What have you actually had stolen getting to, coming from or on safari?

Six African safaris and a career that took me to 5 continents on dozens of trips. I never had a thing go missing. Oh, I left several books on airplanes over the years, including Terry Wieland’s Spanish Best. That one hurt.
 
I usually don’t put a lock on my suitcase and so far nothing taken. A lock advertises you have something to take. On my Zambia hunt, my suitcase was rummaged through. How I knew was they left my toiletry kit open and stuff spilled out into the suitcase, but nothing taken. Anything of value is in the carryon.
 
A couple of years ago, traveling to Cameroon, I overnighted in Dubai. Repacked a little at the hotel and put a rangefinder into my unlocked suitcase instead of my carryon. Flew Ethiopian to Addis Ababa / Douala. The rangefinder was no longer there on arrival in Douala. I knew the bag had been opened as the zip was closed to the oppositd side I close it to. Don't know where it was taken but suspect somebody did a random rifle of my bag and got lucky.
 
I’ve been lucky in the many Safaris I’ve been on. I carry my RF Bino’s in my backpack along with other necessities…
 
This past trip from Dallas to Newark to Johannesburg to Zambia (overnight layover in Johannesburg, with bags checked through) I had the zipper attachment on a duffle bag full of fishing lures cut and “dummied” to look like it wasn’t (didn’t notice until the back half of the trip). Ended up missing 3 - 1 gallon Ziplocks that were full of fishing tackle. I believe it happened during the overnight layover in Johannesburg rather than Dallas or Newark. During this sad trip I also had 2 of the Masterlocks on my rifle case cut and taped to a TSA inspection card, that were put back inside while the 4 TSA locks remained intact. My guess is this happened in Newark since Dallas normally pages you if they need the case opened and Newark is less friendly towards firearms. Lastly, on this same trip I landed in Zambia to fraud alert on my main credit card with over $25k in charges in NJ, NY, and CA.

In all my safaris, this was the first incident that I’ve had. Still flying home, so we’ll see if the return flight is as eventful.
 
Before getting on connecting flight to Port Elizabeth,, the security agent at Joberg swiped a roll of red duct tape from my carryon right in front of me. Her supervisor watched the whole thing. Gal opened a drawer and threw it into her purse. Cheeky bitch! I use the tape to seal up my ammo box and tape the locks against gun case.
 
At a convention recently the motel cleaning staff swiped some pills from an oxycodone jar in my toiletries. Flomax for prostrate not oxy. The thief might have trouble shoving his schlong in his pants but he's not going to get a buzz. Been setting this trap for years, usually with stool softeners. Someone finally took the bait. :D
 
In Douala they took a Plano tube full of fishingrods, Air France payed for it.
My dads Lion Skull got lost on it's way from taxidermy in Norway to Germany.
 
Fraudulent credit card charges received after I used the card at a small coffee shop in Gaborone, Botswana. The bank reversed the charges after a few phone calls.

Cash only in the future. Happy hunting to all, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.
 
Only two trips and nothing stolen. I do keep all of my cash on my person, never leaving it in a room or bag. I use a hard sided large pelican case as a suitcase so it can't be cut open. The only time I've used a credit card was at a business owned by my PH. I really only worry about losing my rifle.
 
30.06king said:
A couple of years ago, traveling to Cameroon, I overnighted in Dubai. Repacked a little at the hotel and put a rangefinder into my unlocked suitcase instead of my carryon. Flew Ethiopian to Addis Ababa / Douala. The rangefinder was no longer there on arrival in Douala. I knew the bag had been opened as the zip was closed to the oppositd side I close it to. Don't know where it was taken but suspect somebody did a random rifle of my bag and got lucky.
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I've seen YouTube videos showing how baggage handlers take a ball point pen to gain access to a zippered bag, look through the bag, then rezip the bag. Yes, I do put a lock on my checked bag, but I know if anyone really wants in they can be in and out of it in 1-2 minutes.
 
6 trips to Africa and over 20 to Canada and Alaska and I’ve never had anything get stolen or lost. One time had my rifle show up a day late to Alberta but I had overnighted in Edmonton so no real issues for my hunt.
 
Nothing from me in 11 trips. 2 times I’ve had things stolen by handlers here in the good ol’ USA. Miami and Minneapolis. My son had an entire bag of luggage and all souvenirs / ammo wallets ,etc. taken from O.R. Tambo after sitting there for a couple of months. It then sat at a very nice house in Joberg till the AirTag battery finally died.
 
Ontario Hunter said:
Before getting on connecting flight to Port Elizabeth,, the security agent at Joberg swiped a roll of red duct tape from my carryon right in front of me. Her supervisor watched the whole thing. Gal opened a drawer and threw it into her purse. Cheeky bitch! I use the tape to seal up my ammo box and tape the locks against gun case.
Click to expand...
Just this month I was flying back Port Elizabeth to Joberg and the P.E. agent told me I couldn't fly with the partial roll of duct tape in my carry-on. It had made it the whole journey in reverse without issue, but I just told them to toss it.
 
My checked bag is a ratty red soft pack with zip-in shoulder straps. It's been through the mill the last forty years and shows it. Looks more like something belonging to a poor college kid, not a wealthy safari hunter. Nothing of real value inside but the bag's appearance is enough to discourage baggage apes from exploring with box cutters. For the same reason I don't travel decked out in fancy safari garb. No one will bother picking the pocket of a retired laborer. My carryon is a nice camo daypack but they are fairly common among non-hunters. It's nice but nothing fancy. Checking my guncase reveals "my true identity" but not much I can do about that. I just try to be as discreet as possible the rest of the time I'm traveling. No Rolex watch, gold chains, or diamond rings. :D
 
In 30 years of extensive air travel, the only place something was stolen from my luggage was on domestic US flights.
 
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