Prevented from hunting dwindling stocks of wildlife in their desert homelands, Gulf Arabs are increasingly setting their sights on the big game and birds of South Africa’s veld.
”Arabs are taking advantage of the weakness of the rand to travel to South Africa. There has been a great deal of interest from locals,” Tinus van Heerden of Sangira Safaris said on the sidelines of a hunting exhibition in Dubai.
”This is only the second year this expo has been open to outsiders, and there has been a lot of talk of people here transferring their hunting trips from central Asia to Africa,” said van Heerden.
Sangira, like the other safari companies, offers a ”price list” of beasts that can be hunted down in various parks in South Africa, the ubiquitous baboon and jackal costing a miserly $50 a head, a zebra $950, and a lion topping the menu at $30 000.
A 10-day safari package of seven animals including a zebra, a wildebeest and a springbuck typically costs around $7 000.
That goes up exponentially when killing one of the ”big five” — lion, elephant, rhino, leopard or buffalo — is involved.
”Given the high costs of hunting a lion or leopard for example, and the associated costs of having them seen to by a taxidermist, dipped and shipped, Gulf Arabs are on the whole more interested in falconry and bird hunting,” said Malcolm Grimbeek of MAG Tours and Safaris.
”The only problem is that there is a 30-day quarantine for birds brought into South Africa, so most of the falcon owners do not like to bring their own,” said Grimbeek, who is also a colonel in the South African police.
Emirati national Abu Mohammed agreed, saying he was accustomed to leaving his falcons in Abu Dhabi when he travelled abroad for hunting.
”It is a shame, but the huge number of birds and the sheer range of the African countryside soon make up for that,” he said of his two previous hunting trips to South Africa.
Hunting with falcons was a main way Emiratis living in this harsh desert region obtained meat in the past, and today the bird remains a national emblem, found on everything from corporate logos to bank notes.
Environmental officials in the United Arab Emirates are finalising plans for a scheme to issue passports for falcons to allow them to travel abroad legally with their owners.
”We have heard about this interesting development and are working to cut down on the quarantine time on our end,” said Grimbeek.
Grimbeek said Gulf visitors dropped in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States but had now picked up by ”200%” from two years ago.
But operators said the Arab market was very difficult to work in and much different from that of Europe and the United States, where a deposit is paid almost immediately and a date for arrival set well in advance.
”Most Gulf Arabs end up taking your card and telephoning you a week after touching down in South Africa, saying ‘We’re ready for hunting’,” said Ivan Sinclair of Big Sky Safaris.
With wildlife under pressure, most hunting has been banned in the Emirates amid fears that the sparse local wildlife would be totally wiped out. – Sapa-AFP