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When looking at budget price safaris, the PG hunts are always a viable option.
Having been on two thus far (Zim and Namibia) I have had no complaints.
I'm a man of no high means and consequently I have to plan carefully, and make the best of special offers/packages.

Should one wish to conduct a reasonably priced PG hunt focused on larger species, what would be your suggestion:
- location (country)
- species
- caliber for a recoil-shy person. Not looking for the smallest that can kill them all but less in recoil than the .30-06. (O.T. in view of cost and packaging; but I'm always curious as to guns and calibers!)

Duration say 10 days; 7 at a minimum.

Size of the animals:
consider all up to and including giraffe and eland; and the smallest bigger than the impala/springbok sized animals. Honestly, I have no desire whatever to travel 24 hours around half the globe to take $400 shots at animals the size of roe deer when I can go off the coast to Estonia and shoot them almost for free. The most I like is hunting animals on four feet that are about the size of white-tailed deer or bigger.
I have taken two kudu so perhaps surprisingly I have no great desire to go after one more.
I do enjoy hunting wildebeest - have shot blue. Any suggestions including reasonably priced wildebeest would be nice to hear. Have not shot black but they seem expensivish. Suggestions on reasonably priced black are welcome. Ditto zebra.

Country-wise I'll exclude RSA at this point of time.
The daily rates can be low, indeed, but the trophy fees on most species seem to be set for people who cannot do any cost comparisons. Also the sundry costs are often surprisingly high making RSA not cheaper than the competition.

I've noticed that the trophy fees on giraffe and eland have been on the increase. Eland is seldom, I suppose, outright cheap although it can be relatively reasonably priced.
What explains the expensiveness of the giraffe today?

At the beginning of the post I mentioned special deals and packages. I think this is an excellent idea for one who knows what he/she is after. Should the package not be quite to your liking, most outfitters seem keen enough to swap/add some animals and still keep the total price very fair.
This is of course not the case if you add some glamour game (e.g. sable or roan) or the bigger fellows (in practice giraffe and/or eland).

I am not after ideas how to cut costs as such. Having done my reading of NitroExpress.com, having done two trips and having a couple of friends that are very experienced safari hands I have a good picture of the cost structure of a safari and what I wish to or not wish to pay for on future trips.

- Lars/Finland

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A.k.a. Bwana One-Shot

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