Is 5-6 days hunting enough time?

[Guyonabuffalo]

Hi, obviously I've never been to Africa. Im interested in a PG hunt. Everyone I've talked to tells me I need to plan 10-15 days to get the whole experience. I'm really not interested in being gone that long. I'd like to leave my home on Thursday or Friday, travel 2 days, hunt 5-6 days, travel 2 days home and be home on Sunday or Monday. Is this asking too much? Thanks for any help.

 

[JimP]

If all that you are looking for is 2 or 3 animals it should be alright.

Quite often a 5 day hunt is actually only 3 days. If you get to the lodge in the morning of your first day you should be able to hunt half a day. Your last day will just be your travel day to the airport.

I've been on a 7 day and a 10 day hunt and I'd recommend the 10 day hunt.

 

[Bos en Dal SAFARIS]

It depend on the animals you are interested in hunting as well as the area. There are areas where i have seen people shoot 20+ animals in 7 days (not sure if it is hunting or shooting). But most places you can work on an animal a day if there are enough game and you do proper hunting.

Jet lag might catch you on the first 2 days but if you can handle it you can still experience a good trip in 5-6 hunting days.

Which area are you planning to go to?

 

[Javaman]

My first Safari was with Blaauwkrantz in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. No malaria, no required shots, very easy travel. Gracey Travel handled all the logistics.

I think we were on the ground for 6 days/5 nights, plus 2 days travel each way. Perfect for an initial plains game hunt.

100k acres, plenty of animals. We each shot 6-7 nice trophies - kudu, impala, blesbuck, duiker, etc. Added a few things as they presented themselves - zebra and waterbuck.

So, very doable in your time frame in my experience.

Most PH’s offering legit DG buffalo hunts won’t take you for a week - usually a 10 day minimum safari plus travel. It’s an entirely different safari.

Other DG require different time frames.

Hope this helps.

 

[DieJager]

Hi, obviously I've never been to Africa. Im interested in a PG hunt. Everyone I've talked to tells me I need to plan 10-15 days to get the whole experience. I'm really not interested in being gone that long. I'd like to leave my home on Thursday or Friday, travel 2 days, hunt 5-6 days, travel 2 days home and be home on Sunday or Monday. Is this asking too much? Thanks for any help.

Depends. I would say SA or Namibia a standard first timer has enough time. First safari in SA was 5 days of hunting. Second in Namibia was 7 days of hunting but ended after 6 days.

But it really depends also on the territory, is it a game ranch etc etc.

Specify your wishes and we can give you better advice. Good luck planning, your hunt had already started when planning so enjoy.

 

[Gemsbok45]

I would never go for less than 14 days. It’s a long trip over. Enjoy yourself!

 

[Tanks]

...
Quite often a 5 day hunt is actually only 3 days. If you get to the lodge in the morning of your first day you should be able to hunt half a day. Your last day will just be your travel day to the airport.

...

First, the caveat, I have not "hunted" in RSA game farms. That being said, travel days have never counted as part of hunting days in any of the hunts I have been a part of. I have always come in the night/day before the hunt and left the morning of the day after.

 

[375Fox]

It’s very possible if your expectations are right. It’s a lot of travel though for a short hunt. 10+ days will give a much better experience. An African hunt has a very different feel than a North American hunt. I’ve been ready for North American hunts to end. I’ve always wished I had more days in Africa, but I’m also lucky to have a lot of flexible time off.

 

[samson7x]

That's a lot of travel for a 5 day hunt. Depending on your interest list and area that "may" be enough time. I'd recommend 7-8 days for a PG hunt if you can.

 

[UKHunter]

Yes, but coming from the UK its a simple overnight flight and no jet lag

 

[Trogon]

I have enjoyed 8-10 hunt days. Jet lag for a couple initial days makes those less enjoyable. Settle in and lose track of days is what I like. If you get the animals you want early, time to add more on!

 

[HSands]

Completely manageable. I've done that exact itinery 3 of the 4 times I've hunted. Leave USA Thursday afternoon / evening, arrive SA Friday night (direct flights), PH picks you up Saturday at some point, sight in rifles, grab dinner and hunt Sunday thru Friday (6 days) with departure Saturday, arriving home Sunday night. You may need to manage you expectations with respect to how many trophies you can bag, but life happens even while we're traveling and sometimes, even if we'd love to, we can't be away for 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[mdwest]

FWIW, the vast majority of international hunts my wife and I do are just 1 week in length.. With our jobs, kids, etc.. its not often that we can spend more than that gone at a time..

The way we do it is this..

We leave the US on a Friday afternoon (get a partial work day in on Friday).. that gets us to South Africa in the very early AM on Sunday (we usually take the Qatar flights out of DFW that land in Joberg in the oh shit its early in the morning on Sunday)..

We then have Monday through Friday to hunt (5 full days).. Fly home on Saturday.. which gets us back to Dallas on Sunday around mid day.. So we're gone 9 days.. but only have to take 1 week off of work since 4 of those days fall on the weekend..

The first couple of days on the ground jet lag can get to you a bit.. but I very purposefully put myself down hard on the flights going over and I very intentionally put myself to bed early on the first night of arrival.. so its really not all that bad..

Most of the time between the two of us we'll take 5-6 animals.. there's definitely no guarantee on an animal per day.. sometimes we're not as fortunate.. but most of the time 1 quality animal per day isn't too hard to accomplish for more common PG (kudu, impala, blesbok, blue wildebeest, springbok, zebra, etc..etc..).. if you're going to chase more complicated animals it might be better to plan for 1 animal every 1.5 or every 2 days.. and just have a shorter list..

If you're on a tighter schedule (like a 1 week hunt) I'd definitely recommend looking hard at outfitters that are close to Jo'berg or Cape Town.. that's not a hit on the guys at the far northern end of Limpopo or elsewhere.. that's just saying the last thing you want if you're on a tight schedule is to clear the airport and then spend another 4-6 hours driving to get to your location (thereby losing yet another day of time between the trip in and the trip out)..

There are plenty of outfitters within a 90 minute drive of OR Tambo that can have you hunting on the day of your arrival if you come in before noon (@Bos en Dal SAFARIS is one of them )...

 

[sgt_zim]

I'd say 7 days would be the minimum. Even if you fly Delta or UA, you're what - 4 hours from ATL/EWR? Plus another 15-ish on a direct from either of those to JNB, with probably 4 - 6 hours layover on the US east coast.

I'd also recommend 1 night, or 2 if you have the vacay time to swing it, in Africa Sky/City Lodge/Afton. Many outfitters will pick you up directly at the airport, then you've got an hours-long, bumpy ride to get to camp. City Lodge is in the airport, the other 2 are within about 10 or 15 minutes of the airport. Totally worth it to get out of your gross air travel clothes, have a nice shower to wash off the grime and just generally get refreshed.

We got picked up at Africa Sky around 8 in the morning, after a good breakfast. Four hours later, we were at camp, unloaded, grabbed rifles and ammo, went to the range to ensure zero, then hunted all afternoon. That was the first of 7 days. On the morning of the 8th day, we settled our bill, then rode back to JNB. Call it a 6.5 day hunt.

 

[BeeMaa]

For traveling so far, I’d want 10-14 days in country for hunting and any other activities like fishing, sightseeing or even the opportunity to cull nuisance animals for a reduced (or free) price.

Make it 5 or 6 animals with the opportunity to trade for others and add on one or two as you and the PH see fit.

 

[Hunt anything]

I wouldn’t go for less than 8 days, 10 is better and I would love to do a 21 day safari in wild Africa. You can probably count on 1 animal for every day and a half of hunting depending on area, shooting ability and how picky you are.
To me I usually need a day or two to unwind from the travel, plus it’s too much travel time to hunt anything less than 8 days to get the best out of the trip. I don’t like to feel rushed to start shooting, and the more time you have the less pressure you will feel.
But if you can only do a 5-6 day hunt go for it and enjoy!

 

[Paul K]

I do a minimum of 10 days. At 4 or 5 days , I'm just settling in, and on the 10th day , I wish that I had a couple more.
Paul

 

[Greffdog]

I didn’t have to deal with jet lag as I went from vacation in South Africa to hunting in Zimbabwe, but I did 5 days for my first hunting safari. Kudu was the priority for my first hunt, and I got lucky on my first day.

Happy to answer any other questions.

 

[JG26Irish_2]

My first safari was an 8 day PG hunt in Limpopo. I left home on the late afternoon of travel day 1 and travelled 2 days arriving at dark of travel day 2. PH picked me up in Joburg and we drove 3hrs north to his lodge arriving about 10pm local. Hunt day 1 - Up about 8am the next morning and met up for brunch and sighting of rifles and then hunted that morning bagging a Nyala before lunch. Hunted for Gemsbok the remainder of that day.

Hunt day 2 we hunted for Gemsbok, Duiker and Zebra that morning and then travelled to another concession to hunt Zebra in the afternoon and night hunt for Duiker and Bushbuck. Stalked a herd of Zebra which busted us but there was a herd of Wildebeest with them and the alpha herd bull remained staring at us. After a quick discussion, we put a stalk on the Wildebeest and I bagged a Gold Medal trophy class Blue WB about 30min before sundown. Hunted that night until about 10pm with no other game taken. Hunt day 3 hunted Gemsbok in the morning and returned to the same concession to hunt for Bushbuck in the daylight that afternoon. At night bagged a Duiker and later a World class Bushbuck.

Day 4 - Hunted warthog and missed on and later bagged a nice Gemsbok that afternoon. After four days of hunting at an easy pace, I had bagged everything on my list except for Warthog and Baboon.

Day 5 - Took a day off from hunting to visit taxidermist in town. Day 6 cancelled a Warthog/Baboon hunt due to fires on that concession which stopped all hunting activity for a few days there. Did a pivot and toured a wildlife game preserve to see lions, rhinos, elephants, etc.

Day 7 - Did a mock warthog/baboon still hunt overlooking a pan that morning. Just sitting in camp chairs in the sun lounging and talking quietly with the PH until we were tired of that. About noon we packed up and hunted Impala, which I had added to my list and bagged a nice ram that afternoon. Packed up for the trip home that evening.

Day 8 was a travel day. We left after Brunch and visited two gun stores and some other shopping venues in Joburg on the way to the airport and did dinner with my PH at the airport before the 2-day flight home.

I bagged six total animals during the 8-day hunt and really only hunted for five of those days. It was totally doable and very relaxing. It just depends on what you want to hunt and where as to how much time you need. Really tough game like Kudu or Cape Buffalo would need more time. I hunted hard for four days to bag my gemsbok. I would not make such a long trip and not stay at least 6 hunting days.

When I go back, my list includes: Kudu, Cape Buffalo, Blesbok, Warthog, Baboon, Black Wildebeest, Zebra. We will be on the ground 10days. I left the door open to add a Springbok or a Red Hartebeest to the list if we get the chance. But, we will be mostly focused on the first two.

 

[Altitude sickness]

It’s physically possible but not optimal. You will regret only having 5 days on day 3