Make sure you have picked an experienced African animal taxidermist prior to leaving on your trip. DO NOT even think of using your local whitetail deer taxidermist. Other then the obvious, the expert African taxidermist will already have a Customs Broker at a legal port of entry that he uses to get your trophies through the process when they arrive into the U.S. Otherwise, you will have to go to where ever your trophies arrive and try to wade through the mounds of paperwork and rules with the Customs officers over numerous days; bummer. With a wise choice of taxidermist, they will give you tags that you will give to your PH, which he will place on your trophies that have all the information that the Dip and Pack company will need to send your trophies home safely.
Always register with the State Department where ever you are traveling especially traveling away from North America. Their address is https://travelregistration.state.go Make sure you have your passport, U.S. Customs 4457 forms for guns and valuables, import gun permits (applications completed prior to arrival), medical evacuation insurance card, all your emergency contact information, local U.S. embassy contact information and a complete airline itinerary as well as your entry VISA if required and not issued when you arrive. Make copies to leave with loved ones at home and as well, copies of all these kept in separate secure places just in case the originals are lost. Many of these African countries also require that you are able to give them ALL the contact information for the PH you are hunting with as well as the location you will be visiting.
It is not advisable to bring large amounts of cash with you anywhere you travel. Taking enough to pay the import and export taxes to get you into and out of the country, tips for the PH and staff and some spending money is fine but leave the rest at home. Discuss tipping with your consultant prior to departure. Take travelers checks for the balance of the hunt if needed and a credit card is not a bad idea to have with you just in case. Checks are useless. If at all possible you should pay for your trophy fees (expected trophy fees) prior to departure. If we owe a balance upon completion of the safari we pay it when we get home.
Rent a satellite phone. They are cheap to rent, easily portable nowadays and work very well over there. Cell phones do work occasionally but there is no guarantee so I wouldn’t risk my life on it especially if you are hunting dangerous game. Plus it is nice to be able to speak with your family occasionally and rub it in...er share the excitement. It does you no good to have medical evacuation insurance and no way to contact them. The horror story of an injured person having to be transported on those horribly bumpy roads for hours till a working phone could be found to get emergency help is just not something we want to experience. We don’t want to check our e-mail on Safari, but you can if you must with the new technologies available.
Food and drink are things to be discussed at booking. Special dietary needs can usually be met if the PH has the information in advance. Your PH is responsible for bringing to camp sufficient safe supplies of water and food stuffs. Meat, well that is your department and fresh Eland steaks are simply delicious! An emergency water filtration is kept in the truck, but has never been used. Most folks don’t take one as truthfully, we have never had an issue so water filtration systems are not needed.
Clothing will of course vary by location and time of year. Watch enough hunting on TV and it is hard not to giggle when you see big ‘ol green oak leaves “blending in” the African bush. Camo is a very bad idea in some parts of Africa and can be interpreted as the uniform of an insurgent or rebel group, especially as you are armed! Just don’t bring camo. Drab green of the classic safari clothes have worked well for well over 100 years. You can discuss clothing at booking and simply use your computer to look at average temperatures and rainfall. We got a packing list that contains “raingear”. It is of course a generic list for the consultant’s entire safari season and locations. Since total rainfall where we are going from June through the end of August is 0.11 inches, we elected not to bring raingear. Also, do not underestimate what 40 degrees feels like in an open moving truck. Most safaris occur in the African winter and it can be chilly in the morning. A light layer of clothes that can be pealed off is all you need. It will warm up quickly but before it does..brrrr. Break in your boots before you go.
Make a plan to get in shape. Not sheep shape mind you but fit enough for the requirements of your hunt. Anticipate walking several miles a day. For elephant as an example and sometimes buffalo there may be as much as 10 miles or more in a day but that is certainly not the norm with a regular plains game safari. Educate yourself when you book as to what the physical requirements will be.
Although a lot of planning is involved but let’s face it; it's absolutely worth it. You are booking a hunt at least a year or two in advance so there is plenty of time to get all this done and the better the planning, the better the trip. We come back to the most important issue we raised above and that is to start with a well known, qualified, experienced African safari Consultant and he will make this whole process easy for you.
On a per species basis there really is no place in the world to hunt that is cheaper. The diversity of game is absolutely amazing and you will treated like a king. Everything aspect of the hunt is done for you, no suffering weather or terrain, no meat to pack out; no skinning and no lack of game. Your only job is to pull the trigger and have the first of many more trips of a lifetime. We travel all over the world and long to go back to Africa as soon as we return and you will too.
We apologize for the length but we endeavored to make this as complete as possible since this can be a very complicated and frustrating trip if not planned well. So as always be safe and enjoy the outdoors.
