oldman3; my perspectives are biased towards travel from western Canada so there may be some stuff which is not relevant to you. I will address flying into RSA as that is where AB2506 is headed to.
Travel is easy. Calgary to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Johannesburg both flights are in the 8-9 hour range. A 3 hour layover in Amsterdam is just enough time to deplane, grab a sandwich, walk across the airport clear security and "replane". Overnight is Jberg and a short flight to the Eastern Cape the next day.
Without a shadow of a doubt use a meet and greet service in the Jberg airport. Money well spent. They will also deal with your permit for bringing a gun into RSA. They will make sure to get you to wherever you are staying before your flight out the next day (if you have one). There is a very nice hotel right in the JBerg airport.
There are a few travels agents who specialize in hunting travel, use one.
Read and fully understand the rules for flying wth gun and ammo it varies bit from airline to airline. Some airlines require a form be filled out prior to flying.
We need a Canadian export permit to get our guns into Africa, this doubles as our proof of ownership when returning to Canada, I'm sure y'all south of the 49th have a form with a similar function.
A form is need to transit the Netherlands with a firearm. Applied for via email or fax.
Germany is easy to transit with a firearm, England is a pain and expensive to transit with a firearm. Other countries I have no experience.
Carry multiple copies of all of your required forms. Nothing makes a nervous, inexperienced low level airline or government employee feel better about dealing with your guns than being able to have a handful of official looking papers. They may not need the documents but it is so much easier to pass them an envelope with your forms than to try and educate them on how things work. Your job is to get to Africa hunt and have a good time not educate the ignorant.
Book your flights early and look for the "good seats" KLM has several levels of upgraded coach, the window seat next to the emergency exit at the front of coach has enough leg room for an NBA player and more shoulder room than regular coach seats. On an 8-9 hour flight being jammed into a tiny seat is a guarantee of misery.
Wear compression socks and take a few baby aspirin before each flight. Walk as much as you can before each flight. Try to have one of your two flights be an overnight flight, on my return flights I like to leave africa in the late afternoon or evening so I am sleeping when my body wants me to. Talk to your doctor about using an anti anxiety drug as a sleep aid, if you need to wake up and function it is easier to do so from an anti-anxiety drug than a sleeping pill. If you are drugging for sleep no booze.
Using a method of a couple of hours walking around the airport and an anti-anxeity drug I was able to sleep 7 1/2 hurst's of the flight from Berg to Amsterdam.
Have your ammunition in a locked box which is strong enough to travel outside your suitcase as that is way it must travel in RSA and quite likely how it will leave RSA even though that is not the way it should leave RSA.
The "this is Africa" TIA is quite true, rules changes, people make up their own rules, they may not understand the rules. Stay calm, smile and trust in your meet and greet people to get you to and from.
Please let me know if you have questions not answered.
Final words; go to Africa hunt and enjoy. Lots of picture, skull mounts and tanned hides use the big money you would spend on shoulder mounts on more days hunting and trophy fees.
All the best.
GRF
GRF,
You've pretty much hit the nail on the head. The only change that I would recommend, is not to fly through Amsterdam.Rather stick to either London,Frankfurt or Munich. Amsterdam is not very firearm friendly, as well as that you can't fly through there with broad heads, should you be a bow hunter.Apart from that, I think you've nailed it.
I'm not sure about AB's travel arrangements, but he oughta be making it there today, maybe. I know it took me 2 days to get to the middle east, so I'm guessing it will take about that same time to get there.
Someone with more experience (and that is anyone that's been to Africa) sound out and explain to us novices the trials and tribulations of getting from this part of the world to the hunting area.
Should you require any travel assistance, our Canadian Agents can help from the flights, right down to the firearm paperwork on the Canadian side. Please feel free to drop me a PM.
