Just read the official statement from NAPHA here:

http://www.africahunting.com/h...ouncement-napha.html http://www.africahunting.com/h...ouncement-napha.html

Looks like the government will be charging N$ 5000 per Leopard tag and only give 2 permits per outfitter.

It looks as if the use of dogs is out and there is an interesting set of requirements for signed photos as well.

This is great news, A small fee is nothing to pay to keep another country open to Leopard hunting!

How does the $5000 Namibian dollar fee for leopard compare to the government fee prior to these new regulations? Thanks. Brian

snowymthunter, there was no tag fee previously, just a N$ 100 licence fee, and a trophy fee that was either payable to the government, comunnity, or land owner, depending on who's land the cat was hunted.
The tag idea will propably be a little strange at first, as once bought, we can resell it if the hunt was unsuccesful, so I imagine most outfitters will have it either build into their trophy fee, or might have a sliding scale on it for the next hunter to take over an unused tag. the safe thing would be that you make sure that your name is on that new hunting licence, and that you have first dips at a tag, before handing over a substansial deposit.
Another interesting point in the new regs, is that no female leopard will be allowed to be shot as a trophy.

any word on cheetah?

I read the new Reg's. What I see is a application period of Oct thru Jan. Jan. is long gone for this year. Unless there is some type of exception for this year, I don't see any leopard hunting until Oct of this year. Is this right?

I also see that females cant be shot. Not that one would want to but in the past it was allowed.

Since female leopards now have no value, I wonder what is ultimately going to come of all this.

Namibia used to be a good place for Leopard at a reasonable price. Looks like those days are gone. Without dogs I would suspect that it would be quite difficult to get a Leopard in Namibia.
FWIW, Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by gbanger:
Since female leopards now have no value, I wonder what is ultimately going to come of all this.

Other than making it slightly more difficult for the PHs that shouldn't make any difference. Tanzania for example effectively hasn't allowed females to be shot for many years and of course the quota system ensures the population isn't overshot. Although it must be said that baiting obviously isn't as successful as hunting with dogs.

Namibia has always been a fairly good option for leopard and I see no reason why that should change.

What I do think could be a problem is the particular system they seem to have chosen to adopt. It's very similar to the one SA is trying to get away from because it's so open to abuse by dodgy operators. The ability to resell a tag means it can generate profit from more than one hunt.

The answer to that is to only book with reputable operators and not by price alone.... but that's good advice anywhere and anytime in Africa.

Looks to me like they got it about 2/3 right. I am concerned about the reselling issue. In my mind the client should recoup some of that if the tag is able to be resold.

The answer is not to allow it to be resold at all. If it can be, it's in the interests of some for the hunt to fail. The cost of the tag is nothing compared to the cost of the hunt.

Better to return it to the game dept for re-issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Smith:
Looks to me like they got it about 2/3 right. I am concerned about the reselling issue. In my mind the client should recoup some of that if the tag is able to be resold.

But since the client has to sign the initial permit,along with the PH;

He knows in fact there is a cat on quota.Otherwise the hunters permit would not be granted in the first place.

What says an operator anywhere else doesn't oversell a cat?

quote:

It looks as if the use of dogs is out

That sucks!!! I have been trying to get one of these planeed for a while. My family are old school houndsmen. A leopard behind hounds would be the ultimate!

Does anyone know how many leopard permits there will be made available per year in Namibia?
How does this compare to some of its neighbouring countries like Zim,Bots,SA or Zambia?

I have not heard from my guys in Namibia concerning what they plan on offering since the official word on leopard has come out but I don't think the price can skyrocket. It will still be very difficult to get a leopard on bait there. Low success can't equal high prices in my mind. Therefore a guy willing to risk booking a safari with a 50% chance of success might still find an inexpensive leopard hunt in Namibia.

Mark

Question for more of you guys in the know...

One can hunt a leopard with hounds or baited and shot at night in Namibia if said leopard has been declared a "problem" animal, is that correct? Then with proper paperwork, it can be exported, right?

This is the same system by which pretty much all lions are shot in Namibia isn't it? They declare lions a problem if they leave a park and eat livestock or too much game, and then they are legal to kill and transport out, right?

I am asking here - not making statements...

Im sure namibia's policy would be similar some of the other countries where you would not use artificial lights in GMAs or government concessions, where this could take place on private or ranching areas.
Problem animal permits would mainly be granted to the private ranches where damage is being caused, like cattle being taken.
As to the use of hounds, the NAPHA announcement is pretty strongly worded, so I dont think you would be allowed to hunt problem predators with hounds either. Many of the hounds and handlers used for leopards are base in the Eastern Cape, in south africa or zim, so there may not be hounds available nearby, if a problem animal 'appears' during your safari.