I am planning my first trip to Africa. There are so many outfitters it is difficult to decide. I read many of the posts and have some prospects. I also read the posts for a good PH, but most don't give contact info for the outfitter. I am thinking of sometime between mid March and mid May. I know for some areas the weather may be hot. I prefer warmer weather over cold any day, but not extremes.

This is a great forum and I have learned a lot. Any info on outfitters and any other related details would be appreciated. You can expect to see my report with photos when I return. Thanks

I would recommend May for your trip, I have some very good outfits available. Send me your wish list of game species, number of days you want to hunt and I will give you my recommendations for an outfit.

aspenhills@verizon.net

For my first African plains game hunt I chose Karl Stumpfe of Ndumo Hunting Safaris (http://www.huntingsafaris.net). He offers hunts in Namibia and South Africa, as well as in Zimbabwe. I had a fantastic time and took a number of great trophies. Send him a note through AR: he posts as Karl S.

Good luck

For the largest variety of game, I would go to South Africa. Anything from Blue Duiker to Elephant. Plains game are plentiful. However, you do not say if your hunting trophies or representatives; package or just hunting for what ever you come across. You can hunt from March (hot) to November (hot again), but inbetween are some very comfortable months. Email me what you want and expect and I'll be glad to send you all the information you want. Good hunting, David

Another possibility is Brad Rolston of Brad Rolston Hunting Safaris out of Stella, South Africa, or Lieb DuRaan of Ingwe Safaris out of Douglas, South Africa. Their respective e-mail addresses are: rolston585ae@iafrica.com and ingwesafari@lantic.net Brad hunts everything and has access to any plains game that you want, as well as the Magnificent Seven/Big Five. Lieb specializes in plains game for the most part. All trophies that I have taken with the two of them in South Africa have been outstanding. Very reasonable prices with great quality trophies, and luxurious accomodations to make your safari the most enjoyable.

You might want to consider Botswana. You can hunt plains game for the same price as RSA or Namibia only I feel it’s a little bit more “wildâ€. There are no McDonald’s in Botswana, and the trackers are real Bushmen.

Peter Durkin
www.african-excursions.com

I used Neil Barnard @ NB Safaris.
www.nbsafaris.co.za
e-mail karen@nbsafaris.co.za or neil@nbsafaris.co.za
Neil took care of me on my first ever safari. Took 7 nice animals- pics are on this site somewhere.....
Can't go wrong. He is big NRA and SCI supporter.
Tell him I sent you.
Randy Raymond Sr.

If you can make one of the winter Safari Club Int. meetings you can meet some outfitters and PH's in person as well as meet and fellowship with fellow Ar members. Reno is super, Dallas is good, Houston is ok. Their dates are on the SCI website. You will see people talking to old friends and rebooking and you can learn a great deal rubbing elbows,,, plus it is fun to me.

Absolutely true.
I agree 100 %

Randy

I strongly support drwes .. Try to attend one of the SCI convos, whether the high end in Reno, or smaller such as Houston. Meeting and sitting down with the outfitters and their PHs goes along way toward satisfying your need for information. We've made two safaris now, covering RSA and Namibia, and have met with our outfitters at Reno, Dallas, and Houston. You learn a lot just from going and talking with a room full of hunting professionals

LLS

Thanks for the responses. I am new at this forum stuff and I neglected to say I am interested in plains game. I would like decent accommodations (not 5 star) and good quality animals, but they don't have to be gold medal. I am not sure what a representation animals is, but it sounds like in deer hunting terms a six point when you are hoping for an eight or ten point. Correct me if I am misunderstanding. Thanks

338 Mag.,

I went on a Namibian plans game hunt last year. It was my first. I can without any reservation recomend Gras Hunting Ranch in Namibia. Errol Lambrechts PH of Zingela Safaris (errol@zingelasafaris.com)did a fantastic job. They are like family. The game was great, the price is right and Namibia is a fun place to hunt. See my previous posts for pics and details. GLR

GLR,
I have read numerous reports about Gras and one most likely was yours. They are high up on my list of outfitters that I am cons idering. However, since I posted my request for info, I have received some contacts from outfitters and am reviewing them now. I will look for yours and read it again.

How long were your shots? I have not had any experience at shots over 200 yards. I may have to travel a little to get to a range that is set up for more than 200 yards. Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by 338zmag:
I am planning my first trip to Africa. There are so many outfitters it is difficult to decide. I read many of the posts and have some prospects. I also read the posts for a good PH, but most don't give contact info for the outfitter. I am thinking of sometime between mid March and mid May. I know for some areas the weather may be hot. I prefer warmer weather over cold any day, but not extremes.

This is a great forum and I have learned a lot. Any info on outfitters and any other related details would be appreciated. You can expect to see my report with photos when I return. Thanks

Namibia is so much easier to process through than South Africa. The airport is small and my guess would be no more than 200 feet from entry into the terminal you will have gone through custom picked up your bags and cleared customs and gun control.
In Namibia I can highly recommend Neuhof Safaris near Gobabis Namibia. It is a couple of hours East of Windhoek. I am the first American to hunt there as most of their client have been from Europe. This was my 4th safari and the best. Japie & Lize Engelbrecht are your host and hostess. Their web site is <www.neuhofsafaris.com.na>. I have not written my report on my safari yet as I am having trouble posting my pictures and I will do so when my daughter comes for a visit and helps me post them. Neuhof has a beautiful place. The camp is like an oasis in the desert. I was greeted at the airport by Japie, Lize and her brother Hannes and driven back to Neuhof in a new Toyota SUV.I had a beautiful place to stay with an in ground swimming pool just ouside my door.My hunt was in May and the weather was great. The first hunting day I checked my weapons at the range then went hunting. I saw 14 different types of animals but did not get a shot as our stalks were broken up by other animals. Neuhof has lots of quality animals. Big Kudu, Eland, Red Hartebeest, hundreds of Blue Wildebeest, Black Wildebeest, Bruchell Zebra, Warthogs, Blesbok, Waterbuck, big herds of quality Gemsbuck and many others. The hunting area is flat and the walking is easy. GL. Rogers recommended Gras Namibia. Japie is the brother-in-law of the manager of Gras Namibia and also has a part interest in Gras Namibia which is about 135NM SW of Neuhof. We flew there in Neuhof's airplane and as a pilot I flew copilot which was a nice high lite of my safari. We had a bite to eat upon arrival then I went out and shot one of their 7000 plus Springbok and a Blackback Jackel then we had lunch and flew back to Neuhof. The shooting at Gras Namibia is generally longer as it is very open,rocky with very few trees. I shot at one springbok at 350 meters. For my final day of hunting we left Neuhof and drove to Windhoek and Japie & Lize rented us an apartment. After lunch Japie, John(the tracker)and I drove about an hour from Windhoek into the high desert(I think it was about 5000 feet and mountainous) to hunt my Hartman's Zebra. The property owners told us if we saw a Leopard to shoot it as it had killed a Foal the night before. We did not see a Leopard but I got my Zebra and Japie had never hunted this property before. We went back to Windhoek cleaned up and took Lize to dinner. The next day after breakfast and a little shopping in Windhoek, I flew out of Windhoek and it took about 15 minutes to check in and clear gun control. This is a wonderful family. Japie & Lize are in their late 20s. Lize's father is a doctor and he was at Neuhof most of the time. He also piloted the plane. You can book directly with Neuhof and at some later safari if you want to go for dangerous game they have family in the Northern part of Namibia with DG hunting areas. Neuhof also has great bow hunting. I took a trail camera and we had over 300 pictures at a bow blind in 30 hours. You may contact me for a private conversation and I can send you some pictures. I booked my flight with Kathi at Wild Travel and I had the best cheap seat on the plane on the trip over.

I hunted plains game in RSA in 2004 and again in 2006. I booked the hunts through Jeff Martenill at luxuryhunts.com email is biggame@ptd.net and everything went just as he said it would. We had 2 realy fine trips and took some nice trophies. The first trip 3 of them score gold and the other 4 bronze, the last trip 1 gold and 6 bronze. I hunted with Owen Smith and I do not think he would let you shoot anything that would not score SCI min. I had a great time hunting with Owen and if I get back to RSA will hunt with him again. His email is owen@isat.co.za. If I can be of help to you email me at jimishmael@sbcglobal.net

For a first time, I have to say that Jim Hackiwicz was great. He made the process very simple, held our hands all through the months preceeding our hunt, kept in contact and sent us all the paperwork, made sure we got it back to him and made sure we were eased through the police processing of our rifles and customs. We saw hundreds of game animals and the price was very reasonable. His email is jjhack@huntingadventures.net and that is his website, too - huntingadventures.net

I saw just now that you had posted to my previous thread - https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6321043/m/161105386

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner!

I don't believe you could go wrong with a hunt with Classic Safaris in Namibia, Vaughan Fulton or Gert will take great care of you and get you high quality animals.

I convinced some very good friends of mine to go on this trip and they could not be happier with the way it turned out. They took all of the animals they were looking for plus some extras on local ranches when they finished a few days early.

Drop Wendell Reich an e-mail and see what they have to offer.

Good hunting.

I used Boet Nel Safaris for my first and second trip to Namibia and will be using him for my third trip also! The next trip will be up by Etosha in the concession that Vaughn Fulton had. Search "boet nel" and it should take you to his website.

For a great trip to RSA, Namibia or Zim.
Contact Peter Harris at peterharris@iafrica.com
I think that even Saeed would say you can't go wrong with Peter Harris.

My son and I had a great time and got good trophies with Nihan engelbrecht in the northern cape. Nihan's company is www.huntersgame.co.za

Here again, cewe was right about the chance to meet and chat with the outfitters at the SCI shows. I've always found several Namibian outfitters who have been great talkers and ready suppliers of information. If you want to try web contacts try the following url =
http://www.africa-adventure.org/a/aru/index.htm

Their two sites provided us with excellent hunting and luxury, especially at the Veronica site.

Thanks to all for your responses. I have a great selection of potential hunts to decide from. That is the most difficult part. I plan to make more than one trip, so I may get to a few of them. Hopefully a lot of them.

I have been shooting off a transit level tripod (my version of shooting sticks for now) and didn't do well for the first 5 or 6 rounds (100 yds). I then tried the bench rest and put two within a half an inch of each other with my .338 wn mag. I know I won't have a bench shot in the field, so the ammo companies will love me (more practicing). I shot 14 rounds letting the gun cool after 3 to 4 shots. I hit the paper each time, but not good enough for Africa yet. However, I have time and I will improve. If anyone knows of some good three legged shooting sticks I would appreciate hearing from you.

I have had internet conn problems a tried twice before I finished this post, so I may seem slow responding to some, but should have that resolved Saturday. Thanks

I made my first trip to Africa last April, and I hunted with Owen Smith, as previously mentioned by Jim Ishmael. I did a cull hunt and shot 20 animals in 10 days, had a great time. My suggestion to you is to decide what type of hunting terrain you want, and what animals. I picked the Eastern Cape as it is more like New Mexico or the Texas hill country. Shots were from 80 to 250 yards, and not shots were from the vehicle. I talked to many other hunters who were in more desert areas, or brushy areas, that had all shots either very long or short. Eastern Cape has the most variety of animals. See if the PH will add some cull animals to your package, so you can get maybe 5 trophies and 5 or more female animals.

My hunting partner [RCG here] and I will be hunting with Owen Smith in the Eastern Cape in early October after our 10 day Cape Buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe with Buffalo Range.

This will be my 5th visit with Owen Smith, I recommend him very much. If you want to HUNT, he will get you close to your animals!

His hunts are booked by Jeff Martinell

But if you want to chat about it feel free to contact me!

I am SO looking forward to hunting the Eastern Cape again!

Les

Everybody else is putting in their $.02...here's mine.....I went in 2006 for my first trip. I went first to SA for 10 days booked with Bobby Hansen Safaris. He has areas all around but is based in the Northern part of SA not far from the Zim border. He is a truely fantastic individual and works hard for his clients. He truely gets as excited as his hunters do when they harvest a nice animal. I can rcommend him without reservation. He has a website...bobbyhansensafaris.com...I believe.

Good luck....there's nothing like your first trip.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI

Check out Gras Hunting Ranch. I have hunted with them x2 and they are top notch. I have a video if you like to see the whole picture. Drop me a personal email if you want to talk more.
safari@gci.net
Don Lietzau

338,
You have a private message.

Looks like you have plenty of good opinions already. Still, let me throw mine in. Limcroma Safaris in SA was the best time I've ever had on a hunting trip. I think they'll even to you into Nam. if interested.

You might try Mafigeni Safaris in RSA. They are family run and we had a great trip with them including sightseeing and hunting. They don't do SCI Reno because the booths are just too expensive but they will be a DSC. You can contact them at
www.mafigeni.com

I have had 7 great hunts with John X Safaris in RSA. They have hunting rights to an unbelievable amount of land through out RSA. They are based in the Eastern Cape, but have a lodge also in the Karoo, and hunt the entire country. the main lodge near Port Elizabeth is the only privately owned ranch with the Big Five. I don't believe there is any hunting there.

I've taken Kudu, springok, gemsbok, Nyala, black wildebest, blesbok, mountain reedbok, bushbuck, and probably a few others I don't recall right now with them. Great people. Carl Van Zijl and Gary Phillips run the safaris. Excellent for spouses and families. They can make it as luxurious as they want, and you can bust your rump in the veldt with the PH's if it suits you.
I've taken several SCI top ten trophies with them, and recommend them highly.

www.johnxsafaris.co.za

You may want to contact Eduard Katzke from Katzke Safaris

Besides being a fantastic guy, he is a top professional, a PHASA director and former Chairman of BASA.

I recommend him highly.

I hunted on this package two times, and still want to get back.

There are only about 5000 officially organized safari operators in Namibia and RSA. Rely on recommendations from someone you know. Good luck, you will have a ball.....

I will with these guys and would go again tomorrow.

www.safari-in-africa.com

Steve,that is the same package I'm hunting this
June. Tod and Shannon are great folks!
They have answered all my questions almost
sooner then I've asked them sooner then I asked them.
Charlie

hysider,

You will have a great time with KHS. I have hunted with them several times. Last July I took my family and spent a couple of weeks with Johan and Mabel.

Shaun

InGoGo Safari in the Limpopo area AllDays SA.

If you decide to go for RSA, I think Eastern Cape offers the greatest diversity, both regarding terrain and species. You have like 40 different to choose from. I guess on the other hand that you on your first hunt in Africa are looking for the "normal" species. And that could take you anywhere in this beautiful country. There are a lot of great outfitters and PH`s.. You need to think what you`re looking for.. Is the hunting itself most important? Is a nice camp most important? What species? High fenced areas? Pick out a few that you got from reliable sources and start a closer examination of them.. Call them, send e-mails with all the questions you can come up with..
I have only hunted RSA twice and Namibia once, so not much experience. But Safari Trails International did offer me a quality hunt with great success..
You can read my report here.

Good luck! With good planning you`ll have a blast!
One last tip: avoid small operators with limited access to areas and don`t forget Namibia either..

As an aside on Namibia, has anyone hunted with Gert Muller of Otjinuke there?

Contact jaco@gametrackersafrica.com.
Fabulous outfit, based in South Africa. Operating all over South Africa / Namibia / Botswana / Tanzania.
Recent winner of 2008 Dallas Safari Club outfitter of the year.
You will be happy you made the effort!

John X Safaris in RSA.
http://www.johnxsafaris.co.za/
I've hunted with them 7 times since 1988! Most of the the SCI past Presidents have hunted with them. They are reasonable and top notch.

Gary Phillips
Ed Wilson
Karl van Zijl

are allfirst rate PH's and great guys. They will fix you up.