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An interesting and accurate post..... but those who have been to the Zambezi Valley will well know that hardly a night goes by that one can't hear drumming from one native village or another which are an attempt to drive crop raiding Elephants out of the mealie patches. Hence it's not a great problem to get a licence for a crop raider. (in fact from my experience, it's pretty damn easy) I guess I've been hunting the Valley on and off for well over 10 years and I don't think I can think of a single hunt where I haven't been asked if anyone wants to take a crop raider. Perhaps other forum members who have also had actual experience of the Valley can let us know of their experiences. As you say, the authorisation is usually given to the game guard or (from my experience) more usually the concession holder. Certainly, I would always deal with the concession owner rather than the game guard as I never trust a game guard anywhere in Africa to do any more than smell bad.

Tuskless cows: well I don't want to hi-jack your thread, so I won't go into that very deeply. But certainly I've never had the offer of a tuskless cow in Mozambique, but personally I don't believe in sport hunting them at all. IMO Elephant cows should only be shot when it's part of a culling programme where you take out the entire family unit. To do otherwise (IMO) upsets the herd dynamics far too much......but that's a personal opinion and not meant as a criticism to those who disagree with me. Perhaps there's scope there for a seperate debate? The obvious exception to this would be if it were suffering and needed to be put out of it's misery.

does your comment about famous BBC lions relate to the Cook Report thing some time ago? if so, I didn't know they were in Mozambique. I thought they were all based in RSA. Or do you mean they have moved out to Mozambique? If so, I'm suprised......but you're welcome to them. The sooner those type of people go out of business the better. (I'm sure you'll agree)

Concessions: "our concession" is one of those terms that may be interpreted in so many different ways. My website for example states quite clearly that we don't own any hunting areas and are consequently free to offer the client the area most suited to his needs, tastes and finances, but when we decide to use a particular area, we agree and sign a contract with that leaseholder or landowner agreeing a set standard of services & prices etc to cover all eventualities and also camp and area exclusivity . While we're hunting & paying for that area it therefore becomes "our area" at the end of the hunt it reverts back to leassor.

I agree about your comment relating to guys offering hunting they don't have at shows etc. But that's the unscrupulous few and those ethical outfitters amongst us make sure we have the signed contracts before offering anything. But let's face it, this happens all over Africa, not just in Mozambique. Trying to get to the bottom of who might actually hold the lease or own some particular areas can be a nightmare and is usually (at least for me) a sign to steer well clear). A good example ofthis was in Tanzania last year where a widowed wife of a Minister held a lease on an open area and it was being offered through about 6 different middlemen.

you don't tell us much about yourself in your profile, perhaps you would be kind enough to tell us a little more about your background such as how you earn you living, where and type of experience etc....... You obviously know Mozambique hunting reasonably well and I'm sure a lot of forum members would be interested to know more. certainly I would.

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Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com

Edited by shakari (08/06/04 08:03 AM)

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