I am taking my wife and two sons on another safari in Zim..(wife and I live in puerto vallarta but the boys are flying with guns from Alberta)
When we went last year, the booking agent said we had to have a letter of invite from a south african outfitter, to get through Jo-burg..(my friend brought then guns last year)
I asked our Zim ph about this, and he says he doesn't know what I m talking about...
He is a pretty big name Zim outfitter...
What do my boys need to get the correct permits, with no trouble?
Please advise, as we have to get this resolved ASAP...

DinoinPV,

You need to book your ticket as though your final destination is Jo-Berg. Then you need to book another flight from Jo-Berg to Zim. That is the only way to avoid the Firearms embargo that is placed on Zim.

Before you go to Jo-berg there is a firearms permit that you have to have filled and sent to SAPS (South African Police Service). I found it best to have an agent in SA do this for you. There are a few, but the Professional Hunters Association of SA is who i used. We did have to provide our hunt contract i believe, but not a letter of invite from the outfitter.

The only thing you should have to worry about in SA is the gun permit through SAPS as long as you are not staying in Joberg over night.

Contact the PHASA and they will sort you out for sure.

Even though we are not hunting in S.A., the south africa outfitters asc. Is willing to help?
We have our tickets separated..(by luck only...lol)
And we are not staying overnight in Joburg.
I am VERY surprised that PUR outfitter has not mentioned any of this....

Bypassing the embargo is really not a good idea ....

What do you mean medved? This is why I'm asking for info? What do you know?
Are you saying it's illegal for anyone to take guns to Zim? Please, if you do have Amy insights or experience on this particular area, I am in need of some help here...
Four safaris at stake, and 7 weeks before, I'm told of this...
Obviously I need to figure out how everyone else is doing it...

Thx

Dean:

I forgot to address this when you PM'ed me. My apologies. I am run ragged.

I don't think you need any of this in the RSA UNLESS you are spending the night and/or picking up your bags in Johannesburg then rechecking them.
If you do either of these, you have to get all the required permits as anyone hunting the RSA would. Frankly, it is a pain in the ass which can be made much easier by retaining one of the companies to help expedite you.

It is illegal for people from certain countries too take guns to Zim. I think that these are mostly European Union countries. However, I am not 100% certain of all the countries involved.

I just found out that Canada is one of them...
-we need this letter for the Canadian government, in order to get an export permit from Canada, for the guns....
Crazy or what??

I know a lot of folks bend the rules like that and get away with it. The choice is yours: are you willing to commit an illegal act? Are you willing to take the risk of having your guns confiscated?

Hugh

Save yourself a lot of grief and anxiety at the airports and customs by using the outfitters guns and ammo. Absolutely no need to possibly get yourself or your family in a whole pile of trouble for nothing. Most outfits have good quality equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Dean:

I forgot to address this when you PM'ed me. My apologies. I am run ragged.

I don't think you need any of this in the RSA UNLESS you are spending the night and/or picking up your bags in Johannesburg then rechecking them.
If you do either of these, you have to get all the required permits as anyone hunting the RSA would. Frankly, it is a pain in the ass which can be made much easier by retaining one of the companies to help expedite you.

It is illegal for people from certain countries too take guns to Zim. I think that these are mostly European Union countries. However, I am not 100% certain of all the countries involved.

We are required to get a temporary export permit from the Canadian government when travelling abroad....that's where the issue lies. Zim is on the no go list.

There is no simple/legal way for a Canadian to take a firearm to Zim but as others have pointed out, there are creative ways.

CBSA agents are becoming more aware of the temporary export requirement but it's still about 50/50 if they know what it is. I don't think I'd travel without one anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by wtnut:
Save yourself a lot of grief and anxiety at the airports and customs by using the outfitters guns and ammo. Absolutely no need to possibly get yourself or your family in a whole pile of trouble for nothing. Most outfits have good quality equipment.

Probably the best advise. My issue is the frustration with the government bureaucracy. The embargo is something that should and could be emended to not include sporting arms. By including sporting arms in the embargo is doing little if anything to hurt Mugabe but only deters support for wildlife conservation, outfitters, PH's, trackers and all the little guys that rely on hunter's dollars for their existence.

Write your MP if your a Canadian hunter.

The silly part of this is that a hunter does not actually EXPORT a firearm.

He only takes it out of the country on a temporary basis.

It's actually called a temporary export permit in Canada....we've turned bureaucracy into an art form.

We only need it for overseas travel but the Americans have their own set of hurdles for us to get over for keeping track of Canadians with guns in their country.

The point of the sanction/embargo was to keep arms from an oppressive Zimbabwe government. In doing so they threw hunters under the bus. What the writers of the sanction didn't take into account were the realities of the situation and who they were hurting by Including sporting arms in the bill. Anti-hunting, anti-wildlife management, period.

Trying to get it emended now would be tough to impossible. Besides a handful of us, there is not exactly a public outcry to allow rich hunters to go and slaughter endangered elephants in Zim for there Ivory.

The only discussion to have now is how bad do you want to hunt zim with your own rifles and what lengths are you willing to go to to do it.

whatever is done in that case or another it s better not to discuss on an open forum the way to bypass any laws.

just my two cents.

quote:

It is illegal for people from certain countries too take guns to Zim. I think that these are mostly European Union countries. However, I am not 100% certain of all the countries involved.

Anybody having experience with traveling with guns from Europe to Zimbabwe lately?
Did send an email to Frankfurt airport with question of checking my rifle all the way through from Norway to Zim with transit in Frankfurt..........answere I get was: No problem.
should I trust this answere?