Customs and CITES: What You Can Actually Bring Home From an African Safari

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), signed in 1973, regulates trade — including non-commercial trade, carried in a traveller's own luggage — in more than 38,000 animal and plant species, split into three appendices by level of threat. It has been ratified by more than 180 states, including Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and France.

Within the European Union, it is enacted through a wildlife trade regulation that is, on several points, stricter than the convention itself. In practice: an item being sold perfectly legally at a market in Windhoek, Maun or Arusha doesn't necessarily mean it can legally clear French customs on arrival. Both sets of rules — the destination country's and the EU's — apply one after the other, and whichever is stricter is the one that ultimately counts.

Elephant ivory is the clearest case. Since 19 January 2022, an EU regulation flipped the logic that had previously applied: an outright ban became the rule, with exceptions reduced to a very small number of antique pieces carrying a specific certificate. An ivory bracelet or figurine bought at a craft market — even one described as "old" or "legal locally" — is almost always seized at French customs, with no recourse if that certificate isn't in hand.

Skins and parts from wild cats (leopard, cheetah) fall under CITES Appendix I — international trade is prohibited outright — yet they still turn up, quietly, on some informal stalls. The same applies to pangolin scales, rhino horn or sea turtle shell: a total ban, with no tourist exemption, however the item is described by the seller.

Kenya applies an even stricter rule domestically: after losing more than half its elephant population during the 1970s, the country banned all sport hunting in 1977, then all trade in trophies and wildlife products in 1978 — a ban still in force today. On a self-drive safari in Kenya, no item made of horn, skin or wild-sourced ivory can ever be treated as a legal souvenir, even locally.

Between an outright ban and a risk-free souvenir sits a middle ground: carvings in certain protected wood species, coral, shells from certain species, or python and crocodile-skin accessories sourced from licensed farms. These fall under Appendices B or C and can, in theory, be imported legally — but only with a CITES export certificate issued by the country of purchase and, most often, an import permit requested in France through a regional environmental authority (DREAL) via the i-CITES online service.

The practical snag: processing these permits typically takes one to four weeks, which rules out a last-minute purchase before a flight home. Unless the paperwork was started weeks before departure, it's simpler to skip these items altogether than risk having them confiscated on arrival.

A large share of the craft goods sold in Namibian and Botswanan markets raise no CITES issue at all. Ostrich, kudu or buffalo leather comes from domestic farming and falls under no appendix. Karakul wool rugs, from a sheep breed typical of Namibia, have nothing to do with wildlife. Engraved ostrich-eggshell jewellery, a staple of San craftwork, travels home with no formality, as do carvings made from makalani nuts — Namibia's well-known "vegetable ivory", which mimics the look and grain of animal ivory without involving any protected species. Basketry, pottery, textiles, glass beads: the great majority of safari souvenirs fall into this risk-free category.

Under French law, holding a protected specimen without the required certificate carries up to three years in prison and a €150,000 fine, on top of automatic confiscation of the item — regardless of what was paid or how genuine the buyer's ignorance was. On the Namibian side, customs also checks exports at Windhoek's Hosea Kutako International Airport: a questionable item can be stopped before it even boards the plane.

This risk isn't theoretical. A 2020 study published in the journal PLOS ONE by researchers Rosemary Hitchens and April Blakeslee, examining thousands of US personal-baggage customs seizures, found that a significant share of protected specimens intercepted came precisely from tourists bringing home a souvenir bought without knowing its legal status, rather than from organised trafficking — a pattern that matches exactly an impulse purchase at a craft market on the last day of a trip.

Always ask for a detailed invoice specifying the material and, for a wood or leather item, the species involved. Favour identifiable shops able to provide that information over street vendors. Never buy ivory, even one described as antique, without an already-issued, properly documented CITES certificate — a good story from the seller counts for nothing at customs. When in doubt about an item's exact material — unidentified dark wood, reptile skin, coral — it's better to walk away than risk seizure, and keep every receipt until you're home.

This customs question deserves the same advance planning as the rest of a self-drive trip — insurance, an international driving permit, budget. Our "Namibia on Your Own" guide devotes a chapter to formalities and safety, precisely to avoid this kind of unpleasant surprise while repacking for the flight home.