What would you do on your first Africa hunt as a new hunter?

Excellent point about going to Cape Town. It is a city I've always wanted to visit. How easy/expensive is it to get transportation from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape? or is a car rental essential?

Curious as to where one can store rifles?

It is really simple. I have quite a couple of hunters who bring their wives and drive to Cape Town after they are done with their safari. We take care of all of the planning for them, and do all the bookings on their behalf.
I can certainly supply you with the necessary information on this, should you be interested.

Take Care,
Marius
 
Excellent point about going to Cape Town. It is a city I've always wanted to visit. How easy/expensive is it to get transportation from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape? or is a car rental essential? Curious as to where one can store rifles?

I am from Cape Town and would typically meet the arriving hunters and make sure the rifles are received after the travel. We arrange the temporary import permits ahead of time to make this easier. We would then take you to your hotel and make sure you are checked in safely. We can arrange all your accommodation and wine tasting and shopping or golf or excursions locally in and around Cape Town. Once done we drive you to the hunting venue which is about 4 hours out of Cape Town in the Beaufort West area in the Karoo. After a couple of days of hunting we can then either drive you to the nearest airport of George (=- 1.5 hour) or to Port Elizabeth (+- 4 hours) or back to Cape Town from where you can catch a flight to your next destination. If you want to do a few more hunting days in the Eastern Cape then we can arrange a suitable drop off / collection for your next adventure.
 
Other options are the lowveld of the Limpopo province where you can have a Kruger park holiday as an add on to your hunt.The northwest province offers pilansberg national park,sun city,elephant back safaris,and hot air ballooning.
South Africa is so diverse that a whole lot of planning and thinking should be put in.The first and foremost question should be "what do I want to see and experience when visiting africa".
 
Im planning the Pilansberg tour as well as the Balloon ride,,,I,m also going to Visit the DiWildt Cheetah Research Center and to celebrate my Birthday I,m going to take an Elephant Ride,CT Safaris took care of all the reservations for me
 
Im planning the Pilansberg tour as well as the Balloon ride,,,I,m also going to Visit the DiWildt Cheetah Research Center and to celebrate my Birthday I,m going to take an Elephant Ride,CT Safaris took care of all the reservations for me

You are going to have a great time with a very good outfit.I think the Northwest province offers some of the best areas for hunting,and activities outside of hunting.The perfect place to bring the wife and children.
 
Canoe,

I'm trying to think of some of the major less obviousness issues you will need to conquer and not things like shoot a bunch off sticks or take only 4 sets of field clothes because a proper Safari outfitter will wash press and fold your clothes every day, really they will. Here are some things to get you started. Read some of the recent books written about hunting Africa. They contain lots of good advice. Here are a couple I found very helpful.

"Eight Days in Africa: The Story of an African Safari" about $10 on Amazon

"Safari 101 Hunting Africa: The Ultimate Adventure: Getting There and Back " Soft cover about $15 at Amazon

The traveling and various firearms permits can be some of the most confusing issues a first time hunter traveling to Africa.

I will reinforce a point that was made earlier, make sure you use a travel agent that has experience with African Hunting Safaris. Things go wrong on flights these days and they will be indispensable in helping you get things fixed. Plus they will typically be up on various red tape issues such as rifle transfers from Airline to Airline etc.

The hardest physical part of your trip will likely be the flight(s) over. We used South African Airways last time which stops in Dakar half way to Johannesburg to refuel and change crews. Next time we will spend a little more and fly Delta direct from
Atlanta to Johannesburg.

Be very careful you understand what special Firearms permits will be required if you fly through the UK or Europe. It will be necessary to get the permits done with plenty of time to spare in case something needs to be re-done. This can of course be avoided if you fly from the US to the RSA either via South African Airways or a US carrier like Delta.

For a first timer I would suggest using a firearms permit liaison to help you through the RSA permit process. We use Rifle Permits - In Support of Conservation Through Hunting, they are always great and your are in and out of the SAPS office in about 15 minutes. Again get this done as early as you can to leave time to fix mistakes. Something people don't talk about is how long it takes to send paperwork to the RSA. Through the best international carrier there is, DSL, it takes about 11 days. Sending the paperwork to the RSA will typically run in the $100-150 range per package.

Lets see, TSA locks for you firearms/archery case. Look on the web for long shackle TSA locks. Once you find some try them on what ever sturdy rifle case you plan to use. If you need say 3 to lock it buy a fourth one as a backup as they can get broken during transport and you can be stuck searching for another one in the airport. Not easy to fix. We even had one stick on us in Dulles once and it took some effort to get the case opened, but I had my backup lock with me.

One last thing, even though your current mindset is your not into trophies give a thought to bringing back all the stuff, hides horns and skulls. My father had a similar mindset on our first trip but changed once he got there and had some success. The point is, if you leave it behind its gone for ever. You don't have to mount anything if you bring it back, but you give yourself the opportunity.
 
Everything you can afford, dip and ship the hides back to the USA for mounting, you can slow down the expense of taxidermy this way. Instead of all at once as in Africa.
 
Everything you can afford, dip and ship the hides back to the USA for mounting, you can slow down the expense of taxidermy this way. Instead of all at once as in Africa.

Bwannabe,
Have to disagree with you on the paying all at once in Africa. The taxidermist that we use take 20% deposit, with the balance to be paid upon the completion of your order before they ship. So, if you are having your work done in South Africa, it will be 20% upfront and 80% in about 9 months.
I can't speak for other taxidermists. Maybe there are a couple here that can inform us how they do it.

Take Care,
Marius Goosen
 
The taxidermist that we use take 20% deposit, with the balance to be paid upon the completion of your order before they ship. So, if you are having your work done in South Africa, it will be 20% upfront and 80% in about 9 months.
I can't speak for other taxidermists. Maybe there are a couple here that can inform us how they do it.

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

+1 The taxidermist that i use also take a small deposit 10-20% and the rest after completion. They know the hunter come to africa to get trophies and wont dissapear leaving him with a couple of mounts he cant do anything with

Regards
 
Gerrit & Marius,
I think what Bwannabe is talking about is just by getting the hides and horns shipped over to the states, this allows you to have the hide tanned for minimal cost and then mounted as finances allow. You could stretch the costs out over several years vs 20% now and the balance in 9 months.
 

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