Just did the charter thing in and out of Mugabe versus Charles Prince. Would very much recommend Mack Air in Zim and Botswana. Newer airplanes, on time and very good rates.

On landing via charter in Harare, form Tete, went through the usual Firearms check and then 30 minutes later for our domestic Charter out we went through the same check on the domestic side. Two different groups of people. They counted only unfired rounds and had me change my import rounds from 50 to 38 and 40 to 34. Only needed the Invite letter once on the way in.


Leaving the other day from Mugabe on Airlink we did have an issue again with the ammo. Ten people in the room and half of them wanted to count empties and unfired rounds against the count, the others only unfired rounds. 30 minutes later one of the dudes that checked us in on our initial arrival finally piped up and said that he counted them two weeks previously and you only count live rounds.

Also, a discussion about the Invite letter. Some said we need the letter and the others said no because it was an invitation and only applied to initial entry into Zimbabwe not for departures. To end the discussion, I pulled out the invite letters and gave them another copy.

As on our initial entry someone followed us out of the room and wanted to discuss “trophies” with us and what we were hunting or what we had shot. Both times it felt like a method to seek a tip for doing their job. Maybe that is the reason for the hassle as some guys would have slipped them cash to make it go away. A very bad thing as it encourages bad behavior.

Buffalo Range was interesting as the family coming in from JNB was being shook down for having Tee-shirts and Caps in their luggage for gifts. You can bring up to $500 duty free in the country. Guy tried to claim that’s not the case and they had to pay duty with the value of each hat set at $25 and $30 per Tee-shirt.

My son in law was wise enough to wait until we landed, and I knew right away it was a shake down. Had heard a week before at Buffalo Range Customs guys tired and may have been successful in having some Americans pay $1.00 per round for ammunition. Having that information, I was semi prepared for some shenanigans. After a few minutes of arguing, Dave telling him BS in Shona, I told him to give me the caps and tee-shirts and a match and I was going to burn them. He relented and we packed up and got on the plane.

Airlink is screwed up. Took over 1.5 hours between the gun check in and getting our boarding passes and paying the Airlink fees before we hit the four other people that check your tickets and passport. Leave yourself plenty of time. Airlink wouldn’t let us check our bags all the way back to the States as my ticket had changed and I was not in the same class of service as everyone else. Don’t bother asking to read the rules that state that it’s a waste of time.

We had Dave and Petrus with us, and they spoke Shona so that helped but what a hassle. Never been this bad before. They were even surprised. Extra copies of everything: 4457, Invite letters, Blank forms, completed forms, plane tickets, passport photo. Helps alleviate the BS.

Let me add Moz was only a two person hassle but someone typed E instead of 3 for the serial number on our gun permit in Beria. On arrival it was quickly solved but on departure a different guy was checking the numbers. I think we had landed in Harare before it was resolved. He couldn't believe that the incoming inspector went through the hassle of calling Beria the week before and confirmed their error. He thought we had altered the paperwork. Head guy told us go and we went.

Will I hunt Zim again. YES! Likely will go back to using Emirates or I might try Qatar and hit Harare directly. This way its just one hassle instead of two in a day. JNB is what it is and when going to other countries its the only choice. But with the help of Anne at Air 2000 everything is always taken care of, and she can sort out anything.

Seems everytime you fly into Harare, the game changes.Been through there 3 times but can say I never had much of a problem. South Africa has also never been a problem, but all 4 times we used Gracy Travel and Bruce always comes through.

I've done four flights into Harare. Arrival has gone pretty smoothly although I had all the paperwork ready with copies. Departure has uniformly been difficult as it has taken an hour or more to find a police officer to sign off on the rifles leaving the country. But as Peter Wood cautioned me, it's just BFA.

This was my sixth trip into Zimbabwe. Had heard there were some issues and there are. ZPGA wants to know about these issues and fortunately Dave was along to experience it first hand and he passed the information along.