I am preparing for a South African Safari in May of 2014 and I need to know what permits, letters etc. I need to have to travel with my handguns to Eastern Cape province. I am hunting at Kubusi Safaris near Grahamstown - Booked thru EAI Outdoors. Any insight on the paperwork, gun cases and packing, ammo packing, etc. from those that have been there will be appreciated.
I am planning to take a scoped 358JDJ Contender and Redhawk 44 mag with a removable scope for iron sight use. Maybe a 2nd iron sight barrel for the T/C.

My suggestion is to have Gracy Travel arrange for your permits and get the concierge service, it's well worth the money. Your guns will have to be in a separate case on your return - that is the gun case cannot be contained within another piece of luggage. Don't pack ANY ammo in the same case as your guns. You will need a letter of invitation from your PH indicating that you will be handgun hunting to include with your permit application, you will need copies of your 4457 to send along with the permit application, a notorized copy of your passport to send along also. You'll need to take with you, your yellow card with the correct vaccine records. I have used a couple of different cases over the years and I like the Bear Track case, available from Freedom Arms the best - it's Ram tough and not too bulky even for a double case. I use a small pelican case for the ammo and within that MTM plastic boxes. You also cannot take two guns of the same caliber and you can take 2. I'm pretty sure you won't be allowed to bring in the 2nd barrel if you're also taking a Redhawk.

You can generate and print proof of membership in a handgun hunting association using the form on this site.
SAPS Association Letter

Gary,

Thanks for the great information. Am I permitted / required to lock the gun case and the ammo case? Is it permissible to pack other equipment in the gun case - knives, rangefinder, camera tripod, etc. I also assume that it is permissible for the (locked?) ammo case to be inside another piece of luggage. How many months before my trip should I submit the permit forms?

Congrats on your RSA trip. We hunted very near Grahamstown last fall. I'd recommend climbing stairs backwards so your quads will be accustom to going down steep declines. My legs were sore for a couple weeks afterward.

You'll need the South Africa Police form, SAP520, to import your firearms. Plus you'll need an "invitation" letter from your PH. And there's the 4457 US Customs form. As mentioned by Gary, using a service in getting your paperwork clear plus to meet you at the SAP office is worth the $100+ that it costs. First you'll know that your paperwork is squared away and eliminate one worry for a first time Africa hunter. Plus using the service, you'll get to go to the front of the line since you're paperwork is already cleared. That can save you from standing around a while if it's a busy time.

My gun case was too big to fit into another bag so I don't know if it's a problem in international travel or not. On your gun case, use locks that only you have access to and not the TSA versions. Inside my case I only had my guns and optics but don't think there's an issue with putting other stuff in there like binos, etc. (I took an Encore handgun, Ruger Super Redhawk and rifle.) You might confirm with your booking agent or outfitter to see if you need to have optics on your other handguns. I've heard it both ways. On the first trip I didn't have a scope on the Ruger but had one in the case and had no problems.

I don't know what your travel route might be but make sure that traveling with guns through the other country isn't a problem before you book. On our first trip we used AA (on air miles) but they wouldn't take guns through England (though it wasn't an England problem per se but AA didn't want to hassle with it.) We went through Madrid instead. The second trip we took Delta from ATL-JNB. I'm assuming from there that you'll be flying to Port Elizabeth and driving to Grahamstown?

No doubt lots of things are going through your head but you'll get them squared away and have a great time.

PHASA can help you with the paperwork. Looks like it's $140. We used them on our first trip in 2009. PHASA pre-issued permits.

You could use PHASA I suppose but I would rather have someone here in the states to talk with vs. someone there... Gracy Travel has employees in SA to take care of you once you're at the airport.

You can pack other items in with your guns but I personally put my cameras, binos, etc. in my carry on bag. The only thing of real value in my checked baggage is my ammo and my guns. The ammo case will have to be locked when you leave the US and I would lock it when I leave SA but they will cut the locks off the ammo so they can "inspect" it. Lock it and don't worry about it. They won't cut the locks off of the gun case. Same deal as flying in the US put your declaration that it's unloaded in the case and then lock it. Delta in SA has a manager handle your guns - it's an arrangement with Gracy as near as I can tell, which means give the Delta manager $20 or so as a gratuity. Tipping in that country is appreciated as is haggling with street vendors. It's actually kind of fun.

They are not issuing permits until about 24 hours before your arrival but the paperwork will need to be submitted about 30-45 days prior - if you're using a service. If you elect to go it on your own for the permits then nothing would surprise me. Just like you wouldn't expect to go to a western state and buy an over the counter tag for a draw hunt - don't underestimate the benefit of a little pre-planning with someone who is used to getting handgun permits approved even if it happens at the 11th hour.

We had no issues whatsoever. The only thing to watch out for are the scam artists in the airport outside of security. The easiest way out of being approached by these guys is to very explicitly tell them to F' Off and be a little aggressive in your tone. Don't insult them with any name calling but just give a good stern message that says leave me alone. Asking where their airport badge is usually gets their attention too.

On our way back the guys that took the guns inside to be checked against the registry were being subtle about asking for a tip by asking if I 'had anything else for them.' I just played hard of hearing and left. I've heard that it's illegal for them to ask for tips so this was their round-about way of asking for one.

Also, know you destination/gates in the airport. We arrived from Bloemfontein to JNB and had to collect our luggage, get the guns checked and onto our flight home. We got on the elevator with our meet-and-greet guy, Mr. X, along with two guys already in the elevator. They pushed the button for us when Mr. X said that we weren't going there. Suddenly they were all apologetic. It was suspected that they were going to take us to the basement and rip us off of our luggage, etc. Another plus for the meet-and-greet.

I would have to say that the airport is probably the most likely place to get ripped off. It can be a little chaotic and when you're not sure what to do or where to go then you look like prey and they are good at spotting that. Never turn your back on your belongings, especially outside of the secure area. Inside at JNB it's just like any other large airport.

I've read on some sites that South Africa requires your handguns need to be transported in an IATA approved gun case. Is this correct?

For local use, I have mine in an old style hard Samsonite briefcase (so it doesn't look like a gun case). I was thinking of fitting it with a high security internal locking system (security briefcase style) but won't do so if I need to buy a specific IATA approved case.

Don't know on that one as I took a Pelican two rifle case for my stuff. Yeah, it was large but it being hard to "miss" and obviously a gun case, it may be harder to sneak out of the airport by a thief. Dunno.

It was fairy expensive at $200 but it has handled two trips across the pond successfully plus bouncing around in the back of the safari buggy. Plus it is water proof being fully-gasketed so if it rains at your location the guns won't get wet and potentially rust before you can get to them.

I travel a lot with guns and based on my observations the airlines keeps a much closer eye on guns than they used to. It's not uncommon for your guns to be delivered to the baggage service desk and not just put on the belt. This is airport specific but they are trying to make sure nothing happens to them.

Here is more information from Ed Rymut at EAI Outdoors. EAI has a guy in Jburg that meets you and walks you through the gun permitting process in a similar manner that Gary described in his earlier post. I think it runs $100 for the service but it sounds like it is well worth it. As Gary said, If you do not know what you are doing, anything can happen.

Here is my gear for my SA safari:
TC Contender 14" in 358JDJ. 2x6 Bushnell 3200 elite scope
250 gr spire point loads

Ruger Redhawk 7.5". 44 mag. 4x. B&L scope. Removable so iron sights can be used. 300 gr. Hornady XTP loads.

I am booked to hunt June 1 - 8. 2014. At Kubusi Safari.

You won't have any troubles with that setup. I would highly recommend that you practice a lot off of shooting sticks that you use in the standing position.

Gary, thanks for the advice. I have a set of tripod sticks that I am practicing with. I bagged a few groundhogs using the sticks with my scoped K22 rig.

One month until my SA plains game safari. I fly out on May 29th. I can hardly wait. I have been dreaming of taking a big Kudu with a handgun for many years.

Billa,

I imagine there are a bunch of restless nights between now and June! Best of luck to you...

We'll be here, waiting impatiently for the full report!!!

What SC said x2!

Good luck, and shoot straight

l have an SKB case l have used for many years flying state side..lt has served me well...0ne trick l do after the TSA inspection is whip out a flattened roll of duct tape from my pocket(like McGiver)and wrap a couple turns around each end of the case...l tell them its in case the locks fail..True indeed..lt also discourages/alerts tampering...
Truth be known ,,l carry a flattened roll almost everywhere l go...lts been invaluable over the years..

Thanks for the tip on the tape. Duct tape and zip ties are always at hand for me too.

I have been putting off updating you all on my recent African safari. Well let me tell you it was an awesome trip that met my 30+ years of dreams and expectations. I am putting a few articles together for Gary to post and I do not want to give away too much of the good stuff until the articles are completed. One thing I will tell you is that the Contender in 358JDJ performed superbly. When I get the articles going I will start a new post to let you all know.

Congratulations on your dream hunt! Can't wait to read the articles.

Awesome. Cant wait. Look forward to hearing

Good luck to you on your dream hunt, can"t wait to hear the story of your hunt.

Best move you'll ever make is to engage the services of an agent who can arrange the pre-approval of your permits and do the 'meet and greet'. On my recent trip, the guys in the Police Firearms office already had my paperwork and were waiting for me. The whole process was very friendly and took less than 5 minutes. Nothing more complicated than checking the serial number and witnessing the signature. Friends who went a year earlier didn't arrange pre-approval and didn't hire an agent. Took them nearly 4 hours getting their permits (and that was for rifles).

I used Henry Durrheim at riflepermits.com to preregister my handgun licenses in Johannesburg. As was said earlier, the process took about 5 minutes. It was well worth the $100USD fee to avoid the delay and possible complications.

Looking forward to hearing about the trip .How did the 250 gr bullets preform and what brand were they? I shoot 180 gr Speer f.p.s and 200gr rem s.p s in my .358 jdj and both work well on deer.

I used Hornady Interlock 250 grain spire point bullets. They worked fantastic. 6 kills - all full penetration. I will write up the complete safari soon. For whitetails I have used 220 flat point Speer bullets for many years. Again, full penetration every time. I shot one once from chest to tail with dramatic results.

I finally posted part one of my story on my South African safari. Check it out on the Handgun Hunting articles page.