How to Game Plan for Commercial Flights.
As Murphy would have it our first client of the season had his baggage lost by a, to remain nameless, commercial airline carrier. Of course in the client’s bag he had all of his ammo, clothes and hunting boots. In our Niassa Concessions the quality of your footwear is of the utmost importance as there is plenty of walking to be done, especially while hunting jumbo and buff. The client had worn dress shoes, slacks and a dress shirt and this was, along with his firearm, all he showed up in camp with.
As our office staff scrambled to track down the clients bag; proper shoes, clothes and ammo were donated to his cause by our PH’s. With the buffalo hunt underway the search for the lost bag continued. Is it in Johannesburg, Lilongwe, Seattle or Atlanta? These were all places that the airline carrier told us they had located the bag. At one point they guaranteed us it was in Jo’burg and we made the decision to send a staff member from Maputo to collect it so we could then ship it up to the camp. After spending a full day there we returned empty handed. It ended up never having left Seattle, but this was only discovered when the client arrived home, needless to say with sore feet after walking in unfamiliar boots for 10 days.
Even though this client had a very successful hunt there were precautions that could have been taken to minimize the impact of the poor air carrier service. The bottom line is there are a lot of moving pieces to a safari and third parties are outside our, as operators, control. There are steps clients can take to game plan for these contingencies however. When it comes to checked baggage we recommend clients dividing evenly clothes, ammo and other personal effects between two bags. This way if one is lost there are identical items in another bag. This makes even more sense if you are hunting with a partner where each of you can put a box of ammo and change of clothes in the other’s bag.
For further assurance I personally carry-on a rucksack (backpack) with one change of clothes, personal effects and will either wear my hunting boots or also put them in this rucksack. This way I know that even if all of my bags are lost I at least have 1 change of clothes. The last step we recommend our clients take is at every change of flight go to the air carrier’s ticket counter and give them your baggage numbers so they are aware at least that they should be transferring your bag. This is especially true if you have to take multiple air carriers to get to your safari destination.
As operators we try and game plan for these mishaps as they are inevitable. We have spare clothes, boots and as many different calibres of ammo on hand as practical. We also try to have a contact person at each commercial airline our clients use. However, it is impossible to stock every size of shoe or calibre of ammo and even having a contact at the airlines provides no guarantee that a bag will be located quickly. These precautions are definitely not a fail-safe, but if the client prepares for the unexpected it will minimize the impact on his safari if baggage does go missing.
Until Next Time Good Hunting and Safe Travels!
Visit our website at www.safrique.net
Matt Hulley-Miller
MD Safrique, Mozambique
