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A lot depends on the criteria you apply to selecting a hunt, the species you choose to hunt and what country you choose to hunt in. If price is your highest priority then Zim will probably be your best bet (esp for DG or DG/PG combos) - but once decided on that country, then I'd recommend you look for a company of repute rather than the cheapest deal. Lacey Act and other problems would mean the cheapest might bring you problems later on. Remember however, that as each year goes by, things will probably give more problems.... at least for the foreseeable future. - Whilst not a complete list of the best operations up there - you might like to consider, Charlton McCullum, Andy Hunter, Roger Whittal, Ian Gibson or our very own Ganyana. - all have excellent reputations and will give you a good hunt at a fair price and you'll know you're only hunting areas that are fully legal.

You'll probably pay more in many other African countries but you're getting a different deal - hence the different price. You mentioned Masailand and Selous in Tanzania. (for DG combined with PG) Masailand tends to have bigger Buff but fewer of them and if it's your first Buff hunt, I'd recommend you opt for the Selous. - If you do opt for Masailand, I'd recommend you extend the hunt to ten days. The reason Elephant or cat hunts (for example) are more expensive than Buff hunts in Tanzania is that Buff are on a 7 day licence and Elephant & cats on a 21 day licence - and consequently there are more Govt and camp fees, the quota is also considerably smaller for Elephant & cats than it is for Buff and pretty much all supplies have to be flown in, in TZ due to the large distances involved.

Mozambique is another option - but I'd recommend you only consider it if you're very fit and even then be cautious of what time of year you book. - Prices used to be very good there but are starting to rise - due at least in part to the improvement of facilities etc and more remote areas now being opened up to hunting. - The downside is that sometimes the Govt departments aren't very well organised.

For PG hunts only, you might like to consider Namibia, Tuli block Botswana as well as RSA.

Botswana has good DG hunts although quotas are small and consequently tend to sell out early - but they're not the cheapest and as the licencing system is different there, you'll only be allowed to hunt the species you've bought licences for in advance. There will be a new catagory of Elephant hunt in Botswana this year - but you need to go or send someone to an auction for the licence and trophy fee - so prices can't be accurately quoted in advance. A guideline would be around US$25K for a 10 day hunt including trophy fee, licences, rifle import, CITES permit, camp fees and booze etc........Average size (from a pilot scheme in 06) would be around 50lbs a side. Biggest was around 75 lbs - but it was a single tusker.

In the last 27 years, I've hunted about 7 African countries - 5 professionally, and if quality is the main criteria, then from my personal experience you can't beat the true wilderness areas in Tanzania. - but I'd recommend you avoid most of the buffer zones and make sure of the classification of the area you're hunting.

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Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com

Edited by shakari (12/01/07 06:45 PM)