Hi all, while it is still fresh in my mind, I want to share a few thoughts for those planning thier first (or next ) Africa hunt...
I just returned (today) from the Eastern Cape, where my wife and I had a splendid first trip to Africa, mixing wifey things with about five days of hunting plains game with Jono McHugh and family of KIngsview Safari. I will jump to the most pertinent points for this note, as I hope to place a more detailed tale of our trip as more time allows.
First, use a travel agent! We used @TRAVEL EXPRESS to establish our travel plans. Money very wisely spent! about six days into the hunt we recieved notice that United had cancelled our flight due to fuel shortages at the Johannesburg Air port! this affected many flights and lord knows how many hunters, needing to make new travel plans as well as potentially needing more time for travels. I had talked with numerous individuals at the airport who had fellow hunters needing to cancel long planned hunts due to this. Luckily, as soon as we received the notice from United, I sent a note to Travel Express, our agent explaining the situation. LIterally within a couple hours Jen (the owner/agent) sent back a back up plan, departing on our original date but requiring another day for travel.
There is no way we could have handled this so quickly on our own, and it made the remaining days much more enjoyable not having to worry about it.
Second, Trip insurance!! I know many folks hate the expense, but airlines are notorious for hanging on to thier money despite the reason for giving it back. As well, we had the expense of an extra nights lodging in Jburg ( at the lovely, accomodating Afton House, who also picked us up at the airport, arranged a day tour of Jburg to help kill the time and deliver us to the airport for departure) as well asF another nights to stay in Newark after our late evening arrival with a five hour drive home. We havent completed all our insurance claim yet, but this is exactly the sort of event it is for.
In the mean time...just a teaser! I had for my hope list, Impala, Kudu (of course), a zebra for my wifes rug, and wart hog...which I really didnt care about unless a decent one came along. Nyala and blue wildebeest were on the back up/opportunity short list. Anyway...last evening, we were taking a casual stroll on Jono's ocean view concession looking at hogs, when at very last light this little piggy appears out of no where. For the first time in a week my PH gets excited! Long story short here, after a last minute last light stalk with me not even seeing the durn thing until the last moment, we were able to put this fellow into the pot. I am really pleased with all my animals, but the "didint care if I get one" wart hog became my favorite.
I just returned (today) from the Eastern Cape, where my wife and I had a splendid first trip to Africa, mixing wifey things with about five days of hunting plains game with Jono McHugh and family of KIngsview Safari. I will jump to the most pertinent points for this note, as I hope to place a more detailed tale of our trip as more time allows.
First, use a travel agent! We used @TRAVEL EXPRESS to establish our travel plans. Money very wisely spent! about six days into the hunt we recieved notice that United had cancelled our flight due to fuel shortages at the Johannesburg Air port! this affected many flights and lord knows how many hunters, needing to make new travel plans as well as potentially needing more time for travels. I had talked with numerous individuals at the airport who had fellow hunters needing to cancel long planned hunts due to this. Luckily, as soon as we received the notice from United, I sent a note to Travel Express, our agent explaining the situation. LIterally within a couple hours Jen (the owner/agent) sent back a back up plan, departing on our original date but requiring another day for travel.
There is no way we could have handled this so quickly on our own, and it made the remaining days much more enjoyable not having to worry about it.
Second, Trip insurance!! I know many folks hate the expense, but airlines are notorious for hanging on to thier money despite the reason for giving it back. As well, we had the expense of an extra nights lodging in Jburg ( at the lovely, accomodating Afton House, who also picked us up at the airport, arranged a day tour of Jburg to help kill the time and deliver us to the airport for departure) as well asF another nights to stay in Newark after our late evening arrival with a five hour drive home. We havent completed all our insurance claim yet, but this is exactly the sort of event it is for.
In the mean time...just a teaser! I had for my hope list, Impala, Kudu (of course), a zebra for my wifes rug, and wart hog...which I really didnt care about unless a decent one came along. Nyala and blue wildebeest were on the back up/opportunity short list. Anyway...last evening, we were taking a casual stroll on Jono's ocean view concession looking at hogs, when at very last light this little piggy appears out of no where. For the first time in a week my PH gets excited! Long story short here, after a last minute last light stalk with me not even seeing the durn thing until the last moment, we were able to put this fellow into the pot. I am really pleased with all my animals, but the "didint care if I get one" wart hog became my favorite.
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