I am taking a hard look at trying to put together some money in the next couple of years to go to Africa. I want to hunt Cape Buffalo for sure and from there maybe Kudu, Eland, Gemsbok, and lion. With all the outfitters there it is a little overwhelming to say the least. Do you have any recommendations where I should start looking? I am not a rich man by any means and I have looked at a couple Outfitters but when you start adding up fee's for this and fee's for that it can get nuts. I don't want to be nickled and dimed to death. I want to deal with someone that has a set price not one that changes with how good of a trophy the animal taken is. I really dont need anything fancy I just want to have a good honest chance of getting a cape buffalo or any other animal I hunt. Any help is appreciated.

Buff and Lion huh? If you aren't rich now you certainly won't after that hunt . Good luck on your quest, I'm sure you'll get lots of responses

dakor, consider the price today, then expect it to increase in 2 years. If you hunt Lion in the countries north of RSA, your usually looking at prices in the $40-$56,000 range. Add Buffalo and that's another trophy fee. Lion's are big ticket items. RSA will cost you $13,000 and up for "all in" Lion and add another $9,000-$12,000 for Buff. It's not a problem to sort out a "one price hunt" but you need to be firm on your time frame and then start sorting out where and with whom. Once you do that, it's getting down to the nitty gritty and the final price tag. However, due to world economy fluctuations, it may be very difficult to nail down an advance price until you get within the 12 month time frame. Can be done, just takes work.
LDK

That lion will lead you into big $$

I would talk to Wendell Reich at Hunters Quest here on AR. Another possibility is John LaSala at African Hunting Adventures. I have hunted with John and everything went exactly as advertised.

Good Luck

40 or 50 g's for a lion are they made of gold? I could go marco polo sheep and Alaskan Brown Bear hunting for that and maybe even an elk hunt after that. Why is it I always here you can go on Safari for the price of a Elk hunt in the USA are they shooting rabbits on that safari? So what should I expect to pay for a cape Buffalo hunt?

quote:

Originally posted by dakor:
Why is it I always here you can go on Safari for the price of a Elk hunt in the USA are they shooting rabbits on that safari? So what should I expect to pay for a cape Buffalo hunt?

Around $20G with one or two other Common Plains game and transport BUT this can climb higher for Premium grade Safaris.

You can often shoot several Plains game for the price of a Quality US Hunt for Elk or Moose BUT the number of hunters after Lion far exceed the number of Lion on quota.

quote:

Originally posted by dakor:
40 or 50 g's for a lion are they made of gold? I could go marco polo sheep and Alaskan Brown Bear hunting for that and maybe even an elk hunt after that. Why is it I always here you can go on Safari for the price of a Elk hunt in the USA are they shooting rabbits on that safari? So what should I expect to pay for a cape Buffalo hunt?

If you are just hunting plainsgame, you can do it for far cheaper than a trophy elk hunt in AZ, UT or even New Mexico if you hunt the right areas. Namibia can cost as little as $6,000 including airfare and trophy fees for 4 animals, but you won't get a lion or a buffalo for that price. Buffalo are generally around $9-10,000, Lions about 5 times that with a few exceptions.

Thank you for the information 9-10,000 seems reasonable. Can someone tell me if some countries or regions are better to hunt then others? What happen to the days of just getting on a boat and hunting what you wish? I was born 100 years to late.

quote:

Originally posted by dakor:
Can someone tell me if some countries or regions are better to hunt then others? .

Lower Zambezi valley, Zimbabwe.
Matetsi Safari Areas, Zimbabwe.
Save and Buby Conservancy's of Zimbabwe.
Zambezi Delta, Mozambique.
Niassa Reserve Safari Areas, Mozambique North.
Caprivi Strip, Namibia.
Ocavango and Chobi areas, Botswana.
Luangwa Valley, Zambia.
Selous Reserve, Tanzania.
Western Safari areas, Tanzania.
Massai Tarrengerie areas, Tanzania.
Maswa Safari Area, Tanzania.
Karramoja and Kachira areas of Uganda.
These are just some of the noted areas for Cape Buffalo.

9-10 seems pretty low for a good quality buff hunt, if you throw in the plains game by the time you are all done i'd figure closer to double that

If I were going on a first safari and wanted to include buffalo and cost were a significant consideration, I'd probably go to Zimbabwe and focus on either the Matetsi area or lowveld. If cost were a factor at all, I would NOT even consider a lion. In the lowveld, you can find good kudu and eland in addition to buffalo, and matetsi has plenty of plains game, though eland are not as common there. The buffalo can be very nice in both regions. A couple other areas to consider would include South Africa and Zambia's Luangwa Valley. While the Zambezi Valley is a wonderful safari destination, it is a bit more of a specialized 'big game' area and may not be what you're looking for on your first safari.

There are a number of individuals who are regular contributors here on AR that can easily accomodate your interest, both booking agents and safari operators/PHs. One thing you'll want to consider if trying to keep the costs down is whether you can drive from a major airport to your hunting area, or if you'll need a charter flight. The cost of an air charter can easily exceed the trophy fee for one, and sometimes two, major antelope such as kudu or eland. You can drive anywhere in Matetsi from Victoria Falls, and to the lowveld from Bulawayo. You shouldn't need a charter to go anywhere in South Africa that has buffalo.

dakor,

Please be advised that with very few exceptions (and those being six figure hunts), all of the lion "hunts" sold in RSA are for captive-reared cats. I won't get into what constitutes "canned," as that's probably enough to start 10 new threads, but please note that a truly wild lion will likely have to come from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, CAR, Benin, or Burkina Faso. As I understand it, there may still be a few legitimate wild lions taken in Namibia, but the captive-reared thing is going on there, too. A captive-reared lion will almost certainly be cheaper than a wild lion, and it is also likely to have a very large mane--one that even extends to its underside, where hair wouldn't last on a truly wild cat that lives in the brush. Some say the huge manes in captive-reared cats are also due to the presence of Barbary lion genes in the breeding stock. Success is generally 100% on captive-reared cats. But the experience is very unlikely to be anywhere close to the same as what you would find when going after a wild lion. A good comparison might be the difference between shooting a monster elk the same day as your arrival on a game farm in Saskatchewan and taking a nice 5 point bull after busting your tail for a week or more in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness. This is a long-winded way of saying to be careful if anyone tells you that a lion is within the budget you've suggested. What you do is a personal choice, but I feel it should be an informed choice.

Some really good information here thank you all. sandyhunter thank you for the heads up I have no desire to shoot a animal that is not wild it doesnt matter to me if the property is 200,000 acres or 10 acres if it is High Fenced I am not interested. If it has a little 3 foot barbwire marking the property that animals can jump over that is a different story. I believe the answer to this question is no but I will ask it anyway does Africa have and DIY hunting opportunities?

Do a search for posts by camshaft. He sets up outfitted self-guided hunts in Cameroon and CAR, I believe.

Check with Wendell Reich. He put me on a great Selous buff hunt in 2006 for a very reasonable price. He can also book you a high end buff/leopard/lion hunt, but you're gonna be well into the 55/60 grand range, minimum. Minimum.

Buffalo are comparative cheap. Check out a ten day Selous buff hunt. You also get to hunt Nyassaland Wildebeest found only in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique and they will frustrate you more than any buff I ever heard about. Tremendous challenge to take one, most of the time. Hell of a lot of fun trying to sneak up on the wily bastards.

There is a great amount of knowledge on this forum thank you all for your replys!!!

Since you seem to have an in-bred bias against high fences irrespective of property size, you should steer clear of much of RSA where I have had some of my best true hunting experiences!
Hopefully the chest high on a Buffalo wire for hoof and mouth diesease control in Matetsi is an acceptable "fence"
BTW, since I know no one who has actually managed to make a trip to Africa a one time experience, I reccommend "cheap" ZIM, NAM, RSA PG hunts for first timers to get "feel" of Africa, then move up to DG

quote:

Originally posted by Tom In Tennessee:
Since you seem to have an in-bred bias against high fences irrespective of property size, you should steer clear of much of RSA where I have had some of my best true hunting experiences!
Hopefully the chest high on a Buffalo wire for hoof and mouth diesease control in Matetsi is an acceptable "fence"
BTW, since I know no one who has actually managed to make a trip to Africa a one time experience, I reccommend "cheap" ZIM, NAM, RSA PG hunts for first timers to get "feel" of Africa, then move up to DG

..then Zambia

Tom if you want to hunt in a high fence do as you wish. I like to hunt animals the way they were hunted 100 years ago before hunting was a business. If you have had some of your best hunts behind a fence in RSA good for you and why care how I feel about it? I just do not personally want to take an animal behind a High Fence which is my choice. Thank you for the advice on the areas to look at.

If you monitor the Outfitter forum, from time to time you'll see special offers that are discounted. It wasn't long ago that Andrew (fairgame) made an incredible offer for Buffalo in Zambia, along with a few plains game. In fact, it was so good I would have been on the plane asap if it weren't for a flood destroying my home and property. Be prepared to leave on short notice if you want a good deal. BTW: DIY hunts are usually roughing it in the extreme. All kinds of problems can arise and it's up to you to sort them out. Some countries do not allow un-guided hunting, for good reason, but they do exist, CAM being one such area. As per the norm, usually only a few of the more common plains game are taken and rarely any of the prized animals. Finding Africa like it was 100 years ago is a fantasy that exists only in our minds unfortunately.
LDK

If the price of lion scares you off, you may want to check out a buff/leopard combo hunt. A little more reasonable price wise.
As far as the high fence issue, there is a difference between a high fence that the animals have no idea is there (and you may never see in days of hunting hard) and an enclosure. Best to keep an open mind.

You could easily spent far more than being quoted. A lion hunt in a prime area of TZ could easily be over $100,000 all in.

I understand the desire to hunt truly wild animals. However, going to truly remote places with zero fences is going to be expensive. It doesn't mean it can't be done.

Air charters to these remote places are expensive.

dakor, it took me 2 1/2 days to kill my first Gemsbok and we were on a tiny 25000 ac high fenced game ranch.....animals were not stupid....I did see fence twice
Matetsi is a good "wild" area as is Natron or Selous.....shell out bucks for the latter two

Man, the fence issue is a tough one and one that only each of us can resolve in our own way. Dakor's reluctance to hunt within a high fenced area without regard for its size or the number of animals contained in that area is probably just the result of not having experienced it. As someone else pointed out, most of RSA and Namibia are fenced. As a lifelong "Hunt Free Chase" guy, I was troubled by my first trip to Namibia, where I hunted on Erindi, a 180,000 acre "farm" enclosed by a high fence, I was concerned. But once we started hunting I had no more concerns. That area encompassed whole mountain ranges and drainages. Other than when we came in and went out we only saw the perimeter fence a couple of times in 14 days. I am confident there were many animals on Erindi that had never seen the fence.

But I have absolutely no problem with someone who says "no fence, no how, never." Just like I have no problem with someone who wants to shoot a lion in a little cage. Not for me and kind of stupid, but if that's what someone wants to do, hey, knock yourself out. We all hunt for different reasons, and the reasons I hunt may be different from the reasons Dakor or someone who wants to shoot a lion in a little enclosure hunts. I won't tell either of them their way is wrong if they don't tell me my way is wrong. Frankly, I won't tell them their way is wrong even if they DO tell me my way is wrong. As long as it's legal, it's their choice.

But I would still counsel an open mind about high fence hunting in southern Africa.

For the whole picture you have to account for airfare, insurance, commuter flight to the bush, tips, any needed gear, etc. to fully understand what you are in for.