Hope they get their heart right on the price. I would book today if I could afford one, (or Two). Looks like they would drop the hunt price and open it up to more hunters.
Doug

Ganyana, Do you know my buddy Colin Kirkham (PH and expolsives fundi) by any chance? He's also a friend of IK and I get an idea they also went to school together.

And, of course, the anti-hunting, anti-culling crowd won't care or take any responsibility when the population and habitat crashes. The typical modus operadi of do-gooders.

Hi Shakari

Know the name but cannot put a face to it. Ian was a prefect and I was one of the juniors (skivvies). Got canned by him alot but ended up as friends after he went off and joined the mud island army. Other seniors who I didn't have to deal with were simply to be avoided at all costs! You know the score. Haven't hunted in Botswana since 1984 so don't necessarily know the PH's. Have only dealt with government officailas on quota's and CITES issues, hence my recent trip.

Translocations don't work in the long run, as they either try to return home and even if they do stay where they were put then that new population increases it's reproduction rate and causes the same problem in what is always a smaller area than where they were translocated from. Cost is also a factor.



Botswana commissioned ecologist Jeremy Anderson Late of Zim National Parks etc who recently handed the report to the Minister. The report obviously recommended a large cull. When he took the report from Jeremy the first thing the Minister said was, "Of course, you know we won't be culling"





I guess time will tell us the eventual outcome....... the current hunting quota in Botswana is laughably small and the same overpopulation problem (on a smaller scale) is now happening in the Kruger Park. Parts of that are beginning to look thy have been hit by multiple hurricanes!

Saw Ian Kharma a couple of weeks back. He and I were at school together- and there is no way Botswana is going to significantly increase the hunting quota's. Ian has been heavily influenced by the anti hunting crowed and would gladly block hunting in botswana if he believed it necessary. Some of his ministers belive it is necessary to stop hunting - hunting gives revinue to minority tribal groups who, may be in a possition to vote them out in the not too distant future.

Zimbabwe planned to cull 5000 this year but inneficiency and indecisiveness halted that. The problem is who you get to do the shooting. Can't get every tom dick and harry involved, and hunters who are paying for the hunts tend to dislike shooting babies - which is what alot of the culling involves - you don't shoot bulls by choice- only cows and calves.

If you follow the South African Model you dart from helicopter and walk along with a rifle later and finish the animals off.

If you follow the old Zim model, 3 hunters close in on foot and wipe the herd out. Brain shots only and no room for second shots.

If you follow the new Zimbabwe model, you use a Mil 35 gunship with a rotary barreled 12.7 under the chin and a herd takes less than a minute

Bostwana already shipped a bunch to Mozambique, to replenish the populations devastated by the civil war (landmines) and poaching. That's a good move in my opinion. They might send some to other countries as well, Angola and Zambia for example. But any way you look at it, they either have to cull them on the QT, or allot more generous quotas to hunting. That would be great because Botswana is a fabulous hunting destination and Elephant trophy quality is very good, but very expensive at present. If they cut the price in half, they would solve their problem at great profit to the state and to the safari industry. But, as the article states, there are various governments that are under the influence of the greens, and Botswana is scared this might negatively affect their ecotourism industry, a MAJOR foreign currency earner.

South Africa and Zimbabwe have much the same problem.

Namibia doesn't seem to have the problem, as much of that country is too arid to support elephants. Although the famed "desert elephants" seem to have figured out how to survive in modest numbers.

Strange we never hear about this on National Geographic. BUT they run ads every 5 min here begging for $$ to stop foxhunting and the eating of dogs in the far east...