In late January I got an email from Hannes telling me that he had arrived in Texas for his annual marketing visit to the United States.  He suggested that we talk on the phone while he was over here so that we could nail down any outstanding questions that I might have and just refamiliarize ourselves with one another.

That turned out to be easier said than done.  Hannes had a packed schedule, and my own availability was limited due to an especially heavy workload both at my office and around the house.  Although we tried several times to get in touch with each other, it wasn't until late March that we finally got to talk. 

I did not have a whole lot of questions left to ask Hannes.  In preparation for our call, I had racked my brains trying to organize my questions so as not too take too much of his time.  The main thing I wanted to make sure of was that we were in sync on my arrival date and time in Africa.  The last thing I wanted to happen was to arrive in Johannesburg only to find that there was no one there to meet me.  Hannes assured me that we were ok there.

Another thing I wanted to know was how much cash I needed to bring along on the trip.  I would need to be able to give tips to the staff, and surely I'd want to buy gifts for everyone back home.  Hannes told me that we'd most likely spend one afternoon shopping so that I could pick up curios for my friends and family, and that adding the tips on top of that I would not need to bring but about $300 to $500, most of which we would convert to rands once I was in Africa.  I decided at that point that I better double that and bring about a thousand in traveler checks just to be safe. 

Although I've picked out the five animals that I want to hunt the most, I told Hannes that I was pretty sure that I'd like to add one more animal once I got over there and got a look at things.  When I asked him how I would pay for any additional trophies, he said that the easiest thing would be for me to just wait until I got home then send a check for the trophy fee to Tim Macmanus.  If I chose to pay by credit card on the spot they'd have to add a 3% fee, and he urged me to try to avoid having to do it that way.  Fine with me!

As for tipping the staff, we talked about me just letting Hannes recommend the appropriate amount when the time came.  I also asked about whether or not I should bring gifts for the staff, and he said that it wasn't necessary but if I wanted to do it I should bring something small like hats, knives, or t-shirts. 

The only other question I had was about the balance due on my trip.  In March of 2006 I had sent Hannes a $5,000 deposit to cover all of my daily fees and most of the trophy fees.  There was still $1,850 outstanding to be paid, so I asked him when I should plan to pay that.  He said that I should probably just go ahead and send the balance to Tim and that way the entire safari would be paid for by the time I got to Africa.  I had no problem with doing that, but since none of my animals are guaranteed I wanted to confirm how we would handle it if the situation arose that I didn't get one of the species that I was paying for.

I could hear Hannes grinning as he answered my question.  He told me that he had added three new blocks of land to his concession this year, all of which looked fantastic for hunting.  In all probability, he said, I would get shot opportunities at everything on my list.  If for some reason I didn't get a certain animal, we could try for a different species or he would happily refund any excess trophy fees.  Just want I wanted to hear. 

With those things squared away, it was time to end our call.  I thanked Hannes for his time and couldn't help but grin myself when I told him "I guess the next time we speak it will be in Africa."