How long has it been legal to hunt elephant in Zambezi and Hwange National parks? Is this a recent thing?

Seems to be very recent.

I e-mailed parks and asked them if it was legal. They have not responded. No big surprise. Someone probably stole the phone lines ... again.

Ganyana and Don Heath have weighed in on this recently.

I am still asking. Is this legal?

In terms of the Parks & Wildlife act chapter 20:14, no foreign national may shoot any animal in a national park except in self defense. No hunt for reward may be conducted in the park by a citizen.

There are hunts going on. There are parks letters out there - not that they confer legitimacy, but the parks officers on the ground are not blocking the hunts. The association is lodging details of any such hunts with the relevant embassy's here.

quote:

Originally posted by Ganyana:
In terms of the Parks & Wildlife act chapter 20:14, no foreign national may shoot any animal in a national park except in self defense. No hunt for reward may be conducted in the park by a citizen.

There are hunts going on. There are parks letters out there - not that they confer legitimacy, but the parks officers on the ground are not blocking the hunts. The association is lodging details of any such hunts with the relevant embassy's here.

So the permit that I saw a few days ago is at best "questionable" in legality? It was signed by Murucke or some spelling like that.

Fungayi Maroke.

If you were presented with a TR2 form, in your name and stamped by parks, then there can be no blame attached to you. You should have had a copy and had to sign it (in quintriplicate). If there was no TR2, then the hunt was illegal even by the fairly flimsy laws being enforced in Zim.

The permit I saw was a single sheet, stamped,signed and dated and made out in the name of a safari company. .

I cannot stress it enough to members of the forum. Please insist on inspecting the permit before the hunt, and do not pay over any extra money until you have been given the completed permit at the end of the hunt to sign. The Permit (TR2) must bear your name and the PH's and be signed stamped prior to the hunt starting by National Parks.

If you want to see your trophies timeously, then it is up to you to check that the PH has filled the (complex) form in correctly before you sign it and flick over the balance. As Taxidermy Ent and the other shipping agents/taxidermists will tell you, at least 50% of the delays are caused by incorect paperwork.

Dogleg- Since Canada doesn't have a Lacy act equivalent, you are nothing more than a ucky hunter who got a bargin. Savour it

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

I'm guessing that might be useful? Is it worth the paper it's printed on?

Don,
If you are on a PAC hunt and have no plans for taking anything other than pictures does this change the "rules"?
I was just offerd some cull hunts (up to 5 elephant) in the Vic Falls area and still need to confirm where it is to take place.
One of your field editors,
Camshaft

HiCm

Technically - for any foreign national to hunt anything i Zim, a TR2 form needs to be opened. It will list- the operator, the PH, the client and the area to be hunted. It will be signed and stamped by National Parks. At the end of the hunt, The client signs it and the operator is supposed to fill in the rest of the financial details- what has actually been shot etc. It is at this point that the forms get "fixed" on a PAC hunt.

I am aware many PH's don't bother with the paperwork at all if they are hunting in a council area. They have a permit- in the PH's name- for the elephant and leave it at that.

The problem for the client, is if anything goes wrong- He is hunting illegally, which opens him up to an interesting weight loss experience in one of our jails. Over the last elections one brit client got to spend five days in Tolotjo jail- without food or water- after the PH was accused of helping a white farmer "resist" some war veterans (BS, but still). There was no hunt authorisation- they were after a PAC ele, so the embassy and the association were powerless to help.

The parks permit posted above gives "permission" for a company to "assist" in the culls. It does not give the company permission to violate the parks act and take an unlicensed PH or LPH into the park and certainly doesn't give permission to take a client hunting in the park.

Approach with caution!

quote:

Originally posted by Don Heath:
HiCm

Technically - if anything goes wrong- He is hunting illegally, which opens him up to an interesting weight loss experience in one of our jails. Over the last elections one brit client got to spend five days in Tolotjo jail- without food or water-


Approach with caution!

This should be enough said.

quote:

Originally posted by Don Heath:
Over the last elections one brit client got to spend five days in Tolotjo jail- without food or water

Don

Can I ask if that was in any way related to the guy who came on here a short while ago and was offering hunts in the park?....... I seem to remember there was a Brit involved in that somewhere along the line.

Don,
Thanks for the spot-on advice and warnings.
Camshaft

Hi Steve

No. The PH is a mate of mine. Hunt was in a communal land but they drove through a farming area where there was some active trouble. Stoped for lunch at halfway house and were picked up for questioning. No TR2 for the client- and being a brit he was accused of being a british agent. PH had 3rnds for his rifle over his allocation. Here Kom Kak! They hadn't got to the council offices yet to pick up the council permit (in PH's name). No NP11 filled in when client arrived no TR2, and being a brit, he hadn't bought a rifle with him and was borrowing one locally. Took two months to get the landcruiser back out of the police- who had meanwhile used it for the next election!

Thanks Don,

It must have been a very unpleasant experience for him but I guess it could have been a lot worse! ....... he could have been sharing a cell with that poor bugger Simon Mann!

I was on the same hunt with Dogleg during which I shot a Croc. The PH judged it to be between 12 to 14 feet.As it turned out it was 9 ft.6".When I got home I was looking at Kevin Robertson,s The Perfect Shot where he states that in Zim 10 feet is the min. size to be legal. Is that correct am I in some trouble will I see this Croc again?

There are a general shortage of crocodile tags in zim. CITES have approved a quota of 200 but parks (for reasons incomprehensible) only issue 150 tags.

If it was a pre-allocated tag (001-100)- you should be able to ask them for the number . If it was one of the "pool" tags, nothing under 3m unless there happens to be left over tags.