British tourist fined for possession of hippo tooth

MAUN: In an incident that could have negative repercussions for tourism in Botswana, a British tourist was caught with a hippo tooth tucked in his bag at Maun International Airport (MIA) last week.

ByBONIFACE KEAKABETSE, Wed 29 Jan 2014, 17:04 pm (GMT +2)


The man, who has since flown back to his native country, appeared before the Maun Magistrates Court on Wednesday last week and pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing government trophies.

He was fined P1,000.

The Briton was caught after state security agents searched for government trophies in tourist luggages returning from safaris in the Okavango Delta and other tourism sites in Ngamiland.

The Acting Commander of Maun Police Station, Oarabile Hulela, told Mmegi that the tourist had visited Savuti safari camp in the delta.

Hulela said the Briton claimed he was not aware that taking government trophies was against the law in Botswana and that his tour guide did not warn him about it.

He had merely intended taking the tooth with him as a souvenir to show his family back home.

Ngamiland’s District Wildlife Coordinator, Bolt Othomile, has confirmed the incident.

Othomile revealed that similar searches were conducted at Makalamabedi, Setata and Dobe in the Okavango Sub-district in an operation that ended last Sunday.

This was part of a national operation of searching all tourists visiting Botswana tourist sites for government trophies. Othomile said he was not in a position to say what other trophies were found in the operation but noted that a report was being compiled.

He said under normal circumstances, tourists are scanned upon leaving MIA for the delta but do not undergo the same process when they return.

In the aftermath of the operation, tour operators and their clients were reportedly agitated by the search, with some tourists saying they would never return to Botswana.



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"government trophies"?

quote:

Originally posted by tendrams:
"government trophies"?

Not uncommon for African countries to deem all non hunting trophies/pick ups etc as Govt Trophies.