Africa by sea?

brushmore

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I know this sounds like a crazy idea but has anyone ever traveled to Africa from North America or Europe by sea to do a hunt? I've seen where you can hitch a ride on a container ship so in theory it can be done. I am thinking it would be quite the romantic adventure since you would be traveling just like the great white hunters of old. The problem for me is that one passage I found the round trip from Europe to Africa is 56 days! I would have retire (or win the lottery) for that to work. Surprisingly that trip would cost you a bit less than what a first class ticket would cost you.
 
Cruise Ship maybe??
 
I have a buddy who is terrified of flying that has considered this. I think a container ship was the only option he really looked into.
 
Back in the '70s I remember SeaLand vessels would carry a dozen or so passengers on their freighters. IIRC, nothing much to do but read, play cards, watch TV when close to land and get a lot of sun. They transited the Panama Canal and would stop at either end for a short time. Same with other ports of call. Always thought that would be a neat way to see South America. They've since merged with Maersk so not sure if that option is still available. Here's what a search came up with:

https://www.freightercruises.com/
 
Interesting.....an awesome thought would be for an outfitter to charter a 60 to 70' fishing boat. Bear with me, here. Leave the east coast, fishing the Gulf Stream, on out to swordfish waters, cross the Atlantic, fish African coast.....Safari.......then some fishing on the way back. I'm sure that I would never have the time, let alone money for this one....but it sure sounds cool. I can just see myself showing up in Charleston SC with Guns, ammo, fish fighting belts, rods.....how many porters did Roosevelt have?
 
Interesting.....an awesome thought would be for an outfitter to charter a 60 to 70' fishing boat. Bear with me, here. Leave the east coast, fishing the Gulf Stream, on out to swordfish waters, cross the Atlantic, fish African coast.....Safari.......then some fishing on the way back. I'm sure that I would never have the time, let alone money for this one....but it sure sounds cool. I can just see myself showing up in Charleston SC with Guns, ammo, fish fighting belts, rods.....how many porters did Roosevelt have?

That sounds absolutely awesome. When you convince an outfitter to do it, let me know because I'm in!
 
Hmm. I still have my Ordinary Seaman's card from my merchant marine days. Wonder if I could get a job on one of these freighters. Nah, too long to get to Africa.
 
Interesting.....an awesome thought would be for an outfitter to charter a 60 to 70' fishing boat. Bear with me, here. Leave the east coast, fishing the Gulf Stream, on out to swordfish waters, cross the Atlantic, fish African coast.....Safari.......then some fishing on the way back. I'm sure that I would never have the time, let alone money for this one....but it sure sounds cool. I can just see myself showing up in Charleston SC with Guns, ammo, fish fighting belts, rods.....how many porters did Roosevelt have?

You'd have to have an oiler following you and the fuel costs would be astronomical.
 
@brushmore, I'm afraid I inadvertently highjacked the thread. My apologies. I'll let you know if I stumble across something. Container ship would be my first thought....
 
There are some ocean liner ships that takes passengers from Southampton to Cape Town and lots of Cruise ships that goes to Europe from the US each April/May and return September/October. If you can line them up that may work for you with some land travel in Europe to get to Southampton.
If you go with Container ships you may end up faster in Southern Africa and with more options time wise, but the service and entertainment obviously will not be of the same class.
Time wise I would guess a week from the last US port to the first EU port, then 12-14 days from Southampton to Cape Town, depending on how many ports you'd hit on the way down.

You'd probably be much better off renting a rifle from the Outfitter as the red tape to bring rifles in and out of each port/country would take some extensive work.

Great idea and sounds fun. I wouldn't mind to carry you on my ship, but we're in a very different sector of shipping.

//Gus
 
Can you imagine the target practice off the stern. I'd run out of ammo on the trip over shooting at floating bottles.
 
Can you imagine the target practice off the stern. I'd run out of ammo on the trip over shooting at floating bottles.

There is a silver lining to every problem!
 
Funny you should create this thread when it's something I've thought for a couple years now.

Just reminds me of all the turn of the century African expeditions and safaris. Be something to do!!!
 
I know this sounds like a crazy idea but has anyone ever traveled to Africa from North America or Europe by sea to do a hunt?

The container shipping company that I worked for until few years ago, had options for passengers to travel on modern container vessels.
Such cargo ship, is not what it once was.
Today, large container carriers generally have swimming pool, TV room, video library, internet connections, bar (or at least slop chest where various drinks could be obtained), etc
Usually access to the bridge and watch keeping officer is allowed (unlike most of passenger cruisers), which can give very different insight to travel by sea to an individual, when familirized with bridge equipment, gmdss, radars, electornic charts, etc.

On cargo ship, there is no crew dedicated for baby-sitting of passengers. So, it means that a pax will need to organise his life and routine on board in a different way. Ships facilities, such as swimming pool, tv room can be used, etc.. but as the crew is busy with their on board duties, pax is expected to be more proactive in his own entertainment, while the crew can always be asked to assist if necessary.

Also, it is worth mentioning, I do not remember there was any luggage allowance, or limit. 50 kg, or 100 kg, no problem which is a benefit when compared to air travel. However, a reasonable luggage weight is expected.

Travel across the ocean will take 7 to 12 days, depending of the line and speed. Average economical speed of a container vessel is 15 to 18 kts, while max speed may go up to 24 knots. So travel days must be also verified with the operator, especially if the hunt is booked to start on defined and specific date.

Cargo ship Passanger should develop a bit different expectations then when compared to travel on a cruiser. Thats what I wanted to say.

Price of such travel, if I remember correctly, was cca 100 usd per person per day.

The problem may be to travel with rifles, as some companies or flags do not allow fire arms on board, and this has to be verified in advance. In that case other possibilities may be considered, such as sending the rifles by air directly to the outfitter, or renting the rifles in the camp.

Generally speaking, such travel by sea is possible, but it is also much more time consuming, and it also brings a new perspective to travel for hunting in Africa. It is very specific.
 
It would be awesome if you could fish the hot spots on the journey over ? Cape Verde, Bon Bon and so on

Worth saving for
 
Can you imagine the target practice off the stern. I'd run out of ammo on the trip over shooting at floating bottles.
Back in the day, trap shooting was offered on some cruise ships. To the best of my knowledge this is another one of those "things that aren't there anymore".

Skeet Shooting (aka Trap Shooting)
It's not hard to understand why cruise lines don't want to hand loaded shotguns over to random passengers walking away from pool bars, but this wasn't always the case. For many years, a popular onboard activity was skeet shooting. This usually took place towards the aft of the ship on a sea day. Manned by an officer, guests could pay a few dollars and try their hand at shooting clay pigeons out of the air as they sailed over the ocean. Obviously, when this activity was going on, everyone knew it, as the sounds of shotgun blasts tends to stand out on a serene Caribbean cruise.

skeet_shooting.jpg


I don't recall seeing this much past the very early 1990's, and have heard people mention environmental concerns as one reason. While I try to be an eco-conscious person, I really think this may have come down more to lawyers finally realizing that this was actually happening.
 

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Interesting.....an awesome thought would be for an outfitter to charter a 60 to 70' fishing boat. Bear with me, here. Leave the east coast, fishing the Gulf Stream, on out to swordfish waters, cross the Atlantic, fish African coast.....Safari.......then some fishing on the way back. I'm sure that I would never have the time, let alone money for this one....but it sure sounds cool. I can just see myself showing up in Charleston SC with Guns, ammo, fish fighting belts, rods.....how many porters did Roosevelt have?

I like it! I think you would also need enough space for everyone to bring back their trophies as well.
 
I don't recall seeing this much past the very early 1990's, and have heard people mention environmental concerns as one reason. While I try to be an eco-conscious person, I really think this may have come down more to lawyers finally realizing that this was actually happening.

If someone was worried about some number 8 shot going into the ocean they certainly don't won't to know about all the stuff we shot out into the water when I was a Weapons Officer in the Navy! :W Shooting:
 
If someone was worried about some number 8 shot going into the ocean they certainly don't won't to know about all the stuff we shot out into the water when I was a Weapons Officer in the Navy! :W Shooting:

Or the bazillion gallons of red lead paint that went overboard when the bosuns said clean out the paint locker. What'd we say? Give it to Davey, he' got a whole locker full of that stuff. Good grief.
 

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