Kenya - Shooting animals

Posted by Cathy Smith Oct 23, 2007

You might think the days of the ‘Great White Hunter’are gone. Far from it. There are still a number of African countries which allow wealthy tourists (mostly North Americans and mostly men) to kill a variety of wildlife, at a cost of around $1300 a day.

So, yes, there still exists the belief that you are a Real Man if you shoot a defenceless wild animal with your own gun. Fortunately there are places in Africa where you can get close to the animals without having to kill them, and one the most popular of these is Treetops, in Kenya, made famous in 1952 when Princess Elizabeth became Queen overnight, when her father died suddenly.

Kenya was the world’s first country to totally ban hunting in the 1970’s. The Masai, who had previously only killed animals in times of drought or when food was scarce, found themselves out of work. Whereas previously they had been gun carriers they now had to reinvent themselves as game wardens to protect the animals they had helped to kill.

Some of the ‘big white hunters’ became conservationists instead. They bought up huge chunks of land and turned them into private game sancturaries and became ranchers for rich tourists. However, shooting animals with a camera is apparently not as much fun as shooting them with guns and they took their business to those countries where shooting animals is considered okay.

In Kenya you can ‘shoot’ animals with your camera from a hot air balloon as you float over the Masai Mara, walking through the bush, or from a 4-wheel drive. And at the wonderful Treetops lodge you can get almost close enough to touch them. Fab photo opportunities and you don’t have to kill an animal to get them.

• More about Treetops
• More about Safaris