My son and I are going to South Africa in May, and I would like to have a rough estimate of how much to budget for tips. Here are the details:
- Hunt was purchased at auction and is for 10 days for two hunters, with $3000 animal credit. Package includes PH, trackers, meals, etc.
- We plan to shoot around $8000 of trophy fees, which would cost us $5000. That should be the total amount we pay the outfitter (plus tips, which I want to estimate.)
Assuming service is good to exceptional, what would be a rough estimate of total tipping we should budget for?
Do you have a "daily rate"?
My best advice is 10% of the daily rate paid to the PH so that he can distribute it to the staff as he sees as appropriate. There are are a lot of folks involved that you may never see.
If you feel that someone goes "above and beyond", then tip them separately, but the "team" concept should still be considered.
donsm70
Bob33,
FWIW- check out the Tipping Guide info over on Africahunting website- lots of useful info.
From my own experience, tipping of individual staff who are part of your safari (cooks, skinners, trackers, housecleaners, etc.) is not only appreciated by them, but also the outfitters I have hunted with- they usually go out of their way to thank me and my wife for doing so. I suspect part of that is the fact that the outfitter or PH don't have to worry about parceling out tip money themselves. We always take along small envelopes for tip money, and write individual names on each.
I usually ask the outfitter or PH for guidelines as what to give their staff, and then deal with the PH or outfitter, if he is also the PH, individually. I know that some folks feel that if a PH is also the owner of his business, that he is not entitled to being tipped. I disagree.
I usually count on approx. 10% to 15% of the hunt cost being spent on tips, but there have been exceptions in the past, in the case of a long, hard hunt that has resulted in an exceptional animal taken.
Also, if the safari is very expensive, the lower end of the total cost percentage is probably fine- you are spending a lot of money with these guys, and 15% may be way out of proportion to the actual effort they put in.
But, all that said- it's an individual decision, and at the end of the day, tips or not, you will probably be welcome to return at any time!
Agree
But we Americans tip to dang much and to dang high
I did 10% on 10k in 2014 to Ph and staff but the next time I might drop down to 5 or 6
DO NOT FORGET TO PUT BACK $$$$$ FOR DIP, PACK, SHIP, BROKER and USA SHIPPING
It is expensive and not discussed nearly enoigh
Tipping is always up to your discretion. On a PG hunt of 7-10 days, $500 - $750 to the PH and another $250-300 for the staff will cover a good hunt.
I'm more in line with hatari's thinking. I sat down with the safari operator last May in Namibia and asked him what his thoughts were. I told him I was very pleased with everything, and that I wanted to make sure everybody involved got tipped on the high end of the scale. Mine was a $6300 hunt, and I wound up tipping them around $600, once again, at the owner's discretion. I'll do the same thing again this go 'round.
I/we will travel to RSA April 17-28 to hunt. On our first two trips to RSA I/we, my wife and myself, have decided to evaluate the hunting, lodging and support before deciding on the size of the trip. We have come to the conclusion that if we were happy with all a $100 a day is adequate and we have been invited to return time and again. BTW, we do not drink or smoke or make unusual requests of the PH/outfitter. He has been very outgoing and pleasant and emails us with specials he does not run often. Evaluate the services and make an informed decision on your own. MTG
On my two trips to Africa, I have used 10% of daily rates as the number I used when figuring my budget. I also tip up or down on the 10% depending on how things go on the trip. I would also plan on bringing a little extra cash for unplanned stuff that might come up.
Greg
I've always done 10% of the daily rate for the PH and $300.00-$400.00 to be split between the camp staff. You may want to consider more for the PH if he shoots a Lion or Leopard off of you.
Mike