Ballpark Figures, what does it cost to hunt Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Rhino, Hippo, Lion, Plains Game in 2024/2025.

[Northern Shooter]

I know that prices will tend to vary from Outfitter to Outfitter, ranch vs free-range and Country by Country. I'm looking for ballpark "typical" pricing for the above species to get a better understanding of how much to budget for.

I'd be interested to see South Africa Vs Not South Africa (Fenced vs Not Fenced) prices as well as hunt cost Vs total costs (including trophy fees, taxidermy, import/export etc). Do you generally double the listed hunt price for your all -in including the above and travel?

From what I am seeing it looks for the hunt itself you can hunt 5-7 plains game for under $10,000 USD, Cape Buffalo for around the $10,000 USD mark and the others being many multiples of those.

Does a lion hunt generally cost more than Buffalo? Rhino cost more than Elephant? Where does Hippo fit in?

Thank you,

 

[uplander01]

Easy answer, if you have 25k to spend you can have some fun, 35k, next level fun, 45k, you can be a baller......I don't travel in the crowd of guys that can spend more than that

 

[Rare Breed]

I know that prices will tend to vary from Outfitter to Outfitter, ranch vs free-range and Country by Country. I'm looking for ballpark "typical" pricing for the above species to get a better understanding of how much to budget for.

I'd be interested to see South Africa Vs Not South Africa (Fenced vs Not Fenced) prices as well as hunt cost Vs total costs (including trophy fees, taxidermy, import/export etc). Do you generally double the listed hunt price for your all -in including the above and travel?

From what I am seeing it looks for the hunt itself you can hunt 5-7 plains game for under $10,000 USD, Cape Buffalo for around the $10,000 USD mark and the others being many multiples of those.

Does a lion hunt generally cost more than Buffalo? Rhino cost more than Elephant? Where does Hippo fit in?

Thank you,

Nice thread but you might be opening a can of worms. Your pricing is good in SA for Buff and PG. In fact you can usually find a below 40 inch buff on deals for $8500. The keys are lion and Rhino. For a truly wild lion you will pay with baiting between $50-$70,000. You will see others on here have paid more. If on the other hand you did a CBT lion the cost is $6 to $12,000. For Rhino your only choice is SA. To kill one you can find de horned deals from $18-$20,000. For full horn you can find $25-$40,000. For dart hunts you can find $6-$7,000. For country’s like Zim for a 14 day hunt you will pay $8-$1,000 per day for day rates then $5-$7,500 for trophy fees for a buff, $4-$5,000 for a tuskless, $14-$30,000 for a bull elephant and $5-$15,000 for a leopard. I know the above costs since I have done most of these hunts certainly not all. Hope this is what you were looking for

 

[Northern Shooter]

Nice thread but you might be opening a can of worms. Your pricing is good in SA for Buff and PG. In fact you can usually find a below 40 inch buff on deals for $8500. The keys are lion and Rhino. For a truly wild lion you will pay with baiting between $50-$70,000. You will see others on here have paid more. If on the other hand you did a CBT lion the cost is $6 to $12,000. For Rhino your only choice is SA. To kill one you can find de horned deals from $18-$20,000. For full horn you can find $25-$40,000. For dart hunts you can find $6-$7,000. For country’s like Zim for a 14 day hunt you will pay $8-$1,000 per day for day rates then $5-$7,500 for trophy fees for a buff, $4-$5,000 for a tuskless, $14-$30,000 for a bull elephant and $5-$15,000 for a leopard. I know the above costs since I have done most of these hunts certainly not all. Hope this is what you were looking for

Thanks for that information.

What is a CBT lion?

 

[Rare Breed]

When you look at Tanzania and Zambia day rates can easily go to $2,000 per day. For elephant in Botswana all in for a 70-80 pounder $60-$80,000

 

[Rare Breed]

Thanks for that information.

What is a CBT lion?

sorry. lol!!! It is a pen raised lion that is released to be hunted. I believe it is CBL. It can be three days up to about 14 days before the hunt. It can be on large acreage or small. If you look up CBL you will find teams of debate on the ethics of doing this type hunt so please this is not a thread to debate. You asked a question and I used my experience to answer. I happily took my lion this way and loved it. I want to get the big 5 and only have my leopard remaining. I could never afford to pay for a wild lion as I checked on it with many outfitters. Nor could I do the Rhino kill. I had an incredible dart hunt for rhino where I fired the sleeping dart not a vida dart at just 20 yards truly an incredible experience and qualifies you for taking the big 5

 

[revturbo9967]

You are looking north of 150k for free range. You would probably run out of time, even on a 21 day hunt.

I wouldn’t entertain South Africa for any big five animals unless it was against Kruger

 

[Sarg]

Nice thread but you might be opening a can of worms. Your pricing is good in SA for Buff and PG. In fact you can usually find a below 40 inch buff on deals for $8500. The keys are lion and Rhino. For a truly wild lion you will pay with baiting between $50-$70,000. You will see others on here have paid more. If on the other hand you did a CBT lion the cost is $6 to $12,000. For Rhino your only choice is SA. To kill one you can find de horned deals from $18-$20,000. For full horn you can find $25-$40,000. For dart hunts you can find $6-$7,000. For country’s like Zim for a 14 day hunt you will pay $8-$1,000 per day for day rates then $5-$7,500 for trophy fees for a buff, $4-$5,000 for a tuskless, $14-$30,000 for a bull elephant and $5-$15,000 for a leopard. I know the above costs since I have done most of these hunts certainly not all. Hope this is what you were looking for

Great post, well done for helping out.

Just a point Rhino are hunted in Namibia also, it has a nice population of Black Rhino, permits are offered from time to time.

There is also some very good Big 5 hunting in SA & it doesn’t need to be adjacent to or open to Kruger !