elkrazy,
This may seem odd, but as mentioned earlier I've hunted Alaska and Africa a number of times, an my experience is the travel hassle and expense is close to equal.
Traveling to where you hunt in Alaska usually involves far more than getting to Anchorage. You'll normally have to take at least one more commercial flight to a smaller town's airport, and then yet another flight to camp. Given the price of avgas up there, these won't be cheap. In between you'll probably have to spend at least one night in an expensive hotel, and maybe two. You also have to bring a lot more clothes and other stuff, such as a sleeping bag, meaning extra luggage expenses along the way. Plus, in any Alaskan (or northern Canadian) trip, weather conditions can foul up the schedule completely, which may very well cut into hunting time and/or mean more days in expensive hotels, eating expensive meals. Nothing is cheap in the North.
There's far less luggage involved in an African hunt, in fact its possible to go with just a carry-on and a checked rifle case. Its almost unknown to have weather cause travel or hunting problems. The hassle of dealing with another country is minimized by using a good travel agent, and their services are cheap--as are many accomodations. Some of the wilder buffalo areas may require a charter flight, but in South Africa or Zimbabwe you'll probably be driven to camp by the safari service, directly from the airport where you land. While travel to and from Alaska may involve multiple overnight stays both ways, I've gone to Africa many times with only one overnight anywhere along the round trip.
Getting a brown bear hide and skull back from Alaska is cheaper than getting a Cape buffalo skull and hide back from Africa, though if you go to Africa with a friend or two the shipping expenses can be split. I don't know what it costs to get a buffalo shoulder mount done, but a skull mount (which is what I've done) is a LOT cheaper than a big bear rug.
