Hunters intrigued by my April report on that reopened hunting concession in Bwabwata National Park in Namibia will want to know there is a second huge concession now open for hunting in this park. You'll recall I told you that safari operator Allan Cilliers had been awarded the Kwando Concession in what was formerly known as Caprivi Strip Game Park. The park stretches across "the Strip" from the Okavango River on the western end to the Kwando River on the east. It is divided into two hunting concessions, Bwabwata West and Bwabwata East. While the two areas had been hunted on and off in the past, it had been three years since the government had allocated either of them. In October 2010, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism awarded both of these areas to safari operators. As I told you in April, Allan Cilliers (http://cillierssafaris.com; 011-264-67-232676) received Bwabwata East, or the Kwando Concession. Bwabwata West, also called Buffalo Hunting Concession, went to Koos Pienaar of Huntafrica Namibia (www.huntafrica.com.na; 011-264-62-563700). The tenders were finalized this past March, and both operators are conducting hunts.
Charlie Goldenberg of Premier Safaris (407-889-9778; premiersafaris@att.net), brought this development to my attention last month. It seems the specific area in the hunt reports I had mentioned (Hunt Report IDs 3959 and 5916) were actually on hunts in the western side of Bwabwata. Goldenberg knows that area, as he represented it when it was hunted by John Wamback of Pro-Guiding Namibia. Goldenberg now books hunts to the area for Huntafrica Namibia.
The Buffalo Hunting Concession borders the Okavango River in the west, Angola's Luiana Game Park on the north and Botswana's upper Okavango Delta in the south. It encompasses more than 280,000 hectares (700,000 acres) and, like East Bwabwata, is completely free-range, with game wandering over international borders, including herds of migrating elephant. Other species available include buffalo, sable, roan, hippo, crocodile, leopard and some plains game. Pienaar hunted this area from 2001 to 2004.
To get a better sense of what's available in this area I spoke with several........(continued)
