Sustainable Off Take Benefiting Communities

[MARTIN PIETERS SAFARIS]

Sustainable off take

Since 2007 we have been involved in dedicated wildlife conservation through sustainable off take, quota control, anti poaching and community based wildlife education in the Omay campfire concession.

The Omay (NyamiNyami RDC ) is a vast ( 2 million acres) populated communal land which one of the first areas to be given the CAMPFIRE status, whereby local communities benefit from wildlife off take, it is not rocket science that this program works as we continue to see an increase in wildlife numbers in our area. Communities receive direct benefit both financially and through various projects implemented by Martin Pieters safaris such as clinics, schools, vehicles for anti poaching and the employment of scouts. It must be noted that the Nyaminyami RDC is a remote inhospitable concession that has no other land use model due to very erratic and low rainfalls, an abundance of mosquitos, tsetse flies and poor soils. The only benefit local people have, is to receive financial remuneration from hunting safari off take and employment.

We at Martin Pieters safaris, www.martinpieterssafaris.com employ locals in all our camps as well as a dedicated anti poaching team that works alongside the RDC (council ), national parks, the police and the MAPP ( Matusadonna anti poaching project ), we continue to collect snares, arrest poachers and follow up on convictions and more importantly, educate people on the long term sustainable use of our national heritage. This method has been proven and several past poachers have turned tables and are now our most trusted wildlife officers, using their past notorious skills to help us protect our wildlife.

Every year several local villagers are killed or maimed by elephant, lion, buffalo, hippo and crocodile, they live in close proximity to these animals and only tolerate them because we as a hunting company give back to the community. It is very important for the protection of our wildlife in these remote areas that we continue to assist the RDC with anti poaching, continue to pay for the sustainable off take of a select quota, because if we do not, the locals will kill every animal, they will not tolerate wildlife disruptions to their families, be it through the destruction of their crops on an annual basis, or the loss of one of their family members.

Our wildlife populations are on the rise, we border the Matusadonna national park, there are no fences to stop animals movements, we are very much needed, even more so now with current rainfall patterns at their lowest, poaching will increase as people find it difficult to grow crops, we will not let the last 10 years of effort to protect our wildlife be a waste, we will not leave these villagers high and dry with no form of income or food.

We thank our hunters for their continued support. It is because of you that our conservation methods are successful.

We spend in excess of $ 40 000 / annum on anti poaching

We have collected over 15 000 wire snares since 2007 saving thousands of animals.

We assist in arrests of subsistence poachers and heavily armed elephant poachers, we follow up with convictions so that these men and women can be put away and our animals will be safe.

We monitor game movements and patterns and adjust our quotas accordingly so that we continually have an increase for future generations

We have assisted in the construction of clinics, schools and information centers.

We employ over 30 locals in our camps and in the field thus assisting hundreds of locus through indirect benefits.

Last but not least, we pay over $ 200,000 in direct benefits annually to the RDC and the local wards for wildlife off take.