Looking for Canadian Booking Agent for Namibia Safari

The main SCI Convention is out of this world. If you are looking at booking an African hunt it is definitely the place to be. I can't believe how many Albertans I ran into down there this year.

Unfortunately work got in the way this year and I wasn't able to go to Reno. I had the tickets for the banquets, the airfare paid and had to cancel at the last second. agroup of local SCI members go down every year and this would have been my first. They have everything imaginable that deals with hunting, fishing,taxidermy, guns, you name its there.
The SCI Northern auction has soon nice hunts as well just not as many as you would get down there. We should have a few guides from South Africa there to sell some open hunts to whoever wants to buy one off them. Brian

Hoopi, nube...pls keep on posting on your arrangements and releated experiences. I've just started to look into going 'somewhere' in Africa (probablySA) within the next year or two, or possibly sooner if the right oppurtunity comes along. So far I'm looking in the $10,000 ballpark for a 10 day 9 species (plains animals) hunt in SA, flying Westjet/KLM return. You guys figure I'm in the right ballpark or do you think I should take my balls and find another park to play in? Hoopi, why Namibia?

I just booked my flight. It costs 1400 U.S$. I plan on a package hunt for 6685$ this year it went up a $1000 but I am getting last years deal. I get to shoot additional animals for the trphy fees and this ranges from $100 for some that I want all the way up to $2500 for a giraffe. Most are from $350-$1400. All that needs to be paid for after that is shipping trphies home which I was quoted to be around $500 but I think may be more. Tips which may run from $600 and up. You can do it for $10,000 but with the increasing prices it will be more unless you book it now and you will want to shoot more animals as well which will cost more. I had an offer for guys to come with us but nobody seemed too interested. It would have saved someone a lot of money and it is also better to go as a group. It can be a scary trip all alone. There are 7 of us going and might be able to sqeeze you in but it may be too late.
I will keep you posted if you are interested in what I am doing for my trip. If you register you can send me a personal message if you want.

Thanks for the insights/tips. Two of us are looking at a spring/summer of 2008 booking. So far I've only surfed the www to look for African hunts. I've found a few that look promising and have E-mailed the outfits to get additional info.
How did you guys find out about the booking agent/hunting outfit you are using? Any advice on things to watch out for...good or bad.

Hi:

The reason we are hunting Namibia is because
- Kudu, Gemsbok and Hartmans Zebra are high on our list
- Prices for hunts seem more reasonable
- Avoid flying through Johannesburg, SA. Paperwork is getting tougher there. Where as there is a flight from Toronto to Franfurt (small layover) then direct to Windhoek Nb)
- We heard Namibia is a more laid back/stable place, less crime, etc.
- Because of the effect of being near a desert (khalahari, Namib) the country is more open, arid and the terrain is more to our liking with mountains, canyons, grasslands and hills all on one ranch...no high fences (kinda like Southern, Alberta)
- The many positive hunting reports on AR and 24 hour campfire, etc.
- Whenever someone speaks of SA, they ususallysay be careful of the small/tall fenced hunts...I cannot afford to go on a cheap rip-off hunt.

Having said all that there are positives to all the other African countries as well. Honestly, if we were going for variety and quantity of game, SA would be a better choice.

We think we can go there including flying and taxidermy on and flights for about 12K. Which works out to 6 K for the hunt of 10 days...5 animals, 3 K for flights, 2 K for Taxidermy(3 heads and a rug ), 1K for shipping. Spread out over 4 years this should keep me married at the end of all this and keep the kids in shoes.

Hoopi