I'm looking for a Nyala/Bushbuck next year in KwaZulu Natal so I've been contacting various outfitters/PHs and the pricing variations are pretty eye opening.

Most of these are hunting from Lodges but a couple are tent camps. But, none of the tent camp outfits are in the lower priced range. Most of these are free range areas although a couple say that they are hunting 5,000 acres+ with no mention of fences.

Some of the prices were in Euros so I converted using the Yahoo currency convertor.
This is just some interesting information and not a judgment of any outfit's quality.

.......................2015 KwaZulu Natal.......................
Outfitter.......Day Fees..............Trophy Fees.......Total 10
........................................Nyala.....Bushbuck...Day hunt
1................ $310..............$1,636.... $981..... $5,717
2................ $350............. $2,000.... $700..... $6,200
3................ $325............. $2,200.... $750..... $6,200
4................ $375............. $1,900.... $750..... $6,400
5................ $350............. $1,870.... $850..... $6,220
6................ $370............. $1,835.... $700..... $6,235
7................ $385............. $2,700.... $750..... $7,300
8................ $450............. $2,240.... $600..... $7,340
9................ $450............. $1,950.... $950..... $7,400
10.............. $450............. $2,500.... $750..... $7,750
11.............. $400............. $2,650.... $850..... $7,500
12.............. $500............. $2,500.... $900..... $8,400
13.............. $550............. $2,000.... $850..... $8,350
14.............. $510............. $3,336.... $1,375.. $9,811

Averages.... $413............. $2,237.... $840..... $7,202

That range does not surprise me.

But we must remember - it's impossible to compare anything that is not mass-produced based only on price.

To much else matters just as much, if not more, than a few bucks.

I did the same thing when I went to Africa. I went with the average and got the trip of a life time.

You never can tell with Nyala as maybe the high priced provider has a history of producing 30 inchers....but almost $1400 for a Bushbuck?

quote:

Originally posted by tendrams:
You never can tell with Nyala as maybe the high priced provider has a history of producing 30 inchers....but almost $1400 for a Bushbuck?

That is nothing! I can name more than 20 hunting outfitters [including AR regulars] who charge more! How would you like to pay $ 2000 for a bushbuck?

In good hunting.

That Bushbuck had better sport 20 inch horns and taste like Kobe beef.

Frank,

I agree there is quite a range of pricing for essentially the same 10 day hunt you are interested in but I have to think the overall experiences will also vary a great deal. I know a couple of the outfits we talked about offered 150,000 unfenced acres for the hunt and the other an average of 29.5" on the nyala. Those hunts have to cost more.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Frank,

I agree there is quite a range of pricing for essentially the same 10 day hunt you are interested in but I have to think the overall experiences will also vary a great deal. I know a couple of the outfits we talked about offered 150,000 unfenced acres for the hunt and the other an average of 29.5" on the nyala. Those hunts have ? to cost more.

Mark

Mark, I'm not attacking you, but wish someone would explain the "economy of scale" to me?

In Economics 101 you learn about "The Economy of Scale", which basically says that if you do something on a (?)much bigger scale, your unit costs is lower than doing the same thing on a smaller scale. Now some land owners sell nyala hunts on 1 500 acre pieces of land, at whatever they charge the hunting outfitters to bring clients to actually hunt those nyala. Then there are bigger land owners who sell nyala hunting on their 15 000 acre plots at their prices. Then you get the really big properties of up to (and more than) 150 000 acres, on which a whole lot of nyala hunts are sold every year.

Now I ask: Why should nyala hunting on a really big scale, to quote Mark's words, "have to cost more"? Just wondering!

Just BTW, Fjold's list give $ 3 336 as maximum for nyala, my database contains more than 20 higher prices, with $ 4 500 as maximum. Considering the reverse "economy of scale" principle for trophy prices if hunted on bigger areas, I wonder how many million acres the area is on which they hunt nyala?

In good hunting.

Its simple. Big Nyala + free range = high demand x quota = TOP Prices

Also, how much does Catapoo in Mozambique charge for a free range Nyala? Day fees and trophy fees? Getting there and back, getting your trophy out? I would venture to say $10k

My internet search was limited to "Free Range Nyala hunting in KwaZulu Natal" and I edited out some of the highest priced outfits (>$10,000) after my database got bigger and I had a number of good choices in the $6,000-$8,000 range. For $10,000, I'll go hunt Buffalo.

Another interesting thing that I found was that in three of the costliest hunts the outfitters charged for the airport pick up ($200-$1,200 return), all of the rest offered pickup and return to the closest airport for no extra charge.

Andrew,

I think Charl has answered the question more simply than I would.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:
Its simple. Big Nyala + free range = high demand x quota = TOP Prices

Charl,

Is free range a guarantee of a big trophy? More the opportunity in good country.

After all these years, I still do not understand why folks continue to dance around the issue of pricing. It's actually very simple - what will the client pay?

The cost of game within the confines of each respective country is about the same. Landowners know the value of their animals and they are all valued about the same. Game sold for put and take operations are tendered every year and the going rate prevails. So at the end of the day, it comes down to how much are the clients willing to pay to hunt with a particular PH and shoot his animals?

Some guys have bigger balls than others. You can hunt the same stretch of land with two different operators and the customer pricing is all over the map while the operators pay exactly the same fees and have roughly the same costs.

Bottom line, pricing is seldom set in stone unless the guy you're bargaining with has a bigger set of stones. But if you want to hunt with the guys sitting on the goldmine of game in the Concession areas, expect to pay a lot more and for no other reason other than it's their goldmine and they know it.

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:
Also, how much does Catapoo in Mozambique charge for a free range Nyala? Day fees and trophy fees? Getting there and back, getting your trophy out? I would venture to say $10k

$900.00/ day 7 day
$3250.00 trophy fee
$3000.00 commercial air
$ 550.00 hunting license + gun permit
No charter

In email conversation with one company, I asked if their hunting area was free range or fenced and if fenced what size is it. They replied that they were currently hunting on a high fenced 7,000 ha property but they were presently moving all their Nyala to a 2,000 ha property.

My thought was, if they can catch all their Nyala off 7,000 ha and move them, I wasn't interested in hunting there.

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:
Also, how much does Catapoo in Mozambique charge for a free range Nyala? Day fees and trophy fees? Getting there and back, getting your trophy out? I would venture to say $10k

$900.00/ day 7 day
$3250.00 trophy fee
$3000.00 commercial air
$ 550.00 hunting license + gun permit
No charter

And how much transfer from Beira (and back)?
hunting license, gun permit, dip and pack......

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:
Its simple. Big Nyala + free range = high demand x quota = TOP Prices

Charl,

Is free range a guarantee of a big trophy? More the opportunity in good country.

More the opportunity in good country. Like your Lechwe (?)....its about getting the best one....not any mature bull...

It all comes down to what the outfitter wants to make. I would bet ever guy who gave you a quote is making money. Have not seen many guys who will work for nothing just to sell a hunt.

I think pricing comes down a lot of time to how busy an outfitter is at the time. Some would rather hunt and fill all the days they can others would rather get paid top dollar and hunt less through out the year.

quote:

Originally posted by bcap:
It all comes down to what the outfitter wants to make. I would bet ever guy who gave you a quote is making money. Have not seen many guys who will work for nothing just to sell a hunt.

I think pricing comes down a lot of time to how busy an outfitter is at the time. Some would rather hunt and fill all the days they can others would rather get paid top dollar and hunt less through out the year.

True, but location is everything. When you work with a huge area that you have to look after with anti poaching, road maintenance, community fees and development, staff vehicles and such, you will pay top dollar to hunt that area. 60,000acre free range will be at least 30% more expensive than 8,000ha fenced. Most free range hunting areas these days in Africa that are not government controlled are community based.

They are in partnership with the outfitter, but contributes NOTHING to the development or maintenance of the area. So all that comes out of the outfitters "half".

AS a side note. Unless it is chicken wire or electrified, no fence holds Nyala in!

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:
Also, how much does Catapoo in Mozambique charge for a free range Nyala? Day fees and trophy fees? Getting there and back, getting your trophy out? I would venture to say $10k

$900.00/ day 7 day
$3250.00 trophy fee
$3000.00 commercial air
$ 550.00 hunting license + gun permit
No charter

And how much transfer from Beira (and back)?
hunting license, gun permit, dip and pack......

No charge for transfer to from Beira by road. Hunting license/ gun permit as quoted above. Dip pack and shipping are more expensive than say South Africa. I am at $ 1500.00 to get an oribi and reedbuck cape and horns to a US port of entry.