First ever guided hunt - South Africa

[Salmonchaser]

What a pain in the butt. Way to keep looking positive.

 

[longbow51]

Wow, adventure already. Good luck!

 

[ImBillT]

It’s a short 14 hours! They actually have offered to put us up in a hotel and we are thinking of taking them up on that. They can’t check the bags through to Johannesburg because it is longer than a 12 hour layover so we are going to have to figure out something to do with our luggage anyway.

Our son said he would prefer to just hang out in the hotel room but I don’t think I’m going to give him that option.

Hard no on that one.

 

[longbow51]

Hard no on that one.

I don't know; stay there until you get to somewhere safe like Jburg

 

[crock239]

Hopefully the travel turns out to be the worst of it. Being "in the system" is a helpless feeling. Rest when you can. Time to spare, go by air!

Have a client in RSA and have done business travel to Joburg, would love to mix in some hunting on a return trip sometime.

Following along and wishing you all the trip of a lifetime!

 

[OntarioHunter]

The misadventures are the adventures you never forget. I could fill a couple of pages describing all the obstacles trying to get to Africa last year: emergency appendectomy, trying to get gallbladder and hernia surgeries when "elective" surgery closed during pandemic, botched rebarrel on my rifle had me driving about a thousand miles to get it fixed three days before I left, govt export paperwork didn't come through till that week, airline rescheduled me to land in Zurich two hours after my connecting flight to Joberg departed, I muffed booking my return flight from Port Elizabeth to Joberg for the same day I arrived in Africa and didn't discover it till I arrived in Africa, gun went to hell the first day hunting, etc. Still had the time of my life. Then the return trip nightmare started.

Hang in there and keep your chin up. Just keep thinking about the thousand plus animals you'll see and wonderful folks you'll meet. It will happen.

KEEP YOUR LODGE IN THE LOOP. They may need to have some accommodations ready if your luggage isn't on that plane. I believe the South Africa Professional Hunters Association has some connection to a nearby B&B or hotel. You DO NOT want to be hanging out in Joberg airport overnight!

 

[Valley1320]

Definitely will be following this thread! Have fun and be safe!

 

[Stocker]

14 hours in NYC is the perfect amount of time. You’ll have had enough of people by the time you leave. Hope your bags make it!

 

[npaden]

Well back at the airport waiting on our flight. Our bags are still “automatically” in Las Vegas.

Have my drone in my carry on backpack and they wouldn’t let me board the ferry with it so my wife hung out at Liberty Park while my son and I took the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty.




Still have no idea how to get the bags kickstarted again out of Las Vegas. Maybe they are going to fly through Zurich a day late and get there Friday morning? Looks like I won’t know until I actually arrive in Johannesburg and the can file a claim on them.

We had decided last minute to just rent rifles instead of bringing ours so that takes some of the stress off. We may just buy some pants and a jacket and try to get some hunting in while waiting for our luggage.

Still a head scratcher that the bags can be sitting in Las Vegas and there is nothing they can do to get them headed in the right direction until I get to Johannesburg and file a claim.

United Airlines hasn’t ever been my favorite and they haven’t been earning a lot of points on this trip.

 

[OntarioHunter]

You made a wise choice renting rifles. I doubt you could have got the necessary paperwork "at the last minute" anyway. I also took a rifle over for my lodge owner for each of first two trips (CZ 416 Rigby and 45-90 Bakail double rifle). So I'm a bit of an old hand dealing with red tape. This time only the Springfield is going. Also, if changing airlines during the trip it sometimes requires getting the gun out of baggage and rechecked ($$$). And some airports are a hassle. Like Joberg. Even people with just a layover on their way through must check the guns through the police there. Never fly Air France and stay out of France with guns. Heathrow can be a headache if connecting flight is at another terminal. I see British Airways is now hauling guns again but they hook you!

The rental rifles will almost certainly wear suppressors which will be nice, especially for your son. No noise or recoil.

Hopefully you brought a change of clothes in carry-on. The lodge will do laundry every day so you'll never be grungy if you have a change. Pick up a power converter in airport if you don't have one. They don't run on 110V down there and you'll need to recharge your phone for photos.

 

[npaden]

On the plane about to head to Johannesburg!! Our luggage is all still in Las Vegas. Boo!!

The place we are staying with just had me give them all our clothing and shoe sizes and they are going to buy a change of clothes for all of us to have for us when we get there until our luggage catches up with us.

It is a small operation with a husband and wife that run the place. The wife is going to be in town tomorrow so will do the shopping for us.

With the current exchange rate, prices are pretty low in South Africa so we should be able to get outfitted at a reasonable cost. I will be asking for reimbursement from the airline so we will see how that ends up.

Not the ideal way to start things, but I think that our outfitter is doing exactly the opposite of what the airline has done so far, going above and beyond. It looks like we may end up losing maybe a day of hunting out of this so not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Hopefully we will have a few pictures of us with some animals on the ground wearing some clothes purchase in South Africa!

Not looking forward to the next 15 hours on the plane but our economy plus seats at least have enough legroom. We did end up with a hotel in Newark this morning and we all got 3 or 4 hours of sleep in addition to the sleep we got in the red eye flight from Las Vegas to Newark so we actually are on pretty good spirits.

Next stop Johannesburg!

 

[BrentD]

On the plane about to head to Johannesburg!! Our luggage is all still in Las Vegas. Boo!!

The place we are staying with just had me give them all our clothing and shoe sizes and they are going to buy a change of clothes for all of us to have for us when we get there until our luggage catches up with us.

It is a small operation with a husband and wife that run the place. The wife is going to be in town tomorrow so will do the shopping for us.

With the current exchange rate, prices are pretty low in South Africa so we should be able to get outfitted at a reasonable cost. I will be asking for reimbursement from the airline so we will see how that ends up.

Not the ideal way to start things, but I think that our outfitter is doing exactly the opposite of what the airline has done so far, going above and beyond. It looks like we may end up losing maybe a day of hunting out of this so not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Hopefully we will have a few pictures of us with some animals on the ground wearing some clothes purchase in South Africa!

Not looking forward to the next 15 hours on the plane but our economy plus seats at least have enough legroom. We did end up with a hotel in Newark this morning and we all got 3 or 4 hours of sleep in addition to the sleep we got in the red eye flight from Las Vegas to Newark so we actually are on pretty good spirits.

Next stop Johannesburg!

On my first trip to Africa, also Joburg, my luggage was lost/delayed and I left the next morning for a week in the Kalahari. Just made a quick trip to a department store and bought a warm coat, some socks and underwear and maybe a shirt and pants. I was good to go. Luggage caught up later in the trip, well after the Kalahari. I didn't suffer much - way too excited to be in the desert to be worried about something like luggage. But it sure did teach me to pack my carry-on differently.

Carry on. Your adventure is going to be a great one.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I always travel wearing clothes I can hunt in. But of course I'm flying out of Canada where it's fairly temperate even at peak of summer. Toronto can be hot and humid but the air conditioning is USUALLY cranked up in Pearson Airport (must have been broke down when I returned last year). Extra pants, socks, shirt, and underwear in my carry-on pack. Some cash for tips in a money belt and everything else paid for with plastic. Credit cards in a protective carrier in my front jeans pocket. Carry images of all paperwork on phone, including photo page of passport.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Good luck; dont sweat the little stuff. Kudu don’t care what you look like. I made my first Africa Hunt earlier this year, interestingly making my first trip to NYC and DC this fall right after elk season. Way to take advantage of the bumps.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Good luck; dont sweat the little stuff. Kudu don’t care what you look like. I made my first Africa Hunt earlier this year, interestingly making my first trip to NYC and DC this fall right after elk season. Way to take advantage of the bumps.

You must have been hunting a different species of kudu! My first trip we hunted a fabulous big property that was all rolling brushy hills and mountains. Tons of kudu. The obligatory farmer's tracker with us (not to be confused with PH's tracker) wore a gleaming white cap. Kudu bulls were picking up on that beacon five hundred yards out. Didn't help that everyone but me had to stand in the middle of opening when glassing for animals. The second day I offered to bring a camo cap but my PH said forget it. Each farm has their own cap design and the hired help wear them as a badge of honor. "Well, then at least tell him to stand in the shade so that cap doesn't shine so much." Somewhat blushing PH sheepishly replied that would be a good idea.

OP will be blacked out from Hunt Talk in South Africa so we probably won't hear from him again till he's on his way back home. I couldn't get on here with wifi and suspect roaming won't be any different.

 

[Cheesehead]

United is the worst.

On the plus side, they are ok at doing reimbursements if it was their fault, but it can take a while. Couple tips : Keep receipts of extra costs you incur because of the delay (food at airport, etc), and then totally Karen out about the dollar value of the lost trip time $X / day at destination, etc. Helps if you can say you/your company are heavy United users but are going to avoid now due to this trip. they’ll usually throw a decent credit your way to shut things up. I used to travel 50% for work and I got a few thousand in credits due to how many trips United screwed up.

More important: have fun on that trip. That’ll be a blast

 

[Deleted member 28227]

United is the worst.

On the plus side, they are ok at doing reimbursements if it was their fault, but it can take a while. Couple tips : Keep receipts of extra costs you incur because of the delay (food at airport, etc), and then totally Karen out about the dollar value of the lost trip time $X / day at destination, etc. Helps if you can say you/your company are heavy United users but are going to avoid now due to this trip. they’ll usually throw a decent credit your way to shut things up. I used to travel 50% for work and I got a few thousand in credits due to how many trips United screwed up.

More important: have fun on that trip. That’ll be a blast

x2

I had a huge debacle last year and sent them a .zip file of jpgs of reciepts and a spreadsheet. Ubers, hotels, meals, covid tests, yada yada was reimbursed for every cent. Took like 3 weeks.

Glad to see you are just taking it in stride and enjoying the trip, can't let the airline ruin your day.

Looking forward to reading the write up.

 

[nastynate]

x2

I had a huge debacle last year and sent them a .zip file of jpgs of reciepts and a spreadsheet. Ubers, hotels, meals, covid tests, yada yada was reimbursed for every cent. Took like 3 weeks.

Glad to see you are just taking it in stride and enjoying the trip, can't let the airline ruin your day.

Looking forward to reading the write up.

Perhaps you can thank this guy, who has mastered the art of complaining, for United's improved reimbursement policy.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Previous trips my guns went over in a Kalispel gun case my buddy lent me. This time because only one gun is going I bought a single gun Pelican "Vault" case thinking it would be less bulky. Well, I don't know about that, but if the airline baggage apes want to damage that case, they'll have to work at it! Anybody have experience with those?

 

[4ohSick]

Previous trips my guns went over in a Kalispel gun case my buddy lent me. This time because only one gun is going I bought a single gun Pelican "Vault" case thinking it would be less bulky. Well, I don't know about that, but if the airline baggage apes want to damage that case, they'll have to work at it! Anybody have experience with those?

Flew back from Fairbanks with a rifle my Father-In-Law gave me this spring in a Pelican Vault single rifle case, and was very happy with it. I cut out the middle layer of foam for the rifle and it didn't move in the slightest, and the case came out without anything more than a scuff. You probably know this, but they have 4 slots for locks, and from readying on here it's wise to just have 4 locks so you aren't scrambling last minute. I bought a Masterlock set of 4 with the same key and was happy with those as well.