The Latest on Zimbabwe (and other) air travel with guns

rookhawk

AH ambassador
Joined
Mar 4, 2015
Messages
6,967
Reaction score
16,989
Location
Wisconsin, behind the cheddar curtain
Media
153
Articles
2
Member of
NRA Life Benefactor, Trout Unlimited, Safari Club International
At present, the sole airline that flys from Johannesburg, RSA to Zimbabwe that permits firearms as baggage is South African Airlines.(SAA)

According to recent reports, since SAA is bankrupt already, they are preparing to cut additional routes. According to Steve of Travel With Guns, if SAA stops flying the Harare/Vic Falls/Bulawayo flights from Johannesburg, there will be no way to get a safari weapon into Zimbabwe from Jo'Burg. In essence, the future of safaris in Zimbabwe largely rides on these precarious airline scenarios with a single carrier.

If the routes are closed down, you could fly Emirates into Harare and then use ground or charter aircraft to get to hunts elsewhere in Zimbabwe at tremendous costs. It will quickly become a truly rich-man's game to hunt Zimbabwe as ground pickup in Harare could cost as much as $1000 and charter flights can cost $1200 each way to camps from Harare.

There are strong suggestions to keep checking the viability of SAA flights out of Jo'Burg for those that wish to fly into Zimbabwe (possibly other nations) due to this weak link in the chain.
 
That's for the info although not good news by any means.
Hopefully they pull something together to facilitate what is currently in place for the transfers but I guess only time will tell.
 
Many Zim operators have already been recommending flying with firearms on Emirates via Dubai and Lusaka.

Flying through Joberg with firearms necessitates having to pay Rifle Permits to get you through customs or putting up with hastle doing it yourself.
 
too bad, SAA was/is my favourite line.
Its getting closer and closer.
Thomas Cook is broke (the airline Condor belongs to it, the only direct flight from Germany to Namibia, who knows how much longer)
Air Namibia has big problems.
And now SAA.
If anyone else wants to go to africa at acceptable prices
carpe diem
 
Don’t forget Ethiopian Airlines. They from from Addis Ababa into Harare and Vic Falls.
I have flown with them several times, up front and in economy. Good airline and firearms friendly (no charges). Well priced also.
 
Any pilots on here that would fly Ethiopian Air, please speak up. :):whistle:
 
Any pilots on here that would fly Ethiopian Air, please speak up. :):whistle:
Why not?

"Or how about Ethiopian Airlines? Here is another impoverished country surrounded by rugged terrain. Yet the record of its national carrier — four fatal events, one of them a hijacking, in over seventy years of operation — is exceptional. Ethiopian is one of the proudest and arguably one of the safest airlines in the world."

https://www.askthepilot.com/questionanswers/foreign-airline-safety/
 
That link is for an article written eight years ago. All's well until something goes south re: the 737 Max fiasco with a co-pilot that had only 200 hours. In the U.S. you're required to have 1500 hours with specified types of flying in those hours. It begs the question, when U.S. carriers were flying the Max, why didn't they crash?

If one goes by that article, they'd assume Korean Air was safe. Sorry, after the aircraft "operators" that ran one in to the end of the runway, it exposed a culture of poor training and cockpit resource management. How in the hell do you land short with all that automation, three people in the cockpit and CAVU conditions? Poor basic airmanship, that's how. Training. It's lacking in too many of those foreign air carriers to make me buy a ticket. YMMV.
 
Last edited:
To get to Vic Falls at least flying to Livingstone on Pro Flight is still an easy and cost effective option.

There are options other than Joberg. To say this is doom for the average hunter in Zim is a bit overstated.

If SAA stops flying to Zim, which it hasn't, then it will simply be time to make a plan.
 
I have two round trip flights booked on SAA from J'Burg (Harare and Victoria Falls) and another for the GF from JFK to Victoria Falls after my hunt.

If SAA is not in business by August it sure will cause problems.
 
There are 2-4 flights a day from Joberg to Harare, many of which are nearly full. If SAA quits that leg for whatever reason, another carrier will pick it up.
 
There are 2-4 flights a day from Joberg to Harare, many of which are nearly full. If SAA quits that leg for whatever reason, another carrier will pick it up.

That may be true, but the minority of hunting in Zimbabwe is via Harare. Most concessions and safari areas are accessed via Bulawayo or Vic Falls. But yes, Harare is likely to have alternatives arise if SAA drops out.
 
There are 2-4 flights a day from Joberg to Harare, many of which are nearly full. If SAA quits that leg for whatever reason, another carrier will pick it up.

Problem is will they allow transport of firearms? After my hunt in August I am flying back to J'Burg to drop off my guns and then fly back to Victoria Falls for a few days of R&R. I couldn't fly direct to VF from Harare as the only airline that services that route does not allow firearms in luggage.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
53,624
Messages
1,131,353
Members
92,679
Latest member
HongPilgri
 

 

 

Latest profile posts

Impact shots from the last hunt

Early morning Impala hunt, previous link was wrong video

Headshot on jackal this morning

Mature Eland Bull taken in Tanzania, at 100 yards, with 375 H&H, 300gr, Federal Premium Expanding bullet.

20231012_145809~2.jpg
 
Top