Africa for Diplomats

[Muskox]

Howdy,
Anyone on here work for a Diplomatic Agency?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on African postings, I am about to end my first dip post in the Pacific and am thinking about doing Africa.

Anyone got any information?

I hear Namibia and Tanzania are friendly to Diplomats with guns? Maybe Zambia? Real Post reports has limited information.

 

[Bos en Dal SAFARIS]

Welcome to AH

PM send

 

[Muskox]

I haven't got the PM, yet but I was going to ask if there were any countries in Africa where it was illegal to "rent" guns for a hunt?

In the case of South Africa or Namibia where you are billtong hunting I can see that, but in places where you are hunting on your own I think it makes it impossible.

Some Ambassadors/Chiefs of Mission do not allow their diplomats to own firearms, some do, and some nations have made it easy where others have made it impossible. In the Pacific and Asia beyond Mongolia and New Zealand I know of no nation that allows diplomats to own and keep firearms at their residence. Some nations in Asia/Pacific allow diplomats to hunt or be licensed shooters but not own firearms.

On Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Benin, Cameroon, CAR, and Mozambique's resident hunter program how does the resident let the PH that has the area leased know he is going to be legally hunting there?

 

[shakari]

I haven't got the PM, yet but I was going to ask if there were any countries in Africa where it was illegal to "rent" guns for a hunt?

In the case of South Africa or Namibia where you are billtong hunting I can see that, but in places where you are hunting on your own I think it makes it impossible.

Some Ambassadors/Chiefs of Mission do not allow their diplomats to own firearms, some do, and some nations have made it easy where others have made it impossible. In the Pacific and Asia beyond Mongolia and New Zealand I know of no nation that allows diplomats to own and keep firearms at their residence. Some nations in Asia/Pacific allow diplomats to hunt or be licensed shooters but not own firearms.

On Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Benin, Cameroon, CAR, and Mozambique's resident hunter program how does the resident let the PH that has the area leased know he is going to be legally hunting there?

Each African country obviously has it's own game laws and some, notable RSA have different game laws between provinces but you need to be very careful indeed that you don't break them (especially if you're a US citizen because of the Lacey Act).

Most countries won't allow a hunter from overseas to hunt without permits & correctly licenced PH and outfitter etc and most if not all countries will forbid you to hunt in areas that are leased to or owned by others so it's not a good idea to assume you can just go hunting anywhere and come to that, you probably won't be able to hunt under resident rules in most African countries either.

As far as renting guns goes. Most if not all will not allow you rent a firearm without being accompanied by a PH or other responsible person.

 

[Muskox]

Shakari, thank you for your response.

Unfortunatly, this is the typical response when one ask about diplomatic anything. In 99% of all countries Diplomats have more or less the same rights as the citizens of the nation, except well voting and taxes. Most do not understand or fully know how the diplomatic treaties work.

I was looking for someone that had actual first hand knowlege of the system, not theory. Considering there are only about 100,000 total diplomats in the world, I know it's a long stretch to find one via this website, but I thought it was worth a shot.

I am sure you are probably right if a guy was coming from overseas as a tourist or working in industry.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Pretty small population of people in the field, as you noted.

If I were to chose between the two postings, I would go for Namibia.
The variety of geography and game combined with access to services.

Good luck with your research.

 

[shakari]

Muskox

FWIW, whilst I don't have experience of being a diplomat I do have experience of guiding/equipping several and the issues I raised are issues you're likely to encounter but I do appreciate your point that you want to contact other diplomats for their take on the subject.

 

[Muskox]

Thanks to both of you, hopefully I can find another diplomat that hears the call of the hunting horn and can help me better pick a location.

 

[spike.t]

hi muskox if you do have resident status in the country you are posted, then in zambia subject to any conditions with you being a diplomat you could apply for a gun licence .if you are not a national you have to have residency , or have a work permit to be able to apply for one. there is resident hunting but zawa keeps opening and closing it. you have to apply for animal licences but they did have an auction once or twice but it developed into a bit of a mini riot...there is a specific time of the year the licences(if they are issuing them) are valid for. then there are also the private reserves/ranches that are open for hunting. maybe pm PeteG on here as he got some resident licences last year and might have more recent info. oh and you also get your own nice quiet vip/diplomat queue at the immigration booths at lusaka airport, unlike the others who get to admire the walls etc for a while if they dont know to leg it as soon as they get off the plane...