How to Plan for Your African Safari

How can you achieve your dream of hunting in Africa? And once you know you are going on safari, how do you prepare? As a neophyte to African hunting, I’ll share what I did right, what I did wrong, and in some cases almost did wrong.

One of my core beliefs is that “my direction determines my destination”. This simple but profound truth is like the law of gravity. Despite the wisdom in that statement, not everyone believes it. My hunting trip to Africa didn’t just happen by chance. So how at age 63 did I end up hunting in Africa, with Ron Spomer nonetheless?

My quest to go to Africa started with seeds planted by George Albro. In 2001, George hired my 13-year-old son to mow his property and do other odd chores. In exchange, George bought my son a .30-06 rifle, taught him how to shoot, and took him deer hunting. I wanted in on the fun and bought a Ruger M77 Mark II in .270 Winchester. We learned how to hunt whitetails, how to field dress game, and how to butcher it. George taught us how to reload.

George spoke longingly of wanting to get to Africa for some plains game hunts one day. Sadly, he passed away at age 55, his dream unfulfilled. That lit a fire under me, and I determined to go in honor of George as well as myself. I thought about him a lot during my recent trip to Africa, and this leads to my first point: GO! Don’t wait for the perfect time. Make the time. Make it happen while you still can. Here’s how:

Start taking steps now to go to Africa.

The trip may be far off, but if you don’t plan for it, you are not taking steps that will lead to your destination. Finances may be a big hurdle for some, but there are things you can do to make it happen. Do you know if you save $100 dollars per month for 10 years, at just a 4% interest rate compounded monthly, you will accumulate $14,874 dollars? Bump the rate of return to 10%, which has historically been attainable with equity investments, and the amount increases to $19,384 (compounded annually). If you take steps in this direction now and you will make progress toward paying for your trip. Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world! Remember your direction determines your destination.

You Don’t Need a Magnum Rifle or a Big Scope.

If you already shoot a magnum well, take it. But if you are hunting African plains game (even the larger antelope), a .270 Winchester or .30-06 is an excellent choice at reasonable hunting distances (out to 300 yards). Five of the six animals I shot with a .270 went down with one shot (four were one shot kills – two oryx, one impala, and one nyala). The sable I shot went down with one shot but required two extra shots to dispatch it quickly. The only animal that didn’t go down with one shot was my kudu, which took an extra shot, but even that animal was mortally wounded and didn’t go far before my second shot anchored it. It is more important to have a rifle you shoot well and can put a well-constructed bullet in the right place than a rifle you struggle to shoot because you fear the recoil. I’ve shouldered my .270 so many times, that I instinctively have a good cheek weld and sight picture. My familiarity with that rifle was comforting.

Using good bullets is important. I was using Nosler AccuBond LR (five animals) and a Nosler Partion (one animal). Ron used his beautiful Park West Arms SD 10 in 7 X57 Mauser and had excellent results with North Fork Bullets that had copper shanks and bonded lead nose cores. I got to film the shot of his oryx and his video explaining the kill and bullet performance. What an experience!

Renting a rifle from the outfitter may be a good option. Robert went with us, and he shot the outfitter’s 30-06 with a suppressor. It worked well for him. It is an attractive proposition to not have to hassle with taking your rifle. One advantage I had over Robert though, is my rifle is very light and I did a lot of walking with it. His rented 30-06 was much heavier, but he didn’t do nearly as much walking as I did. His rifle also had a suppressor, and he didn’t need to worry about hearing protection. In the end, I’m glad I took my own rifle, because now whenever I look at that rifle, I will remember the animals I shot in Nambia.

I almost made the mistake of thinking I needed a higher power scope than the Nikon 3x9 that has sat atop my rifle for over 20 plus years. I watched several African plains game hunting videos as part of my preparation. Some videos included shots of over 300 yards made using dialed turret scopes. Ron’s articles on understanding and using MPBR and a call to PH Werner von Seydlitz convinced me my scope was more than adequate. My longest shots were about 130-140 yards. Ron and I sat at a waterhole for parts of two days. I ranged the longest shot I would need to take at about 235 yards. I would have been very comfortable making that shot.

Practice BRASS

BRASS stands for breath, relax, aim in, check sight alignment, and squeeze the trigger. These are all elements you should practice before going hunting. As I approached each shot, I was thinking about each of these elements. Getting my breathing under control and letting it part way out to minimize rifle wobble becomes instinctive with practice. You might be wondering what the difference is when using a scope between “aim in” and “check sight alignment”. For me, I get on target, with “aim in”, but before I squeeze the trigger, I take one last look to make sure my cross hairs are where I want them to be. Finally, know your trigger well. My rifle originally had about a six-pound trigger pull (aka lawyer trigger) and it was awful. The rifle became much easier to shoot with a good trigger. But even with that awful trigger I could have shot that rifle well with practice. The key here is to continue to “squeeze” the trigger until it breaks and don’t lose your sight alignment.

One advantage about thinking about BRASS is I didn’t have time to get nervous having Ron film me shooting the impala and possibly miss! Forget about buck fever, I didn’t want Ron fever!

Know your animals.

Do you know the difference between a nyala and a lechwe? I didn’t. There were 33 animals (including the category birds) listed on Immenhof’s trophy fee schedule. I told my wife what animals I was most interested in, and she researched them and made me laminated cards so I could study them. This also got me into trouble. Trophy fees are based on the animal you shoot. I didn’t ask my wife to make a card for a southern sable, because it was one of the more expensive trophy fees on the list. So, what was the first animal I shot? A beautiful heavy horned black sable antelope. I learned something about myself that day. I’m a sinner saved by grace, and I say the following humorously and not in any way self-righteously. I’ve never gambled in my life, never done illicit drugs, and I’m only interested in one woman, but put a massive sable in my cross hairs and I lose all sense of reality!

Shoot a lot and most of it doesn’t have to cost you a dime.

It is frustrating to join a gun range and it closes two weeks after you join because it lost its range manager. That is what happened to me. While I shot my three hunting rifles a lot in 2023, I was just sighting in my rifle in February 2024 when this happened. I joined another gun range that had an indoor 100-yard range. This allowed for a good place to sight in my rifle (no wind at all), but it didn’t get me away from the bench. While I would have liked to shoot every weekend off shooting sticks at various distances, this wasn’t possible. My son, Zach, graciously took his old dad to land he has permission to deer hunt so we could bang steel plates. I used a BOG Death Grip for this session and was consistently hitting at 160 yards. I had one other outdoor session using quad shooting sticks at 100 yards. Despite not having a lot of live fire practice, I was able to regularly dry fire my rifle looking through my scope at distances out to 300 yards. This proved effective training as it improved my “lock” time when I was hunting.

You don’t have to take 60 cartridges to Africa! I knew I was taking more than needed, but half of that would have been about right. I used nine cartridges on game, and two to sight in upon arrival. I planned on reloading from the get-go, but I found factory rounds on sale. I hadn’t bought factory ammo for this rifle since it was brand new. I shot 20 of the factory loads in practice and then found bullets on sale and reloaded to get back to 60. I mostly shot my reloads on this trip because it is always more fun to have that be part of the experience. I spent more on ammo than I needed to, but now I just have a lot of it so I can go back!

Get in shape.

While I couldn’t shoot as much as I wanted, nothing stopped me from taking long walks. My longer walks were up to 7 miles sometimes split up between morning and evening sessions. There are two reasons to get in shape. One is that you will not be limited to shorter stalks and can better pursue game (e.g. think chasing zebras in mountainous territory). The other reason is your heart rate will not get as high and will recover faster if you are in shape, helping you to be a better shot.

Don’t be discouraged if physical limitations or time prevent you from being in good shape. Your PH will work with you, and while it might mean that your stalks are shorter or you spend more time stand hunting, you will still have a blast. But, if possible, get in shape. Get a good quality boot. I wore Kenetrex Slide Rock Hikers with good quality wools socks. They had excellent grip for the mountainous terrain we sometimes encountered and were tough enough to stand up to the many thorns that were prevalent in our hunting area. I logged many miles in the months leading up to my trip and they were well broken in.

You may already have some of the clothing and gear you need.

While I bought a TAG Safari Trail shirt, I already had a couple of cotton shirts in dark green in my closet that worked well. There are enough other things to spend money on, and clothing was a place where I didn’t need to buy new things. I also already owned Carhartt and Ridgecut cotton pants in dark gray and green that I use for mowing. These pants are relatively inexpensive and comfortable. Besides those items, a windbreaker jacket and hat were the only other clothing items I needed. I had a balaclava and gloves, but never took them out of the suitcase because it never got below the high 50’s.

I purchased a leather rifle cartridge wallet and a binocular harness to facilitate having quick access to cartridges and binoculars. My hunting binoculars (10X42MM) I’ve owned for more than 20 years were fine. I also brought along a range finder, more to tell me which shot was too far to shoot than any other reason. Bring a soft gun case to transport your firearm to and from the truck.

I used Axil EXCOR electronic ear plugs. These worked well for me, as I kept them in my ears the entire time of the stalk. They have a hearing enhancement mode and a hearing protection mode, which makes it nice to be able to hear things while wearing them. They do tend to whistle some when wearing them up top in the hunting vehicle, but I didn’t want to risk further hearing damage, so I left them in even when driving. However, on the last two hunting days, I started to wear earmuffs during the entire time of the stalk. One of the reasons I did this was because flies were constantly buzzing around my ears. I found it to be more comfortable to just wear earmuffs even though they were hot, than to have flies pestering me.

Don’t forget sunscreen and lip balm. I brought regular sunscreen, but not sunscreen for my lips. By day three this became a problem. I ended up putting lotion and some regular sunscreen on my lips. While not ideal, it did help.

Things to consider during your trip.

Have a flight plan.

The airlines have a flight plan and so should you. The flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was 16 plus hours. I wore compression socks to lower the chances of getting deep vein thrombosis. You are going to fall asleep sometime, and you need to support your neck. I used a travel pillow from Wander+ that worked well. An eye shield and earplugs are also useful. Bring on board your toothbrush, facial wipes to freshen up, and of course any medications you might need to take for the entire length of your trip. Although the flight attendants come around often, bring your own snacks on board. Enjoy the movies available on a long flight and bring something to read.

Listen to your PH and do what they say.

You may hunt a lot or a little, but do you hunt every day in Africa like the PHs do? They are incredibly good at finding game animals and have had a lot of experience or they would not be PHs. It’s ok to ask questions, but you are relying on them to not only have a good time, but also to keep you safe. Your job is to benefit from their experience so listen to what they have to say!

Shoot quick, but don’t rush the shot.

Plains game, particularly herds of springbok and impala, move around a lot. You need to be able to shoot quickly once the conditions are right. This includes the animal you target not moving much, with no animal right behind the animal you want to shoot. The animal moving into the right position might happen in an instant, quickly disappear, only to reappear a short time later. You also need to make sure you shoot the animal that your PH tells you to. Rushing the shot could result in targeting the wrong animal, a miss, or worse a wounded animal. If the shot doesn’t feel right or you feel rushed don’t take the shot! You will most likely get another opportunity and you probably won’t have to wait long before you are on another stalk.

Keep a diary and make a photo book.

Do you really think you will remember all the details from several days of hunting when you get back home? I couldn’t. Travel amnesia is a real thing! At the end of each hunt, I jotted down the things that made that hunt special. This included the animals that I saw, details about the stalks including those that were blown, what my guide told me, etc. You aren’t going to Africa to bring back the meat, so make sure you bring back the memories. I won’t get any trophies for at least 18 months, but I can relive the memories through these notes and photos. While it is nice to have photos on your phone or computer, consider creating a photo book for your coffee table. We recently did this through a company called “Journi” for a trip we took to Italy, and I’ve already asked my wife to do this for my Africa trip.

Destination arrived.

So how did I end up hunting with Ron Spomer in Africa? George planted the seed over 20 years ago. Werner von Seydlitz of Immenhof Hunting and Ron aired a video on January 3, 2024, that watered the seed and showed me it was possible. At the time I thought maybe in a couple of years I could do this. Ron closed the deal with a Facebook post on January 21, to private message him for details on a hunt planned for May 2-12 in Namibia. I told Ron several times it was very surreal to be hunting with him. He probably got tired of me saying it. But I went from my basement storage room where I reload and often watch his videos to hunting in Africa and having him film my shots. If that isn’t surreal, I don’t know what is!

However, this hunt did create some problems for me. Now I want to go back. My wife supports me in that and wants me to take my sons to Africa. Maybe we can do that in a couple of years. However, she also tells me she doesn’t want our house to look like Cabela’s so I will have a hard time convincing her that I need more trophies!

I wish you the best of success as you plan your future hunting trips. Below are several pictures from my trip that I will treasure forever, and I hope you enjoy seeing the beauty of African plains game animals.

How to Plan for Your African Safari

Test Your Riflescope Without Firing a Shot

Kamchatka Brown Bear Hunt