If you want to kill dangerous animals (and not get gouged, mauled or trampled along the way) who – as they used to say in Ghostbusters – are you going to call? It isn’t Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd for certain. It is Jeff Rann, founder of Rann Safaris and hunter extraordinaire. And it is, I can tell you, a badass business.
For a fee, normally in the tens of thousands and often in hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can jet out to Botswana, bed down at a choice of two of Rann’s luxury safari resorts (Bots Kiri and Bots Motsibi) and go hunting – birds, leopards, cape buffalo, rhinos and even elephants and lions.
Now when it comes to hunting, as you may have guessed, I am not a fan. All endangered species should not only be protected but killing them for sport is, however I look at it, barbaric. There’s no need – it’s not a question of them and us. It’s purely about the thrill (with minimal personal risk) of hunting animals and coming back with the head as a trophy. What’s the point?
Rann and his co-hunters and all the celebs, industrialists and the mega-rich who go on his safaris would disagree. I am talking about the likes of King Juan Carlos of Spain, Peter Bollinger of Bollinger Investments and Steven E. Chancellor of The American Patriot. As Chancellor says, “An experience at the Kiri Camp in the Okavonga Delta is a magical time – beautiful, wild and natural. Game of all kinds are plentiful, but especially the elephants, lions, leopards and buffalo. It is in a beautiful setting and the camp is incredible as well as the staff. It is a first class experience.”
High praise indeed and undoubtedly true, while witnessing the animals in their natural habitat instead of a zoo is absolutely a second-to-none experience. Who wouldn’t want to wonder the plains, stay in incredible luxury tented accommodation and see stars at night that you never new existed in the first land of Africa?
Rann Safaris work closely with the Botswana government to conserve and increase the numbers of animals in the wild and in so doing feel justified in hunting some of them. A portion of the fees paid to hunt the animals goes into their future conservation – which is all very well. And don’t worry – all is above board and legal. But to be able to actually go on a hunt, as I mentioned earlier, you have to be absolutely loaded and I’m talking absolutely spankingly dripping in the greenbacks.
Try this one on for size: 30-day lion safari with Rann will cost you the tidy sum of 139,150 USD and a 14-day elephant safari goes for 58,250 USD according to their 2006 pricelist. How does that break down? Well for the lion hunt your daily rate is 2,500 USD so for 30 days 75,000 USD. Then there’s the concession fee, which is 350 USD per day, so another 10,500 USD. Add a single payment of 10,000 USD termed the Resource Utilization Fee and paid to Conservation Force in order to promote future conservation of the lions. Licence fee to be allowed to hunt is 5,000 USd and your trophy fee – in order to keep your prize lion skin, teeth, head etc… is 20,000 USD and to pack and ship it another 18,650 USD for the Botswana Government in taxes.
For all of that you can bag yourself – hopefully – a big, old aggressive lion. Can’t think of anything I’d rather do! And if not a lion, an elephant – does anyone remember the tale of Babar or even Dumbo? Still I suppose it is all about personal choice right? The hunting of the lions – which was banned between 2000 and 2005 in Botswana, does actually take place on foot (tracking a lion on foot was perfected in Botswana due to the sandy soil), and a professional hunter accompanies you all the way.
It’s pretty hardcore stuff. If you go for Botswana’s legendary Cape Buffalo for instance (a mere 19,380 USD) don’t think they’re not as dangerous as the big cats according to Rann Safaris. Once wounded these animals, with horns that average one metre long, become extremely aggressive and are one of the only animals in the world that purposefully circle back on their own trail to “hunt the hunter.” Fun!
Still you can always go on a Rann Safari and not hunt, just view the animals. Both Bots Kiri and Bots Motsibi camps are incredible destinations and there’ll be no paparazzi in sight as both camps are totally private, accessible only by charter flights to private airstrips. Kiri overlooks the Kiri River and you stay in one of six Meru tents (with ensuite bathrooms) as one of a maximum of 12 guests at any one time. Motsibi overlooks a lagoon and can host a maximum of eight guests. And it’s worth it. This is as close to living in the wild in luxury as you can get and for that Rann Safaris are definitely worth it. There’s a full complement of staff and catering and even facilities to charge batteries and laptops. The fact that both camps are near open water means they attract numerous animals to graze and during the April to September safari season the weather is temperate and can reach up to 32° Celsius. The best way to view a whole selection of wild animals in Botswana is via helicopter, which Rann Safaris also provide.
All in all heading out to Botswana for Rann Safari will be a memorable experience, whether you choose to hunt or just see big game in their natural environment. You can fulfil childhood fantasies spurred by old black and white films of white men in the wild if you so wish and shoot some prey and take home a pair of trophy ivory tusks from a magical elephant if you like too. Or a leopard or lion or buffalo…
Contact
Rann Safaris
Maun, Botswana
Tel +267 686 1821
HYPERLINK "http://www.rannsafaris.com" www.rannsafaris.com
