Was on South Africa Safari in August
Tyra,
Like the title says, I spent 9 days in South Africa in August this year. I was fortunate to take 5 animals and had a blast.
When it comes to mounting your trophies, I can tell you the only advantage to having them "prep" your trophies and ship them to the US (cost wise) is that you can spread out the mounting and thus the cost over a longer period of time. Originally I was going to do what you are proposing but after looking at the costs, I am having the animals completely done there and the finished trophies shipped to me.
Here is one example. On my Bushbuck which I wanted done in a shoulder mount, the raw prep price was $107 and I was still looking at $500 for a reputable taxidermist in the US to do the mount.
Life-Form Taxidermy in S. Africa is doing the complete shoulder mount for $605.
Now, the shipping would be the same because it is based on weight of the container and they can't give you a price on that until it is ready to be shipped as shipping rates change regularly based on air vs. sea travel, fuel costs, etc.
I can tell you the cost for my 5 animals:
Bushbuck shoulder mount & tanned backskin
Impala shoulder mount
Warthog European mount on wood plaque
Wildebeest European mount on wood plaque & tail swish
Zebra Full skin rug with felt backing
was approx $2600
It takes approximately a year for Life - Form to complete the mounts so I have about a year to pay the bill. Again, I still don't know what the shipping cost from S. Africa to me will be.
Some final thoughts on the taxidermy. The taxidermists in S. Africa (at least Life - Form) make their own animal models. They are familiar with the African Animals and do absolutely stunning work. I had to search quite a few taxidermists in the US to find some that have experience working with African animals. Also when you receive the skulls & skins (assuming you decide to got that way) they are soaked and have to be kept frozen to preserve them for any period of time before mounting, so you may want to have them shipped directly to your taxidermist in the US.
Hope this helps you out and if you want a great outfitter recommendation, hit me with a PM....