I bought an African hunt at the NRA dinner auction.

[Hitechhunter]

I've never been. For those of you that have, or know someone who has, what advice can you share? I'm taking my bow and my gun to NB Safaris in South Africa. Does anybody know anything about this outfit?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[bigtusker]

Never heard of them but tell us a bit more about the package that you bought.

 

[Rick]

A lot of times what is offered as the donation is just the hunt fee and you ahve to pay for each trophy. That can add up tp costing you as much as a "package hunt" that was not donated. I'm not saying yours falls into tht category - but be prepared to spend a lot more money on the animals you shoot. Please post the details - what you got for your donation, and whaqt you have to pay.

Otherwise - practice shooting off sticks and other hunting positions - sitting, kneeling, offhand. Get ready to get on target fast and shoot quickly with accuracy. Sounds like normal preparation, right?

It should be hunt of your lifetime. Lots of game every day! Don't scrimp - you'll regret it later.

Good luck!

 

[bpnclark]

Use the heaviest brodheads you can find. Set your bow for over 70lbs. No expandable blades. Take more than 1 book for the blind.

Site your rifle for 0 at 100 or 80 yards and shoot it a lot off hand before you go.

The country of South Africa is not cheap. I was expecting Mexico prices for your everyday things and souvenirs but it’s the same amount as here.

And the most of all, don’t worry about anything. You will have the time of your life.

 

[BigSwad]

For your rifle, I would do a pre-approved permit through www.riflepermits.com We used them and the process went very smooth. There are a couple of documents you need to have completed at least a month ahead of your trip, so be aware of that. With your bow, you should have no problems. Cabela's sells a nice gun and bow case in aluminum that I bought on sale for the regular price of $320 I think. It worked well for me.

As a side note, the airlines typically do not weigh the gun case on the american side or the carryon, so if you have extra weight, be sure to put in one of those. On the way back, SAA did weigh both the gun case and my other checked baggage, and charged me $25 for being over the weight limit.

As for the airline to use, we used SAA and for a big guy, I did not like the flight at all nor the service. I did get all my luggage there and back okay, but that flight back is a killer. If you go through London and have to lay over for the night, which is alot cheaper, the gun laws there are very strict and you have to go to an extreme to courier the gun around. At least that is what I have heard, others may know different. After my experience on SAA, that may not be a bad option, but bpnclark had an issue with British Airways and some lost luggage. So you never really know.

Make sure that the total grain weight of your arrow setup is about 430 grains. That seems to work well for the carbon arrows. I carried an extra string and only one bow, but I had the rifle as well. My bow was set for 70lbs pull. I will say that my PH and the others on the hunt with archery all used mechanical broadheads, which kind of surprised me. The use the Nap Spitfires. They seem to like them and said they worked well. I used shuttle TLocks and they did a fine job on the impala I shot. Also, when I was there it was a full moon and a front was pushing through. If you can set a date, check the moon phase. Didn't have alot of activity on the full moon as most of the animals came to drink at night.

On the rifle, I took a CZUSA Safari Magnum in .375 H&H loaded with handloads. 270 grain Barnes TSX bullets. They performed well on all animals. I also took my own shooting sticks. There is a place in Texas that make them, and they are really nice. I used them here to practice with and took them in my case as well. My PH was trying to talk me out of them, but my wife gave me them for Christmas and I just couldn't leave them.

I also took a nice set of Sunbuster sunglasses. Take a good pair, it will help to spot game while there. My ProStaff article next month is on the Sunbusters, and for the price, I can highly recommend them.

Make sure to do the malaria medication. May be overkill, but at least you have done it. My insurance covered mine, it was the one you take weekly, and it was only like $20.

Take a good camera and take lots of extra shots from different angles. I would recommend a good high quality point and shoot, and about 4 gigs of memory. I used up about 3 gigs while there. I would have uploaded them to a computer but didn't have a card reader. Found one in SA but the cost was like $65 us.

Take some good bug spray as well. Their seasons are opposite ours, so their winter is our summer. I only got one tick on me the whole time there and didn't see any mosquitos.

Email your outfitter often and ask lots of questions. They should be used to it and shouldn't mind answering any questions you have. The moderator of this forum, JJHack, actually has a nice book about information on your first time to Africa. It is pretty informative and reasonably priced. I purchased it and it gave me a few ideas as well.

But it will be a trip of a lifetime. I would love to go back, just don't know when. Just remember, you may only get to go once, so for pictures and video, get plenty and take backups. Cell phones work there just about everywhere if you have on that does all 4 bands. I took mine and called my wife from everywhere I was at with no problem. It's just that the international roaming is $1.69 per minute, so I ended up with about an extra $90 on my phone bill for the month. But for me it was worth it. We had a person with us that had a laptop and he had wireless network everywhere we went to. But he was from SA, so that was probably the reason why.

Lots of other things I could go on about, but look into your package more and ask some more questions. We will try and help as much as possible.

Oh yeah, eat lots of biltong and dry wors once there. some great stuff. Also, impala tenderloins and gemsbok backstrap are quite nice on the braai, or grill.

 

[Backcountry]

Tagged...

Got my packet of info in da mail just now... time to start saving my pennies...

Looks like I'm buying the beer for the forseeable future....

 

[Hitechhunter]

Thanks for the info, guys! Keep it coming!

I'll post more details when I have more than a few seconds.

BC: Proves that buying beer can be a legitimate investment!