Gentlemen,

The giraffe we shot in Zimbabwe this year was blind in one eye.

He seemed to have suffered a whack from a horn from another giraffe. His skull was caved in above the left eye, which he no longer had. When we examined his skull after cleaning it, there was a large hole just above the eye socket, and bones prodroding into the eye socket.

You can clearly see this when you look at these two photos.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

What is giraffe meat like?

500grains,

We did not eat this old bull. We used him for lion bait.

Apparently females and young ones are quite tasty. Old bulls are not.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

As I recall my PH referred to these old bulls as "stink" bulls.

Now the big question: from which side did you shoot him?

500grains,
Giraffe meat is not great. We had a giraffe stew about five months ago in RSA and it was a tad fiberous and grainy.

JohnTheGreek

In the Okavango, I saw a fully grown giraffe bull that had his tail bobbed down to a little stump. He must have had it bitten off by some predator when he was a wee calf. Or, will lions jump that high onto the south end of a northbound adult giraffe? Losing his fly swatter could not have been any good for his ego.

The red lechwe I took with a Portuguese heart shot also had its tail mangled down to a tiny remnant, and it had old, well healed claw or tooth marks on its flanks and rump. Lions?

I felt bad about adding insult to an old injury by shooting that tough old survivor in the a$$.

We got to within 50 feet of a pair of adult male cheetahs on the first day in the Okavango, using the Landcruiser. When I jumped off the bakkie to get more photos, they vanished like a puff of spotted smoke.

We also drove up to within 50 feet of a pair of old lionesses. They were lounging on a termite heap, in the Botswana winter sun.

I felt distinctly anxious in the presence of the lionesses, even though I was in the bakkie. I wouldn't have dreamed of getting any closer to them. One looked old, the other looked younger and slightly smaller. The old one looked at us "like we owed HER money," and snarled. Must have been mom and daughter. They got my undivided attention, until they reluctantly faded away, down into the grass.

We heard the males roar in the wee hours of the morning, a couple of miles away from our tent camp, probably.

I am glad I got to experience a wee bit of fear in the presence of the lionesses, in wild Africa. I am looking forward to a really good scare some day, in Africa.

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RAB

[This message has been edited by R. A. Berry (edited 10-30-2001).]