Full Bag Safaris

Full Bag Safaris in Africa

Full bag safaris in Africa are somewhat of a rare occurrence in modern day Africa.  In the days of yesteryear, hunting safaris to Africa could stretch over several months.  At one time, there were no bag limits and a hunter could shoot as many animals of any particular species that they so desired.  As animal populations began to shrink due to over hunting, governments began to set quotas.  Today, the most big game animals that a hunter can expect to take is one animal of each species, except for Cape buffalo.  Furthermore, dangerous game hunting has evolved to where safaris to Africa are much more specialized than in the past.  One main big game species, and sometimes two are now considered the norm.  With mandatory and voluntary restrictions on taking male lions of six years of age or older, a lion hunting safari must devote its full efforts to securing a shot at a mature lion that meets this criteria.  Those seeking trophy animals of one species are much more likely to devote most of their hunting efforts to securing that one primary animal that they are targeting.

So what defines full bag safaris?   In modern Africa, full bag safars are considered to be safaris that allow a hunter to harvest one animal from each of the big five animals that are available in that country along with a full selection of available plains game.  To achieve a full bag safari for all of the big five animals of Africa in one country would require the hunt to take place in either South Africa or Namibia, as these are countries that allow the hunting of rhinos.  If you take the rhino out of the mix, several other countries fit the bill to offer full bag safaris.  Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Tanzania are three countries where this major hunting milestone can be reached.

Each of these three countries allows hunting for lions, leopards, elephants and Cape buffalo, although depending on the source country, the ivory from the elephants may not be importable into the US or other countries.  Zambia also can offer full bag safaris when cat hunting is open.  Taking  full bag safars in Africa is a dream that only a few fortunate hunters will get to experience.