It has been a year since I have set foot in SA and I just cant wait to get back at it. I love the talking about it, dreaming about it, and the planning it stage; almost as good as the hunt itself. This is my 5th trip and it feels the same as the first, just pure child on Christmas waiting to head downstairs to the tree excitement. Have some plains game on the list, a buff, and a few mountain critters. Heading to a couple of different camps, one in central SA which is more savanna style, one in the eastern cape in the Karoo which is full of tough climbs and long days, then finishing up in the coastal area near east London. Travel issues are clearing up quickly and tons of pressure on the SA government from the tourism industry to get it back to normal asap. I see it being back to pretty much normal routine by the beginning of hunting season (February-ish)
The list so far is- buffalo, sable, vaal reedbuck, lechwe, black springbok, golden wildebeest, and bushpig

Who has a hunt planned? what are you going after? Any new comers need/want questions answered? I'm sure we have enough experience with members here to answer pretty much anything.  

Just want to get the juices flowing and talk hunting!

I had something planned for this year. 16days buff and plains game in Tanzania.

Unfortunately Covid lates me out and I don’t see being physically fit enough by the start of the 2021 season to do that so I am putting the whole thing off till 2022. If I can get strong enough to do that hunt as an alternate I will hunt Sable and some other things in the Limpopo province if SA instead.

Wife and I decided to plan for Africa 2022.

I dreamed of hunting buff as a kid but never dared even dream about it as a "responsible" husband and father of 4. It just came up in conversation at the dinner table recently and the unanimous direction from all was that I should definitely go for it! All my wife said was "I get to go too, right?!"

So, I am SUPER excited, and very much looking forward to the experience from planning all the way through the hunt itself. I do not want to rush into anything since I am starting at zero, so I am pushing to 2022 for my own comfort level.

I am hoping the DCS Convention is a go early next year so I am learn as much as possible. I also joined DSC along with my wife. I hope once we get Covid behind us I will be able to meet a lot of people who have gone and learn as much as I can.

I already purchased a .375 bolt gun and will be looking over double rifles a while as well. Not a must-have but that sure would be cool to do before my eyes get too old for irons.

What counts is you are on your way to going again. Always great hunting well into the year, I've been able to go after some really mature fantastic looking bulls up until end of September. So its not always do or die to hunt at the very beginning of the season. It doesn't suck waking up to mid 40's and lunching at a very comfy 75. Plus if the rains move in it is spiral horn weather and its unbelievable the amount of quality chances you get on an overcast rainy day.

That's how the addiction starts, the enablers being close to you . My hunting buddy brought his wife last time and she had an absolute blast. Hell she even took her first animal ever, a very quality springbok. The DSC is my favorite show of the year, I hope it happens again soon (doubtful for this winter but I'm hopeful). Double rifles are works of art, I planned on buying one a number of times but put that money to an animal instead. Nothing wrong with a bolt gun, as long as you practice it bit more useful than a double in a few ways.

If you are looking for outfitters to start with I have gone with a number of them I can share and you can learn from my mistakes along with my best decisions.

A picture of my biggest springbok to date and probably ever, shot it 2 trips ago and cant wait to see him again-


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I am headed to SA next June with my Dad. I am bowhunting and he is going to use a bow and rifle. This is our first trip over so hope it goes well and turns into an annual pilgrimage.

July 2022 is booked.  Too much BS to gamble on 2021.  On a side note.  I will be Trophy Whitetail hunting this Friday thru Sunday.

Going to SA next June. We were supposed to go this past June, but COVID stopped that. It will be our first time going, so I'm a little nervous, but really looking forward to the trip.

great to see new people headed over, its a mess over their government wise but then again when hasnt it been?

In my experience if you are an American (don't worry about telling everyone you they always know already) you are basically a protected class.

A few tips for new hunters-
1. Tell everyone you are from Texas, doesn't matter if you aren't just say you are, they are petrified of Texans.
2. If bringing your own firearm, get a service that gets you thru customs. Its truly the best $100 you can spend on your trip.
3. For a mere $5 a helper with help with your bags up to the counter and get you an agent to board a connecting flight in lightspeed time.
4. If you need gifts and such for people back home, I have always found very cool things at reasonable prices inside the joberg airport. Out of africa is the coolest store there and has something for everyone on your "bring something back list"
5. wifi is cheap like borsch so you will be able to use your phone at the airport for $5 you can have hours worth of bandwidth.
6. if you need to stay the night over at joberg, i highly suggest the city lodge. Attached to the airport so no travel required, great bar, and good food. Hell we drank for 4-5 hours with 4 dinners between 2 of us and the bill was under $50 (had to put back at least 12-14 castle lights). They sell beer in vending machines, definitely worth the experience.

You bow hunting or rifle hunting? What are you going to hunt?

Thanks for the info! I am fine tuning my hunting set up now. I am primarily going to use my bow, 759gr arrow is working like a sharp anvil.

How much cash you do carry with you?

Very nice! My PH just downed his first personal buffalo with a bow yesterday. 850 grain arrows with muzzy's and a Mathews monster at 95 pounds. I'm possibly the worst bow hunter on the planet , but I wish I was better as my PH is a very well known bow hunting guide in SA. It's a waste of his true talent but he gets back at me by making me climb to the tops of mountains and hauling trophies all the way down them as he laughs at my out of shape American ass

I always have within reach about 10-12 $5 bills for tipping, a hidden couple of $20's in case some grease is needed, and I bring over serval $100 bills hidden throughout my gear and bags just for insurance (a few in the carry on, a few in the rifle case, a few in the clothes bag, etc.) Not to mention the tips to your guide and tracker is always cool to give cash. You can always tip them at the lodge on a credit card but I like cash and gifts for a personal touch.

I have made the mistake of bringing out my wallet or a money clip to grab cash but I wont do that again just for exposure reasons. I prep when getting off the plane, like you have anything else to do lol, by putting a single $5 in multiple pockets for a quick easy grab.

Rifle hunting. Impala, Blesbok, Springbok, Warthog and Kudu

Take extra money because there just might be other things you want to hunt.

About to finalize a return trip for this June to SA. I got my buff on the first trip in 2019, it was actually the first animal I killed in Africa. What an experience!  

Won’t be doing the buff this year. Will concentrate on other plains animals and perhaps a caracal. That being said, it’s Africa, you have to be ready to take what is offered.

Was kicking around a trip to the Eastern Cape just to show Africa to my wife, but COVID is really screwing with it all, so not going this year.

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Next year June. I pushed out another year because well....this year is already starting out like shit.

My buddy and I are going back to RSA next year on a nyala hunt. I'll be working on my archery set up and skills as I hope to take one with a bow if my shoulder will allow it. I'll be taking a rifle along too for some other species. Kudu and eland are on my list this trip, no telling what else I may end up with depending on what is available in the area.  

I'm stoked, it has been too long since my last trip. Planning and preparing is a fun part of the adventure too, glad to have something to look forward to.

Just came back a week ago. Got a black wildebeest at a hunt at a friends place, then nice beefy blesbok on a hunt with one of my LR students, then went out to another friend's place and got a nice size eland bull, a big warthog and nice size waterbuck ram that had really short horns but fat bases (the last 3 were all in about 30 seconds with headshots >200m), then I scored a red meerkat, then a few days later a blue wildebeest cow and finally got a nice big male jackal a couple days before leaving for home. 2020 was a no-go which burned my biscuits. In 2019 I got a kudu bull and an eland cow and a zebra mare. In 2018 I got a pair of nice springbok an impala ram and an impala ewe along with a good size eland bull. Right now I'm working on buying my own little game farm there. It's cheap as snot by American standards to buy a couple thousand acres of land with a hunting cabin on it and I'd like to be able to take my American friends over to my own little private heaven once in a while so they can experience South Africa without having to do any of the "safari" kinds of hunt that just ruin the fun by driving up to a critter in a pen. There are proper walking and stalking hunts and you just have to find them.

It's cheaper to hunt in South Africa than it is to hunt in the USA if you go about things the right way and it's always a lot more fun than just taking your gun for a walk. Sure there's days you'll get skunked but they're fairly rare compared to our woods here in the states. If you choose to do it, leave that cell phone in your bag, don't think about TV. Just enjoy being out in the bush and watching the bush tv (the braai fire) and hangin with the homies.

Another tip: Don't look for a decent cheeseburger or any sign of a taco there. You'll just be disappointed.

A few pics from this year:
Blesbok, 490m, 243AI Winchester M70 CRF in MDT ESS chassis, 105gr pointed RDF's at 3100fps, through both shoulders. Bullet did expand!


My 30 second trio of magical-ness, warthog/waterbuck/eland. All head shots at >200m. T/C Compass rifle in .308win w/ 150gr Game Kings.


Black wildebeest. ~200m head shot, .308win, 178gr ELD, AI rifle w/ Valdada 1-10x


Kudu from prior years' hunts. Taken with a .338wm Howa 1500. Shot at 385m. Angle is because the hill it died on was tall and steep.


My zebra, took a .375Ruger to the body and a .308win to the neck to nail it to the ground.


One of my springbok, 200m .308win Parker Hale w/ 150gr Game King


<arnold schwarzasdfadfkjlhasdfegger voice>Get your ass to Africa!</arnold>

Went in June, had a wonderful time. Lioness, kudu, impala, and steinbok were on the ticket.

Lioness was eventful, but the most heart stopping moment was with the kudu. Rounded a corner with my favorite 30-06, and there was about 15 Cape buffalo 35 yards way.

My guide and I backed away very quietly and decided to find a different set of tracks!

Rocky. Pics in heeeeyuh.  Stat.

Complete newb to this, only ever hunted in USA. How does one get started without getting massively scammed etc?

my advice - find someone who has been recently and can give you a good outfitter suggestion.  @rocky59 might could suggest his.

I would also recommend renting the gun from them on your first trip.  They will supply gun and ammo. It's going to cost you $150-200 but it will be dialed in and they will provide their own ammo that they know works well with that gun.

When it comes to shipping trophies back, you can either pack and dip them, and send them to a taxidermist in the US, or alternatively have the complete taxidermy done in SA and then ship the finished product home.  This is the cheaper option most of the time.  

Pack wet wipes, long sleeves, long pants, mole skin, and a shit ton of sunscreen depending on the time of year.  oh and bring chapstick.  

Get a GOOD pair of hunting boots and break them in before you go - you might be walking.   A lot.  good wool socks are also pretty nice.  

the outfitter will provide everything else.  you will eat like a king, get drunk at night if that's your thing, and you will drink 19 gallons of water a day out in the bush.  bring cash money to tip the staff at camp (20%), your tracker (20%), and your PH (60%).  oh - and buy a carton or two of Marlboro reds at duty free on the way there.  you can buy love or barter with them.  especially with most trackers.

Someone else with more experience - add to this or correct anything you see wrong, but that's what I did.    

First of all what is your budget?

2nd are there any particular animals that are a must have?

There are a LOT of good PH’s and a lot of average ones.

My first trip I remember comparing pics with some of the other hunters on the flight home and hearing stories of “ok we are all going to go out and shoot X this morning” and then they would show me a picture of the amazing Impalas they had shit and the horns would be diamond shaped with the trips near each other at the top indicating an young immature  impala and then I would show them the pictures of the two very large impala I had shit with wide horns and the tips pointing straight up. I didn’t have the heart to tell them they got taken.

Most PH’s have packages that work as a good starter. There are usually some desireable animals in there and usually something easy to hunt like a Blesbok. You can add days and animals to the package as desired. My first Safari was built on a 5 animal 7day package and I built it into a 16 day 17 animal trip (one day was an off day so I could go into town and referee a rugby game that SA International Panel Mark Lawrence had arranges for me) we also spent 4.5 of those days stalking eland before we found the one we wanted.

So figure out what you want to hunt and what your budget is and then several of us can advise you from there.

Taking your own rifles is simple and folks worry way to much about perceived “hassles” I have never had any and I only know one person personally that has ever had a problem (and he has takes something like 35 safaris). It’s simple, pretty painless as long as you follow the instructions given you and they are simple and you get to hunt with YOUR rifle

Camp guns can be hit and miss. You may get a good rifle with a 35 year old Tasco on it or you may get a verity nice rifle with some serious European glass on it. If you have a deer/elk rifle bigger than 25 cal take that. I recommend premium bullets. My first trip I took a 30/06 with 165 TSX and a 8x68S (same ballistics as an 8 Rem mag) and took everything from Springboks to Eland and I could have just used the 06 and been perfectly
Happy. 2nd trip was just the 06 and the same loads.

Third trip I took a 6.5x55 and 130
Gr TSX and was quite pleased. Two biggest animals on that trip were a Black Wildebeast and a Nyala.

So pick

A budget
The animals that interest you the most
A timeline

still shaking off the jet lag a bit, I'll update this asap with pics and experiences as this was a bit different of a travel experience trip (no shit right )

Just for a quick tease- Buffalo are tough, sable are beautiful, and good dogs will save your ass

Lot of good info here. I would reorganize your list at the bottom to

The animals you want
An outfitter
Budget

Africa will never be "cheap" but its affordable as you want to make it.

Can anyone recommend an outfitter? I’ve read too many horror stories and really don’t want to get scammed.

There are a ton of great PH’s in Africa.

One I have hunted with and I think does an outstanding f job is Infinito Safaris. The owner is Charl Can Rooyen. Former professional rugby player turned PH about 20 years ago. He and his wife Erkia do an fantastic job.

His main location is in the Limpopo Province in SA but also has a lodge in Mpumalanga Province as well. He also has a large Concession in TZ.

When I hunted with him he worked his arse off for me and we came back to camp each evening worn out and happy.

The minute I am able to hunt Africa again it will either be Sable and some other Plains game in SA or it will be a full bag Buffalo safari in Tanzania if I ever manage to hit the monster commission check.

I am sure many of us can recommend reputable very reputable PH’s.

There are some things YOU need to sort out before picking a PH.

1. Budget

2.  Animals you want to hunt.

3. Which animals are must haves vs. nice to shoot if you get a chance and budget allows.

4. Is there an opportunity to meet the PH in the states in person before you book. To me one of the most vital things is can I get along with this guy for 7-15 days attached at the hip from breakfast till after the evening meal. If your personalities clash find another PH. There are a lot of US shows and during “show season” they go to a lot of smaller shows surrounding the dates of DSC (Dallas Safari Club) and the big SCI show. I couldn’t see where you are because it won’t let me scroll while posting but Denver has a huge one and if you are anywhere close I’d be glad to i two you to several PH’s I would trust and point out a few who are no gos.

I have hunted in SA and was in  Mozambique last year and will be back to Mozambique this year. PM me I'll gladly answer questions and give recomendations once I know what you are interested in hunting/location.