This may be a ridiculous post, but was something that worried me while planning my hunt in Zimbabwe. While doing my research, I was amazed at the number of people complaining about "hidden costs" or the hunt exceeding the cost they had planned. Let's face it, not many of us can just book a safari at the drop of hat and leave without any financial planning. It took me years of planning and saving funds exclusively for the hunt I went on, which was a long shot from being a real expensive one.
Since posting the hunt report, I received a few PM's and emails asking about the costs. Not only the amounts, but what is included and how to figure those. There seems to be two ways to do this, a "package hunt" and one that is based on "daily rates and trophy fees".
Package Hunts
I did not choose this option, so I have no real experience and take this portion of the post with a grain of salt. What I came to conclude was package hunts typically include the daily rate for a certain number of days and a list of animals (trophy fees). This is rolled into one lump sum. Of the package hunts I inquired about in RSA, Namibia and Zimbabwe, these typically lasted for 5, 7, or 10 days and usually included a few highly sought after species (Kudu and Gemsbok or the like) and a few "lesser" plainsgame species (impala, bontebok, springbok, etc...). Any additional animals taken would be charged to you based on the trophy fee listed by the outfit you book with. Any additional days are charged at the outfit's stated "daily rate". Depending on the hunt you want and the animals you would like to hunt, these can be a very good deal, especially end of the season hunts.
Daily Rate and Trophy Fees
This is the type of hunt I booked. Basically you will hunt a certain number of days at an agreed to daily rate. Depending on the type of hunt booked, the daily rate can vary considerably. If you are booking a plainsgame hunt, the "daily rate" is x amount of dollars (varies depending on the outfitter, but all in a certain area are pretty competitively priced). If you are going after Sable, there is usually a slight increase in the daily rate over the normal plainsgame hunt. Also there is usually a minimum number of days required to be booked for sable. Depending on the other animals hunted, this may extend the minimum number of days booked. For instance, with HHK, they required a 10 day minimum to hunt Sable. However, if I wanted to hunt Nyala along with the Sable, that minimum number of days was extended to 12 days. For the more common animals like kudu, wildebeest, impala, giraffe, warthog, eland, etc... there was no extension required. I'm pretty sure each outfit will vary slightly in these requirements. This "daily rate" includes (or effectively buys you) a PH, Tracker, skinner, and camp staff (cook, waiter/server, laundry, and maintenance person to take care of the camp), a place to stay, food service (which typically includes in this price soft drinks, juice, beer and wine, but not hard liquor), water, transportation to and from the airport (if in driving distance to the airport) and to/from the hunting area each day. That's all. Think of it as your vacation hotel bill, gas bill, and food bill.
Obviously, the more remote the camp book into the greater the daily rate cost. Also, dangerous game animals will increase the daily rate costs. These increases are because it costs the outfit more in their costs to supply the camps than it does someplace closer to town or along a road system. If the outfit has to fly supplies in or, in effect, has to pay the PH more because of dangerous game, then those costs will be passed on to the client.
If someone is traveling with you, but will not be hunting, there is an "observer" rate they are billed for each day of the trip. Check to see what that rate may be. Typically runs from $150 for a plainsgame hunt to the sky is the limit depending on the activities the "observer" wants to do. Hunters wishing to share a PH are usually given a small break on the daily rate. Typcially this break isn't more than $50 per hunter per day, though.
Trophy fees
Each animal shot will cost you (whether recovered or not). The more rare or dangerous or sought after the animal, the more expensive it will be. The costs will run from $1 for each dove to an obscene amount for an Elephant. Plainsgame will typically run in the range of $150-$250 for an impala or warthog up to $2500-$3500 for something like Sable or roan. Of course there are some exceptions to this such as Mountain Nyala or Bongo running up to $10,000 or some ranch farms in Namibia or RSA having very low costs for others.
Depending on the country or area you hunt, these fees may vary or may not. On government concessions, for instance, the trophy fee for a kudu will be the same across the board. If you are hunting on private land, the fee for a kudu may be whatever the landowner requires.
Summary thus far...
So basically at this point we have a daily rate (which is based on the animals hunted) for a certain number of days and a trophy fee for each animal you want to hunt (only payable if you actually shoot the animal).
For instance, let's say the daily rate for a plainsgame hunt in a truly wild area that you want to go on is $500/day/client (this is just a number I made up, check with the outfit you are booking with for their daily rate!). The animals you are after require a 10 day minimum.
$500 daily rate x 10 days = $5000 per hunter.
Regardless whether you shoot anything or not, this cost is incurred.
Now you add the trophy fees for each animal you shoot (again these are numbers I made up, check with your outfitter!). Let's say you take greater kudu, eland, warthog, gemsbok and impala.
Kudu = $1,000
Eland = $1,000
Gemsbok = $1,000
Warthog = $250
Impala = $250
(gotta like those round numbers! Like I said, I just made these up).
So, your trophy fees add up to $3,500
Right now, your cost for a 10 day safari taking 5 incredible animals is $8,500 ($5,000 daily rate + $3,500 trophy fees). I will mention here this about the cost of a Dall Sheep hunt in Alaska for a non-resident.
Dip and Pack
To prepare the horns, skulls, and hides for crating and shipping, there is some work required. This fee varies from outfit to outfit, but let's give it a good round number of $500 for up to 10 animals. Again, this is a number I made up, check with your outfitter.
$8,500 total thus far + $500 dip and pack = $9,000.
Other Fees
That's not all the mandatory costs though. Some countries will charge a Value Added Tax or other government tax. I believe Tanzania and Botswana does this, as well as Zimbabwe. Check with your outfitter to see what this fee is.
In Zimbabwe it is 2% of the Daily Rate total + the Trophy Fee total. So, $8,500 x 2% = $170. Add this back to your total cost thus far ($9,000) and we get $9,170.
There may be other government fees besides the tax. Some countries charge a Visa processing fee, some charge a firearm import fee. Zimbabwe charged a $30 Visa Processing Fee. Make sure you check with your outfitter to see what fees may be charged by the various governments.
Visa Processing Fee = $30. Add that to the total thus far and we get $9,200.
Airfare
This can be as little as being free or it can be as much as whatever it costs to fly first class. If you have a credit card that gives you airline miles, you could have enough to book the round trip tickets. However, start trying to do this 11 months in advance. Apparently there are only one or two seats available to mileage customers per flight and these flights from JFK or Atlanta to Africa are gobbled up quickly. I started trying to use my mileage at 9 months out and had to pay full fare. I believe you can start 11 months out or 330 days, but check with a travel agent or your preferred airline to be sure. I don't know what the rates will be next year, but let's use flying from Atlanta as the example. A wild guess and fake number is a roundtrip will cost you about $2,000 in economy class if you don't get those mileage seats.
Now if you are hunting somewhere extremely wild or in two or more different concessions, you may have to charter a flight from your destination airport. Your outfitter or booking agent will let you know if that is required and what those costs are. Since we have been using a plainsgame hunt as an example, we won't get into these charter costs, but check to make sure.
Airfare for this example total $2,000.
Add this to our total thus far and get $9,200 + $2,000 air fare = $11,200.
Tips and gifts
I'll state flat out that if I could have afforded it, I would have given Steve (PH) and Dix (Tracker) the full cost of the safari as a tip. They were that good. However, I couldn't afford that and don't know anyone else that can either. Tips are a very personal thing and should be based on performance of the PH and staff. Some people choose to give none, no matter how good the safari goes. I believe if they earn it, they should be given a tip.
I think the suggested practice, at least from what I was able to uncover, is if the PH does a great job, to tip him about 10% of the total daily rate cost and the staff about 5%. Based on the performance of Steve, Dix, and the rest of the staff, I would have felt pretty bad doing that. A dangerous game hunt should probably be tipped more than a plainsgame affair. Like I said, though, this is a personal issue and do whatever you feel is fair. I will say this, the tipping process is a very formal affair at the end of your safari. You will personally hand out the tips to each person. I couldn't have looked them in the eye and shaken their hand if I had tried to scrimp on the tips. If talk to your PH a day or so before the tips are going to be handed out (or whenever you feel like it) and tell him the total amount you have available for the staff (remember the PH will be tipped seperately and I also tipped Dix seperately). The PH will then give you a suggested breakdown on who gets what amount. There is a definitely "pecking order" that should be followed. However, ultimately it is up to you. I did tip considerably more than the 10+5% and wish I could have done more. However, for the sake of coming up with a tip cost, let's call it an even 20% total of the daily rate (I like using good round numbers in examples!).
$5,000 (daily rate) x 20% = $1,000
Add this back to the total thus far and get $11,200 + $1,000 tip = $12,200.
Gifts should not be mistaken as part of the tip. Gifts are something you take over because you want to and should not decrease the amount of the tips! These do not have to be expensive items, but please do not take over junk. Leather gloves, caps, t-shirts, sharpening stones, leaving a box of ammo with the PH if your rifles are of the same chambering, maybe even a good quality inexpensive knife for the trackers, game scouts, and skinner. I wish I would have been able to contact my PH before leaving for Africa to see what I could bring over. There were a lot of things they could have used that would have been very inexpensive for me to bring over. Of course, every camp will have its own needs, so contacting the PH before leaving is a great way of finding that out if you can. Take over 5 or 6 lbs of hard candy and some small ziploc bags. Put a handful of the hard candies in the ziploc bag and pass out to the PH, trackers, game scouts before leaving the truck to start a still-hunt or stalk. When stopped to allow game settle down or to get a drink of water, pass the bag of candies around again to everyone. This keeps everyone's mouth moist and I guarantee you they will show their appreciation for that.
Again, please don't give them junk and please don't substitute the gifts for the tips. However, for the total cost, you may or may not want to include the cost of the gifts. If you don't want to take gifts over, you don't have to, but it is becoming a more accepted practice, especially in areas that are going through really hard times.
On many safaris, hard liquor is not included in the Daily Rate costs, even though beer and wine may be. Check with your booking agent or outfitter to be sure. If not, it is easier for you to pick up a bottle or two of whatever you would like (if you drink) at one of the major airports' duty free shops, because you won't be guaranteed they will have it on hand at camp. Most PH's drink and a nice bottle of their choice of poison makes a good gift for the PH. It's is kind of a safari custom to have a "sundowner" at the end of each day, or at least to celebrate a hard won trophy. The prices for alcohol vary so just substitute whatever the cost is for your favorite here. I won't include that cost.
Your Expenses
Even though these may be costs incurred because of the safari, they are indirect costs and of no consequence to the outfitter, PH, or other than yourself.
Medical
If you have any medications you need to take, you'll need to make sure you have enough for the entire trip. Also, depending on where you go, you might want to consider getting some preventative shots and medications. The CDC lists their preventative care recommendations at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/ . In their search box, just type in the country you wish to visit and you will get the recommendations.
For my hunt, on the advice of my doctor (who has been on more than a dozen safaris) and CDC's recommendations, I got 9 innoculations plus got prescriptions for medications to handle dysentary, a pain killer, and stomach unfriendlies. Trust me, you won't be used to the food they serve and, even though it is fantastic, it won't agree with you everyday. I had bouts of stomach problems as often as not, so packing something like Immodium is helpful as well. Also, even though you may not have allergies where you live, this will be a completely different environment, so some type of over the counter allergy medicine or anti-histamine may help you enjoy your time there more. Something like Cortizone, Cortaid, or Benedryl cream to put on bug bites is a good idea. Of course a small medical kit with a few bandaids, some sterile wipes to clean cuts is also a good idea. Don't put your hands or fingers in your mouth without first washing them! This a sure way to get sick from a virus or bacteria bug. I took over several packs of anti-bacterial Wet Ones handy wipes and they worked great.
The shots and prescriptions I got came to around $600 (including the physical and doctor's visit) here in Alaska. Many insurance companies will pick up the tab for this if the they realize it is preventative care.
The over the counter stuff, immodium, cortizone, allergy, bandaids, sterile wipes, etc... came to about $20.
It's a good idea to spray the clothes you will wear with some type of permenone or pyrithin (I have no idea how to spell it) tick repellent/killer. I did mine, but got tick bit before my luggage arrived (on day three) and now a month later am just getting over a tough bout of tick fever.
Carry some really strong bug dope, if the bugs are bad. I typically use Ben's 100 and Muskol 100% (both are more than 95% Deet) and that seems to work well. Fortunately, I was there in the dry season and the bugs weren't bad, except for the mopani flies and they don't bite. If you smoke, puffing on a cigar or cigarette is a bug deterrent. I don't smoke, but PH did and he never got bit.
You may have to purchase some clothes to hunt in. In Zimbabwe, camo is illegal except for the military. Dark tans, browns, dark greens, and dark grays are good colors. Depending on the time of year of your hunt, you might want to bring a jacket or pullover. This can be fairly expensive if you don't have proper clothes. Stay away from the Sportsman's Warehouse Safari shirts, the buttons won't last past the first washing.
I would recommend getting a real top-flite gun case. I used a Tuff-Pak and you could tell it had been abused terribly, but came through it all in great shape and my guns were in fine condition (didn't even have to adjust my scopes). I know there are other great guncases besides the Tuff-Pak, but it works wonderfully and doesn't look like a guncase, which I believe helps with so many anti's working the airports these days.
If you don't have a good camera, get one. I didn't take anywhere near as many pictures as I should have, but still had filled up 15 rolls of film in my 35mm camera and two 256mb sticks in my digital camera (3mb per shot). Film and processing costs are something that needs to be considered. I think I spent around $200 for the film stuff. About $150 for the two memory sticks in the digital camera.
There were no "hidden costs" and there weren't any costs that I wasn't aware of well in advance. Based on this post, and getting the numbers from your outfitter or booking agent, you should be well informed on what to expect for a safari you are planning.
Since posting the hunt report, I received a few PM's and emails asking about the costs. Not only the amounts, but what is included and how to figure those. There seems to be two ways to do this, a "package hunt" and one that is based on "daily rates and trophy fees".
Package Hunts
I did not choose this option, so I have no real experience and take this portion of the post with a grain of salt. What I came to conclude was package hunts typically include the daily rate for a certain number of days and a list of animals (trophy fees). This is rolled into one lump sum. Of the package hunts I inquired about in RSA, Namibia and Zimbabwe, these typically lasted for 5, 7, or 10 days and usually included a few highly sought after species (Kudu and Gemsbok or the like) and a few "lesser" plainsgame species (impala, bontebok, springbok, etc...). Any additional animals taken would be charged to you based on the trophy fee listed by the outfit you book with. Any additional days are charged at the outfit's stated "daily rate". Depending on the hunt you want and the animals you would like to hunt, these can be a very good deal, especially end of the season hunts.
Daily Rate and Trophy Fees
This is the type of hunt I booked. Basically you will hunt a certain number of days at an agreed to daily rate. Depending on the type of hunt booked, the daily rate can vary considerably. If you are booking a plainsgame hunt, the "daily rate" is x amount of dollars (varies depending on the outfitter, but all in a certain area are pretty competitively priced). If you are going after Sable, there is usually a slight increase in the daily rate over the normal plainsgame hunt. Also there is usually a minimum number of days required to be booked for sable. Depending on the other animals hunted, this may extend the minimum number of days booked. For instance, with HHK, they required a 10 day minimum to hunt Sable. However, if I wanted to hunt Nyala along with the Sable, that minimum number of days was extended to 12 days. For the more common animals like kudu, wildebeest, impala, giraffe, warthog, eland, etc... there was no extension required. I'm pretty sure each outfit will vary slightly in these requirements. This "daily rate" includes (or effectively buys you) a PH, Tracker, skinner, and camp staff (cook, waiter/server, laundry, and maintenance person to take care of the camp), a place to stay, food service (which typically includes in this price soft drinks, juice, beer and wine, but not hard liquor), water, transportation to and from the airport (if in driving distance to the airport) and to/from the hunting area each day. That's all. Think of it as your vacation hotel bill, gas bill, and food bill.
Obviously, the more remote the camp book into the greater the daily rate cost. Also, dangerous game animals will increase the daily rate costs. These increases are because it costs the outfit more in their costs to supply the camps than it does someplace closer to town or along a road system. If the outfit has to fly supplies in or, in effect, has to pay the PH more because of dangerous game, then those costs will be passed on to the client.
If someone is traveling with you, but will not be hunting, there is an "observer" rate they are billed for each day of the trip. Check to see what that rate may be. Typically runs from $150 for a plainsgame hunt to the sky is the limit depending on the activities the "observer" wants to do. Hunters wishing to share a PH are usually given a small break on the daily rate. Typcially this break isn't more than $50 per hunter per day, though.
Trophy fees
Each animal shot will cost you (whether recovered or not). The more rare or dangerous or sought after the animal, the more expensive it will be. The costs will run from $1 for each dove to an obscene amount for an Elephant. Plainsgame will typically run in the range of $150-$250 for an impala or warthog up to $2500-$3500 for something like Sable or roan. Of course there are some exceptions to this such as Mountain Nyala or Bongo running up to $10,000 or some ranch farms in Namibia or RSA having very low costs for others.
Depending on the country or area you hunt, these fees may vary or may not. On government concessions, for instance, the trophy fee for a kudu will be the same across the board. If you are hunting on private land, the fee for a kudu may be whatever the landowner requires.
Summary thus far...
So basically at this point we have a daily rate (which is based on the animals hunted) for a certain number of days and a trophy fee for each animal you want to hunt (only payable if you actually shoot the animal).
For instance, let's say the daily rate for a plainsgame hunt in a truly wild area that you want to go on is $500/day/client (this is just a number I made up, check with the outfit you are booking with for their daily rate!). The animals you are after require a 10 day minimum.
$500 daily rate x 10 days = $5000 per hunter.
Regardless whether you shoot anything or not, this cost is incurred.
Now you add the trophy fees for each animal you shoot (again these are numbers I made up, check with your outfitter!). Let's say you take greater kudu, eland, warthog, gemsbok and impala.
Kudu = $1,000
Eland = $1,000
Gemsbok = $1,000
Warthog = $250
Impala = $250
(gotta like those round numbers! Like I said, I just made these up).
So, your trophy fees add up to $3,500
Right now, your cost for a 10 day safari taking 5 incredible animals is $8,500 ($5,000 daily rate + $3,500 trophy fees). I will mention here this about the cost of a Dall Sheep hunt in Alaska for a non-resident.
Dip and Pack
To prepare the horns, skulls, and hides for crating and shipping, there is some work required. This fee varies from outfit to outfit, but let's give it a good round number of $500 for up to 10 animals. Again, this is a number I made up, check with your outfitter.
$8,500 total thus far + $500 dip and pack = $9,000.
Other Fees
That's not all the mandatory costs though. Some countries will charge a Value Added Tax or other government tax. I believe Tanzania and Botswana does this, as well as Zimbabwe. Check with your outfitter to see what this fee is.
In Zimbabwe it is 2% of the Daily Rate total + the Trophy Fee total. So, $8,500 x 2% = $170. Add this back to your total cost thus far ($9,000) and we get $9,170.
There may be other government fees besides the tax. Some countries charge a Visa processing fee, some charge a firearm import fee. Zimbabwe charged a $30 Visa Processing Fee. Make sure you check with your outfitter to see what fees may be charged by the various governments.
Visa Processing Fee = $30. Add that to the total thus far and we get $9,200.
Airfare
This can be as little as being free or it can be as much as whatever it costs to fly first class. If you have a credit card that gives you airline miles, you could have enough to book the round trip tickets. However, start trying to do this 11 months in advance. Apparently there are only one or two seats available to mileage customers per flight and these flights from JFK or Atlanta to Africa are gobbled up quickly. I started trying to use my mileage at 9 months out and had to pay full fare. I believe you can start 11 months out or 330 days, but check with a travel agent or your preferred airline to be sure. I don't know what the rates will be next year, but let's use flying from Atlanta as the example. A wild guess and fake number is a roundtrip will cost you about $2,000 in economy class if you don't get those mileage seats.
Now if you are hunting somewhere extremely wild or in two or more different concessions, you may have to charter a flight from your destination airport. Your outfitter or booking agent will let you know if that is required and what those costs are. Since we have been using a plainsgame hunt as an example, we won't get into these charter costs, but check to make sure.
Airfare for this example total $2,000.
Add this to our total thus far and get $9,200 + $2,000 air fare = $11,200.
Tips and gifts
I'll state flat out that if I could have afforded it, I would have given Steve (PH) and Dix (Tracker) the full cost of the safari as a tip. They were that good. However, I couldn't afford that and don't know anyone else that can either. Tips are a very personal thing and should be based on performance of the PH and staff. Some people choose to give none, no matter how good the safari goes. I believe if they earn it, they should be given a tip.
I think the suggested practice, at least from what I was able to uncover, is if the PH does a great job, to tip him about 10% of the total daily rate cost and the staff about 5%. Based on the performance of Steve, Dix, and the rest of the staff, I would have felt pretty bad doing that. A dangerous game hunt should probably be tipped more than a plainsgame affair. Like I said, though, this is a personal issue and do whatever you feel is fair. I will say this, the tipping process is a very formal affair at the end of your safari. You will personally hand out the tips to each person. I couldn't have looked them in the eye and shaken their hand if I had tried to scrimp on the tips. If talk to your PH a day or so before the tips are going to be handed out (or whenever you feel like it) and tell him the total amount you have available for the staff (remember the PH will be tipped seperately and I also tipped Dix seperately). The PH will then give you a suggested breakdown on who gets what amount. There is a definitely "pecking order" that should be followed. However, ultimately it is up to you. I did tip considerably more than the 10+5% and wish I could have done more. However, for the sake of coming up with a tip cost, let's call it an even 20% total of the daily rate (I like using good round numbers in examples!).
$5,000 (daily rate) x 20% = $1,000
Add this back to the total thus far and get $11,200 + $1,000 tip = $12,200.
Gifts should not be mistaken as part of the tip. Gifts are something you take over because you want to and should not decrease the amount of the tips! These do not have to be expensive items, but please do not take over junk. Leather gloves, caps, t-shirts, sharpening stones, leaving a box of ammo with the PH if your rifles are of the same chambering, maybe even a good quality inexpensive knife for the trackers, game scouts, and skinner. I wish I would have been able to contact my PH before leaving for Africa to see what I could bring over. There were a lot of things they could have used that would have been very inexpensive for me to bring over. Of course, every camp will have its own needs, so contacting the PH before leaving is a great way of finding that out if you can. Take over 5 or 6 lbs of hard candy and some small ziploc bags. Put a handful of the hard candies in the ziploc bag and pass out to the PH, trackers, game scouts before leaving the truck to start a still-hunt or stalk. When stopped to allow game settle down or to get a drink of water, pass the bag of candies around again to everyone. This keeps everyone's mouth moist and I guarantee you they will show their appreciation for that.
Again, please don't give them junk and please don't substitute the gifts for the tips. However, for the total cost, you may or may not want to include the cost of the gifts. If you don't want to take gifts over, you don't have to, but it is becoming a more accepted practice, especially in areas that are going through really hard times.
On many safaris, hard liquor is not included in the Daily Rate costs, even though beer and wine may be. Check with your booking agent or outfitter to be sure. If not, it is easier for you to pick up a bottle or two of whatever you would like (if you drink) at one of the major airports' duty free shops, because you won't be guaranteed they will have it on hand at camp. Most PH's drink and a nice bottle of their choice of poison makes a good gift for the PH. It's is kind of a safari custom to have a "sundowner" at the end of each day, or at least to celebrate a hard won trophy. The prices for alcohol vary so just substitute whatever the cost is for your favorite here. I won't include that cost.
Your Expenses
Even though these may be costs incurred because of the safari, they are indirect costs and of no consequence to the outfitter, PH, or other than yourself.
Medical
If you have any medications you need to take, you'll need to make sure you have enough for the entire trip. Also, depending on where you go, you might want to consider getting some preventative shots and medications. The CDC lists their preventative care recommendations at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/ . In their search box, just type in the country you wish to visit and you will get the recommendations.
For my hunt, on the advice of my doctor (who has been on more than a dozen safaris) and CDC's recommendations, I got 9 innoculations plus got prescriptions for medications to handle dysentary, a pain killer, and stomach unfriendlies. Trust me, you won't be used to the food they serve and, even though it is fantastic, it won't agree with you everyday. I had bouts of stomach problems as often as not, so packing something like Immodium is helpful as well. Also, even though you may not have allergies where you live, this will be a completely different environment, so some type of over the counter allergy medicine or anti-histamine may help you enjoy your time there more. Something like Cortizone, Cortaid, or Benedryl cream to put on bug bites is a good idea. Of course a small medical kit with a few bandaids, some sterile wipes to clean cuts is also a good idea. Don't put your hands or fingers in your mouth without first washing them! This a sure way to get sick from a virus or bacteria bug. I took over several packs of anti-bacterial Wet Ones handy wipes and they worked great.
The shots and prescriptions I got came to around $600 (including the physical and doctor's visit) here in Alaska. Many insurance companies will pick up the tab for this if the they realize it is preventative care.
The over the counter stuff, immodium, cortizone, allergy, bandaids, sterile wipes, etc... came to about $20.
It's a good idea to spray the clothes you will wear with some type of permenone or pyrithin (I have no idea how to spell it) tick repellent/killer. I did mine, but got tick bit before my luggage arrived (on day three) and now a month later am just getting over a tough bout of tick fever.
Carry some really strong bug dope, if the bugs are bad. I typically use Ben's 100 and Muskol 100% (both are more than 95% Deet) and that seems to work well. Fortunately, I was there in the dry season and the bugs weren't bad, except for the mopani flies and they don't bite. If you smoke, puffing on a cigar or cigarette is a bug deterrent. I don't smoke, but PH did and he never got bit.
You may have to purchase some clothes to hunt in. In Zimbabwe, camo is illegal except for the military. Dark tans, browns, dark greens, and dark grays are good colors. Depending on the time of year of your hunt, you might want to bring a jacket or pullover. This can be fairly expensive if you don't have proper clothes. Stay away from the Sportsman's Warehouse Safari shirts, the buttons won't last past the first washing.
I would recommend getting a real top-flite gun case. I used a Tuff-Pak and you could tell it had been abused terribly, but came through it all in great shape and my guns were in fine condition (didn't even have to adjust my scopes). I know there are other great guncases besides the Tuff-Pak, but it works wonderfully and doesn't look like a guncase, which I believe helps with so many anti's working the airports these days.
If you don't have a good camera, get one. I didn't take anywhere near as many pictures as I should have, but still had filled up 15 rolls of film in my 35mm camera and two 256mb sticks in my digital camera (3mb per shot). Film and processing costs are something that needs to be considered. I think I spent around $200 for the film stuff. About $150 for the two memory sticks in the digital camera.
There were no "hidden costs" and there weren't any costs that I wasn't aware of well in advance. Based on this post, and getting the numbers from your outfitter or booking agent, you should be well informed on what to expect for a safari you are planning.