SOUTH AFRICA: Pawprint Safaris 2016 Father & Son First SA Hunting Trip Report

Monday 9/26 day 6..

Peiter meets us first thing in the morning, and after breakfast, we all load up in his car and head to Pilanesberg National Park for the day. Pilanesberg is the second largest game park in South Africa behind Kruger. We had an amazing day viewing Elephants, Rhino, Lion, Hippos, Crocodiles, and lots of plains game. We even stopped and walked through an old archeological Bushman home site.
Jacob with the map of pilanisberg.jpg
lion at Pilanisberg.JPG
Elephants at Pilanisberg.JPG
Bluewildebeest at Pilanisberg.JPG
Rhinos at Pilanisberg.jpg


That evening Proppy made waterbuck appetizers over the fire and they were excellent. Probably the most tender meat we ate while we were there.
 
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Tuesday 9/27 Day 7 and our last day...

After breakfast, a couple cups of coffee, we square up the final bill with Pieter and Mike Smith from Capricorn Taxidermy shows up to pick up our trophys. I am going to have Mike dip and pack all the trophys and then have all the taxidermy done in the States. Mike is very easy to work with and very personable guy. I felt very comfortable letting him handle our trophys.
We pack up all our luggage and get ready to head to the airport. We are not leaving until 10:00 pm so Proppy takes us to Peiters house on the way to airport for a couple of beer shandys and to say good by.

This is Jacob at Pieter's house with @CAustin elephant skull and Pieter's lion.
Jacob at Pieter's House 2016.jpg


Then we are off to the airport and trying to beat the afternoon Johannesburg traffic. We stop and have dinner at Hooters, because, well,... its Hooters:whistle:.
Proppy takes us to the airport and we check in our luggage while he waits. The Emerites girl that checks us in assures me twice that my firearm will be checked through all the way to Anchorage. Even her supervisor said "no problem its checked all the way" So we finished checking in, dropped my rifle off at the SAPS office and went back out to the baggage counter to say a final goodbye to Proppy who was waiting to make sure all was well. As we are saying our goodbyes I notice Jacob starting to get teary eyed. He was trying very hard not cry in front of Proppy and finally looked at us and said "I am just tired Dad". I think that is the best compliment Proppy, Pieter and the rest of the Pawprints and Flintbeck crew could get.(y)
We left Johannesburg right on time and are traveling back from Joburg to Dubai, Dubai to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage. More on that to come...
 
There is my old friend. Looks like he has been moved. Pieter helped make my dream come true on the elephant hunt and he does the same for everyone else visiting South Africa. Glad you are working with Mike Smith at CAPRICORN. He has always done a good job for me!
 
Awesome report. Congrats to you and your son on what looks to have been an amazing safari!
 
Nice combo of hunting and touring.
Glad your son enjoyed himself so much.
 
Thanks for sharing all the installments with us! Congrats
 
That is a trip your son will remember for the rest of his life. Glad you had a good trip to the park and he also saw some of the big 5. He will have some good story's for his buddy's at school.
 
Here is the final installment in my report...

After saying goodbye to Proppy at the Johannesburg airport we are on our way home. Sad to be leaving so soon, and wishing we had stayed longer.

We get through the Joburg airport with no problem and plenty of time to get to our gate.

Then we get to Dubai and change planes with no problem. We are on our Emerites flight from Dubai to Seattle and the plane pushes back from the gate and then it stops. After about 20 minutes of nothing, the Captain comes on the PA and says there is heavy air traffic today and we are going to be delayed another 40 minutes. Oh well, what's another hour added to an already 14hr flight. We have about 2.5 hr layover in Seattle before our flight to Alaska, and I am not concerned since our luggage is checked all the way through to Alaska, all we should have to do is clear passport control and find our AK Air gate.
We land in Seattle just over an hour late. We had a screaming baby most of the and no one got any real sleep. As we are disembarking the plane I over hear an Emerites customer service agent at the door of the airplane say my name to one of the flight attendants... Well this can't be good...
The customer service explains to me that we do not have time to make our connecting flight because of the time required to get through passport control, but they have booked us on a later flight. I respond with "you mean we don't have time to make our connecting flight because Emerites is over an hour late". He sheepishly agrees and says "we also have another problem. We need you to clear your firearm though customs and then recheck it in at the Emerites counter again" Now I am grumpy....I stop and look at this guy almost not believing what he is telling me. I respond with "are you FU**ING kidding me? Emerites checked it all the way through to Anchorage and assured me that this would not be a problem."
His response is "Yes sir, but some times our people do not always understand the local rules". Now I am pissed...
But holding my temper I say "are you are telling me that an Emerites check in agent AND her supervisor, who have an Emerites computer in front of them, do not know what Emerites local rules are??"
The customer service guy looks like he doesn't like his job much right now.
I think about it for a second, and tell him "I am not going to pick it up. We are going to head to our gate and they can just forward it to me at home later"
Customer service guy gets on his cell phone as he is following us to passport control. Just before we enter passport control he stops me and says "Sir, if you don't clear your firearm through customs they are not going to let you board your connecting flight". Well SH**....
Fine. We clear passport control and the Customer Service guy meets us again at the CBP desk where my rifle case is waiting. Then Customer Service guy tells me that my son left his Kindle in the seat back on the aircraft, but Emerites will bring it out to the counter area when we re-check our luggage. Urggh... Thank You...
On to clear my rifle... get to the Customs desk and point out my rifle case to the CPB agent. He waves to some other Agents at the next desk at over and all of of suddenly it's "training day". OMG!...
CPB Agent asks me if I have any paper work for the firearm. Now I am super grumpy, so I hand him the stack of South Africa 520 paperwork...hehehe. He looks through it all and then hands it to the trainees and there is lots of whispering and obvious confusion...hehehe. Finally he says to "do you have a CBP 4457 form for this rifle"? My response "Yes sir I do. Why didn't you just ask for that the first time"?
I hand him my 4457 and he has me open my gun case and take out the rifle, then each of the "trainees" verify the serial number on the 4457 with the serial number on the rifle...
We finally get to the Emerites Counter outside security and an Emerites luggage handler brings our suitcase and rifle case up to the counter. They also have my son's Kindle that he left on the plane. An Emerites manager gives us our new flight itinerary for the Anchorage flight and also gives us a $40.00 food voucher so we can get something to eat while we wait for the new flight. I give the manager an earful something like this like this...
"I really do not care if I need to pick up my firearm and recheck it for International flights, if that is the Emerites policy. As long as Emerites is upfront and tells me that, I can plan for it and it's not a big deal. But when they tell me that it's all checked through when it's really not, that is a problem. Especially when it's happens twice, and the second time is your own people!" I don't think it accomplished anything except to make me feel better, but I doubt they will change their practices.
Emerites really has excellent customer service compared to many other airlines, and I would not hesitate to fly with them again, Without my rifle! They obviously need to get a better handle on their firearms policy as relates to International connections. My recommendation to anyone traveling overseas with a firearm on Emerites is: Make plans to re-check your firearms when leaving or entering the United States, regardless of what they may tell you.

At the end of the day, we made it home and all was well.

All the folks at Pawprint and Flintbeck were OUTSTANDING and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone wanting an African adventure. Pieter has worked hard at making Africa affordable for the average guy to go and have a good time.

We are looking forward to hunting with Pawprint Safaris again in the future!!
 
I feel your pain with CBP. When we arrived back, CBP would not check any firearms until all firearms had been removed from the flight. I sat there for 30 minutes wondering if I would be able to make my next flight, staring at my rifle case from behind the glass. Luckily, we made it.

Regarding the claiming and checking of your rifle with CBP, that's a requirement for everyone, not just Emirates. Now, having to go to their main ticket counter and recheck the rifle there, that's an Emirates thing. With Delta, after claiming my luggage and then claiming my rifle from CBP, I took it all past immigration and walked about 15 yards to the Delta counter where they check all luggage for connecting flights from international origins.

One tip for future trips- I recommend enrolling in the Global Entry program. It costs $100 or free if you have an AMEX platinum. By enrolling in the program, rather than standing in line to get your passport checked, you just go to a kiosk and scan your passport. We, no joke, made it through passport control in about 3 minutes, most of which was just walking. Actually scanning my passport at the kiosk took about 30 seconds.

Glad to hear you had a great safari despite the headaches of modern airline travel.
 
Global entry is the bomb! Fast and faster!
 
What a great safari. It sounds like a wonderful way to introduce your son to hunting. Love the touring. Did some of that last time and it really added to the trip. Congrats on some nice trophies. Bruce
 
Congrats for a great experience, and thanks for sharing !
 
sorry to hear about all the travel problems coming home. I have been so lucky flying out of jfk so far by the sound of want you went through.
 
Its a shame about the travel issues but that aside its good to see you and your son made some unforgettable memories together. I feel thats what hunting is about the people you meet and memories you share with one another. Once again a BIG pat on the back to @Pawprint Safaris for making yet more dreams come true. Cant wait to get back out there with you Pieter.
 
Excellent report! You will be the Hero Dad forever!!! And once again, congrats to Paw Print Safaris....always giving folks the trip of a lifetime!
 
Finally got our skulls hung today:) now we are just waiting for my sons Blesbok wall pedestal, and my Kudu shoulder mount. Hopefully they will be done soon(y)

289111F5-D3EC-4CD6-9084-B4193FFC1731.jpeg
 
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Outstanding display!
 
Love skulls!!
 

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