Hi all ,

Looking at going next year,but am hearing rumours
They are going fully photographic from 2018

Any one else heard this??

Cheers

Nick

http://niassawilderness.com/


Nick,

See attached link and the video from approximately the three minute mark.

Another hit job on hunting. I have hunted the Niassa twice and the last time in 2016 we found a dead pregnant cow and 2 small elephants that were killed and left by poachers. They didn't even have ivory!!!!! You can't hire enough game scouts to patrol that area if you eliminate hunting. In Moz there are ivory poachers, tree poachers and mineral poachers most all of which are directly or indirectly funded by the Chinese.

If you want to hunt the most remote and beautiful place in Africa get off your tail and do it now because it won't last much longer at this rate!!!!!

It is true. As an Alternative I am looking at Cipanje Chetu a bit further west in Niassa.

Watched the video, it seems it's worse than I thought it talks
About all of Niassa stopping hunting,including Jumbos concessions
L6 and 5 as well.
Will need to look at other options it seems, unless it's a staged transition after 2018

It's not clear from the video , seems more like a vision statement or goal to raise the
$2m per annum to cover the costs they are receiving from hunting.

Cheers

Nick

Jumbo has no intention in swaping their hunting to donations as Luwire say they are

Glad we made it when we did. A magical piece of Africa.

Cheers
J&J

Guess I look at it a little bit differently. First off let's not throw Derek Littleton under the bus in light of the great job he has done in holding the line against poaching/encroachment in L7 over the years. 2nd there are not enough hunters/hunting revenue right now in the whole of Niassa and surrounds to secure its future. If L7 can successfully make the transition it would secure L7 along with the Niassa Lion Project (Colleen Begg) area. With these 2 core areas protected without hunting that would result in fewer hunting blocks and hopefully help them become sustainable.

My 2 cents.

Not throwing anyone under the bus,but
If they are ceasing hunting maybe they should put the message out clearly
To clients so we can make alternative arrangements,rather than finding out
on a video on Facebook

All
I've had contact with the outfitter and it seems that hunting will continue
For the next 2 years on half of the area. So seems 17/18 is still a go.

Cheers

Nick

Hi Guys, I see this video is causing considerable confusion. I'm sure this is due to the fact that this new donor based enterprise is calling themselves "Niassa Wilderness". This however does not mean that it applies to the whole of the Niassa Reserve. There are still hunting operators in the Reserve, and will be for the foreseeable future. I can see people are concerned. But be assured, they are not stopping hunting in all of the Niassa Reserve! The block in question is merely splitting their huge area in two (its the largest in the Reserve). The eastern section will no longer offer hunting or photo tourism - they will concentrate purely on donor-based anti-poaching. The western section is still hunting for the next two years at least. I've been operating out of there for the last 12 years and continue to do so. Furthermore I have been assured that they will honour my hunts there over this period. There is still great hunting to be had in this area - In my opinion its the best in the Reserve, and I speak from experience as I have hunted in many of them.

Also bear in mind the fact that this area is very remote, and extremely vast. The quotas are just not big enough to support the whole area and the essential anti-poaching obligations. The operator in this concession is putting in the biggest effort in the fight against poaching. Lets not forget that. I for one will try to support their hunting side, and keep hunting going in these places we are so fortunate to experience.

Hi Dave,
Will the hunting in the western portion be only on the west side of the main road into the park?

Ozhunter

It has been the policy for a long time to hunt the western portion. At times they did allow hunting east of the road, but this was for just a few hunters.

That area is so large that the camp in the central part of the concession and the most western camp still has lots of area in which to hunt. Unlike one of the adjoining concessions these are exclusive camps and rarely do they take all of their quota.

There are still a few hunts available this year and next. It is hoped that if it can be shown that hunting can help support the anti-poaching efforts the concession holders will continue to allow hunting. If these hunts aren't filled then it becomes increasingly attractive to look for other means to generate revenue.

Poaching has grown while hunting has been allowed in all the blocks. While many of us feel that hunting is helping keep out poachers you cant really blame someone for accepting millions in donations that will be used to fight poaching throughout the Niassa. Derek doesn't just do anti-poaching in his area his unit goes into the reserve as well.

John