Afton House and my trophies

[ActionBob]

Short Version;
I've got a few trophies stuck in Africa waiting for the US government to come to it's senses. A bontebok and some elephant trophies. So a partial solution has presented itself and I took advantage of it! They have been moved to the Afton Guest House where I can at least enjoy them when I travel through Joburg. And I hope several of you can as well

Longer Version;
I've stayed at Afton a few times on my trips through Joburg. Africa Sky once, and just a hotel right at the airport a couple times, as well as flying right on through.

Always thought Afton has nice grounds and was an interesting place but was not impressed by the people more interested in sitting around smoking cigarettes than providing customer service. Recent reports are that this has all been corrected and cleaned up. In fact they now provide a full service from VIP at the airport, rifle permit service, as well as pickup and return between flights and lodging. Then added services around the hunt.

The last shipment I had out of Limpopo was a dip and pack handled by AHG Shipping. They were quite competitive. Africa Hunting Gazette, AHG Shipping, Afton House, and some other companies I'm not familiar with are all owned by Richard Lendrum. I believe he took ownership of Afton House in 2017. I've been staying in contact with him on WhatsApp so we are on line acquaintances and on line friends. I told him of my predicament with the trophies and he offered this option to me!

 

[Gemsbok45]

That’s where I would stay!

 

[K-man]

Good for you to have a place to store them! I would suggest a permanently attached label that says "on loan to... " so there is never a question as to ownership years from now.

 

[ActionBob]

Good for you to have a place to store them! I would suggest a permanently attached label that says "on loan to... " so there is never a question as to ownership years from now.

The tusks have serial numbers. But yea some name plates would be nice. Great suggestion

 

[Jonathan Kashouty]

Very generous of you. I have stayed there and enjoyed my steak dinner and staff/company!

 

[Randy F]

Well that’s just cool. Glad you have a solution for the interim. Best of luck in finally getting them home.

 

[ActionBob]

Very generous of you. I have stayed there and enjoyed my steak dinner and staff/company!

Glad you enjoyed your stay Jonathan!

 

[ActionBob]

Well that’s just cool. Glad you have a solution for the interim. Best of luck in finally getting them home.

Thanks Randy!!!

 

[jpomazi]

I'll be at the Afton house in about 3 days! I'll give them a good inspection! We've stayed at the Afton House all 5 times we have been to South Africa and they've always treated me well. I look forward to checking out your trophies ActionBob.

 

[ActionBob]

I'll be at the Afton house in about 3 days! I'll give them a good inspection! We've stayed at the Afton House all 5 times we have been to South Africa and they've always treated me well. I look forward to checking out your trophies ActionBob.

Cool! Looking forward to hearing how they are

 

[lwaters]

Does MisterX still work for them? I really nice guy that I heard was a tough time.

 

[R.M.C.]

Nice!!! Hope you can eventually get your stuff home. All of it looks great!!!

 

[BnC 04]

Outstanding idea Bob. Hope you get clearance to import in the near future.

 

[Royal27]

Definitely better than hidden away somewhere. Glad to see them Bob !

 

[Areaonereal]

Saw them last Wednesday and yes new management, very nice lady, Elise. Yes Mr X is alive well and doing it on the permits.

 

[Hunt anything]

I have stayed at Afton in the past and will again in the future. But would think twice about them handling my trophies again. AHG shipping took control of my last consignment in October of 2019 paid for shipping in January 2020 and they still had them in March 2020 when Covid hit. I finally got my trophies in June of 2021, after the price almost trip to what I had already paid. Mostly delayed because of permits expiring. That being said they were well looked after and arrived in perfect shape while I was in South Africa on another hunt.

 

[CAustin]

Short Version;
I've got a few trophies stuck in Africa waiting for the US government to come to it's senses. A bontebok and some elephant trophies. So a partial solution has presented itself and I took advantage of it! They have been moved to the Afton Guest House where I can at least enjoy them when I travel through Joburg. And I hope several of you can as well

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Longer Version;
I've stayed at Afton a few times on my trips through Joburg. Africa Sky once, and just a hotel right at the airport a couple times, as well as flying right on through.

Always thought Afton has nice grounds and was an interesting place but was not impressed by the people more interested in sitting around smoking cigarettes than providing customer service. Recent reports are that this has all been corrected and cleaned up. In fact they now provide a full service from VIP at the airport, rifle permit service, as well as pickup and return between flights and lodging. Then added services around the hunt.

The last shipment I had out of Limpopo was a dip and pack handled by AHG Shipping. They were quite competitive. Africa Hunting Gazette, AHG Shipping, Afton House, and some other companies I'm not familiar with are all owned by Richard Lendrum. I believe he took ownership of Afton House in 2017. I've been staying in contact with him on WhatsApp so we are on line acquaintances and on line friends. I told him of my predicament with the trophies and he offered this option to me!

Bob that’s really cool. Like you say you can go and visit your trophies from time to time

 

[ActionBob]

I have stayed at Afton in the past and will again in the future. But would think twice about them handling my trophies again. AHG shipping took control of my last consignment in October of 2019 paid for shipping in January 2020 and they still had them in March 2020 when Covid hit. I finally got my trophies in June of 2021, after the price almost trip to what I had already paid. Mostly delayed because of permits expiring. That being said they were well looked after and arrived in perfect shape while I was in South Africa on another hunt.

Why did it take from October to January to pay? No invoice sent to you earlier? Where the permits in hand in January when you paid? I know from experience that delays happen in all parts of the process getting trophies home from Africa. It can be the PH, the outfitter, landowner, agent on this side or over there, dip and pack or taxidermist, slow government people, and the shipping company or the anything else.....

The biggest issue I've had was that Bontebok. You may not have been on this site when Loodt Buckner of Tootabie Hunting Safaris showed up with all sorts of deals and got several members to hunt with him... Embarrassing to say, me too... He was so pompous about the permit being all ok in his learned experience of a few months in business that it was like conducting a mission to Mars to get him to understand the paperwork needs to pass US Agencies standards, not just RSA. There is a difference between export permits and import permits

And then he is the only person I remember having done business with who front loads all his advertising banners in his emails making them all look like junk mail. So after a whole lot of bullshit my import agent didn't catch it when he actually sent her (Rosella) the proper info. So it sat until the USFWS changed the status of imports on Bontebok.....

Africa can be very frustrating..... yet so wonderful

 

[Hunt anything]

very long story but the permits were current when they received my trophies but no invoice was sent to me, they kept saying they couldn’t find a flight. Saying several times that they had found flight but never sent an invoice . When they finally sent an invoice on 21 January they said had a flight on the 25th but my cites permit and a tops permits had expired. My import company (coppersmiths) and I started warning them in late December 2019 about the permits but they took no action on it. I don’t know if new permits could not be issued until the old ones expired, if so they could have told me about that. Both Richard and Rhys were very apologetic and professional about the whole situation but I felt communication could have been better.

 

[vancewalker007]

Does MisterX still work for them? I really nice guy that I heard was a tough time.

He does. He just helped us coming in and then going out of the airport.