Guns In RSA

So the more threads I read the more nervous and unsure I become. We will be in RSA (Eastren Cape) in June. We will fly into Jo'burg, spend the night at B&B and fly to East London. How hard is it going to be to travel / clear fire arms in these 2 airports?
We have our pemits and paper work sent to us from safari owner & they say it is a straight forward process but looking to see what other's might have to say who have done it.
Thanks

Hi

J'burg International are pretty organised these days.

I was there in October and all went smoothly.

A guy will find you air side and take your rifles to the Police Station, which is land side.

So long as you have all your forms filled in correctly, there is no problem. It's the SAPS 520 form you need.

Make sure you get a licensed taxi from the rank manager and don't accept anyone who just comes up to you in the airport.

Also don't let various people assist you with your luggage, or you will have 4 or 5 guys there expecting tips ! One is fine and your guy from the air side often stays with you until you are in your taxi.

Checking in the next day , they often sting you for excess baggage, so be as light as possible.

East London there will be no formalities on arrival, but will be checked again on departure to J'burg.

I hope you have a great hunt and hassle free travel !

All best

Tony

Originally Posted by fearnot4me

So the more threads I read the more nervous and unsure I become. We will be in RSA (Eastren Cape) in June. We will fly into Jo'burg, spend the night at B&B and fly to East London. How hard is it going to be to travel / clear fire arms in these 2 airports?
We have our pemits and paper work sent to us from safari owner & they say it is a straight forward process but looking to see what other's might have to say who have done it.
Thanks

See if your B&B has a meet & greet service, Afton House was great for helping us through our first trip to JBN plus getting us to the airport and checked in the next morning.

Good advice, maybe use riflepermits.com henry will help upon arrival seeing that your outfitter will not be there to assist its worth it through and through and at a cost of a $100 a no brainer.

You are arriving alone and going through the whole process by yourself, that is why I will most definitly recommend his service.

My best always.

Originally Posted by Jaco Strauss

Good advice, maybe use riflepermits.com henry will help upon arrival seeing that your outfitter will not be there to assist its worth it through and through and at a cost of a $100 a no brainer.

You are arriving alone and going through the whole process by yourself, that is why I will most definitly recommend his service.

My best always.

Thanks I will look into that....what exaclty do they do for you? Does that cover both ways in and out of RSA or is 100 each way?

Thanks again,

Henry pre arranges your importation so that when you arrive all has already been captured on the system, this can potentially save up to an hour depending on the amount of rifles on your flight. He also does all on your behalf so that you do not need to jack with a police officer that might be having a bad day as a non South African, it does happen.

He also irons out any potential issues that might arrive due to a wrong digit or letter somewhere, and he does a meet and greet service.

It reallt helps allot and all my clients that have not done it in the past and then used him later swear by it.
Dont get me wrong you can go about it yourself but I have helped multiple clients from other outfitters when things have gone wrong, that should be the biggest concern what do you do when things go wrong, simply put with Henry it won't

My best always

My best always

Thanks again,
I just sent them an email to see what it is all about, and the price for both way service.

Thanks again anything to make my trip more enjoyable.

Have a good week

Originally Posted by fearnot4me

We have our pemits and paper work sent to us from safari owner & they say it is a straight forward process but looking to see what other's might have to say who have done it.
Thanks

I am just making sure we are talking about the same thing here.
What "permit" do you have in your possession?
Maybe the outfitter already processed your firearm for you? (Not likely but I want to make sure we are all on the same page here)

"Paperwork", I assume you mean letter of invitation.

Check out the services for sure. It is simple enough to do it yourself though.

Where are you flying in from? USA?
Flying through as well (transiting country)?

fearnot4me- welcome!
Having done it 4 times now, you won't really have many issues in taking your guns through Jo'berg. I did it myself the first 3 times and used a "service" the last time. I REALLY like using a service. Everything is done for you before you get there and you are in and out of the Police Office very quickly. No issues, no hassles and if there is a problem someone is there to help you. IT'S WORTH THE FEE! Especially for a first timer. Takes all the worry out of the equation. Using Afton House next month for trip #5.
What B&B are you using? I use the Afton House and they have their own gun service.

IF YOU GO ONCE, YOU WILL RETURN-DEAL WITH IT!

Used Henry from Riflepermits.com last trip and was in and out of station in about 5 minutes. Well worth using a service. Checking back in and flying out is not an issue just keep your paperwork handy.

Thanks again,when I say permits/ paperwork we have directions to he 520 and the 520, we also have letter of inv, our US Customs, etc. None of it is done for us just sent to us to do along w/ detailed directions.
Thanks again..... I have sent Henry a email will prob use him if it is that big of a benefit

Fearnot4me,
The process is simple to do yourself but, you sound as though the money will be well spent to use this service.
The agent will be standing in line for you.
You will be standing in the huddle of hunters outside the office in OR TAMBO chatting about your upcoming hunt.

As said earlier, get the B&B to pick you up.


Have fun.

I decided to look into the current state of affairs for doing this process for a CANADIAN:

Using the PHASA and Hunters Support Websites for direction.

NO surprises it is a bigger pain for us to use this type of pre auth permit service.

Canadian Export permits can take up to 8 weeks.
Country Transit permits (Holland) take some time too 6 to 8 weeks.

Notorized Copies required by the service provider:
Passport
Gun License
Proof of Ownership
Airline ticket
Export forms
Another copy of Passport (their list, I don't know why)

Other forms:
Outfitter Invite Letter
SAPS Form
Service Provider Auth
Credit Card Auth

COSTS:
Notary for all required forms ( as listed) $165
Service Provider Fee (PHASA rate) $140
Fed Ex Envelope (so you know it got there) $143

TOTAL: $408.00 USD

It is not a no brainer to use this service from up here.
There is more work to do to be able to use the service than to do it yourself. Waiting in line for a while at SAPS may be worth it to some and not to others.


For me it is one more Duiker or Steenbok the way I see it.

Thanks for figuring all of those miss. cost out. I was wondering how much it "ACTUALLY COST" after looking at all that was involved..

Thanks again to everybody for their help

Originally Posted by fearnot4me

Thanks for figuring all of those miss. cost out. I was wondering how much it "ACTUALLY COST" after looking at all that was involved..

Thanks again to everybody for their help

The calculation presented is for the process from CANADA NOT the USA.
Every country is slightly different. It may be worth while for other people for a variety of reasons. Look at it from where you live.