Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Botswana 2021 Small Group Hunts

Grab a cold drink and sit back as this will be a long post. I want to include as much info as possible up front.

As the current news from the Bots Govt doesn't seem be even hinting at opening the boarders this month, it looks like hunting in Bots for 2020 is going to be pretty much a bust. Technically, the "official" hunting season runs from 1 Apr to 30 Sep but, planes game hunting on private land can be "open" year a round. Even though Gerhard's place, Sass Post, is private land, he follows the "official" season dates.

On a positive side, Gerhard and his friend Jaco did win two separate concessions for elephant (15 near the Okavango Delta and a few cape buffalo and two leopard this (2020) year and 3 additional elephant in a concession at the north end of the Tuli Block. The govt did allow their concession rights and quotas to be rolled over into 2021. As those are govt concessions, those hunts can't be until Apr 2021.

I've already set aside three plains game hunt dates centered over the dark of the moon for Jun, Jul and Aug 2021 with Gerhard for his place, Sass Post, at the south end of the Tuil Block, for some small group hunts again. All three dates will be for 10 FULL hunting days with travel to and back on each end.

As I offered for this year (2020), the small groups are limited to 4-5 total hunters/observers. Closed camp, meaning our group are the ONLY ones on the entire property (250k acres) for the duration of the hunt.

2-17 Jun 2021 - we'll depart the US on 2 Jun. We'll arrive at Sass Post on 4 Jun and hunt 10 FULL days from 5-14 Jun. Travel back will be the 15th and home on the 17th. I already have two people on this so room for 2-3 more. I'll be one of the hunters on this one.

3-18 Jul 2021 - depart the US on 3 Jul. Arrive Sass Post on 5 Jul and hunt 10 FULL days from 6-15 Jul. Travel home will start on the 16th and home the 18th. All four-five spots for this one are currently open. I would prefer not to travel with this group unless there are first time African hunters /observers that can't make the other trip dates.

31-Jul to 15 Aug 2021 - we'll depart on 31 Jul. Arrive at Sass Post on 2 Aug and hunt 10 FULL days from 3-12 Aug. Travel home will start on 13 Aug and home on the 15th. All four spots are currently spoken for. I'll be on this hunt for sure and the other three spots are the same ones who were on this Aug's CNX'd hunt. Would consider taking a 5th if needed.

Several important things:

1. NO MONEY IS REQUIRED at this point. Only thing required, for now, is a public commitment to one of the spots or as an "alternate" for a spot. If there is an alternate (5th) for a group, you will go. I've already reserved the dates to hold them as the full dark moon is the prime time for PG hunting.

2. Once the boarders get open and the airline routes get sorted out then we can start actually locking in commitments. I'm thinking that things will be back and mostly on track early in 2021. By "locking in commitments", I mean you'll have to put down a deposit directly with Gerhard. The deposit is the customary 50% minimum of the daily rates and projected trophy fees or 50% of the "package" price if you opt for one of those. At this point I think it would be reasonable to anticipate that being no later than 120-days from the date we are scheduled to arrive with the balance paid in cash or by credit card before we leave Sass Post. This 120-day window will also be after the normal DSC/SCI expos. At this point, Gerhard and Jaco are still planning to attend the Houston Safari Club Expo 26-28 Feb 2021.

3. You are also always welcome to book a hunt directly with Gerhard if you can't make one of the three small group trips. Either way, I'll still help you coordinate your travel and any overnight lodging you might need along the way as well as your rifle import permits into Bots and any other questions you may have.

4. As I’ve mentioned before – I don’t get a “cut” or a “commission”. I pay my own way. I do this just because I honestly love going and also helping others who may have always wanted to go but don’t have anyone else interested or thought it was too difficult to do on their own. So, here are the four “usual” packages Gerhard has. You can also contact him directly and inquire about other options you’d like. His email address is: gmkochbotyahoo.com and if you have the smart phone app called Whatsapp you can text him at: +267 75 414 214.

5. Below is his price list - same prices as offered this year (2020). The listed package hunts are just the most popular ones he offers. You have a choice of one of these or a straight daily rate and individual trophy/cull fee per head or you can contact him directly and tell him what you want for a "package" in the terms of number of days, species, number of heads of each and trophy or culls and have him give a your customized hunt. As long as you can do the same date windows I've got above, you're more than welcome to join one of the trips.

Note: All of the below "packages" are for less than the 10 full hunting days I've booked so, you'll have to add a couple of extra daily rate fees to the package you choose to make the full 10-day trip. Again, these are just examples and can be modified to fit your desires. For example, on the Aug trip, I'm doing pkg #4 and exchanging trophies for more culls of each species and the wart hogs for other culls and doing it with just one other shooter.

2021 PACKAGES: (All prices are in U.S. Dollars)

PACKAGE # 1 – 6 Trophy Animals – 1x impala, 1x warthog, 1x blue w/b, 1x kudu, 1x gemsbok, 1x waterbuck. Includes 7 nights, 6 full hunting days all inclusive. Minimum of 2 hunters hunting 1x1 (each hunter will have own PH) $7800.00 per client.

PACKAGE # 2 – 10 Trophy Animals – 2x impala, 2x warthog, 2x blue w/b, 1x zebra, 1x kudu, 1x gemsbok, 1x waterbuck. Includes 8 nights, 7 full hunting days all inclusive. Minimum of 2 hunters hunting 1x1 (each hunter will have own PH) $8900.00 per client.

PACKAGE # 3 – 20 Cull Animals – 10x cull impala, 10x blue w/b. split between 2 hunters. Includes 7 nights, 6 full hunting days all inclusive, Minimum of 2 hunters hunting 2x1 (2 hunters and one PH) $3000.00 per client. Up to two of each species can be taken as trophies at no extra charge.

PACKAGE #4 – 24 Trophies and 60 Culls – Must be a minimum group of 4 hunters. 40x impala ( 1x trophy & 9x culls each hunter), 12x warthog (1x trophy & 2x culls each hunter), 20x blue w/b (1x trophy & 4x culls each hunter), 4x trophy zebra (1x trophy each hunter), 4x trophy kudu (1x trophy each hunter), 4x trophy eland (1x trophy each hunter). . Includes 8 nights, 7 full hunting days all inclusive. Each hunter will hunt 1x1 with own PH, tracker and truck. The trophy kudu and trophy eland can be exchanged for any other trophy or cull animals at the same prices listed below. $6375.00 per client.

Notes – extra shooters can be added to the group at the same rate.
Extra cull animals can be added at: Impala - $100.00 ea., blue w/b $200.00 ea., zebra $350.00 ea., and giraffe $1000.00 ea.
Extra days can be added to above packages at a cost of $350.00 p/p/p/d 1x1 or $250.00 p/p/p/d 2x1. Non-hunting observers $150.00 p/p/p/d. In addition to the above all inclusive packages we will custom tailor a package to your specifications and requirements.

2020 STAND ALONE AND ADD ON TROPHY FEES:

Trophy animals can be added to any of the above packages on an al a carte fee basis at the following prices per animal.
Giraffe $2500.00 Eland $1600.00 Impala $400.00
Kudu $1500.00 Gemsbok $1000.00 Warthog $350.00
Bushbuck $1000.00 Blue b/b $600.00 Red h/b $1000.00
Waterbuck $1400.00 Steenbok $200.00 Duiker $200.00
Baboon $50.00 Vervet Monkey $20.00 Jackal FREE
**Other species may be available on request

DG Hunts:

NG49 - South of Maun in the Okavango Delta region 700,000 acres. You'd fly into Maun
10-day elephant hunt $65.000.00. General expectation is 50-60lbs with larger possible.
10-day Cape Buffalo hunt $27,500.00.
10-day Leopard hunt over bait $32,500.00 with $7,800.00 trophy fee refunded if no shot opportunity provided.
10-day elephant and buffalo combo hunt $82,500.00
10-day elephant and leopard combo hunt $87,500.00 with same leopard TF refund for no shot opportunity

CT27 - North end of the Tuli Block (eastern Bots) region, 2,000,000 acres. You'd fly into Gaborone.
10-day elephant hunt $27,500.00. General expectation is 30-40lbs

All hunts (PG and DG) include road transfers from the airport to "camp". Rifle import permits, all meals, daily laundry service, daily maid service, locally available beer and hard liqueur (within reason). Initial trophy prep and transport to local taxidermist for export etc. Not included are airfare to from home to either Maun or Gaborone or any meals or lodging desired/required before being met at the respective airport or after being returned to the airport for your return home.

tag

Still nothing new about Bots opening to International tourist yet. There was "supposed to be" some sort of an announcement on 28 Sept but....crickets. Internally, citizens are pretty much free to move about and supply trucks are able to move across the boarders.

I do have two more guys who've said they were interested in spots for next year. As I told them both, no formal "commitment" is required yet since the country is still closed and not knowing what airlines are going to be providing services in/out.

Two of the elephant in NG-49 are formally "committed" to as soon as the season opens 1 Apr provided boarders/airlines are at least back to semi-normal.

As long as COVID infection rates "supposedly remain high, US hunters aren't going anywhere IMO.

It'll start clearing up soon after the election...

Well JG, all I can say is US hunters are going to and getting into Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe now for a few weeks. Are there a few extra hurdles to the trip, yes but they are going. If you mean many may be "choosing" not to go, could be.

See on a number of other forums, there are a lot of guys booking for next year due to some good discounted hunts and from what I understand, most are being offered some sort of "Covid" based out, be it the hunt rolling to a later date etc. There are at least two I am aware of that put serious commitments on those two sold elephants for next Apr. They were the same two that were "sold" just a few hours after Jaco and Gerhard won the tenders. Money was put down and boarders closed before the hunters could get there. Fortunately the govt rolled all the quotas over to 2021 and Gerhard and Jaco did the same with hunters.

As I mentioned in my original post, in the case of these small group hunts, I've already put enough money down to cover/lock in the trips and dates for 2021. I've also been pretty clear that no one need to make a financial commitment to any of these until boarders are open and air carrier options get sorted out. Some guys who are interested have to start making plans to set vacation dates for 2021 with their employers.

Edited to add: As of today, there are two "committed" hunters for the June trip and four committed to the Aug trip. Same folks who were committed to the Jun and Aug trips from this year. Add in the two guys seriously considering going - just not sure which trip and again, pending on boarder openings/flight resumptions.

On a side note, RSA opened its boarders effective 1 Oct and also dropped the Visa requirement for US based travelers. The Visa wasn't that big of a deal in the first place. Was free and just stamped in your passport when you entered. It will cut out the time just standing in the queue for the stamp. The same airlines are slowly ramping up ops meaning they will likely only be offering flts in/out just several days a week initially.

Virtually every country around Bots is open/opening, so unless things REALLY go in the toilet, I'm willing to bet Bots will be open and flts in/out in a few weeks.

Looks like the rainy season has started in the Tuli already. Very heavy rain. Got message and pics from Gerhard that all the pans on the property filled with water in about 2hrs and the Limpopo is in full flow. Should be really good grass this year and with the only pressure from his light meat culling the game should be very abundant and in excellent condition next year.

Now, just have to get the boarders open and airlines sorted out. There is time as the season doesn't open until April.

Tag- Package #3 looks good.

Morning Labman.

My wife and I did pkg #3 on the Aug 2019 trip. We had already done 10-days in Namibia and I wanted to show her Gerhard's place. I let her do most of the shooting. She had a blast.....literally and figuratively! What he's got set up in #3 with the numbers of animals is just about right for a 2x1 six day trip. Could also be a good foundation to add a couple of days to make the full 10-days I've reserved and a couple of select trophy species too. The absolute best deal I think I've ever seen offered on the web or at a convention is pkg #4 with a couple of extra days added to make the full ten days reserved.

The primary reason I've added a couple of days to all of his "standard" packages the difference in how they conduct trophy hunts vs culls. They do the "normal" morning and afternoon hunts for both. But, when taking culls, the animal is just given an quick field gutting and moved under thorn bushes and the location is marked on GPS and the hunt continues. At the end of the morning or at sundown, the culled animals are collected and returned to he butchery. With the cool temps and abdominal organs removed the meat is just fine. When a "trophy" animal is taken and the hunter wants flat skins/rugs or shoulder/full body mounts vs just European (skull/horns on shield) where there is less concern about hair slippage, the hunting stops and the trophy is immediately recovered and taken to the butchery for care/processing. Considering the size of the property and the distances/travel time from the bush to the butchery, you may well not have time to go back out hunting again that morning/afternoon.

The other reason I added a couple of extra days is, these packages, especially #4, is a LOT of hunting/shooting. If you don't take all the animals in the package, you don't get a refund. You can exchange trophies for culls and culls for trophies though.

Going to be out of pocket for a couple of days so if any questions come up, it may take me a bit to respond.

Going to hit that package #4 one of these years, 20-30 skull mounts hanging in the homemade Boma I'm going to build Wife would be great! as well as a friendly reminder of the hunts.

Morning Gunner. Come on! Still two spots open for the Jun trip and if that's not good for you, would take you as a 5th in Aug. With the rains they've had already there this year and the nearly zero hunting pressure, the animals should be fat, happy and plentiful!

We just need the boarders to open and flights in/out sorted out. Pretty sure Qatar Air will be hard to beat both in price and if they resume their previous semi-direct routes into Gaborone.

And just a side note - we may have to slide the dates a day or two either way due to whatever the airlines sort out. Last year, 2020 before things shut down, Qatar Air was flying the semi-direct flights between Doha and Gabby three days a week. The other days, they were partnered with Air Botswana and SAA Airlink and SAA Express with just a couple hour layover each way in J'berg. So, just remains to be seen who's operating early next year.

Good evening Sir, i'll be watching, just cracked the checkbook pretty hard, many Thanks for the updates and information.

I'm twitching already....... based on July 31 Wheels up, 285 days to go as of midnight tonight. Yeah I got it bad.......
KDK

With ya Kevin!!

Hopefully, you and I and Gerhard and Jaco can all meet at the Houston SCI show in Feb, provided it's still on and they can get there.

Looking forward to Houston, I sure hope it comes together. Tomorrow is 271 to "wheels up" to Gaberone! Twitching now I'll be in full convulsion state by July..... A trip 54 years in the making.
KDK

Sounds like an adventure! Wish I could join in.

Sorry for not posting in a bit. Been extra busy lately. So.....

Good news is that Botswana is open again for international travel, tourism and hunters. Current airlines offering flights in/out are Air Botswana from Johannesburg to Gaborone and Maun, Ethiopian Airlines into Maun and Gabby and Qatar Air via J'berg and partnered with Air Bots. All are on very limited schedules of just a couple of flights a week while waiting for demand to build.

Similar Covid 19 requirements such as having a clean Covid test cert within 72 hrs of arrival in country etc. Things in general are still sorting themselves out kind of like waking up from a long hard sleep. I feel pretty confident that by the time the formal hunting season opens on 1 Apr, things will be mostly sorted out and running more or less smoothly as can be expected.

yaaaaaaaYYY

A little more good news. Gerhard finally has his website back up and online.

Kochsafaris.com

Was pretty much a complete "do over" and all fresh and new.

He also links to I guess it's his Youtube channel from the his website where he plans on updating videos. He's just got two video clips up there now and hope a few more will subscribe and give him a bit of boost.

As always, if anyone has any questions on Bots, Gerhard and Maggie's ops and either of the two small group trips, always feel free to contact me or Gerhard.

Nice, I checked out the website, my old Sako 30-06, hickory shooting sticks, and a belt of 200gr Partitions remains ready for one of those 30-40 animal cull hunts!....................one of these days very soon I hope.