Tipping Guide

I'm headed to SAfrica in a couple weeks and am going to meet up with a PH for a couple days of hunting while I'm there. The lodge he's associated with has a nightly rate and he also charges a daily rate. The daily rate makes me less feel less motivated to tip him. Am I wrong to feel that way?

DonPablo said:

I'm headed to SAfrica in a couple weeks and am going to meet up with a PH for a couple days of hunting while I'm there. The lodge he's associated with has a nightly rate and he also charges a daily rate. The daily rate makes me less feel less motivated to tip him. Am I wrong to feel that way?

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Nevermind. He worked his ass off and definitely earned one.

DonPablo said:

Nevermind. He worked his ass off and definitely earned one.

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I am glad to hear this response. Not specifically because you did or did not tip, but because hard work was recognized and a tip was earned rather than expected.

Too many (USA) establishments "suggest" tips for the most basic of functions. My personal favorite is the concession vendor at sporting events: do their job to hand you ready-made, overpriced products, then on their card only payment screen, present a big page of 20-30% tip options with a tiny button for no tip. I find the no tip button every time on these.

I would be curious, and since in Europe tipping often only means rounding up to the next paper currency amount, it’s not a specific % like here in the US. I wonder what say German or Scandinavian hunting booking agents sending clients to outfitters in Namibia or even RSA that cater to these nationalities predominantly advise is the expected tipping expectation. Would it be different than for us from the US?

IA diver said:

I would be curious, and since in Europe tipping often only means rounding up to the next paper currency amount, it’s not a specific % like here in the US. I wonder what say German or Scandinavian hunting booking agents sending clients to outfitters in Namibia or even RSA that cater to these nationalities predominantly advise is the expected tipping expectation. Would it be different than for us from the US?

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I just answered my own question. A German website lists an example 5 day hunt including oryx and hartebeest trophies with tips being 10% of the total outfitter cost or 270€. This seems far less than what I am used to of for PH, skinner/tracker, driver, camp staff.

How should I tip when I have split PH's? For my hunt we had signed up for 2x1 for dangerous game then plains game at the end. What ended up happening was we had guide A for 2 days of dangerous game hunting, then split into 1x1 for plains game. I spent one day with guide B alone, then on day 4 we switched midday from plainsgame to buffs as they were in our zone. Guide A and my dad met up with us and guide A tool over as the primary guide and guide B tool secondary role. Then we did another day of 1x1 then we did 2x2 for the rest.
Summary:
Day 1: 2x1 DG w/ PH A
Day 2: 2x1 DG w/ PH A
Day 3: 1X1 PG w/ Ph B
Day 4: 1x1 PG w/ PH B in morning, 2x2 DG evening with both PHs and PH A as primary
Day 5: 1x1 PG w/ PH B
Day 6: 2x2 w/ PH B dedicated to me
Day 7: same as Day 6
Day 8: same as Day 6
Day 9: same as Day 6

JCHunter62 said:

How should I tip when I have split PH's? For my hunt we had signed up for 2x1 for dangerous game then plains game at the end. What ended up happening was we had guide A for 2 days of dangerous game hunting, then split into 1x1 for plains game. I spent one day with guide B alone, then on day 4 we switched midday from plainsgame to buffs as they were in our zone. Guide A and my dad met up with us and guide A tool over as the primary guide and guide B tool secondary role. Then we did another day of 1x1 then we did 2x2 for the rest.
Summary:
Day 1: 2x1 DG w/ PH A
Day 2: 2x1 DG w/ PH A
Day 3: 1X1 PG w/ Ph B
Day 4: 1x1 PG w/ PH B in morning, 2x2 DG evening with both PHs and PH A as primary
Day 5: 1x1 PG w/ PH B
Day 6: 2x2 w/ PH B dedicated to me
Day 7: same as Day 6
Day 8: same as Day 6
Day 9: same as Day 6

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For me, I target 100 a day for PG, 150 a day for DG. Yes, I have tipped more, especially on DG if the guide was really doing a top notch job.

For example, if you target 150 for DG per day, then you and your buddy would each tip PH A 75.00 for Days 1 & 2, for a total of 150 each. If you feel PH A did an outstanding job, then maybe you each give him 100.00 a day, for a total of 200.00 each.

Sometimes things just get a little goofy with tipping when you have a hunting buddy and switch guides on different days. Main thing is I hope you had a great hunt.

Andrew62 said:

For me, I target 100 a day for PG, 150 a day for DG. Yes, I have tipped more, especially on DG if the guide was really doing a top notch job.

For example, if you target 150 for DG per day, then you and your buddy would each tip PH A 75.00 for Days 1 & 2, for a total of 150 each. If you feel PH A did an outstanding job, then maybe you each give him 100.00 a day, for a total of 200.00 each.

Sometimes things just get a little goofy with tipping when you have a hunting buddy and switch guides on different days. Main thing is I hope you had a great hunt.

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My thoughts too.

Andrew62 said:

For me, I target 100 a day for PG, 150 a day for DG. Yes, I have tipped more, especially on DG if the guide was really doing a top notch job.

For example, if you target 150 for DG per day, then you and your buddy would each tip PH A 75.00 for Days 1 & 2, for a total of 150 each. If you feel PH A did an outstanding job, then maybe you each give him 100.00 a day, for a total of 200.00 each.

Sometimes things just get a little goofy with tipping when you have a hunting buddy and switch guides on different days. Main thing is I hope you had a great hunt.

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Then there is the camp staff....and trackers....

Tipping the PH is just one part of the equation

Guys,

First, I'd like to say that amount of safari information Gerome has amassed is staggering and it should be very helpful particularly to those who are novices. Well done!

The only thing I've found that I might take exception to is how to calculate the safari tip. Personally, I think it is most practical to tip per day depending solely on how hard you think the crew on your safari worked.

Using the percentage of the safari costs to determine the tip would seem to get a little impractical when you get into a lion safari for example in Tanzania where dailies and trophy fees might exceed $200,000 or more. Using Gerome's 8% recommendation, the PH would receive $16,000 for a great job. I think that's a crazy amount. A very similar lion safari in another country might only be $100,00 so the PH would receive $8,000 although each safari crew might have worked equally as hard.

In most cases I would recommend to my clients on a Big 5 safari that went very well to tip the PH about $200-$250 per day and the same to be split between the crew members.

I personally give the PH's tip to him as well as the crew's tip. The PH understands the pecking order in camp and you don't. If you trust your PH to handle your safari you should trust him to give out the crew's tip properly also.

Gifts are great but a pair of quality bino in place of the PH's tip does not put food on his families' table. Think USD first and gifts second.

Also as has been said don't feel intimidated by the tip process. It's your money and tip as you please. If you find your PH is talking about his tip during the safari you might want to consider lessening his tip. A top-quality PH will not bring it up. It's just not done.

This is how I have handled tips and how I recommend my clients do the same but in the end the tip is completely up to you.

Cheers,

Mark

I have a question, Jerome's guide is dated 2008 making is 18 years old, are the percentages still accurate for tipping? Or has this changed? Realizing the price of day fee's and animals prices have increased over the years, does the percentages still apply?

tay50 said:

I have a question, Jerome's guide is dated 2008 making is 18 years old, are the percentages still accurate for tipping? Or has this changed? Realizing the price of day fee's and animals prices have increased over the years, does the percentages still apply?

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Man I think this is really flexible. If you are hunting a put and take area for olains game, I think the tip is massively different than DG anywhere. I tip heavy but I have family members that tip am embarrassingly low amount to me.

I haven't seen a place where between 5% and 10% of the hunting costs isn't appropriate and that can cover everyone.

For my recent trip I planned n $250 a day for the PH. I asked him what he recommended for the camp staff and trackers based on what would a generous but not over the top amount be. I then gave the tips directly to the staff. I brought a stack of envelopes with me to put the tips in.

Just MHO, but I feel the whole tipping culture in our society has gotten extremely out of hand.

FOsteology said:

Just MHO, but I feel the whole tipping culture in our society has gotten extremely out of hand.

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Can't disagree on this. The DEFAULT tip on alot of places, when you are getting food to go, is 15% or upwards.

However, i do tip for services rendered....and it just depends on how good the service is.

Tay50,

I don't like the percentage tipping method as I stated earlier. Having said that if you keep the percentage the same the tip will increase as the hunt prices go up. No need to change the percentage.

Mark

My opinion is, and you know what they say about opinions. You are paying handsomely for a service. If a waitress serves me cold food, well, no tip. My wife always bitches at me for tipping to much when the service was great. I feel the same way about our PH and staff. If they don't like it, to bad. If the (service) was that bad, we won't book with them again. To bad for them. I know this may sound a little harsh and I will probably get allot of shit over this, but that is my opinion no matter how anal you may think it is. That will be your opinion and I respect that. What I said above, pertains to all services that I pay for and I feel no obligation to tip anyone whose services that I or we are paying for. I have only been on 3 Safaris and tipped the first 2 handsomely, the 3rd one, not so much. Just do what your heart tells you and don't feel obligated to a tipping guide and tip what ever you think is appropriate. A tip is not mandatory, tip what you think is appropriate. A tipping guide is no more than a suggestion not a rule, and in the end, it's all about how thick your wallet.

Paul

Was this somehow reposted without the thread that had been there? I thought the tipping guide thread was extremely long already.

FOsteology said:

Just MHO, but I feel the whole tipping culture in our society has gotten extremely out of hand.

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And you’re from one of the only tipping cultures in the world. Imagine how it looks to people from countries that don’t tip at all.
It’s one of the things that always stopped me from doing Africa.
Add 50% to every hunt for currency exchange and then another 10-15% for tips just because it’s expected as most clients these days are from a country that does it.

I might also add, that you may get a young unseasoned PH. In my mind you really can't hold a reputable Safari company totally responsible for. Just my 1 cent worth.
Paul