Once you've selected which company to book your african PG hunt with, and you know the dates you want to hunt, and you're somewhat flexible on those dates, and you've e-mailed this to a booking agent, how soon can you expect a response from this agent? A day, 2 days, 3 days, a week? I don't know if I'm being impatient or if the agent is being slow.

Bobby B.

I would say 2 or 3 days. After that, get another agent.

Booking online yourself would take minutes. I know it's not for everyone.

I think he is talking about booking a hunt, not the airplane tickets. Travel agents jump through hoops nowadays.

Not sure if you are saying the hunt or travel agent. I booked the hunt (after some emails, etc) on the phone and got a response with the contract details the next day. Also was given the email and phone number for Safari Line who booked our flights and insurance. Once I contacted them we got a confirmation and pricing within a day also.
Not real hard. Well worth using Safari Line, as we had weather delays on our flight in the US on the way out and had to reschedule the connector from J'Burg on and also rebook our hotel in J'burg. Safari Line had this for us in about an hour and a half.

I called the outfitter for my African hunt and he sent me a contract and I got it with in two days (we live in the same state). You didn't say exactly how long you have waited, but it sounds like a long time. I would follow up with a phone call.

I'm a nube at this so I can't answer your questions with any great precision but this much I know, the safaris company has asked me to send (wire) a deposit so I assume I'm booking the actual hunt myself. Would this be correct? I've asked a booking agent to book my flight but haven't heard much of a response for a couple of days.

Whenever I've booked a Caribbean vacation or some such thing, the agents in charge of booking my flights correspond with me a number of times per day if required.

Is booking a flight to Windhoek from Canada a difficult procedure?

Bobby B.

I would call around to a few different agents. On my trip in 2008 my wife tried to book with one agent using air miles for 3-4 out of 5 tickets. It felt like we were being strung along even after multiple calls and emails. When the agent finally got back to us the option was for my wife to fly through Brazil, my in-laws through europe, and for me and my hunting partner to fly another through D.C. We called another agent, Gracy Travel, and had things booked that afternoon so we could travel together. It ended up costing my wife and I $4k+ for waiting and not being able to use our miles. Money that could have been better spent on trophy fees.

Thanks,

Greg

I call or Email Kathi at Wild Travel. About an hour or two later I have the information. Call her back with the CC Number and I am ready to go.
I like simple and trustworthy. She is all of that and a hunter herself.

Rich

Still haven't heard back from the agent. Does Gracy Travel book for Canadians?

Bobby B.

Bobby,
I have used Falcon Travel and Gracy Travel out of San Antonio, they do not care what color your money is as long as it "spends". They jump all over this kind of stuff.

As to your hunt, you are "the agent" if you are sending money directly to the safari company. There are risks and rewards doing this. Reward - you may have saved some money, but unless you have shopped this around, you likely did not. Risk - if you cancel you may have trouble getting any money back and you have little leverage if something goes wrong on the hunt. A "good" agent will handle the money and the disputes for you as he may have more leverage over the outfit.

As to travel, most travel agencies can get you to Windhoek. You can do it yourself with a little research. A travel agent will charge you a fee for doing this, but I have found it worth the expense. I would suggest buying cancelation insurance if the overall cost of this hunt/trip is significant to you.

Bobby,
We used travel Masters out of Airdrie this past year for our first safari. We had no problems with them. I take it by your previous posts that you are hunting with Jannie at the Gras. We went to the same place and had a trip of a lifetime. They are excellent ! Jannie is actually coming to Alberta to visit and possibly book some hunts in January

Yes, I'll be hunting the Gras Ranch but I believe it will most likely be with Errol and not Jannie.

All I've heard is very positive reviews on Gras and selected it for my first hunt on this basis. I thought it would be an excellent start to future Afican hunting, a great place to 'get my feet wet' so to speak.

Bobby B.

Chances are you will be hunting with all three PH's. All of which are excellent and knowledgable. We were there for 16 days and got the chance to hunt with all of them

quote:

I call or Email Kathi at Wild Travel. About an hour or two later I have the information. Call her back with the CC Number and I am ready to go.
I like simple and trustworthy. She is all of that and a hunter herself.

Rich, I used Kathi last year but have sent her two E-mails and have not heard from her. She did say she was on vacation but that was two weeks ago.

I'm not ready to throw her under the bus because I don't know why she has not responded but I'm going to give it a try doing it myself this time.

Bobby,\
I use Luana at Mills Travel in Red Deer, She has been good for the last 3 trips to Africa for me and has been able to find me way cheaper flights to Africa than anything I could find online. Usually Business for what online was economy prices. Always she would get me flights within a couple of hrs depending on workload.