Organising First Trip To South Africa

Alena

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Good Afternoon all,

I am in the process of arranging a first hunting safari for my family in South Africa. After I've done some initial research I decided to book a customized trip with African Sky.
First I was alerted when they could not provide the pictures for the lodge we were planning to stay in, but that was not the main issue.
When I asked to send a contract, I've been told that there is no such thing. I've been referred to T&C which cover only cancellation policies and the fact that African sky is not liable for any damage.
To the questions about min. trophies sizes, right to decline the shot, wounded animals etc I received a simple answer if animal is shot you pay, together with the pictures from the website of previous trophies ( which were nice but hardly answer any of my questions)

I find it hard to believe that this is a common approach and wanted to ask about your experience with African sky or other outfitters.

Thank you in advance,
Alena
 
That is not common practice for a upstanding outfitter, I suggest you look elsewhere, if your looking for a hunt in the cape there are a few outfitters on this forum that will take great care of you and I'm sure they will chime in soon.

Ps welcome to Ah, you'll love it here.
 
hi Alena welcome to AH. about your questions, the choice to take the shot is entirely the clients. not too sure what you mean about min trophy size, but your ph will give you an accurate assesment of the size of the trophy you are hunting/looking at, then again up to you if you are happy or not. if you do take a shot and the animal vanishes but there is blood you have to pay the trophy fee, even if the animal is not recovered, this is standard procedure. we provide a contract which also includes t&c etc as you mentioned. as brian said there are plenty of good outfitters/ph`s from SA on here that will be helpfull in answering any other questions you may have, best mike
 
Hi Alena,
First of all welcome to the forum. You have certainly come to the right place to ask questions. As mentioned by Brian, that is certainly not the way it should be done. Please let me know if you need any assistance in organizing a trip to South Africa. We take care of the hunters as well as the non hunters.
Should you require any assistance, please find my email address in my signature below. My link to my website is also listed.
Hope to hear from you,

Take Care,
Marius Goosen
 
Welcome,you found the right place.Feel free to ask for any assistance.Enjoy the planning of your hunt.
 
Hi Alena,
First of all welcome to the forum. You have certainly come to the right place to ask questions. As mentioned by Brian, that is certainly not the way it should be done. Please let me know if you need any assistance in organizing a trip to South Africa. We take care of the hunters as well as the non hunters.
Should you require any assistance, please find my email address in my signature below. My link to my website is also listed.
Hope to hear from you,

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

If going to the cape Marius would be my choice.
 
With the answer you got from african sky I would be changing my plans real fast.There are two many good ones right here that will give you great service and answers you can understand right from the start.Must of the outfitters here have to much class to come right out and say run from that place now as they dont like to put down other places or seem to pushy to sale a hunt over another.Do some more home work and go have a blast in SA soon.
 
Good Afternoon all,

I am in the process of arranging a first hunting safari for my family in South Africa. After I've done some initial research I decided to book a customized trip with African Sky.
First I was alerted when they could not provide the pictures for the lodge we were planning to stay in, but that was not the main issue.
When I asked to send a contract, I've been told that there is no such thing. I've been referred to T&C which cover only cancellation policies and the fact that African sky is not liable for any damage.
To the questions about min. trophies sizes, right to decline the shot, wounded animals etc I received a simple answer if animal is shot you pay, together with the pictures from the website of previous trophies ( which were nice but hardly answer any of my questions)

I find it hard to believe that this is a common approach and wanted to ask about your experience with African sky or other outfitters.

Thank you in advance,
Alena

Welcome to AH.
I have no direct knowledge of this outfit but can comment on what you have described here.

If ANY question you ask is not answered directly and COMPLETELY at this point, when they do not have your money, do you think it will get better after you commit and send them money???

Want to feel caught, stuck or trapped?!

I made this mistake ONCE. Never again. I let a question in an email going unanswered slide.
I provided the excuses for the business: I thought they were busy. This is Africa, etc.
I trusted the outfitter and still do and that lulled me into ignoring my gut feeling.

Now I am stuck having to deal with someone who did not answer the questions before the hunt and continues to fail to provide answers to direct questions as I try to deal with my trophies, their export and shipment.
This situation is not an outfitter issue. It's a shipping/exporting company.

My advice: If you are not getting a sinking feeling in your stomach. Trust the feeling I am experiencing for you.
RUN QUICKLY.

I know you have spent a good deal of your time on this research process. Do not give in to fatigue now. Keep the search up and find someone who is actually interested in providing the quality services that so many great african outfits can provide.

Good luck.
 
Do not book without a contract in place. I have only booked one hunt without one and only because the outfitter was well respected. Between booking and hunting some of their policies changed and I was unhappy but forced to accept less than what we had discussed and I had paid for. Leave a paper trail, it protects everyone, prevents misunderstandings and goes a long way to ensure a friction free experience.
 
Hi Alena

Welcome to AH

I bet you should look for another outfitter real quick, as said previously there are many reputable outfitters on AH. I suggest look at a few writeups and recomendations from the members on here and find yourself an outfitter that would give you and your family a trip to remember.

Kind Regards
 
+1 on what has been said here and WELCOME to the best forum on the net. As you can see, everyone here is willing to help newbies even if they are not booking with them. We all love to go to and hunt Africa and we all love to introduce others to the experience. Ask away on your questions and your answers will be forthcoming and truthful here. Some may have differing "opinions" but all are respectful of each other unlike any other forum I have ever been involved with.
Again, WELCOME
 
Welcome Alena,

As you can see from the few outfitters who have responded to your post, none of them agree with what your chosen outfit is doing. All of the outfitters on this forum in my mind have a higher standard of customer service, because they know their name is out there, being talked about, can be posted on which does one of two things.
1.) shows they have nothing to hide and will provide you with the best experience possible, exceeding your expectations
2.) completely ruin their business and financially ruin them by providing you with less than adequate services

Yup I know where to look for my hunting trips, its the one thing I have control of, sharing my experience with others after the hunt (in saying this, unless your a complete fool which there are many, outfitters don't control things such as weather lol)

This place will give you more information than hours of researching and googling, and everyone is helpful and will steer you in the right direction

cheers
 
This is why I love this forum more than others, everyone helps each other out, end result is experiencing the African safari of their dreams. Keep up the great work guys.
 
This is why I love this forum more than others, everyone helps each other out, end result is experiencing the African safari of their dreams. Keep up the great work guys.

x2 If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times, the guys on here are the best. This is by far the most civil, courteous and helpful forum.
 
There are a few members on the forum that rave about African Sky, my two cents....I thought they were overpriced and overrated.

My advice: If you are not getting a sinking feeling in your stomach. Trust the feeling I am experiencing for you.
RUN QUICKLY.

Brickburn's advice is excellent
 
Welcome to AH, Alena, as usual I see that excellent advice has already been given to you.

Nothing much that I can add.
 
Alena,

I agree with all that is posted. But, if you are looking for a place to overnight in Joberg when you arrive, Africa Sky Guest House is very good and not affiliated with the safari company. With similar names, I didn't want you to associate the two. Diedre and her husband are wonderful and the accommodations are great. Ann and I just see them at the 2014 DSC Convention. We stayed with them back in 2011. They also can connect you with services to facilitate getting your firearms in - something I highly recommend.

John
 
Alena,

I agree with all that is posted. But, if you are looking for a place to overnight in Joberg when you arrive, Africa Sky Guest House is very good and not affiliated with the safari company. With similar names, I didn't want you to associate the two. Diedre and her husband are wonderful and the accommodations are great. Ann and I just see them at the 2014 DSC Convention. We stayed with them back in 2011. They also can connect you with services to facilitate getting your firearms in - something I highly recommend.

John

John you are correct Africa Sky Guest House is not related to them and they run a top notch company or service.
 
Good Afternoon all,

I am in the process of arranging a first hunting safari for my family in South Africa. After I've done some initial research I decided to book a customized trip with African Sky.
First I was alerted when they could not provide the pictures for the lodge we were planning to stay in, but that was not the main issue.
When I asked to send a contract, I've been told that there is no such thing. I've been referred to T&C which cover only cancellation policies and the fact that African sky is not liable for any damage.
To the questions about min. trophies sizes, right to decline the shot, wounded animals etc I received a simple answer if animal is shot you pay, together with the pictures from the website of previous trophies ( which were nice but hardly answer any of my questions)

I find it hard to believe that this is a common approach and wanted to ask about your experience with African sky or other outfitters.

Thank you in advance,
Alena

I hunt in several Provinces of SA and in all of these a hunt contract (or remuneration agreement) is compulsory for a legal hunt.

The relevant Provincial Ordinance stipulates the basic terms and what must be included in such a contract and this protects both Outfitter and Client so it is mutually beneficial.

It is a legal requirement to have a contract signed and as someone who prefers to stay on the right side of the Law this is the way I and most reputable Outfitters I know sell hunts - even if we were to book repeat customers / friends.

I would not recommend booking a hunt without a contract. Regardless of who or how well-known the outfitter is - this is a recipe for disaster - and illegal on top of that.
 
I hunt in several Provinces of SA and in all of these a hunt contract (or remuneration agreement) is compulsory for a legal hunt.

The relevant Provincial Ordinance stipulates the basic terms and what must be included in such a contract and this protects both Outfitter and Client so it is mutually beneficial.

It is a legal requirement to have a contract signed and as someone who prefers to stay on the right side of the Law this is the way I and most reputable Outfitters I know sell hunts - even if we were to book repeat customers / friends.

I would not recommend booking a hunt without a contract. Regardless of who or how well-known the outfitter is - this is a recipe for disaster - and illegal on top of that.

ditto!!
 

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