Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Best bang for your buck?

Never hunted the dark continent but want to go for my 50th birthday in two years. Not too intrested in a fenced in hunt but a real wild safari experience. Animals I would like to harvest would be Gamesbuck,warthog,kudu or some other spiral horned antelope,zebra,and impala. Not necesarily in that order or all on the list. Where should I go? South Africa? Tanzania?Zimbabwe?

Namibia

Namibia is a good choice. Tuli Block in Botswana is another possibility.

+1

for 5K-7K you can do one heck of a hunt!

Glenn,

from the species you listed tanzania is VERY cost prohibitive so immediately discount that one.

Zim has issues, some can deal with them with no heavy heart, some can't. It's up to you but it is generally higher in cost than Namibia and RSA and Botswana.

Namibia would be a nice choice but realize that most of the species you listed will be ranch critters. I don't wish to put words in your mouth but if it is important to you to match wits with the critters where God put them (which I implied from your post), rather than where they were brought in for hunting, get a hold of a book on natural ranges of the critters you wish to hunt. Nothing at all wrong with transplanting critters, it is, or at least can be, a real beneficial thing and can offer a real hunting experience. Do your homework as some are certainly better than others.

Botswana, particularly the area along the border with South Africa, Tuli Block included, is normally only a few dollars more than namibia, and in line with RSA pricing.

By the way, it is a gemsbok, or gemsbok, not gamesbuck. I say that not to ridicule. Hell, before Africa turned my life upside down I thought it was pronounced gems, as in diamonds and emeralds, rather than gem with a "g" sound.

A 50th birthday in Africa, wonderful!

The planning is a lot of the fun, enjoy it.

namibia

I had a great hunt in the Limpopo area of RSA. It was a huge ranch, but all free-born animals of all the species you listed and more - waterbuck, nyala and red hartebeest.

Pick the animals you want and then find a place that has the best ones. Don't go to the cape after trophy bushbuck. You go to the Limpopo. If you want the "African experience" it is one thing . If you want good hunting and don't want to sleep on the ground it is another.
My first trip was to a place with a tent camp and I wouldn't take anything for the experience. Since then I have gotten older and not so tough.
My second trip was a ranch in the Limpopo. 14000 hectars. 4 miles on the river. Good hunt also but different.
Ray Atkinson can put you onto some places and there are others also.
I hunted with Harry Claassens Safaris in July in the Kalahari and I can't recommend him strongly enough. High quality game and good accommodations. Not wild tents but a great hunting experience. Not scenic in the Kalahari unless you like West Texas. Great hospitality and good people. Big kudu, 40+ gemsbuck, and Hartebeeste, masses of very large eland. A few zebra,no wart hog worth talking about. Some big waterbuck. Lots of big wildebeeste.
Namibia is very good. I have friend who have hunted ther and they loved it. It has been discovered and the prices are going up and availability is going down. See what the economy does but I talked to a big outfitter Friday who had all his big 5 hunts sold and over 80% of his plains game. He works in Mozambique,Namibia and some in Zimbabwe but is selective who he takes there.

I'd say Namibia too. You may not like the idea of a ranch hunt, but some of those ranches are awfully big. You don't need to equate "ranched" with "canned" as the two are not the same thing.

Namibia- PM me if you would like to chat about my recent travel there.

Jim

South Africa would be a great place for the animals you're are looking at. I've been there 6 times or so over the years, and you can have as varied of an experience as you want. Fences are not an issue at all if you check up with the outfitter. I hunted Gemsbok on a 40,000 acre ranch in the Karoo. That works out to 60 square miles! The fences they had where for sheep. The wild game just hops right over them.

That area is much the same as Nambia, wide open "Road Runner and Wiley Coyote" land. Longer shots in the open. You can then go to the Eastern Cape for Kudu, Nyala, and Bushbuck in thicker brush for some stalking and spotting. Zebra can be found in both areas. Up north, the land is a little wilder and drier than in the eastern Cape as well as less populated.

I hunt with this bunch, and can't say enough good things about them. http://www.johnxsafaris.co.za/. Send a PM if you want to know more.

It will be the best present you can give yourself.

Nambia
I was here at Gras Ranch in 2005. Great place. Great people, Great trophies.

http://www.zingelasafaris.com/

highly recommend

I highly recommend Namibia as well - PM me or search here for my detailed hunt report with pics and video from my first ever trip to Africa earlier in 2008. I couldn't have picked a better country or outfitter.

Namibia or So. Africa is a good choice..I personally prefer So. Africa as the selection of plainsgame is much better in that they have more species by far...Cost is equal if you shop.

I've hunted both Namibia and S. Africa- saw lots more game in S. Africa,(north, near Messina), quality and quantity of gemsbok was better in Namibia.

S. Africa trip was a bowhunt safari, with great opportunity at impala, kudu, eland, etc. Used a rifle to take a spectacular waterbuck and nyala.

If I were to go back for plains game, S. Africa would be the choice. It was overall more expensive than Namibia, but I also took a lot more critters!!

Glenngtr,

It should be added that besides the links some of us have given you to outfits, Ray Atkinson and JJHACK can fix you up. Might be worth a PM or phone call.

Been there 12 times or so. PM me if you want to discuss. Things are not as they seem. Substance is not the same as the surface might indicate.

Here is who we hunted with this summer. We took 30 head of plains game in 10 days, between the 4 of us. I checked both Namibia and S. Africa, and thought that these people were the biggest bang for the buck.

www.cruisersafaris.com/

Mad Dog

Has anyone ever used Tall Grass Safaris? I have been talking to tehm a bit but have done no homework...

Botswana in the Kalahari. Like Namibia, these are primarily ranch hunts, but the ranches are huge. Cost is reasonable and you could book a couple of days at a lodge in the Okavango Delta as an add on.