[Steve Franks]

I'm no expert, having spent only 7 weeks in two different hunts in RSA. I must disagree with the previous post on clothing. Gortex is really hot. Buy some rip stop OD green trousers and get long sleeve T shirts in the same color. If you go in June, July, or August, then plan on bringing a light jacket, cap with ear flaps for riding in the truck, and gloves. It's their winter time and it's rather cool. By 1030 hrs. you'll shed the jacket and the long sleeve T shirt will be plenty. If you are going in these months, don't worry about bugs. The only malarial zone is in the northern area and then it's a "maybe", in that area. My family doctor is aa old Africa hand and she checks with the CDC prior to each of my trips and sets me up with my med kit. That's where I have hunted twice and I take preventative malarial meds because I've seen what malaria does and I'd just as soon pass on that rodeo.

Camera. If you don't have a digital get one with a couple of extra memory cards. My last trip, 3000 pictures! With film that gets expensive. Once you return then you can decide what you want to get printed.

Buy yourself a set of Stoney Point Shooting Sticks (tripod model) and practice with them. Zero your rifle at the range your PH recommends, then forget the bench and start shooting off the sticks. I used 6" paper plates set at 100 yards and practice 2 shots with a timer. It aided in rapided reload though I only used it once, but this practice paid off. Practice, practice, and practice some more.

Ask your PH if he can take you by a taxidermists shop. Pictures in books are nice, but mine took me to a shop where I got to see what the animals "really" looked like, then he showed me where to hit them at different angles.

As for taxidermy, I found it cheaper, quicker, and better quality to have it mounted in RSA then to have it done in the US. This inclused shipping.

Buy and take a journal, then write in the darn thing! My first trip I wrote over 80 pages, the second over 120 pages.

I'm going back this summer to the Zambesi Valley for buffalo and hopefully a tuskless elephant for 21 days, then back to RSA to get my bush bucks. One more thing is once you go, you'll never be the same. My last trip, I took my wife and she said it was the best vacation of her life.