Camp Manager Missing
Tanzania tour operator offers belated response to elephant controversy
Late last year this correspondent featured an item of a camp manager in Tanzania’s Serengeti national park gone who had gone AWOL when an elephant carcass was found near the camp with its tusks missing.
Sources in Arusha have provided information that apparently his employers, the "& Beyond" company from South Africa, formerly the Conservation Corporation Africa, has seen it fit to give what has been described as a belated lukewarm response.
The report adds that the company claimed that "the directors were on holiday," hence their inability to respond in a more timely fashion – not acceptable in this day and age of mobile phones and emails, in particular over such a crucial matter, where the Tanzanian authorities have a criminal investigation underway to establish who took the tusks and where those tusks went.
In contrast to the company’s PR whirlwind, the relevant authorities concerned with the case continue to demand answers. According to one source in Arusha the statement by "& Beyond" is a smokescreen and cover up.
"& Beyond’s" response claimed the manager, who left the country just when the controversy erupted and become public knowledge, was still with them and was in any case due to be transferred to another safari property elsewhere. The company said he was willing to cooperate with the investigations.
Comments
eTN received this comment from Geoffrey Weil
&Beyond’s public relations representative in the United States
On 20 November 2009 a carcass of a dead elephant was found in the &Beyond Klein’s Camp concession. The Lodge Manager, Andrew Schoeman, investigated the carcass and concluded that it had most probably died of natural causes. Blood samples were taken and sent to the vet in Seronera in an attempt to establish the exact cause of death. Subsequent to its discovery, its tusks were removed by an unknown person. This incident is being given serious attention by the management of &Beyond and is being investigated further.
Andrew Schoeman and his wife Nicolene are still in the employ of &Beyond and are cooperating fully with the investigation. Their move to another &Beyond lodge was planned earlier in the year and was in no way connected to the elephant incident. They were in Arusha until 12 December 2009
Geoffrey Weil
We are tired of the lies that are common with &Beyond and their business operations. By cutting out native Tanzanians out of the business operations process, their hiring practices are based on hiring foreigners from outside Tanzania. Apart offering bribes to make their way, andBeyond brings no NETT benefits to Tanzania. Unfortunately our uninformed and corrupt leader do nothing when conservation companies like AnyBeyond will add a little something to their offshore accounts.
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