A hunting concession earns in two streams: daily rates for the safari itself, and trophy fees for the animals actually taken. Trophy fees are the headline number — high-value species like elephant and buffalo carry large per-animal fees in USD — but the gross figure is not the operator's margin. Understanding how gross trophy revenue becomes net, distributable cash is the core of valuing a concession and structuring an investment around it.
Daily rates and trophy fees
Daily rates cover the cost and time of the safari — the professional hunter, camp, vehicles, trackers and logistics — and are charged per hunter per day whether or not an animal is taken. Trophy fees are charged per animal harvested, at rates set or approved by ZPWMA. A buffalo or leopard hunt is sold as a package of days plus the trophy fees for the species on quota. The mix matters: daily rates are steadier, trophy fees are higher-value but contingent on a successful, ethical hunt within quota.
The species fee schedule
Gross trophy revenue is driven by the species fee schedule and the quota. Illustrative USD trophy fees referenced from ZPWMA-schedule categories — for example, elephant, buffalo, leopard, sable and a composite plains-game rate — multiplied by the number of each species realistically taken within quota, give the indicative gross. The quota & revenue estimator on this site builds exactly this calculation, but the output is a ceiling-based illustration, not a forecast of what a season will actually yield.
- Per-species fees: high-value dangerous game (elephant, buffalo, leopard) anchors the schedule; plains game adds volume.
- Quota-bound: revenue is capped by the sustainable offtake quota, not by demand.
- Realisation risk: not every animal on quota is taken every season — gross assumes successful, ethical, in-quota hunts.
From gross to net
Several layers sit between gross trophy revenue and distributable profit, and a credible model accounts for all of them: statutory permit and trophy fees payable to ZPWMA; concession rent to the landholder; the community/CAMPFIRE share on communal-land concessions; operating costs (PH and staff, camp, fuel, anti-poaching, maintenance); insurance; and taxes. Trophy fees and revenue figures presented as gross can be a multiple of the net cash a concession actually distributes — which is why the revenue split between principal and operator is negotiated on a clearly defined basis (gross, or net of named deductions).
USD revenue, structuring and repatriation
Trophy fees are typically earned in USD from international clients, which is part of what makes well-run concessions attractive to offshore investors. But USD earned in Zimbabwe still has to move within the rules: inbound investment capital should be brought in and recorded so it can later be repatriated, and outbound trophy-fee income, profits and investor distributions are subject to RBZ exchange-control approval and prevailing rules. Where the operator or investor is foreign, ZIDA registration is part of accessing investor protections. Structure the money flows at the outset, so the USD that comes in — and the returns that go out — actually clear.
Trophy fees, the species schedule and exchange-control rules are illustrative and change over time. Figures on this site do not constitute a revenue guarantee or investment projection. Confirm current fees with ZPWMA and the exchange-control position with the RBZ and your bank before relying on any number.
How it connects to your documents
Revenue terms live in the contracts. A Hunting Operator Agreement should fix the trophy-fee revenue split, the accounting and remittance mechanics, and who bears statutory fees; an Investment Term Sheet records the economics and use of proceeds for capital backing the concession; and a Concession Lease — Heads of Terms sets the rent and community share that sit above the operator's margin. Write the split on a defined basis so everyone is dividing the same number.