The biggest tip I ever gave a guide was on a trip that I never even drew my bow back on. It was just a great hunt, with a great guide and I had an excellent time!
Good Luck and have a safe and wonderful trip!
With that said, tipping the PH and staff for an exceptional effort and personal service on safari is customary in Africa, and should be budgeted for in the event you feel gratuities were deserved at the end of your stay. Any reputable outfitter will certainly be willing offer guidelines for tips if asked, but I would caution against hunting with an outfitter or PH that pre-states what amounts they "expect" to be tipped.
Ask your outfitter. I don't claim to be an expert, and I regularly consult by text with my expert friend, who does a lot more hunts than I do.
When I went to Africa in 2016, I had emailed my outfitter beforehand about what to tip trackers and staff. He provided guidelines for the staff and trackers. If I recall correctly, it was roughly $20-30 for the staff, and he said $60-80 for the trackers. That was for the whole trip.
My outfitter provided one tracker, and my PH brought his own tracker. I tipped the outfitter's tracker $80, and my PH's tracker $100 (he went above and beyond, for example, wading through chest deep grass after a maybe-wounded bushbuck, and then carrying that bushbuck 300 vertical feet up after we found it dead. Carried it on his shoulders)
My hunt was different (I think), from a lot of bowhunts, in that it was short, only 6 days, and my PH was with me every step of the way. We only sat blinds twice, the rest of the time was spent together spotting and stalking. I went to Africa expecting to tip my PH 10% of the total hunt cost. Daily rates plus the trophy fees. I budgeted about $600 for that, expecting to kill x amount of animals in 6 days. The hunt went well beyond my wildest dreams, and I went way over budget, and felt bad, as I didn't feel I had enough US$ left to adequately tip my PH.
I tipped him $600. I wish I had had the cash available to tip him a couple hundred more, but I just didn't have it with me. I guess I should have put a couple hundred on the final bill to the outfitter that I paid when I got back. But I just didn't think about it at that time. Still feel bad about that. Next trip I'll budget better for it. I did give him my Kuiu Bino harness and FHF rangefinder lanyard and pouch, which he kept complimenting me about. Hard for him to get that sort of stuff without paying high shipping. But I don't feel like that should have been a replacement for $ tip. He also really liked my FMJ arrows (he was a big time bowhunter), and he talked about how expensive it was to get that sort of stuff over there. I would have given him my arrows too (I think I took 18, and broke 4 on the trip), but they were too short for his bow
Have a discussion with your outfitter, and budget over what you think you'll spend, as you'll spend more than you think.
Bake
Last month I was on a week long hunt and one of the other hunters asked what I was going to tip, and the loud mouth of the group jumped in wirh “the outfitter reccomeds $100.” The guy asking said “per day” and the loudmouth says “no for the week”.
Let me tell you, my guide worked hard for me and I tipped him WAY more than $100. The loudmouth guy was a bit of a pain for his guide and he tipped $100 for the week. To each his own...
—Jim
