First Safari — Limpopo Plains Game

Length

5–7 days

Where

South Africa

Party size

1–6 hunters

Season

March to October

The safari we recommend to almost everyone making a first trip. Five to seven days on our 20,000-acre Limpopo property with a species list broad enough that you will take four to six animals. The lodge is on the ground itself, so no time is lost transferring, and a non-hunting partner is easy to accommodate.

How the week runs

You land in Johannesburg, and we collect you for the drive north to the property. That afternoon is for checking the rifle on the range and walking off the flight.

From there the days settle into a rhythm. Coffee before first light, out on the ground as it gets light enough to see, back to the lodge through the heat of the middle of the day, and out again from mid-afternoon until dark. Because the lodge sits on the property itself, there is no transfer eating into either end of the day — you step out of your room and you are already hunting.

Most hunters take their first animal on day one or day two. By the middle of the week you will have settled, and the animals you are passing on day five are ones you would have shot on day two.

Who it suits

This is the safari we recommend to almost everyone making a first trip to Africa, and we are not being modest about the others when we say so. Seven days and a broad species list means you learn how African hunting actually works — glassing, tracking, judging, shooting off sticks — across four to six animals rather than staking the whole trip on one.

It also suits a hunter coming back with a partner or a family member. The lodge is comfortable, the ground is varied, and a non-hunting guest has somewhere to be that is not a tent two hours from anywhere.

What to know before you book

Five days is tight and seven is comfortable. If kudu is the animal you care about most, take the seven and say so at the enquiry stage — a good bull can take three or four days on his own, and we would rather plan the week around him than have you discover on day five that you have run out of time.

The season runs March to October. June and July are the best of it. September and October are hot but the bush is at its most open.

What you would be hunting

Every animal below links to its own page, where the trophy judging, rifle and season are covered properly. The figures here are the same ones we would quote you in writing.

What is included

Your professional hunter, trackers and skinners, hunting vehicle and fuel, accommodation, all meals, laundry, standard drinks in camp, and field preparation of your trophies. We help arrange airport transfers, though the transport cost is for your account.

Not included: gratuities, trophy fees (including on any animal wounded but not recovered), dip and pack, shipping, taxidermy, charter flights, international flights and rifle rental. Each of these appears as its own line on your written proposal, so nothing arrives as a surprise. Full detail is on the what's included page.

On price

We do not publish prices. Trophy fees and government licence fees change annually, and a fourteen-day elephant hunt and a seven-day plains game safari are not comparable numbers. What we will do is send you a written proposal with the daily rate and every trophy fee itemised separately. Gratuities are never included and never expected; the tipping guide sets out sensible amounts if you would like to.

This is a starting point rather than a fixed menu. Most of our safaris end up as something between two of these.