Tanzania Hunting Trophies Get Stuck When Concession Holder Doesnt Pay Trophy Fees

Subscriber Victor Betzold (Report 8677) says he has waited more than long enough to receive his trophies from a 2008 safari to Tanzania. Although he hunted with Macumba Safaris, he says the problem was caused by the concession holder, Licky Abdalla of Malagarasi Safaris. According to an email from Mauro Daolio of Macumba Safaris, his company had hunted Abdalla's concession for four years with no trouble until 2008. He says he paid Abdalla for his clients' trophies at the end of the year only to discover in late 2009 that Abdalla never bothered to pay the government for the trophies and none had been shipped. "I am not the only professional hunter in this situation," Daolio wrote Betzold in April 2011. At the time, he said there were four PHs in total with this problem. Because of the situation, Daolio says he has not hunted again with any company owned by Abdalla. Daolio says he paid the trophy fees for his clients' trophies a second time in February 2011 with a promise from Abdalla to start the documentation for them the next day. When nothing happened and Daolio was unable to get a hold of Abdalla, he flew to Tanzania to resolve the matter personally. After a month of haranguing and involving attorneys, the situation was supposedly resolved and Betzold was promised that his trophies would be shipped within six weeks, but responses to inquiries from The Hunting Report indicated that the trophies were still either in Abdalla's control or that of the wildlife department. That was in September 2011. Promises continued from Abdalla into 2012; Betzold waited to see if he would come through. As this was written in mid-May 2012, Betzold had not received anything. Although Abdalla caused the problems, Betzold is not all that happy with Macumba either. "I finished my hunt at the end of October 2008," he writes. "During 2009, Macumba assured me that my trophies would be shipped promptly. But according to their email, it wasn't until the end of 2009 when Macumba knew they had a problem with Abdalla. Mauro states in his email that he didn't contact Licky until........(continued)