Short Term safaris

[Hogpatrol]

Question for the outfitters here, why are short term Africa safaris offered and who does them? I am referring to six and seven day hunts. Are they geared toward in country citizens, people from other parts of Africa or Europeans living in the same time zone? For me and my hunting buddies, coming from the U.S. with travel time in the three day range, and a day to acclimate, a six or seven day hunt is a non starter. What say all of you?

 

[Aaron N]

I would hazard a guess that a lot of the seven day hunts, especially packaged offers, go to first timers as a way to dip their toes in, and once the week is up, take some time touring.

The other option is adding on a five day sable offer (for example) to an already planned hunt with another outfitter.

I do agree with you that seven days with a day and a half of travel on each end seems rather hectic, but people have jobs, families, but seven days is better than no days!

 

[mdwest]

We've done a lot of 3-6 day hunts.. Generally they go that way for one of two reasons..

For the really short hunts (3-4 days), its normally because we're doing other "stuff" in addition to hunting.. we'll take a day or two on the front end and play tourist.. then hunt.. then maybe spend another day or two doing more tourist stuff.. and then return home.. when traveling to Europe, Africa, Asia, etc.. there's a day of travel on the front, and a day of travel on the back, plus the 6+ days of "vacation".. so we end up actually out of the country 8-9 days...

Or.. in the case of a 5 or 6 day hunt.. when you factor in the day of travel on the front end, day of travel on the back end, and then also typically end up with a partial, non hunting day upon arrival in camp.. you end up with the same 8-9 days out of the country...

For us.. 8-9 days is about optimum... We fly out on a Friday evening flight after getting a work day in... end up arriving in camp on Sunday (24+ hours to travel, plus 7-8 hours of time zone change).. hunt Monday-Friday... fly back home on Saturday... arrive at the house reasonably early on Sunday... Go back to work on Monday and have only taken 1 week of actual PTO/Vacation..

I get 5 weeks of PTO a year.. so.. this allows us to spend a week or so doing holiday travel to see family, etc each year.. break another week or so out to make 4 or 5 "three day" weekends into 4+ day "weekends" for short trips to our cabin in Colorado, or to do a longer hunt in the US (a couple of days of chasing elk in Colorado.. or a 4 day "weekend" to chase deer in TX, etc).. and I've still got enough PTO left over to pull off 2-3 week long (8-9 day) international trips to hunt.. and even then typically have a couple of days left over at the end of the year..

We could have done a 2+ week hunt in South Africa this year.. but.. being away from the office for 2 full weeks at a time is super taxing once you get back... and.. if we did more than our 6 day hunt in SA this year, I wouldn't have been able to pull off the week we're doing in Ireland doing a combo pub crawl and sika deer hunt in October.. and the week we've got booked in Argentina where we're going to chase dove for a few days and spend a few days wandering around Buenos Aries.. (not to mention the week we spent in French Polynesia earlier this year)..

 

[buck wild]

I've done one, it was about how long I could afford to be out of work at that time. Other considerations might be $$. I've always said if I had @cpr0312 's money, I'd burn mine in a pile.

 

[JKS]

My hunt in 2021 was four nights. At the time, my job offered criminally low paid time off. I hunted over the 4th of July (a Monday) so I could do the entire trip with only using four vacation days.

 

[CoElkHunter]

My one and only African hunt for PG in RSA this past June was for 10 days. With almost two days for travel each way and the cost of airfare, I personally would not plan a hunt there for anything less than ten days of hunting (it was actually only 8 days with the day of arrival and departure included). Another week would have been better with more time to relax and enjoy the ambiance.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

The other guys posted some great reasons for a short hunt. Here is another...

Enroute to an elephant hunt I'm Zimbabwe, I spent 4 days at Stuart Williams' Tally Ho Safaris in Limpopo. In a short time I culled 10 animals, ate first class cuisine made from wild game, and had such a great time that I am going back!

Sometimes wonderful things come in small servings!

 

[Hogpatrol]

I understand for a working person, one who's taking their S/O, or in to side tours, a short hunt works.

 

[shootist~]

What if it's for DG, where you don't want to add more than one or two PG animals due to budget? Isn't seven full hunting days about right? What do you do if you book 10 hunting days and tag out in 3 or 4?

 

[WAB]

My wife and I did a seven day buffalo hunt in the Save. We followed that with a driving tour of South Africa’s wine country, staying at the Coopmanhuijs in Stellenbosch. Three separate stays at Africa Sky (arriving, transiting & leaving) made for perfect transitions in our travel. We love to hunt but Africa has much more than hunting that needs to be explored.

 

[Ryan]

I was about to say on my third trip I did a 7 day safari and then 9 days of touring afterwards. But really safari means more than just hunting. So I honestly did a 16 day safari with a week of it involving hunting. That said, there was a Canadian gent who showed up with me and left after five, maybe six days of hunting. He had a great time, but his schedule didn't fit much more. Busy man with a busy schedule running his own business.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I have had really memorable two day hunts and equally enjoyable eight day hunts, it is the experience that counts. But that is local where travel fatigue isn't an issue. For those who have to factor in jet lag, it would be really nice to spend long enough to be able to truly shed that stress, so eight to ten days sounds good.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

On the same topic, just a mention of hunting and business or work committments. I often think that it is easier for an employee who books his/her leave and can then zone out for the duration. In our Carruther's group we are all business owners bar one, and there is always the responsibility factor in varying degrees. Even though my business is in fully competent hands I like to keep in touch because I enjoy the news - it is no stress at all. That being the case I would be comfortable to be away for a month's safari. But the madam would need to be happy visiting the kids so she was chilled - an anxious other half is not synonymous with a relaxed safari.
One of our members is a worrier, likes to micro manage. He is always on the phone and is clearly stressed by it. I think anything over five days would be too long for him.
So each to their own.

 

[Jaegger]

@Hogpatrol … I can speak to your European reference.

I live/work in Germany & travel from here = much easier, catch 10:00PM flight & arrive Joburg @ 9:00am the following morning on a 1-hrs time difference so a PH Meet & Greet to me: coffee, drive to lodge, hello, check zero & hunting. All inside the 1st 24-hrs of travel …

I usually travel on Thursday, add 1-day to a 7-day hunt = 8-days. I Hunt from Friday to the following Saturday morning, flight Saturday evening, home Sunday morning & work Monday.

Jet Lag: I enjoy Int. Travel so it’s zero on a 1-hrs time difference & the best part, I only burn 6-days of PTO … pretty efficient.

That’s IF Airlines cooperate! Some of the US Carriers failures & passengers frustrations seen in the U.S. have made it our shores … there are afew European based, heavy hitter, popular carriers: over scheduled, under staffed, lack of ground/security staffing = ’blowing oil’ & frustrating as Hell as a paying customer!

As example, Lufthansa Unionized ground staff striked 27/28 July across German airports & put 1,000 flights & 134,000 passengers in Limbo! It took over 1-week to clear up the mess & some travelers only had 1-week PTO so their holiday was a wipe! NOW Lufthansa Pilots union approved a formal strike notice 1st week in Aug, no date set but that could fall short notice so it’s a Crap Shoot day-to-day whether you, your bags or rifle will make it to final destination!?

I’m being told, authorization for my rifle will be NMT 48-hrs before departure & based on available ground staff for this type of cargo! Ugg! Frustrating on a trip planned 9-months in advance.

Ciao

 

[Nevada Mike]

I retired early (in my 50's) to spend more time doing exactly what I wanted, and NOT working. Got bored, started a 'hobby' business and it mushroomed into a full-time gig. Finally sold it and got back to full retirement... long way to say that I have time to book a longer hunt and have the time to sit out rainy days, deal with delays and problems, etc. without stress.

I booked a 21 day hunt (arrival in camp two days prior to actual hunting) and feel this will be a more relaxed hunt - I don't HAVE to hunt everyday.

I think a 7 or 10 day hunt is fine for a domestic elk or deer/antelope or black bear hunt.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

The other guys posted some great reasons for a short hunt. Here is another...

Enroute to an elephant hunt I'm Zimbabwe, I spent 4 days at Stuart Williams' Tally Ho Safaris in Limpopo. In a short time I culled 10 animals, ate first class cuisine made from wild game, and had such a great time that I am going back!

Sometimes wonderful things come in small servings!

I forgot to mention that when I told my wife of how great my four days at Tally Ho were, she said, "I think I missed out on something special." Yup, you guessed it, my wife is joining me on my next trip there.

 

[mark-hunter]

What say all of you?

In general this is safari in Namibia and South Africa, and occasional one week buffalo safari in Zim.

For south Africa and Namibia, on various farms with high density of animals, one week is enough to collect at least 5 species, and more. In my humble opinion, the pricing is designed to for middle class budget, with day rate for one week, plus plains game species, and considering local competition.

This has proven successful model - marketing with pricing to target middle class budget.

However, go elsewhere and things change. For example 21 days minimum requirement for hunting mountain nyala in Ethiopia.
Or try hunting bongo on a week ticket in rain forest.
Hmmm....?
But those hunts cost, and different clients go there.

Also, there is no problem to stay hunting for a month in South Africa and Namibia, if you can afford.

After three safaris I have done so far, I think that for me, 10 days on the ground would be perfect to have few relaxed days, either to move around in hunting area, watch & photo shoot animals on waterhole, or go sight seeing various local places.

 

[rookhawk]

Question for the outfitters here, why are short term Africa safaris offered and who does them? I am referring to six and seven day hunts. Are they geared toward in country citizens, people from other parts of Africa or Europeans living in the same time zone? For me and my hunting buddies, coming from the U.S. with travel time in the three day range, and a day to acclimate, a six or seven day hunt is a non starter. What say all of you?

I find these scenarios as crazy as you do, @Hogpatrol

My friends (Operators and PHs) had a pair of American clients come in for a two-elephant, two-leopard, THREE DAY hunt this year. The amount of disclaimers provided to the clients didn't move them. Too rich, too busy, three days is all they have. Think about that for a minute...you get leopards coming to bait ahead of time, day-1 you run hounds on leopard hoping for a successful hunt. Meanwhile the other guy is chasing elephant. If both are successful, day two is recovery, skinning, and resetting baits. All to try another "one day grand slam" where two clients get elephant and leopard on opposing hunts.

People are so busy their lack of time seems to trump their desire to just "Be" in the wild. For me to get to Africa and into Camp its three full days inbound and two full days outbound. Being absolutely fatigued for a few days while the hunt begins, I'm not even fully functional until day 6 of the journey. For those reasons, I cannot fathom the practicalities or enjoyment of a hunt with total travel being less than 18-19 days to allow for 13 days in camp.

I guess if you're doing RSA and its close to Jo'Burg, high fence, and has abundant game, someone could get their fill of 5 days in the bush which still is a 9-10 day total trip time with travel. Kinda crazy, 5 days of travel and 5 days of hunting, might as well stay longer since the cheapest part of a hunt is actually the daily rates.

 

[VertigoBE]

@Hogpatrol … I can speak to your European reference.

I live/work in Germany & travel from here = much easier, catch 10:00PM flight & arrive Joburg @ 9:00am the following morning on a 1-hrs time difference so a PH Meet & Greet to me: coffee, drive to lodge, hello, check zero & hunting. All inside the 1st 24-hrs of travel …

I usually travel on Thursday, add 1-day to a 7-day hunt = 8-days. I Hunt from Friday to the following Saturday morning, flight Saturday evening, home Sunday morning & work Monday.

Jet Lag: I enjoy Int. Travel so it’s zero on a 1-hrs time difference & the best part, I only burn 6-days of PTO … pretty efficient.

That’s IF Airlines cooperate! Some of the US Carriers failures & passengers frustrations seen in the U.S. have made it our shores … there are afew European based, heavy hitter, popular carriers: over scheduled, under staffed, lack of ground/security staffing = ’blowing oil’ & frustrating as Hell as a paying customer!

As example, Lufthansa Unionized ground staff striked 27/28 July across German airports & put 1,000 flights & 134,000 passengers in Limbo! It took over 1-week to clear up the mess & some travelers only had 1-week PTO so their holiday was a wipe! NOW Lufthansa Pilots union approved a formal strike notice 1st week in Aug, no date set but that could fall short notice so it’s a Crap Shoot day-to-day whether you, your bags or rifle will make it to final destination!?

I’m being told, authorization for my rifle will be NMT 48-hrs before departure & based on available ground staff for this type of cargo! Ugg! Frustrating on a trip planned 9-months in advance.

Ciao

From Brussels, Air Belgium is now flying direct to Johannesburg. 11hrs of flight. Lift-off on Wednesday evening, by noon Thursday I could be hunting already. This option just opened a few months ago, I think I will try to make use of it in the future. Not too expensive either, in economy its a 700€ round trip.

@Frederik : not this year, but next year this "fast travel" might make it easier to come over for me.

 

[CoElkHunter]

From Brussels, Air Belgium is now flying direct to Johannesburg. 11hrs of flight. Lift-off on Wednesday evening, by noon Thursday I could be hunting already. This option just opened a few months ago, I think I will try to make use of it in the future. Not too expensive either, in economy its a 700€ round trip.

@Frederik : not this year, but next year this "fast travel" might make it easier to come over for me.

The lower cost for the airfare from European countries to Africa is another factor, especially when considering a lower cost 5-7 day PG hunt. $700 is a cheap ride! I booked my airfare six months out from my 10 day PG hunt this past June and it cost me $2500US for cattle class from the US to JNB. So, I can't justify in my feeble mind paying HALF the cost of a 5-7 day $5K PG hunt in airfare!