Awesome post. I was skeptical of the fees for the CT-27 and CT-29 quota and your price clarifications explains it. I've spent some time in the Tuli Circle (Zim's peninsula that juts into the Botswana's Tuli Block) and found the elephants to be small and unremarkable, nothing was seen in 3 visits that exceeded 25ish pounds a side. These genetics are probably the same as the Mapungubwe genetics in RSA across the Limpopo nearby where they call "trophy quality" 30lb animals. Nothing like the Hwange corridor bulls further north that are the "quintessential large elephants" that people think of in Eastern Botswana.
The eastern part of Botswana has the highest concentration of Elephants in the world at the moment. This according to my pilot friend who flew the elephant census team around the country 2018. By implication this is where you want to hunt if you are looking for a good bull. Yes the Elephants do move around but I Have never seen a “wildebeest on the Serengeti” type migration except maybe in the 1950 make of Tarzan! No doubt there are family members of the herd in Eastern Zim so if there are deals to be had the operators should post!
The Tuli Elephans were the closest to South Africa back in the Ivory hunting days and as such the genetics of big ivory has been shot out 100 years ago. In 30 years of visiting the Farm which borders the Tuli circle the biggest ivory I recall is maybe 60 pounds . There are some huge elephant bulls there but lack ivory. The Mapangubwe elephant all come from Botswana and only recently- 1990’s when Debeers proclaimed a reserve around the Venetia diamond mine and the Establishment of the Transfronteer or Peace Parks concept spanning Bots, South Africa and Zim. Buffalo and sable were completely shot out by 1900 and those that survived were killed by the rinderpest epidemic around the same time.
