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Over the Christmas period, I was sorting out some pictures and other things with my father and he gave me a copy of a book that he bought when he lived in Nairobi in the 1960's - Animals of East Africa, written and illustrated by C T Astley Maberly and published for D A Hawkins Ltd in 1965.

In its own right, the book is a great read and well illustrated. But what makes it all the more special is that my father, a keen hunter, listed the license costs next to the name of each species / animal and whether a 'General' or 'Special' license.

Here some of the General license animals and trophy costs (priced in Shs !) -

African Elephant one @ 1.500/- second @ 200/-
Zebras three @ 30/-
Common Waterbuck one @ 30/-
Defassa Waterbuck one @ 30/-
White Bearded Gnu two @ 30/-
Cokes Hartebeest two @ 30/-
Impala two @ 10/-
Bushbuck two @ 10/-
Bohor Reedbuck one @ 30/-
Grants Gazelle two @ 10/-
Thomsons Gazelle two @ 10/-
Grey Duiker two @ 10/-
Steenbok one @ 10/-
Warthog two @ 10/-

Special licenses were

African Buffalo @ 20/- and 40/- second
Lion (males only) Masai @ 250/- Other 150/-
Leopard (males only) @ 250/-
Bongo @ 75/-
Beisa oryx @ 20/-
Topi @ 20/-
Lesser Kudu @ 20/-

In addition certain animals were catagorised as "Royal Game" and could not be hunted; these included -

Roan
Sable
Hippo
Caracal
Dassie (!!!)
Aard Vark
Sitatunga
Cheetah

As a reference for the value of the Kenya Shilling in the 1960's, the book cost 10/- !





I find it amazing that a 1960's buff was the price of two paper back books. Either books were expensive or buff were cheap back then !

Being in the financial world, I would conclude that buff have beaten inflation !

A great New Year to all at AR and successful and memorable hunting in 2015 !

Charlie

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Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I enjoy info regarding the old days.

Can't speak to Kenya at the time but remember some about Tanzania. Prior to independence the East African Shilling (EAS) was used in Tanganyika, Kenya and Uganda. Some EAS's were still in circulation in 1970 along with the countries new currencies and were treated of equal value. If I remember correct in 1970, 14TZS equaled 1USD. I believe all three currencies started at the same base vs. the USD and were still fairly close back then. The lowest I remember is 7TZS = 1USD. Not quite like today when you exchange $600 and become a Tanzanian millionaire.

I have an old license of one of my parents (residents license) from the late 60's that cost 100 TZS. If I remember correct it had a total of 100-110 animals that were available on that license. This included multiples of most species. Royal game were not on the regular license and had to be purchased separately. Sable and lesser kudu are the only animals I remember off hand that were Royal. There were probably others. Species that couldn't be hunted were giraffe, cheetah, wild dog and hyena if I remember correct. Elephant, rhino, lion and leopard had to have a separate license each. There may have been others. You could take multiple buff and 2 elephant per year. If memory serves me correct you could take two buff off your regular license and purchase extras for 2-3 dollars each.

In visiting recently with a US hunter who went on a one month hunt to Tanzania in the late 1960's. Took 20+ species including elephant, lion, rhino, buff. Total cost including outfitter, airfare and I believe taxidermy was less than $5,000.

It would be great to hear from Danny McCallum or another one of the old timers regarding this. I am happy to be corrected if something I have stated is wrong.

Thanks for the post.

It was cheaper for missionaries to purchase a general license than try to buy beef.

I only can say "Gone are the days" and Prices will continue to climb

AlisaWheels,

Your recall down memory lane is pretty much spot on, from the shilling to dollar rate (could buy a boiled sweet for 1 cent back then) inclusive of the General Game License.

Any additional quota or "restricted" animals were issued on what was known as a Supplementary License which could only be issued against a General Game License.

If I remember correctly the Elephant quota was for a maximum 5/year. The fee which in today's currency and rate appears to be "peanuts" was not the case back then and ivory was bought by the dealers (all nice and legal) at 17 shillings to the pound.

It might be worth noting that residents can still hunt Buffalo, Eland, Wildebeest, Hartebeest, Impala, Warthog among several other for "peanuts" compared to prices set for non-residents.

fujotupu,

Thanks for the clarifications and information.

Do you remember how much each elephant, lion and rhino license was in the 60's?

If I remember correct you had to get around 50 pounds of ivory off of an elephant to break even on your license. Am I close or way off?

Thanks.