This subject has been brought up here many times, and the general concensus seams to have been that tipping is such a personal thing that no standard guideline can be applied. There are so many variables. Do you have money to throw around, or did you have to scrimp and save like crazy to make the hunt of a lifetime? Most outfitters will be more than happy to give you a "suggested tipping schedule". A few I've seen have been what I consider quite fair, while others belonged in the Neiman-Marcus Christmas Catalogue. Ask your outfitter for suggestions. Just make sure that you either hand out the tips to the staff yourself, or at least are present when they are given to the staff by your outfitter.

I'm an ugly American and I'm saving right now for my first Africa trip. I'm budgeting 20% for incidental costs and 15% for Tips. (Anything left over from my incidentals budget will also go to the tips) I believe that the service I get there should at least be worth what I tip for dinner.

Hugh,



Based on my one experience in Tanzania, the tipping structure seems to be on the high end. My outfitter (Swanepoel & Scandrol) suggested $100/day for the PH and $50/day for the staff. Well when I got there, I ended up having to also tip the meet and greet person and the game scout (even though I specifically asked about the game scout and the outfitter told me that the game scout was included in the $50/day for the staff).



If you look on Swanepoel & Scandrol's website, they now recommend the following:



$100/week - Game Scout

$500/week - Staff

$50 - meet & greet person

$100/day - PH



Personally, I would consider this tip structure to be on the upper end.



When I hunted elephant in Zimbabwe, the PH recommended $30-$50 per day for the staff (including the game scout). I tipped them $500 for the ten day hunt. The PH divided the $500 among the staff according to the pecking order. (The PH in Tanzania also did this). No need to tip the meet & greet person. The PH refused to give me an idea about his tip (I tipped him $100/day - he was damn good). He seemed please with his tip. These tips were probably on the "high end", but I received much better service in Zimbabwe than I did in Tanzania.



Just my limited experience, but should give you a general idea.



Regards,



Terry



P.S.

The real answer to your question should come from your outfitter. They should give you some specific tipping guidlines.

Hugh,

The Hunting Report has done a couple of surveys on tipping in the last few years. Results are available from them (your search engine can find their website).

I would say the S&S recommendation is definitely on the way high end, like about double.

jim

Another American tipping discussion - groan

Tipping: A "gift" perferably something not monetary, but useful. Some loose cash for the underpaid staff. Good for millionaire "braggie" sessions. US$100 per day - MY GOD, plus $50 per staff member !!!!

If tipping ie giving a "gift", is such a good system why is everyone endlessly confused by it

Hell it is good to be an Aussie sometimes where tipping is not expected.

PS Yes hand out cash tips DIRECT to the staff individually, else someone else decides how much they get and don't get.

I agree...there's no right answer.....I tipped my PH 10% of the hunt package cost. He treated me well...worked hard all the time....and in a word was GREAT.

I like to party with my PH so we go to Hawaii or Cancun in the off season while he is on holiday my treat. I gave him a video camera once a Canon XL1 or something.

Erik

Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

When a meet and greet fellow (or anyone for that matter) puts his hand out after doing his job, reach out, grasp it firmly, give in a strong pump up and down a couple times, saying "Thank you, good to meet you". Slap him on the back and walk away feeling good about it.

Mbogo,

I tend to agree with your comments.

I also think the tip isn't so much us worrying about how much the people deserve, but worried about how we are going to be perceived by the locals.

The days are long gone that I worry about going around and putting something in everybody's hand so each one knows what a big spender I am. I give the PH or guide the tip. If he owes money to other parties that's his problem. He may have to deal with them later. I will never see them again and can't measurably impact their way of life.

I don't pack my suitcase for a hunt with T-shirts and ball caps and trinkets so everyone thinks I'm a great guy.

I go in with the thought that for a good 5 to 10 day guided big game hunt I've got $250 to $500 that is going to plunk in the PH or guide's hand. If he's a hustler I think more towards $500. If he gets me a shot at what I came after he gets the $500. If he dogs it, or doesn't get me in front of game he hasn't done his job. He'll get $250.

We're our own worst enemy when it comes to tipping.

In Mumbai the Indian caddies love to carry an Expat's bag. We were paying 300 Rupees. An Indian pays 100. We were paying fore-caddies (ball boys) 100 Rupees. The Indian golfers never heard of ball boys.

Let's face it, the natives don't see a bunch of great white hunters when we come spilling out of the airport in a strange land, they see a bunch of goobers with more money than sense.

Kensco

Let's face it, the natives don't see a bunch of great white hunters when we come spilling out of the airport in a strange land, they see a bunch of goobers with more money than sense.

So very true

LV Eric......... I like your style!

Its fun having more $$$ than Good sense, no matter what anybody thinks.

I'll take that over being the smartest broke guy any day.

Tips have a way of turning into actual fees.

I tip a PH based upon 10% of the trophy fees if he's been a good productive worker and we've gotten along well. I've also added rather nice gifts to the cash tip if a PH has been exceptional. I've given Leica binoculars to two different PHs who knocked themselves out for me, and another PH was the recipient of a Randall knive.

If I feel as though a PH is trying to shake me down for loot, money, etc. -- and I've had it happen once -- then all of a sudden I don't feel so generous, and I restrict the tip to cash........

AD

Saeed,

I agree. When I was in Zim, one game scout stayed with us for 4 days. He helped track and load trophies on the truck. The PH told me to give him $5.00 for 4 days. When I said that's not enough and offered $20.00 the PH said "No, you'll spoil him". I felt bad about it but those were the "rules".

General rule among most outfitters/PH's is $30-$35.00 a day to PH for plains game, $50.00 a day for dangerous game. Staff also gets $30-$35.00 a day to split between them. Beyond that, it's up to the client. Bad hunt = low tip. Great hunt = big tip.

DC300

I have a strange feeling that this idea of tipping has gotten out of hand.

Camp staff in Tanzania get between $2-3 per day. And I cannot see how a game scout is getting any more than this.

So to suggest that a game scout gets $100 per week as a tip does not sound right.

Or is it that some safari operators expect the client to pay the camps staff and game scout their salaries during his hunt, in addition to him being charged that in the hunt price anyway?

I honestly think the price should include ANY payment teh client is EXPECTED to pay. And stop calling a tip.

A tip is something one pays to show his appreciation for a job very well done.

I was looking over my notes from the Tanzania safari and I was reminded that, in addition to the meet & greet and game scout tips which I hadn't been told about, the PH also had me tip his driver and tracker seperately from the camp staff (they were his guys v. the camp staff which was provided by the concession holder). He recommended $75/week for each of them.

So in addition to the $50/day for camp staff and $100/day for the PH (which the outfitter assured me was the total tips required) , I ended up tipping an additional $550 ($50-meet & greet, $200 to game scout and $150 each to the drive and tracker). Needless to say, I felt like I got hosed. I however have no one to blame but myself. I should have stuck to the $50/day for the staff and $100/day for the PH and let him decide how he wanted to distribute it. If he needed a tip for his driver, tracker and the game scout, then it should of come out of his share of the tip.


Regards,

Terry

Just to add some fuel to the fire:

"Gratuities to camp staff - Approximately $75 per day per camp."

From this website Safari Consultants, for a hunt in Botswana with Johan Calitz.

Regards,

Terry

Thanks, I try and keep it light.

With a few notable exceptions, I find these responses depressing.

Generosity is a virtue. Practice it and you will feel better, and maybe even help assure your place in paradise. Just factor the cost of a tip into the total cost of the hunt--just as you do when going to dinner at a sit down restaurant. Each of us has to live with himself after he does anything, including leaving a miserable tip. I'd rather be broke than be a cheap, money-grubbing bastard.

Don't get me wrong. I don't tip for bad service. But for good service, I do tip. And for excellent service, I tip more.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I've always thought it was a gentleman's duty to know the tipping standards in any situation and to be generous when it's warranted.

All my guys consider a tip a gift, so whatever you tip is appreciated, but not required...Ocassionally a hunter does not tip and that is fine also, we appreciate his business....

Some folks cannot afford to tip as much as others and thats a consideration...I have some hunters who have saved for years for this one and only hunt of a lifetime, I or my guys understand this and if they cannot tip heavly, and thats OK, we understand..Actually these guys seem to be the best of tippers.

I have seen some that could afford to tip a small fortune that have not tipped at all, and that also is fine we appreciate their business....

Bottom line is we sell hunts, not tips...

When I hunt, and thats been every year for as long as my old mind can remember, I have always tipped my people, as I appreciate the way they handle my business, and feel I should share some of the good with them, especially the staff that have so little and I have so much, but always be carefull not to spoil them with excessive tips as that will really make big problems for the PH, so seek his advise. Tip the PH according to his professionalism.

Common since prevails...Mostly enjoy your hunt.

I asked Vaughan Fulton what sort of tip would be appropriate for the staff for my upcoming 10 day plains game hunt in Namibia, and he said that 2 to 3 hundred dollars would be very much appreciated, and anything over that would indeed be extremely generous. This is for a staff of 12. The same amount would be appropriate for the P.H. On my last hunt in RSA, my P.H. really took a liking to my Leupold 1.75 X 6 scope, so he got that for his tip.

I had an unusal situation, my ph had quite a bit of money, so I bought him a cowboy hat from one of the nice western wear stores in Houston and had it shipped to him before the hunt. He was very pleased.

I've been following this with great interest, the more I learn about going for my dream African hunt, the farther off it appears. Hopefully this tip thing will be straightened out in contracts by the time I get there. In the meantime, I'm borrowing a friends vehicle, as the steering went in my 1990 jeep wrangler and my wife's got high compression in the #1 cylinder.

Two steps forward...Six steps back