South Africa

[Thomas1212]

Hello all,

I just got the invite to go on a hunt in South Africa in 2025. I want to prepare myself in whatever ways I can. I was hoping for some recommendations of podcasts, books, maybe even other forums. We are still hashing out the details with the outfitter and whatnot now, but I am excited to say the least.

For those that have been, what are you thoughts on taking your own rifle vs renting one. I really like the idea of bringing my own, but I am not entire sure how the rest of my party feels. In terms of taxidermy is it better to have them do it and ship or tan and ship over?

These are just a few questions I have right now, I'm sure more will pop up.

Thanks in advance

 

[Pablo]

Use the search feature or the menu and you can find a tremendous amount of info about everything you want to know. Have fun planning your trip!

 

[BSO Dave]

Hello all,

I just got the invite to go on a hunt in South Africa in 2025. I want to prepare myself in whatever ways I can. I was hoping for some recommendations of podcasts, books, maybe even other forums. We are still hashing out the details with the outfitter and whatnot now, but I am excited to say the least.

For those that have been, what are you thoughts on taking your own rifle vs renting one. I really like the idea of bringing my own, but I am not entire sure how the rest of my party feels. In terms of taxidermy is it better to have them do it and ship or tan and ship over?

These are just a few questions I have right now, I'm sure more will pop up.

Thanks in advance

@Thomas1212

Welcome to the AH.com Forum! As Pablo mentioned to you in his reply, the answers to your questions have been thoroughly discussed in these forums. Many are ongoing discussions that I'm sure you will find very helpful and informative. The search feature will get you started.

 

[sgt_zim]

Hello all,

I just got the invite to go on a hunt in South Africa in 2025. I want to prepare myself in whatever ways I can. I was hoping for some recommendations of podcasts, books, maybe even other forums. We are still hashing out the details with the outfitter and whatnot now, but I am excited to say the least.

For those that have been, what are you thoughts on taking your own rifle vs renting one. I really like the idea of bringing my own, but I am not entire sure how the rest of my party feels. In terms of taxidermy is it better to have them do it and ship or tan and ship over?

These are just a few questions I have right now, I'm sure more will pop up.

Thanks in advance

Full transparency - I absolutely despise UA and Delta. They have a history with SAPS and with hunters.

The missus and I just hunted Limpopo the back half of August, we just got back to Houston a week ago. My best friend flew UA through EWR. He and a number of other hunters arrived at JNB to discover their rifles were still sitting in EWR.

We flew Qatar Air through Doha, with an upgrade to econ+. It was about $2K cheaper than trying to do the same thing with UA or Delta (via ATL). We had about an extra 4-5 hours of air time with Qatar, saved a couple thousand USD, and I was able to use my own rifles (I'm a lefty, with cape buffalo on the menu).

Unless you're a handloader with your own pet loads, you will do just as well to rent a camp rifle, though. I have very custom loads for my 9.3x62 and my 6.5x55. if your regular white tail rifle is something like a 30'06, 308 Win, 270 Win, 7mm RM, and you're RH, you would be just as well off to rent a 30'06 or 300 WM from your outfitter. If you use Gracy Travel, bringing your own rifle is a piece of cake. It took me all of 5 minutes to clear SAPS when I got to JNB. Took me another 5 minutes to clear SAPS on my way out.

My rifles arrived with no issues. My friend ended up having to rent a camp rifle.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Every question you have will be answered in these forums:

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