Lessons Learned (in no particular order of importance)

1. Use an agent – They take care of details, provide advice, speak the “safari business†language and create/modify/coach the hunter’s expectations. Answers most questions. There are many good agents out there. I contacted several – Wendell Reich (Hunter’s Quest International), Jack Atcheson (Atcheson & Sons), Steve Robinson- (Kudu land Safari’s), Ray Atkinson (Atkinson Hunting Safari’s), Adam Clements (Adam Clements Safari’s) and Cabela’s. All were fine except Cabela’s. I felt they were not really interested in helping me and had the fewest options for a family safari. I settled on Jeff Neal of Jeff Neal, Inc., because he lives in my city and I could hunt him down and kill him if needed. Plus, he knew the HHK people and the areas.

2. Use an experienced travel agent – I am an experienced international traveler having been to 40 countries and lived abroad. I used Stacey Gibson, Falcon Travel in San Antonio, as she handled a previous trip. She arranged tickets for my sons and me. I used Fran Clark of World Travel in Tulsa as she handled most of my international travel in the past for business. She arranged the trip for my wife and daughter to go to Europe, then to Zimbabwe to join us. An observation on travel agents – they know their business. The business is rapidly changing to where they do not earn the commissions they used to earn. Stacey is an agent for South African Airways and may not always have access to other carriers. She is a safari destination specialist and is very well versed in trips to anywhere in Africa, especially areas served by South African Airways. Fran handles nearly all airlines. Fran arranged for my wife and daughter to fly using American Airline frequent flyer miles to fly business class all the way to Zimbabwe and back with the exception of one segment. She also arranged a side trip to Rome. She charges $200 per ticket to arrange travel using air miles. This was well worth it. I did not ask Stacey to do this and do not know if she provides that service. Overall, the airplane rides were fine without hassle. One thing to remember – only 2 guns are allowed per case. I got to Atlanta and had to buy an extra case because I had 3 guns in one case. I think the Delta/SAA rep was wrong but lost the argument. The seats on SAA were fine. I am 6’3†and 250 lbs with sons nearly my size. We were uncomfortable, but not totally cramped in the coach seats.

3. Take small bills – I had about $4000 cash with me for tips and possible additional animal permits mostly in $100 bills. Next time, I will take very few $100 and the rest in $20, $10, $5 and $1 dollar bills. No one has change for a $100.

4. Take one rifle per person – I took two per person, a .375 H&H and .300 Win Mag. Not needed. The .375 H&H works fine and shoots well. I took a couple of .22 win mag lever action rifles for the scouts to shoot at birds. This was a huge hit and success. The boys burned up 300 rds of .22 mag ammo in no time. They managed to hit 4 or 5 birds.

5. Use premium bullets – I used Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and Trophy Bonded Sledgehammers. They all worked fine. We brought 60 rounds per hunter. This was fine.

6. Take no guns – rent them. I may do this next time. Taking the guns is a huge hassle as well as the ammo. If the PH has the gun I like (a Dakota or Model 70), I will rent his gun next time. I would fly through Europe as well.

7. Don’t take gifts for the boys- use cash. I had taken t-shirts, caps, slingshots, knives for the boys on a previous trip. Too much hassle, cash is the universal language.

8. Use digital cameras – forget film cameras. Too easy to spend time and effort on film. Digital is the way to go. Take a lot of batteries. Leave the unused ones behind.

9. Use light weight bino’s – 7x30 or 8x30. Leave the rest at home. I took 3 pr of Swarovski’s- 7x30, 8x30 and 10x42. The 10x’s stayed in the truck due to weight.

10. Take a Bird Identifying Field Guide – I am an avid birder and most of the PH’s were as well. This was fun to do while hunting and the PH’s enjoyed looking for birds as well as animals.

11. Do your homework on the area and the safari company – Spend time online, at shows and on the phone learning all you can about the area you hope to hunt, the PH, the safari company and the country you are traveling to. I spent a lot of time on this and was not disappointed. My expectations were slightly skewed due to my lack of experience with dangerous game areas/safari’s/PH’s but I learned quickly that the agent and the safari company represented the areas and the game expected correctly. References are a must and I recommend contacting several.

12. Be realistic in what animals you hope to see and hunt – I had the sights set on buff and sable with no real knowledge of the rest of what may be encountered. I learned that buff and other dangerous game are usually in areas not populated by large numbers of plains game. At first, I was surprised to see buff and baboons only for three days, then realized that plains game are in other areas. Be sure to communicate your expectations and desires with the agent/safari company/PH. I was worried, early in the trip, that I would not have a shot at plains game. After we took our buff, we changed areas and saw plenty of game.

13. Be realistic on your trophy expectations – A 40†buff is rare in the area I hunted, however, a large boss was the norm. We were happy with our large bossed buff with a narrower horn. Same for sable – 37†was the norm with 40†very rare. Be careful not to get bummed out if you do not see “record book†animals. As it turned out, my youngest took a 14’ croc and 5 ½†klipspringer that were the best of the trip. The 37†sable my other son took required 7 days of intense hunting to take – so that was his “trophyâ€. My best was a luck shot on a 17†Chobe bushbuck. We went on the trip with no expectations of “inchesâ€, but focused on “effort†to measure the trophies. The PH’s were excited about the bushbuck, the klipspringer and croc due to size and effort.

14. Expect minor problems – They will happen, especially in Africa. Go with the flow, everything typically works itself out without a lot of screaming.

15. Avon Skin-So-Soft – This works on flies and mosquitoes. Tsetse flies seem to avoid it for about an hour, then attack. The mopane honey bees, a little sweat bee type of insect, do not like it. The mopane bees were the most annoying on my trip.

16. Generate a budget if money is an issue, then add 15% for unknowns – enough said

17. Pack very light – follow the many lists out there on AR website or get a list from your safari company. Do not bring extra anything except batteries, glasses and film. You can buy anything you need in the Jo-berg or Harare airports.


Birds Sighted (in order of sighting)

Tropical Boubou (pronounced boo-boo)
Southern Black Flycatcher
White Browed Sparrow Weaver – very common and very pretty
White Bellied Sunbird
Blue Waxbill – a bluebird looking bird with a pale blue breast
Little Bee-eater – very colorful and noisy
Black capped or Black eyed Bulbul
Green spotted or Emerald Dove – very common and everywhere
Long-tailed Starling – scissortail length tail, iridescent black
Yellow eyed or yellow spotted Canary
Jameson Firefinch
Lilac-breasted Roller – larger than a bee-eater but color like a box of melted crayons
Red-billed Oxpecker – saw on cape buff
Kurrichane Thrush- looked very much like a robin
Yellow Bellied Bulbul
Crested Francolin – shot some of these, larger than a quail but behave the same way
Crested Guinea Fowl – smaller than helmeted and fairly rare – black and white
Cape Turtle Dove
Grey Headed Parrot – never saw one sitting, always flying in groups
Red Billed Hornbill – very common and fun to watch
Crested Barbet- stunning yellow and red, like a blue jay with different colors
Arnott’s Chat
White Crested Helmet Shrike
White Backed Vulture – very large and light colored, very common
Brown Snake Eagle – hard to id due to so many eagles looking alike
Dark Chanting Goshawk
Gaber Goshawk
Natal Francolin – red legs
Swainson’s Spurfowl – like a francolin
Black Bellied Bustard – huge ground bird with stripped wings
African Hawk Eagle
Grey To-Away Bird – named for noise it makes and large top knot
Mottled Spinetail – the only easy to id swift
Crowned Hornbill
Grey Hornbill
Common Scimitarbill – long curved bill
Green Red-billed Wood Hoopoe
Arrow Marked Babbler
African Pied Wagtail
Meyer’s Parrot – small green parrot always flying
Shelley’s Francolin – rare
Double Banded Sand grouse – found near water in the mornings and evenings
European Roller – stunning
Chinspot Batis – black and white bird near the reeds
Scarlet Crested Sunbird
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Backed Heron
Hammerkop – odd in that it kicks the muck to stir up his dinner
Fish Eagle – large like our bald eagle
African Jacana – like a mud hen but prettier
White Crowned Plover
Red-faced Mousebird – long tail like a cedar waxwing
White-fronted Bee-eater
Pied Kingfisher
Great White Egret
Marabou Stork
Hooded Vulture – smaller than white backed
Batis Chinspot
Western Banded Snake Eagle – Dean said this was very rare and he has not seen any, it was carrying a green snake as if flew by
Red-eyed Dove
Namaqua Dove – red wings
Southern Ground Hornbill – huge, turkey sized
Wire-tailed Swallow – long tail
Red-billed Helmet Shrike- red eye
Black Backed Puffback
Golden Weaver- bright yellow canary looking bird
Red-billed Firefinch – bright red throat patch
Jameson’s Firefinch
Three Banded Plover
Blacksmith Lapwing Plover
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Black Headed Eastern Oriole
Southern Pied Babbler
African Long-tailed Shrike
Grey Headed Bush Shrike
Golden Breasted Bunting – stunning colors
Coqui’s Francolin
Giant Kingfisher – very large compared to other kingfishers
Gray Backed Bleating Warbler
Three Streaked Tchagra
Southern White Ground Shrike
Red-billed Buffalo Weaver
Groundscrapper Thrush
Saddlebill Stork – no. 500 and a stunner
Yellow Spotted Nicator

***This report is in 5 parts, here is a link to Part 1 which has direct links to all 5 parts.

Lessons learned mostly good info, but why leave batteries in all likely hood they will not be used unless the PH has the same camera. No gifts of personal property - in Zim they may not be able to purchase goods with the shortages. Most trackers etc I have seen can make good use of ts or sweatshirts. Childeren around the world like candy and again this is probably the only way they can have some. Some people say leave ammo - if the PH has the same cal. and uses the same bullet weight again they will be wasted and if he dosn't have the same cal. he could be in trouble.