Just know your budget before you go is the only real advice I can share. Remember though that you have spent the money on airfare and other associated costs already so that any other animals taken will average down the per animal cost of your already incurred costs. And don't be the least bit surprised that before your first safari is over, you will be making plans for your return trip.
My first safari was for a package plains game hunt in Namibia. One impala, one kudu, one gemsbok, one warthog. Animals that came home, one gemsbok, one impala, one blue wildebeest, one red hartebeest, two kudu, two warthogs. And plans were cooking for a return to Africa for a cape buffalo after seeing them in the capri strip.
Second trip, that damned cape buffalo. Booked only for a cape buffalo. Makuya adjacent to Kruger National Park. I was accompanied by my son and he was on a plains game package hunt. I came home with a cape buffalo, giraffe and royal sable. Both the giraffe and sable were significantly more affordable then six years earlier, so why not. And this was also expected to be my last trip to the dark continent.
Then, as luck would have it, I had an opportunity to hunt the Eastern Cape just one year later. The package was one nyala, one warthog, one impala, one blue wildebeest, one blesbok. After a few affordable changes this is what came home, one nyala, one warthog, one impala, one black wildebeest, one golden wildebeest and one blesbok. So now there's no more room. Aside from the animals hunted and taken there will always be the memories, they will be cherished for the rest of my life not to mention the great people that we had the pleasure to hunt with.
