EMararv
AH member
Dear All,
I hope that this finds you well.
The 2014 season has just finished for us and even though it was quite a lot smaller then previous years due to international hunters being worried about the security situation in the country, due to the terrible media coverage we have on certain areas of the country, we still had a great season all in all. The mandate of the areas we previously leased from the government have now gone over to the non profit organization Chinko Project for 50 years and we are now leasing 3 hunting blocks from the Chinko Project, inside the Chinko Project Area (CPA). A reserve of approximately 2 million hectares and in total 11 hunting blocks and 1 non hunting area.
A large scale conservation program is being set up by the Chinko Project and incorporates a large anti poaching and law enforcement system, building consistency for conservation as well as a long term re-introduction program of species having gone extinct in the region.
One of the priority animals for the project is the eastern Giant Eland which is the flag ship species together with the Bongo in the CPA. A breeding program is being set in place from the 2015 dry season onwards for this species, and initially approximately 20 animals will be captured and bred inside an enclosure, placed not far from the Chinko head quarters. This is to build up a larger herd in captivity in order to be able to in the future re-introduce the eastern Giant Eland in to areas where the Eland have disappeared from, such as southern part of Chad as one example. A larger number of individuals will also be satellite collared and then monitored in order to further increase our knowledge and movements of these very special animals. In order to show our support for this project, we have agreed to not hunt any more Giant Elands in the CPA for the next two seasons. So at this stage we are planning on re-opening the giant eland hunting in 2017. As for all hunters already booked for Giant Eland with us, we will still be able to honor their hunts, but no new safaris will be sold for this species up until 2017.
So what we will be focusing ourself on in the next couple of years, will be the Bongo, the Giant Forest Hog, Leopard and Yellow Back Duiker. The Chinko Project is also working actively to re-open Crocodile inside the CPA. There are some very very big crocodiles in this region, and to not hunt them is a waste of resources. The same goes for the Leopards which we have very high numbers of but cannot be imported to the United States. This is an issue actively being pursued by the Chinko Project and with some luck, we will have both Leopard available for the US citizens as well as Crocodile on quota in the close-up future.
As for all the other secondary species found in this region of central Africa, they are all on license as before.
So its with a lot of excitement that we are stepping in to the coming seasons and with a pride of being able to work and participate to protect and build up the largest and most remote wildlife reserve in Africa. A place where hunting goes hand in hand with conservation and where we can prove to the outside world that hunting is one of the most important tools there is in order to protect the wild areas of Africa.
Our camera trap study also continues and with the latest pictures of this year showing at least three different Bongo bulls all being in the world record class on various salines. So to say it short, we know for a fact that the new world record will fall in this are within the next few years.
So this was a small update from the last frontier, looking forward to stay in touch and to share many hunts and evenings by the campfire in the future.
To give you a glimpse of some of the moments shared and trophies taken this season, I attach a document to this message. Enjoy!
Kindest regards
Erik Mararv
I hope that this finds you well.
The 2014 season has just finished for us and even though it was quite a lot smaller then previous years due to international hunters being worried about the security situation in the country, due to the terrible media coverage we have on certain areas of the country, we still had a great season all in all. The mandate of the areas we previously leased from the government have now gone over to the non profit organization Chinko Project for 50 years and we are now leasing 3 hunting blocks from the Chinko Project, inside the Chinko Project Area (CPA). A reserve of approximately 2 million hectares and in total 11 hunting blocks and 1 non hunting area.
A large scale conservation program is being set up by the Chinko Project and incorporates a large anti poaching and law enforcement system, building consistency for conservation as well as a long term re-introduction program of species having gone extinct in the region.
One of the priority animals for the project is the eastern Giant Eland which is the flag ship species together with the Bongo in the CPA. A breeding program is being set in place from the 2015 dry season onwards for this species, and initially approximately 20 animals will be captured and bred inside an enclosure, placed not far from the Chinko head quarters. This is to build up a larger herd in captivity in order to be able to in the future re-introduce the eastern Giant Eland in to areas where the Eland have disappeared from, such as southern part of Chad as one example. A larger number of individuals will also be satellite collared and then monitored in order to further increase our knowledge and movements of these very special animals. In order to show our support for this project, we have agreed to not hunt any more Giant Elands in the CPA for the next two seasons. So at this stage we are planning on re-opening the giant eland hunting in 2017. As for all hunters already booked for Giant Eland with us, we will still be able to honor their hunts, but no new safaris will be sold for this species up until 2017.
So what we will be focusing ourself on in the next couple of years, will be the Bongo, the Giant Forest Hog, Leopard and Yellow Back Duiker. The Chinko Project is also working actively to re-open Crocodile inside the CPA. There are some very very big crocodiles in this region, and to not hunt them is a waste of resources. The same goes for the Leopards which we have very high numbers of but cannot be imported to the United States. This is an issue actively being pursued by the Chinko Project and with some luck, we will have both Leopard available for the US citizens as well as Crocodile on quota in the close-up future.
As for all the other secondary species found in this region of central Africa, they are all on license as before.
So its with a lot of excitement that we are stepping in to the coming seasons and with a pride of being able to work and participate to protect and build up the largest and most remote wildlife reserve in Africa. A place where hunting goes hand in hand with conservation and where we can prove to the outside world that hunting is one of the most important tools there is in order to protect the wild areas of Africa.
Our camera trap study also continues and with the latest pictures of this year showing at least three different Bongo bulls all being in the world record class on various salines. So to say it short, we know for a fact that the new world record will fall in this are within the next few years.
So this was a small update from the last frontier, looking forward to stay in touch and to share many hunts and evenings by the campfire in the future.
To give you a glimpse of some of the moments shared and trophies taken this season, I attach a document to this message. Enjoy!
Kindest regards
Erik Mararv
