Just how much does a concession cost?

[Masai]

Here are the results of the most recent auction of Tanzania blocks in 2022. These are the annual lease payments in U.S. Dollars. All concessions were awarded for A 10-year period.


SN Company Hunting Block category Amount USD
1 TROPHY BELT TANZANIA CO. LIMITED Hunting Block: Kizigo GR C II 90,000
2 NZOHE HUNTING SAFARIS LIMITED Hunting Block: Kitwai GCA SW III 39,000
3 MICHEL MANTHEAKIS SAFARIS LTD Lukwati GR S II 91,000
4 ROBIN HURT SAFARIS (T) LTD Lake Natron GCA S I 192,000
5 ILAROI RANCHING LIMITED Ugalla GR S II 105,000
6 LUKE SAMARAS SAFARIS LTD Selous GR MS1 II 120,000
7 KILOMBERO NORTH SAFARI LTD Lake Natron GCA W II 171,000
8 BUSHMAN HUNTING SAFARIS (T) LTD Burko OA I 400,000
9 SAFARI ROYAL HOLDINGS LTD Lukwati GR N II 86,000
10 TROPHY BELT TANZANIA CO. LIMITED Ngaserai OA II 85,000
11 MALIKIA CLEARING & FORWADING COMPANY LIMITED Hunting Block: Selous GR MT1 II 85,000
12 TANZANIA SAFARI AND HUNTING (2003) LTD Rungwa Rungwa GR W I 155,000
13 TANZANIA BIG GAME SAFARIS LTD Monduli Juu OA II 101,000
14 MICHEL MANTHEAKIS SAFARIS LTD Longido GCA N II 84,000
15 ROBIN HURT SAFARIS (T) LTD Luganzo GR II 166,000
16 ILAROI RANCHING LIMITED Rungwa Mwamagembe GR II 95,000
17 TANZANIA BIG GAME SAFARIS LTD Ruvu Masai GCA II 125,000
18 ESHKESH SAFARIS LTD Masai OA E II 135,000
19 SAFARIA SAFARIS TANZANIA LIMITED Rungwa Rungwa GR E I 151,000
20 TROPHY BELT TANZANIA CO. LIMITED Simanjiro GCA W III 200,000
21 TANZANIA SAFARI AND HUNTING (2003) LTD Lake Rukwa GR I 185,000
22 AFRICAB ADVENTURE LIMITED Rungwa Mpera GR I 285,000
23 AFRICAB ADVENTURE LIMITED Ugalla GR E II 230,000
24 GAME FRONTIERS OF TANZANIA LTD Makere-Uvinza OA III 52,000
25 EBN HUNTING SAFARIS LTD Moyowosi GR S II 250,000
26 TANZANIA SAFARI AND HUNTING (2003) LTD Selous GR U3 II 95,000
27 DESTINATION 255 CO LIMITED Hunting Block: Liparamba GR III 31,000
28 PORI TRACKERS OF AFRICA LTD Selous GR LR3 II 93,000
29 ILAROI RANCHING LIMITED Rungwa OA S II 90,000
30 LUKE SAMARAS SAFARIS LTD Selous GR LR1 II 121,000
31 ADAM CLEMENTS SAFARIS LIMITED Moyowosi/Njingwe GR3 II 176,000
32 TANZANIA BIG GAME SAFARIS LTD Masai OA W I 151,000
33 SAFARIA SAFARIS TANZANIA LIMITED Selous GR MHJ3 II 82,000
34 ILAROI RANCHING LIMITED Lolkisale GCA I 235,000
35 WEMBERE HUNTING SAFARIS LTD Kilombero Ruhudji/Ifinga E II 81,000
36 ADAM CLEMENTS SAFARIS LIMITED Lake Natron GCA N II 160,000
37 CLEMENTS SAFARI TRACKERS LTD Hunting Block: Moyowosi/Njingwe GR 1 II 81,000
38 KILOMBERO NORTH SAFARI LTD Kilombero Ruhidji Ifinga GR (W) II 81,000
39 AFRICAN BUFFALO SAFARIS TRACKERS LTD Mto wa Mbu GCA I 151,000
40 MKWAWA HUNTING SAFARIS (T) LTD Selous GR U4 II 130,000
41 PLAINS GAME ADVENTURES LIMITED Simanjiro Naberera GCA III 65,000
42 PORI TRACKERS OF AFRICA LTD Selous GR LR2 II 85,000
43 TROPHY BELT TANZANIA CO. LIMITED Simanjiro Kitiangare GCA III 190,000
44 TANZANIA BIG GAME SAFARIS LTD Rungwa Ikili GR I 161,000
45 TRAILCHASERS LIMITED Selous GR MA1 II 92,000
Total 6,029,000

A couple notes, Bushman Safaris bid of $400,000 a year for Burko was invalidated when they claimed they made an error in calculating their bid numbers. It was subsequently negotiated and awarded to Bushmen at a much lower annual lease. Also note that the Masailand concessions went for extremely high prices in general.

I’ll post more about other costs for safari companies in Tanzania in a future post.

Great info! I guess that if so many people is paying for it it is because it is worth the investment,,, and considering is Africa and investors expect extra high return (because of the risk), the returns must be very attractive. I am still considering investing in a project like this once I get done (by the end of the year) in a development.
Any proposals are welcome

 

[DLSJR]

I think some of you may find this of interest, so here is a bit of information about what it takes to operate in the Selous. Alan Vincent had LU5 for quite a few years, until it was taken to be included in Nyerere National Park.

He then hunted Mlele South for 3 seasons, 2020-2022, but gave it up for the very same reasons that Robin Hurt had turned it back before him... Logistics. It is so remote in western Tanzania that just getting supplies entailed about 4 days drive from Dar es Salaam or a 2 hr. 45 minute flight by Cessna Caravan, followed by a 2 hour drive through the forest to get to camp. That Caravan flight is $8,000 round trip so supplies came in either by truck or when clients chartered in for their hunts. At the end of last season, everything had to be hauled out by large supply truck to be loaded into large ocean freight storage containers and then hauled to Dar es Salaam, where it would be housed with the trucks, tractor and other equipment until they were ready to haul out to the new area in the Selous.

Alan won the recent auction for MA1/Madaba and now has that area for the next 10 years. So, with this being their first year operating on Madaba, they headed in early to find Raoul Ramoni’s old camp and start setting up for the first hunters who will arrive in July. The crew left Dar on May 24th and arrived at the Madaba airstrip about a week later. They had to deal with washouts, downed trees, 10 foot tall grass they had to remove from the roads, difficult river crossings.

Once they found the campsite, part of the crew headed back to the nearest village outside the Selous boundary, where they will establish an off-season storage area as all Selous camps have to be 100% completely removed from the reserve at the end of each season and brought back in to start the next hunting season. It took 4 days to get back to the village as they had to make the road passable for the larger truck that’ll bring in camp.
Meanwhile, Alan left Dar with a low bed heavy truck hauling 2 20-foot ocean freight containers loaded with camp and gear, the large Unimog truck, and a large tractor they use all season to maintain the roads within the unit.

The airstrip is only 4 kilometers from camp and it’s less than an hour flight from Dar, so getting supplies in once hunters start arriving will be simpler and far less expensive, though still not cheap by any means. They do all this for a hunting season that is effectively 4 months long, from July through October. After that is dicey as early rains can make it impossible to get camp out of the reserve.

Now, with the foregoing in mind, realize that with PH’s, trackers, drivers, cooks, servers, skinners, tent boys, night watchman and various other laborers needed to keep a remote camp operating smoothly, he employs over 20 people to make such an operation possible. We fly in and hunt for 10, 16 or 21 days, but he employs these people and a coordinator in Dar who meets clients coming and going to help them with everything that needs to done in Dar and employs all these people for about 6 months of the year.

So, the next time you ponder how expensive it is to hunt in the wilder areas of Africa, remember what lease rates and logistical expenses go into making your hunt possible. And you’ll better understand why it’s so damned expensive. At least in Tanzania.

 

[Masai]

I think some of you may find this of interest, so here is a bit of information about what it takes to operate in the Selous. Alan Vincent had LU5 for quite a few years, until it was taken to be included in Nyerere National Park.

He then hunted Mlele South for 3 seasons, 2020-2022, but gave it up for the very same reasons that Robin Hurt had turned it back before him... Logistics. It is so remote in western Tanzania that just getting supplies entailed about 4 days drive from Dar es Salaam or a 2 hr. 45 minute flight by Cessna Caravan, followed by a 2 hour drive through the forest to get to camp. That Caravan flight is $8,000 round trip so supplies came in either by truck or when clients chartered in for their hunts. At the end of last season, everything had to be hauled out by large supply truck to be loaded into large ocean freight storage containers and then hauled to Dar es Salaam, where it would be housed with the trucks, tractor and other equipment until they were ready to haul out to the new area in the Selous.

Alan won the recent auction for MA1/Madaba and now has that area for the next 10 years. So, with this being their first year operating on Madaba, they headed in early to find Raoul Ramoni’s old camp and start setting up for the first hunters who will arrive in July. The crew left Dar on May 24th and arrived at the Madaba airstrip about a week later. They had to deal with washouts, downed trees, 10 foot tall grass they had to remove from the roads, difficult river crossings.

Once they found the campsite, part of the crew headed back to the nearest village outside the Selous boundary, where they will establish an off-season storage area as all Selous camps have to be 100% completely removed from the reserve at the end of each season and brought back in to start the next hunting season. It took 4 days to get back to the village as they had to make the road passable for the larger truck that’ll bring in camp.
Meanwhile, Alan left Dar with a low bed heavy truck hauling 2 20-foot ocean freight containers loaded with camp and gear, the large Unimog truck, and a large tractor they use all season to maintain the roads within the unit.

The airstrip is only 4 kilometers from camp and it’s less than an hour flight from Dar, so getting supplies in once hunters start arriving will be simpler and far less expensive, though still not cheap by any means. They do all this for a hunting season that is effectively 4 months long, from July through October. After that is dicey as early rains can make it impossible to get camp out of the reserve.

Now, with the foregoing in mind, realize that with PH’s, trackers, drivers, cooks, servers, skinners, tent boys, night watchman and various other laborers needed to keep a remote camp operating smoothly, he employs over 20 people to make such an operation possible. We fly in and hunt for 10, 16 or 21 days, but he employs these people and a coordinator in Dar who meets clients coming and going to help them with everything that needs to done in Dar and employs all these people for about 6 months of the year.

So, the next time you ponder how expensive it is to hunt in the wilder areas of Africa, remember what lease rates and logistical expenses go into making your hunt possible. And you’ll better understand why it’s so damned expensive. At least in Tanzania.

There are exemptions like the one you mention. On the other hand, most places in Africa today are fairly well connected within a long day of driving (10-15 hours take you a long way).

It took me under 4 days to go across the entire Sahara without a GPS (just a paper Michelin map and a compass) nor proper roads in a Renault Express back in 2001; just to point out that I know what it takes to cruise the continent. That was a cross country of over 2,000km,,, the Selous is around 300-400km.