Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Botswana Hunting Season Update

Yep - tickets in hand...or at least in our email "In Boxes". QA from Chicago to Doha to J'berg and then Air Bots into Gabby. Booked them directly on the QA website and confirmed everything with the QA Call Center. In our case, the Air Bots flights are currently NOT carrying PAX, but just got word this morning the Bots Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism is having a meeting this afternoon to address officially extending the formal hunting season regarding the DG concessions and the respective lease holders formally into 2021. How long into 2021 will be given then too. No idea if he is going to address opening the boarders/commercial flights yet or not.

Per the Call Center, J'berg airport is allowing "transit" through the terminal to connecting flights, BUT, if you leave the terminal, i.e. pass thru the Immigration Desks where you collect your luggage (NOT THE PASS PORT CONTROL DESK IN THE TRANSIT CORRIDOR) then you're NOT subject to the 14-day "self quarantine". Trouble is, there aren't that many currently flying International flights.

I've also read where numerous ZA operators are getting their properties "certified" as being 14-day "quarantine" sites, with the intention of being able to book clients and hunt for the 14-days. I also confirmed just this morning that effective 1 Jun, ZA opened "hunting" to ZA residents but, they have to stay within their home districts.

Thought it was time to up date this thread and the status of our Aug hunt.

Up until yesterday (Friday morning), everything was still "hopeful" for our 12 Aug departure. Botswana wasn't officially "open" yet but was still some rumors floating around with the locals there that it might just be open in time for our arrival on the 14th. One or our group was signed up with the US State Department traveler program and had entered his (our) travel dates with the US Embassy in Gabby. Yesterday morning he received an email from the US Embassy in Gabby the Gaborone Covid 19 regions was going back into complete lockdown. Even the locals could not leave/enter that district. We even tried to see if we could reschedule flights for Sept and could only get bookings to J'berg and that's it and mid/late Oct gets just a bit too warm during the day.

So......regrettably, it looks like Africa is off the books for us completely this year.

On a happier note:

The govt did officially roll the elephant and buffalo concessions that were tendered and won this spring to all of next year to the same people.

Second thing is, I'm already starting the planning/organizing trips for 2021. I'd like to do a small group 14-day (10-actual full hunting days) trip sometime between mid May and Mid June and another same 14-day (10-actual full hunting days) small group mid July to mid Aug both trips centered over the dark of the moon. I'd also like to take a leopard hunter to the mountains of NW Namibia for a 14-day leopard and PG hunt over the full moon of late Sep to early Oct 2021. Reason for the later dates for the leopard is the water up in the mountains will have dried up by then, forcing the game down to the permanent water points in the valleys and the night temps will be warm enough you wont be freezing your nads off.

Besides myself, I've already got one spot taken for the May/June trip and one spot taken for the Aug/Sep trip. Leaves two spots open for each.

I'll start a new thread on the trips for 2021 in a few weeks when things start settling down a bit.

M3