Latest African Hunter news letter mentions problems in the hunting industry there at the moment with various outfittters that lost their concessions back during the 2003 saga are stirring s**t to current concession holders. Politicians and influential business men involved in a tussle. Some bookings affected by this. Might spell trouble in the near future - hopefully not!

Welcome to Africa.

There appears to be a BIT OF a SAGA going on or more corectly IMHO (political infighting battle) between some interested parties, being PH/operators, some local chiefs, and the governemnt

The guests can make up their own mind as one never seems to know whom to believe in this wonderful world of intrigue, I guess it will be the courts whom decide, we can only hope they are impartial

Peter
----------------------

AHI News : Reply from Leopard Ridge Game Ranch director re Chief Nyalugwe's accusation
on 2006/6/30

When contacted for comment Ross Michelson declined to comment on the matter on the basis that legal action has been instituted against Chief Nyalugwe, in respect of the defamatory nature of the article and any comment would be premature.

In light of this and other articles published recently by the clearly biased POST newspaper, it is clearly apparent that there is serious discontent emanating from a previous group of concession holders who have been previously defeated in the courts in efforts to regain hunting concessions lost in tender allocations. These same individuals are now resorting to the use of unsuspecting officials and chiefs to do dirty work on their behalf to defame competitive players in the industry.

The various matters quoted in the article are being investigated by the authorities and when the outcome of the various disputes have been established then comment will be made by Michelson.
Michelson did however emphasize that he has no political connection with Guy Scott of the opposition Patriotic Front party and again this was another false ploy of the aggrieved parties to discredit him and his company as they had previously in respect of the accusation made in the POST newspaper of 21 April 2006 where a group of white farmers and safari operators were falsely accused of hatching a plot to destabilize the ruling party. This accusation has subsequently been established to have no substance.
The matter will be watched with interest
------------------------------------------

AHI News : Hunting In Zambia – Controversy Again on 2006/7/5 13:30:30

Recently we have covered various articles regarding issues regarding hunting in Zambia and it appears that there are serious underlying problems within the hunting industry within that country.
We contacted a correspondent in Zambia who has advised that there appears to be some deep rooted problems emanating from a disgruntled group of operators who previously controlled the industry in the previous allocation of safari hunting areas known as Game Management Areas (GMA) in Zambia. This very same group made serious efforts through the courts to derail the allocation of 5 prime GMAs in 2003 and rulings against them in the Supreme Court upheld the tender process and ruled against their effort.

Hunting has continued since this time (2003) albeit with many conflicting problems between groups that seems to be divided on matters of principle. In particular there was serious opposition to the allocation of the former pool shared Wetland areas – Bangweulu and Kafue Flats - where safari clientele were allowed the opportunity to hunt kafue lechwe, black lechwe and sitatunga through the operator with whom they may have hunted in a particular GMA in past years. This has now changed substantially and the very same group who intended to derail the hunting in 2003, managed through some dubious means to manipulate and be awarded the majority of the wetland areas by ZAWA. The only area they did not get awarded – Blue Lagoon - they have subsequently manipulated the owner to tow line with them and prices have been fixed at levels which now cost the visiting safari hunters exactly 100% more than when the animals could be purchased directly from ZAWA (the regulatory body of the wildlife sector in Zambia). These costs include elevated trophy prices and daily area charges for a time period in excess of the time required to hunt such animals with little or no infrastructure development such as camps and other facilities. One operator is known to not even have a bank account or tax number as stipulated in the Concession Agreement. This introduction of a middleman has had no effect other than increasing the cost of these highly sought after trophies to the visiting safari client. This effort has not even afforded the Wildlife Authority any substantial additional income. It has been noted that numerous operators have now refrained from offering these animals to their clients and in a number of instances clients have refused to pay the increased prices and cancelled hunts.

There too have been numerous articles of slander in the local press with regard to particular individuals and certain companies. These articles have covered allegations of plotting to overthrow the current government, illegal hunting methods and even more outrageous allegations of feeding hyena meat to local people. Our correspondent commented that the allegations of a meeting to plot the overthrow has proved to be totally false and it has come to light that false and malicious rumours were forwarded to unsuspecting very senior government officials who have abused their positions to further the efforts of this group to defame parties. In certain instances as requested by the group, Chief Nyalugwe of West Petauke GMA has solicited deportation of individuals who oppose the group’s views through the country’s President. Again such efforts appear to be through false rumours of political activity and other allegations for which the accused parties have already been found guilty even though the law has been ignored. We are informed that the Chief and the official who alleged the overthrow plot - Mr Chipoya (Presidential Private Secretary) - have been requested to retract these false statements or face legal action in respect of defamation. It would appear that these government officials are coerced into such activity and then left to carry the can when challenged by aggrieved individuals as in the case of both issues mentioned above.

Our comment is that the government departments involved should take a very careful look at what is going on within its hunting industry as there appears to be an element of corruption and coercion creeping in which could again plunge Zambia into controversy as it was in the late 1990’s and wretch the industry which raises substantial amounts of forex for conservation activities in the wildlife areas. Clients too, should also be very careful to evaluate who they are booking with and not be influenced by the malicious slander that seems to be doing the rounds in Zambia. These are the low down efforts of jealous individuals who possibly find it difficult to compete in a free and fair playing field and resort to the age old tactics of PULLING THE OPPOSITION DOWN by all dubious and malicious means available to them and manipulating unsuspecting government officials at all levels to achieve their sick goal