The South African conservation model can’t and will never work in Tanzania. All the Game Reserves, Wildlife Management Areas and Open Areas and the wildlife within are owned by the state. So it’s the government that determines the block fees, license fees and trophy fees. In SA it was the private landowners who decided to kick off domestic stock and reintroduce wildlife, and they had the savvy to turn a profit.
The TZ outfitters make the majority of their money from the daily rate alone - this is why you’ll find a difference between the various outfitters daily rates, the better the area and quality of camp the higher you will pay.
I was a PH in Tanzania for 8 years and did anti-poaching during the off season flying Bantum Ultralights. The cost of building camps, maintenance of road networks, year round anti-poaching, distances needed to travel, community development etc etc all is extremely costly. That is simply why the daily rate in TZ is somewhere between $2000 and $3000 per day. Also the TZ hunting season is very limited, where many areas of central and southern Tanzania can only start hunting end of July due to the rains and have to shut down camp end of October before the rains start again.
So it’s very difficult to compare SA to Tanzania as everything is different and the playing fields are not the same. But what I can assure you is that it’s not the Outfitters pulling the piss, the majority are just trying to stay afloat.
www.africahunting.com
