No reason that shouldn't work in Africa as well.

I've hunted four times with Jan du Plessis of Sebra Hunting Safaris in Namibia. The first time, I wired the daily rate funds and paid trophy fees and tips in cash before leaving. The second and subsequent hunts I wired complete daily rate fees and full anticipated trophy fees a year in advance. I paid tips and any extra trophy fees in cash before leaving for home. Obviously this method requires a good deal of trust in your PH, which I have with Jan.

The standard fare for me is to wire trophy fees once I'm back home.
Of course all day rates etc are wired prior to the hunt, but all outfitters I've hunted with have been ok with this, and I do ask them about it so there are no surprises at the end of the hunt!!
I have prepaid some trophy fees, ie for tuskless ele or non trophy's,
But generally now I just do it when I get home.

Cheers

Nick

Sometimes even trust is not enough to ensure your funds are safe.

After hunting three different times with a now defunct Tanzanian outfitter I had no reservations with placing my trophy fees on deposit with a SC bank. After my last safari in 2009, the outfitter withdrew the trophy fees on deposit and "folded his tents". Only problem was that my hunting partner was the only one who fired a shot during the trip.

He took his first cape buffalo and gladly paid the trophy fee. Unfortunately, we had about $6500.00 on deposit for buffalo trophy fees and never received a refund...only a nicely worded letter explaining that he was getting out of the safari business and would cheerfully be refunding our deposits. I'm still waiting.

So, if your future safari plans involve Mr. Ryan Weinand (formerly Zuka Safaris) be very careful.

quote:

Originally posted by LB:
I pre-wire a substantial amount, use up cash in hand on the trip, and wire balances due as needed.

+1

The PH we used does not take checks of any kind only cash or wire transfer.

We wired a large deposit to a US bank a couple of months prior to leaving.

We have a separate bank account that one of our daughters can access. When we were done hunting the wife sent an e-mail to her and had her wire the needed amount to settle our bill. That way I didn't have to carry so much cash.

quote:

Originally posted by LB:
I pre-wire a substantial amount, use up cash in hand on the trip, and wire balances due as needed.

That's how I've done it in the past. In the future I don't plan on carrying the cash load I did my last hunt. The outfitter/hunter trusts me to be honest or they don't get my business.

I paid 100% of my fees a week or so before heading to SA on my recent trip (reputable outfitter and I was perfectly comfortable doing this), but was pretty sure I would end up taking a few things more than what was planned for, so I brought a check with me and intended on paying them for the balance before I left...

They had me fill out the check, but then handed it back to me in an addressed envelope and asked me to mail it to their US bank (BoA) when I got home..

The only cash I took was a couple of grand to cover a few excursions I knew my wife wanted to take while we were there, tips, and ancillaries while in transit (meals at the airport, etc..etc..)

I have wired it, sent checks to state side US banks and most recently (RSA Outfitter) simply swiped my Visa card on the last day...

I like to concept of paying via CC - gives me protection if I need to ever dispute anything and I get the points...

When I left for Tanz I was carrying 15k on me and asked the customs officers where or how I was suppose to declare it. They were too interested in searching arriving passengers from Amsterdam to be bothered so they told me to tell the ticket agent who was not present. Oh. well, I just boarded and kept my mouth shut.

I put an amount of money in escrow for my booking agent to hold in trust for trophy fees before we left for our hunt.

I was quite a bit short and added money to that escrow after arriving home.

I call by SAT phone and have it wired right then. I only tip in cash.

I've used traveler's checks, and wired money back after the hunt when I booked directly with the outfitters.

When I booked through an agent I've put money in escrow, but carried some cash in case I shot more than escrowed.