I hear that Sudan is opening in 2006. Anybody here have any plans or information?

Sir,

I think I heard safaris are being done there now.

However, a big problem, the U.S. Govt. has restrections on money going into the country, I believe.

I am not 100% sure, but I think this info. is correct.

Best,
Phil
http://www.go-on-safari.com

surestrike

Here is the information for you and fellow AR guests //


Hunting Sudan

Regards, Peter

Balla-Balla Safaris

Looks interesting, but would never hunt with these people based upon the payment requirement. I would never pay for a hunt in full prior to the start of the hunt.

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your responses!

Surestrike, you might want to contact Don Causey to see if he has any updates.


Article ID: 1448 Author: Don Causey Date
Published: 2005-04-05 00:00:00
Geographic Focus: Sudan



Some Crinkles On Hunting Opening In Sudan

(Editor Note: Hunting Report President/Publisher Don Causey filed the following update on new developments in Africa.)


This report has been excerpted from a larger article. If you would like to see the entire article from which this excerpt was taken, contact us and ask for item #1442.
Up in Sudan, don’t get too excited about all the talk of hunting opening in the southern part of the country, at least not if you are an American citizen. Seems the US State Department is not about to recommend that blanket sanctions against the country, or any part of it, be lifted. Those sanctions, which are actually enforced by the US Treasury Department, make it illegal for US citizens to have any business dealings with Sudanese nationals. You can read a copy of the sanctions for yourself at: http://www.treas.gov /offices/enforcement/ofac/sanctions/t11sudan.pdf.

Excitement about southern Sudan has been building of late because recent surveys there have turned up huntable populations of game. Word that Angelo Dacey of Sudan Wildlife Safaris (Booking agent: Chuck Bazzy, cbazzy7188@aol.com) was joining the hunt for game only added fuel to the fire. Problem is, apparently, no one had spoken directly to the US State Department about the possibility of lifting sanctions. Absent that, rumors had grown that it was in our national interest to do business with the southern – e.g., African – part of the country, which has been at war until recently with the Arab north. It is the behavior of the Arab north, after all, that led to the sanctions, not the behavior of the African south.

It’s entirely possible that some of those involved in trying to open Sudan have back-channel contacts I don’t, and it is possible those contacts are encouraging them to go forward. All I can tell you is, the official contacts we reached pooh-poohed the idea of any lifting of sanctions against Sudan. As for the possible special licensing of activities there such as hunting, we were told that consideration would be given only to activities of a humanitarian nature.

The attitude of the State Department official I spoke with (he spoke on a condition of anonymity) was firm. He referred twice to a significant hardening of the resolve of Congress against Sudan because of continued killings in the Dafur region. As for a selective lifting of sanctions against the south, that was not possible, he said, because southern Sudan is not a separate country and will not have the right to secede for more than six years. The whole idea was clearly a non-starter in his eyes and in the eyes of those he confers with regularly.

Obviously, here at The Hunting Report, we’d love to see the door swing wide for American citizens on a cornucopia of hunting opportunity in Sudan. However, we just don’t think that is going to happen at this time. As is happening elsewhere in the world – most notably in Iran – we Americans may have to do our hunting in Sudan vicariously through Europeans. Being a citizen of the world’s only Super Power clearly has its drawbacks….

Some thoughts on Sudan and hunting based on previous service there, and on just having spent 20 weeks there over the past 2-1/2 years doing a photo book on the whole country (including the white-eared kob migration near the Boma plateau!).

a) the Treasury website suggests that you may not be able to import a trophy from Sudan, but is not clear on whether you can pay a private company like Angelo Dacey to hunt there. The only way to clear this up is to call the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control and ask.

b) the South of Sudan, under the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 9 Jan this year will be generally autonomous. The rebel movement (Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement) has a Wildlife and Environment office and wardens are in the field, if badly funded. However, no proper wildlife census has taken place at key sites, including Boma National Park in the southeast, and the even larger Southern National Park that is in the west southwest of the country. I was in Dinder National Park on the Ethiopian border east southeast of Khartoum to spend last Christmas. We saw a relatively few buffalo, a lioness, a few gazelle and much birdlife, but only overflew a part of the park.

Bottom line, to begin hunting outside the areas of the north currently offered (the Red Sea Hills for Nubian Ibex) and areas west northwest of Khartoum (for Dorcas gazelle) and maybe the odd area on the White Nile south of Khartoum for waterbirds and, a tad further sourth for Red Fronted Gazelle, Sudan will need a serious census to establish the bag limits and to answer the CITES criteria for important species.

Believe we might encourage organizations with the money and political weight like SCI to engage on these questions now.
Regards, Tim

I doubt you would be sending any money directly into the Sudan. I suspect one would pay deposits to one of Angelo's accounts in Greece and then fly to meet him in Europe before heading down to hunt (Maybe Athens/ Cairo/ Khartoum as a flight itinerary?). If it were an issue, I would bet you could pay the right person in Sudan a few bucks to NOT stamp your passport but provide some other form of entry verification (I know Cuba did/does this for Americans). Given this and assuming you booked your flight into Sudan with cash from an agent in Athens, the US gov't would have no idea you were ever in Sudan...until you tried to import trophies. Of course, a lot of guys don't bring things home from hunts in Tanzania or RSA either so for some this wouldn't matter a bit

JMHO,

JohnTheGreek

Die Ou Jagter,

You will have to forgo hunting in several African Countries then. In some cases, the governmental requiremnts for foreign exchange, VAT, security papers, and licensing have to be done prior tot he commencement of the safari.
In Ethiopia we collect the payment in full 30-45 days prior to the clients arrival.

Rich Elliott