What animal do you consider specific African countries to be "known" for?

Corey0372

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My only hunt (but definitely not the last) in Africa happened by chance. I was in Namibia getting my Private Pilots License in Swakopmund, and we went on a sort of field trip. One of the guys (who was Namibian) already had a PPL and was building hours and studying to get his Commercial Rating. This guy's family owns a farm North of Outjo, and they used to run a hunting operation there (sort of on pause for right now).

Anyway, the PH they had there had a Cessna 210, and my buddy wanted to practice landing and taking off on their dirt strip with our instructor. So we set up a weekend to leave Swakopmund and go up there in the Cessna 172 from the school. I flew the 172 for the hours with our instructor and met my buddy up there. While we were there, the PH offered me the opportunity to choose from a couple different animals to hunt for a decent price. If I recall correctly, my options were an Oryx, Springbok, Impala, or a Zebra. I had never hunted Africa before, and this was spur of the moment, so I had no real frame of reference for what to go for and said, "I guess I'll go after an Impala".

Both my Instructor (who was South African) and my buddy who was Namibian, seemed to be in immediate agreement that since we were in Namibia, and because I was only going for one animal, I should go after an Oryx. So that's what I did. My instructor said that if we were in SA and I only had one option, that it should be either Springbok or an Impala

Sorry for the long story, but I figured some background would give some context to the question.

The question I pose is.....

When you think of specific countries, does a specific animal come to mind as well?

IMG-20190407-WA0115.jpg
 
Cameroon has the bongo and L.D. eland

S.A. and Namibia have several endemic herbivores like springbok and black wildebeest as well as being the only legal places to hunt rhinoceros

Botswana and Zimbabwe are known for elephants out the wazoo

I'd say Mozambique and Tanzania are well known for large herds of impressive buffalo
 
Don't leave us in suspense man!! :)
Did you bag the Oryx? Details, please...
 
Namibia is known for Hartmann’s zebra and Damaraland dikdik but the gemsbok are outstanding as well.
 
Definitely the Hartmann's zebra.
 
Ethiopia - mountain nyala.
Namibia - gemsbok, kudu, Hartman Zebra
South Africa - black wildebest, springbok
Cameroun - Bongo
Botswana - elephant
Tanzania - grant, tommy gazzele

But some countries I cannot link to some particular animal. Or better put, some animals are "international - continental": buffalo, croc, rhino, hipo, etc
 
Definitely the Hartmann's zebra.

Ethiopia - mountain nyala.
Namibia - gemsbok, kudu, Hartman Zebra
South Africa - black wildebest, springbok
Cameroun - Bongo
Botswana - elephant
Tanzania - grant, tommy gazzele

But some countries I cannot link to some particular animal. Or better put, some animals are "international - continental": buffalo, croc, rhino, hipo, etc
Next time hunt Namibia I plan to go after both Burchell and Hartman Zebra, and a Kudu....and maybe a Cheetah
 
Nice Oryx Corey !

Good choices for your next hunt.
 
Nice Oryx Corey !

Good choices for your next hunt.
Thanks, it was definitely an awesome experience, we had a little engine trouble in the 172 on the way back to Swakopmund, added to the excitement!
 
Hard to say because most are multinational

Maybe Puku in Zambia, Lesser Kudu in Tanzania, Kenya and north, S. Greater Kudu and Oryx Botswana and Namibia. and so on... :)
 
Namibia: Hartmann's zebra, Oryx (and Damara dikdik)
Botswana: Elephant
Zambia: Sable, Kafue lechwe, black lechwe, (maybe sitatunga)
Tanzania: Grant's gazelle, gerenuk, thomson gazelle, lesse kudu
Ethiopia: Mountain Nyala
 
So who gets the buffalo? Ive seen Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania proposed, but which do we agree is iconic buffalo country? Don't just think of the buff size etc, but the habitat, the Buffalo hunting safari quality.
 
So who gets the buffalo? Ive seen Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania proposed, but which do we agree is iconic buffalo country? Don't just think of the buff size etc, but the habitat, the Buffalo hunting safari quality.
Unfortunately I haven't had the privilege of hunting buffalo yet, so IDK if I'm qualified to make a claim on this particular animal, but just going off this website and various other hunting videos, etc.. I'd say Zimbabwe definitely has a strong case to be the buff country.
 
Zambia Sable, Puku, Black Lechwe, Kafue Lechwe
South Africa Bontebok and White Rhino and another 40 species!
Namibia Kalahari Springbok and Mountain Zebra, Dik Dik
Mozambique Crocodile and Hippo and Nyala
Zimbabwe Elephant, leopard, Kudu
Botswana Red Lechwe, Lion and Elephant
Tanzania Masailand special species,
Ethiopia almost everything here is really special and not available anywhere else
Congo giant forest hogs, bongo and sitatunga
Cameroon Lord Derby Eland and Bongo
Benin Roan and forest buffalo
Sudan Nubian Ibex, Aoudad, gazelles
Uganda some species the same as Tanzania but most are not available anywhere else
 
Zambia Sable, Puku, Black Lechwe, Kafue Lechwe
South Africa Bontebok and White Rhino and another 40 species!
Namibia Kalahari Springbok and Mountain Zebra, Dik Dik
Mozambique Crocodile and Hippo and Nyala
Zimbabwe Elephant, leopard, Kudu
Botswana Red Lechwe, Lion and Elephant
Tanzania Masailand special species,
Ethiopia almost everything here is really special and not available anywhere else
Congo giant forest hogs, bongo and sitatunga
Cameroon Lord Derby Eland and Bongo
Benin Roan and forest buffalo
Sudan Nubian Ibex, Aoudad, gazelles
Uganda some species the same as Tanzania but most are not available anywhere else
Thanks Muskox. Where would you place buffalo? They occur in a lot of countries of course, but which takes the edge?
 
Thanks Muskox. Where would you place buffalo? They occur in a lot of countries of course, but which takes the edge?

I don't actually know. I like big wide hard caps, width and depth of curl isn't as important to me as the cap. Zambia and Zimbabwe seem to have more bulls with big wide caps.

But a big 50 incher from Masailand is interesting as well.

I don't really have the experience of other hunters on these forums, but all my life I have been reading hunt reports and I have noticed that Zambia and Zimbabwe have really good looking bulls. Masailand has the widest bulls.

The Nile bulls of Uganda are also good looking bulls.
 

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