https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/t...sparks-fears-3671164



The CitizenNews
Auction of hunting blocks sparks fears
MONDAY JANUARY 03 2022


Summary
Some local companies say they were so affected by the Covid-19 pandemic that they will not be able to compete with their foreign counterparts in the auction


By Zephania Ubwani
More by this Author

Arusha. Locals involved in hunting tourism have expressed fears over the possibility of losing blocks which are scheduled to be auctioned starting next week.

The Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (Tawa) announced last month that it will sell 75 hunting blocks within Game Reserves (GRs), Game Controlled Areas (GCAs) and Open Areas (OAs) that are immediately available for electronic auctioning (e-auctioning).

Some of these blocks are currently possessed by local companies which now fear they will lose their business to foreign firms which they say have financial muscles.

Some of the owners say they were so affected by Covid-19 pandemic that they will not be able to compete with the foreign companies.

One of the tourism hunting block operators, Dr Ricky Abdallah, advise the government to halt auctioning of some 49 blocks which are under locals and instead, auction only vacant blocks.

“We are pleading with the government to postpone the planned auction because most locals will lose the business. We have no muscle now to compete with big firms,” he said.



Dr Abdallah, who claims to have been in the hunting business for 29 years now, says the Tanzania Hunting Operators Association (Tahoa) has already written to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to request postponing of the auction and have dialogue with the operators.

“We are not against auctioning but we want our share retained. The auction can be postponed so that we also prepare to participate. The locals have played a great role to protect and reserve the animals in these blocks which are now likely to go with big firms which have financial muscles. Local participation should be considered,” he said.

An official with Tahoa who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the locals had contributed enough to protect animals and environment but they would now be evicted to pave the way for new companies.

Another operator, Mr John Mallya, requested the government to make sure that the new foreign operators form partnerships with the local hunting companies to ensure the local content.

“We are not against the government plan but we want to continue participating in the hunting business. Let’s have dialogue,” he said.

According to him, the government should aim to get more money from people who come to hunt instead of asking the block operators to pay heavily.

Speaking during a meeting with hunting operators recently, the acting conservation commissioner of Tawa, Mr Mabula Misungwi, allayed the fears of the operators, saying the government wanted to increase transparency and collections from tourist hunting.

Tawa head of public relations and communications, Waha Twaibu said yesterday that the announced auction is still as planned. “I have no any information of halting or postponing the auction. I request the hunting operators to get ready for the coming auction,” he said.

The auctioning will commence on January 12, 2022, and will last for seven consecutive days.

Eligible hunting companies can be allocated up to five hunting blocks each, which shall be of different categories. The tenure of ownership of hunting blocks shall be 10 years for Category I and II hunting blocks and 15 years for category III hunting blocks, according to Tawa.

The system for assigning blocks has been a travesty in Tanzania for quite some time. It will not be to the country's benefit, or to hunter's benefit.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
The system for assigning blocks has been a travesty in Tanzania for quite some time. It will not be to the country's benefit, or to hunter's benefit.

I agree, the only improvement I see is the 10 and 15 year leases. In the past I believe they were 5.

Typical response from the African countries. "Charge the visiting hunters more"

Gee, how about along with that, lets make it even harder to get firearms into the country too. They don't possess the intellectual ability to understand that some of our tolerance to roadblocks isn't that high.

I go because its fun, exciting and one of the last true adventures on earth. As I've said before, I have far FAR to many hobbies to get fleeced by these nitwits time and time again, in time, troubles and dollars.

Yep, let’s charge more to clients. Let’s kill the goose. TZ is already overly expensive and their solution is to charge more. What a bunch of idiots. Been there once ( in the Selous); that was enough to show me I could see and shoot the same things elsewhere for a LOT less in Moz, the Caprivi, Zambia and Zim. And I have no interest in the Maasai species. You can’t fix stupid…..

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Yep, let’s charge more to clients. Let’s kill the goose. TZ is already overly expensive and their solution is to charge more. What a bunch of idiots. Been there once ( in the Selous); that was enough to show me I could see and shoot the same things elsewhere for a LOT less in Moz, the Caprivi, Zambia and Zim. And I have no interest in the Maasai species. You can’t fix stupid…..

I agree Jerry and whilst there are some very fine areas such as Maswa the pricing is through the roof. Many that I hunt with are now prepared to look at cancellation or late-season deals for their hard-earned money.

In 06, they temporarily closed lion hunting. I had a serious deposit up. Stressful? Hell yes.

In 07, they changed prices after the hunts were sold . I had a serious deposit up. Stressful? Hell yes.

Vacations are supposed to be stress free. My vacation to TZ were not stress free.

Then there is the outright screwing clients get on air charters .

There is a reason I have not been back. This reminds me why.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:
Typical response from the African countries. "Charge the visiting hunters more"

Gee, how about along with that, lets make it even harder to get firearms into the country too. They don't possess the intellectual ability to understand that some of our tolerance to roadblocks isn't that high.

I go because its fun, exciting and one of the last true adventures on earth. As I've said before, I have far FAR to many hobbies to get fleeced by these nitwits time and time again, in time, troubles and dollars.

I believe that statement was accredited to a local operator, not the Authority.

quote:

I believe that statement was accredited to a local operator, not the Authority.

Indirectly though that's what the final outcome will be because I am not sure the bidders will fully apprehend that the winning bid is the established value of the concession to be paid annually and not as a total for the entire lease period ..... or am I wrong?

What we are looking at is for example a Cat. 1 $60,000 block falling to the hammer at any figure above the one set by the Authorities which as it stood was already no easy task in selling, recuperating the lease fee AND make a profit unless the operator "charges the visitor more". If that same block were to be auctioned off at $120,000 it is destined to failure IMO.

There is another point of concern related to the auctioning of these blocks which include active blocks as well as the "abandoned" ones.

From what I have been led to understand from reliable sources, the winning bidders will have full access to these concessions in 2023 and unless the current lease holder wins back his block there's going to be some head scratching for those who have taken several years in advanced bookings for a marketed area that is no more.

It will be interesting to see how this will unfold.

Are concession holder not liable to pay a minimum of 40% of trophy fees?

Regardless?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Are concession holder not liable to pay a minimum of 40% of trophy fees?

Regardless?

Saeed, I haven't quite understood you.

The winning bid will set a new annual block fee and as already hinted in preceding: if a Cat.1 block which was being leased out at $60,000 per year goes for $90,000 under the hammer, it will set a new annual fee value for that particular Cat.1 Block.

Trophy fees have no bearing on the Block auctioning process and they remain the same with the min. 40% utilization by the outfitter.

I think what Saeed is asking is are the outfitters obligated to pay a certain percentage of the trophy fees on their quota, whether harvested or not?

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
I think what Saeed is asking is are the outfitters obligated to pay a certain percentage of the trophy fees on their quota, whether harvested or not?

The minimum 40% quota utilization has always been applicable whether the animal has been killed or not.

Those responsible for implementing the auctioning should have considered applying the measure firstly to the blocks that were returned due to mismanagement and hence unable to generate enough business to even cover the 40% requirement let alone the money to pay for the annual block fees.

And secondly, identify the poor performers within the industry who have been struggling, for whatever reason, unable to meet the mandatory 40% game quota instead of applying across the board measures negatively impacting the successful and well established outfitters and good paymasters within the industry.

https://allafrica.com/stories/202201100469.html



Tanzania: Tawa to Auction 75 Hunting Blocks Electronically

9 JANUARY 2022
Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
By From Edward Qorro in Arusha

THE Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (TAWA) has lined up 75 hunting blocks for auction.

The areas with game animals are set to go under the hammer through an online auction, the conservation agency announced on Saturday.

Such blocks are located within Game Reserves, Game Controlled Areas and Open Areas and will be auctioned from January 12 this year, an exercise that will last for seven days.

According to a statement availed by TAWA to the media yesterday, the blocks have been categorized in two groups, where 26 of the hunting blocks' tenure will commence immediately after the auctioning exercise in 2022, while the second group, which comprises of 49 blocks and whose tenure will start in January next year.



"Eligible hunting companies can be allocated up to five hunting blocks each, which shall be of different categories," clarified the statement.

According to the Wildlife Conservation Act, no person shall be considered for allocation of a hunting block unless he has a company registered with the Registrar of Companies within Tanzania intending to engage in the hunting of animals.

The company also needs to have at least one of the Directors to have five years- experience in wildlife-based business and conservation in Tanzania.

The Act further stipulates that the tenure of ownership of hunting blocks to be 10 years for Category I and II hunting blocks and 15 years for Category III hunting blocks, whereas the Minister responsible for Tourism and Natural Resources, shall on the fifth year of the tenure of ownership of a hunting block, determine the continuity of the tenure.



The Minister's decision shall be based on the annual performance assessment and the evaluation of the hunting block utilization and the full performance of the company allocated a hunting block to be carried out in the fourth year of the tenure, which shall take into account the annual assessment and the evaluation criteria prescribed in the regulation.

According to TAWA, an application fee for category I block fetches 11.4mn/-($5,000) while that in category II costs 4.5mn/-($2,000).

Those falling under category III would retail at 2.2mn/-($1,000).

"Applicants will complete an online registration through the appropriate e-form provided...after successful registration, an applicant will be assigned an auto-generated username and password sent via their registered e-mail addresses to enable them to access the e-auction portal," detailed the statement.

While addressing tourism stakeholders back in October 2017, former Tourism Minister, Hamis Kigwangalla stated that all hunting permits would by then be reapplied through an online auction.

According to the minister, issuing the hunting permits through auction would make the exercise more transparent with a view of curbing the otherwise rampant corruption in the process of issuing hunting licenses.

Mayby Some TZ Outfitters staying one Day before the SCI Convention with NO Allocated Hunting Block on the Floor for 2023 onwards. Will be Interesting to see the Results today !

Mboga,

The responsible Tanzanian outfitters said from the get go that they could only sell hunts for this year. Anyone who told you otherwise was selling you a pig in a poke.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Mboga,

The responsible Tanzanian outfitters said from the get go that they could only sell hunts for this year. Anyone who told you otherwise was selling you a pig in a poke.

It is more of an issue for those outfitters who sold advanced bookings in 2021 for 2023 without having considered the repercussions of the looming auction process though it doesn't necessarily mean they have lost their concessions.

I believe they were convinced it would either never happen or possibly not affect them all and it came as a shock when the authorities announced 75 blocks were on the table.

However you look at it, the blocks have been managed by a bunch of bloody childish idiots by the looks of it.

They never had a plan.

They keep changing the rules as they went along.

Totally unacceptable as a business model.

Saeed,

I assume you are referring to the government. Many of the outfitters have responsibly managed their blocks. Some, perhaps, have not. And only those who have not should be at risk of losing their blocks. But this just seems like a money-grab by the government and not sure how outfitters are going to pay higher government fees and stay in business if they conserve their blocks. I think any of the new successful bidders will have to overshoot the blocks to make ends meet. That's not in anyone's best interest long term.

quote:

I think any of the new successful bidders will have to overshoot the blocks to make ends meet. That's not in anyone's best interest long term.

From what I have heard, there have been some ridiculously high figures paid out for some concessions, figures of which now constitute the new annual concession fee and I just cannot fathom out how the new tenants intend to recoup their investment if not at the expense of the wildlife.

The Golden Goose has been plucked bald.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

I think any of the new successful bidders will have to overshoot the blocks to make ends meet. That's not in anyone's best interest long term.

From what I have heard, there have been some ridiculously high figures paid out for some concessions, figures of which now constitute the new annual concession fee and I just cannot fathom out how the new tenants intend to recoup their investment if not at the expense of the wildlife.

The Golden Goose has been plucked bald.

By my count, 17 blocks over $100,000...

quote:

By my count, 17 blocks over $100,000...

One alone that I know of went for $260K while another renown for its northern species plains game fell under the hammer for $170K.

The prices will get so high no one would go there.

0ne thing I have always wondered about.

I have heard of clients going to hunt buffalo and never set eye on one!

This means the concession is over shot.

How does this happen?

Doesn’t the game department issues quota for the areas?

And those quotas are governed by what is in that concession??

quote:

And those quotas are governed by what is in that concession??

Supposedly, through a game census conducted by the wildlife department from which sustainable numbers would be determined .... that at least is the theory of a game census.

However it has mostly been up to the outfitters (the game conscious ones) who establish conservative quotas in order to keep the quality and numbers of various species healthy.

The unscrupulous ones on the other hand will shoot the living crap out of their concession until it becomes a dust bowl, then simply walk away leaving the polished bones of the goose on the plate.

Lots of concern by Tanzania outfitters at SCI!!
Bidding is online and many out of the country at shows.
Last year Pierre vonTonder's area of many years was shut down by the Government with out notice!! He was assigned new hunting blocks and it has worked out fine... but shows the lack of consideration and organization of the government managing this!!

TZ has been an on again, off again expensive clusterfuck for years. Nothing new here.

https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/t...19-2-billion-3692190



The Citizen News
Auction of hunting blocks earns government Sh19.2 billion
MONDAY JANUARY 24 2022


Summary
Government decided to allocate hunting blocks through auction with the aim of increasing transparency and allowing market competition to show the real value of the country's resources.
The blocks are graded in categories one-to-three, and bidders pay different fees, depending on the category of the block.


By Bethsheba Wambura
More by this Author

Dar es Salaam. The allocation of tourist hunting blocks through auction has earned government Sh19.2 billion up from the 5.24 billion that was collected previous auction.
This was said by Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Mary Masanja on Monday, saying it was the sixth auction of hunting blocks since it was launched in 2019.
"In the sixth auction which commenced on January 12 and lasted for seven a total of 75 tourist hunting blocks, with 49 of which ownership will expired on December 31, 2021 and other 26 blocks were vacant. A total of 39 companies participated in the auction and of those 26 equivalent to 54.2 percent won 45 tourist hunting blocks,” she said.
Furthermore, Ms Masanja explained a total of Sh14.32 billion was collected with Sh392.7 million collected from application fees and Sh13.86 billion from hunting block fees.
However, she said the government decided to allocate hunting blocks through auction with the aim of increasing transparency and allowing market competition to show the real value of the country's resources.
“For example one category III hunting block which was to be sold through a tender of Sh41.58 million was sold for 462 million which is 11 times the bid price and category II hunting blocks was to be sold for 69.3 million but sold over for 577 million,” she said.
Auction of hunting blocks has resumed after it was put on halt for almost two years.
The blocks are graded in categories one-to-three, and bidders pay different fees, depending on the category of the block.
In March 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism postponed the electronic auctioning of the vacant hunting blocks – initially scheduled for March 5 that year – until further notice. The decision was made due to complaints from some stakeholders, as well as market instability caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Current rate is 2310 Tan Shilling to the US Dollar!

Eye watering prices!

quote:

Eye watering prices!

You meant to say "mind-boggling" prices.

One northern concession sold for $400K .... seriously?

577 million Tan Shilling = $249,000 USD

Just wondering who the successful bidders are?

Is there a possibility that some animal rights organization is in the mix?

Is this a year, or for the life of the bid?

If it’s for the whole bid, $40,000 a year for something like Maswa is probably not horrid (given how much they charge)…

If it’s $400k a year, then the prices kind of are self explanatory.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana338:

Is there a possibility that some animal rights organization is in the mix?

It's certainly a possibility but typically they concentrate their spending on luxury retreats, salaries and bonuses for their executives.

The outside money (ARABS) that are buying the best blocks for $$$$$ have no care in the world if they sell hunts or not. Play ground for them!

When discussing Tanzania’s government keep in mind these 4 things:
1) They’re Communists;
2) They are one of the most corrupt countries in the world;
3) They are totally incompetent;
4) They are racist, so a chance to gouge whitey is always taken.

https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/t...19-2-billion-3692190

predictions:

nothing good will come of this-

next year most if not all the money will have been squandered by the government -

the new high bidders will need to boost fees 30 to 70 percent

( or a few of the ultra wealthy will be the only ones hunting the blocks)

the reasonable operators will be forced out
the blocks of the ultra wealthy will be shot out

AND
the government will expect another trebling of prices ( or more) at next auction-
which will be scheduled before these “leases” end ( due to the money being gone)

this could be the beginning of the end for Tanzanian hunting

Wonder if this will be like the auction a few years ago.

Concessions were overbid and many outfitters never paid their bid. Concessions were turned back into the government.

quote:

Originally posted by AilsaWheels:
Wonder if this will be like the auction a few years ago.

Concessions were overbid and many outfitters never paid their bid. Concessions were turned back into the government.

They never had a proper system in before, and I doubt that they do now.

Every time this happens, it was supposed to be final.

Never worked.

Too much corruption, too much greed.

Work out a system that will benefit everyone.

The concessions will be full all season, more hunters, more money coming into the country.

Instead, Big promised pay out, some don't pay, hunters are not coming.

quote:

Originally posted by AilsaWheels:
Wonder if this will be like the auction a few years ago.

Concessions were overbid and many outfitters never paid their bid. Concessions were turned back into the government.

The winning bidder has to pay within 14 days and failure will foresee the block being offered to the next highest.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
Is this a year, or for the life of the bid?

If it’s for the whole bid, $40,000 a year for something like Maswa is probably not horrid (given how much they charge)…

If it’s $400k a year, then the prices kind of are self explanatory.

The highest/winning bid for each concession is the new figure payable annually and the lease is for 10 years and not 5 as previously.