What can $8500 get you on Safari?
International
Good morning all,
I'm just sitting here at work dreaming about hunting trips around the world (something I do often). As a goal, I would like to do a bow hunting safari. I was wondering what a budget of $8500 could get you on a safari. I feel like this could be a reasonable goal to reach. Any input from you veterans is appreciated.
Thanks!
What would this budget include? Airfare? Tips? Post hunt costs? Or are we just talking daily rates and trophy fees?
Joker,
I what thinking just daily rates and fees...
Probably looking at $10,000 for the total trip.
Thanks
Check with Reon at African Barefoot Safaris. I took 6 animals to mount and 4 extras, lodging for my wife and I and came in at about your target. What I will tell you is, if you're figuring on 10k, save up 12-15. Once you get over there you'll see animals that you never considered. I had no idea what a waterbuck was, but took a nice one (wife told me to). Reon was running a special so check with him.
The trip I planned works out to $7700 inclusive of tips. 7 day package includes kudu, impala, blue wildebeest, and warthog. I plan to add steenbok, duiker, another warthog, blesbok, and bushpig. All of that is included in the 7700. Airfare is about another 2k and taxi/shipping is undecided but probably another 2k+ for a grand total of 12-13k.
Come to Australia, that will get you a monster south pacific buffalo. Scrub bull, an a some of Hogs Message me if u want some more info
It's very common for hunters once having hunted Africa for their first time are already planning to return before getting home. So, not knowing your situation, age, future income, etc. I am going to take a stab at predicting that you can do a modest first timer hunt for plains game with that budget, knowing that you will likely be hooked and will then plan your future around saving up and going back again for additional species. Most end up doing it this way, spread over time. If you stick to one or maybe two relatively expensive animals like kudu, Waterbuck, Eland or Nyala; and one or two moderately expensive ones like Gemsbok, Hartebeest, Wildebeest or Zebra. You still might have enough for two or more less expensive common game like Impala, Warthog, duiker, etc. Be content to get a few good ones this first time and keep saving since you will want to come back for more. I took 8 really great trophies on my first bowhunt and felt very blessed. But, prices and other costs are higher now so you need to be smart about it all. Researching a good bowhunting operation is your most important task in planning right now. Reon will not disappoint and have very reasonable offers so keep an eye out for them. There are a handful of the very top shelf bowhunting choices out there and some of these do not advertise on this or other websites since their repeat (rich) clients more than fill their calendars with hunts. The ones most often mentioned positively here have been Angus Brown, Melanori, Limcroma, Dries Visser, Barefoot, Choronga and of course Ken Moody. Any of these choices would be a great starting point. As far as added costs, try to arrange not having to stay at hotels as part of the travel plan, keep the souvenirs to a minimum, have your trophy parts dip/packed there then ship them to the US. If mounting them, have them tanned over here and store them yourself until you can afford to have each one done. The gratuities are always a point of discussion and others like Ken can comment of what is customary these days, but it will likely total $1000 (+/-). The trophy d/p & shipping & brokerage fees for average first hunts will be about $2k. I would tend believe you will be better off building in a buffer of another $2,000 than what you had initially mentioned in your post. That way you will not feel overly worried about exceeding your budget when that big Nyala walks in.
Thank you so much for the advice. This is really good information.
Thank you so much for the advice. This is really good information.
Check with Ken Moody Safaris. He runs a superbow package that makes it affordable. You could also check with Neil Summers with Bowhunting Safari consultants.
Talk with Neil at Bowhunting Safari Consultants. He put together a trip for me, my wife and son. We shot 6 animals, 3 plane tickets and side trips for my wife. The total for the 3 of us was $20k. You should do fine on your own for that money.
TBB
For that you can get a tenth of an elephant. :)
It pays to shop around. I bought a package at a SCI banquet that included daily fees and five animals for two hunters. We ended up adding days and animals. You need to be aware of the trophy fees, as most packages are loss leaders designed to get you over there and the fees can be significantly higher.
You can also stretch your buck by being flexible. Lots of outfits have end of season specials that offer discounted packages or daily fees. If you can go on short notice, you can really get some sweet deals.
If you have not been there before, check out africahunting.com. Lots of info on Africa. Lots of hunting outfits offering hunts there too. They also have a hunt/outfitter review section that is invaluable in smoking out shady outfits.
Bill,
That site looks like you can find some great deals. Thanks for the information.
Thanks for all of the really great information. Keep it coming. Now I have to convince the wife that this is what we need to save our money for.
I would add that you should also consider the cost of getting your trophies back home. Dip & pack, transport and import brokerage costs are not insignificant.
IIRC, my buddy and I paid close to $3k for 17 animals. I would have done the import paperwork myself (saved a few hundred bucks), but I live three hours from the airport. I did go and get them from the terminal, so I did not have to pay for delivery.
If you think that is bad, the cost of taxidermy is even worse. :)
The cost of airfare hunt with trophy fees was approximately equal to the cost of getting trophies home and mounted here in the states.
So if you spend $8500 on your hunt and travel you could roughly estimate the same for having the animals in your home all mounted.
Literally you could go twice if you just bring back photographs... I personally would rather have the mounts than go twice.
I like the idea of having all of the hides prepared and tanned. Then later down the road have the animals mounted one by one as I can afford them.
It seems with some planning and research, Africa can be a realistic trip for someone on a budget.
The planning and dreaming is all part of the fun!
If you are talking $8500 on daily fees and trophy fees you could get quite a lot. Especially, if you select a package deal for daily fees/selected animals.
Need to define what you want to cover with $8500.
Travel, daily fees, trophy fees, tips, freight fees, export/import cost, layover cost if involved with travel, gear/clothing costs, vaccinations, etc. are all related cost to a trip.
I think I would like to try getting there and back for 10k or less. I can worry with taxidermy later down the road.
What did all you guys hunt on your first trip to Africa?
Interesting that Africa gets you so many animals and shipping etc for about the same as a good elk hunt. I suppose the fenced/farmed aspect comes into play in keeping costs reasonable.
Alabowna,
On your first trip you hunt anything that comes into the waterhole. Then on the following trips you become more selective at to animals and what area you hunt that will provide with those animals.
Many outfitters advertise a list a mile long of animals and prices. In reality, they really do not necessarily have all the animals on the property or region you will be hunting, but can arrange to get you to another property, area or country so you can hunt a particular animal.
This is a good question to ask an outfitter as you do your research.
Africa Expenses 2010
Superbow package 4950 Airfare 2300 Dr Appt 25 Maloran(anti malaria) 202 Airport transfer 300 Tips 700 (300Ph, 200Ph 100 camp staff, 100 trackers) Airport tips 20 Snacks and food 75 $8572 in trip costs I shot 5 animals Zebra, blue wildebeest, gemsbok, impala, warthog female(plus a freebee one horned blesbok that I didn’t get to bring home-leopard bait) Field and stream taxidermy-Completed Zebra flatskin rug on felt-($277), tan BWB backskin-($86) Gemsbok backskin-($86) and impala backskin-($46), mount warthog skull on plaque-($201), warthog flatskin-($103), make a Zebra foot lamp for my son-($103), and dipping and crating-BWB horns and cape-($144), Gemsbok horns and cape-($144), Impala horns and cape-($92) plus $256.40 for packing. This breaks down like this
taxidermy and dip and ship $842 taxidermy fees + $736 dip and ship fees Total $1578 I paid to Field and stream taxidermy
Actual Shipping charges to Houston- by Logwin Logistics 843.52
Receiving and shipping to South Texas Fur Dressers by WELL worldwide ligistics 569.50
TotalApprox 11563.02
Tanning of capes by South Texas Fur Dressers and the cost of shipping my curios and finished Zebra along with my three backskins to me. 773.62 12336.64 Total
3 taxidermy forms Impala, gemsbok, BWB $350
Taxidermy 1100 13,786.64 Total
Sorry for how that laid out when I copied it and pasted it, but it gives you the general idea. I was out between 8500 and 9000 when I got back from the trip. Dipping and shipping and taxidermy added the rest. I am sure I could knock 1500 or so off that total by being a little smarter on how I got them home next time.
I had the zebra rug made over there, and had all the backskins tanned and shipped. I bought a zebra foot lamp and quite a few curios that had to be shipped with my stuff and then shipped to me when it got to Houston. If I had cut all that out and combined my order with someone elses it would have knocked off quite a bit on my total. IT took almost a year for the items to be shipped to the states, so the payment for all that was spread out as well as the taxidermy charges. Once we were in camp there were no expenses at all for 10 days. I went with Ken Moody
I'd like to kill a nice Kudu, Warthog, Gemsbok and Zebra. Those would be the things on my wish list. I would be open to other animals that would present themselves.
Im sure things have gone up in the last few years, but I don't know how much. On mistake I made is I only set aside a small amount of additional money. I could have shot a bushbuck, eland, waterbuck, over a dozen mature nyala if I had taken additional funds or had a credit card. I had neither, so I just took pics. I went mainly for a kudu, but didn't see a mature one I wanted to take. One more reason to go back
You will get a lot if that's just your hunt money and not travel expenses.I did a hunt with Agagia in Nambia in May 2013.My total trip with 6 animals was 10.5k.Thats my airfare,hunt,export/dipping fees,and all taxidermy.I had 4 shoulder mounts,one euro mount and a zebra rug done.My hunt only costs were $5500 and included 2 people;one hunting one non-hunting.I took gold medal blue wildebeest and oryx,average warthog,zebra,impala,kudu
Lets see some trophy room pics of your African mounts.
Ebola. You can get that too. lol
The great thing about a first safari is any trophy that comes in is on the menu.
Would recommend the Limpopo Province of South Africa -- exceptional trophy quality (with the right safari company), availability of the Spiral Horns and a vast array of desirable species, easy to get to (comparatively), and competition keeps the prices reasonable.
My African hunting philosophy is a bit different than most. I'm not independently weathly; however, if I have an opportunity on an exceptional specimen, I generally take it [unless the price is absurd]. Almost never hear guys complaining about the Monster Bulls or Rams they've taken. Some of my best hunting buddies used to make the same mistake of just taking all of the "cheap stuff" on the price list -- in the long run, it ends up costing almost as much, and doesn't offer as much satisfaction. Personally, I'd rather take fewer animals, but higher quality trophies of more desireable species.
Know a few fantastic outfitters with great package deals - PM if you would like more info.
