Tanzania: Tourist Hunters to "Dig Deeper" as Government Ups Fees

Tanzania: Tourist Hunters to "Dig Deeper" as Government Ups Fees
by Edwin Agola

Tourist hunters will have to dig deeper into their pockets following the government’s decision to hike the hunting permit fee for its hunting blocks from $27,000 to $60,000 for category I, according to the new guideline issued yesterday.

Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Ezekiel Maige told a press conference in Dar es Salaam that the government has responded to the public outcry by increasing the number of hunting blocks from 158 to 190 and has also categorised the hunting blocks into five depending on the type and number of animals to be hunted.

He said those who are interested and are competent can submit their formal application for hunting permits after the government would have advertised the blocks in widely circulating newspapers from February 10, 2011 for the 2013-2018 term.

“Let me clear rumours doing the rounds that the Minister had allocated some hunting blocks already. I am a man of integrity and value transparency and accountability,” said Maige.

The Minister however said the wildlife conservation (Tourist Hunting) regulations 2010 have categorised hunting blocks in accordance with grade points average whereby category I has 24 blocks hunting permit fee $60,000, category II has 95 blocks and its hunting fee is $30,000.

Others include category III with 18 blocks attracting a hunting fee of $18,000, whereas in category IV with 8 hunting blocks attracts a fee of $10,000 and the last category with 8 blocks the hunters will have to pay a fee of $5,000.

According to the minister, the grade point has been done in accordance with the species and number of animals to be hunted and whether it has wildlife resources for sustainable tourist hunting and a diverse animal species and habitat.

Its accessibility in terms of terrain and infrastructure from Dar es Salaam, reliable water supply and the scope of human activities are among factors taken into consideration, according to Minister Maige.

Elaborating, Minister Maige said in establishing a hunting block the boundaries of the proposed block is clearly demarcated by Global Positioning System (GPS) according to its potential for wildlife recovery upon a given time frame and investment.

Responding to reporters’ questions, Director of Wildlife Erastus Tarimo revealed that for the hunting season that began in July 2010 to-date, the government has generated Sh52bn as direct fee.

He said applicants who are Tanzanians are required to produce a bank bond of guarantee to the tune of at least $300,000 and for a foreign owned hunting company a bank bond of $1,000,000 is required as a guarantee.


Source: Guardian on Sunday

Keep going TZ...you are sure to price yourself out of the market soon enough.

Pure Madness! Greed..the root of all evil!

I was informed that this was in the works, however it was still in discussion when i was there in mid - November. I had the time to sit down and discuss with the manager of the hunting company some of their business for the year. They had 8 hunting blocks and only used 2 this year for hunters. They were trying to use the blocks for photo safari make up for the loss of hunting the past few years.

The outfitter did not know what they would be doing with the 8 blocks that they currently have. And they were a small company. The bigger companiew with hunting block in the 20's & 30's.

The outfitters were looking to turn some hunting blocks back to the country as they did not have the customer to keep all the hunting blocks active.

As long as it remains open to hunting, hunting will continue regardless the cost. Someone will always be able to afford it. I hunted there in 1985, my first safari, in Masailand. It was fantastic, the hunting grounds of Ruark and Hemingway, close to where the movie HATARI was filmed. Cost of the 7 day buffalo and plains game hunt with r/t air was 4300.00 bucks, including trophy fees for 7 animals! Those days are gone forever I'm sure but everything has gone up, not just safari costs. My hope is that Tan does not follow the stupidity of Kenya and close all hunting someday. That would be tragic. It really is a magical place, glad I went when I did because it would be hard to justify it now.

I agree sestoppelman. I wish I could have done it when you did. I'm not saying I couldn't do it now...it's just that the sacrifices financially for me are to great. I wanted to hunt the great antelope of Tanzania...but when you factor in daily rates and charter flights....it's better to buy a DVD of some elses hunt and watch it on your TV in the living room.

Hard to justify the cost at the end of the day!

sad to see this happenning.

This is insane. How does the Tanzanian government expect to make money off of this if nobody can afford to come hunt there anymore? Idiots.