I am in the early stages of planning a trip to Africa for plains game and wanted to get some feedback here from people who have been. I’ve been doing some research on a couple of the outfitters that post here on the forum and they seem like good places to start. The THF community has always been a wealth of knowledge so I thought I’d get some opinions from my fellow members. Does anyone have an outfitter that they recommend? My goal is to hunt with my wife accompanying me as an observer, then maybe do a day trip for sightseeing (she saw an activity where you could accompany elephants to bathe in the river and she got a lot more interested in the details). Any recommendations/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Can personally vouch for the following outfitters, and quality of the hunts. My wife has hunted with all three in Namibia also.

Infinito Safaris - RSA (Charl van Rooyen)

Omujeve Safaris - Namibia (Corne Kruger)
Leopard Legend Hunting Safaris - Namibia (Lwyk Jansen van Vuuren)
Chapungu-Kambako - Namibia (Pieter de Lange or Uys Shickerling)

Sent you a PM….

Z

Numzaan safaris in Limpopo. Or Kingsview safaris in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Here is a thread I wrote when I got back from my trip in 2019. Hope it offers some insight:



https://texashuntingforum.com/forum...ide-to-hunting-africa-from-a-first-timer

shoot me a pm. Ive been a couple of times with different outfitters. Both were great in their own ways. I suspect you will have a great time with some research being done. for what its worth, I have rarely (if ever) heard of someone having a bad time, but im sure there are reports, but again i suspect this is the rare exception

I did my Safari with Two Waters on the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Top notch outfit with very good pricing and very comfortable accommodations. They are especially well suited for husband wife adventures and the owners wife is an excellent tour guide to keep her entertained if she doesn’t join you in the field. Tell them Dave sent you! https://twowaterssafaris.com/

Thanks for the response. I’ve got a good crop of info to start with, and several outfitters to contact.

I've been to SA and Namibia several times. I can't recommend Namibia enough, and I don't have enough great things to say about Kowas Safaris. They run a world class hunting outfit and are even better people. You absolutely cannot go wrong. I'd take Namibia over SA every time.

Is there anywhere that offer free range hunts?

Hunting Africa is like no other i have been 4 times and going again this year. Dad has been 8 times and 4 different countries it is the best hunting experience you can have. Most all of the places are unbelievable and be something you will always remember and will definitely go back.
Feel free to pm me and i would be happy to put you contact with the guys we go with they have many options amd are the most reasonable place i have seen with great accommodations and cater to all your wants in the experience.

Most free range is in Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, etc.

I’m sure South Africa may have some low fence but it’s probably the minority.

Few things to keep in mind….the size of the ranches are usually larger than what we hunt here. We hunted ranches that were 10k-35k acres. Buddy hunted with Omujeve and their ranch was 200k under fence. That’s more free range than most areas of Texas if you take in the current high fences in place.

Second….there fences may be tall but them being game proof is an entirely different matter. They are very chincy construction. No T posts there is a rebar rod and slick wire every 8”. They may turn a duiker or Impala but animals have no problems going over it or thru it if they want to. Warthog holes are everywhere and the smaller stuff can go under it.

Going to DSC (and talking to Craig boddington) has me wanting to go. And I’ve never been interested before. I’m not against high fences or game ranches in any way, there’s just something about hunting a species that’s truly native to that area that does It for me. I’d also like to hunt somewhere more Serengeti like if possibly.

For true free range hunting, you need to try the desert conservancies of the Namibian desert. We spent a couple weeks in Doro Nawas in the desert and it is over 500,000 acres. Amazing!!!

I certainly agree that the desert and Serengeti areas look the most like African hunting

Agree on the free range in Namibia comments. Even though my rec'd Kowas is high fenced, it is 25k acres IIRC. The surrounding properties they take you to are all low fence, which amounts to over 400k acres. Namibia is much like far West Texas, while SA is more like the TX Hill Country IMO, much more commercialized and way, way more fenced game ranches. I understand the Eastern Cape of SA to be more free range areas than that though but I've never been there.

I’ve hunted the East Cape and Namibia, and greatly enjoyed both. The property in the East Cape was over 75000 acres, so I wasn’t too worried about fences. That said, Namibia was amazing and was probably the best vacation of my life. I also hear that Botswana is exceptional. I view South Africa as more or less a starter drug, but I’m sure I’ll go back sometime within the next three or four years. Lots of good choices here.

Would anyone like to pm round about their total cost for the trip? But not if you hunted the most expensive 5 star on the continent

Airfare: $1,500-$3,000
Tips: Depends on number of days hunting and package cost and how satisfied you are with the service I usually budget $1,500-$2,000
Trophy shipping: Depends on if you're dipping and packing or having taxidermy done there also what taxidermy you're having done $800-$2,500
Taxidermy: Depends on how many animals you kill and what you have done
Animals: Depends on outfitter and what you want to shoot.

Obviously these are ballpark numbers.

I've only been twice. First time was with Okosongoro in Namibia because I wanted a really good Kudu and Gemsbok. You can get them all over Africa, but in Nambiar, you are going to see a lot of 50 plus inch kudu and 35 in gemsbok. I saw one 60 inch kudu when I was there. My outfitter said it might of gone 63 inches, but he didn't want to commit to that, just that it was 60 inches for sure. I had already shot my 52 inch kudu and didn't want to spend the money on another one, but thankfully it didn't give me much of a chance and it disappeared before I committed. He was outside the fence. My gemsbok was 36 inches and I shot him on the last day. There where several 40 inch bulls on the ranch that I was trying to get, but it never worked out. That was inside the 30,000 acre fence. I shot ten different plains game animals on that trip. Five behind the fence, five outside the fence on neighbors ranches. I've visited with Peter Clausen, the owner, every time I've been to SCI in Reno or Vegas. He and a bunch of the other Namibia outfitters all hang out together, so I would go out to dinner with them and hear about their ranches. Most of them do not own the ranches they hunt on like Peter does. They are all great guys and none of them had anything bad to say about anybody else. I don't think you can go wrong with any outfitter in Namibia.

In South Africa, I wanted Nyala and Vaal Rhebuck. The main ranch was high fenced and owned by Bennie Lategan of Lategan Safaris. They had a few animals on the ranch, which is where I got my black wildebeest. They let my wife shoot a springbuck for free, so that was a nice bonus. My Vaal Rhebuck was on a low fence sheep ranch. Several brothers owned neighboring ranches that where 7,000 acres and bigger. This was some of the best hunting for me because it was spot and stalk. We glassed from far away, then worked our way closer for a shot. It took 2 days to finally connect on a good one!!! I took 9 animals in South Africa. I was planning on 8 when I booked the hunt, but a ranch that raised Red Lechwe had one escape and it was offered to me for half price if I could come over the next morning to get it before it left the guys land. It was hiding in some rolling hills with tall grass, so it was very hard to find. Almost like pheasant hunting, except it would zig zag when it ran over the hill and hide in the grass on the other side. This went on for hours until I got lucky. Of my 9 animals, 3 where shot behind high fences, the others where all of cattle ranches or sheep farms

When looking on where to hunt, I wanted to be the only one in camp. I wanted a small operation. I wanted to get to know the outfitter and see what living there was like. One afternoon in South Africa, we took the day off from hunting and went to the outfitters son's rugby match at their school. It wasn't something we had planned on, but when hearing about it the night before at dinner, we really wanted to see what it was like.

Before deciding on who you want to hunt with and where you want to go, you should decide on what animals you want and how much you are willing to spend. Read up on where the better quality animals are. I would not recommend the same area for Nyala if you want a big kudu. Same thing with a lot of animals. Some don't exist in some areas, and others are everywhere with great trophies no matter where you hunt.

Decide if you want to hunt with the owner of the ranch, or a company that pays to hunt on the land and you stay in a hotel/lodge/resort type setting. Do you want to hunt on the same place every day, or are you OK with driving an hour or two for an animal in a different area?

Be sure to know what it is going to cost to get your animals back home. On my last trip, I spent around $5,000 for dipping, packaging, transportation and airfare to get all of my stuff back. It was a grand here, a couple grand there and 3 months later, another grand or so before they got to the tannery, which cost another $2,000 before I finally got everything to my taxidermist. It adds up very quickly!!!!!

Eventually, I plan on going back for Buffalo and Sable, but it's not pressing, so who knows when it will happen. I'm happy with the 19 animals that I have from those 2 trips to Africa, so anything else will just be icing.

Also be sure to do your research on who you book with. Namibia is pretty solid on who is allowed to be an PH. South Africa is hit or miss. I think they try to keep the crooks out, but there are just too many Outfitters there and not enough resources to deal with the bad ones.

It's funny how some things work out for you, once you get to Africa. Hunting on a property owned by the outfitter can lead to amazing opportunities. My very first day in Namibia, the ranch owner came in to breakfast, all somber and acting like there was something wrong. He said that he really hated to impose, but wondered if I would go out and shoot 5 gemsbok for him, for free of course. It seems he had promised his church a big BBQ and had just been too busy to get out that week. Yes sir, I would be glad to help you out!!!

Went a decade ago with Kalahari Safari for plains game and still make a point to go to the DSC event just to say hello again to Janneman. Stand up man of faith who runs a phenomenal operation outside of Gobabis.

My favorite area is the Chewore North concession in Zimbabe, along the Zambezi. I don't know who operates there now, but I know a PH that would know how to get you there. Not a fan of the guy that's held the rights to it for many years, but TIA.

No fences, no introduced or bought and released game. As wild as you can get anymore anywhere. I've been there 3 times, a couple of different places in southern Zim once each, and once to Mozambique. Chewore is still my favorite. There are other parts of southern and western Africa I'd like to see, but I can't wear a mask for 18+ hours; I'd lose what little mind I have left.

Will depend entirely on what you are planning on killing. Many animals can be had for under $1500 ( gemsbok was $1200, Impala $550, Warthog $350, etc. ). What a lot of people do is pick one or two “glamour” species ( sable, kudu, Eland) and then fill the list with more inexpensive game. I would say a typical starter Safari bag would be something like a Kudu, warthog, Impala, blesbok/gemsbok, and maybe a blue wildebeest or hartebeest.

We had round trip flights in 2019 for $900/person. Plan on spending another $3k to get animals dipped packed and shipped back and around $500 in gun permits and concierge services.

Taxidermy is gonna be extra of course.

I've hunted with Kalahari Safari as well, can't recommend him highly enough!