What happens to the carcasses?

My wife caught me browsing the pictures of taken buffalo, elephants, and hippos. She's not against it or anything, but she did have a good question. What happens to the carcass of buffalo, giraffe, baboons, hippos and elephants? Do people eat them or otherwise use them?

in Africa nothing is wasted it all ends up in the food change,its amazing to see a village come out to skin and prepare the aninals you have harvested,each one has a job even down to there children,

That's absolutely amazing. They eat elephant and hippo as well?

I'd actually like to try elephant or hippo steaks some day.

last year after we shot our elephant and our staff took the cuts they wanted, the villagers stripped that elelphant down to the gut pile; there was nothing left except a pile of undigested material.
you could drive around the concession and see strips of elephant meat hanging at each hut. They were drying the meat to make biltong.

It does matter which part of Africa you are hunting. Often, meat from a ranch in RSA goes to market. In the Selous, if hunting is the only source for meat for 20 or so staff, it is consumed right in camp. In communal areas, it just vaporizes.

Don't forget that eating the game you take (at least, while in camp) is one of the wonderful parts of safari. For those who know Moses in PVT's camp, they will agree that they'd just as soon have a kudu or impala dish as the most expensive item on Maxim's menu. Most PH's are quite proud of their chef's and rightly so!

Here are "locals" working on an elephant in Omay. They come out of holes in the ground or something?

John,

Check out this link: Mrlexma's Elephant

It is a series of pictures taken by forum member Mrlexma after he shot an elephant in the Caprivi.

I hunted a communal concervancy in Namibia a few years ago and part of the agreement the outfitter had with the tribe was that he would provide them meat. We delivered what meat we did not eat to the villages every few days.

John

The following pictures show how a hippo is reduced to nothing. As JudgeG said - these guys just appear from nowhere ... About 15 minutes after a hippo is shot, the first guys come steaming up the river in their dugout canoes. They smell the dead hippo on the water downstream they say. I have to believe then as it happens every single time!

This is the hippos bull next to the Landcruiser to show its size. It is a big brute.



The frenzied process of cutting up in process. The lovely fresh, red protein is a nice change from the river fish that forms their staple diet.



Some of the guys (with big smiles) parading the meat that will end up in the villages. Note the Hard Rock Café T-Shirt - a remnant from a hunter long gone ..



And yet anoter purple Mozambique sunrise ... just because it so beautiful.

Here's some more elephant photos from Zimbabwe. In this case, we were hunting in an area that had no villages so the meat went to the Lake Kariba croc farm (many of you know what I'm talking about).

quote:

Originally posted by Bahati:


And yet anoter purple Mozambique sunrise ... just because it so beautiful.

You have got to be kidding me! Now that is beautiful!

At the place we hunting in Southern Namibia the only carcasses not utilized were the jackals and baboons.

The better cuts of the higher quality antelopes like gemsbok and blesbok went to feed us, the farmer, and his family. The coarser cuts went to the farm workers for preparation in whatever way was most appropriate, some fresh and some biltong.

All of the warthog and zebra meat went to farm workers. Not sure how the warthog was prepared, but the zebra was virtually all used for biltong.

The springbok were butchered and frozen -- they were all contracted to a restaurant.

A friend who hunted in Namibia said his favorite meat was the mtn zebra.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
At the place we hunting in Southern Namibia the only carcasses not utilized were the jackals and baboons.

The better cuts of the higher quality antelopes like gemsbok and blesbok went to feed us, the farmer, and his family. The coarser cuts went to the farm workers for preparation in whatever way was most appropriate, some fresh and some biltong.

All of the warthog and zebra meat went to farm workers. Not sure how the warthog was prepared, but the zebra was virtually all used for biltong.

The springbok were butchered and frozen -- they were all contracted to a restaurant.

Who did you hunt with in Namibia?

They have a saying in Africa in Swahili as to Baboons, Jackels, Hyeanas or any animal not being used by humans, and that is to offer it back to Africa, in other words let the Lions, Leopards, Jackels, Hyeanas, Vultures, Storkes, bugs and other animals in the food chain have it, they also must eat...That is a far different approach to things than we as Americans see it, but if you think about it, it makes more since than our usual unknowledgable approach to such things...Just because something is etable by us does not mean that other creatures should be denied...

One of the things I noticed on my trip, there were hardly any leathergoods in the various shops. Plenty of wood carvings. Just no leathergoods.