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THE Hwange-Gwayi-Dete Conservancy and Tourism Association has lost more than $100,000 in potential revenue from hunting safaris following its decision to cancel bookings for the greater part of the third quarter of last year due to the cyanide incidents at Hwange National Park.
In an interview, the association’s chairperson, Langton Masunda, said if the hunting bookings had been allowed to go on, the clients would have been exposed to the hundreds of elephants and other wildlife carcasses which had been killed through cyanide poisoning thereby giving the hunters a bad picture.
Said Masunda: “We would have given the country’s detractors enough arsenal to spread negative perceptions about Zimbabwe despite the country being a safe tourist destination.
“During the cyanide poisoning we had carcasses of elephants and other species that were dead in our hunting and photographic areas and we therefore felt it was going to give a negative impact on the whole tourism sector. We then recommended that those who were highly affected should cancel their hunts or rebook them for 2014.”
He said all the affected players including individual farmers, Gwayi concession holders, Forestry Commission as well as the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority could not reach their targets due to the situation.
He, however, said his association was now working with other organisations to eliminate poaching and other forms of wildlife crime and the situation is under control.
“We thank the government and other stakeholders for the effort that was put in place to control the use of cyanide by the poachers,” said Masunda.
More than 100 elephants and other species of wildlife were killed by poachers who were using cyanide to poison water points at Hwange National Park as well as Ngamo Safaris last year.
Online Reporter