Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Tipping for service

After two trips to Africa (three separate safaris), and probably my last, I will add this. We, as hunters, do not always see all the people behind the scenes.

I would consider myself a generous tipper for exceptional service, but I rely on the Outfitter/Ph to do the distribution as they see fit. That being said, I always let the most visible people know that I appreciate their efforts, if indeed, that is the case.

Some PHs, maids, chefs and drivers have benefited from their efforts. That is just me.

donsm70

My son & I are going on a 7 day safari for plains game in South Africa. I understand that "tipping" is customary for good service. My question is "who gets tipped in addition to the PH and what is the amount". I realize this is a personal issue but I would like have some knowledge of the practice. Thank you for your time and effort addressing my question.

My staff is fully paid without tips. This is the norm in every camp I have owned, managed, or worked for in my career.

Some outfitters prefer the staff tip go to them to disperse, not the directly to the staff members, the one exception is the cook and the PH. They will be back to work every day. Many of the staff are ready to work until they are paid and disappear for a few days or weeks to spend the money. They are needed in camp and then with a pocket full of cash they vanish. Once replaced a week later the original staff shows back up to find they have been replaced. Simple enough fix, beat the new employee to near death or actually kill them and there is another spot open on the roster to get your old job back.

Truth is stranger than fiction! I loaded a young black Zimbabwean to the bed of the truck finding him stone dead in the road. His ears looked to have been bitten or chewed off and his face swollen nearly beyond recognition. Police said they would come fetch the body and ask around for the culprit. Not typically a very deep meaningful process. Mostly viewed as just checking the box on the process. About 9PM the local SAPs show and off load the body to the trunk of their cruiser. Low and behold a loud moaning sound comes from the trunk and the guy is actually still clinging to life! Hours after we found the lifeless, skull bashed, in no heartbeat dead body!

The lack of empathy or concern was stunning in that they said Might as well be dead by the time we make it to the hospital he will be. Left him in the trunk and drove off. It's clearly not the American standards of procedure!

This is simply one example of how tipping etiquette is important to follow. As far as how much..... well that's up to you. I have over 25 years seem PG tips range from 250-1500 for a 9-14 day trip. DG trips 500-2000 plus. I've had 20-30 hunters completely stiff the entire staff not believing in tipping. So I suppose the average is zero to 2000 for a 10 day to 2 week hunt. Overall I would say, and this is just me and my long experience in this, not the.... be all,... end all answer. The staff will be fine sharing about 1/2 of the amount you give the PH. The cook receiving about 1/2 of that balance. Or a 1/4 of the PH tip.

Example: 400 to PH, 200 for all staff of which 100 is for the cook and 100 shared for the remaining staff. I'm not suggesting these actual dollar numbers, simply using them as an example. Another critical reason the Outfitter may ask for the staff tip money. Speaking from first hand experience. Indiginous staff knows about tips, no secret. Many of my farm workers want client interfacing positions for this reason. Unfortunately, the best worker for irrigation and truck repair cannot be made a house boy, tracker, or skinner just because he wants a position of being tipped. My operations would struggle horribly if I put the most qualified workers in positions they could not do properly.

Having the hunting clients give the employer( outfitter) the tips to spread around including those behind the scenes staff members keeps life here much better for us. The best guys at doing fence repair and managing animals in the field are not always suited to client interface. Many don't speak clear or even any English or have the common hygene, or responsibility of clean uniforms needed to be around the clients. Yet they can fix almost anything on the property when needed.

There is so much more to running a Safari camp and business then the romantic vision many have of a Professional Hunter. During my career there were certainly days of pride and pure joy for my choice of living. However, there were ten times as many days of just plain annoying and stressful crap to deal with. The Tips we received did make a difference to us. Most PH's would never share the amount of behind the scenes issues our clients never knew was going on. Thank goodness for Afrikaans in our camps!