ChrisT
AH enthusiast
I've seen several interesting comments (and threads) on Internet forums referring to Outfitter Pricing... "Package hunt or all carte?... "You pay what you get for...", "You do not get what you pay for...", "Cheaper hunts do not necessarily equals an inferior experience..." And several more...
An interesting comment I read was something to the effect of:
"Some Outfitters charge higher prices than others because they "can" and not because they need to..."
Now what I read into a statement like this is that the perception exists that "some" Outfitters provide the exact same service as other (lower-priced Outfitters but they charge more - not because they need to but because they "can" and because they're out to make as much money from their clients as possible... While I will not dispute that there might be Outfitters that do exactly this, I do feel that there is another side to this that also needs mentioning/discussing...
Before I continue, let me use an analogy...
My wife and I will be in Alberta - Canada later this month and my wife would like to go dogsledding while we are there - a lifelong dream of hers... For this we need to travel out to Banff and stay over for a night or two so we've spent the last week or more trying to find a hotel in or near Banff that will not only suit our needs but also fall inside our budget...
As we figured out, there are several hotels, guesthouses and lodges in the area - some of them really affordable and others more expensive...
So how did we pick one? Did we pick the cheapest one just because it was cheap? We are after all not wealthy people by South African (or any other) standards and for every Canadian Dollar I spend I have to fork out more than Ten South African Rands...
And hotels are hotels after all... They provide the same basic service - a room, a bed and a meal... So the only difference is the price - right?
We all know, no hotel - cheap or expensive - is going to be giving me a discount because my wife is little, doesn't eat a lot of food and because I'm a "Blue Collar Worker"... Hotels charge what they do and that's it - no questions asked...
Long story short is we found a hotel and booked it... Was it the cheapest one? No! Was it the most expensive one? No! Did I question the fact that one apparently decent hotel was charging $90 per night and the one we booked was more? NO!
Because I understand the concept of a 2 star hotel on the outskirts of town (or in the centre of town in a busy street with lots of traffic noise) being graded as 2 star because it does not offer the same amenities and level of luxury that a 4 star hotel with a view of the Rocky Mountains does. Having said this - I'm not implying there is anything wrong with the 2 star hotel - different strokes for different folks... Fact is the 2 star hotel can't charge the same as a 4 star hotel and the 4 star hotel shouldn't charge the same as the 2 star hotel because it obviously costs more to run and this should come at a premium... A premium that we as guests have to pay... It's called "market-related pricing" - and we're all familiar with that concept...
Would I have booked the most expensive hotel if I could afford it? YES - probably - because it offered everything that I envisaged about vacationing in Banff... Would I have booked a 4 star hotel that was charging the same as a 2 star hotel? NO - definitely not... because the first question that I'd ask would be: "Why would it charge a price way below market value?" For me this is a once in a lifetime trip that I most certainly wouldn't want to spoil because I tried to save a few bucks...
The hotel we booked was one that fell within my budget, one that was rated as excellent on the website we booked it though, had many, many positive reviews and one that had (what we perceived) as close as possible to the typical "Banff feel" that I had created in my own mind... Fireplace in a room with a view, etc. etc... And if I could not afford this hotel - the solution would be simple... I can't afford to do it so I'm not going - period!
Picking an operator that offers dogsled tours was easier... Because all of them were pretty much priced similarly... What made me decide to book with one operator over the other was the fact that the one I chose doesn't charge for rental of snow gear while the other charges $10 per item...
Picking a car rental company to rent a vehicle from for the trip from Calgary to Banff was also pretty easy. It was recommended I get a 4WD for the trip as weather conditions can change very quickly and there was a possibility of having to drive in snowy conditions so I opted not to rent an economy model at $20pd but I got a 4WD at $90pd... There were also 4WD options at $120 and even higher available but in this instance I picked the cheapest Rental Car Company I could get because a Jeep is a Jeep and regardless of who you rent one through - you still get a Jeep... My only consideration was that I needed a 4WD and free mileage... As it turned out... $90 per day was the best deal I could find...
Back to the original subject...
Minimum wage for a farm worker in SA is roughly ZAR120pd. This is for an unskilled labourer working 9 hours a day and excludes overtime. There is no minimum wage for Trackers (as an occupation) so they would typically fall in the "Farm Worker" category... Bear in mind though that Trackers rarely work only 9 hours a day. They're typically up and running way before first light, preparing coolers and hunting vehicles and their day only stops when the last of the animals hunted that day are skinned and the trophies are in the salt - which could be midnight or later... I can say from my experience that decent and reliable Tracker / Skinners are not easy to find. Those that are qualified and meets the criteria earn minimum ZAR200 per day and the good ones should earn more...
I pay my chef ZAR600 per day. There is no minimum wage for chefs in my country - some operators would use one of their "farm workers" to do the cooking and pay them a minimum farm worker's wage and others would use their wives to do the cooking free of charge but it so happens that my chef is highly skilled and prepares amazing dishes. She is an asset to my business that interacts with my clients, make them feel at home, is terrific company and forms an integral part of my operation. For this reason she earns more than the typical safari camp chef but in my opinion it is money well spent...
When hunting, I burn up to ZAR500 per day in fuel. This excludes fuel expenses associated to picking up a client from the airport and taking him/ her back...
A good PH earns ZAR750 per day - one with more experience and a DG rating would earn more... (Fair enough, newer, less-experienced PH's might work for less, but for purpose of this discussion please consider that I guide most of my clients myself and after 17 years in the business (and with a DG Rating) I don't consider myself to me "less-experienced"... Please also consider that the hunting season essentially runs for 6 months a year so even if a PH works every single day for those 6 months (which is highly improbable) his/her total annual income in wages will be around ZAR 137K which equals an average monthly salary of ZAR 11,500. As a matter of interest this currently equates to roughly US$1,000 per month...
My average daily food bill per client is around R250 per day (conservatively estimated). I also provide drinks to my clients (bottled water, soft drinks, wine, beer and selected hard drinks). Fortunately my typical clients are serious hunters so booze are used in moderation but drinks can add ZAR150 per day to my cost - even if no alcohol is used - easily, considering how many bottles of water and soft drinks are consumed daily.
According to my calculations, at this point it costs me at least ZAR2,450 per day (excl. extras) to host a single hunter on a 1X1 hunt if I use my own camp and run the safari according to the standards that I've set for my business... If I use one of the camps I lease from other Landowners there are additional costs involved...
The above does not take into account that it costs me ZAR900 in fuel and toll road charges to drive to the airport and back to pick up a client and another ZAR900 to take him/her back to the airport and drive back home...
And this does not take into account that in Winter (when most of our hunting is done) the heaters in the chalets are running almost permanently and in summer the same applies to the air conditioner - which equates to a higher power utility bill...
It also does not take into account factors such as depreciation of assets and general maintenance as far as vehicles and other items are concerned...
So, if we forget about what electricity costs, what maintenance costs and what it costs to employ staff that will clean and iron clothes every day, staff that will make sure firewood is cut, that the fireplace is clean and that a welcoming fire is lit by the time you get back from a hard day's hunt...Let's look at some numbers - using a 7 day hunt as example:
Road transportation - ZAR1,800 (return)
Daily costs - ZAR 2,450 X 7 = ZAR17,150
Total - ZAR18,950
Divide that by 7 days and you get to ZAR2,707 per day.
Divide that by 11 (current US$ vs ZAR exchange rate more-or-less) and you're at $246 per day...
At this point, my business has not made a cent of profit and no provision has been made for maintenance, depreciation or any eventualities... I have not paid the staff that cleans the camp and chalets or those who do the laundry. I have not spent a dime on advertising - which does not come cheap - irrespective of where and how you advertise...
Which brings me back to the title of this thread...
QUESTION:
When considering a safari...
Are you looking for a 4star experience at 2 star rates? And if so - at whose expense does that come? Your own, the Outfitter's, his PH, Trackers, Skinners or somebody else? How long can an Outfitter who charges rates that doesn't cover his basic costs stay in business and if he manages to do so - how does he do it?
If the answer to the last question is: "It doesn't matter - as long as I have a good time I'm fine..." How comfortable would you as client feel about leaving a deposit for a hunt a year or more out with an Outfitter who barely charges enough to cover his daily expenses for a hunt...?
Or are you looking at the best value for money experience you can get without harming anyone - including yourself in the process?
Best regards,
An interesting comment I read was something to the effect of:
"Some Outfitters charge higher prices than others because they "can" and not because they need to..."
Now what I read into a statement like this is that the perception exists that "some" Outfitters provide the exact same service as other (lower-priced Outfitters but they charge more - not because they need to but because they "can" and because they're out to make as much money from their clients as possible... While I will not dispute that there might be Outfitters that do exactly this, I do feel that there is another side to this that also needs mentioning/discussing...
Before I continue, let me use an analogy...
My wife and I will be in Alberta - Canada later this month and my wife would like to go dogsledding while we are there - a lifelong dream of hers... For this we need to travel out to Banff and stay over for a night or two so we've spent the last week or more trying to find a hotel in or near Banff that will not only suit our needs but also fall inside our budget...
As we figured out, there are several hotels, guesthouses and lodges in the area - some of them really affordable and others more expensive...
So how did we pick one? Did we pick the cheapest one just because it was cheap? We are after all not wealthy people by South African (or any other) standards and for every Canadian Dollar I spend I have to fork out more than Ten South African Rands...
And hotels are hotels after all... They provide the same basic service - a room, a bed and a meal... So the only difference is the price - right?
We all know, no hotel - cheap or expensive - is going to be giving me a discount because my wife is little, doesn't eat a lot of food and because I'm a "Blue Collar Worker"... Hotels charge what they do and that's it - no questions asked...
Long story short is we found a hotel and booked it... Was it the cheapest one? No! Was it the most expensive one? No! Did I question the fact that one apparently decent hotel was charging $90 per night and the one we booked was more? NO!
Because I understand the concept of a 2 star hotel on the outskirts of town (or in the centre of town in a busy street with lots of traffic noise) being graded as 2 star because it does not offer the same amenities and level of luxury that a 4 star hotel with a view of the Rocky Mountains does. Having said this - I'm not implying there is anything wrong with the 2 star hotel - different strokes for different folks... Fact is the 2 star hotel can't charge the same as a 4 star hotel and the 4 star hotel shouldn't charge the same as the 2 star hotel because it obviously costs more to run and this should come at a premium... A premium that we as guests have to pay... It's called "market-related pricing" - and we're all familiar with that concept...
Would I have booked the most expensive hotel if I could afford it? YES - probably - because it offered everything that I envisaged about vacationing in Banff... Would I have booked a 4 star hotel that was charging the same as a 2 star hotel? NO - definitely not... because the first question that I'd ask would be: "Why would it charge a price way below market value?" For me this is a once in a lifetime trip that I most certainly wouldn't want to spoil because I tried to save a few bucks...
The hotel we booked was one that fell within my budget, one that was rated as excellent on the website we booked it though, had many, many positive reviews and one that had (what we perceived) as close as possible to the typical "Banff feel" that I had created in my own mind... Fireplace in a room with a view, etc. etc... And if I could not afford this hotel - the solution would be simple... I can't afford to do it so I'm not going - period!
Picking an operator that offers dogsled tours was easier... Because all of them were pretty much priced similarly... What made me decide to book with one operator over the other was the fact that the one I chose doesn't charge for rental of snow gear while the other charges $10 per item...
Picking a car rental company to rent a vehicle from for the trip from Calgary to Banff was also pretty easy. It was recommended I get a 4WD for the trip as weather conditions can change very quickly and there was a possibility of having to drive in snowy conditions so I opted not to rent an economy model at $20pd but I got a 4WD at $90pd... There were also 4WD options at $120 and even higher available but in this instance I picked the cheapest Rental Car Company I could get because a Jeep is a Jeep and regardless of who you rent one through - you still get a Jeep... My only consideration was that I needed a 4WD and free mileage... As it turned out... $90 per day was the best deal I could find...
Back to the original subject...
Minimum wage for a farm worker in SA is roughly ZAR120pd. This is for an unskilled labourer working 9 hours a day and excludes overtime. There is no minimum wage for Trackers (as an occupation) so they would typically fall in the "Farm Worker" category... Bear in mind though that Trackers rarely work only 9 hours a day. They're typically up and running way before first light, preparing coolers and hunting vehicles and their day only stops when the last of the animals hunted that day are skinned and the trophies are in the salt - which could be midnight or later... I can say from my experience that decent and reliable Tracker / Skinners are not easy to find. Those that are qualified and meets the criteria earn minimum ZAR200 per day and the good ones should earn more...
I pay my chef ZAR600 per day. There is no minimum wage for chefs in my country - some operators would use one of their "farm workers" to do the cooking and pay them a minimum farm worker's wage and others would use their wives to do the cooking free of charge but it so happens that my chef is highly skilled and prepares amazing dishes. She is an asset to my business that interacts with my clients, make them feel at home, is terrific company and forms an integral part of my operation. For this reason she earns more than the typical safari camp chef but in my opinion it is money well spent...
When hunting, I burn up to ZAR500 per day in fuel. This excludes fuel expenses associated to picking up a client from the airport and taking him/ her back...
A good PH earns ZAR750 per day - one with more experience and a DG rating would earn more... (Fair enough, newer, less-experienced PH's might work for less, but for purpose of this discussion please consider that I guide most of my clients myself and after 17 years in the business (and with a DG Rating) I don't consider myself to me "less-experienced"... Please also consider that the hunting season essentially runs for 6 months a year so even if a PH works every single day for those 6 months (which is highly improbable) his/her total annual income in wages will be around ZAR 137K which equals an average monthly salary of ZAR 11,500. As a matter of interest this currently equates to roughly US$1,000 per month...
My average daily food bill per client is around R250 per day (conservatively estimated). I also provide drinks to my clients (bottled water, soft drinks, wine, beer and selected hard drinks). Fortunately my typical clients are serious hunters so booze are used in moderation but drinks can add ZAR150 per day to my cost - even if no alcohol is used - easily, considering how many bottles of water and soft drinks are consumed daily.
According to my calculations, at this point it costs me at least ZAR2,450 per day (excl. extras) to host a single hunter on a 1X1 hunt if I use my own camp and run the safari according to the standards that I've set for my business... If I use one of the camps I lease from other Landowners there are additional costs involved...
The above does not take into account that it costs me ZAR900 in fuel and toll road charges to drive to the airport and back to pick up a client and another ZAR900 to take him/her back to the airport and drive back home...
And this does not take into account that in Winter (when most of our hunting is done) the heaters in the chalets are running almost permanently and in summer the same applies to the air conditioner - which equates to a higher power utility bill...
It also does not take into account factors such as depreciation of assets and general maintenance as far as vehicles and other items are concerned...
So, if we forget about what electricity costs, what maintenance costs and what it costs to employ staff that will clean and iron clothes every day, staff that will make sure firewood is cut, that the fireplace is clean and that a welcoming fire is lit by the time you get back from a hard day's hunt...Let's look at some numbers - using a 7 day hunt as example:
Road transportation - ZAR1,800 (return)
Daily costs - ZAR 2,450 X 7 = ZAR17,150
Total - ZAR18,950
Divide that by 7 days and you get to ZAR2,707 per day.
Divide that by 11 (current US$ vs ZAR exchange rate more-or-less) and you're at $246 per day...
At this point, my business has not made a cent of profit and no provision has been made for maintenance, depreciation or any eventualities... I have not paid the staff that cleans the camp and chalets or those who do the laundry. I have not spent a dime on advertising - which does not come cheap - irrespective of where and how you advertise...
Which brings me back to the title of this thread...
QUESTION:
When considering a safari...
Are you looking for a 4star experience at 2 star rates? And if so - at whose expense does that come? Your own, the Outfitter's, his PH, Trackers, Skinners or somebody else? How long can an Outfitter who charges rates that doesn't cover his basic costs stay in business and if he manages to do so - how does he do it?
If the answer to the last question is: "It doesn't matter - as long as I have a good time I'm fine..." How comfortable would you as client feel about leaving a deposit for a hunt a year or more out with an Outfitter who barely charges enough to cover his daily expenses for a hunt...?
Or are you looking at the best value for money experience you can get without harming anyone - including yourself in the process?
Best regards,
Interesting though that despite the amount of PH's being pushed out in SA every year the active amount stay the same, so more experiance leaves and more new blood joins.
