I'm only on Page 21 so I can't say how good this is going to be, but it certainly has potential. It is about the Giant Sable of Angola.

Since Sable (in Zimbabwe) is on my agenda for 2008 I found this book very intriging when a collegue mentioned the book and sent it to me to read.

Hunting is part of the story, but primarily the hunt to prove the existence of the Giant Sable. The rest of the story may be simply the history of how the Giant Sable has avoided extinction by the skin of its teeth.

Has anyone read this book? It looks like it came out in 2002.

The book has only five photographs of the Giant Sable, but one of two mature bulls fighting in 1954 is a stunner.

There are two other great photos, one of a single mature bull in profile up close, and another of a mature bull following two cows. What a thrill it must have been to see them live, and to be on the shooting end of that camera.

I reviewed the book when it was first released. The author did a great job of putting together all that was known up to then about the giant sable. Since then, photos taken with trail cameras at a salt lick have proved that a small population of these beautiful antelope survived Angola's long civil war and steps are being taken to protect them.
Interestingly, besides their super long horns, giant sable are supposed to be distinguished from the other two sable subspecies by their facial markings but that doesn't always hold true. A sable I shot in 1983 in Zimbabwe's Matetsi had the common sable markings, but one I shot in 1994 in Zambia had the face of a giant sable (but considerably smaller horns).

Bill Quimby