Hunting operator owes conservancies millions

NamStay

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Source: https://www.namibian.com.na/73714/read/Hunting-operator-owes-conservancies-millions


NGWENA Hunting Safaris owes five conservancies – Bamunu, Kabulabula, Kasika, Lusese and Salambala – in the Zambezi region millions of dollars.

Kabulabula conservancy chairperson Leonard Masangu yesterday said Ngwena Hunting Safaris owes the five conservancies anything between N$10 and N$12 million.

Masangu said Kavulavula is owed about N$1,5 million, while Bamunu conservancy chairperson Chunga Chunga said they are owed about N$1,4 million

Wilko Pasheka who owns Ngwena Hunting Safaris yesterday said he would only comment on the matter today, while Masangu said they terminated their contract with the hunting operator and were pursuing payment.

“Last year, he did not pay us and had an outstanding amount of about N$900 000. So we gave him time from January to September to pay. Then he only paid N$370 000, yet the contract states that the first instalment was supposed to be paid in February and the second one in July,” Masangu said.

Chunga said the operator paid N$300 000, and promised to pay the rest on 15 December.

“That's all I can reveal for now. We will discuss the issue in detail after the meeting,” Chunga said.

Environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda last week told The Namibianthat the hunting operator said they could not pay because they have financial problems.

As the custodian of conservation in the country, Muyunda further said, intervened to find a solution.

According to Muyunda, the environment ministry convened the first meeting in June where the hunting operator agreed to a payment schedule but failed to adhere to it.

After failing to pay as agreed, the environment ministry suspended the hunting operator's permits as per the conservancies' request.

Muyunda said the hunting operator then enlisted a lawyer to negotiate with the environment ministry and then a second meeting was held in October.

“Another proposal for a payment schedule was presented. During that meeting, Lusese and Kavulavula asked for time to consult, while the other three rejected the proposal,” he said.

Muyunda added that Lusese and Kavulavula have since terminated the hunting operator's permit and the environment ministry has already advertised for a new operator.

The other three conservancies have, however, agreed with the operator on another payment schedule without the ministry's involvement.

“The ministry takes the concerns of the conservancies very seriously as this affects their operations and effectiveness. The ministry will assist the conservancies to recover the money they are owed,” Muyunda said.
 
I suspect there is another side to this story............................FWB
 
Thanks for sharing the info!
 
NamStay,
Thank you for sharing this and please follow up as information trickles out.
 
So tell me again how there is no money in being a Hunting Outfitter. To owe the conservancies alone over N $10 million, about $700,000 U.S., the total cash flow of this operation must be something huge.
 
If I am incorrect on how this works then by all means help me out for the benefit of the AH members.
The concessions mentioned are all located in the Zambezi region of Namibia or what we used to call the Caprivi Strip. Outfitters bid on these concessions and pay for a guaranteed quota. This is not like a client that pays the trophy fee only for animals taken after the fact. These governing body is guaranteed the payment for these animals.
So say an outfitter gets 4 elephants on quota in a concession and books hunters for those elephants and no elephants are taken. The quotas do not roll over to the next year, you have to pay for them regardless. Just for the sake of argument those 4 clients agree to return the following year, and 2 take their elephant. In two years time the government has collected for 8 elephant but the outfitter has collected a trophy fee on two. Unsustainable way of doing things period.
I do know from personal experience that animals have figured out that the best time to cross the Chobe River from Botswana (where hunting is illegal) into some of these Namibian concessions is after dark and to get back across the border before the sun comes up. Fewer elephant crossing into Namibia regardless of day or night.
It has been my misfortune to be affected some of this feel and that there is more to this story than the article would have you to believe.
 
Just to help with the ball park a little.
The government is not getting to money, the Conservancy gets the money.

I am not sure about the assumption about pre purchase of the quota and or assumptions around the trophy fee splitting/distribution.
If, as noted in the tables from the Nyae Nyae Conservancy audit 2017, it appears that the Conservancy is getting a value based on a trophy fee paid for animals taken. That being the case, the Outfitter in the case, has apparently not paid the Conservancies their portion of the proceeds from the trophy fees.
(who the hell knows what their actual agreement is)

On sustainability.
I'll use your "arguments" math using the listed 2016 fees from an operator in the region. noted below.

8 hunts X 10 days at $2450 = $196,000
2 Trophy fees - $56,000
$252,000.00 USD or 3,627,630.00 NAD in 2 Years.

The trophy Value income to conservancy, as noted below for the 5 Trophy Elephants taken in 2017:
181,200.00 NAD
$12,583.76 USD for 5 Elephant
$2516.75 USD per Elephant.


$252,000.00 USD Outfitter income
$5033.50 Trophy Fees to Conservancy

(of course there are other expenses)

Even if he paid for the all 8 in the argument $20,134.00 USD. I think he might still be ahead. :)

It appears these fees are inline with historical numbers I have seen for fees for Elephant quota at auction in Botswana. You all have an idea what was being charged in Botswana before it was closed.

Screen Shot 2018-12-14 at 14.21.01.png
Screen Shot 2018-12-14 at 14.21.35.png



Screen Shot 2018-12-14 at 14.11.02.png


Screen Shot 2018-12-14 at 14.10.46.png




I do not know what is in every Outfitters books. Nor do I care.
It appears that somebody has certainly gotten themselves into trouble with a bunch of Conservancies about money owed.
Would you hunt with the guy?
 
Thank you Brickburn for that post. Can you tell me if conservancy audits are a matter of public record?

You ask would you hunt with the guy? There are a lot of clients hunting on these concessions with outfitters that have bought some of these quotas from the concession "owner". That is a common practice of the larger operators subleasing to smaller outfits. It doesn't mean anything but, I am sure there are clients that were not aware they were indirectly hunting with this guy.
The article that started this thread may be 100% true and if so it is nice to see a newspaper tell the truth. Honest reporting is not something we are used to here in the US.
 
......... Honest reporting is not something we are used to here in the US.

:ROFLMAO: I know you have been trained by the worst novelists. There are plenty of places that have not caught the disease.

Thank you Brickburn for that post. Can you tell me if conservancy audits are a matter of public record?
.........

There is information out there to be found. It can take some effort to find it though. I found the information posted on the net for anyone to see.
 
So tell me again how there is no money in being a Hunting Outfitter. To owe the conservancies alone over N $10 million, about $700,000 U.S., the total cash flow of this operation must be something huge.

The capital outlay is significant as are the risks, and the margins, when everything goes right, awfully thin. Imagine the check for a multi-year conservancy deal including elephant. You have just completed the outlay for the off-season camp construction (most have to built anew every year in the Caprivi); the Land Cruisers have been serviced; you have signed contracts with two or three independent PHs; the staff is already at work; and you have cut deals with other outfitters for quotas you will not use. If everything goes right, you will turn a neat 20% return on your investment. Then suddenly, out of the blue, US Fish & Wildlife opines about elephant; or your wealthy client set (would only take three or four) becomes nervous about the market and cancellations start to come in; and the quotas you sold are had promised to other outfitters suddenly are going to go unused. In very short order, the whole business would be fatally under water. And all of that in a world where LLC's and bankruptcy laws offer far less protection than North America.
 
That’s those other costs not mentioned.
 
The capital outlay is significant as are the risks, and the margins, when everything goes right, awfully thin. Imagine the check for a multi-year conservancy deal including elephant. You have just completed the outlay for the off-season camp construction (most have to built anew every year in the Caprivi); the Land Cruisers have been serviced; you have signed contracts with two or three independent PHs; the staff is already at work; and you have cut deals with other outfitters for quotas you will not use. If everything goes right, you will turn a neat 20% return on your investment. Then suddenly, out of the blue, US Fish & Wildlife opines about elephant; or your wealthy client set (would only take three or four) becomes nervous about the market and cancellations start to come in; and the quotas you sold are had promised to other outfitters suddenly are going to go unused. In very short order, the whole business would be fatally under water. And all of that in a world where LLC's and bankruptcy laws offer far less protection than North America.

I believe this argument is correct. The conclusion which we, as hunters, should draw from this is one that we have seen play out on this site. If an operator falls behind in a year, and begins to pay this year's bills out of next year's deposits, he is running an entirely unsustainable business, and the slightest downturn in future sales will doom the business. In essence, he has transformed his business from a normal business model (matching income and outflows in a year with the net balance being profit or loss) to a pyramid scheme where the current business is dependent on the existence of future business. And so on.

So to answer @BRICKBURN's question: No, I would not hunt with this outfitter.
 
So tell me again how there is no money in being a Hunting Outfitter. To owe the conservancies alone over N $10 million, about $700,000 U.S., the total cash flow of this operation must be something huge.

Not everybody in the Hunting industry are stand up types....
 
Not everybody in the Hunting industry are stand up types....

And too many others are better guides than they are businessmen.
 
And too many others are better guides than they are businessmen.

Exactly, after all it is a business and if you cannot calculate that 2+2=4, well.....you have a problem to start with....
 
We have an excellent video of the dangerous seven on this sight taken in, Kasika?
 

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