Hunting Closed in Botswana and Zambia

[Riflesmith]

Had a good chat with a gunmaking friend yesterday and we talked about his recent SCI convention. During our conversation he mentioned that Botswana has closed all together and Zambia in certain areas. Anybody attend the show and hear the same story. I did google the story and came up with several stories. Although I was not immediately in the market for a safari it was in the plans for the next 5 years and if this is true I guess the pool just became a little more shallow.

 

[Longwalker]

Botswana has had a severe drought for years, and the game numbers have just "dried up". The closure was not "permanent" but was allegedly done as a conservation measure. i hope that was the real reason.
Zambia has been dealing with a different kind of disaster, corruption of government officials and some unscrupulous outfitters. Waaay to much favouritism, winking at the rules, bribery to get around game laws, etc. The government figured the only way to straighten out the mess was a full closure in some areas. Hope they straighten it out!

 

[legi0n]

what MUs are them in?

 

[Riflesmith]

I didn't want to talk out of turn as I really don't know too much about it but the word bribery was mentioned in our conversation. A couple of the stories I read on the net mentioned that the eco tourism market was putting in more money to the countries than hunting????? Can't believe that for a second!!

 

[Ardent]

what MUs are them in?

The best ones.

This is a shame and I certainly hope it is only temporary. I was there when Botswana was first contemplating the closure, 2010/2011, and it was a serious topic among the PH's and they were fearful. The Botswana closure came through awhile ago to my knowledge, but the Zambia news is startling and new to me, Zambia is some of the best African hunting left. Hope they can get things straightened out there.

 

[spooksar]

You can still hunt in Botswana on privite game ranchs, thought there is talk of curtailing this. As far as Zambia they only allow in certain areas SCI is working with the Zambian goverment on this. The biggest problems are poaching and corruption.