I'm looking for guidance regarding SA rules and regs for an upcoming trip to SA.

Next summer I will be traveling to SA. While there I have an opportunity to hunt in the region north of Johannesburg. I will be the guest of the owner of a very large tract of private land. There are several locals (farm employees and other land-owners) that have been born and raised there and who live on or near the property, and they have invited us to hunt with them. As a result, we will not have a PH. Are there any regulations that I need to be aware of regarding licenses and permits, etc. that will be needed in order to bring firearms into the country and to hunt while there? This will be my first trip to SA. I seem to recall reading somewhere that a hunter must have an arrangement with a licensed PH in order to clear customs and satisfy the requirements of the SAP. Is this correct? Thanks.

Unless you have a properly arranged hunt you won't be allowed to import firearms into RSA - nor will you be allowed to export any trophies. The only way you can hunt without a PH or outfitter etc is if you can prove there was no payment in money or kind of any sort.

If you do a search on the subject on this forum, you'll find plenty of previous posts on this subject.

All that said, they are currently changing some of the rules here and the situation may very well be different by the time you arrive in RSA....... but I'm sure the changes won't make it any easier for you.....

Hi Muggles,

As far as I know you need to have a licenced PH to hunt in RSA as a non resident.

It is definately a requiement of the Firearms import procedure that you have a letter of invitation from a licenced outfitter with their official details and those of the PH too if I remember correctly.

You may find it easier to just go along and borrow a rifle from your host. Keep in mind though that you may have some problem exporting trophies if you are planning on bringing anything back if you don't have a regualr PH.

All trophy exports are referenced against the PH number for the PH that guided on the hunt.

Best regards,
FB

"You may find it easier to just go along and borrow a rifle from your host. Keep in mind though that you may have some problem exporting trophies if you are planning on bringing anything back if you don't have a regualr PH."

Fallow Buck:

In my mind, requiring letters from licensed outfitters and professional hunters should be called the "South African Outfitter Protection Act."

I hunted without PHs on farms owned by long-time friends on my last three trips to South Africa, and I borrowed their rifles. I wasn't interested in shipping any trophies home, though.

I seem to remeber when the present regs were being discussed there was some talk about making it illegal to loan firearms to foreigners. Was that eventually dropped or are people just ignoring it, knowing that there is no way to enforce such a rule?

Bill Quimby

Bill,

Hope you don't mind me answering. It's a while since I've checked the exact wording of the act, but from memory, we are not allowed to loan anyone (local or foreign) a firearm unless it remains under the direct control of the owner. - Therefore, a PH for example can loan a hunting firearm to a client if that client is with the PH at the time.

Muggles,

Every foreign hunter to South Africa needs an invite from a registered hunting Outfitter to hunt, and be accompanied at all times by a registered professional hunter, OF THE PROVINCE you hunt in, if money changes hands. All the other issues of importing rifles and borrowing rifles are issues after the fact.

If you do not do this, you and your host will be breaking the law, and be hunting illegal in SA.

The best thing for your host to do, is to get in contact with a registered Outfitter, strike a deal with him, and let them do it right, according to the law.

You are more than welcome to ask your host to contact me, and I will see where I can help you guys!

Hope this helps,

Charl van Rooyen
www.infinito-safaris.com
info@infinito-safaris.com

"Every foreign hunter to South Africa needs an invite from a registered hunting Outfitter to hunt, and be accompanied at all times by a registered professional hunter, OF THE PROVINCE you hunt in, if money changes hands. All the other issues of importing rifles and borrowing rifles are issues after the fact. "

I guess the key words are "if money changes hands." My hunting in South Africa and Botswana in recent years has been as an invited guest of friends. I hunted either with them, with one of their black farm workers, or alone. There were no PHs nor money exchanged.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:
I guess the key words are "if money changes hands." My hunting in South Africa and Botswana in recent years has been as an invited guest of friends. I hunted either with them, with one of their black farm workers, or alone. There were no PHs nor money exchanged.
Bill Quimby

You're absolutely right Mr. Quimby. The ordinances relating to trophy hunting are applicable to "clients" as per the definition of the law.

And by the definition of the law a "client" is someone who does not normally reside in South Africa and who pays someone to hunt game or wild animals in South Africa.

A paying client must arrange his hunt through an Outfitter who is licensed in the province that the Outfitter is registered in and he must be accompanied by a Professional Hunter during the hunt.

If Muggles, you (or any other foreigner for that matter) is invited by a landowner to hunt in South Africa for free i.e. he does not pay for the animals he hunts, he can do so without the intervention of a PH or an Outfitter. He will not be able to legally export any trophies he had hunted though unless... the landowner at a later point "donates" or "sells" the mounted trophies to the client and then sends the trophies to the foreigner. Based however on the experience of one of my clients who had previously hunted in this manner this could open a whole new can of worms and I wouldn't recommend it as this particular client is still waiting for trophies he shot 6 years ago...

So the bottom line is: if Muggles wants to come to Africa for the experience and not to take trophies back home there is nohing that would stop him from doing so without using an outfitter. He won't be able to import a rifle for hunting purposes without an invitational letter from an Outfitter or PH but he could use the rifle of his guest to hunt with provided that the rifle is under the direct control of the owner (in other words the owner of the rifle accompanies him on the hunt)

This is my interpretation of the relevant law and ordinances.

Chris,

Payment also includes payment in kind. i.e. not just money but also services, goods or materials etc.....

The closest I've been with "payment in kind" is buying dinners for my friends and their families in South Africa, or hosting them while they were in the States. I would do that even if I hadn't hunted on their farms.

In another case, my hunting buddy here in Tucson owns a large chunk of the Tuli Block in northeastern Botswana and I've hunted on it alone or with his hired help, both when he was and wasn't there.

Bill Quimby