Non Trophy Elephant Hunt in Zimbabwe Clarification from SOAZ

There has been much discussion on AH pertaining to non trophy Elephant hunts in Zimbabwe. I always wish to bring as much clarity to these types of issues or grey areas as possible, as there are many of these which can be found regarding laws surrounding hunting all over Africa.

For this reason I contacted the Chairman of the Safaris Operators Association of Zimbabwe (SOAZ), Mr. EA Fundira, and here below is his reply to my email.


AfricaHunting.com email to SOAZ
Mr. Fundira,

My name is Jerome Philippe, I am the founder of AfricaHunting.com, a site dedicated to hunting in Africa.

I have contacted your office on several occasions in regards to some questions that I had in regards to some legality issues in Zimbabwe that have surfaced however have not received any answers to the few emails that I have sent to your office on the questions that I put forth. I do not understand the secrecy behind any of this or why no answers were given, it actually seems that people are trying to hide facts. I would imagine that an organization like SOAZ would be transparent when it comes to the legality aspects to protect hunters, but obviously it does seem to be the case right now.

Our community is all about informing hunters looking at hunting africa and we have had lots of talks in regards to non trophy Elephant in Zimbabwe. Can you please clarify the situation for me on hunting non trophy Elephant in Zimbabwe National Parks. I have members questioning this issue, but not only that outfitters have been advertising such hunts on my site and we need clarification on the legality of such hunts. Also have any CULL quotas been given in Zimbabwe for this year?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Most cordially,
Jerome, Founder of AfricaHunting.com



Reply email from SOAZ
Dear Jerome

Apologies for the difficulties you may have encountered in seeking clarification on the question raised.

The matter in question is very straight forward.

Since time immemorial Parks Dept has always put aside a quota for ration hunts targeted and giving supplement protein to the Parks field staff and in other cases game meat is used to argument protein for State run events as per annual calendar year of events such as Independence celebrations and the like.

The only variation now is that Parks wish to add value from this exercise or management quota with the objective of ploughing back resources towards conservation and anti poaching exercise.

Value addition will be achieved by allocating these hunts to operators who in turn invite clients to hunt these non trophy animals for recreation at a nominal cost which is far below the value of exportable Trophy Hunts.

It is important to emphasize that Management Hunts are for recreational purposes only and that they cannot be exported Finally, Parks have assured the operators that Management Hunts will be conducted in such a way that they do not cause conflict with non hunting business such as photographic safaris which means that harvesting of non trophy animals in Parks can only be done under very strict and stringent conditions.
Hope the above addresses your question.

Please feel free to seek further clarification as may be required.

EA Fundira
Chairman SOAZ