Africa...when will you be priced out??

Rare Breed said:

Speaking of Horn of The Hunter he said his entire safari cost $10,000. I wonder what that would be in today’s dollars?

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Andrew62 said:

702 people attended last month's SCI banquet near Pittsburgh, PA. 27 youth hunters were each given a .22 rifle, outstanding support of our young people! Certainly seems like a lot of interest in hunting if you ask me!!

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Major Bonkers said:

Mr. Deewayne2003 - I do not in any way mean to be rude, but I disagree with you.

Firstly, you are not comparing like with like (as you admit). Kenya was closed to hunting in 1977 (when Madam Kenyatta's work was done) and, as you say, rhino and elephant are off the menu nowadays. These are the supply constraints.

At the same time, the demand has increased. As an example, Britain's wartime exchange controls, imposed in 1939, were removed by (the great) Mrs. Thatcher in 1979. Slowly, Britons could (re)start safari hunting after 40 years of de facto prohibition. (European countries gradually removed their controls during the 1980s.) Here was a new and untapped market for canny South African boers of marginal land!

From my own experience, about 5 years ago I compared the cost of taking a day's driven pheasant shooting in Kent (200 birds) with the cost of a two week safari in South Africa. The cost was broadly similar, including air fares, at around £8,000/ $11,000.

Of course, I am not swanning around Africa like Meryl Streep: I am in a game lodge and taking my sport from the prix fixe and not a la carte. As long as you stick to biltongbeest and boereworsbeest and do not get tempted towards the kudu or buffalo options on the menu, it is quite possible come away with change from £10,000/ $13,500: I do it every year.

From what I can see, the South African game lodges are catering to a much more mass market experience. I will agree with you that at the very top end of the market a traditional safari is much more expensive; but at the lower end of the market it is much more affordable. And this is demonstrated by the large number of sport hunters transiting Johannesburg every year.

Returning to Mr. Shaaka, the OP, he, I suspect, is caught somewhere in the middle. His options are to pay more to maintain his existing standard of hunting or to come and join the hoi polloi like me. Although he will curse me for saying so, he is the victim of the growth of the popularity of safari hunting. Fuelled, incidentally, by sites like this one.

Of course, in another 20 years or so we will all be priced out by hordes of Chinese hunters. That is why I urge all you Americans to vote for the great President Trump, who sees the threat clearly.

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deewayne2003 said:

I agree wholeheartedly with the Chinese threat in Africa as well as the mass market SA hunts that are more affordable with airfare & tips both inclusive.

Especially when compared to African species hunts on Texas ranches; but there is our separation. Admittedly I’ve had long absence from bird shooting of any kind but I am in fact concentrating on the more expensive dangerous game hunts.

I can appreciate the SA plains game hunts and may do one some day, but for the near future I’m going to hunt dangerous game while I’m physically able.

So yeah 25% increase in 3 years is concerning; but I’m also predicting a decline in demand coming in the next decade.

So I’ll probably do a third OZ hunt before my third Africa trip for leopard + whatever else.

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Killingtime said:

I’m glad you confirmed what I’ve been thinking about sheep and western hunting. I look at the odds and it just makes little sense to me. I may just start taking to to hunt sheep around the world Barbary sheep looks to be very affordable in SA and seems like a fun hunt. I’ll probably just scratch them off the list. I seen a whole herd of them on 70 a few years ago in Colorado I believe the town was silverton.. I considered letting Jesus take the wheel and me getting my ram with a truck lol.

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Mtn_Infantry said:

We’re probably a similar age, since like @375Fox I’m one of those guys under 40 walking around DSC or SCI. It all depends what your goals are and when you started playing the game. The biggest issue is the rules of the game can change at anytime based on what the state wants to do, so you’re rolling the device your plans and the math works in your favor.

If you’re a non resident and didn’t start playing the game as a teenager, you’re going to be hard pressed to draw the top end tags unless you get lucky and beat the sub 1% odds for a random tag. Barring Sheep/Moose/Mountain Goat you could create a draw strategy to start now and be hunting in a few years. It just depends on how many states you want to apply in and what your annual budget is for applications and point building.

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Killingtime said:

I run points in several states for different animals. I’ve considering doing three-five western states in a rotation to chase elk but I may just go to Africa every other year at this point and hit something in Europe and here on the in between years. My buddy who is the game manager at the place I would shoot at used to go annually to Idaho I believe hunt unit 10a, 8,8a and 11 and he’d fly into Spokane wa with a buddy then drive across rent four wheelers never got big elk but they’d each get one I think even Idaho did away with the otc tags which sucks. Idaho was a target state because they have a program that makes disabled vets tags ridiculously cheap. I’m not a DV but my two buddies that would hunt it are and that’s a nice perk to get them to go lol. Colorado ended there otc non resident archery tags as well

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EarlsSon said:

Agree 100%

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JPbowhunter said:

What’s the next Aussie trip for?

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Bonk said:

Saying South Africa is a better bargain than guided hunts in the USA doesn’t negate the fact that hunting Africa is getting to the point where those of us of normal means have to reach to make it happen.

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Tanks said:

Fixed it for you. PG hunting in RSA is within the budget of every guy of "normal means" that has some discretionary income.

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Russ16 said:

I think a lot about the impact of demographics on economics.

The baby boomer generation is starting to age out of safaris. They’re a massive generation in terms of both numbers and wealth. They also grew up on Hemingway and Ruark etc.

Gen X is a tiny generation in terms of numbers. They are hitting the prime years when the can afford safaris. Their kids are out of the house or nearly so and they’re in peak years for earning and should have achieved a level of savings. But again they are a tiny generation. They also didn’t grow up with as much of the safari culture. Africa was largely a continent of conflict on their formative years. And not as many of them hunt in general.

That’s a long way of saying I wonder if Safari pricing will flatten in the next 15 years. The prices are high because the market accepts it. It’s impossible to predict what will happen but there is certainly a scenario where price growth slows.

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