Need advice

I'm beginning to plan a trip to Africa for next July and need some advice and guidance. It's my 25th wedding anniversary so what I would like to do is plan a trip that includes a few days of "touristy" type stuff and several days of PG hunting. Would like the total trip to be 10-14 days. Although she shoots and hunts some, I imagine the wife will not hunt on this trip but would come along as an observer.
This will be my first trip to hunt Africa. The only species on my "must-have" list is Kudu. I'm interested in 5-7 hunting days and would prefer a quality over quantity approach. I don't need to kill a truckload of game but would enjoy taking just a few nice specimens.
Because of the long plane ride from and to the U.S., I would prefer to minimize in-country travel as much as possible.
I'm open to all ideas and suggestions.
A few specific questions:
If I book a hunt with an outfitter and then travel to a resort for a few days afterward, what's the best way to manage my firearm(s)?
Are there any nice resort areas that are in relatively close proximity to good hunting areas?
Would there be a practical way to incorporate fishing of some sort into the mix?
Is it worthwhile to spend a few days in Johannesburg to "see the sights"?

Thanks in advance for any information or advice you can provide,
Matt

Matt,
talk to andri fox at andri fox safaris he is a sponsor on this board. he can getter done for you he is down in east cape and has a boat for some inshore ocean fishing. I hunted with him and took 22 animals most of which were sci gold quality, you can look up my review to see picts. he will plan the trip to what you want. there are others on this board that are good too. PM me if you want specifics. best of luck to you.

Welcome to AH. What you are looking for can easily be accomplished. A few suggestions regarding the non-hunting part of the trip.

1) A tour of Kruger Park. There are nice lodges there and the service is awesome.
2) Take a short flight to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls. Yes you can leave your rifles in RSA while you do this. There are services that cater to this very need.
3) While I've not been to Cape Town, it is another great destination from what I understand and the drive along the southern coast is beautiful.

Welcome to AH.

Rifle storage: Your Outfitter can do it, There are services that will do it for you.

Fishing: Capetown to Durban there are plenty of places to fish if the weather is not too bad. You can also fish Bass and Rainbows in dams and streams if you want.

There are things to see in Joburg but many folks play in Capetown, wineries to the waterfront.

There are several hunt reports where fishing was thrown in on the hunt. Several offers posted as well.
Have a read and then you will narrow it down.

Have fun researching.

Matt McKenzie said:

I'm beginning to plan a trip to Africa for next July and need some advice and guidance. It's my 25th wedding anniversary so what I would like to do is plan a trip that includes a few days of "touristy" type stuff and several days of PG hunting. Would like the total trip to be 10-14 days. Although she shoots and hunts some, I imagine the wife will not hunt on this trip but would come along as an observer.
This will be my first trip to hunt Africa. The only species on my "must-have" list is Kudu. I'm interested in 5-7 hunting days and would prefer a quality over quantity approach. I don't need to kill a truckload of game but would enjoy taking just a few nice specimens.
Because of the long plane ride from and to the U.S., I would prefer to minimize in-country travel as much as possible.
I'm open to all ideas and suggestions.
A few specific questions:
If I book a hunt with an outfitter and then travel to a resort for a few days afterward, what's the best way to manage my firearm(s)?
Are there any nice resort areas that are in relatively close proximity to good hunting areas?
Would there be a practical way to incorporate fishing of some sort into the mix?
Is it worthwhile to spend a few days in Johannesburg to "see the sights"?

Thanks in advance for any information or advice you can provide,
Matt

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Hi there ! Always grood to plan every thing ahead of time . I can can offer you a tailor made safari that will suit your ever need , you could mail me at andrifoxsafaris@yahoo.com . Hope to hear from you soon , best regards Andri Fox

welcome to the fun of planning. Many ways to get what you want and it all comes down to how much you want travel when there in SA. Then since your main animal is a kudu you must decide if you want the bigger greater kudu or smaller cape kudu. July is winter in SA so weather decides how good the fishing can be.

Paw print hunts a 1 1/2 hour drive out of jo-berg and there is game parks near there or can also plan a kruger trip with a 4 hour drive. Can also offer big game fishing off the natal coast.You have sun city with in a 1 hour drive also.

I would be happy to put some ideas together for you and talk with Pieter about some side trips also. If I can help just let me know.

Thanks billc

Matt, the cape has the fishing and capetown touring and if you are after kudu why not shoot both a greater southern and a cape kudu. andri got me a 59" greater southern and a very nice cape and my friend also shot 2 kudu. I think you will find if you want to ocean fish then you will need to be near cape. best of luck planning is the most fun part and there are lots of great people on here that will help!

Buckdog said:

Matt, the cape has the fishing and capetown touring and if you are after kudu why not shoot both a greater southern and a cape kudu. andri got me a 59" greater southern and a very nice cape and my friend also shot 2 kudu. I think you will find if you want to ocean fish then you will need to be near cape. best of luck planning is the most fun part and there are lots of great people on here that will help!

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I do hunt and operate all of south africa what ever your needs i get he done for you in person ! Best fishimg times is winter months .

Hi @Matt McKenzie ,
Here is a deal that we are running and that I believe is exactly what you are looking for. This has been a very popular choice by many of our guests bringing their "significant other." Our accommodations are also very partner friendly and like I always say, nothing wrong with being comfortable after a hard day's hunt. You are also very welcome to substitute the animals in the list.

http://www.africahunting.com/threads/victoria-falls-plains-game-hunting-package.25215/

Will you please send me a PM or email, and I will be more than happy to give you some ideas of what we can offer.

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

Good day sir. I see Billc already commented. We offer hunts all over the country with our main lodge 90 minutes from Johannesburg.
We are in an area that offers multiple tourist activities.
Feel free to contact me for a tailor made package that will suit your specific needs.

Good morning Matt and welcome to the posting side of AH.
I would suggest that you contact Paw Print Safaris. I have hunted with them twice and can tell you that they can make this planned trip a reality for you and the wife! I will be planning just such a trip for our 25th in three years time and I already have ideas! Good luck and enjoy then planning process.
If I can answer questions feel free to PM me!

Matt,

Good luck in the planning, you'll get lots of good advice here. My wife and I are doing our 30th anniversary in Cape Town in a few weeks, but no hunting is on the agenda (I've done my 2 big hunts for the year and have to pay for all the taxidermy work!).

Eastern Cape of RSA is a good place to go for Kudu and other PG. My youngest daughter and I hunted with Game4Africa earlier this year and had a great time. Game4Africa is a sponsor on this site and they also offer deepsea fishing. July is winter time in the southern hemisphere and a bit windy. The weather might preclude going offshore. Here's a link to my hunt report: http://www.africahunting.com/thread...me-hunt-with-game-4-africa-in-may-2016.29089/

Now, if you want to take your wife to a 5 star type of lodge, have gourmet meals and have excellent PG hunting (tougher to get a Kudu though, in my opinion) is check out Hunters Nambia Safari. (http://www.huntersnamibia.com/ ). I took my wife (a non-hunter) and youngest daughter (my hunting buddy), along with another couple and their son and we had a great week in June 2015. It's cold at night and early morning during June/July in the high desert (~5000 ft) with temps right around freezing. However, the rooms have fireplaces and plenty of wood. The only complaint I had on this hunt was they billed the first day as a hunting day and in my opinion and a lot of folks on this site, that is not the norm. The Lamprecht family also has a beach house on the Nambia coast and will make a package deal for a hunt and a beach trip. You can fly direct to Windhoek from Europe, so you don't have to go through Joburg unless you want to.

BTW, most places will let your wife come as an observer and let her shoot a wart hog or some other animal. Both of these outfitters, as well as most other outfitters, will rent you a rifle too, so that makes traveling much simpler.

Dave

Hi Matt;
Welcome to the board!

Although I have not hunted with any of the outfitters mentioned so far, I've met Marius and Pieter and have heard nothing but good about Andri. All three have good reputations here.

Although you say you prefer to limit in country travel, I would advise getting a connecting flight out of Joburg and seriously consider the EC as your primary destination. I've been over 4 times and through Joberg each time... It is ok with a good reputable and armed guide.. But in my opinion it is not the best tourism city

This means starting out with the typicaly smaller East Cape Kudu but so what? It is beautiful animal and in ways tends to be more so than the Southern Greater (and yes, they are the same species, but have diverged a bit in appearance). Limpopo in the North is a great hunting destination and there are other things to do and see, but without as much traveling you will have many more options in the EC. This is assuming you want to stay in RSA.

For a first trip, great scenery, and a nice variety of options, it is hard to beat the EC. If you have time and inclination, the Garden Route is a great drive and is not any specific set route our time line.. Take plenty of time to explore the many interesting places. To me the only scary places are the down town areas of the larger cities.

Hello Matt,

Welcome to the AH.com forum. Hosting couples on African safari vacations is our specialty! Please feel free to contact us if we can offer you any assistance in your planning.

Thank you all for the helpful comments. It gives me a lot of info to take in and helps me start my research.

The wine region near Cape Town is fantastic and worth the trip

agree with action bob the EC is probably for you. it will involve a overnight in joberg and flight down the next morning as I assume you are in the usa. trust me there is nothing you want in jonerg. suggest you contact the aforementioned PH's and tell them your thought and budget and see what they quote you. good luck. fyi it is relatively easy in my opinion to kill at least 1 good animal a day with the right PH

If you have the fishing bug and like to fly fish we took a cab from Joburg Marriott to a place near Cradle of civilization and a Lion park. It was just some small ponds with streams running between and they were full of some big trout. Much like an English trout pond. Fun way to unwind from long flight if you want to get out of city but not overdo it. Cab drove us there and picked us up after 5 or 6 hours he gave us a great guided tour of the city going out and coming back. Very inexpensive.

First, there is nothing to see in Joburg. Yes you can go to Sandton and Rosebank, but its just buildings and shopping. In Pretoria, there is the Union House the seat of govt, but that's about it. I would suggest, if you can find a flight into Cape Town that would be your best bet. I would recommend either the V&A Waterfront or Camps Bay. Uber is very cheap and efficient in Cape Town.

However, with your limited amount of days you would be missing some of the big sights: Kruger, Chobe, Victoria Falls. With good planning you might be able to get Cape Town, Chobe, & VF or Cape Town & Kruger. Most intra SA flight are thru Joburg, but there are some direct from Cape Town.

If you start with your hunt and end back where you hunt, your outfitter could store your gun. Otherwise you will have to have someone like Rifle Permits or Africa Sky store your gun. I had Africa Sky store mine, at $15 dollars a day it add up fast, very fast, plus the cost of your permit. I wanted to take my gun, but I will not do that again, unless its a hunting only trip with zero or a day to two of sightseeing. There is one outfitter here that has available for use Rigby guns. Ask your outfitter what guns he has and then decide if its worth it to take your own.

I just finished 2 1/2 weeks of sight-seeing and 1 week of hunting, any question ask while it's all still fresh in my memory.

David Middleton said:

If you have the fishing bug and like to fly fish we took a cab from Joburg Marriott to a place near Cradle of civilization and a Lion park. It was just some small ponds with streams running between and they were full of some big trout. Much like an English trout pond. Fun way to unwind from long flight if you want to get out of city but not overdo it. Cab drove us there and picked us up after 5 or 6 hours he gave us a great guided tour of the city going out and coming back. Very inexpensive.

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Great fun right on our doorstep.