I hope to be blessed enough to hunt Africa one day...especially elephant, kudu, and Cape buffalo. The rifles are ready, and the only wait is for the proper time with regards to my family's finances. Does anyone have advice on how to speed the process? Thank you.

like one of the guys saying here. " You can borrow money, but you can't buy time". If you cant afford it, borrow it. If others here had as much money as I did, they would never go to Africa, and I have gone twice now, following the above slogan.

You can borrow money, but you cant borrow time
That is the fastest way to go there.

Do as you like, but I would never borrow money for anything that was not absolutly nessesary.
Debt is not a good thing IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
Do as you like, but I would never borrow money for anything that was not absolutly nessesary.
Debt is not a good thing IMHO.

Unless you are young and can use the debt (leverage) to expand a money maker and be young enough to bounce back if the idea fails.

Sorry, but borrowing money to hunt Africa would never be for me.

Disciplined saving invested soundly without too much risk is the right road. I guarantee Peyton Elway, like most of us, can cut some expenses out we really don't "need"to have and save that money towards Africa. Took me 35 years of saving to feel comfortable enough about our future financially to spend money on Africa trips. Probably going to be far less taxidermy this time around.

Yes; save your money ... and eliminate all extraneous expenses such as (perhaps) NFL season tickets.

Save money till you can afford it. Sacrifice some other things to save faster.
Like some others have said, "I would never borrow money for a safari."
I am going on my first in eight weeks. Just retired at 61 and have lived frugally in many respects and saved for a very long time.

Borrowing for a Safari is the wrong approach. If you are a young person just starting out, research careers or opportunities that will provide you with personal satisfaction and the financial rewards you desire, then do whatever is necessary to put yourself on a path to enter that profession.

A 2 week Safari will come and go. The memories will last forever but will be spoiled by the monthly debt service if you borrow the funds.

For most of us, it's a long road, unless you can invent and develop the next "FaceBook"!

I am a retired mailman and I have been blessed to be able to take one hunting trip per year for the last 25 years. I had a couple of part time jobs, umpiring fast pitch softball and I farmed some, and used this money to fund my hunting. I hunted what I could afford, put money in IRAs and now we live off our retirement and I just used part of my IRA to hunt ele this month.You said you hoped to hunt SOMEDAY, someday never comes, if you really want to go you have to have a plan and save toward your goal.

win the lottery

Peyton,

I wish you the best in making your dream a reality. I was able to do my first elephant hunt by paying on an installment plan. The hunt was booked through Wendell Reich, one of the booking agents who frequent this site. We set up a payment plan 16 months in advance. Every month, I made a payment which was budgeted for. It worked out well for me and my son, not so well for a big, old elephant.

Good luck

quote:

Borrowing for a Safari is the wrong approach. If you are a young person just starting out, research careers or opportunities that will provide you with personal satisfaction and the financial rewards you desire, then do whatever is necessary to put yourself on a path to enter that profession.

Great advice there! It should apply to everything in life NOT just hunting.

Notice, he said carreers NOT jobs!

.

quote:

the only wait is for the proper time with regards to my family's finances. Does anyone have advice on how to speed the process?

Damn,that sounds rather sinister!

Booked my first safari three years in advance and made a payment each year and set some aside each year as well.

Shot more than I planned on the trip and right or wrong I used my L of C to pay the balance and now I have the balance paid off.

Take it a step at a time.

Peyton,

I was able to go on my first few safaris by borrowing money but I borrowed against my own retiement funds. For me that worked quite well.

Mark

There are little things you can do to help out. I try and pay for everything on my visa and get the points to pay for the flight. I know it is little but for the guys on a tight budget it can help out some.

I want to hunt Elephant and Buffalo too, but the price is just beyond my reach.

What was in my reach was a plains game safari. I went this past April, took 8 animals (Including a PHASA gold medal cape kudu), and the pricetag including airfare was just under 10K. See my post in Hunting reports Africa.

Sell your snow blower and use a shovel, sell off your excess gun collection (safe queens), cut your neighbors grass, but do what you gotta do to get there.

My only regret is that I didn't do it 10 years ago.

I'll say this. Do whatever you need to do to go as quickly as you can. I have borrowed money to go on safari, not a great deal but some. It is never wise to borrow more than you can comfortably pay off. That saying that "you can always borrow money, but you cannot borrow time" is true. There will come a time in your life that it will not make a tinkers damn how much money you have, your health will not allow you to go. One other thing. Africa is changing really fast. How many years
before there is no hunting in Africa. Won't happen. Look at Kenya and Botswana.

I am probably as poor a person as any one on this list and yet I have managed to go five times and am contemplating going again next year. I borrowed for my first safari thinking it would be a one-time splurge and I would get it out of my system. Since them I have retired and realizing how badly I needed to go back, I have trimmed all the fat out of my budget and through a combination of borrowing and saving have managed to go back about every three years. (That is much too long between trips, but as I said I am not wealthy, except in terms on life experiences.)I suspect that with the animals you intend to shoot you will have to make a couple of trips and that is probably the best way as once you go you will be drawn back again and again. I think once you go, you too will be forced to figure out how to get back.
I have always equated a good safari with the price of a new vehicle. I drive an old truck and on my last great trip to the Zambezi Valley, spent about what new one would have cost. I simply ask myself, would you rather have a flashy pickup or go to Dande and the answer is always the same. The truck will wear out and start to burn oil but seeing that leopard finally come out where I could get a shot is etched indelibly in my mind.

Ask me in a few years what kind of vehicle I was driving in 2012 and I will have to think hard to tell you. Ask me what year I shot my last big tom and I will tell you 1998, etc, etc etc.
I have guys tell me they can never afford to go to Africa but they buy a new pickup every 3-4 years and pay installments, they have boats, buggies, trailers, etc. Point being, you have to have priorities. I actually think an installment plan is great for a safari, most people just don't have the self control to rat hole away $20,000 for a safari.
However you do it, "It will be the best money you ever spent"!!!

I think the key is to have realistic goals. Africa is a great place but there are other memorable hunts as well. If you dream long enough I am sure it will happen one day!

Good luck. You only live once.

Cape buffalo and elephant would be fun but a bit steep for someone on a tight budget, IMO. My budget isn't that tight but I still need to work up/save for a cape buffalo.

Do some investigating on various safaris, outfitters, or ask for suggestions here, and go on a plains game hunt first. Some like the package deals, some don't, but mine was one and I'm quite happy with what I shot and what I paid. I think you'd be surprised how reasonably priced a plains game hunt can be (kudu, springbok, blue wildebeest, impala, blesbok, bushbuck, and warthog were in my deal and it was <$7k/10 days, did not include airfare).

By going on that first, you'll get an idea of what's involved in setting up the trip and maybe can help you out in getting a better price on your follow up hunts since you'll already know what's involved and can trim some of the fat off plus have a contact with a PH that knows your limitations/talents.

Others will weigh in and help you out but I've had a great experience and am off on a second plains game hunt next month.

Peyton: If you are a veteran, Pieter Kriel of Huntinginafrica, is giving away a free 7 day hunt. YOU have to get there, which I'm in the process of doing and from BWI will be $1700 R/T on Delta. He is also donating 2-3 free animals. Sure a few more would be available at the trophy fee rate. If you're a vet, or anyone reading this is, go to africahunt@charter.net, let them know you're a vet and why you want to come over to RSA and hunt. Two people will be chosen and the hunt is next year. Now this is the way to get an introduction to African hunting..

Didn't see the remarks on borrowing money to go to Africa, at first, as didn't read all the way down. When I was setting up my first hunt, was working, but didn't get all the money together, as was also finishing college and had to quit working for a while. I borrowed the rest of what I needed and went. Has never made me feel bad about the hunt/trip (was actually gone 6 weeks). When I got back, got into the career and advanced degree thing, and wasn't able to go again time wise, till the last number of years. Have now been back twice, and looking to go again in late Sept. for the Buff I wanted, and didn't get, back the first time (1972). If you have to borrow the money to go, you can be paying that back, while you can't afford to go time wise, and have that trip to remember. That's my take on it.

I'm an addict of Africa, but I wouldn't borrow money to go. Don't buy a new truck, quit dipping, cut back on the alcohol -- all of that will save a lot of money. Don't eat out, go to bars, etc. Take the money you would have spent on those things and put them in a separate account. It will add up.

There`s also different price degrees of what you are asking for. If you go for the zambezi ladies (tuskless ele) thats at least 50 % cheaper than a bull elephant. After what I have been reading its one of the more exciting DG hunts. The same with buffalo, go for a cow and som plains game if you dont have the money yet. Even a plains game for kudu and som other animals is amazing, its all in africa and you would probably love it

I track my personal net worth with a spreadsheet called NHunt6.2H2. The "hunt" is for hunting. I saved for my first hunt in Namibia, and when I got back I made a goal to accumulate enough investments so that I could go every year. That was called the "hunt fund." The hunt fund tracking evolved into something that tracks all of our assets, from our accounts, rental properties, business, etc. It shows our net worth every month since 2001 (I started it in 1995, but lost previous history - a real bummer). It also has a hunt plan - the hunts I want to make. I schedule them on a worksheet and it automatically deducts the cost from one of our accounts. I can enter in our retirement ages and it will tell me how much we have at age 90, again, taking into account my hunt plans.

On my first two trips to Africa I met two guys, both whom were self employed. One was Henry Mills; anyone from Wisconsin knows of his business Mill's Fleet Farm. He was on a 21 day hunt in the Selous and I was on a 7 day 2 buffalo econo hunt. At the time I was making 150K, but it wasn't enough, according to my plan, to book a 21 day hunt (fine for plains game hunts, BTW), even though my house was paid for and I drove used/old vehicles. So I thought I would someday figure out how to start a business so I could. And I eventually did. I have no desire to live on hamburger helper for four years just to go hunting in Africa. There are easier ways...

My advice:

1. Have a plan
2. Figure out a way to make enough money so you just write a check when you want to go.

If you borrow to go now, it will dramatically improve your saving strategies for future hunts trust me.

It's all about priorities.
Put your financial focus on hunting and pass on the rest.
A well-paid job helps

quote:

Sell your snow blower and use a shovel, sell off your excess gun collection (safe queens), cut your neighbors grass, but do what you gotta do to get there.

Well said. The cost of debt will pay for another trophy fee, or maybe even another hunt.

If you can put aside $420 per month, in 3 years you've got a little more than $15,000, not including any interest you might be able to earn on the money saved. Let's put this in perspective: it's $14 a day. About the same as a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers per day.

I go about once every 3 years on hunts I can afford. So far the 21 day dangerous game hunt has not been within my means (still smoking and drinking beer ), but I have been on some very nice hunts in South Africa (2002, 2005) and Namibia (2009), and this last July a ten-day hunt for buffalo in Tanzania, mostly possible because the kids have finished their university studies.

I drive a ten year old car (which is probably good for another 3 or 4 years) and have zero debt (well, not including another 5 years on the home mortgage that is). You really only need one rifle, chambered in .375 H&H, two pairs of hunting pants and shirts plus boots, a good pocket camera and a pair of reasonably good binoculars. I didn't have to sell the kids, or anything else for that matter, although I probably should sell a few rifles I never use.

Don't spend your money in the meantime on expensive gadgets like Swarovski binoculars and high end cameras with exotic telephoto lenses (which aren't really needed) or more rifles until you've got a couple of safaris under your belt. Otherwise you'll never get to your targetted budget.

Look into a ranch hunt in Namibia or South Africa for plains game.

I went on a ranch hunt in Namibia in 2010, my only one so far, and it was reasonably affordable. I paid $4975 for the hunt with day fees, trophy fees and a day trip to Etosha. Took Eland, Kudu, Gemsbok, Impala, Warthog, Duiker and Steenbok.

Taxidermy is a different matter. I had the Duiker and Steenbok done as a Pedestal mount as well as the Eland, got him on my 34th Birthday so I splurged. The rest was all European mounts.

Put a deposit on a trip booked one or two years out. Figure out how much you have to save per month until you actually go and actually do it.

It's amazing the power of possibly loosing your deposit will have on your discipline to save.

I graduated from college 42 years ago, and got my first credit card shortly thereafter. In 42 years, I've never paid a penny of interest on credit cards. I buy my new cars with cash, and drive them 8- 10 years. Used the GI Bill to pay for grad school, so no student loans to pay off. Married a brilliant woman who got fellowships to pay for TWO advanced degrees, which resulted in great paying jobs. Payed cash for both sons' undergraduate educations at the University of Michigan. Long story short, we lived well within our means and now have a tidy nest egg. Went on my first safari this year at age 65, and had the hunting trip of my life. I'll go back as soon as the wife gives me the OK.

I put my deposit down for my first safari in Jan. I booked it out far enough where i knew I would be able to have everything paid for comfortably when the time came. Taxidermy, well thats another issue. Thankfully that dont happen to a year or so after the hunt.