DESTINATION AFRICA, PART TWO

DESTINATION AFRICA

PART TWO

I scoured every source of information I could find, not just on locations and outfitters, but the types of animal available, and again price played a part in my selection.  Although I had not picked an outfitter, it soon became apparent that South Africa was perhaps the cheapest country in which to go on safari.  So with this in mind, I started to formulate my dream list, kudu was top of the list, followed by zebra and warthog.  In these three animals you have an antelope, a horse and a pig, in fact the kudu is the second largest of all the antelope, which carries the largest and most beautiful horns.  The zebra with it’s striking skin, is the epitome of Africa, and the only horse species to be regularly sport hunted, and the warthog, a tenacious animal with out sized teeth, which is relatively inexpensive to hunt.  There were other animals I was hoping to take, but being on a tight budget I needed to know how much the day rate would be, and any extras that I might incur, before I could finish my wish list of animals.

 

 

Most African safari outfitters these days advertise on the Internet, so if you have access to a computer, you can sift through hundreds of outfitters, comparing prices, available animals, locations, type of camp, and numerous other things that you deem important.  In my opinion the two most important factors for the average wage earning person, in choosing an outfitter are price and location.  You alone know what you can afford and what you are prepared to spend on a safari; location on the other hand has many factors to take into consideration. Lets start with which country, there are many countries with in Africa that allow sport hunting, some offer very specialist hunts for limited numbers of exotic game, not the sort of safari a first timer should consider, these are countries like the Central African Republic and Cameroon.  As a first timer, or even some one on their second or third safari, you would be well advised to keep to the southern and east African countries; these include South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Tanzania, you may want to check the political stability of any country your considering visiting, as it can change quite fast in Africa.   All of the countries listed have well-established safari operators, offering a wide selection of animals; here again you must make a choice.  If you specifically wanted to hunt gazelle like Thomson’s, or Grants then there is no point arriving in South Africa, and telling your professional hunter (PH) that these are your priorities, as they live a couple of thousand miles away in the east African countries of Tanzania and Kenya, so do a little home work before you get there.  You would be surprised how many people who turn up in Africa and simply make there mind up as what they want to hunt as they come across it in the bush.  This is not hunting, as to hunt is to search, if you do not know what you are looking for, then you are simply wandering and shooting, and there is little satisfaction in that.  You will get far more pleasure out of knowing that today you are hunting kudu for example, and passing up other animals you see along the way, and when your tracker points and your PH says take him he’s a good one, you will know this is what you came to Africa for.  The sense of achievement will stay with you forever, and every time you look at your hard won trophy or photograph of it, it will be with a sense of pride, and knowledge that you took it the right way.

 

 

 

So now you know what animals you want, and what countries they can be obtained in, the only thing left to decide upon is which outfitter to use.  This is where the success or failure of your hunt lies, although good outfitters out number bad ones by a hundred to one, you don’t want to be among that small percentage of hunters that have a bad experience.  If money wasn’t a problem, and we could afford the most prestigious outfitters, then a fantastic time would be guaranteed, but we are on a budget, and still want a fantastic time. The best information about an outfitter you should listen to, will come from first hand accounts from people you know and trust.  If you don’t know anybody that has been on safari, that you can ask, the outfitter will normally provide a list of past clients who will give him a reference.  The next method of checking an outfitters credentials, and making sure he can live up to his promises, is to book through an agent.  The agent should have visited the outfitter, and seen first hand how well he runs his camps, tried the food and accommodation, and seen what the ground is like, and most importantly seen the animals.  Again it comes down to trust, but if an unscrupulous agent repeatedly sold poor quality hunts, how long would he have a business for?  So it’s in every ones best interest if agents provide good impartial advice, about the outfitters they promote.  I have used agents in this country and the USA, for booking African safaris, and have had nothing but good experiences with both.