Botswana opening

[GA Hunter]

 

[daawg1963]

wish i could lion hunt there, would rock

 

[rafaellinne]

Too late

 

[doods SV]

We are also waiting for more info..
Will update if any further news is released from the ministry..

Thanks

 

[Safari1]

Season ends November 30 I believe

 

[Mike B]

Good to hear it’s moving towards open! I have a trip for June 2021 in Botswana. Plenty of time for Armageddon or return to “normal”

 

[sierraone]

Only a thousand questions for someone that could leave on 2 weeks notice!

 

[doods SV]

Season ends November 30 I believe

The 2020 season was rolled over to 2021

 

[rookhawk]

The 2020 season was rolled over to 2021

indeed. So instead of hunting $150,000 Botswana trophy elephants in 2020 you can go to Zim and hunt them as there has been no rain yet and they haven’t migrated to Bots.

I’m sure with all the unsold quota due to Covid you could hunt ten in Zim for the same price. Same bulls, same genetics, arguably same day as they move back and forth across the border.

Bots moved the purchased quota into 2021, meanwhile Zim said it’s all forfeit in 2020 if unsold...deals are happening for that reason.

 

[WAB]

@rookhawk, Bots Ellies are not cheap but you are overstating the cost by about 2x. And they have sort of rolled the quota over. A few bulls have been taken this year. These are not going to count against 2021. As I understand it, think of the 2020 rollover as a minimum with some possibility of additional quota being added.

 

[rookhawk]

@rookhawk, Bots Ellies are not cheap but you are overstating the cost by about 2x. And they have sort of rolled the quota over. A few bulls have been taken this year. These are not going to count against 2021. As I understand it, think of the 2020 rollover as a minimum with some possibility of additional quota being added.

I thought the operators were paying over $35,000 wholesale per bull from bots during their initial 2020 re-opening auction?

 

[rookhawk]

I thought the operators were paying over $35,000 wholesale per bull from bots during their initial 2020 re-opening auction?

sold to operators at the auction for as much as $43,000 each. Zim operators on the other side of the border hunting same genetics pay $8000-$14000 each.

they are then marked up as appropriate and marketed to hunting clients.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

 

[WAB]

sold to operators at the auction for as much as $43,000 each. Zim operators on the other side of the border hunting same genetics pay $8000-$14000 each.

they are then marked up as appropriate and marketed to hunting clients.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Those were auctioned bulls. Operators like Rann, Calitz, Kwatale had active concessions and received quota. Your number is roughly 2x or a little more than where they are at.

Some of the auctioned quota went quite high. I don’t know what the ask is on these but you could check with NKWE on this forum as I think that Jaco’s hunts are based on auctioned quota. I very much doubt that they are anywhere close to $150,000.

Botswana is an amazing place to hunt. I’d hate to discourage anyone from going there.

 

[rookhawk]

Those were auctioned bulls. Operators like Rann, Calitz, Kwatale had active concessions and received quota. Your number is roughly 2x or a little more than where they are at.

Some of the auctioned quota went quite high. I don’t know what the ask is on these but you could check with NKWE on this forum as I think that Jaco’s hunts are based on auctioned quota. I very much doubt that they are anywhere close to $150,000.

Botswana is an amazing place to hunt. I’d hate to discourage anyone from going there.

Oh no, @WAB that's not my intention. What I'm trying to suggest is there is no such thing as a "Botswana Bull" if we're talking about big elephants. Those really big elephants are Botswana-Western Zimbabwe - Hwange bulls.

Whereas Botswana effectively said to the incredibly high auction price elephants they sold in 2020 "It's okay operators, your quota is not expiring, you can sell the hunts in 2021". This is contrasted with Zimbabwe that said to their operators effectively "tough luck, you paid for bulls in 2020 and even though Covid shut you down, you're out of luck".

So if you want to hunt big bull elephants right now, you don't need to go to Botswana and pay gigantic sums of money. The Zimbabwe operators have quota they need to desperately sell in the next couple of weeks at break-even money so they don't eat the tags. They are the same elephants, just at different costs because our Zim friends didn't get their quota moved into 2021 the way the Botswana auctions for up to $43,000 wholesale per elephant tag did.

 

[doods SV]

I haven't seen any Botswana operator selling Elephant Bull hunts at anywhere close to $150,000.
Agreed @WAB, Botswana is a really great hunting destination.

 

[rookhawk]

I haven't seen any Botswana operator selling Elephant Bull hunts at anywhere close to $150,000.
Agreed @WAB, Botswana is a really great hunting destination.

Well if you're to assume that PHs and Operators don't enter this field to lose money, they were paying between $22,000 and $43,000 per elephant for the license in Botswana. They need to add markup, daily rates, etc. and resell it for a profit.

At minimum, that's a $1000 a day for rate ($14,000) plus the minimum they paid for the quota ($22,000) which would equal $34,000 bare minimum for Botswana right now. And the operator doesn't have to sell the hunt because they can wait for 2021 to do so hoping for a better profit.

 

[WAB]

As I stated previously, the established concessions that received quota are at half or less than your stated number. I have these numbers and know this to be accurate. I doubt that the auctioned bulls are much higher than that but I really don’t know. NKWE could sort it quickly if Jaco wants to jump in.

 

[rookhawk]

As I stated previously, the established concessions that received quota are at half or less than your stated number. I have these numbers and know this to be accurate. I doubt that the auctioned bulls are much higher than that but I really don’t know. NKWE could sort it quickly if Jaco wants to jump in.

Six 10-elephant packages sold for between $330,000 and $435,000 each. The package for CT29 did not sell because it did not fetch the minimum clearing price. The government amassed a total of $2,355,000 for six packages.

$330,000 / 10 = $33,000 per elephant.
$435,000 / 10 = $43,500 per elephant.

The licences on auction were 10 each for CT4, CT7, CT29, NG8, NG9, NG11, and NG35. Ngamiland concessions 8, 9, and 11 are held by local communities. There is no 2020 quota for NG3.

CT4 and NG9 both went to Jeff Rann Safaris, now offering a 10-day elephant hunt for $85,000 on its website. CT7 went to Leon Kachelhoffer, NG8 went to Clive Eaton (along with NG11, in partnership with Kaz Kader). NG35 went to Grant Albers.

 

[WAB]

You’re making my point, you overstated the cost of an elephant hunt in Bots by roughly 100% in your original post. No big deal, just want accurate numbers out there.

As an FYI, Rann is the highest of the three I mentioned. Calitz is at 70 for a 14 day hunt in NG41 and Kwatale is at 68 for a 14 day hunt in NG43. So on average they are at just over 74.

I don’t know where the folks are who bought at auction, but I would guess that they have to price near Rann to make it work. Just a guess on my part though.

 

[Dee S]

I'll stay out of the elephant discussion and go back to the opening of Botswana.
My daughter and I have a trip planned for early June, plains game only.
We have to fly into Gaborone and two weeks later fly out of Kasane.
Just curious as to any experiences, or advice, you seasoned travelers could give to us first timers to Botswana. And NO RIFLES, we are bowhunting. Bypass the advice on traveling with rifles/firearms.