Hi guys. I'm fairly new to looking at Africa hunts. I'm sure there will be a lot of opinions. Anyway, it has always been my dream to experience an African safari. I cannot go this year or probably the next due to school and what not. I would like to start planning however. What can I expect cost wise for just the safari. I really don't know what a typical range would be. I know there are a lot of variables but what would be the cheapest I could expect and still get four or five species on maybe a 7 day hunt. To sum up, minus air fair and trophy expenses what does the typical plains game safari cost? Any other need to know info greatly appreciated.

I can do a 5 typical animal 10 day trip for under 7k

This is no airfare, no trophy shipping, no taxidermy. Everything else is included from the moment you arrive until I put you back on the plane.

This is today, three years from now when you are ready, all bets are off. Kudu Trophy fees alone have nearly doubled in 10 years, now good natural wild bulls are in the 2600 plus range. In 2000 we had a bulls at 1600.00

Impala were 250, now pushing 400 in most places. Daily fees were 185-200, now 250-400 bucks

Fuel, food, restrictions, and political impact in Southern Africa have driven prices up in a big way.

ten years ago Zimbabwe was a brilliant hunting location, today the infrastructure and the safety in some places with the amount of business issues has handcuffed much of that old glory.

Botswana was the apex of safari hunting with the best trophies on earth and the most spectacular hunting anyplace. Thats gone now. No more hunting. Who would have thought that would ever have been possible?

Namibia and South Africa are very strong and secure for the most part in the hunting areas. There are many years of great hunting going forward. Mozambique will also improve over time and become better. Unless the government issues come up again and it all goes to heck. That's a coin toss! The same can be said for Zimbabwe. New leaders can mean great hunting and back to the old days. The same leaders make this more difficult and risky as far as the future.

Part of the huge increase to the price has come from the reduction of hunting in other places. There are many reasons for the prices going up at an exceptional rate of increase. Airfare alone is just crazy as well. However with that increase it's much easier to get a seat now.

In the late 90' early 2000's if you did not have a seat booked by January of the year you were going you were out of luck. Those seats were booked solid 6 months in advance. Now if you want a seat you can find one a month in advance. The travel to Africa has dropped off a lot in the last 4 years. My guess would be 25% less or maybe more.

I sell hunts now, with a couple months notice, 5 years ago if you did not have a hunt booked by November of the previous year you could not get a good set of dates and might struggle with the flights to match those dates.

Mine probably aren't typical but for mine that went from 2 to 3 weeks, I paid less than or about equal to $7,000 to $8,000 including air fare but not including taxidermy or shipping the mounts home. The fewest animals I took on a safari were 8 and have included at least 2 that were in the SCI top 10 in the handgun category.

It's a buyers market the way I see it. The euro economies stink, most of the US economy stinks, and the outfitters are competing for hunter's dollars. There are some very good deals out there.

I told you so.......

One trip and are and expert!!!

JJHACK will be a great source for you. Many around here have hunted with him and he can steer you right.

LMAO! There is a smartazzz in Atlanta to blame for my recent troubles.

The cost can and does indeed vary.

My two cents, instead of making the expense your primary concern for your initial search, first decide what sort of hunting experience you desire/seek, and species of prime interest.

Once you have those two variables sorted out, everything else will fall into place much easier.

Johnnie,

When are you going to start booking African Safaris??

Cost? Whatever a nice car would be to you...

Travis, Costs will vary greatly, depending on what you want/expect. Put and take operations around Capetown can offer you a good selection of animals at very low prices but in a more "canned" type hunt. (MY opinion based on what I have seen and heard from folks who have hunted there) Operations in the Limpopo and other Northern regions of South Africa cost more. But IMHO they are worth a lot more. On average, they hunt much larger areas. (on my just completed safari we were hunting tracks that averaged around 35000 acres) Also, the game is a little wilder (again in my opinion) as it normally does not get hunted quite as hard and in many cases was born on the property or has been there several years. On some of the put and take operations the game may have only been placed there a few weeks before and comes from a ranch devoted to raising them. Trucks to that type animal mean food, so they are not quite as wary as those that have lived in a much larger area for a while.

NOTE: I am not aware of any totally unfenced operations in South Africa, although I am sure a few exist. The question is how big a fenced area is big enough for the animals behave as close as possible to truly wild animals. ? Only you can answer what is big enough for your tastes.

These factors greatly affect the cost of your hunt. To me, larger areas and wilder game are worth the extra couple of thousand it costs. If getting the heads on the wall is your biggest/only concern, the smaller put and take type organizations would seem to be the way to go.

Just my humble opinion, based on 4 hunts. Your milage may vary. TM

Travis,

I would encourage you to consider a ten-day hunt instead of seven. It won't cost a whole lot more and you get a lot more flexibility. You've already got the "sunk cost" of the expense and hassle of the long trip.

Lots of great information. Unfortunately it will probably be a couple years from now, but I like to get ahead with planning and funding. I would like to have at least one animal mounted but I'm pretty knowledgable about trophy cost in the us. I'm sure they vary in Africa. That's a whole nother issue. I'm mostly just looking for the experience so hopefully those expenses will not be to high. My hope is that my dad and/ or brother can go as well.

The basic trip I went on was a 6 day 7 night hunt. I added several things that I mentioned in the story of my hunt.

This basic hunt was for 5 plains game animals from a selected list. The trophy hunt cost $3900, and the cull hunt was $2900. The Kudu was not on the list, but Gemsbok, both types of Wildebeest, Hartebeest, Impala, Blesbuck, Springbuck and Warhog were.

My 2014 trip is for 9 days of hunting, kudu, gemsbok, blue wildebeest, impala, springbok, mountain reedbuck, blesbuk and zebra. Tax everything, $8000.

Airfare from Calgary to Johannesburg is $1700 return.

Another comedian here......Yeah, you were one of the enablers too you piece of trash!

Be sure to ask if you will be hunting one property or if you will stay in one place and be driven to other farms. If you are to be driven to various farms it means that your hosts really don't have much on their own property. This generally means the place where you are living is more of a guest house. Folks are always looking for a way to increase income.

I would only go to places where the hunting is done on the outfitter's property with no travel other close locations. Of course travel to a far destination is different.

Recently I read here of someone who went to different places each day. Sounds terrible to me. But the guy was pleased it being his first trip.

I asked C. Bodington that exact question several years ago at a SCI show in Green Bay. My son and I were interested. He suggested we look for an outfitter offering Management hunts. We did, found several...went with an 9 animal hunt, we shared the shooting. This was a great way for us to do Africa. The hunt was 3k.
I`m going again, my 3rd trip, next year with my BIL. We will share 10. Cost for the hunt is also 3k. 5 day hunt.
Good luck!

with the management hunts i know some are old animals, some have broken horns ect....


can you ask for ones that are just old/small to hang on the wall at home?

i don't need a "trophy" oryx, but don't want to go to africa for one missing a horn either. or can you do a mix n' match cull & trophy quality animal hunt

A broken horn Kudu or Gemsbok with the good horn making RW level scores is not going to be one penny cheaper. Europeans want those in a big way. Same with deformed horns. A bull Gemsbok with thick matched horns that are 25" long is a cull for us, a Bull with a single 38" plus horn is not.

Small animals and females are commonly shot to balance populations. Mix and match hunts are quite common. We often do five female impala or Cow Kudu for specials after the trophy hunting is complete.

JJhack, thanks for the reply.

the right deformity is very neat so I can see the value in those

this topic has me thinking more about Africa since I don't need a 38" horn hanging on my wall (if the wife lets me hang anything) and a 25" would be pretty darn awesome in my opinion.

So very good information for me to look into. thanks

Tim,
I just back from a hunt Jim put together for me. It was my first trip to SA and we had a great time (both me and my wife). I could highly recommend him. My trip report is posted here.

I'd suggest a 10 day hunt if you can. It costs a lot of money to fly to SA. 3 extra days to do game drives, sight see, etc is well worth the extra money.

My climb of Kilimanjaro and the tourist circle through Tanzania cost 10K. I see going back to hunt as one of the world's greatest bargains.

I recently got back from South Africa on a 10 day hunt. I will give you a break down of my costs so far.....so far because the cost just never end

Travel $3000
Package Hunt $9000
Extras I killed $3000
Tip $1300
Incidentals ~$1000
Dipping/crating $2200
Still have:
Airfare for skulls/skins ?$1200
Taxidermy fees ?$9000

Pretty crazy but about $30k is where it's going.

If you want a wilderness experience, you might want to consider hunting with Brent Hein in Zimbabwe. His primary hunting area is the old Lemco Ranch, now known as the Bubye Valley Conservancy.

http://www.brentheinsafaris.com/

I know Brent personally though I haven't hunted with him. I do know many that have and rave about him. He's a good man and will give you a grand hunt. You will see Elephant, Cape Buffalo and probably Lion and Leopard. That would add to your experience.

If you contact Brent, tell him Paul in Texas told you about him.

Taxidermy really, really, really adds to the costs.