Favorite game to eat on your safari

[TERMINATOR]

I am a hunter for many reasons. Like all of us here.

I enjoy everything about big game hunting. Enjoying game on the table is one of them. Actually a very important part for me. I always tell myself the hunt isn't over until the meat is gone.

The reason I thought of this was because I just enjoyed an elk steak I harvested last year. Made me think of the game we enjoyed in Africa recently.

I realize hunting in Africa is different from hunting in the US. It is virtually impossible to export meat from the animals your harvest. This is much different than what I am used to from being a resident in the US. I realize it is the laws and logistics, I know that every pound of meat we harvest is utilized. If not, I wouldn't hunt.

When I was in Africa our camp chef (the best) prepared meat from what we harvested the previous day. I enjoyed it very, very much. To me it is an important part of the hunt. I sampled Zebra, Springbok, Nylala, Kudu and some chops. One especially delicious meal was a Steenbok stew that we enjoyed very much. One day late in the hunt I harvested a zebra. It was a big old fella and when we got it loaded in the truck I was tired and thirsty,tired, sleep deprived, sweaty and...thirsty. I road a few miles back to camp with our tracker, a nice young gentleman named George. He looked at me and smiled and told me "My family likes zebra! Tonight we eat Zebra." We shook hands, hugged and I thanked him for all his help. A great young man. It made me happy he'd have something his family enjoyed.

Anyway. I couldn't find a post on this whole forum about what you all like to eat from your game animals in Africa.

I'll start. My favorite is Springbok tenderloin.

Beverages. I got to meet Castle Lager. We got along well. After dark a couple fingers of any distilled spirits on ice was good before dinner.

A Springbok shooter was done in respect for each animal we harvested.

A great part of the hunting experience.

Thank you Africa.

Easy call

Simply Grilled Kudu Tenderloin Medium-Rare with a bottle of Diemersfontein Pinotage

​

 

[Hutch01]

In Namibia I appreciated eland schnitzel and zebra smoked on camel thorn...

 

[AjFourie]

I’ve never had a bad meal in Africa (except buffalo stomach). Which I was advised not to try. Zebra and any antelope is always good eating. But Eland is the finest meat I have ever tried, seasoned and rare it is fantastic. This June I will be hunting in RSA at Kwalata with @Doug3006 he has Eland on his list, hopefully he will share.

We’ll be sure to cook up some proper game meat for you both and it seems like he is willing to share with you! a Favourite in camp for us is also Kudu and my personal favourite is between Mountain Reedbuck and Bushbuck. Looking forward to having you in camp and June will be here faster than you know.

Kind regards
Aj Fourie.

 

[Eduard_Venter]

A message to all the outfitters on this forum. Your hunters really enjoy the opportunities you give your guests to enjoy eating the game animals your camps have to offer!. And also knowing that the animals harvested are respected by those that do get to enjoy them. Thank you!

Awesome to hear this feedback. I'm a PH and I usually encourage the outfitters I hunt for to do exactly this. I usually cook a fresh liver somewhere along the safari and of course tenderloins on the fire! I had someone hunting with me twice in one season. When the first safari was done, I got some of the meat butchered for him and prepared all the food on the next safari with it. I love game meat myself so it's nice to share the passion with like minded people.

 

[Solitaire]

My best : Eland in Namibia

 

[Brod]

I'll get another one Shortly !

A new oven? or a new girlfriend that can cook? haha

 

[Sarg]

A new oven? or a new girlfriend that can cook? haha

Unfortunately it needs to be a Girlfriend that can cook an oven is easy to buy !

Seemly getting rarer each generation ?

 

[Zambezi]

Funny how Zebra seems a firm favourite and I (and most friends and family that hunt or live in Africa) have never considered eating it. To me/us it is horse meat and that is something we generally consider "not fit for human consumption"... Might have to give it a go sometime....

For me Impala and Eland has always been sought after table fare.

 

[Andrew62]

Eland filet is my favorite so far, followed by zebra filet.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Eland and oryx sausage! Once in Namibia I kept asking for the poor man's wienerschnitzel LOL hartmann's mountain zebra... Be careful what you wish for!!! Personally I'd much rather have veal. How someone could suggest a wild horse is better is beyond most of us. I know of its tradition but that doesn't make it taste better.

 

[Philip Glass]

I agree with you on the Springbuck but I have to have Eland at the top. I enjoy it all especially anything slow cooked with the bones in it. Frontier does this regularly in Dutch ovens. It is a real production with everyone enjoying a drink after a long day in the main Boma while watching the ladies cooking bread over coals and all the Dutch ovens full of all kinds of goodness. It is a real event to behold!

 

[fourfive8]

Most everything has been exceptionally good. Some of the desserts have also been unique and super tasty. I had horse meat a long time ago and it was good, no wild taste, somewhat sweet, lean, dark and fine textured. Have not tried zebra but imagine it would be similar. The most surprising meat has been elephant. Very good flavor, coarse grained but some can be a little tough. But then again before trying it I didn’t know what to expect.

I’m always amazed at the skill of the chefs in Africa even in the most primitive of conditions using simple multi purpose griddles and ovens made of adobe bricks and fired with charcoal. Also- camp staff, from wood gatherers and fire tenders to laundry to trackers and skinners to cooks, waiters and kitchen staff, IMO, all usually deserve to be tipped generously.

 

[Nyati]

Eland is my favorite, then bushbuck and roan, but I also enjoyed a great impala stew.

I would say most meats are fine, then it depends on the cook.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

i am sure @Mark A Ouellette will chime in here

Hmmm, with a chef as good as Mr. Kharen of Tally Ho, all native African meat is great! I loved zebra. My first giraffe was maybe even better!

My wife, a native Zambian, wanted to eat a guinea fowl. I borrowed a two-two from Stuart and promptly provided a couple birds to the house girl. That evening, she cooked them over the coals of the campfire. Those birds were as good or better than the best ringneck pheasant I've ever had!

What I do not want to eat in Africa is dead cow, ie beef. I eat whitetail venison and bison in the USA and avoid anything but top of the line beef.

 

[fourfive8]

^^ I'll second that. Properly prepared guinea is hard to beat! Come to think of it that reminds me the great guinea I had was in Zambia!

 

[Dirtdart]

I love some ostrich neckbone slow cooked.

A potjiekos is hard to beat but even more so when you have the privilege of listening to a dutchman and a soutpiel explain to each other who makes the best one. Good memories.

 

[Nyati]

I love some ostrich neckbone slow cooked.

A potjiekos is hard to beat but even more so when you have the privilege of listening to a dutchman and a soutpiel explain to each other who makes the best one. Good memories.

Now you should explain to our forum members what a soutpiel is

 

[Dirtdart]

Now you should explain to our forum members what a soutpiel is

I believe the term is meant to be derogatory but there was no animosity between those two guys and we had some great times. I am by no means fluent in Afrikaans but I remember some of the important stuff. It was explained to me something like this.

A soutpiel is a man of English descent or Engelsman that has one foot in England, the other foot in Africa, and his "piel" in the ocean. In English "salt dick" would be the direct translation.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I've been fortunate to have tried almost everything I've hunted with the exception of the buffalo and lion I've killed. Both were killed at the end of the hunt. I have however gotten to try buffalo and it was delicious. I don't think I've eaten anything that I didn't like or wouldn't eat again.

My favorites (not in order)
Eland Tenderloin on the Braai
Teriyaki Ostrich Stir Fry
Springbok Springrolls & Springbok Maki
Gemsbok Schnitzel

Sable, Wildebeest, Kudu, and Zebra (Hartman's & Burchell) all get honorable mentions

 

[Dirtdart]

I will relate an experience I had on the off chance it helps another hunter out one day.
I had never given a second thought about eating my fill of red game meat seven days a week for several weeks on end no matter if the animals came from a desert, or anywhere else.

After a hunt in Namibia I was accompanying a friend on a trip to buy some equipment for his business. One of my ankles had swollen up a little in the past couple of days but I dismissed it as a result of hard walking. The gentleman selling the equipment noticed my ankle and told me it was gout. I will attach a picture of the meds he graciously gave me. The swelling was gone the next day.

Evidently desert animals retain more uric acid than animals living in environments where they have the luxury of access to more water. I am sure there were other factors but I have never had a case of it before, or since. I have been told by some that are prone to gout that it can be painful enough to take a lot of fun out of good walk.