Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Click on the questions below to reveal the answers.
Should you not find your question or answer, please email your query through to us.
Answer:
Your Outfitter or Professional hunter will normally deliver your trophies to our premises. This service is normally stated in the terms of the hunting contact between you and your outfitter. We also have a collection service where we would drive around the country, collecting trophies from various individual outfitters. Please contact us in order to arrange a collection.
Answer:
Our current turnaround time is between 6 and 8 months after confirmation of your order. Orders consisting of dioramas, specialized mounts and pachyderms may take a bit longer.
Answer:
Confirmation of your order is reached when we have:
1. Received all your trophies
2. Received all your trophy instructions
3. Received the deposit for your order
Answer:
Trophies can be shipped by either air or sea to your home country. We will take care of the whole shipping process and will keep you informed on the progress of the shipment.
Answer:
Simply inform your outfitter or PH of your wish to send the trophies to Splitting Image Taxidermy. You can inform us before or shortly after you safari so we know to expect your trophies. We will make arrangements with our importer in Johannesburg and with your outfitter’s exporter in the country you hunted, to ship your trophies to us in South Africa. After the relevant export permits have been arranged by your PH, Outfitter and Exporter, the copies should be sent to us so we can apply for import permits to South Africa. Once all permits are in order, the shipment will be made.
Answer:
Splitting Image Taxidermy ships trophies by both air and by ocean.
If time is a factor, airfreight is the preferred way to ship your trophies. An air freighted crate of trophies will typically take between seven and fourteen days to transit from the shipping agent to your door. This is however affected by availability on the airliner’s side and the congestion at the port of entry.
On the other hand, if trophies are not time-sensitive shipping by ocean takes between eight and twelve weeks if delivered in the US and six to eight weeks to European destinations. As a rule ocean freight can be about twenty-five percent cheaper than air freight to selected destinations.
Answer:
Occasionally you will hear rumors of sea freight not being recommended due to moisture and humidity contamination in transit. This has never been our experience and considering the volumes of cargo shipped across the ocean by boats each year, including everything from electronics to clothing, we can assure you this is not much of an issue.
Answer:
There are good African taxidermists who do an excellent job and some American taxidermists who are fully capable of mounting any African game; and there are also equally poor ones on each continent. Splitting Image Taxidermy employs all the necessary skills to turn your hunting trophy into a taxidermy masterpiece.
What does hold some water is the cost issue. In many cases African taxidermists are much, much cheaper than their American counterparts; this is mostly because of the lower cost of labor in Africa. It certainly makes sense to have your work done here if the cost savings is great enough.
