The longer story:
I was looking for a good trip to take my wife and son with me to hunt. They had been to South Africa with me before but not for hunting. I wanted them to get a true experience of wild animals and to see more of Africa. I had seen an auction from Jannie Otto for 3 days hunting and 3 days at Victoria Falls. I bid on that and won. In my first message to Jannie after winning, I stated that I wanted to add on both days and more animals to the auction, as I knew that was part of the expectation for auctions. I also stated I wanted to bring my son and was prepared to pay the additional costs there. Even so, his first response to me was high pressure to add on more. He wanted me to book 12 days with them and include other activities that he would book at his inflated rates. This was my 3rd auction hunt, as I found them useful for trying out new outfitters, and this was by far the highest pressure one with also the highest trophy fees and most marked up activity costs.
Jannie had told me to just arrange my flights to get to Johannesburg and they’d organize everything else. I massively regret having trusted his suggestion. Every single activity or lodging that he booked outside of my time at Sandy Mount had an issue with it.
The hotel to stay at upon arrival in JNB for recovery and adjusting to time change before heading to Sandy Mount – it was not a confirmed booking. Though Jannie sent me confirmation that hotel was booked, when I contacted the hotel they informed me the hotel was full. Not only did it already have a long waitlist, I was not on that list and there was no request in my name. Jannie confirmed this when I asked directly. He apparently had no plans to have shared that with me without me having asked. I booked my own hotel, a better quality one at a lower cost than Jannie’s offering, as there was no way I could risk not having a hotel upon arrival with my family.
In JNB, I also realized that the hotel that Jannie had booked for us in Victoria Falls was not the promised Zambezi river front hotel category that was listed in the auction. He booked us in a hotel in town with no view and nothing nearby it. All the itineraries that Jannie had sent me noted A’Zambezi River Lodge, a river front hotel, but he changed it at the last minute without telling me it was changed. When I raised this to Jannie, he claimed that the booked hotel was the only one with connecting rooms. A quick email to the A’Zambezi proved this to be a lie, as they did have connecting rooms. Jannie never truly explained the downgrade here and never apologized for it. When I pointed out that the auction itself “accommodations at a Zambezi River lodge for 3 nights”, he just tried to convince me the in city hotel was a good one.
After those two days, we took our flight to Bloemfontein and met our PH for the drive to Sandy Mount. I will say that the time at Sandy Mount was enjoyable and there was no pressure at all from people there. We enjoyed our time at Sandy Mount and the people we interacted with were very welcoming for my wife & son. We did see a lot of animals, and a lot of variety, though I can't say we saw any great trophies. But I did get a good Gemsbuck and a Black Wildebeest. The lodge staff, the trackers, and other PHs there were all very cheery and engaging. If it weren’t for the poor interactions with Jannie both before & after our time there, I would have considered going back. Maybe I’d do a trip there with JKO Safaris, as I met some of their PHs and had met Jaques before at a show, but absolutely not with Jannie.
Sadly, once we left Sandy Mount, things were downhill again. Jannie had booked only a single room for the 3 of us at JNB City Lodge hotel for our overnight stay before we flew to Vic Falls the next day. I happened to have messaged Jannie that morning to confirm we had two connecting rooms as I needed to do a conference call late that night. His reply was that they had only booked a single room. This was a big surprise since (1) the hotel had a limit of 2 people per room and (a) the price Jannie charged me for the one room was twice the price I had seen online for a single room. Apparently, Jannie just massively overcharged us on the one room and ignored the hotel policies for max people in a room. I asked Jannie to compensate us for the additional cost due to their overcharging and the last-minute rate we had to pay upon arrival for a 2nd room, but he never addressed that.
Our flights to Vic falls went ok. The hotel was disappointing not to be near anything or have any sort of view. We tried to be out of it as much as possible and make the best of things. Jannie had advised us to make plans for activities and meal reservations once we arrived at the hotel. Thankfully, I didn’t listen to that advice. A friend advised me to book key things in advance, as when they had visited they found the best activities were booked out even 3 weeks in advance.
Once back from Vic Falls, we were thankfully done with Jannie’s arrangement and had no more stress about possible issues from Jannie's mistakes. I booked us at Africa Sky, and boy it was great to be back there to wrap up the trip. In my previous trips I had come to know & talk with everyone there. They had all heard about my family and it was cool to have them meet my family for the first time. My wife & son liked getting to meet everyone they had heard about and to see the place that Gilbert jokes is my second home. It really felt like that and was great to wrap up our trip with an awesome experience. At least we ended it all on a good high note. My son is already asking when we will go back and see everyone at Africa Sky again. He was thrilled to hear we’re headed back next year, even happier to hear that we will not be hunting with Jannie or have all the problems we had there. Next time we’re headed to an outfitter I’ve hunted with before and know will take good care of us without pressure but with awesome experiences, great integrity, and a welcoming family environment where they really make you feel appreciated, valued, and taken care of.
