Africa trip Help

Ok guys and gals, me and a couple friends are looking very hard into diffrent outfitters in S Africa to go with next year and wanted some of yalls opinions on which outfitters to look at and maybe some reviews on your trips. We are currently looking at Adam with double shot outifitters, cape valley safaris, and inyoka safaris. My list of animals im wanting the most on this trip will be a Kudu, gemsbok, Impala, Black Wildabeast, and either Zebra or Eland adn maybe a Nyala. Then if these animals are down and more time alows me I will add some more animals with the extra time. Looking at 7-10 hunting days. Let me know who you went with and the good, the bad and the ugly about this before I make a final decision please. Thanks in adavance.

I leave on June 28th and will be hunting July 1-5 in South Africa with Pierre Vorster at Moketsi Estates. I will give you some feedback when I get back from the trip, however I know several people that have hunted with him and had an amazing trip. I'm after Kudu, Blesbuck, Gemsbuck, Impala, Springbuck, and Waterbuck.

Kudu was the most fun.
Gemsbok are the prettiest.
Black Wildebeest were the biggest surprise (very cool in person).
The Zebra were too smart for me.

I will give a review when I get back. Will be there the first week of August with Adansonia Safaris on a mixed bow/rifle hunt.

First targets are kudu, gemsbok, impala, zebra, warthog. No specific order because I want them all. If lucky enough to down them all there a few others I will look for.

Hunting Archery or Rifle?

Both bow and gun

I have been lucky enough to hunt Africa on several occasions. Each trip had it positives and negatives, but each was worth it. Hunted with Cruiser Safaris in the Limpopo Region of S. Africa twice, Westfalen Safaris in Namibia, and Koedoeberg Safaris in the Northwest Province of South Africa. Each place had different hunting styles (150,00 acre low fence in Namibia and high fence properties in S. Africa) All had great trophies, but Koedoeberg was by far the most economical. I plan on going back again next year. PM me is you have any specific questions.

What region are you looking at going to? For that species list, you have several options. I personally tend to like the cape around east london and port Elizabeth, several large free range ranches great terrain for rifle hunting (bow hunting places are more limited) and some unique local species that can be hunted in addition - reebok, Mtn reedbuck, cape bushbuck, blue duiker, etc.

Trophy quality on species mentioned is better in the Limpopo, but you have to do your homework up there, lots of put and take fenced ranches not all that different than tx.

If interested in the cape would look at Noel Ross's outfit, he has a giant concession outside on PE that's awesome hunting. Would also look at some of the big names like blaukrantz

I really dont care what region as this is my first trip, im mainly looking for an outfitter that can take care of my animal lists and has a good reputation. Also not trying to kill me on the prices. I have got 3 quotes and there is a huge price diffrence in the 3 outfitters I have talked with so far. I know this will not be cheap and im not worried about that but at the same time if one can do my list for 70% of the money the other can I want to know why and how.

I would go to Namibia. Omujeve Safaris.

So most of the major animals on your list can be hunted in either Namibia or South Africa. I have been to both multiple times. Here are some thoughts and things to consider:

- Kudu, the really big Kudu come out of Northern Namibia
- Cape Kudu, are really only in the Eastern Cape Area of South Africa
- Gemsbok, the really big Gemsbok come out of Southern Namibia
- Eland generally come from Zimbabwe or Tanzania , so they will be imported into the ranches with quality dependent on the ranch
- Black Wildebeest are from South Africa with the best quality being there
- Ranches, the Ranches in Namibia are 2-3 times the size of ranches in South Africa but have less animals.
-South Africa will have many more animals to hunt because like Texas they have had more time to and more people have developed the hunting industry there.
-Be prepared to move around to hunt different animals.
-Take advantages of the opportunities given. If a Gold Medal Klipspringer shows up shoot.

Bottom Line is you are going to another Country, Number 1, go on vacation, Number 2 go Hunting, Number 3 go shopping...

Have Fun...

Thanks Nathan, I do have that in my mind for the trip. If my PH tells me hey there is a GIANT .............. I will shoot it on spot more than likely. I have a budget I have set aside for this trip and told the wife it may double before I get home but Ive been wanting to go for a long time and dont want to cut corners along the way.

I want to second this concept. I've been hunting in South Africa a couple of times. Both times it was archery only. I passed on a great Red Hartebeest my very first day hunting because it wasn't "on my list". Don't let this happen to you! Go with a list but be flexible and take what mother nature gives you and you'll have a successful and memorable hunt. Go with a rigid list and bypass everything else and you may not be happy with the outcome.

Thanks, I honestly would be more than happy if I go and shoot a great Kudu and some other really nice animals. Thats probably my one and only animal I dont want to leave with out.

I shot a Kudu two weeks ago....along with NINE other animals!

Haha! Give me a call soon bud & I'll give you all the details from my trip.

Biggest kudu are generally Limpopo, but they are also the most expensive. Everyone wants a kudu, so that's one of the most likely to be released.

Namibia and cape are your more economical options. Namibia has better kudu of the two. Cape has more kudu than anywhere else I have hunted (been fortunate to go over a half dozen times and spend a summer working for an outfitter over there). They are of course the smaller, cape variety, but you can shoot 2 for the price of a Limpopo bull - they are listed differently in the books too. If you really want a kudu with a bow, I'd go late (sept timeframe) and focus on Namibia or Limpopo. Cape gets too much moisture for consistent waterhole hunting.

Don't overlook bushbuck - one of the coolest spiral horns and a favorite of mine to hunt.

Is the wife going?

Cant stress this enough. Be flexible and bring more money than you planned on spending My old man is a Rhino away from completeing the Big 5 and back in 88' he had a chance to shoot one at a dirt cheap price and passed it up, he still kicks himself for that. Everytime I go I bring a little extra with me just in case now.

Ditto again, had an opportunity to shoot an (exportable) trophy elephant bull for $4k on my first safari, wasn't interested at the time. Going back to do it is high on the list, but looking at about 10x that price to do it again. Can think of several others that still nag for passing up.

I passed on a great Eland while on my second hunt. Perfect shot, broadside, 20 yards, head down eating. But, I passed. Wish I hadn't now, of course.

I hunted north of Windhoek and there were 3 Kudu over 60 inches taken and I passed on a 63 inch monster. That was the best Kudu hunting I have ever seen on 6 trips. Only issue, Kudu and Hartman Zebra are about all that was there. There were some very marginal Gemsbok and some very marginal Eland and some Hartebeest....

Watching this one close, good info.

For bow and gun you would be hard pressed to do better than Matlabas Game Hunters. The Frosts are wonderful people and there ranch is on the Matlabas river. Beautiful place and covered in quality trophy animals.

http://youtu.be/ibMm-lKrSCA

The same holds true in Africa as here, U get what U pay for!! over 95% of SA is high fenced, Generally the smaller places are the cheapest. Everyone's advice so far has been great and spot-on as far as location and what to expect. If at all possible and U can afford it I would hunt Zimbabwe, around the Victoria falls area. No fences, free and wild Africa. Cabelas books the woodland area, I see from the pics, around Matesti area, great location to hunt. Big Kudu and a good amount of trophy Sable. North Africa is beautiful place, Namibia is dessert, The free state in SA have big Gemsbok and Red Hartebeest. It would be easy to hunt 2 locations in SA. Northern Providence for Kudu and impala plus other game in the area and the free state for Gemsbok,Red Hartebeest, Black Wildebeest and Zebra. Do yur home work at the Dallas Safari Club and talk to as many PH as U can.

Yes and no on you get what you pay for. Most outfits with a halfway decent reputation will take better care of you that you'll ever find stateside. If you do your research, there are plenty of deals to be had. Most outfitters jack up their rates for American clients because they know we'll pay it, local South Africans usually pay half or less of what we do. I have hunted mostly on local rates thanks to connections, but the point is there's a lot of wiggle room where the outfitter is still making his dollar. Some of the best hunts I have had are small (sales volume, not acreage) family operations that don't regularly advertise in the states or go to the shows. I've been on some great concessions that feel more like hunting with an old ranching family that a big corporate lease - price difference was similar too.

Would encourage doing a little research thru the South African mags and websites - you may be surprised when you pay in rand.

If you are little flexible on your list (like the gemsbok), I'll second the comment about Zimbabwe. You'll get a much more "Africa" experience and it's worth looking into if you haven't.

My recommendations, as others have stated, is to bring a lot of extra cash to shoot extra animals. Two reasons, your cost per animal decreases as the number of animals you shoot increases. What I mean by this is that since you are already in Africa and shooting animals, you have already paid for airfare, paid (or are paying) the daily rates, and you will be paying dip and pack and freight to get the animals home. What I've found is that the increase in fees for dip and pack and freight and such doesn't increase too much with extra animals when compared to making another trip back to shoot the animals you didn't get on a prior trip.

Second, if you haven't considered using a booking agent, I would highly recommend at least looking into it. It doesn't cost anything extra (they are paid through the PH not you) and they will handle all the details and do the "stressing" for you. Especially helpful when you have never been the the continent, and the person your are dealing with is 6 time zones ahead of you and working out of a bush camp.

My last recommendation, stay at least 10 days. It takes a long time to get there and it's one of the greatest places on earth ... you really don't want to leave there that quick because the hunt will go by too fast anyway.

I agree with this. I hunted for 7 days my first trip and it wasn't near long enough. I hunted for 10 days the 2nd time and while it was a good trip I really wish it had been 14 days and if I could have managed it, 21 days would be even better!

Some great advice so far. Only thing I would add is double your budget if you can. Its not a matter of if, but when most of the continent will shut down. That is already happening. Go now and indulge while you can. I went over my first time planing to shoot 7 animals and left with 30.

Africa is going to mess with your head the moment you get on the plane to return home. I am dying to get back. Nyati is calling me. Hoping to get back next year for lion and leopard.

I forgot to add that. Ten days will allow you to not feel rushed. It is a Looooong flight. I will only do 21+ after our last trip.

being a taxidermist, the most consist trophy animals on bow only hunts seem to come from Dries Visser. He has several concessions in South Africa and Nambia. As others have said, SA is mostly high fence but lots of opportunies. I've been twice with Adansonia.
TIP: buy several packs of cheap cigarettes at first gas station you stop by- use them to bribe the trackers and PHs

Went on my first African safari last year in the Limpopo Province in South Africa. It was a fantastic experience. We were in similar situation trying to decide where to go and which We decided on the Kawalata Wilderness with Jaco Strauss. Well my wife really made the decision. She was the most conforable talking with Jaco. My wife and I spent three weeks total in Africa, 9 hunting with Jaco. I don't have any regrets, exept ideally I think 14 days of hunting would have been perfect. I plan on going back next year for buffalo and Sable. Good luck and have fun. It is a surreal experience.

Cape Province just outside of East London, I can hook you up with a phenominal outfit & if you want to do any bowhunting I'll give you a PH that does both but even designs his own broadheads! Prices are outstanding, accomodations are outstanding, as are animals and PH's. If I'm not mistaken 1,000,000 hectare ranch, yes it might be high fence but takes four plus hours to drive side to side, so much country you'll never know about fence. PM me for prices & details if you'd like.
thx

Getting along with the PH is a huge plus. If you are hunting with someone who enjoys the same type of hunting experience, and you can carry a good conversation with by the fire, it'll make many of the other details less important. If you get serious about an outfit that does the show circuit, invite them to your house for dinner or ranch/lease for a hog hunt - definately worth it. PHs are normal people to, (a great, well recommended PH may rub a hunter the wrong way or vice versa) and if you get along well with them, you'll hunt harder and without a doubt get a better experience and a chance at better trophies. I've been on both sides of it, and if he's having fun, you'll have more fun too.

I agree completely that the personality of the PH is essential. I didn't care much for my initial PH on my hunt. He suffered an unfortunate (and quite severe) injury on the 2nd day and I preferred his replacement greatly, even though I felt bad for the injured fellow.

While I liked my PH in S. Africa perfectly fine, there wasn't a lot of interaction per se. We were sitting blinds over waterholes for long hours and mostly we were very quiet, didn't talk much, read our books, glancing up often. When animals came in he would quietly whisper which animal to target and he ran the video camera. We whispered a few conversations but we were pretty quiet most of the time.

He was very knowledgeable, nice, worked hard, tracked well (although my tracking jobs were pretty easy) but for an archery only concession, there wasn't a lot to it. Like I said, no complaints at all, and maybe it was just because of the type of hunting we were doing but there just wasn't that much interaction.

On the other hand, when I went to New Zealand, where it was all spot and stalk, and trekking up and down mountains and lots of walking, climbing, sneaking, crawling, etc. I interacted with the PH a lot. He was a young kiwi guy (half my age) and he was fine, but his patience when things didn't go as planned left something to be desired. He would stomp around and grouch when a stalk didn't work out or something went wrong. I didn't care for that much. He worked plenty hard and seemed plenty knowledgeable, but his propensity to get angry was not something I cared for.

Disappointment is one thing, anger is another.

We just returned from our hunt with Hartzview Safaris in South Africa about 2 weeks ago. We went for 10 days and would have liked an extra 5. Great place and people. Looking at going back next Apr/May for cat & buff.

(Bad advice; sorry)

Good luck; some great advice on here.

Really bad advice. Attempting a bribe to SAPD will get you thrown in jail real fast.

Actually, there should be little interaction with the police. Upon arrival, they will check your gun paperwork. Best have all of it in order well ahead of your trip. I would NOT recommend you do this all by yourself the first time. It is WELL worth the $200 or so to use a service. They will meet you at the airport and walk you through the check-in and process. THEY will deal with the police and you should have very little interaction.

For us, we went to the check-in with our rep and just sat around for about 20 minutes. Then they asked, "Are these your guns? Please unlock the cases". They spent 5 minutes to check/match the serial numbers, and then we were on our way. Same thing when we exited, in reverse.

We saw LOTS of folks that tried to do all the paperwork themselves that were delayed and had issues dealing with the police on their own.

I would make extra copies of your gun paperwork, just in case.

Using the service, we had all the paperwork filed with the SAPD 3 weeks before our arrival. Really speeded things up.

OOPS! Disregard it then. Sorry. I read it somewhere(wikitravel or maybe on here).

Also plan on getting an insurance policy for your guns through SIAI/SCI to cover your weapons while you are there.

And a short-term policy with Global Rescue is cheap insurance, in case you do need to be evacuated for ANY reason.

I can only speak about RSA, it may be different in other countries.

For RSA, while corruption and crime are not uncommon, it is not something to be OVERLY concerned with. Jo'berg is a big city with lots of bad areas, but most folks don't linger in the city proper. Your outfitter will wisk you away to a guesthouse for the night or take your directly to ranch.

For us, once we at the private ranch, we had no concerns and felt completely safe. Heck, we left the doors to our chalet unlocked most of the time - just the owner and his family there, and anything of value we had with us hunting.

I sure John has recommended a good company but when it come to buying travel insurance read the fine print. A lot of travel medical insurance providers exclude hunting and action sports.

Good advice here. The language is tricky and they will do everything they can NOT to pay.

Global Rescue specializes in hunting and extreme sport adventures, such as mountain climbing. They are well known and have an excellent reputation and history with doctors in their network - and helicopters - in just about every country.

They will evacuate you from the field for medical or insurgent issues. Low altitude medical jets and the whole works.

You can read stories on their website about plucking people off mountains and out of "hot zones".

So far as SIAI gun insurance, they will cover the full value even if guns are confiscated and their policy is so good, I have added ALL my guns, even those that never leave home. It's better - and price competitive - than most "at home" policies or "regular" coverage. You have to be a SCI member to get it, but it is WELL worth it. Especially for your optics which are often excluded from most policies.

I did 8 months of research and these were the two best companies I found.

John who do you use for those countries that require a liability policy? I know it's an issue in Europe and parts of Australia.

Haven't been hunting to any of those countries yet. Just Mexico, Africa, and Canada hunting. All over for fishing though.

hunter30 is writing a report of his hunt, check it out in the Open hunting discussion thread. Eastern cape hunt

watching that thread also Ferdi thanks, I have came close to 100% sure who I want to book with just waiting on the other guys to pick something. I really like the fact that any questions I have are a text or call away and they have been answered within a very short period of time. Im not looking for the best deal in the world just a very trustable outfitter that will be there from point A to Z on this trip. I dang sure dont want anything to go wrong or I mess up somewhere along the way and forget something important is my only fears of this trip and ofcourse the normal dangers. I ahve told the wife and she has read all your reponses on this thread and she laughed at me when I told her see babe, Im going to need triple the cash when I leave incase I get a chance at any of the big 5. Im pumped and I ahvent even booked yet, I have a feeling this is going to be a very very long year wait to get on that plane.

Whoever you choose just make sure Barry Burchell of Frontier Safaris is NOT involved. That is unless you want to make your first trip your last to Africa because you have such a horrible experience. Just google his name along with Cabelas and Scott Anglin. You'll see. Now as many people as I can I tell to stay away and hopefully one day he will be out of business.

Just curious, have you made a decision?

Leaning very hard towards Adam over with Double shot outfitters, the will be there in Africa with us. He is very very easy to get a hold of and answers me the same few minutes if not within a hour on all my questions and concers. I just want to have someone hepl me with all this crap so I dont screw anything up on my first trip. He is about average on prices and he has what im looking for in the size and animals. Waiting on the other guys that are coming to make there final decision and were going to book soon for next year. Going to be a long wait but by the time we go im sure my list will change 100xs and im sure ill come back with way more animals than I plan on but im pumped and cant wait. Thank everyone again for all the info and please keep it coming, I can use all the help I can get.

For your first trip I would go to South Africa. It is the most economical. I have been to Africa 7 times and hunted with several outfitters. If you want to PM me I can get you the names of a few I have hunted with. Its a great time and you will be hooked.

It would be well worth your dollar to subscribe to the Hunting Report that gives reports on PH's and outfitters all over the world. The ones we used in Zimbabwe are in there, they use actual hunter reports, unedited to report how the hunts went. PM me if you want a link to their site.
I personally would recommend a place like Zimbabwe if you want to see Africa the way it was 100 years ago in the bush. I'm sure there are other places where you can do this but as stated several times in these posts, most of SA is high fenced with animals that have been pen bred and released to hunt. I've known people take a cape buf in SA and the "ranch" had even named the buffalo.

Metetsi as mentioned already is a really good area as well as the far southern part, the SAVE conservatory down by the Mozambique border. Big cape buffalo in that area as well as water buck, bushbok, eland, sable, nyala, impala, , kudu, wildebeest, bush hogs, giraffe, warthogs, elephant, black rhino, and other of the smaller antelope. You don't need to bribe trackers or skinners or any other of the crew and they are truly amazing. We had to pay bribes in South Africa just to get our guns and to get through customs but this is pretty common there. There is also a place many hunters customarily stay when they have to spend the night in Jberg, the Afton House. The lady who runs it has a daughter who will work up your flights, etc and she lives in TX and runs one of the "all in one" services for gun clearances, etc.
Good luck, no doubt where ever you decide to go, you will love it.

If you plan to go more than once, I'd work into things gradually. That would mean going to East Cape Province your first trip, then perhaps the Limpopo Province. Then move on to Namibia and/or Botswana. Next Zimbabwe, and then the biggest and best, Tanzania (minimum hunt allowed is 21 days, I believe).