Jumbos net million

11 June, 2010

GABORONE - The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) on Wednesday raked in P1.1 million from the sale of 18 elephants.

The auction sale was performed in Gaborone by the Kgale Auctioneers on behalf of the DWNP. The elephants sold will be hunted at the CT4 and CT7 control hunting areas in the Central District and NG8, NG9 as well as NG35 in the Nhabe area.

Reserve price for each elephant was perked at P10 000, but the lowest elephants went on to fetch P40 000 while the most expensive ones were bought for P95 000.

Rann Hunting Safaris produced the highest bid, buying the package of four elephants from NG35 for P95 000 per elephant. The company was also successful in its bid for three elephants in CT7 hunting area, making seven the total number of elephants they bought.

Other companies that managed to bid successfully were Friends of South Sahara who bought four elephants in CT4, Tholo Safaris (four elephants at NG8) and Derrick Brink Holdings (three elephants at NG9).

Only Botswana registered companies were allowed to bid for the animals.

DWNP Director Mr Trevor Mmopelwa said they were elated by the outcome of the sale. He said the animals were from the quota of 25 elephants they were given for the 2010 hunting season.

He said in total 400 elephants were availed for hunting this year, but a significant number of them went to community trusts.

The quota was for animals from concession areas not allocated to any community trust. Every year we ask for a quota which is then endorsed by CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Spices), he said.

The director said he was happy that many Batswana were showing interest in buying the elephants.

The head of CITES office in Botswana Mrs Diana Chimidza said they advertised the elephants for two weeks and 13 companies responded to the advertisements, saying ultimately 12 companies turned up for the auction.

It was a great response from companies and the enthusiasm that prevailed during the auction was just amazing. We were really excited by the outcome of the auction and to get P95 000 for the highest bid was just amazing, she said.

On why they decided to sell the elephants, she said they felt they have not been utilising their quota of elephants well. We felt it was time to generate more money using these elephants.

Mrs Chimidza said the elephants they had sold were trophy animals whose tusk weighed more than 11 kilograms.

She said the successful bidders will be free to hunt for the elephants from the day they acquire their hunting licenses until the end of November. BOPA

10,000 Pula is about $1,400 USD, whereas 95,000 is a little over $13,000 USD.

I wonder who the "Friends of South Sahara" is?

In any event, it sounds like Botswana is at least trying to manage their elephant population in a responsible, organized fashion. Good for them.

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Originally posted by Bill C:


In any event, it sounds like Botswana is at least trying to manage their elephant population in a responsible, organized fashion. Good for them.

Agreed. I heard Calitz bought some, and Greg Butler got a few in the auction on June 2nd, but don't know who the "Friends of South Sahara" is.

The hunting season begins each year on the 1st Tuesday in April and ends on the 3rd Tuesday in September.


Why is the hunting season extended to November for elephants (in this article) yet the hunting season ends in September?

Question please. Are these elephant then transported to hunt areas, basically for "put and take", or are they selling the opportunity to hunt them in the particular concession where they're located??

WannabeAnAfrican, that cannot be a serious question!

Dead serious.

I know a lot of concessions are located near parks, and have a shot at getting good jumbos that cross out of the park, but I really thought it was a case of 'you get a chance at whatever might show up that fits your requirements and quota'.

But I've not heard of "you (Mr. PH) have bought the rights to shoot this elephant". I'm guessing that these aren't canned hunts, but I don't understand how the system works?

quote:

or are they selling the opportunity to hunt them in the particular concession where they're located??

WB,

Yes! You have it right.

Mark

Thanks for the answer Mark. I always thought they leased the concession proper, and whatever animals that were there or wandered in were part of the deal, at least in free-range areas.

Just to provide some info, Johan Calitz managed to get CT4 via friends of South Sahara according to what i hear. Due to the delay in the auction date, national parks decided to extend the hunting season till the end of November(usually closes in sept)to be fair to the outfitters and give them a good chance of selling them. These are some truly great areas with a very good chance at an elephant of over 60 pounds. My own feeling is that the hunts will sell for around 30-35k all in which is excellent for Botswana.

quote:

He said in total 400 elephants were availed for hunting this year, but a significant number of them went to community trusts

Can anyone explain the community trusts mentioned here?
Thanks.