What has gone wrong on your safari?

Explain what was a bad experience, what went wrong or something you just did not like. Let's keep it to African hunting.


My first safari to East Cape in 2002, of the 10 animals I shot, I lost a Black Springbuck. It was later found (after i returned home) but not much was left, even the horns were eaten up.
I was told to shoot the Nyala, but it should not of been shot for it only had 17" horns. Nine years later i find out, PH was threaten with his job if he did not have me shoot this Nyala. Totally wrong. I have a Spiral Horn Slam but this Nyala is not worthy of mounting. This August i am returning to SA, Kwa Zulu Natal for a replacment Nyala.

My third safari in Limpopo Province 2010, i had a black PH, very good at what he did and we got along just fine. Prolem, he was not allowed to sit at the supper table, camp fire, bar etc. with me. I felt like a third wheel around all the other hunters and PH's. I really missed out on the full true hunting experience.

One joy for me was I was able to fix my PH's freezer he had at camp for his family's personal food items. Being in the boonies as you are, there is no calling the Maytag repair man. This freezer was old for it had a heating element to heat the amonia for cooling, like your camper fridge/freezer.

Lets hear what your experiences are.

"A Dream can be relived, again and again in Africa".

One thing that occured in both my safaris was that the ph wanted me to shoot at quite long range. I did shoot and I didnt loose any animals. Though in two occations thanks to a good ph and a very good tracker...
My shooting was not to good, but the ph still wanted me to shoot. I have never in my life taken so many shots over 300 yards. My shooting did improve though so the end result wasnt bad.

I tend to run out of money by the end........ha!

Last safari in 2009, I had a PH that had a cheap pair of binoculars and could not see anything...it was extremely frustrating to see a huge impala or kudu and he can't see it. And I had another PH that liked to shoot extreme long distance all the time...didn't want to put in the time to get closer. And I think I have had a few disagreements over what animal to shoot. I don't necessary want to shoot the first animal I see and like to look the land over, especially if the first animal I see is just average in size. It's a hunt and I want to hunt...not just shoot. I consider myself a pretty good judge of animals, especially if we are up and personal and I like to have some say or input on what we are hunting and what I'm willing to shoot. Some days when you hunt you should just sight see and not feel pressure to shoot and stack trophy fees up.

Originally Posted by enysse

Last safari in 2009, I had a PH that had a cheap pair of binoculars and could not see anything...it was extremely frustrating to see a huge impala or kudu and he can't see it. And I had another PH that liked to shoot extreme long distance all the time...didn't want to put in the time to get closer. And I think I have had a few disagreements over what animal to shoot. I don't necessary want to shoot the first animal I see and like to look the land over, especially if the first animal I see is just average in size. It's a hunt and I want to hunt...not just shoot. I consider myself a pretty good judge of animals, especially if we are up and personal and I like to have some say or input on what we are hunting and what I'm willing to shoot. Some days when you hunt you should just sight see and not feel pressure to shoot and stack trophy fees up.

That is absolutely spot on.

I am not an international hunter. I am a South African citizen and hunt here in SA.

Once the ph tried to charge my cousin a trophy price after he shot it. He never mentioned anything about trophy prices before we started hunting etc... The farmer knew we were regular biltong hunters and that we would assume that if he did'nt mention "trophy prices" that we would assume everything was on regular SA meat prices.

Anyway, my point: I disliked the fact that he had "trophy prices" for what he knew were meat hunters. The problem is not the prices as the farmer/ph has the right to charge anything he wants, the problem is that he purposefully ommited the fact that he had trophy prices knowing that we as meat hunters would should the biggest animal we saw when the opportunity presented itself. He never had any info on such on his website or price-list, but when the impala measured over 23" he tried to claim a trophy price and we told him to piss off.

I accept any farmers/ph's prices and rules if he communicates them clearly before-hand, but if he tries something like the above... well i'm not a push-over.

Not so much wrong as things I would adjust:
Break up your larger groups and make sure the PH's are included in dinners. Not left at the end of the table talking amongst themselves. (i think this was exacerbated by the third issue)

Ask to be let in on the hunt planning. Sometimes this happened naturally other times not, especially when it was fluid planning during the stalk. The PH and the tracker are talking and you are left out. (certainly SMS/mobile) Ask a question or two in a low whisper to get on side.
Wish I had on one stalk.


If you go to Africa with your friends make sure you set aside some 2X1 days.
At home these are the guys you hunt with all the time and are an integral part of the hunt.
After the fact, we all realized we had missed out.

I may have a very selective memory of my two trips to South Africa because the only real problem I can remember is my very poor shooting skills on my first trip. I remedied that issue between the first and second trip. The only other problem that comes up is a bout with tick fever that started after I got home. Here again, I did not prepare and follow suggestions others had posted on the subject.

Oh, wait a minute, I remember two things that went dreadfully wrong: on my first trip, no one told me about buttered chipped biltong sandwiches until the chipped biltong was almost gone and the first hunting morning of my second trip there wasn't any rusk to go with me tea; bad start that morning.

I've been very fortunate, I've had excellent service, a great PH, and, knock wood, this will continue the future.

Its hard to get all of the details right on any safari. A lot can go wrong and a client w/ a bad attitude can be a real pain. That being said I have only been to Africa 2 times and both had a few hitches. On the 1st one to Namibia my PH had me shoot a 19 inch Impala. We were on a farm 3 hours from the home farm on a windy day. My friend took a beautiful Sable. We should of passed on the impala. I took a beautiful 25 inch impala on my second trip so things worked out.
The second trip to the East Cape had several problems. One day my son had no PH . We paid for 1X1 for the trip. His PH was given to another client. The part owner of the ranch took him out for a half day and he sat around the second half. That trip about 8 people got food poisoning from some bad sausage. Kept too long I guess. Wasn't just the hunters sick, it included the PH's.
First day I had a discussion w/ my PH about trophy quality. Still wound up with a blesbuck and a springbuck that weren't what we should of shot. I had several animals "of interest". Didn't want to shoot unless we found a good one instead of just average. Just adding to the trophy fee's. Part my fault. I should of known enough to pass on them. The thing that really royally ticked everyone off was the day we left. We wanted to buy some souvenirs to take home. Hand crafted locally made. He took us to the MALL in Port Elizabeth and he went to a gun store. Everything there we could buy in the states....Then to top it off he had us late to the airport. So late we very nearly missed our flight. Left a really bad taste in everyones mouth. Bruce

I have only been once so I am no expert. So I have been trying to think of something I didn't like. I enjoyed sharing camp with other hunters. I know some people like to be by themselfs. We had a group of guys from Oklahoma in camp. I was great. They told stories, we told stories. Just made the trip more enjoyable. We even helped spot for one of them on his Kudu hunt. If I had to pick something I guess it would be not seeing more hunting areas? We hunted 2 diff concessions the first day. We then hunted the next 5 days on the same concession. This concession was huge and all the animals we got where exceptional. But maybe I missed something on a diff concession. Who knows??? I guess I was lucky! Could have been a lot worse!!

My safaris have been quite unremarkable. After a successful hunt we would make meat helmets and when insulent I was placed in a burlap sack and beaten with reeds, quite standard really. LOL

Actually my 1st hunt was rained/snowed and frozen out! we still did OK but had to work out butts off. A decision to move from KZN (with another week of this forecast) to Limpopo was a godsend. dry clothes, T shirts and shorts, much better.

Originally Posted by Diamondhitch

My safaris have been quite unremarkable. After a successful hunt we would make meat helmets and when insulent I was placed in a burlap sack and beaten with reeds, quite standard really. LOL

Awesome Dr. Evil reference.... I don't think too many here are going to get that one but I love it...!

Talking about not shooting well my memory is jogged. My first safari I was not placing the bullet well, we did check zero before hunting. We went back to the range and made some adjustments. This helped slightly so I was able to fill my list. When I torn down my rifle to clean it, the recoil lug bedding came out with the lug, talk about a surprise! When I got home I had my gunsmith rebed the stock and the gun tightened right up. What can happen with synthetic stocks cuz they are plastic the bedding material does not stick, the area is not roughened up to adhere to. My gunsmith drilled holes at angles in the stock so the material could run into the holes for added stability. Problem solved.

Originally Posted by Diamondhitch

My safaris have been quite unremarkable. After a successful hunt we would make meat helmets and when insulent I was placed in a burlap sack and beaten with reeds, quite standard really. LOL

Awesome Dr. Evil reference.... I don't think too many here are going to get that one but I love it...!

I figured those who got it would chuckle and those who didnt wouldnt spend much time scratching their heads before moving on.

Originally Posted by RogerHeintzman

Talking about not shooting well my memory is jogged. My first safari I was not placing the bullet well, we did check zero before hunting. We went back to the range and made some adjustments. This helped slightly so I was able to fill my list. When I torn down my rifle to clean it, the recoil lug bedding came out with the lug, talk about a surprise! When I got home I had my gunsmith rebed the stock and the gun tightened right up. What can happen with synthetic stocks cuz they are plastic the bedding material does not stick, the area is not roughened up to adhere to. My gunsmith drilled holes at angles in the stock so the material could run into the holes for added stability. Problem solved.

Thats bedding 101. I havent heard of bedding coming loose before but have always been told to drill shallow holes throughout the area to be bedded, I guess thats why. No wounded animals from your episode I hope.

Originally Posted by Diamondhitch

Thats bedding 101. I havent heard of bedding coming loose before but have always been told to drill shallow holes throughout the area to be bedded, I guess thats why. No wounded animals from your episode I hope.

Yes I did, a Blk. Springbuck.

As for the OP, the only thing that went wrong on my safari was a hyper 5 year old that was a little stir crazy after a 15hr flight. He decided he wanted to run through Joberg, and I decided he wouldn't. Once we got to camp everything went as planned, all but the lost Gemsbok, Damn it....

[QUOTE=BRICKBURN;58077]Not so much wrong as things I would adjust:
Break up your larger groups and make sure the PH's are included in dinners. Not left at the end of the table talking amongst themselves. (i think this was exacerbated by the third issue)

Ummmm I think its coz he was black Brick! There's still some dumb ass prejudice alive and well out there.

I had an Outfitter book with me and soon after had the client arrived and accompanied by two professional hunters. The client was from United Emirates and the ph's was two local Afrikaans blokes. I only accompany them. The Ph tells the client to shoot or not. About an hour into the hunt I felt so bad for the client because the two ph's would only speak to each other and only in their native tongue. After we bagged the first animal the client phoned, what I only can think to be long distance to share his excitement with somebody in his language. For except the brief handshake and congrats the chaps got hastily back to their own Afrikaans discussion. I truly felt for the client and I being the chatty type kept him company the rest of the day and found very interesting and sociable, not any reason for the ph's to exclude him from conversation. I am sure this client will not book with this outfit again. Sad for he is a hunter/collector any Outfitter would dream of. You point, and if it is good he will shoot. Here the Pro should be dropped from the term PH.
Would like some opinions on the following as well. We found a nice Common reedbuck later the afternoon. They client had already taken one and was not interested. The one PH asked me the price and said he wants to shoot it after which he did. I strongly feel that it痴 your client that is hunting and not the PH. Especially in cases where the PH shoots better a better quality animal then the client. This will only provoke the wrong feelings. But that痴 my opinion.

Andries...The Peee H's were a pair a dumb asses! Every moment spent with a client is an opportunity to sell yourself to them...it ensures you get more work, referral work and you never know...like a buddy of mine from here, the client took such a shine to him...offered him a job 'state side' and he landed up running the hunting on the YO ranch Tx for 10 years! Certainly set him up for life! He's hunted with every celebrity who likes to hold a gun or bow! Made very good money at it too!

Hmmm.... bad safari....Mauritius 1986, after dragging lines for 11 days and numerous 'incidents' involving shoddy tackle etc and bad attituded crew, the marlin takes my line and the 'skipper' tries to handle my rod for me...it didn't go well for him! The hotel served tinned mixed vegetables and boiled pork chops when the brochure promised sea food....room with a view of Black River when the brochure promised sea view. Got back to weigh bay at 1900 hrs...out on the plane the same night..cut that holiday short by 10 days! The picture of the 498 lber lies in a drawer. Not a fond memory! The fish deserved more!

Originally Posted by BRICKBURN

Not so much wrong as things I would adjust:
Break up your larger groups and make sure the PH's are included in dinners. Not left at the end of the table talking amongst themselves. (i think this was exacerbated by the third issue)

Ummmm I think its coz he was black Brick! There's still some dumb ass prejudice alive and well out there.

Not being thick, honest. I was just speaking about my experience with a group.
My personal "adjustments" will certainly not fix that issue.