I was talking with a colleague the other day and he asked, “So Hanback, when’s your next trip over my man?”
“Over where?”
”To Africa man!” he roared.
I explained that I had never been on safari and had never really wanted to go all that much. He looked at me like I was the village idiot.
“Ah, there is nothing like it,” he opined, a touch of British high-brow creeping into his voice. “I was bitten by the bug several years ago and I hardly want to hunt anywhere else.”
The guy is not alone. Have you noticed all the safari stories in magazines and African hunts on TV lately? Facebook and the Internet are packed with pictures/posts of hunters with African game they’ve felled.
I was talking with another man who shot his first elephant. Voice cracking, he told me how he’d dropped the magnificent beast with a brain shot at 20 yards and that it was “a life-changing experience.”
Always one to ask deep and poignant questions I blurted, “Did the ground shake when he went down?”
“Ah, yes,” he replied, speaking some Brit too. I find it strange that people start talking like that when they come back from Africa.
From what I understand this fascination with Africa is largely economic. They tell me you can hunt Africa for a week or 2 cheaper than you can go to Alaska, which I consider the world’s top hunting destination (been there 6 times). But I bet they are leaving out all the taxidermy bills and the trans-oceanic shipping fees.
If this deer hunter ever goes over, what would I shoot? Not an elephant or a zebra or a giraffe or a leopard or a lion. I have only marginal interest in a buffalo. I’d carry my .30-06 or 7mm Remington Ultra Mag and whack some plains game like kudu and impala. That should be fun.
What about you people? Ever been to Africa? Do you want to go? What animals would you like to hunt?
BTW, all the stories are not so fine. I know a guy who went on a bowhunting safari one time and shot a baboon at a waterhole. “Worst hunting experience of my life,” he said. “Damn thing screamed like a person and ran off. Go, just don’t shoot a baboon.”
always wanted to go…..the only thing I want to do more is moose hunt…….both are on the back burner for time beeing, lots of work and young kids come first, but someday, someday it will happen………..Lord willing
Sounds like fun but cant do the 16-18 hour plane ride and then 4-5 hour truck ride right afterwards. Think I would rather go to Canada on a whitetail hunt or back to Montana or Wyoming for a deer/elk hunt.
I’ve hunted plains game in Namibia and Big game in Tanzania the PG included kudu, gemsbuck, mtn. zebra, warthog, impala dip & pack and shipping cost $900. In Tanzania I killed lion and cape buffalo D&P and shipping cost $790. I had the taxidermy done here by my local taxidermist.
Weather in July was 40 degrees F at night and mornings 65F during day time while hunting.
NO ONE SHOULD COMMENT ON AFRICAN HUNTING UNLESS THEY’VE DONE IT !! Much like everything else in life you need to have first hand experience with a subject to have an honest opinion. watching hunting videos or worse TV shows on African hunting an basing your knowledge on that along makes the commenter look stupid to those of us that know the facts.
I hunt all over NA an Alaska and British Columbia are the best of it IMHO. I was raised hunting whitetails in Pa. and do it every year here and in 2 or 3 other states…I’m an old deer hunter at heart. But like kissing one woman an forming an opinion on that experience only you’ll be missing out on a lot if you do not try others. BD
Mike,
As you know I’m a big fan of Africa, but if you go don’t do a cookie cutter safari in South Africa. Go somewhere more wild, like Cameroon for Bongo or the Bengweulu Swamps of Zambia for Sitatunga. I’ve been over there 5 times now and by far the best hunts I had were in Zambia (buffalo) and Botswana (elephant), but would love to go to Cameroon and do a real jungle hunt. You’ll see wild gorilla and you hunt with Pygmy trackers and their dogs. You’re complete submersed in a different culture than we we are accustomed to, which in my opinion is the greatst part of being a traveling hunter. It’s a real wild experience where are South Africa and even Zimbabwe these days are little more than tourist destinations. A far cry from what Hemingway wrote about I can assure you that.
Having said that, the greatest hunt I’ve ever done was in Alaska on a DIY drop moose hunt. Just me alone in camp for 6 days until my partner arrived. You don’t know the definition of quiet until the wind stops blowing on the tundra and the closest person is 50 miles from you. Definitely the most wild place I’ve ever been, and going back this September.
I have wanted to go to Africa to hunt for as long as I can remember. Mainly I would like to hunt plains game, kudu, warthog, etc. If money wasn’t a factor a cape buffalo, croc & leopard would be cool too! But, it’s just a dream as I am over 50, partially disabled and unemployed. So I guess I will stick to whitetails & coyotes.
1st-Not a fan of hunting in 100 degree heat, which I assume you are. When the temps get above 70 I get a little woozy…
Just never had the ambition to take that trip.
Give me fall for whitetail or Alaska any day….
Do they have world-class whitetails in Africa?
Been there, done that. The best hunting trip I have ever done. I hunted plains game, no desire to hunt anything else while I was there.
Not for me. There’s no drive in me to go to Africa to hunt – and I lived there for 3 years as a kid. I’m not paying many thousands of dollars to go be a shooter.
If I’m traveling, a DIY hunt in the west or midwest is more my preference. Alaska would be my adventure trip.
My uncle took me 8 years ago when I graduated from high school. (Zimbabwe) It was an amazing 17 day journey that I will never forget! It was his 7th trip of his 10 so far. It was the first time I ever shot a gun besides at a range. I took a zebra and 7 impala..one was for a trophy mount, and the others were bait for his leopard he was successful taking on the trip.
Since then I have been a hardcore hunter (mainly bow) and cannot thank him enough for getting me into the sport.
I would go back and would bring my bow to go after plains game and also go after a cape buffalo as well..with a gun.
It is a trip that you have to go on at least one time Mike! I promise you will not be disappointed!
The only facination I have with Africa is for plains game. I see no reason to kill a lion, rhino, buffalo, leopard, or for sure an elephant. Plains game might be cool or a wart hog, croc. or two. It would be cool to hunt birds too. Mike, for thrills you could go for an 8 foot Mamba……..
Give me a trip to Alaska any time.
So many species in N. America. Maybe if I run through all of those first; but such a long flight, shipping costs, risks, etc…not very appealing at this time in my life. Would never shoot an elephant or big cat.
So far down on the bucket list. Would rather go to Argentina for a buffalo & stag. Probably about the same cost and there is less shit to eat you there! :-)
I’ve wanted to go since I was a little boy reading Frank Buck’s Bring ‘Em Back Alive. Wanted to hunt SE Asia, too. Ever since reading Hemmingway I’ve wanted to shoot a Kudu. Sable is on my list, too. Buffalo, Impala, and Waterbuck rank pretty high, also. I’ve never been able to afford it and now I’m too damned old. Like you, I’d never shoot an elephant, zebra, lion or leopard.