While I was having a very enjoyable lunch with one of my daughters yesterday, the subject of African hunting came up. It's a subject I know NOTHING about, truth be told.
That being said, she and I weere pondering what sort of cash might be required for a decent hunt in Africa.
I understand that it is probably difficult to answer that question with out details and particulars.
Still, if one were to want to fly from the states to Africa, and to take a quality 10-14 day hunt for elephant and Cape Buffalo, what kind of coin would someone want to have set aside as a "working fund" to pay the expenses on such a trip?

Depends on where you go and who with. All you have to do is look on this forum for websites of agents, PH, outfitters and safari companies etc and check their prices, and while you're doing it you need to remember that you get what you pay for, or more accurately, you don't get what you don't pay for.

For info on how to research a hunt and a whole lot more, visit www.shakariconnection.com.

Hope that helps.

It would require a stroke of GREAT good fortune for me to ever actually aspire to such a hunt, just not my lot in life.
I'm relagated to just hunting deer in the woods behind the house, which is a blessing in itself, truth be told.
I'm just curious.......

A quality 10 day Buffalo hunt can be had for about $15,000 not including airfare, tips and trophy fees on plainsgame.. That's about what I paid this summer for a Botswana Buffalo & plainsgame hunt. All told about 20k. Botswana is not on the low end of the scale. You can do better, but you do tend to get what you pay for. Adding elephant ups the cost considerably.

Uncle A,

I wasn't trying to flog you a hunt, just explaining that safari pricing can be very complicated indeed and you'll find it all explained on the site I mentioned.

quote:

I wasn't trying to flog you a hunt,

I'm not too sure what the meaning of "flog" is, I'm afraid, but I do indeed appreciate the info!!!!!

Alvah,
I went through the same mental gyrations you are going through.

Costs range from $5000 per person (air included) to South Africa for a short hunt to over $100,000 per person in Tanzania for a 21 day full bag. Pick your poison and go.

For a first timer, you may like South Africa or Namibia and can do that for -

Air - $1800 to $2000 per person
Package Hunt - $3000 to $7000 depending on animals taken
Shipping of horns and hides - $600 to $2000
Taxidermy - $1000 to $3000 depending on what you mount
Misc on equipment and getting ready - $1000

Zimbabwe - 2x on above

Tanzania - 3x to 5x on above

It all depends on what you want to do and hunt.

It is not cheap but it is worth every penny.

Uncle Alvah:

Why start with any of the expensive Big Five? I tell friends to get just a small taste of Africa first, by hunting antelope in South Africa or Namibia, before moving on up to the pricey stuff in less-developed countries.

That way, they won't be "ruined" when they eventually hunt (which they will) behind wire in South Africa or on a ranch a short drive from a good paved road in Namibia for the unique game found only those countries.

Prices for an antelope hunt in South Africa or Namibia can range all over the place, depending upon where you hunt and with whom. If you are not obsessed with trophy size and you spend some time shopping around, you should be able to get a good hunt for around $10,000, including trophy fees for a couple of the larger antelope and two to four smaller ones.

Add $2,200 or so for airfare to Johannesburg (about $200 more for Windhoek) for departures from most cities in the USA. Your other expenses will include tips, hotels and food on layovers, shopping, sightseeing, etc. Add to that trophy expediting, shipping and taxidermy a year or so later, and you will have spent somewhere around $20,000 to hunt six to eight animals in Africa.

Try hunting and mounting that many animals in North America with the same budget.

Bill Quimby

$ 40,000.00

quote:

Why start with any of the expensive Big Five?

Well, bear in mind that it was just a hypothetical discussion between my daughter and I over a plate of lunch special chicken fahitas(sp).......

In reality, you can have the trip of a lifetime just going to Africa and doing nothing more than "looking around." Booking a tour trip with any number of PH's is an adventure in itself. As I've told all of my first time clients; "There are no books, pictures, videos or movies that can give you the true feeling of Africa...you must go!" The sights, sounds and smell of being there is an absolute pleasure. Around every turn there will be new experiences to discover. Hunting you ask...nothing on earth is quite like it. Seeing all the flora and fauna is mind bogling. Every time I go my mind is on how soon can I return when I'm on the flight home. I truly hate to leave my friends and the daily adventure. As mentioned, I would start with a laid back plan: go for 10-14 days and hunt plains game. No rush, just simple relaxation at the highest level. Take your Daughter? Absolutely. Take the entire family if possible. It is affordable, and less than many of the quality hunts we have here at home, and something you will never forget. Family package hunts are offered by many Outfitters, so you can taylor them to your budget. In some cases, they are less than the airfare and include food, lodging, license for several animals, skinning, trophy prep, daily transportation and of course your PH and assorted personel. Lastly, make the plans and do it.
Merry Christmas,
David

Uncle Alvah,

Roger Whittall Safaris offers very attractive plainsgame deals on Humani in the Save Conservancy. This area is renowned for quality hunting, as can be evidenced by searching this site. These hunts are comparatively affordable and ideal for first time African hunters.

Here are the details. Unlike Shakari, I am trying to flog you a hunt, because I can see where this is going to end up, even though the conversation with your daughter was purely hypothetical.


7 day plainsgame hunt, 2x1.

US$5550 per hunter, all inclusive. This includes the following trophies: kudu, zebra, wildebeeste, bushbuck, warthog, bushpig, duiker, 2 baboons and 2 impala.

7 day plainsgame hunt, 1x1

US$6250, all inclusive with the same animals as above.

All inclusive, besides the obvious - airfares/charters and trophy shipping.


Dave

Send me an e-mail if you are REALY interested in this to info@infinito-safaris.com. and you might be surprised at what we can come up with....for you and your family if need be.

I look forward to hear from you,

Regards,

A bull elephant safari will range from a min of $16,000 upwards to $60,000 with the average being around $32,000. Cape buffalo go from a low of about $8,000 to about $22,000 with an average of $12-15,000. Combine them and you can save some money, but trophy quality will probably go down on one or the other due to lack of dedicated time. Observers start at about $100 a day and can go over $350 a day. Figure a low for airfare at $1,800 up to $2,500 for coach. Charters or additional flights from JHB not included. Gratuities figure roughly 10% of daily rate but that varies a lot. Add in a couple of outside meals and motels and you can get a very rough idea.

To answer your question, I paid $1050 per day for a buff and elephant hunt in Zimbabwe in 2008, 14 total days. Plus $3500 sundry fee (including air charter, dip and pack, emergency evac insurance, and some other stuff). Trophy fees if I shot or wounded something were IIRC without looking it up $12,000 for ele and $3500 for buff. About $2500 for air fare and $150 for one night at Afton Guest House in Johannesburg. In my case I also paid trophy fees after shooting a hippo and a croc. Total over. Tips around $2000 (which is high but earned in this case). Total over $30 grand.

Plains game in 2006 in South Africa: I shot kudu, zebra, wildebeeste, impala, warthog, gemsbok, blesbok for a total of about $6800 including air fare from the USA, IIRC. The daily fee was $350 which included pickup at the airport, transportation to the hunting area, comfortable lodging with hot and cold running water, all meals, and laundry once per day. Plus guiding. All other expenses were the trophy fees. And shipping and taxidermy. Getting a reasonable animal like a kudu shoulder mounted can cost around $700.

Go hunting in South Africa in Limpopo province to start with. It will change your life like nothing before. I wish I could hunt in AFrica all the time.

quote:

what sort of cash might be required for a decent hunt in Africa.

It can start as low as $5,000.....depending on what you hunt and where and who you book with and for what length of time.

Plains game hunts are much less costly than DG hunts.....

I second BigBoreCore's advice. "You can borrow $$$ but ya can't borrow time".

Thank God I have a wonderful wife that said to me as I was looking at taking PG & a lion and the price seem too much to afford, "Give him a deposit. It'll never be cheaper and it's something you have wanted to do all your life".

Gotta love a woman like that!

The price of what YOU would call a nice vehicle.

quote:

Originally posted by BNagel:
The price of what YOU would call a nice vehicle.

That's a pretty accurate statement. My wife and I did a 10 day buff and plains game hunt in Zambia recently and all in including airfare for 2, daily rates, charters, trophy fees, hotel bills, insurance, trophy shipment and brokering, tips, and incidentals, etc the bill ran close to $30K.

It also helps to have a good wife, mine is good company and enjoys the experience as much as I do and I am very blessed to have her.

We can do a non-exportable elephant bull, hunted in a safari area, plus an exportable buffalo, for $16,500 including ten days excluding airfare, tips, taxidermy and freight. This would be in Zim.

It's also possible to do a plains game hunt in Zim for comparable money to RSA, except you are hunting 65,000 acres, ten times the size of the usual RSA setup, and you will bump into elephant daily, rhino and buff occasionally, and the scenery is stunning. $385 per day plus trophy fees. This is also a superb area for leopard but a stiffer rate applies. And, to put the icing on the cake, if you get your bag early, bird hunting is first rate and bass fishing (esp in spring and fall) is world class.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
It's also possible to do a plains game hunt in Zim for comparable money to RSA, except you are hunting 65,000 acres, ten times the size of the usual RSA setup, and you will bump into elephant daily, rhino and buff occasionally, and the scenery is stunning. $385 per day plus trophy fees. This is also a superb area for leopard but a stiffer rate applies. And, to put the icing on the cake, if you get your bag early, bird hunting is first rate and bass fishing (esp in spring and fall) is world class.

Russ,

Who is that with and where in Zim?

Andy

Buff/elephant (tuskless) about $25K plus getting there.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

PM sent
Robert

quote:

Who is that with and where in Zim?

This is private property adjoining Lemco. Owned by Ken Drummond. One of the few remaining jewels on the Zim PG scene. First rate for bushbuck, waterbuck, giraffe, klipsringer, leopard, plus the usual pigs, impala, bwb, grysbok, duiker etc. See our website for more info.