sorry if this has been hashed to death, but I have a couple of questions.

Do people eat elephant, cape buffalo, lion, or hippo?

Is the meat generally edible?

what usually happens with the carcasses after the animals are shot?

Thanks

On a protein-starved continent, nothing goes to waste. I've got pictures of a bull elephant that went from a shot through the brain to a red stain on the sand in 6 hours flat. The nearest village hadn't had any meat since February and this was in June. They swarmed over the carcase like ants and it simply disappeared, except for the biggest leg bones and the hip girdle.

As to quality of meat, I can't personally attest to anything but buffalo. It's delicious! You're lucky if you can get beef that good. I've had great reports on hippo and lion and even elephant is supposed to be good tasting even though the consistancy is said to be that of inner-tubes. Others will have to comment on that.

Elephant is good, but a bit tough (at least when cooked on a stick over an open fire - never had elephant stew, it might be more tender). Buffalo is very good. Never had lion or hippo. Nothing goes to waste in Africa.

Regards,

Terry

We made chili out of a rhino sirlion back in 2000.It ate as good any other chili I've ever made.Most people would have figured it was beef.

I ate buffalo and elephant from the animals I shot in Zim.
Even the meat from the 55 lb Bull I shot was very tasty. In fact I liked the elephant meat better than the buff. However...
Buff balls sliced very thin and fried were excellent. When I go back in 2006 I hope to shoot 2 buff with nice horns, but they MUST have BIG balls.
This is not a joke.

Every part of the animal is used, nothing is waisted. I saw the locals take home every scrap of the zebra I took in RSA, nad I mean every scrap, all of the internal organs as well.

The first thing our tracker took from the animals we shot in RSA during my trip there in 2001 was the stomack, and he was particularly keen about kudu stomacks...nothing was wasted. I do not know what they did with the zebra I shot, which was a particularly foul beast, but I watched them take the quartered carcass from the skinning shed to cold storage.

I went on a plains game hunt in RSA and everything was used from all the animals. We were given first choice of what we wanted in camp to eat then it either went to the PH or the ranch staff. I believe Wildebeast was the best as I recall. Had to eat a bite of raw liver from a Kudu since it was my first kill in Africa (tradition?) anyway wasn't bad but the blood on my face drew flies.

Aside from the fact that everything is eaten, from the standpoint of the locals, in almost every species the delicacy is to eat the stomach. With the look of Christmas Day on their faces, you'll see them carefully cut it out, remove all of the grasses from inside, and then fold it up for the ride back home. They may eventually get to the tenderloin, but I can assure it's long after they eat their version of tripe. And from someone that lives among lots of blacks here in the south, this tendancy is simply another of many that our local blacks share with their brothers from across the pond. When you see how much the ones here love tripe and chitlins, you'll know that the last 300 years hasn't changed many of them much at all.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:

Buff balls sliced very thin and fried were excellent. When I go back in 2006 I hope to shoot 2 buff with nice horns, but they MUST have BIG balls.
This is not a joke.

I can't wait to hear these stories after the next trip.

"PH, PH! What's the trophy like?"

The PH says, "It's a good one, it will go 46". Shoot it with your double cannon."

450NENo2, "Wait, I want it turn around, I want to see its balls. How big do you reckon they are?"

PH. "What?!!!!!!!"

You really have to see it to believe how these animals are consumed to the very last scraps.I mean guts and all. We can't begin to appreciate how little meat most of these people get. If it weren't for the hunters they'd have to poach it and it wouldn't take long befre it would be down to no game left, especially the big stuff like elephants.I've eaten elephant, buffalo and quite a few plains game animals and most are quite tasty if properly prepared. Not much different than domestic stock. In fact I'd rather eat plains game than some of the cattle I've seen in Africa.

When I go to Africa the first thing I tell the outfitter is I want a diet of venison. African beef I have eaten is tough and not to tasty. My favorite is Impala liver and eggs for breakfast or brunch. The best I have eaten is roasted leg of Mt Reedbuck and the worst I have eaten was porggie made with you guessed it Mt Reedbuck. It has alot to do with the preperation and care of the animial after the kill.

Part of any hunt is to taste the meat of your game. Try them and add this experience to yourself and years later you will be happy you did. I can still remember my first safari 20 years ago and the experiences that it brought. The sights, the smells the TASTE. You see a photo and back you go, you smell a scent and BAM your back there, you taste something and...
Try it you'll like it!

OK try this one on. we BBQ'd a honey badger. We're always into eating what we shoot, & the PH jokingly told the cool to BBQ up a honey badger. The cook did it. PH wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole, but we did - and it really was quite good. The cook even liked it.

I saw the video NE450No2 produced from his safari in Zim. After the elephant was killed and butchered by the locals, from the video, it looked like only blood stained earth was left...nothing went to waste.

Nothing goes to waste. I've witnessed armed threats between locals over a gut pile and saw a guy lose half an index finger to an axe blow on an elephant carcass. After skinning, my lion was promptly stripped from the bone and draped around the compound for biltong.

All animals are eaten in most parts of Africa, with sometimes some strange taboos. In the CAR it is forbidden for women who have never given birth to eat bats. Generally bats are not even cleaned; they shove a spit or stick through them lengthwise like a hotdog and roast them over the fire, burning off the fur and wings and eat them of the stick. It is one of the few delicacies I turned down.

On my trip to Zim we ate Leopard, Cape Buff,Impala,Tiger fish and Grouse...The Leopard was the best !

quote:

Originally posted by Spring:
And from someone that lives among lots of blacks here in the south, this tendancy is simply another of many that our local blacks share with their brothers from across the pond. When you see how much the ones here love tripe and chitlins, you'll know that the last 300 years hasn't changed many of them much at all.

Spring,
The whole deal with the blacks from the south and Africa eating the offals (tripe,chitlins,
feet,tails,neck bones ectrea)is thats all the whiteman & slave owner allowed them.Over the years they have grown to like this and has become a tradtional food.

I haven't gotten a Leopard yet to try, hopefully 2007, but I know Mt. Lion is damn good.

baboon,
While I guess it is possible that the only reason blacks in Africa eat unusual things is because, as you said, "the whiteman allowed them" to do so, but I am not quite sure that I would buy that. The notion that everything that impacts blacks is function of the whims or demands of whites (as compared to their taking responsibility for their own actions and fate) is one that I think deserves reconsideration.

Ever watch a predator eat? Organs and the Back end forward. This gives them the most minerals and protein.

Indians in Alaska and Canada have the same tastes as the trackers in Africa. Internal meats. It is amazing that peoples so remote from one another have the same practices.

Being invited to lunch with the boys for a feast of heart, liver, organs and intestines on an open fire was a highlight. I did pass.

To date my experience is: Elephant-too coarse and didn't like the flavor. Buffalo-excellent regardless of how prepared, particularly buffalo tail soup. Hippo-as good or better than buff, was the favorite of everyone in camp the two years I was there. Plains game-never had a bad meal from any of the antelope. Leopard-never got to try mine although they say it is good. Our Trackers and Skinner's lay claim to it quickly, says it increases their virility.

I really enjoyed kudu and eland as my favorites. Passed on the zebra.

1. Eland
2. Kudu
In that order.Please try if you get too go.

I haven't shot big game in Africa, but I have shot bird game, including Spur Wing Geese. During one evening shoot we watched several wounded geese sail off into the underbrush where the dogs couldn't catch them. We expressed concern at the escaping, wounded game, and our PH informed us that the next morning the entire neighbouring village, men, women and children, would be out scouring the bush for wounded geese. All would be in the cooking pot by evening.

Delloro,
First, note that the law, at least in Namibia, is that game must be consumed. For elephant in the two cases where I particpated, that meant going from the Mamili Reserve to the nearest village and picking up a slaughter team of a dozen or so men, bringing them to the kill site and, after 24 hours packing them out. First time, I paid for fuel for the local teacher's bakkie (pick-up) to haul out some of the 4-5K tons of meat from the first critter. Also enjoyed elephant tail stew (poikiekuis sp?) at the camp and some delicious grilled elephant at the slaughter scene.
Otherwise, there's little better than fresh antelope liver: impala, springbok, wildebeeste: you sautee apples, garlic and onions leaving the liver cut up (in some milk if the beast is older) and pour the liver into the pan once the sauteed stuff is ready, cooking until pink. Add it over your favorite starch: mealiemeal pap, potatoes or rice and discover what the Afrikaans word, "lekker" really means.
Regards, Tim

You know, that has been one of the "selling" points to my non-hunting friends of my African hunting experiences-that is, that nothing is wasted and everything is eaten or used in some way. I had the very same conversation with a group flying to Jo'berg a few years ago for a world conference on sustainability of resources and land use. Of course, a vast majority of them were against hunting until I explained that nothing gets wasted and nothing is legally hunted without being completely used in some way, shape or form. They have no argument back on that one. Try it on your non-hunting friends.

I considered having the opportunity to eat the various game I shot was one of the safari's main highlights. I only wish I could have smuggled some tong back! I was hooked on tong! So much so I got a recipe from the outfitter and have been making my own!I loved the Eland, Impala, Kudu & buff filets best. Never got a chance to try any zebra, waterbuck,wildebeest, warthog or giraffe.

You "ain't a kiddin" about the locals critterwhittling the carcases down to nothin!

They use it all!