I truly enjoyed my only trip to Africa. I shot plains game in the East Cape, and it was awesome. However, a few of the iconic features of a Safari were missing. So, I am hoping to find a different hunt where the experience is more important that the trophy list. I am a simple man, and not a wealthy one. Here is an idea of what I am hoping for at a reasonable price. Dates would be between the 27th of May and June 18th.
Goals for the trip. 7-10 hunting days. For myself (64) and my son (21 year old observer)
- Hunt or camp where we can see/hear hippos, crocs, maybe lions, leopards, buffalo. I would LOVE to hunt an area where we might see some of the big 5, or hear the lions, hyenas, and leopards at night.
- Watch trackers work a trail and track down an animal for a long distance. Maybe get in close on a buffalo or Elephant just one time for fun.
- See Local village and perhaps donate meat or school supplies.
- Find a native hand axe, or other crafted item.
- Maybe get one day of fishing, or see Victoria Falls.
Not Needed.
- Alcohol. I do not drink
- Luxurious accommodation, 5 star dining. A tent camp would be fine.
Animals to hunt.
- Sable
- Zebra (to replace my lost hide)
- Warthog – a really toothy one!
Animals to hunt maybe
- Baboon
- Kudu… if a MONSTER
- Buffalo (cull or cow?)
- Civet
- Jackal
- Springbuck (I really regret not taking one before).
Thoughts
ZIMBABWE Seems to be the obvious choice to me, but what part and how much more expensive is it. The reason I am not choosing a Buffalo hunt is because of the size of my wallet.
Your hunt sounds very expensive to me as someone that has hunted Zimbabwe many times.
The things that make it expensive are: 1.) You want 7-10 days of hunting. The costs are 90% as much for the operator for this unusual hunt than a 14-21 day hunt. Sure they’ll do your hunt, but they’re going to charge you more. From Chicago to Harare to Camp and back to home reversed, round trip, is 5 calendar days. It’s a hell of a lot of travel for 7-10 days. The jet lag wears off by your 3rd to 5th day hunting so you probably won’t remember much of the first few days but general euphoria or malaise.
The other issue is you want to hunt 3 low-dollar animals. So the incredible costs of preparing your hunt, provisions, staff, making camp, logistics, etc. needs to be absorbed into very expensive daily rates since you’re hunting a $6500 sable, a $900 zebra, and a $500 warthog.
The maybe animals are definitely tricky. Baboons are smart and shot at often, maybe you’ll get one which earns the PH $50 trophy fee. Monster Kudu as defined by an RSA size would be 58”-60” and the odds of them getting you that $1800 trophy-fee kudu is 1:100 to 1:1000. A buffalo is definitely doable, but that’s 7-10 days of hunting for that whether trophy bull or cow. Civet is just dumb luck if you’re hunting at night, but night hunting isn’t allowed everywhere and somebody hunting buffalo will be too tired to hunt at night. Jackals are just dumb luck but you have a 50/50 chance of sluicing one from the truck if you keep a .22 in the front seat. There are no Springbok in Zim.
Bottom line, your hunt sounds very complicated and these prescriptions will result in no good operator in Zim wanting your business under your terms.
Suggestion? Go with the flow. Don’t make prescriptions. Ask a different, better question: “I’m on a budget and want to have the time of my life on a 14 day safari, what’s the best hunt i can get in Zimbabwe for X-thousand dollars?”
The answer will probably be for around $15,000-$18,000 you can have a hell of a nice safari with an exportable buffalo, a nice kudu/waterbuck/bushbuck/impala/zebra/warthog thrown into the scenarios. Roughly 5-7 animals over 14 days.
