Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Africa Sky Guesthouse versus Rifle Permits

I’ve used rifle permits and it was all seamless. Kind of shocked to hear the negative reports of the Afton house. I’ve stayed there 3-4 times and always enjoyed it and the steaks were always great. I stayed at African Skies a few months ago, the wonderful couple that always met me at Afton were now working at African Skies! It was a wonderful surprise!

I stayed at the Afton house twice and used their meet and greet. It was just fine.

I have stayed at Africa Sky and used them for permits. Separate fees for each. Top notch service and accommodations.

Also, had them keep my firearms for 5 days while I went to Cape Town. When I returned to Johannesburg I went to Africa Sky picked up my firearms and went on safari. Flawless service. I recommend them highly.

Africa Sky has an American bank account as well. Makes it real easy to go to their bank (major bank with branches everywhere) and deposit funds in their account for your stay instead of wiring money through Swift Transfer. Couldn't be easier.

I’ll be on my first trip April 22 and will be staying at city lodge and using Henry at Rifle Permits. I will report back here when I get back and let u know how it goes.



Roy

I know Richard Lendrum from the African Hunting Gazette who has owned Alton Guest House since the previous owner retired. That's now several years. I have not used any guest house.

I stay at City Lodge at the airport. KLM arrives at about 10:00PM. After about 22hrs of travel, I'm not in the mood for a van ride to a guest house. A short walk to City Lodge is nice.

Air 2000 Hunters' Support has been to Calgary for various "African" shows. I met the owner Anne Gaines-Burrill so I have used her VIP Meet and Greet service and Rifle Permit service for both of my trips in 2014 and 2019. We will be using them again this April. Apéro has been the employee who I have met most. I have him walk us to City Lodge and in the morning back to the departure police station. After we clear the police, he drops us off at domestic security. On the trip back, either one of Hunters' Support's drivers escort us around Joberg, or Apéro meets us and takes us through the departure police station and through the departure procedure with KLM. Once through security, we've never had an issue with anything in the OR Tambo airport. I consider it my favorite airport, but I'm always escorted in the unsecured areas. There is nothing like having a black Afrikaans/ Xhosa speaking person escorting you. No issues.

Air 2000 also has small planes that you can charter if you desire. They have secure lockups for your rifles if you charter their planes.

I could apply for my own permit. It's not hard. I pay Hunters' Support for a pre-approved permit and their escort. It's worked so good, my wife has insisted we us them again.

If you're a milk shake person, you owe it yourself, once through security, to go to the "Mug and Bean" restaurant and order a lime milkshake. Glorious. They're the best place to get one.

Living in Calgary, KLM is the most convenient airline. We fly direct on the polar route to Amsterdam (Schipol airport). The plane is an Airbus A330-200 (during Covid, they used a Boeing 787. I'm disappointed they went back to the Airbus as I wanted to try a Dreamliner). In about 8.5 hours we're in Amsterdam. The layover is only 2hrs 20 Minutes. Then they fly a Boeing 777-300ER to Johannesburg. About 11.5hrs later we're there. The staff is professional, speak almost unaccented English and the food/snacks are decent. I have started ordering the vegetarian pasta dishes. That way I never get a tough meat dish (not that I have on KLM) and I theorize that my body will not get upset by the vegetarian pasta. Airline travel is hard enough on the body, I don't need gastric issues on top of everything else. This trip on the Amsterdam to Johannesburg leg and back, we've upgraded our seats to Economy Comfort. Wider seats and more legroom. Costs about $250 per person on each leg. If it's good enough for the XL Afrikaners, it should work for us. I can't sleep much on an airplane, but KLM has an excellent variety of entertainment.

So based on my limited experience of flying from western Canada, I recommend KLM (what other airline gets you from Calgary to Johannesburg in 22.5hr? No one.). I recommend Air 2000 Hunter's Support for VIP Meet and Greet (you're whisked through immigration while everyone else stands in line) and their pre-Approved Rifle Permit. Apéro is the right color and speaks the languages. He knows the police and going through SAPS is a breeze. I have him escort us to and from the City Lodge. City Lodge is very close to the SAPS station and is a nice (think Holiday Inn Express), reasonably priced hotel. Get a quick shower, go to bed and we're usually heading back to the airport by 8AM. We're probably only getting 5 hours in the bed, it's a quick turn around, then we're off to East London.

In April we're flying on Airlink to East London. The selection of airlines that fly firearms in the RSA is limited and now there is extra fees coming and going. If I go again, I may just use the outfitter's rifle. I need a Canadian export permit (free and you can do yourself, it just requires time to be approved), a Netherlands transit permit (free and you can do it yourself). The permit is usually not issued until a few days before you fly.) then I pay Hunter's Support for their rifle permit services. Now Airlink charges rifle fees. Taking my own rifle is getting expensive and it takes effort to get the permits.

I like using my own rifle and hand loads. It adds to the overall experience. However, I know Patrick has the "Dark Angel", his Musgrave Mauser chambered in 270Win, bedded in a synthetic stock, a locally made compact suppressor. The rifle wears a top end Zeiss 2-12 scope. It's a good rig. If I had half a brain, I'd just use it.

Remember, your international airline may also need to be informed in advance that you're travelling with a firearm. Make sure that your travel agent or yourself files the information the airline requirs. Otherwise, you will have issues at the check in desk. If I lived in the USA, I would use Gracy Travel or Travel With Guns or Travel Express. Living north of the 49th, it's too much hassle. Travel agents find it hard to book flights in the other country. The agents I used previously in Canada have retired. I asked some other previous SCI Calgary board members and they use Jennifer Wills. So that is who I am using this time. For whatever reason, Airlink was not allowing a Canadian credit card to book their flights. My outfitter booked the flights. If hé couldn't, I would have had Anne from Hunter's Support book the flights.


I am hunting for the third time with Hotfire Safaris. Patrick Fletcher is part owner and the outfitter/PH. After meeting him at the Sportsman Show in Calgary in 2013, it didn't take long for it to feel like he was a friend. I Skype him regularly. By now, he's like a younger brother. We communicate at a level that others find hard to follow. It's like our own language. We think the same. Patrick works hard to ensure this lame, aging dude gets nice animals.

I see that using the VIP service getting there gets u through immigration and such and then the gun service getting u through SAPS. We r having Henry at rifle permits to do both of these for us. He is also meeting us at city lodge in the morning to get us off to and checked into Airlink for our connecting flight. My question is……. On the return trip is it worth having him meet us back at airlink and back through the process? Do we need another VIP service again to get us back through immigration and to the delta counter to check guns and bags?

Thanks Roy

Regarding City Lodge: Do you just take your cased rifles to your room with you or are you obliged to store them in the hotel's secured facility?

Take 'em in the room with you.

The only difficulty I've had at OR Tambo is at check in at the Air France/KLM desk. The ticket agent said I had to check my ammo as a separate bag, even though KLM policy is that it can be in a suitcase.

I said my short argument that she was wrong. Then Apero stepped forward and spoke to her in Xhosa.
He couldn't talk sense into her, so he turned to me and said something very profound. "Just check the the ammo case, we're not going to win this argument." I was gearing up to further argue the point, but Apero's quiet advisement to me rejogged my thinking. What was my Pelican 1150 case and maybe 25-30 rounds and 30 empty cases really worth? $200? Was it worth potentially causing a disturbance and having an unwanted encounter with SAPS? I'm a minority in a foreign country. Their laws are different than Canada or the USA.

I checked the ammo case and it made it to Calgary. Both times I've had to check it.

I consider that Apero's advise saved me. He was a real asset to have.

Gonna try City Lodge next trip and I'm wondering the same thing.

You can take them to your room, but remember, rooms are easily entered. So keep and eye on them if you decide to go that route. Otherwise, they will be happy to lock them up for you. No big deal.

I never leave anything of value in any room anywhere in Africa. Important stuff is either locked up or in my backpack.

Remember, everywhere you travel in Africa, you're in the jungle.

Thanks. A buddy just pinged me back and said the same. I'll be having the hotel lock it up for the short time I'm there.