Shawn from Gracy Travel asked me to post the news that Air Botswana will not be carrying any firearms and there is no news about them carry them in the future. If you using them for your travel to Botswana this year make another plan.

Mark

Bots seems to be doing everything in its power to discourage hunting there.

Too bad.

It's 4:30 am and I hope I'm dreaming. Yesterday I booked travel to Maun on Air Bots.

Your not dreaming. The first hunter was turnedaway yesterday by Air Bots.

Mark

A friend of mine who lives there thinks there on the verg of outlawing hunting.just rumor but you never know

From Air Botswana website regarding baggage.


Baggage Information



Your baggage free allowance is 20 kilograms
You will understand the need to limit carry-on baggage, in both weight and size. The bag or case that you bring into the cabin should not weigh more than 7kg and must fit into the overhead lockers. Please ensure that you don’t put any valuable items, such as money, laptops, electronic items, etc. in your check-in baggage as the airline will not be held responsible for the loss of these items.

CARRIAGE OF SPORTING RIFLES
Air Botswana does not allow carriage of sporting rifles on their services as check-in baggage. However it can be shipped as cargo.

SHARP OBJECTS
Be sure to pack knives, scissors and other sharp objects in your check-in baggage. Such items must no be placed in your carry-on baggage because on x-ray detection they will be confiscated by airport security. This regulation is inflexible.

quote:

It's 4:30 am and I hope I'm dreaming. Yesterday I booked travel to Maun on Air Bots.

Contact whomever you purchased your ticket from, you have 24 hours to cancel your reservation.

My husband was not bringing a rifle to Bots this September. We made arrangements to rent one from Johan Calitz, this may be an option for you.

I'm not sure that the airline's freight-only policy is connected to Botswana's larger plans, but it does present a segway to the subject.

Botswana seems to be unfortunately close to following the tragic path of Kenya. Botswana has "counted the beans" and concluded that non-hunting tourism represents a much larger, more lucretive market than hunting tourism. And they are right.

However, I need not go into the fatal pitfalls of attempting to manage game populations without the use of hunting. Suffice it to say that Kenya has tested the tourism-only hypothesis and found it to be a disaster. Hopefully, Botswana will consider more carefully before commiting itself to this failed model.

Kathi,

Thanks. I phoned my travel agent--no resolution as of yet--she is working on it.

What a depressing development, but it should not come as a complete surprise if this is just the first step toward a total ban. The president of Botswana is widely known to be against hunting. I hate to think of the ecological disaster that a ban on elephant hunting will have on Botswana.

Last May, Air Botswana would not let me board the plane in Windhoek to go to Maun. They were holding to the 20 kg limit. With the help of Wendell and Tholo Safaris, I was taken by taxi to the border where Tholo met me to take me to camp. I was very upset but things worked out in the end. Strangely, they did let me fly on the way back. What a pain!!
John

Air Botswana has resolved the issue and no hunters should be affected, so no need to cancel your flights or change your routing.

The Hunting Report is sending out an Email Extra Bulletin later today with the details!

"OH HAPPY DAY"!!!!!!!!

Herewith official notice - allways amazes me how the competion against Botswana jump to conclusions before the problem is discussed and resolved - I hope this alerts many subscribers to take some doomslayers posts with a pinch of salt and question their integrity and motive.

Good afternoon –



Action Kombani / Cargo & Passenger Services / Air Bots / SSKA has called – he advises that Air Botswana have resolved the issue of transporting sporting firearms out of SA / ORTA into Botswana with immediate effect.



They will now work on a protocol under which each gun case/box will be locked (locking device to be confirmed) by Air Botswana check-in personnel, and said box /case will be unlocked on arrival in Maun/Kasane/Gaborone/Francistown. Clearly, this protocol needs to be thoroughly presented and we need to ensure that it covers operators, clients, procedures and responsibilities. An official communiqué will be sent to the BWMA on Monday, and we’ll follow it up with a suggested protocol so everyone knows what their line of responsibility is, and recourse should a problem occur.



Please let me know should you have any queries: this is effective now, so please re assure your clients and they may continue booking Air Botswana. The official letter will be forwarded to everyone on receipt on Monday.

All the best
Debbie Peak - BWMA

please note that hunting is still alive and well in Botswana - leases in areas that have a land use value better than Hunting are being converted - however the Government has insisted that Elephant hunting will continue as will hunting Leopard on private land and game farms.
The eastern Blocks are still hunting all species until 2013 at least - new Big game areas are being opened up to hunting by Government as I write this. These quotas go on auction through the BWMA next month.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I'm not sure that the airline's freight-only policy is connected to Botswana's larger plans, but it does present a segway to the subject.

Botswana seems to be unfortunately close to following the tragic path of Kenya. Botswana has "counted the beans" and concluded that non-hunting tourism represents a much larger, more lucretive market than hunting tourism. And they are right.

However, I need not go into the fatal pitfalls of attempting to manage game populations without the use of hunting. Suffice it to say that Kenya has tested the tourism-only hypothesis and found it to be a disaster. Hopefully, Botswana will consider more carefully before commiting itself to this failed model.

Safaris botswana bound,

Just out of interest, where are the new big game areas and what will the quota's be like?