Bostwana Hunting Status

[M McDindi]

I keep a pretty close watch on the hunting status in Botswana via my friend Gerhard Koch of Koch Safaris and in Namibia via my friend Jan du Plessis of Sebrahunt Safaris.

The worst part of this entire WuFlu lock for Botswana is it came just after the first elephant tenders were auctioned. Some outfitters had elephant hunts "sold" within hours of winning the tenders but clients had to back out due to the world-wide lock downs.

Per the info I've gotten from Gerhard, the tender winners were able to convince the MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND TOURISM, The Honorable Philda Kereng to extend all game hunting seasons, both PG and DG hunts in the tenders to the end of December 2020 and is willing to consider extending again, if needed to the end of Feb 2021.

 

[WAB]

The timing couldn’t be worse. Instead of hunting ele’s, my mates a sitting at home. At least One is able to get out and about as his family owns the dairy In he maun and are allowed to distribute their milk. These guys are in a really tough spot.

 

[M McDindi]

Agree. Guys had to front a lot of coin to get these first concession tenders and then shut down. At LEAST the govt is willing to extend the season. Probably rather do that than refund the coin.

Gerhard said they can't even shoot PG for meat and market sales.

 

[WAB]

Nope, it’s a total crap show. The season extension isn’t much help in most areas as the concessions dry up and many of the ellies will have moved on.

 

[Tanks]

I am so glad that I had already booked an August hunt this year. I would have jumped on the ellie hunt that was being advertised here otherwise.

 

[M McDindi]

WAB – I’ve accumulated several years of on the ground time in Namibia’s mountains in the NW on the edge of the Kalahari and Namib Deserts. I am familiar with the way elephants move/migrate in that area and in general. I also know that all areas and habitats are not the same and effect animal behavior/movements. Since I don’t have any personal first hand time in any of the concession areas that were tendered, I contacted my two friends who live there and know these concessions and actually hold two of the areas – NG49 south of Maun and CT27 in the Tuli Block. Here is a summary of what they provided:

“The main contributing factor for the elephants leaving or migrating into/out of any area is water. CT27, is around 2 million acres. It’s boarded by the Shashe river, the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe and the river maintains plenty of water pools throughout the year. The area also has 3 huge man-made dams in the area: Letsebogo, Dikgatlong and Tuni along with numerous cattle troughs in the area. The east is bordered by the Tuli farms, also with a lot of man made water holes. All of this keeps the elephant in the area through out the year.

NG49 is about 600 thousand acres. One side boarders the Boteti river which is be flowing again this year as the entire Okovango Delta is at its highest for years. NG49 also borders the Mmakalamabedi game & cattle ranches. This year we had an above average rainfall and there are plenty of natural pans in our area still full of water. We are also supplying some of the pans with water from boreholes with solar pumps to keep water there throughout the year. The ranches have done a lot of development of permanent water provision for the cattle that also is greatly benefiting all game as well. This has also kept a large population of mainly bull elephant in the area.

By extending the season to the end of Dec and possibly to the end of Feb 2021 it pushes back into the next rainy season as well.”


If there are any other Bots elephant concession holders, it would be great if they would chime in with info they have on their areas too.

 

[WAB]

You are right water is the key. I drove the cut line through NG43, NG41, CT1 etc in August of 2018. Dry as a bone, the big boys were in Chobe.

 

[M McDindi]

For those wondering where all these concessions are, here is a map from the BOTs govt. There are a few guys who are/have tried to carve out their own "sub areas" within some of these without Govt permission.

There are only around 12-15 concessions that were tendered and let for this first year.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Guys, I know the resolution on that map sucks. I've got it as an *.pdf file and it's clear and readable. Upload it to my photo hosting service and trying different resolutions and sizes and it still sucks.

If anyone willing to try to upload it themselves would PM an email address, I'll email them the original to try to get it better.

@M McDindi, The system will allow you to upload a pdf file so feel free to drag and drop your pdf file directly into your post and it will upload it automatically.

 

[M McDindi]

Ok, started over and trying again. Thank you sir.

 

[M McDindi]

Now that a readable map can be seen (Thanks again Jerome), here is a list of the concessions that were tendered for the 2020 season, however long it turns out to be: CH1, CH8, CT7, CT4, CT27, CT29, NG1, NG 2, NG8, NG9, NG11, NG35, NG49.

I think that is the complete list.

 

[WAB]

You missed those already in place:

CT1 Jeff Rann
NG41 Johann Calitz (not 100% sure of the status of NG41 but believe Johann still has it)
NG43 Kwatale Safari Co (previously operated as Kgori)

These areas had concession leases in place and allocated quota prior to the tendering process that let the areas you listed above. The complete quota listing by area has been issued by the Botswana government if anyone is interested.

 

[M McDindi]

Wasn't sure if I had them all or not. Pulled from the tender offers for this seasons hunting concessions tender offers. I don't know if other concessions held before the hunting tenders for photo/eco operations automatically gave them hunting quota or not. I do know that both Rann and Calitz bid on and won hunting concessions.

 

[WAB]

Wasn't sure if I had them all or not. Pulled from the tender offers for this seasons hunting concessions tender offers. I don't know if other concessions held before the hunting tenders for photo/eco operations automatically gave them hunting quota or not. I do know that both Rann and Calitz bid on and won hunting concessions.

NG43 was maintained by Jimmy van Rensburg. They did receive quota and are operating as Kwatale led by Frans van der Merwe.

I am 99% sure that the same holds true with Jeff Rann on CT1.

I have heard differing reports on NG41 and so should probably not comment further on it.

 

[CAustin]

Thanks for sharing the map

 

[M McDindi]

Had a message from Gerhard this morning. It looks like Bots will be relaxing their internal "lock down" at the end of this month (Apr). Hopefully the corner is being turned for other countries as well.

 

[SafariA]

That would be great news .... maybe he has better info . Last I had was that they besides their lockdown declared a 6 month state of Emergency and in that time frame which should run out only in October only Citizens and Rsidents will be allowed through Borders ..... I might be wrong but that is the idea I got .

https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/b...h-state-of-emergency-due-to-covid-19-46506989

 

[M McDindi]

Gerhard lives 2hrs north of Gaborone.

 

[M McDindi]

My friends in Bots sent me a nice video put out by their Ministry of Tourism. It's posted in the Videos Forums - "Botswana Is Patiently Waiting For Us".

 

[M McDindi]

As was posted in another link, the President of Botswana has announced a plan for getting things opened up by the end of May. I cross-checked with my friends on the ground there and the plan is for INSIDE Botswana but NOT about opening the boarders - yet. Still very good news overall.

Here is a link to the FULL statement by the President. Be patient, the link takes a long time to open.
https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=85345&dir=2020/april/27