https://news.mongabay.com/2019...conservation-system/

Extensive article, graphs and photos in link.

I read most of the report and the alignment of incentives and data shared seem to indicate that the hunting is conservation model is somewhat broken. Thank you for sharing.

Good food for discussion.

Well I read it with interest.

Having been to the conservancy numerous times,
The reporter has made a lot of misrepresentations,and misreported the situation grossly.!!

His agenda is clear , to stop hunting in conservancy areas, claiming that the schemes don’t work.

I can assure you that the very limited quotas of the main species of game, and the various game management initiatives of providing permanent water has enabled the game numbers to increase significantly in the years that I have visited!

I have been present on one of the game counts, and I can assure you the numbers have risen sharply.

Grobbler claims the past game counts show a decrease of game seen at the water holes in the evenings when the counts have taken place.

Simple truth is that there will be fewer game at the bore holes in times of massive rain fall!

When the main Nye Nye pan flooded , there was no vehicular access into about 1million acres of the conservancy. So what was the game numbers there???

In times of above average rain, the game dont need to come to the bores to drink!!!.

Since the solar bores have been installed by SMJ safaris, I have witnessed a very large increase in the numbers of both plains game ie Eland, giraffe, Roan etc.in fact there hadn’t been an eland taken in the conservancy for years!!!.
With the bores working, they took the first eland in 2016 and a couple more 2017 and 4 last season. All because of the operator providing water.

I have also witnessed oryx meat and kudu being delivered to villages in the area, as well as ele meat.

The villagers were most appreciative of all the meat provided!!!

The annual quotas on game species is very moderate indeed.

9 bull ele including own use,when the population base is 3000 plus(including ele herds coming in from adjoining Kaudum national park as well as Botswana border. All because of the water!!)

As to Hyena, SMJ gets just 2 on quota!!! In all my extensive travels in Southern Africa, I have never seen the amount of spotted Hyena as I have in Nye Nye.

As to Roanand Kudu ,the single digit quota is very light indeed based on what I have seen.

The model is working, and working well!!!

Don’t believe the fake news being purported!!!

Namibia is hands down leading the continent in Wildlife management.

Facts are facts.

If it pays , it stays!!!!

WR500...
I didn't read it as a hit piece really at all...perhaps a bit uniformed (i.e. Looking through the lens of a person who has no real understanding of wildlife) in certain aspects.
I thought they tried to do a pretty fair job with a lot of information.
You are almost certainly correct about game count numbers etc based on available water.
I'd also say the article was fair in ways about people hunting only primarily Big game and more plains game could absolutely be shot just to provide the meat. That seemed like a pretty good observation.
This was far from a pure propaganda article I thought