The appellants were convicted of hunting game animals without a licence contrary to section 15(1) as read with section 15(2)(b) of the Fauna Conservation Act by the senior magistrate, Francistown, on 23 July 1985 and each were fined P150 and sentenced to six months' imprisonment which was conditionally suspended. On 1 August 1985 the appellants appealed against conviction and sentence. Their case was that they were under the impression that they were hunting in Area 25, where they had a valid hunting permit and that they had no idea they were in the Kanyu area. The judge used maps published by the Department of Surveys and Lands and the Department of Wildlife, National Parks and Tourism and a map delineating Controlled Hunting Areas and compared them with exhibit F with a view to bringing out the distinction between Area 25 and the Kanyu. This the appellant objected to the magistrate taking judicial notice in his judgment of specialised maps not put in evidence in the trial; and in reaching conclusions based on such documents without giving any opportunity to the parties to address the court on the relevancy or otherwise of the maps in question.