Save Valley hunters charged US$70k
26/01/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
AN “upper-end” hunting expedition on the Save Valley Conservancy, the
subject of bitter divisions in the coalition Cabinet and threats of aid cut
by the European Union can cost up to US$70,000 a pop, a safari operator has
revealed.
Chunks of the 3,400 square-kilometre wildlife reserve in the south-east
Lowveld were last year parcelled out to top Zanu PF officials in a decision
that sparked a public row between Environment Minister Francis Nhema and his
Tourism counterpart, Walter Mzembi.
Nhema backed the “indigenisation” of the lucrative but largely
white-controlled wildlife sanctuary. Mzembi warned that the move would hurt
the country’s tourism sector adding the 25 individuals handed concessions in
the area had also secured farms under the country’s land reforms.
But in what might help explain the fight for control of the conservancy,
safari operator, Alistair Pole, said hunters can pay up to US$70,000 on a
single expedition in the conservancy, according to USAToday.com.
Speaking at the annual convention of Safari Club International in Nevada,
US, Pole, owner of Zambezi Hunters, said “an upper-end hunting expedition
can cost up to $70,000 before all is said and done”. “To these folks, it’s
worth it,” he added.
Most of the hunters were spending a fortune for the “thrill of game hunting”.
“ This stuff can fight back,” he said, adding two professional hunters were
recently killed by Cape Buffalo.
Pole’s firm charges US$53,000 for a 21-day lion safari with other species
such as buffalo, leopard and plains game also available for hunting.
The late Higher Education Minister, Stan Mudenge was among 25 individuals,
most of the top Zanu PF officials, accused of trying to muscle their way
onto the conservancy.
Mzembi said at the time: “It is wrong to have minority ownership of
conservancies, but it is even more unpardonable to replace that minority
white with a minority black, in the face of a crisis of expectations and
thirst for empowerment from our black majority.
“This business of empowering people who are already empowered severally in
other sectors, such as farming, ranching, sugar cane farming, mining, etc,
will not pass the moral test nor will it endear us to the people except to
ourselves.”
The development also drew threats of aid cut by the European Union with
Germany warning it could boycott the United Nations world tourism congress
set to be jointly hosted with Zambia at the Victoria Falls resort in August.
Running along the banks of the Save River, the conservancy – respected as a
leader in wildlife management and research – is collectively controlled by
international investors, white ranchers who formerly ran cattle on the land.
Conservancy officials deny allegations the sanctuary is white controlled,
insisting indigenous businessmen and hundreds of rural farmers are also
involved.
“It is a working example of how something really special can be a success,
by including all sectors of the community, especially the rural poor who
have previously got nothing out of wildlife,” said Wilfried Pabst, a German
businessman who is vice-chair of the conservancy.
“Two-thirds of stakeholders of the conservancy are black. It is now being
threatened by a collection of greedy individuals who are bringing nothing
into the conservancy and will destroy it.”