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Shakira - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Song)

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Shakira - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Song)

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The Citizens of Halloween - This Is Halloween (From Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas")

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flama ghost

start

HORROR ESCAPE ROOM

"A ghost is trapped in this house, doomed to wander through it until he recovers all of his memories.To help him find them, you must first pass all the tests and get the missingitems in your inventory.Explore the house and try not to get trapped yourself too..."

Introduction

Explore the house

Inventory

It's closed...

It's too dark...

Open inventory...

Each morning I appear to lie at your feet. All day I will follow no matter how fast you run, yet I nearly perish in the midday sun.

01

yourhappiness

yourshadow

yourdreams

I don't have lungs, but I need air.The more I eat, the more I grow.I dance, I live, I drink, I die.I'm always hungry, ready to eat.I rarely thirst, I can barely drink.Shoot me, stab me I don't mind.Suffocate or drown me, I'll be no more.

air

02

fire

water

I'm tall when I'm young, I'm short when I'm old, and once a year, I make heavy pumpkins light. What am I?

the moon

03

a human being

a candle

Look in my face, I am somebody. Look in my back, I am nobody. What am I?

a dead body

a mirror

a skeleton

04

It's not correct...

Find the key to continue

Continue exploring the house

Inventory

It's too dark...

Inventario abierto...

"If there's something strangein your neighborhoodwho you gonna call?"

Michael Jackson

the police

01

Ghostbusters

Mummy

02

"This is the beginning of your life."

"This is the end of your life."

"You're screwed."

"This is a new life for you."

"Night creatures callAnd the dead start to walk in their masqueradeThere's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time"

03

Haloween

Hallowen

Halloween

"Boys and girls of every ageWouldn't you like to see something strange?Come with us and you will seeThis, our town of..."

Lavaur

04

Monster mash

mashed potatoes

Monster Munch

moonwalk

"I was working in the lab, late one nightWhen my eyes beheld an eerie sightFor my monster from his slab, began to riseAnd suddenly to my surpriseHe did the mash, he did the..."

You found asecret message

♪♬ø

Remember these notes and play them on the piano in the correct order

♯

♬

♩

♫

♪

ø

01

...Keep playing

♯

♬

♩

♫

♪

ø

02

...One more

♯

♬

♩

♫

♪

ø

03

Try again...

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

You found a new item for your inventory

Inventory

♪♬ø

Continue exploring the house

Inventario abierto...

Use the magnifying glass to find the code and then insert it into the typewriter.

224

Someone is there!

I was a Swiss scientist but I wasn't born in Switzerland? Where was I born?

01

Geneva, Switzerland

Naples, Italy

Paris, France

I studied chemical processes and then, I learnt about another science. What was it?

02

the decay of living things

taxidermy

black magic

Now, I remember. My first name is Victor and I created my own creature. I named it after my own name...

Edward

Frankenstein

Pinocchio

03

A briefcase appeared...

congratulations

You've recovered all the ghost's memories! Now he can finally rest and you can escape from the house!

You will lose all the progress so far...

Sure you wantto go out?

Exit

Back

Inventory

Inventory

♪♬ø

Inventory

♪♬ø

Inventory

♪♬ø

Inventory

Oh, no. You failed...

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TRAVEL

START

QUIZ

New Zealand

Hint

1/5

New Zealand

2/5

New Zealand

Hint

The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aboriginal people.

3/5

New Zealand

4/5

New Zealand

5/5

Which country

End of the quiz!

Hello, I'm New Zealand. I'm not located in the Indian Ocean nor in the Arctic Ocean.

Remember me?

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TRAVEL START QUIZ New Zealand Hint 1/5 New Zealand 2/5 New Zealand Hint The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aboriginal people. 3/5 New Zealand 4/5 New Zealand 5/5 Which country End of the quiz! Hello, I'm New Zealand. I'm not located in the Indian Ocean nor in the Arctic Ocean.

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DOCUMENT 1: South Africa's identity card

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DOCUMENT 1: South Africa's identity card

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In the face of growing food security concerns due to climate change, scientists in New Zealand are attempting to grow fruit tissue in labs.

While work on lab-grown meat has made headlines in recent years, similar work on fruit is less common. Scientists at Plant & Food Research in the southern city of Christchurch are aiming to change that by growing fruit tissue from plant cells that they hope will one day taste, smell and feel like real fruit. Researchers hope that the program will help safeguard the country's food security.

"Here in New Zealand, we're good at growing conventional horticultural crops," said Dr Ben Schon, the lead scientist for the Food by Design program at the government-backed Plant & Food Research, "but looking into the future, there's a lot of change coming in the world with population growth, increasing urbanisation and climate change."

The program aims to grow fruit tissue without the parts that are usually discarded like the core of the apple or the rind of an orange. Providing consumers with only the tissue of fruit will help reduce food waste, said Schon.

Lab-grown foods could play a pivotal role in sustainable agriculture but are still in very early stages of development, according to Dr Ali Rashidinejad, a senior food scientist at Massey University in Palmerston North who is not involved in the program.

Since lab-grown food is a completely new concept, once it is developed, it will then have to prove its safety to regulatory bodies likely through expensive and long clinical trials. "Overcoming such hurdles can take years if not decades," Rashidinejad said.

Consumers will also need to accept the practice; older generations might prove to be hesitant but research shows that younger generations are willing to try new foods if those foods offer health benefits while limiting environmental impact, said Rashidinejad.

The Plant & Food Research program, which started 18 months ago, focuses on cells from blueberries, apples, cherries, feijoas, peaches, nectarines and grapes, but they warn that the end goal of harvesting something that is nutritional and enjoyable to eat is some years away and might not be attainable at all.

The technology would probably be suitable for growing fruit tissue within cities, said Dr Sam Baldwin, a strategy leader at Plant & Food Research, in the hope that it would reduce the cost and carbon emissions created when transporting food into urban centres.

However, it's unclear how the carbon footprint of such lab-grown fruit would compare to those grown using traditional methods, which may have to be transported long distances if imported.

The technology could also offset the food lost in weather events. Earlier this year, Cyclone Gabrielle, decimated parts of Hawkes Bay, an area known as New Zealand's fruit bowl. The cyclone came as many kiwifruit growers were preparing to harvest their crops.

"I'm not sure we realise that we are going to need to produce more food for a bigger population but with less areas to grow and under increasing pressure from a non-conducive climate," said Baldwin.

"Business as usual might not be able to address that need."

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In the face of climate change and food insecurity, New Zealand considers lab-grown fruit

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Scientists will attempt to create fruit without the parts that are normally discarded like the core of an apple or orange pith

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DOCUMENT 3: Kiwi fruit farming and harvest

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DOCUMENT 3: Kiwi fruit farming and harvest

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How to Cultivate Millions of Kiwi Fruit in New Zealand - Kiwi Fruit Farming and Harvest

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South Africa ● Interactive Maps. — Dots on Maps.

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Explore the best attractions in South Africa with ease using Dots on Maps.

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Zespri International Limited is the world's largest marketer of kiwifruit, selling kiwifruit in more than 50 countries. We work with around 2,800 New Zealand and 1,500 international growers and post-harvest companies to source the best-quality Zespri Kiwifruit which we supply through our distribution partners to wholesale and retail customers.

Our origins lie in the challenges faced by the New Zealand kiwifruit industry in the 1980s. Rapid expansion of the industry and large crop volumes had seen supply exceed demand, and combined with unfavourable interest and foreign exchange rates, the price of kiwifruit had dipped to an all-time low, badly affecting local growers. lt was then that New Zealand kiwifruit growers decided they could do better together, leading to the creation of Zespri in 1997.

Today, we retain the exclusive rights to export kiwifruit from New Zealand to all countries other than Australia. And since our establishment, we've been able to deliver strong sustainable returns to growers, make increasingly positive contributions to our communities, and provide premium-tasting and premium-quality kiwifruit to the world.

Ultimately, our purpose is to help people, communities, and the environment around the world thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit. And our mission is to create sustainable long-term value for kiwifruit growers, by offering consumers the world's leading portfolio of branded kiwifruit 12 months of the year.

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Welcome to Zespri Kiwifruit. Our Green and SunGold kiwifruit deliver better flavor, higher quality and more vitality in every bite. Discover mouth-watering recipes and taste the difference for yourself.

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Cambridge Dictionary | English Dictionary, Translations & Thesaurus

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The most popular dictionary and thesaurus for learners of English. Meanings and definitions of words with pronunciations and translations.

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10 of the world's most endangered animals

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As our modern society gets more resource-intensive, natural spaces are shrinking, wildlife numbers are declining, and species are still endangered.

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South African government increases trophy hunting quotas, sacrificing vulnerable leopard, endangered elephant and critically endangered black rhino “as conservation tool(s)”

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Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA—The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment announced this weekend that South Africa will allow the…

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The South African government has granted annual hunting and export permits for big game including 10 critically endangered black rhinoceros and a similar number of leopards.

It also gave permission for more than 100 elephants to be killed, in keeping with international laws on the trade of endangered species, saying its elephant population was growing and that fewer than 0.3% were hunted each year.

"A total of 10 black rhino may be hunted and 150 elephants," the forestry and environment ministry announced.

Black rhino are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered. But numbers of black rhino in the wild have doubled to more than 5,000 from a historic low three decades ago.

The government said its allocated quota for rhino was based on population estimates, "which show an increasing trend at present".

Poaching of white rhino reached crisis levels between 2014 and 2017, when a thousand were killed on average each year. Those numbers dropped by half to 451 last year.

The animals are slaughtered for their horns, which are smuggled into Asia where they are mistakenly believed to have medicinal benefits.

The South African government said leopard hunts would be restricted to animals aged seven years and older, and allowed only in regions where the large cat populations were "stable or increasing".

Hunting is big business in South Africa, bringing in around 1.4bn rand ($92m) in 2019, the government said.

Proceeds from government-approved annual hunting quotas go towards local marginalised and impoverished rural communities where the hunts happen.

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South Africa grants permits to hunt 10 critically endangered black rhino

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Government says black rhino population is growing and also gives permission to hunt 10 leopards and 150 elephants

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"Nobody in this situation, with this particular black rhino put more value on it than I did," said hunter Corey Knowlton this week, before killing the rhino with several shots he had paid $350,000 to fire. "I'm absolutely hell bent on protecting this animal."

Knowlton's highly-publicised bid to kill a critically endangered animal came to a successful conclusion on Monday amid scrubby bushland in Namibia. It was, he said, a victory for conservation.

"100% I felt like from day one it was benefitting the black rhino. And I'll feel like that until the day I die," the Texan told CNN.

His Namibian hunt coincided with an announcement by the government in neighbouring Zambia that it would lift its ban on hunting lions and leopards just two years after it was imposed. Jean Kapata, Zambia's tourism and arts minister, said the move would benefit wildlife conservation.

Trophy hunting, the practice of selling expensive permits to shoot big game, is a drawcard for a certain type of tourist. Many of them, including Knowlton and Kendall Jones ( who last year became a hate figure for animal rights groups after posting photos on showing her posing beside kills), claim their primary motivation is conservation.

Previous studies have drawn links between the increase in the population of white rhinos in South Africa - one of conservation's great success stories - and the introduction of animals to privately managed hunting reserves where they are protected from poachers and development. In Zambia, 21% of the land is locked up in these private reserves. A 2012 study by Traffic, an anti-poaching group, offered support for well-managed hunting.

Some national governments and scientists back the industry's claim it can support population recoveries in endangered species.

But many experts the Guardian spoke to said that in reality, hunting rarely helped to conserve species. Critics say hunters hide their enjoyment of a bloodsport behind a cloak of goodwill.

"If it is well managed, then yes there might be a case to be made for hunting as a means for conservation because it does bring in a little bit of money," said Pieter Kat, co-founder of Lion Aid. But for hunting to act as an unlikely bedfellow for conservation it relies on good management and in the majority of cases this did not occur, he said.

"I would say there are some examples, but it largely depends on the honesty of the hunting operators. By far the largest majority of people that are in the hunting profession are not doing it out of any form of conservation. They are in it for the money," said Kat.

A leopard in Zambia. The country has lifted a two year ban on hunting the animals. Photograph: Will Burrard - Lucas / Barcroft/Will Burrard-Lucas / Barcroft

Kat was highly critical of Zambia's decision to overturn its lion and leopard hunting ban. He said the government had "caved in to powerful hunting interests". Zambia's government said the move was based on fresh field assessments, but Kat said no such count has occurred. The government estimates there are 4,000 lions in the country, but informal estimates put the number at more like 400.

"There is little evidence that hunting does much to conserve wildlife in Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique or much of West Africa," said Professor Craig Packer, a lion expert at the University of Minnesota. Only in Zimbabwe and Namibia did he say hunting revenues appeared to be actively protecting species.

Poaching has caused the population of black rhinos to decline by more than 90% since the 1960s. Numbers crashed to just 2,300 in the 1990s and the past two decades has seen a fragile recovery take place. Namibia has 35% of the current population of 5,000 and the country's management has overseen a slow but steady growth.

Each year the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) issues Namibia with between three and five hunting permits for rhino. They depend on evidence that the practice is benefitting the species.

But in the first months of 2015, Namibia's rhino population has been hit by 60 poaching deaths. A spokesman for Traffic said that although Namibia possessed a legitimate hunting quota based on years of careful rhino management, unless the current poaching spike was addressed, its basis would be seriously undermined.

Wildlife viewing brings in so much more revenue to Africa than these small game hunts for small privileged groups

Jeff Flocken, IFAW

Kat said one of the problems was a lack of transparency around the income derived from hunting. "In terms of trophy hunting as a conservation activity, there's lots and lots of problems with that because we just don't know where the money goes. We know what the hunters are paying, but it's a big step from there to finding out whether the money actually benefits conservation or even benefits communities," he said.

Packer said the situation varied from country to country. "Tanzania receives $15m per year from trophy hunting revenues, which is supposed to cover the management and conservation of 300,000km ². This is almost nothing compared to the real costs of effective wildlife management (which are close to a thousand dollars per km ² per year).

"As far as any benefits going to individuals living near the reserves, this only amounts to about 50 cents per person per year - that's about the same as an egg. Namibia, though, appears to generate quite a lot more revenue per capita."

Patrick Barkham visits a lion-breeding farm in North Eastern Free State, South Africa, to investigate the relationship between the rearing of lions in captivity and the so-called 'canned hunting' industry Guardian

But in the case of Namibia, and the $350,000 paid by Knowlton, much of the money ends up with the Game Products Trust Fund, which Kat says does not help save rhinos.

Jeff Flocken, North America regional director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said the revenues from hunting, which one study found to be just 1.8% of the overall tourism revenue in nine African countries, were immaterial to the conservation of species.

"I certainly agree that engaging communities is going to be the solution, but engaging them in a non-lethal way. Photographic and wildlife viewing brings in so much more revenue to Africa than these small game hunts for small privileged groups," he said. Locking up vast swathes of land for hunting concessions was "ludicrous," said Kat. "It's the least economical way to use the land."

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The idea that hunting saves African wildlife doesn't withstand scrutiny

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Zambia has lifted a ban on hunting lions and leopards and said the move will help protect wildlife, as a US hunter killed a black rhino in Namibia in what he called a victory for conservation. But experts have serious doubts about the claims

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© Roger de la Harpe

In a statement released by SANParks on April 2, 2007 chief executive officer David Mabunda says there will be no hunting in national parks. "It is clear therefore that where certain practices may be permissible in provincial parks, such practices may not be entertained in national parks. This brings me to this issue of hunting that seems to have dominated the headlines since the minister of environmental affairs and tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, announced that the self-imposed ban on culling of elephants in national parks of South Africa will be lifted as from the May 1, 2008.

The minister, in the norms and standards for management of elephants in South Africa expressly stated that culling will be used as a management tool on consultation and advice of a qualified ecologist who is a recognised elephant management specialist. "By lifting the ban on culling and approving culling as one of the management tools for elephant population management, the minister did not open a back door for hunting in national parks.

As an organisation we have nothing against hunting, however, as custodians of the national parks system on behalf of the nation, we cannot allow hunting or any form of extractive use in national parks. Whereas hunting in South Africa is a perfectly legal activity that is governed through a number of enabling and restrictive legislation it is a form of activity that is not allowed in the national parks of South Africa based on the principles and values held by this nation.

"Confusion between culling and hunting must never be created or allowed. Hunting is a form of selective elimination of the strongest members of a herd, based on whatever distinction has been accepted in the hunting fraternity, whereas culling, though a lethal means of management, is only based on a precautionary principle of managing wildlife populations for the sole purposes of regulating systems for whatever reasons."

Read more articles on hunting in Kruger Park and South Africa

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No Hunting in South African National Parks

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In a statement released by SANParks on April 2, 2007 chief executive officer David Mabunda says there will be no hunting in national parks

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Epic Wildlife Encounters in South Africa

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Experience South Africa’s wildlife through the lens of National Geographic readers in our Your Shot gallery, which offers unique perspectives on iconic animal encounters

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This package combines plains game hunting with a photo safari in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

Start / End Point: Johannesburg

Overview

The 10 Day Plains Game and Kruger Package offers clients the opportunity of combining an African Hunting Safari with a photographic safari to the world-renowned Kruger National Park. The package includes four of the most sought-after plains game trophies in South Africa and is a very affordable way of experiencing a quality African hunt. Our hunting packages contain no hidden costs. The only safari-related costs which are not included are the dipping, packing and shipping of trophies and taxidermy work.

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 :Arrival - Bushveld

You will be met and welcomed upon arrival at OR Tambo International by your professional hunter or hunters, who will be holding a sign with your name on it as you enter the arrivals lounge. From here the safari travels to the hunting camp, which is located in the bushveld. The afternoon is devoted to sighting of rifles and, time permitting, the first afternoon hunt.

Day 2-5 : Hunting Bushveld

Species which are available in the Limpopo Bushveld area include:
Blesbok (Common), Blesbok (White), Blue Wildebeest, Buffalo, Bush Pig, Bushbuck, Common Reedbuck, Eland, Gemsbok, Giraffe, Grey Duiker, Hippopotamus, Impala, Jackal, Klipspringer, Kudu, Nyala, Ostrich, Red Hartebeest, Roan Antelope, Sable Antelope, Steenbok, Tsessebe, Warthog, Waterbuck, Burchell's Zebra.

You are welcome to take trophies in addition to those included in your package, should the opportunity present itself. All dangerous game has to be pre-booked. Additional trophies are charged at list prices.

The morning is devoted to hunting in the Limpopo bushveld before traveling to Pretoria during the afternoon where clients will spend the evening at the five star Castello di Monte Guest House .

Day 7 : Kruger National Park

From Pretoria the safari travels east, crossing the escarpment which forms the barrier between South Africa's inland plateau and the lower lying coastal plains. After passing through the town of Nelspruit, the economic hub of South Africa's lowveld, the forested hills gradually give way to African bushveld, as the safari reaches the Kruger National Park. The park is 22 000 square kilometers in extent and is revered as the most important conservation area in South Africa. The Kruger Park is one of the three most visited national parks on the African continent. The late afternoon is devoted to your first Kruger Park safari.

Day 8 : Kruger National Park

The day is devoted to two safaris in search of Africa's legendary Big Five. Your experienced guide's intimate knowledge of the habits and behavior of the different animals is sure to add to the enjoyment of the experience. There are sixteen different eco-zones in the Kruger National Park, each one characterized by specific vegetation, geology, soils, rainfall, and temperature. The different eco-zones influence the distribution of various mammal species, with each species favoring a certain type of habitat.

Day 9 : Kruger National Park

Your experienced guide will conduct your morning safari. They will check the previous days' sightings, which are logged by various groups, as this will increase your chances of seeing a pride of lion on a recent kill or finding the imposing white rhino or rare wild dog. During the late afternoon, guests embark on a night safari with a Kruger Park ranger.

The night safari makes sightings of creatures like the Genet, Serval and Aardvark, which are seldom seen during the day, possible. The large predators are typically nocturnal hunters and are also more likely to be spotted at night.

A last morning spent in the Kruger National Park is followed by a journey to Pretoria and the ASH Adventures office. Some time is devoted to paperwork and is followed by a late lunch, after which guests are transferred to the airport where their memorable African safari ends.

Clients are met upon arrival at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and are returned there upon completion of the safari. Accommodation is in first rate hunting camps and lodges where all modern amenities are available. Food is prepared to the highest standard and a large variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are available and included in the package.

The success rate on the trophies is close to 100%. If, however, you do not take one of the trophies which is included in the package, 90% of the list price of the trophy is deducted from your hunting safari price. A deposit of 20% is payable upon booking your hunting package. The balance is payable upon completion of the safari.

If your flight arrives after 13:00, we suggest that you overnight at the Castello di Monte Guest House on the day of arrival and start the safari on the following day. A cost of $200 per person includes accommodation, meals and a transfer to the hotel from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. If you do not wish to bring your own rifles, you are welcome to hunt with one of the rifles of your professional hunter. The only cost involved is the replacement of ammunition (About $100).

Hunting areas, camps & lodges

The hunting areas in the bushveld range in size from 800 - 7 000 hectares (approximately 2 000 - 17 300 acres) and all provide an exceptional hunting experience. Our primary focus is ensuring that you take the trophies which are included in your safari. We make a determination on which camp to use based on current conditions prior to the starting date of your safari. Our success rate is very close to 100%.

In all cases the camps and lodges we use are luxurious, with en suite bathrooms, electricity, stylish decoration and sumptuous food - places where families acting as observers would also feel at home and comfortable. Each of the camps and lodges we use feature on our website in the areas and camps section. We can provide an extensive list of references in your area who have hunted with us and who can bear testimony to the quality of accommodation.

A Typical Day

Hunters

A typical hunting day starts just before dawn at which time coffee and rusks are enjoyed. A selection of breakfast cereals, yogurt and juice is also available at this time. We then embark on the morning hunt. We normally hunt until about 11:00 at which time we return to the camp for brunch (a full meal which is a combination of breakfast and lunch). Some time is then devoted to relaxing in the camp. The hunt is resumed at about 14:30 and continues until sunset.

The method of hunting employed depends on the preference of the client and can consist of either walking and stalking, hunting from blinds or special vantage points from which we glass and ambush animals. The option of hunting from one of our well-equipped vehicles is also available should you have any medical problems, or are limited by not being able to walk long distances. Your Professional Hunter will discuss these options with you after arrival. All of these options are always available. It is not necessary to let us know which method you prefer prior to your arrival.

Observers

Observers are welcome to accompany the hunters on safari or relax in the camp. Should the observers in your group be interested in visiting some of the highlights in the area while the hunters are in the field, this can be arranged at an additional charge of $280 per day. The additional cost is incurred as we need to send a dedicated guide and vehicle to attend to the observers. On a typical safari, observers normally prefer to accompany hunters, which does not incur any additional charges.

An unforgettable experience in Africa

Trophy fees for animals included

All accommodation and catering

All land transportation for the duration

Services of a Professional Hunter

Services of camp staff

Services of trackers and skinners

Laundry service

Field preparation of trophies

Liquor in moderation

All applicable taxes

All applicable license and permit fees

Air transportation to and from South Africa

Taxidermy work (See Taxidermy )

Shipping of trophies (See Taxidermy)

Dipping and packing of trophies

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Plains Game Hunting & Kruger | 10 Days - ASH Adventures

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An African Hunting Package which combines hunting in the bushveld with an unforgettable photographic safari in the Kruger National Park - two of the most rewarding experiences that can be enjoyed in South Africa.

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This story was originally published in the October 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine. The people in this story agreed to be photographed on condition that their names be withheld.

Elephants kept appearing in wrinkled herds, loitering near the dusty pans, in search of water. With the September temperature pushing a hundred degrees at midday, the pachyderms were moving at the edge of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia in a community-run wildlife reserve, or conservancy, called Nyae Nyae, where roughly 2,800 San people live today in unyielding conditions.

The elephants left snapped branches and warm scat in their wake. When they caught our scent, our sweat mixing with the sun-scorched grasses, they broke into a trumpeting jog and were gone.

Later, more materialized on the horizon, in the shade of the camel thorn trees, shades themselves. For such enormous creatures, they were nearly invisible but to the sharpest eyes. And those eyes belonged now to Dam, a short, compact man, a tracker from the local San people who stood in the back of the Land Cruiser.

"Oliphant!" he cried, leaning hard over the right side of the vehicle, picking out tracks in the sand. He tapped on the door, and we came to a whiplashing halt. Dam jumped down, checking a footprint, its edges corrugated and etched inside with smaller bubbles. He motioned, and Felix Marnewecke, the professional hunter and guide on this expedition, popped out of the driver's side door. Strapping, ruddy, and blond, in his 40s, he seemed straight from central casting, wearing a cloth hat and shorts. He stood over the impression for a moment, a quizzical expression on his face, and nodded his head in agreement. If Nyae Nyae's desert scrub is home to San families, it is also home to some of the last, biggest wild elephants in the world. This footprint was proof.

The rest of us unloaded, followed by the tracker they only ever called the Old Man, another tracker in training, and one more San, who was acting as a "game guard" to make sure the hunt was conducted in accordance with the conservancy's rules and quotas. Last to emerge in that swelter was the client himself, an American businessman, who opened the passenger door and reached up to the rack for his gun, a 12-pound, bespoke .470 Nitro Express double rifle. These guns, costing up to $200,000, are favored for big-game trophy hunting because of their stopping power, and this is what he was here for, of course-a trophy. Two of them, actually. An avid hunter whose adventures had led him to Central Asia to shoot Marco Polo sheep at 15,000 feet and to Africa to shoot a leopard, he was now back in Africa for elephants.

According to Marnewecke, the going rate for a 14-day, single elephant hunt is about $80,000. The trophy hunt limit of five elephants a year in Nyae Nyae represents real money to the San. A portion of the fee is paid directly to community members and to a fund for conservation projects to protect the area's wildlife. As for the elephant trophies themselves, the client would take the tusks home, while the meat would all go to the San.

Marnewecke and his client-anonymous at his request, given the controversial nature of elephant hunts-hoisted their rifles over their shoulders and fell in behind Dam, who took off at the speed of a jackrabbit. Marnewecke turned to me and said, as I stumbled to keep up, "I swear, there's no better tracker in Africa. If it takes 30 miles, he never gives up."

From Charles Darwin and John James Audubon to Theodore Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway, the most enlightened hunters have long viewed themselves as naturalists and conservationists, committed to sustainability among animal populations and the preservation of wild places where they stalk game. The linkage has become inextricable. Revenues of hundreds of millions in federal excise taxes levied on hunters go directly to wildlife management and related activities each year in the U.S. alone. And anyone who keeps a freezer full of venison is likely to tell you that the act of killing your own dinner in the wild is more humane than buying the plastic-wrapped meat of industrially raised livestock.

But trophy hunting today, especially of the so-called big five in Africa (elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and Cape buffalo), brings with it a larger set of moral and financial questions. The sport killing of animals beleaguered in the wild can arouse fierce opposition, even more so if the animal-Cecil the Lion, for example-is named. Biologists estimated total losses of large mammals in protected areas on the continent at up to 60 percent between 1970 and 2005. As big game populations dwindle further under pressure from human encroachment, shifting climate norms, and widespread criminal poaching, there are hunters-the American client in Nyae Nyae, for one-who argue that a thoughtfully regulated and expensive hunt for bull elephants in their waning days makes a sustainable way to protect both species and habitat.

On we went, following the footprints. Every so often Dam would retrace his steps, circling in the dust, until we slowed to a more careful crawl. Coming over a knoll, we saw them at last, Loxodonta africana- what seemed to be three bulls, munching on leaves and grass. Marnewecke reached for his binoculars, the American client took his rifle in hand. Everything narrowed to a nervous point. African elephants live to be 60 or 70, and the biggest tuskers usually are older than 45. Tusks are measured by weight, and anything estimated to be over 50 pounds is considered a "shooter" by hunters. The client was looking for something in the 70-plus-pound range, but in the end these elephants' tusks were too small. Marnewecke made his determination, turned on his heel, and began walking back to the Land Cruiser. No one seemed disappointed exactly: It was almost enough to have stood in the suburbs of such magnificent creatures.

"The shooting is the last 5 percent of an elephant hunt," Marnewecke said. "I feel quite shitty when an elephant dies, but those elephants pay for the conservation of the other 2,500 that move through here. Trophy hunting is the best economic model we have in Africa right now." It was an argument I'd soon hear other hunters make and a host of activists and biologists tear apart. "In the end it may save this place-and the elephants too."

Standing in the heat and dust of the Kalahari that bright day, elephants at our back, I couldn't help but wonder: Is that really how this works? Can you really kill five elephants to save 2,500? Or start from the other side: Why kill one at all?

Seen from the air Africa can appear as an illusion, rich velds and dramatic rifts, wide deserts and thundering rivers, these seemingly vast stretches of unfettered, unpopulated wild ostensibly forgotten by time and people. At a glance it could be a repository for all our ideas about wilderness at its wildest. And yet today no patch here goes unclaimed, whether it's marked, monetized, or fought over. The animals that roam the land have become commodified, part of a new consumerism, marketed and sold, their brands pitted against each other, their continued existence now a question of human demand, whim, and calculation. Wild game is the continent's version of crude oil-and it too will run out someday.

Trophy hunting-the killing of big game for a set of horns or tusks, a skin, or a taxidermied body-has burgeoned into a billion-dollar, profit-driven industry, overseen in some cases by corrupt governments. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa allow trophy hunting, with varying degrees of transparency and control, establishing yearly quotas meant to reflect the status of species and creating exclusions for highly vulnerable populations. South Africa, for instance, no longer allows hunting of leopards. Kenya has banned trophy hunting outright since 1977, and in Botswana, a comparatively wildlife-rich country, a temporary ban in government-controlled hunting areas went into effect in 2014.

Africa once seemed to have "an inexhaustible supply of nature," says American lion biologist Craig Packer, who has lived and worked on the continent for more than 40 years. But, he says, from 30,000 feet you would see that the habitats are shrinking. "Lions really are becoming more of an endangered species, and hunters should really not shoot these animals for sport unless they can provide positive evidence that they're having a salutary effect on lion conservation."

Biologists make the same argument against the hunting of other big game, including elephants, whose numbers across the continent have fallen sharply in recent years. Demand for rhino horn, elephant ivory, and lion bones, especially in Asia, has ignited a scourge of poaching. But the issue remains complicated, with some place-specific animal populations, such as the elephants of Nyae Nyae, thriving where there's trophy hunting.

"If you get rid of those conservancies in Namibia," Packer says, "you'd probably get rid of all the wildlife and be left with cattle." He says he and other biologists "are concerned with populations, and that's an abstraction. That's where the real conflict with the animal-rights organizations comes, because in their mind, Fifi must never die. That's where the biologists can sound pretty heartless and cold." For Packer, saving an individual animal misses the point; what's crucial is protecting genetically viable populations as a whole. "I'm not against hunting. There's got to be a middle ground," he says. In his estimation, though, that middle ground isn't exactly in the middle: He believes that trophy hunting is of marginal value as a large-scale conservation tool in Africa.

On the other hand, hunters and government officials often cite a hotly contested estimate by the Safari Club International Foundation, a pro-hunting group with the stated goal of promoting conservation and education, that the roughly 18,000 trophy hunters who come to southern and eastern Africa each year contribute $436 million to the region's GDP. The Humane Society International says the amount for that region is at most $132 million, or .03 percent of GDP.

In a 2013 op-ed in the New York Times countering the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal to list lions as a threatened species, making it more difficult for Americans to hunt them, the Tanzanian wildlife director, Alexander Songorwa, stated that hunters on 21-day lion safaris paid government fees of up to $10,000 and pumped $75 million into the economy from 2008 to 2011. Packer says the 120,000 square miles of hunting areas in Tanzania need $600 million in investment every year, "and you're not going to get that shooting lions for $10,000."

For some, the hunting-antihunting debate boils down to Western environmentalists trying to dictate their agenda to Africa-a form of neocolonialism, as Marnewecke puts it. "Who gives anybody the right, sitting in another continent, to preach to us how we should manage our wildlife?" Hunters make the point that with all the outfitters paying to operate in conservancies and with trophy hunters paying fees for the game they shoot, hunting indeed has made significant financial contributions to the continent, and to habitat protection, while all that antihunting forces have done is make noise.

As for what happens to the hunters' fees, that is notoriously hard to pin down-and impossible in kleptocracies. And anyway, Packer says, when it comes to funding lion conservation, "it's such an underwhelming amount generated by sport hunting, it's no wonder that despite years of lion hunting being allowed in these countries, the lion population has plummeted." The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which monitors animal populations, reports that the number of lions in five populations in Tanzania fell by two-thirds from 1993 to 2014.

Yet hunters say they've helped fund everything from health clinics to schools to water wells to boots-on-the-ground assistance against poachers, all while leaving a lighter footprint on the land than the often cited alternative to killing game: wildlife-watching in the form of photographic safaris. The UN World Tourism Organization estimated that 35.4 million international tourists visited sub-Saharan Africa in 2015 and spent $24.5 billion. Operations designed to attract a higher-end clientele that craves a warm shower, big meal, and cool drink at the end of the day require infrastructure and equipment, maybe including a fleet of vehicles.

There's a danger, some hunters argue, that too many tourists will spoil the very experience they're seeking. "The Serengeti is amazing," says Natasha Illum-Berg, a Swedish-born professional buffalo hunter based in Tanzania, who, like Marnewecke, leads clients into the bush for "hunting experiences" and trophies. "The Ngorongoro Crater is a miracle. All these national parks that are filled with minibus after minibus of photographic tourists-it's fantastic," she says, noting that the minibuses also put pressure on those iconic wildlands. "But what about the other areas?" she says. "How many people have been to the area I work in, that's 500 square miles? This year maybe 20 people." Without trophy hunting, Illum-Berg argues, there would be no antipoaching there, no management. "I keep on saying: Give me a better idea than hunting as long as it's sustainable." She adds, "The big question in the end is, 'Who's going to pay for the party?' "

The earliest evidence of an elephant having been killed by human hands dates back to a blue-mud swamp in Siberia nearly 14,000 years ago. The spine of a woolly mammoth found at the confluence of the Ob and Irtysh Rivers seems to have been penetrated by a man-made weapon that left flake traces of stone inside one of the vertebrae. The tusks, we might imagine, weren't displayed in a trophy room back at the hunter's cave.

But hunting is more than a quid pro quo for sustenance. At some moment in our dawning consciousness, hunting became equated with status, virility, and power. Assyrian carvings from 650 B.C. depict lions being released from cages for slaughter by a chariot-riding king. The Maasai have long killed lions as a rite of passage.

With the advent of better weaponry, hunting also evolved as a sport, one with class stratifications, micro-cultures, and occasional egregious examples of waste. In records from 1760 for Snyder County, Pennsylvania, two hunters shot more than a thousand animals, including black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, wolves, foxes, bison, elk, deer, wolverines, and thousands more smaller creatures, dressing some of the animals and throwing most of the carcasses into a bonfire.

Theologians were among the first to criticize such wasteful butchery. By the late 1700s an anonymous British hunter had penned The Sportsman's Companion, or An Essay on Shooting, advocating fair chase and setting forth "directions to gentlemen" in the field and forest, including limiting the number of game animals killed. Those rules were expanded and refined during the next century. In 1887 Teddy Roosevelt founded the Boone and Crockett Club, a group of influential American hunters who were worried about preserving swaths of their country's wilderness and became instrumental in building the U.S. National Park System.

In 1934 at the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, some white hunters established the East African Professional Hunters' Association. It promulgated a kind of honor code and pushed for laws and regulations, including a ban on shooting nearly all female animals and on shooting animals at water holes or near vehicles. While the members worked to conserve hunting grounds, they also eliminated huge amounts of game from the continent. Today technology has taken a quantum leap forward, with drones, video of the hunt, and high-powered rifles equipped with laser range finders.

Meanwhile "kill shots"-images of hunters posed with their dead quarry-have created viral sensations and stirred animal-rights activists and the general public to fulsome disgust. People were inflamed when Minneapolis dentist Walter Palmer hunted and killed Cecil, the popular lion from Zimbabwe, in June 2015. Controversy resurfaced in July 2017 when Cecil's son Xanda was shot on a legal trophy hunt.

With more than half the planet's population living in cities, our relationship with the wild has become increasingly divorced from our everyday reality. We're now less a part of that wild world from rain forest to veld than consumers of it. Yet if we eat meat or wear and use leather products, we too are hunters of a sort.

Within the hunting community our hurry-up, have-it-all mentality-our ceaseless consumptive entitlement-has begun to manifest itself in troubling ways. Eschewing the time and cost of an African trophy hunt involving fair chase, some hunters have turned to canned hunting-the killing of often habituated animals in confined areas-baited hunting, herding animals with helicopters, or the shooting of their prey from the back of Land Cruisers. In Tanzania there have been reports of foreign hunters gunning down animals, including pregnant females, with AK-47s. In a hunting area called Loliondo that the government has leased long term to officials from the United Arab Emirates, local Maasai have reported transport jets leaving with game of all variety, dead and alive. Social scientists writing recently in the journal Biology Letters describe a kill-and-tell generation of hunters exhibiting "show-off behavior" by propagating their own kill shots on social media, sometimes in poses that undermine the dignity of the animal whose life they've just taken.

In South Africa, which has some 2,000 wild lions, canned lion hunting has grown into a more than $100 million industry, with in excess of 200 facilities raising about 6,000 of the big cats for easy killing. According to Ian Michler, a South African safari operator and photographer who investigated the canned lion industry for the 2015 documentary Blood Lions, the animals are caged and bred sometimes under terrible conditions. The young are taken from their mothers and brought to petting zoos. When male lions grow into adulthood, many are shot and killed for "hunting" fees that are much lower than the cost for a wild lion on a standard 21-day hunt ($5,000 to $15,000, versus $50,000 and up). And the trophy is virtually guaranteed. "It's appalling," Michler says. "It's perverse behavior."

Canned hunting has another deleterious effect. While hunters happily take the pelt and head, and the claws and teeth once were sold in the tourist shops of Nairobi and Zanzibar, today the bones are most in demand-shipped to Asia either to produce traditional medicines or to be repackaged as "tiger bone wine," made from crushed bones and Chinese herbs and marketed to the upper class as a health tonic and aphrodisiac. This year South Africa authorized the export of up to 800 lion skeletons, and the worry among biologists, conservation groups, and animal-rights activists is that by legitimizing and allowing the trade, the country is spurring more demand for lion bones and more killing of the continent's remaining 20,000 or so wild lions.

As it turns out, some of the most vocal critics of these hunting practices are hunters themselves.

"If we are not able to convince the majority of people that hunting is morally in order," says Kai-Uwe Denker, a renowned professional hunter in Namibia, "there is no future for us." In the face of bad publicity and bad behavior, some hunters have fallen back on an economic argument-that their presence in Africa provides jobs, that it's a viable strategy for poverty alleviation. But Denker disagrees. "I see a very big danger in promoting only the financial side. Livelihoods, income generation, job creation-this is an additional thing. You cannot justify immoral things with money."

When I met Denker in a valley in the Erongo Mountains, where he lives 25 miles off the grid in a house he built, he lamented the intrusion of humans on the African landscape. According to him, hunting, when done properly, brings you into "a conversation with your own death." As we spoke in the shaded portico, the sun flashed off a blanched elephant skull set nearby, and the wind stirred the acacia, blowing away a certain noon deadness that often grips the desert. Time seemed to bend to the prehistoric. Tall and slender, wearing a torn shirt and short shorts, Denker is legendary for walking up to 40 miles in a day of hunting. He also abides by a strict set of principles that includes hunting game, such as elephant and kudu, that have unfenced free range in historic habitat and shooting only older nonreproductive animals without fixating on large trophies.

"Many of the antihunters, they criticize hunting as perverted," Denker said. "Hunting as such is not perverted. It's in our genes. If hunting is immoral," he continued, "I will stop immediately. But it will be the end of nature."

If it pays, it stays. It was a phrase I heard over and over again, in myriad discussions about African conservation, in part to describe how money has changed the mind-set of rural populations regarding the value of big game. Too often people have seen an elephant destroy their annual crop, and some have known the pain of a lurking lion taking a child for food. Here there's no mythologizing or fetishizing, no fund-raising around a fuzzy face: The leopard is a killer, the rhino is a ruiner. To protect themselves against the enemy, villagers often shoot and poison these intruders, without an iota of sentimentality. And yet, the argument goes, if those animals are worth money to a local community, that community will work hard to conserve and protect its assets.

This is something I witnessed firsthand. My time in the Kalahari coincided with Nyae Nyae's annual game count, in which 50 or so San camped for three nights at various water holes, trying to account for the number of animals within 3,500 square miles of sand, bush, and baobab trees.

As fragile as it is, Nyae Nyae might be called a conditional success story, in part because the hunt quotas have been methodically monitored and increased over the years. On occasion cattle have threatened to overrun the conservancy, but the big game have returned, and the menu of animals offered to hunters includes leopard, kudu, and wildebeest, with prices set by a management committee of five members of the conservancy. Profits are shared communally: Last year each adult over 18 in Nyae Nyae was issued about $70. "We have enough," the chief, Bobo Tsamkxao, told me as he sat in his yard in front of a disintegrating house, his wives sitting in a row among children and litter. The arrangement also requires that the professional hunter employ and train local people and contribute toward development projects such as schools and health clinics.

Nyae Nyae became Namibia's first conservancy, locally owned and run, in 1998. Every five years the conservancy is put up for tender, with professional hunters offering bids to the San for the right to establish an on-site operation. Last year the winning bid was more than $400,000, a rich number in large part because the elephants have become so big and valuable. The professionals sell hunting packages to clients to recoup the tender offer, cover expenses, and make a profit. Many operate on more than one conservancy; some string together enough to build their own little fiefdoms.

When I was there, in September 2016, Marnewecke had just learned that he'd been outbid and would lose his Nyae Nyae operation by season's end. "I'll miss the San," he said, but he had another conservancy to the north that would keep him busy. What worried him most was the Jenga-like fragility of Nyae Nyae, and that irresponsible people might come with their own selfish designs-crisscrossing the conservancy with new roads and upsetting the equilibrium.

While Namibia has turned wildlife management over to the local population, governments in places such as Tanzania have taken an opposite tack, directly owning and leasing hunting grounds. Critics say that no country should be in the business of selling and profiting from dead animals. When coffers run low and funds are needed, they say, hunting quotas get raised without regard for the animals' population numbers. And in those hunting areas where funds aren't reinvested, there's no wildlife left to hunt. That could explain how 40 percent of Tanzania's designated hunting areas have been emptied of game animals during recent decades. A promotional video that surfaced in 2014 shows a hunting company, Green Mile Safari, guiding hunters from the United Arab Emirates on a disturbing shooting party. The minister of tourism and natural resources said the party violated a host of laws by, among other things, firing automatic weapons, hunting female and young animals, and allowing a minor to hunt. The government banned Green Mile from conducting hunts in Tanzania in 2014 but reissued the company's license last year, leading to accusations of corruption. No arrests were made, and Green Mile claims that the guide was at fault.

In the Selous Game Reserve ecosystem, a prized trophy hunting destination, aerial surveys estimate the elephant population at some 15,000, down from perhaps 50,000 as recently as 2009. "Why has the Selous been such a killing field?" says Katarzyna Nowak, a conservation scientist associated with the University of the Free State, Qwaqwa, in South Africa. "If hunters are coming in from all around the world, and you're really pumping money earned from trophies back into the Selous for conservation and antipoaching, where have all the elephants gone?"

Craig Packer sees the conservation of African wildlife in practical terms: If hunters were shooting lions "for a million dollars and returning a million per lion directly into management, they would be on solid ground. But lions are shot for tens of thousands of dollars, and very little of that money goes back to conservation." With two billion dollars a year we could save and protect the wildlife in Africa's national parks, Packer says. But that would have to come from international partners such as the World Bank, eco-philanthropists, and nongovernmental organizations.

Some trophy hunters say it's not fair to blame them. Make of their sport what you will, they don't set the fees or determine the quotas. And they can't control endemic corruption in some countries, even if they indirectly feed it. Some claim to share the concerns of environmentalists who see collapsing habitats and dwindling populations. Kevin Reid, a big-game ranch owner in Texas, says he raises endangered African species not only for the sport of trophy hunters but also to create "a seed vault of animals," including oryx and white rhinos, to help rewild Africa once its problems have been sorted. "We're trying to reverse extinction," Reid says. In the never ending ironies of the issue, though, the near extinction of African elephants, rhinos, and lions comes today courtesy of the barrel of a gun.

Perhaps, then, it boils down to another set of questions: In light of who we've become as a species, what new form has nature taken, and what new rules might be practiced there? Might we owe it to the natural world, after bunging it up so badly, to act differently-less acquisitively, more generously-toward it? Might it now be time to stop killing the dwindling herds for sport and display? Or, perhaps more difficult to ponder: Will these trophies be all we have left someday, tokens of a wild nature we once knew?

On the 12th day of the elephant hunt in Nyae Nyae, in the rising heat of the day, Dam, the tracker, picked up the marks of three bulls moving together. Once Marnewecke and his client saw the elephants from a mile away, they knew they were big and approached them from downwind so as not to be detected. Two of the bulls were in front of them, but the largest and oldest stood apart and behind. So they maneuvered out around the others and came up on the third as he began to walk toward a clump of brush. The client crouched low on one side as the old bull-sagging and on his sixth molars, half ground down already, which means he was well on in the last season of his life-unwittingly ate on the other side.

Would killing an old bull like this one help save all those other elephants in Nyae Nyae?

Old bulls, says Caitlin O'Connell, a biologist and elephant researcher focused on how the animals communicate, are a font of wisdom, deciding when and where the herd will move in search of water, imposing an order on pachyderm society. "Contrary to myth, elephant bulls are very social creatures," she says. "They move in groups of up to 15, and they maintain a strict hierarchy. The older bulls exert a very important regulatory impact on the herd and an emotional-social influence on the younger bulls." Younger bulls in musth, a heightened state of aggression during which testosterone levels can be 10 times as high as normal, will be more likely to fight each other when an older bull is absent.

At 15 yards, the client could see every wrinkle draping the elephant. He aimed his 12-pound double rifle with its hand-engraved silver stock and fired directly at the heart. The bull turned and began to run, 30 yards before it fell. The client put one more shot in the brain, and it was done. The tusks weighed out at more than 70 pounds each. Within six hours the carcass had been stripped by the San, who took roughly three tons of meat for their families.

Two days later the hunting party found another big bull. The client fired a shot, bringing it down-but then, as another bull gave chase, he and Marnewecke ran for at least half a mile before the elephant lost interest in them. Eventually the process repeated: the flensing of the skin, the stripping of the bone, the feeding of families. With that elephant, Marnewecke's quota for the year was filled. His client flew home; the tusks of the two elephants would follow, destined for his trophy room back in America.

I thought about those tusks in the weeks that followed, possessions now, totems of a fraught accomplishment. They were all that was left of two 15,000-pound sentient beings. Which brought me to Bobo Tsamkxao, the San chief, and his wives and children, and how they and others in the community would eat from those animals. And how they would receive money, at least indirectly, from those animals as well. But something still seemed askew: a paying client killing a vulnerable animal to feed the San or conserve Nyae Nyae's land. Even if hunting is in our genes, as Denker said, the essential question remained: Was it moral to kill such an imperiled creature at this moment in our history?

After the hunters had packed up, the herds-sometimes called a "parade" of elephants, or even a "memory" of elephants-searched for water in temporary peace, unaware that another season would bring another group of hunters. We must imagine: Memories of elephants wandering all that contested space, some already with price tags on their head, there for us as things of wonder.

Michael Paterniti, a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and a correspondent for GQ magazine, is at work on a book about the North Pole. David Chancellor has spent years documenting the complex relationship between hunters and their prey. This is his first story for National Geographic.

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Trophy Hunting May be Helpful to Conservation Efforts

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Trophy hunting fees help fund conservation. Critics say the benefits are exaggerated and that killing big game animals is wrong.

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Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister, Ms Barbara Creecy, has confirmed the quotas for the trophy hunting of black rhino, leopard and elephant in South Africa for 2022.

The 2022 quotas for the hunting and export of trophies from these three species is a deferral of the 2021 allocation, which was determined after the end of the hunting season. The deferral grants stakeholders the opportunity to make use of the 2021 quota in 2022. Consultation for the 2023 quota will take place during the course of this year.

The quota for leopard has been set at 10 animals, and is informed by robust data generated through a sophisticated national leopard monitoring programme. Leopard hunts will only be allowed in areas where leopard populations are stable or increasing, and only male leopards seven (7) years of age or older may be hunted. Implementing a strict seven-year age minimum for trophy leopards dramatically reduces the risk of overharvesting.

A total of 10 black rhino may be hunted, and 150 elephants. Only adult male black rhinos will be hunted, and only on conservation management grounds in accordance with a set of strict criteria to ensure that demographic and/or genetic conservation is enhanced (as stipulated in the black rhinoceros Biodiversity Management Plan). The quota for black rhino is based on the national population estimates for black rhino per subspecies, all three of which show an increasing trend at present. Only a very small portion of the overall elephant population is hunted in a year (less than 80 elephant bulls, which is less than 0.3% of the total population). The national elephant herd shows an increasing trend and the quota of 150 is well within sustainable limits.

The quotas will be published in a Notice in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulations and in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA).

South Africa is one of many countries that implement a sustainable off-take of elephants, black rhino and leopard. This is aligned with the best available scientific information on their conservation status and ensures that hunting of these animals does not have a negative impact on the wild populations of these species. Regulated and sustainable hunting is an important conservation tool in South Africa as it incentivizes the private sector and communities to conserve valuable wildlife species and to participate in wildlife-based land uses, ultimately contributing to the conservation of the country's biodiversity.

Income generated by trophy hunting is especially critical for marginalised and impoverished rural communities.

Through the National Biodiversity Economy Strategy, opportunities are created for direct involvement of communities in conservation and the wildlife economy in rural areas to develop the full value chain of wildlife-based activities that create economies of scale in support of accelerated rural economic development and associated employment and poverty reduction opportunities.

The hunting sector conservatively contributed R1.4 billion to the economy in 2019, excluding the economic contribution to tourism and all hunting and safari-related industries. The income generated by the species fees totalled approximately R1.1 billion, of which approximately R208 million were derived from the trophy hunting of threatened or endangered species. The biodiversity sector employed more than 418 000 people in 2019, which is comparable to mining. It is a sector that is expected to continue to show economic and employment growth in the foreseeable future.

These species are central to a vibrant international hunting industry, and hunting is a part of the South African heritage and culture. This is a sector that generates economic benefits as part of the South African rural economy.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), requires South Africa to establish hunting export quotas for the African Elephant, Black Rhino and Leopard. The quotas, which are subject to scientific scrutiny by the Scientific Authority and the public, are also communicated to provincial MECs for environment for implementation.

South Africa's allowable annual export quota established by the Parties to CITES is 150 Elephants, 150 Leopards and 0.5% of the black rhino population.

The breakdown of the quotas for 2022 are as follows:

10 Leopard, allocated as follows

(i) Seven male leopards for Limpopo Province;
(ii) One male leopard for KwaZulu-Natal Province; and
(iii) Two male leopards for North-West Province.

The Scientific Authority has recommended that leopards to be hunted must be seven years of age or older. This is an additional safeguard to ensure that the off-takes are ecologically sustainable.

The norms and standards for the trophy hunting of leopards in South Africa are at the final stages of implementation and are expected to be published soon.

150 Elephant

As per the CITES annual African elephant export quota of 300 tusks from 150 animals for South Africa.

10 Black Rhinoceros

The quota is based on the cautious/conservative quota adopted by CITES in 2018 that aims to (1) promote the expansion of the species' range in South Africa through incentivizing the keeping and protection of viable populations of black rhinoceroses and to (2) increase/maintain productive population growth rates through the offtake of surplus males.

For media inquiries contact Albi Modise on 083 490 2871

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Hunting and export quotas for elephant, black rhino and leopard allocated for 2022

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Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister, Ms Barbara Creecy, has confirmed the quotas for the trophy hunting of black rhino, leopard and elephant in South Africa for 2022. The 2022 quotas for the hunting and export of trophies from these three species is a deferral of the 2021 allocation, which was determined after the end of the hunting season.

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The Role of Hunting in Conserving African Wildlife | PERC

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Catherine Semcer’s testimony before the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on the “CECIL Act.”

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South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association

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SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SA Hunters) is a voluntary membership organization that represents the interests of consumptive (protein) hunters, game ranchers, conservationists and sport shots. It was established in 1949 to promote responsible hunting and conservation of game species and their habitat.