In a recent thread it was announced (quoting Hunting report) that fees in Ethiopia will be sorely increased.

Ethiopia rumor
François Dannaud, outfitter and PH contested this rumor, being well informed as frequently and currently hunting in Ethiopia.
He was suspecting some outfitter in Ethipia to push hard for earning even more.

here is the answer of the "Hunting report".


Dear E-Mail Extra Subscriber Francois Dannaud,


I warned you in a February 26 E-mail Extra bulletin that Ethiopia had announced a significant increase in trophy fees for this coming season and that the Ethiopian Professional Hunters Association (EPHA) would be meeting with authorities in an attempt to have the new fees amended to something more reasonable. Well, there is mixed news coming from that meeting, held last week. The good news is that the implementation of the new fees will be postponed until the new quota period in July 2009, which coincides with the Ethiopian fiscal calendar. That means all safaris for the current season will go forward under the previous schedule of trophy fees. If you have a safari scheduled before July 2009, your safari operator should not be charging you any new or increased costs. What will happen the next safari season is not so clear.

You'll recall the new fees would triple the cost of hunting a mountain nyala to $15,000 and Menelick's bushbuck to $6,000, plus double the cost on other species. EPHA has more meetings scheduled over the next few months to negotiate a compromise on these fees, as I'm told license costs in Ethiopia have remained the same since 1995 and an increase of some kind is due. Obviously, a 200-300 percent increase is simply unacceptable to the international hunting community, particularly during the current economic state. It remains to be seen how flexible Ethiopian officials will be and if they will understand just how debilitating the implementation of those proposed fees could be on their hunting industry and conservation programs.

I'll have a complete report on this in the next issue of The Hunting Report and will continue following developments over the next few months. In the meantime, would-be Ethiopia hunters are encouraged to send me an e-mail stating their views on the proposed increase and how it will affect their plans to hunt Ethiopia. I intend to forward these messages to the right Ethiopian authorities so they can understand the direct effects of these plans. Send your e-mails to Barbara@huntingreport.com. - Barbara Crown, Editor.