It appears that the concessions in Zambia are classified as "Prime", "Secondary" and "Understocked". What does this mean?

Scott,

Isn't it obvious you only want to book a "Prime" area. The other areas have lower game densities because of no safari company presence in the past and lots of poaching etc. Some areas have great potential but have not been taken care of. Zambia is a wondeful safari destination but you have to be in the good areas just as you do in Tanzania etc.

Mark

O.K., what is the difference between secondary and understocked and what is the method used to make that determination?

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
O.K., what is the difference between secondary and understocked and what is the method used to make that determination?

Although not specifically answering your question direct ( this is interesting ) ADMADE provided information below, it might enlighten you and the guests somewhat as to how hunting is set up and carried out within the country.

Good reading, Peter
---------------------------

GMAs, Chiefdoms, Units, Hunting Blocks, and VAGs /

For people intimately familiar with the operation of the ADMADE program, the terms Game
Management Area, Unit, and Hunting Block can be, and often are, used interchangeably.

Indeed for many areas of Zambia these three terms refer to the very same geographic region. However to outsiders, and more importantly to a relational database, these terms need more precise definition.

GMA:

A Game Management Area is a geographic area, demarcated by the Government of Zambia, which has a special legal status specifying the permitted types of land uses. In ADMADE parlance, GMAs can house one or more ADMADE Units and one or more hunting blocks. These hunting blocks and units will often have the same name as the GMA, but are much different in terms of administrative function and data collection.

In the ADMADE Data Manager, no dataset is entered according to GMA, and hence they are not particularly significant except as a general reference term.

Chiefdom:

Chiefdoms are the boundaries of the traditional authorities. In the rural areas of Zambia where ADMADE operates, Chiefs maintain a considerable amount of authority. During ADMADE’s first 10 years, Chiefs had a significant impact on the success of the program, both good and bad. Although the role of Chiefs was changed to the mostly honorary position of patron in 1999, they remain quite instrumental in ADMADE activities.

Often, the name of a Unit or Hunting block is the same as the name of the local Chief, and they may be used inter-changably. For example, Lower Lumimba is often called Mwanya after the presiding chief. However no datasets in the
ADMADE Data Manager are directly tied to a chiefdom. Nevertheless the interpretation of data from the ADMADE Data Manager is often enhanced with knowledge of the history of the area and the Chief.

Hunting Block:

A Hunting Block is an area which is designated for legal hunting. Usually a single hunting block will fall within a single GMAs under the management of a single Unit, but some large GMAs have multiple hunting blocks.

There are also a few examples in depleted areas of a single hunting block being composed of non-contiguous areas across multiple GMAs.

A single hunting block which has enough wildlife to support hunting is “rented†by NPWS to a single operator, who pays a hefty concession fee for the privilege of hunting in that area. The operator will then contract a professional hunter to maintain a safari camp in the hunting block and guide safari clients.

In the database, safari hunting records (e.g., trophy size) are pegged to a hunting blocks, and financial data from the WCRF database (i.e., license sales) is entered according to hunting block. Although not all hunting blocks actively support hunting, they may still be listed because either (1) there are past safari hunting monitoring records for the hunting block, or (2) the WCRF database has records for the hunting block.

ADMADE Unit:

An ADMADE Unit, or simply Unit, is an administrative body which manages the wildlife within one or Game Management Areas. A Unit is usually defined by the presence of a Unit Leader, one or more scout camps, support staff, a separate base map, and data forms. Most Units are responsible for only one GMA, or frequently a fraction of a GMA, but there are a couple of examples where multiple GMAs and/or multiple hunting blocks are managed by a single Unit.

With the exception of safari hunting data which is entered according to hunting block, the majority of records in the ADMADE Data Manager are entered by Unit. These include the data on field patrols, staff, and camps.

VAG:

A Village Area Group is an area within an ADMADE Unit. VAGs are the most recent addition to the ADMADE geographic hierarchy, and were established to help ensure more equitable distribution of benefits and representation on management committees. A Unit will typically have 3-5 VAGs, but some have more.

As implementation of ADMADE in the field continues to evolve, it is envisioned that VAGs will play a greater role in resource management and providing community services. Subsequently move records in the database will be entered according to VAG. These include demography and community projects.

Peter,

Thanks for posting that. But, while a few minutes ago I thought I understood, now I am really confused. It will probably take a few readings to sort it out. Until then, what is ADMADE?

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
Peter,

Thanks for posting that. But, while a few minutes ago I thought I understood, now I am really confused. It will probably take a few readings to sort it out. Until then, what is ADMADE?

Yes it is a bit labour intensive (-:

And as you will see, things in AFRICA do still tend to work on a largly tribal like villiage structure.

To get POLITICAL for one moment,

That is why AFRICA is in a big mess today because the (British and other outsideres) whom unilaterally partitioned up parts of AFRICA in colonial times (stuffed up the tribal boundaries) to a large extent and caused the problems we see today.

I personaly have a lot of sympathy with the peoples of Africa whom have been manipulated by past and present rulers

To answer your question, what is ADMADE

ADMADE is a program (not a separate institution) of the Zambia Wildlife Authority (formerly known as the National Parks and Wildlife Services). The ultimate objective of ADMADE is to conserve wildlife in Game Management Areas through a partnership of the private safari hunting industry, government, and local communities. Operationally, a portion of the revenue from safari hunters is returned to the local communities through the Wildlife Conservation Revolving Fund (WCRF), who use the money for community development projects and law enforcement.

The primary level of structure in ADMADE is the Unit, which in most cases also corresponds to a single Game Management Area. As illustrated below, the ADMADE organizational design calls for a three-tiered structure of community based organizations within a Unit. Village Action Groups

(VAG) are comprised of elected representatives from a cluster of villages. Leadership of the VAG in turn belongs to Unit wide committees for financial management, community development, and resource management. These three management committees then make recommendations to the Community Resource Board, another elected body which has final say over how financial resources are used.

ADMADE is operational in about 22 of the 39 GMAs in Zambia. Training and oversight of the program is provided by the Nyamaluma Institute for Community Based Resource Management, a ZWA/NPWS training facility near Mfuwe in Eastern Province. The success of ADMADE in implementing its activities has varied significantly across GMAs. It is operating most successfully in about 12 GMAs, primarily in the Luangwa Valley. USAID, Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo), and World Wildlife Fund are the donors and NGOs have been the primary donors and NGOs active with ADMADE.

Peter

SBT, I think that the previous answers here are oversimplified. I just returned from the Lunga Luishwi concession and it is listed as a Secondary area. I had the same concerns and was told that the classification often meant that an area didn't have the same variety or was missing a few species. This may have been the case where I was since there were very few buffalo. However, there were huge quantities of other plains game and plenty of lion and leopard. The area also had no villages, so the poaching was low and you really had some remote and pristine wilderness. So, depending on your list of trophies, these secondary areas can be great. If nothing else, it would pay to check further before discounting the area copmpletely. Hope that helps and here is my hunt summary if you are interested:

Zambian Hunt

Thanks you guys. GL, from your descriptions, I think you ar right. It probably pays to as the outfitter alotof questions.