I try not to tempt fate, so I don’t know the luggage rule-breaking abilities very well. What I seem to remember is this:
For a coach ticket, you’re allowed ONE sporting good case. That case must weigh 50lbs or less.
For a business or first class ticket, you’re allowed ONE sporting good case. That case must weigh 70lbs or less.
All these complexities in the OP of bringing various ammo, then carrying other guns to shoot the other ammo, plus trying to avoid the excess of 11lbs ammo rule, plus trying to not get pinched (you will) for having ammo for guns you may not own. It all seems so tiresome and needlessly complicated.
Then of course, he’s adding lots of bows to the mix as well, so those are other sporting good cases which may or may not fly.
Flawed assumptions all over this plan, the biggest bad assumptions I see are 1.) for all the money in the world and a $20,000 first class ticket, the OP assumes infinite quantities of sporting goods in infinite amounts of bags can be placed aboard if you just pay enough money. 2.) what works for one leg or one carrier in this Zimbabwean mess will continue to “check through” to the next part of the plot, whereas that usually doesn’t happen at all, especially if you’re flying through Jo’Burg and catching an SAA Airlink or charter flight where they may not have capacity on the plane that day for any sporting goods.
If it were me and I was trying to pull off such a complicated plan, I’d be flying Emirates from the US to Dubai to Lusaka to Harare to maintain same-carrier the whole route to Zim. I’d pay $6000 for a biz class ticket to get to the 70lb gun limit rather than the 50lb. I’d bring three rifles, all in the same caliber, and a pool of 11lbs of ammo in the hopes upon hopes that by doing so that everyone has enough ammo. I’d also pick only 375HH, 458WM, or 470NE because those are the three calibers that have a TINY chance of getting some emergency ammo in Zim for any price, even though that price will be an astounding one of maybe 500% above retail. I would also avoid bringing all the bows into Zim so as to avoid a complete cluster at the airport and with Parks in the event he does not yet have the $500 per hunter bowhunting permit or the $3000 dangerous game bowhunting permit that they are not inclined to issue or authorize at present.
A plan for a lot less money and grief. Wire cash to your friends as a gift to have them get all their own crap. Have them buy their own guns and ammo. Have them book their own bowhunting safari since the complexities and permitting are high and you probably don’t want to ruin your hunt dealing with such nonsense running middle-man between other clients and PH/Operator/Parks.
Sorry if I make it sound bleak, it’s just a frustrating post wrought with peril. It reads like someone that thinks America’s rules and customs, plus our efficiency and general sentiment of “everything works out, usually without extra cost or burden”. This is Zimbabwe, not Colorado we are talking about. Nothing works as it should and everything about this post is a receipe for a miserable hunt. Just what I’ve learned in 14 visits to Zim. If a hunting buddy going to Zim with me tried any of this stuff I’d unsubscribe, change my name, and wear a disguise for a while In social settings.
. Or something like that
