Questions or Need Help Related to The Hunting Report Newsletter.Call us at 800-272-5656 or 305-253-5301

Search:

HuntingReport.com

This news bulletin was sent exclusively to Email Extra subscribers of The Hunting Report at least 24 hours prior to becoming available to other viewers.

printer-friendly version

New Move To open Hunting In Zambia

(posted December 17, 2001)

In a move that appears to signal a reopening of hunting next year,
the Zambia National Tender Board today officially asked safari operators
to submit bids for the control of the country's hunting concessions.
The deadline for submitting bids is January 4. "I'm definitely
taking this to mean hunting will reopen next year," Mike Faddy
told The Hunting Report this morning. Faddy is head of the Zambia
Professional Hunters Association, and he has his finger on the pulse
of hunting developments.

The other good news on hunting in Zambia is, a Director General
of Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) has finally been named. We hope
to have more information on the new director as early as tomorrow.
Suffice it to say, the new director is getting rave reviews so far.
The call for tenders is directly related to his being named, according
to sources we spoke with this morning.

ZAWA, you'll recall, is the new quasi-private organization that
was slated to take over all wildlife-related matters in Zambia more
than a year ago, which is when the old National Parks Department
was disbanded. Since then, Zambia has been without any kind of game
department at all. The European Union during this period has had
millions of dollars ready to help ZAWA get rolling, but has refused
to release the funds until a director general and support staff
are in place. Presumably those funds will now be released. If so,
Zambia's wildlife programs could be on their way to a complete recovery
shortly.

To be sure, there are some open questions still. The most important
revolves around the possible impact of the presidential election,
which is slated for December 27. Will the current tender process
be acceptable to whoever wins the election? Or will still another
tender process be initiated by the winner? No one we spoke with
had any idea how to answer those questions. In fact, no one we have
spoken with for months has been willing to predict just who will
win the election. It's no secret that the closure of hunting in
Zambia was linked to presidential politics. Surely, its reopening
will be too.

The other open question at this point is the condition of Zambia's
game. With no game department in place for more than a year, and
with concessions empty of personnel for an entire summer, poaching
has been widespread.

Doubts and questions aside, the underlying news here is good. A
definitive move has been made toward the reopening of hunting in
Zambia. We're hoping for the best, and we are keeping our fingers
crossed. More details soon. - Don Causey.

Get important news bulletins like this sent directly to your email 24 hours before anyone else sees them, plus unlimited access to our database of hunt reports and past articles, a special expanded electronic version of our newsletter and more! Upgrade your Hunting Report subscription to Email Extra today. Click here for more information.