Leave hunting block, US firm told

Dar es Salaam/Arusha. The government on Wednesday ordered a US firm out of a disputed tourism hunting block in Arusha in a bid to end a long-running standoff with another foreign company over hunting rights.

The order was served against Wengert Windrose Safaris (WWS) Tanzania Limited which has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with an United Arab Emirates company, Green Miles Safaris over allotted hunting rights in the animal-rich corridor around Lake Natron, Longido District.

Both the US and the UEA companies have waged local and international campaigns against each other as they tried to take control of the multi-billion shillings trophy hunting business.

Wednesday’s announcement by the government is the latest in a string of efforts to resolve the row that begun in 2011 when a fresh round of allocation of the hunting blocks was done.

The WWS is registered in Tanzania as a charitable fund running tourism hunting and conservation projects. It is part of Texas registered Friedkin Conservation Fund (FCF) owned by a wealth US family, which also operates another local company known as Tanzania Game Trackers Safaris.

Green Mile Safari official Gharib Ali said it has already been officially notified to resume tourist hunting in the area after it was stopped in 2014 over alleged violations on animal rights and hunting procedures. The firm is partly owned by Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Butti al-Hamed, a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family.