SAFARI PREPARATION

African Safaris lasting 7 to 15 hunting days should see you return with a good bag of trophies.

A good measure to work on is one trophy per day. More days means less pressure on everybody, a more relaxing time in Africa and usually more and better quality trophies!

We’ll personalise your hunt to suit your age, health and capabilities.

Our aim is to make your safari with us as pleasant, enjoyable and memorable as possible, and to give you real value for your money!
We strive to be exclusive. We thus try to book only one group at any one time!
The result is having the area to yourself, and all our attention is focused on your group. We’ll take you through an elaborate A to Z prep process that covers everything in detail once you book a Safari with us. The following are only guidelines!

+ Travel Information

Direct flights from the USA and Europe will take you to Johannesburg International Airport, South Africa. Your African safari starts after clearing Customs when we personally meet you on arrival.
Dependoing on when your flight arrives, we then travel to our hunting area by car, to arrive at HARLOO Camp as soon as possible.

+ Clothing, Health and Climate

May to September is generally warm and sunny (80F to 90F) during the day and crisp (40F to 50F) at night. From October it becomes warmer.
Rugged informal wear in neutral shades such as khaki or dark green is recommended, and warm clothing is necessary for the evening and early mornings.
Three sets of clothing, comfortable, durable and supporting shoes and a hat are essential.
Remember personal items e.g. binoculars, camera, film, flashlight, water bottle, tick repellent etc.

PS! Sophisticated medical facilities are available in the nearby town of Pongola in the unlikely event of an emergency, only 14 miles away or 15 minutes by car - a consideration!!

+ Flights, arrival itinerary and a few tips

Flights from the USA depart from JFK, Atlanta or Washington DC.
Get quotes from DELTA and SAA (South African Airways) for direct flights.
Delta usually arrives at 17:30pm and after clearing customs it usually makes sense to sleep over. We will meet you and organize a nice reasonable place to stay.
SAA usually lands at 08:40am. We then depart for Harloo after clearing customs.
You will LOSE approx. 7 hours time zone from the USA (ET) to South Africa.
We will personally meet you at Johannesburg International on arrival at the customs gun clearing office or if you don't have a firearm, at the arrivals terminal.
We will then drive to Harloo approx. 460 km (280mi.) in an Easterly direction and it will take approx. 4 hours.
Durban is also much closer with a nice 3 hour drive to Harloo.
You can also consider a connecting flight to Richards Bay. The drive from there takes less than 2 hours.
Arrive at camp in afternoon, unpack, and if we feel OK take a few shots to check rifles. If it’s early enough, we can start hunting!

+ What to remember for your Safari

Passport
Airline tickets (make sure of the different time zones departing times)
Documentation: Harloo's details, our contract and deals and promises we made regarding Permits and licenses for your gun!
Money! e.g. if $10 000 take 80% Travellers cheques (TT) in $100 and $50, and the rest in various denominations ($100, $50, $20) cash.
Pouch for your money, valuables, passports, cash and documents to carry on yourself.
Kit bag - nice for taking back curios and souvenirs. Use it here to keep your camera, ammo, bino, jacket, gloves, and goodies together while hunting?
Binoculars - a good pair if you can carry, 8x or stronger to spot game with. We do most of the spotting so if you don’t have the ideal one, don’t go and buy one especially!
Knives although our skinners have theirs and it isn’t necessary.
Water bottle and sunglasses is always a good idea.
Torch or Flashlight e.g. Maglite for every person in the party at camp is essential.
Hat to give adequate protection from the sun, as well as sun block if skin is sensitive.
Boots - a pair of comfortable, ankle supporting hunting boots for protection over rough terrain. (for the hunter)
Slops or running shoes that is comfortable to fly with and relax with around camp. (ideal for non hunters not walking too much in bush)
Socks - at least 4 pairs of hiking socks to suit your boots
Undies (underwear) of course.
Warm stuff - a long sleeve warm jacket, a pair of warm gloves as well as a sweater if it’s not very cold. (could get cold on back of hunting vehicle)
Shirts - three pairs of short or long sleeve hunting shirts made of strong non woolly cloth that won’t hook onto thorns. (khaki, cammo or dull colours will be fine)
Trousers - three pairs of short or long pants or a split for hunting made of strong non woolly cloth. (khaki, cammo or dull colours will be fine). Most people hunt with longs as protection from ticks, scratches, brush, if we crawl etc. but it is for you to decide.
Rain gear although it’s not rainy season but just in case.
Toiletries, personal medicines, tick repellant and an antihistamine for bites and itches.
Ammo - approx. 50 rounds should be enough. If you reload yourself, DO NOT bring ammo in green reloading plastic boxes. Put them in original store packing, even if worn or second-hand. Printed box must indicate calibre etc.
Guns - see section on Importation of Firearms into South Africa

+ Important Notice

As every travelling hunter would like to hunt with his/her firearms we are there to make it easy and stress free to bring your rifles into South Africa and beyond. Please visit our website for detailed information. Remember we need all the required documents at least 30 days prior to your hunt, so it is never to early to start the process!

Important Notice for US hunters:

You can download the new CBP4457 customs form from our website. This is only a blank form, you need to take your rifles to your nearest customs office for the form to be completed, signed and stamped by US customs. Visit this link to download the new form:
Click Here