SCI blue bag and tips
International
I am going to do the sci blue bag program. Was just wondering also what most guys takeover for tips. Also has anyone done the blue bag program. if so what did u take????
I did not do the blue bag program but made up my own bag and took over.
I went to a dollar store and bought $200 worth of stuff. Gloves, pencils, color pencils, paper, coloring books and crayons, tennis balls, small pocket knives, hair braids for the girls, socks, etc. On my last hunt in 2010 I had two trackers, a Government Game scout, two cooks and a server and a maid. I asked each one of them if they had children and if so I gave them some toys, books, crayons, etc. along with a cash tip. I also gave away my three hats, two pair of gloves and a pair of running shoes.
Breakdown of my tips (Cash only)on that 10 day hunt:
Lead tracker (Have hunted with him before) ($200) Other tracker ($150) Government Game Scout (Same scout as on a previous trip. He was excellent and helped out in all areas. Outfitter was going to try to hire him as a tracker if he expanded with a 3rd PH. ($150)
Main Cook ($150) Have had same cook in another camp. Asst. cook ($100) Server ($80) Maid ($80) Skinners ($80 each)
I budgeted $1000 in tips for staff and gave my outfitter a Swarovski $1200.00 scope I had taken off a rifle and was going to sell anyways as I was not using any more. I packed it as he was looking for a good quality scope for one of his guns. I would have sold scope for around $700 if sold back home.
This was a cancellation Elephant hunt I paid $16,000 for and I took my Elephant on morning of 5th day. Remained in camp for 3 other days.
Tipping is a hard call over there because some camps have many, many staff and you just do not know who does what? They seem to come out of the woodwork on the last day in camp...I do not blame them because even $20-$40 means a lot to them.
Hope this helps you in some small way.
My hunting buddy and I took over two SCI blue bags, one filled with schools supplies, baseball hats and sporting goods we purchased. The other with medical supplies I had donated from my doctor and hospital. Our PH took us over to a school with over two children, no running water, no bathrooms, no nothing...When we opened up the bag with a few soccer balls the kids let out a cheer of joy. The balls they had consisted of plastic bags in a knot, put in another bag and another until it was the size of a soccer ball. We found out from SCI we made the mistake of leaving the blue bags at the school, we should have handed them back to SCI, but the school had no place to hold the items we donated. As we said our goodbyes, the children all came together to sing a prayer for our safe return home,,, at that point I started to cry thinking, they who have nothing, praying for me who has everything. G-MAN
Two hundred children, sorry. Ed
what is this blue bag program
It's a donation program for members of SCI to help out the children in Africa. You apply for a blue duffle bag marked SCI, fill it with needed items and take it with you to Africa. Sometimes the airline don't charge extra, when I went they charged extra for both bags. I paid and would do it again. G-MAN
We did it in 2011 with similar items for school, sporting goods and hygiene items like toothbrushes etc. It all went to one orphanage that our PH set up beforehand and being very needy all of the kids and staff were so grateful. We had 4-5 soccer balls which were the biggest hit. Delta waived the extra baggage fee for us so you should check into that.
Come on guys this is African hunting site. What did u guys take tor tips???? I just need ideas.
I did the blue bag program and took two bags of school supplies, clothes and a dozen soccer balls. The hand pump and a few extra needles were greatly appreciated.
As far as tips go, I gave cash. While shoes, hats, clothes, etc are nice, I figure they know what they need the most and cash allows them to buy it. What if everyone gave them a knife, shoes or a pair of binoculars? They could sell it, but to whom?
My tracker was trying to build a house, so given that the conversion rate was eight to one, the $200 US that I gave him was surely a help. In fact, he was telling me that he was going to buy an exhaust fan for the bathroom and a bed for one of his kids. I think that is better than giving them my boots or a pair of camo pants.
One cool thing that happend during my trip was that we stopped at the local shool while they were taking exams, so we had some time to kill. We went to the local Dole plantation to get some oranges to bait baboons. I offered to pay for them, but the foreman hated baboons, so he told us to take what we wanted and to kill them all. We ended up with about 200 pounds of oranges in two seed bags. When I told the PH that I was going to give one of the bags to the schoolmaster, the trackers started eating them as fast as they could. We had the kids line up and we handed them each two oranges. The smiles were priceless. They let out a cheer when we gave the full bag to the headmaster. It was one of the highlights of the trip.
I went last September and tipped the PH $1250,tracker $150 plus a $150 jacket, cook $300 and staff was $30 a day to be split up between skinners and house keepers. We hunted 10 days and I took 7 animals. This is what the outfitter told me was the average.
Just found out that sci club here fills the blue bags for me so I don't need to look for donations.
