East Africa is the birthplace of safari hunting in Africa. The tales of the safari ‘founding fathers’ crisscrossing the Dark Continent in the pursuit of the ultimate hunting experience mesmerized people in a far away but fast-industrializing western world. Colourful and talented writers like Ruark, Hemingway and later Capstick and Smith, shared their adventures in the pursuit of ‘dangerous game’ in the most vivid prose. Their exploits are still the stuff of legend and very much alive today
Tanzania has a rich history when it comes to the golden days of the safari hunting era. The famous hunter and explorer, Frederik C. Selous, a captain and scout in the Allied forces during WW1, was killed in the Rufiji swamps in 1917 by a German sniper’s bullet. Today this area forms part of one of the biggest conservation areas in the world, the Selous Game Reserve.
Thus it is fitting to give Tanzania the prominence it deserves as a hunting destination. It was, and still is, the best hunting destination in all Africa for dangerous game, and one of the last truly remote safari hunting destinations in Africa.
A herd of buffalo next to the Mbaragandu River
The hunting areas
The safari industry in Tanzania is well regulated by the government. All hunting is done on government or public land as no private land is available for hunting. Protecting their natural heritage, the Tanzanian government declared protected areas all over the country. Below is a description of the different categories of these areas and a map.
The hunting areas of Tanzania can be divided into three main regions: Masailand, the Selous & Coastal Areas and Western Tanzania. Within these regions, trophy hunting can be conducted in:
• Game Reserves, such as Selous, Rungwa and Ugalla, which have restricted entry and where no human habitation or activities (hunting, grazing animals, cutting wood, etc.) are allowed except with permission from the Government Wildlife Management Authority. This means only licensed tourist hunting and licensed non-consumptive tourist activities are permitted.
• Around National Parks, Game Reserves and other protected areas of Tanzania are buffer zones where you can hunt to within 1 km of a national park boundary. Buffer zones technically are supposed to add an extra layer of protection for the wildlife within the core area, while allowing the local communities to benefit by permitting limited activities such as firewood collection, seasonal grazing, light agriculture and ecotourism.
• Game Controlled Areas (GCA) used to allow human habitation and associated activities such as livestock grazing. However, since the 2009 Wildlife Conservation Act, residence and livestock grazing has been prohibited in GCAs.
• Wildlife Management Areas are designated areas which are used by local community members within village lands and outside protected areas. Tourist hunting is available in some WMAs.
Booking a hunt
All animals belong to the state (the people) and hunters can buy hunting permits from the government. The system can be confusing but it is actually a very workable and easily understood.
Every visitor to Tanzania needs a visitor’s visa and an invitation to hunt from the company the hunt is booked with.
Tanzania hunting permit
The outfitter applies for the hunting permit before the hunt starts, and essentially lists all the animal species you are allowed to hunt according to the length of the hunt you have booked. There are different license ‘types’. To discuss them all will confuse the reader, so we will look at the two most popular licenses:
The hunting areas
The safari industry in Tanzania is well regulated by the government. All hunting is done on government or public land as no private land is available for hunting. Protecting their natural heritage, the Tanzanian government declared protected areas all over the country. Below is a description of the different categories of these areas and a map.
The hunting areas of Tanzania can be divided into three main regions: Masailand, the Selous & Coastal Areas and Western Tanzania. Within these regions, trophy hunting can be conducted in:
• Game Reserves, such as Selous, Rungwa and Ugalla, which have restricted entry and where no human habitation or activities (hunting, grazing animals, cutting wood, etc.) are allowed except with permission from the Government Wildlife Management Authority. This means only licensed tourist hunting and licensed non-consumptive tourist activities are permitted.
• Around National Parks, Game Reserves and other protected areas of Tanzania are buffer zones where you can hunt to within 1 km of a national park boundary. Buffer zones technically are supposed to add an extra layer of protection for the wildlife within the core area, while allowing the local communities to benefit by permitting limited activities such as firewood collection, seasonal grazing, light agriculture and ecotourism.
• Game Controlled Areas (GCA) used to allow human habitation and associated activities such as livestock grazing. However, since the 2009 Wildlife Conservation Act, residence and livestock grazing has been prohibited in GCAs.
• Wildlife Management Areas are designated areas which are used by local community members within village lands and outside protected areas. Tourist hunting is available in some WMAs.
Booking a hunt
All animals belong to the state (the people) and hunters can buy hunting permits from the government. The system can be confusing but it is actually a very workable and easily understood.
Every visitor to Tanzania needs a visitor’s visa and an invitation to hunt from the company the hunt is booked with.
Tanzania hunting permit
The outfitter applies for the hunting permit before the hunt starts, and essentially lists all the animal species you are allowed to hunt according to the length of the hunt you have booked. There are different license ‘types’. To discuss them all will confuse the reader, so we will look at the two most popular licenses:
1. The 10-day license
The 10-day license is what is often referred to as the 2 x Buffalo license. If you buy a 10-day license, you can hunt for UP TO 10 days and kill 2 x Cape buffalo and some plains-game species. The animals you are able to hunt are all listed on the license.
2. The 21-day license
This license is also referred to as the ‘open’ license as it lists all the species that you can hunt on one license. You can hunt for up to 21 days and listed animals on the permit include elephant, lion, leopard, hippopotamus, 3 x Cape buffalo and all the plains-game animals.
Trophy fees
In addition to the license fee, there is a trophy fee that is paid to the government for every animal wounded or killed. Most outfitters take the government prescribed trophy fee and load a ‘profit’ margin onto it. This ‘profit’ generated from the trophy fees is then used to offset the anti-poaching cost of the outfitter, which runs into tens of thousands of dollars per year.
Length of safaris
A typical lion hunt is 18 days, a leopard safari 12 to 14 days and a buffalo safari 8 to 10 days. Specialised plains-game hunts for the Masailand species can be a 10-day adventure, although most of the species are listed only on a 21-day license.
Camps
All hunting camps in Tanzania are tented-wall camps. The infrastructure of camps, vehicles and staff of all outfitters leasing a block from the government are inspected annually. The country and the Game Department are proud of their status as the most sought-after hunting destination in Africa, and make sure that the standard is high. You will eat and sleep well!
Professional hunters
Working in a dangerous-game environment, in a wilderness area, for 200 days per year, takes a special individual to deliver a magical experience on every safari. The professionals in Tanzania are therefore ‘top dogs’ in the industry and carry their title with pride and passion. Senior professional hunters are well paid and deliver a hunting experience to their clients reminiscent of the ‘Old Days’ of East Africa. Sharing a campfire with these guys is worth the money in itself!
A typical camp in the Masailand bush
Choma de Safari. Burning grass is an important aspect of managing the vegetation in the hunting blocks. Here my good friend, Bariki, keeps an eye on such a fire. He was one of the first native Tanzanians to achieve full PH status and is a top professional with 25 years of experience!
Cost of hunting in Tanzania
Comparing the cost of hunting in top areas in Tanzania with top areas in other parts of Africa, the hunter will find it surprising that he is comparing apples with apples. What makes Tanzania more expensive in some cases are the absolute remoteness of the camps, forcing the hunter to charter flights to get to the camps. This quickly adds a heavy price tag to the cost of the safari as charter flights in Africa are ridiculously expensive.
The good news is that some operators, like our company, offer a commercial flight to an airport within a 5- to 7-hour drive from your camp. So, what we are we talking about in dollars then? I hate articles about certain hunts without the writer giving you an indication of prices. Here is my take on an average pricing structure for the following hunts in good areas with reputable outfitters:
• $18,500.00 (10-day license) – 8-day buffalo hunt for 1 x buffalo
• $35,000.00 (21-day license) – 12-day leopard and 1 buffalo hunt
• $85,000.00 (21-day license) – 18-day lion/hippo/buffalo (3) hunt
• $75,000.00 (21-day license) – 14-day leopard/buffalo (1) and Masai species plains-game hunt
Payment for hunts are broken up into three parts:
1. Day fees
Due to the remote location of the camps in Tanzania, logistical support and supply is expensive and time consuming. The professional hunters are experienced and the vehicles well equipped, and you will eat and sleep like a king in such a remote wilderness area. This comes at a price and the average daily fee for buffalo hunts in Tanzania is about $1,500.00, and big-cat hunts $1,900.00 per day.
2. Government fees and licenses
The following fees are applicable:
• Hunting licenses
• Conservation levy
• Firearm import permit
• Ammunition tax per round
• Government dip-and-pack license fee
3. Trophy fees
After you have paid all the above, you then pay a trophy fee for each animal killed / wounded. The fees are paid to the outfitter, who then pays the Tanzanian government.
Tipping
The gratuities from hunters make up a major part of the remuneration of the staff. These people are far away from home for long periods of time, working silly hours day and night to make YOUR safari a memorable experience. How much value do you put on that? Speak to your outfitter and get a guideline from him. Any outfitter that has been operating long enough knows how to work with his staff and clients when it comes to tipping.
A large East African buffalo
An excellent example of a Niassa wildebeest bull
The ‘paperwork’ and getting your trophies out
All hunts in Tanzania are accompanied by a government game scout, who is there to ensure that no hunting laws are infringed. The game scout validates your hunting permit at the end of the hunt, which shows which animals have been hunted successfully (or wounded and lost). You must sign the permit at the end of the hunt, as does the PH and the game scout.
Once done, the permit is taken to the local game authority, who clears the removal of the trophies from the hunting area. The completed hunting permit also allows the issuing of the trophy export certificate once all the trophy fees and trophy handling fees have been paid.
Minimum size / age requirements
• Lion below the age of six years.
• Elephant with tusks weighing less than 18 kg per tusk or measuring less than 160 cm per tusk.
• Leopard less than 150 cm from nose to base of tail.
• Crocodile less than 300 cm from nose to tip of tail.
Tanzania hunting trophy export / import restrictions
• US hunting clients only: As of the 4th April 2014, USF&W announced a suspension on imports of sport-hunted African elephant trophies taken in Tanzania during the calendar year 2014. USF&W was to re-evaluate this suspension for 2015 or upon receipt of new information that demonstrates an improved situation for elephants in Tanzania. However, the suspension remains in place for the foreseeable future. Read the USF&W reasons for this elephant import suspension as it pertains to Tanzania.
• CITES I/Annex A elephant hunting trophies from Tanzania are likely to be refused a CITES import permit into any of the EU member states, as in July 2015, the EU Scientific Review Group returned a ‘Negative Opinion’ on the conservation status of elephant populations of Tanzania.
• Australia has banned all African elephant trophy imports.
• CITES II lion trophies must be formally assessed to have attained the age of six years of age or over in order to be eligible for a CITES II export permit from Tanzania.
List of species available to hunt in Tanzania
Below is the list of species that can be hunted in Tanzania, with the type of Government license indicated in brackets behind it:
• Chacma baboon – CITES II – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Olive baboon – CITES II – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Cape buffalo – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• East African bushbuck – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Bushpig – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• African wildcat – CITES II – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Nile crocodile – CITES II – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Civet – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Kirk’s dik-dik – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• East African duiker – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Blue duiker – CITES II – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Harvey’s red duiker – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• East African / Patterson’s eland – (21 / 28 days)
• Livingstone’s eland – (21 / 28 days)
• Elephant – CITES I (21 / 28 days)
• Robert’s gazelle – (21 / 28 days)
• Grant’s gazelle – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Thomson’s gazelle – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Genet – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Southern gerenuk – (21 / 28 days)
• Fringe-eared oryx – (21 / 28 days)
• Sharpe’s grysbok – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Lichtenstein’s hartebeest – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Coke’s hartebeest – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Hippopotamus – CITES II – (21 / 28 days)
• Spotted hyena – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Striped hyena – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Southern impala – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• East African impala – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Black / silver-backed jackal – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Klipspringer – (21 / 28 days)
• East African greater kudu – (21 / 28 days)
• Lesser kudu – (21 / 28 days)
• Leopard – CITES I – (21 / 28 days)
• Lion – CITES II – (21 / 28 days)
• Oribi – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Porcupine – (21 / 28 days)
• Puku – (21 / 28 days)
• Ostrich – (21 / 28 days)
• Ratel / honey badger – (21 / 28 days)
• Eastern bohor reedbuck – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Common reedbuck – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Chandler’s mountain reedbuck – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Typical sable – (21 / 28 days)
• Roosevelt’s sable – (21 / 28 days)
• East African roan – (21 / 28 days)
• Serval – CITES II – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• East African sitatunga – (21 / 28 days)
• Steenbok – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Suni – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Topi – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Warthog – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Common waterbuck – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• East African defassa waterbuck – (16, 21 / 28 days)
• Nyasaland wildebeest – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• White-bearded wildebeest – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Burchell’s zebra – (10, 16, 21 / 28 days)
• Vervet monkey – CITES II
• Blue monkey – CITES II
A magnificent East African kudu bull
Big male leopard trying to get a bite of lion bait.
A typical Masai tracker
Conclusion
Tanzania is the top destination for anyone who wants to experience the old magic of East Africa. Below you will find some practical hints for hunting in this great country:
• Go with an open mind and enjoy the EXPERIENCE. Remember, your trophy is a memory of your safari / hunt – and not a record-book achievement.
• Take small dollar bills. They come in handy for tips. Tanzania is a poor country and people will do everything to make a dollar. Being at your service, always with a smile, should be rewarded.
• The airports are messy and take a lot of time to negotiate. Relax and let your outfitter and / or his people take care of things.
• Camo is allowed but get yourself some neutral browns, greens or dark khaki. Proper cotton shirts with long sleeves are a must. In some parts of Tanzania tsetse flies can be a nuisance.
• The sun can be a menace. Bring along a good quality floppy hat and plenty sunscreen. Avon has a product that is heavy on DEET and sunscreen. Available from Amazon.
• Unless you shoot your double frequently, bring a .416 or .375 rifle (Rem / Rigby / Ruger / H&H – they are all excellent). Quality optics is a must. I am a big fan of both Barnes and Swift bullets. Your rifle will decide which it likes best – so stick with that. Take your own guns; it’s worth the money and hassle.
• Leave the range finder and other shooting gimmicks at home. A compact pair of good binoculars and a good compact camera is a must. Take lots of pictures of everything!
• The local beers are great but save the big night for your KABUBI (don’t worry, you will find out what that is!).
• Tip your PH well. They work exceeding hard and will not be there unless they are top dog at their game. Consider that they put their life on the line every day to keep you safe and to get you top trophies. The industry standard is about 10 percent of your trophy fees, or a minimum of $100.00 per day. Most camps have a tipping suggestions list to give a guideline.
• Prepare yourself. Walk at least an hour every day for four weeks prior to your hunt. Try and carry weight to the equivalent of your rifle’s while doing this. Drink LOTS of water about a week before you go. Practise shooting off sticks and study shot placement on the animals. And don’t hesitate to ask your outfitter and / or PH questions. They will only be too willing to supply answers! ASM
