Ontour Tanzania Ltd, a hunting company based in Dar es Salaam, yesterday purchased 12,467 pieces of hippo teeth worth Sh30.9 million.
The sale of the 3.5-tonne consignment was done during a public action at the ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources on Monday, January 29.
About 20 licensed companies were at the auction.
Ontour, which is a local company emerged as the winner at the auction after placing an offer of Sh30.9 million.
The auction, which was led by Ms Karerema Kwareh from the Ministry of Finance and Planning said the exercise said the auction was a result of an advertisement, which has been published severally by Tanzania’s prominent newspapers.
She said each piece was weighed 0.3 kilogram, adding that the winner was supposed to pay 25 per cent upfront.
For his part, the company’s managing director, Mr Grey Kilasi said they were still learning the demands of the market and revealed that they found out that 40 per cent of the consignment did not have the needed quality.
“The previous auction was held in 2004 and the price of a piece cost $25. We now have a challenge of searching for a sustainable market,” he said.
Mr Kilasi added that the main importers of the teeth were Japan and China, adding that they are used for making buttons and decorations.
For his part, the Acting Director of Wildlife Protection Services from ministry, Mr Mabula Misungwi said the turn up was positive, ensuring the public that selling of hippo teeth would not encourage poaching.
According to him, the pieces of teeth were being stored from 2004. Natural deaths and poaching contributed to the big consignment.
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“In fact, all the leaders I met in the UAE praised us for maintaining peace, a prerequisite to achievement in development,” Dr Shein said at the press conference held at the airport in Zanzibar shortly after landing from the Arab countries. On January 21, this year the President and his delegation which included First Lady Mwanamwema Shein left the Islands for a week-long visit in countries forming UAE: Dubai, Sharjah, and Ras-al- Khaimah.
He said the reception he was accorded in each state was good, and that leaders in the Arab countries had promised to support Zanzibar move ahead in various sectors, including the search for alternative energy, oil and other natural resources, improvement of social services and infrastructure.
Dr Shein said, “… I personally learned a lot. The countries are economically well-off, but they have managed to advance because of determination and good planning, tools which we (Zanzibar) can copy from them.”
He said without good planning, even if you have money, one can fail to move forward as witnessed in some countries including in Africa where some nations have good economy, but have failed to achieve development goals.
Speaking with Journalists, the isles leader also answered questions which were not directly related to his trip. When asked to comment on ongoing views about changing presidential term limit from the current five to seven, he replied “It is not my agenda; I will respect my constitution term and leave the office to others.”
He was also asked about the temporary ban on registration of international ships after some foreign ship flying Tanzania flag were implicated in illegal business, he said “I know there are discussions going on.
It is the dishonest ships abroad are to blame for misusing our flag. I hope we will have the right to continue registering international ships.”
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