Airport Jo'burg weapon-importing as a hunting guest

[Rare Breed]

Six trips and use Henry's VIP service every time. I want someone on my side when I leave the plane thru customs baggage and SAPS.
Money spent is well worth it to me.
I always have the meet greet guy hang around until rifle case has made it to SAPS. One time after about 20 min my case had not showed up. He went and found it, brought a picture of it on his phone and said where it was. Then Riflepermits Anna got onto SAPS about it. It showed up in just a few min.
That's why it worth it to use Henry's service.

No question…penny wise pound foolish comes to mind for people trying to do things themselves…only takes one time of pain to realize this…just trying to save people from that pain after a 15-30 hour set of flights

 

[358 Norma]

I used Gracy Travel meet and greet service in June and Bruce handled all the paperwork. From the time of arrival until we were in the PH's truck was less then 1 hour. I would highly recommend Gracy Travel too book your flights and do the rifle import paperwork!

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

Does anyone have recent experience at Johannesburg airport customs/police with importing weapons?
Has anyone tried it without an “agent”?
Has it become more difficult than two years ago?
How were the tips?
Thank you for an answer
Foxi

its no different
no such thing as a tip or bribe
have your paperwork in order, be friendly, no problem

out of all my clients per year i would say about half do it themselves(with no hassle) and half use riflepermits.com
with a pre approved temp import permit u save probably 30-40 mins on average
if thats worth $150 and knowing the paperwork is sorted and no questions will be asked then i say go for it

if you happy to sort the papers yourself and have everything in order and you happy to wait 30-40 mins for your temp import permit to be approved then there is no problem

 

[AZDAVE]

I have been through twice this year, once with a transit permit in Sept and Hunted in south Africa in October. I use the service that Gracy travel provides. Both times I was in and out in under 5 minutes. The small amount of money it costs is cheap insurance if something goes wrong.

 

[Hogpatrol]

For those that do it yourself, what is your plan if the guns somehow don't arrive, either not on the same plane or on the next flight which may be a day later?

 

[Pablo]

My first trip to RSA was 20 years ago. My best friend and I flew Delta to JNB. Our bags and guns went to JFK even though they had fluorescent orange tags on them with our Outfitter’s address. Delta said they would be on the next flight that evening. Our plan? Our PH took us to a strip club. The girls found out we were from Texas. They liked us.
Sure enough, our stuff came in a few hours later. It was a long drive to Thabazimbi that night.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

For those that do it yourself, what is your plan if the guns somehow don't arrive, either not on the same plane or on the next flight which may be a day later?

This has happened to clients of mine many years ago
Wether u have a pre approved permit or not it doesnt guarentee your weapon shows up

The airline delivered the weapons to alldays the following day

 

[BeeMaa]

Our first trip flying into JNB, our outfitter did our SAP520 and we went to the front of the line. The agent behind the counter seemed more interested in the cash he’d just acquired than the serial numbers on our rifles.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

Never offered or paid a single ZAR

 

[Bandera]

We used the VIP service from Aftons. Mr X met us, walked us to the front of the line, in and out in very quick.
Our flight arrived in the evening. Having the VIP service was a plus as we where out of the airport and on the way very quickly.