By Craig Boddington

The zebra is Africa…but it’s not that simple!

The zebra is Africa’s most recognizable animal, requiring no description. Although related to both horses and asses and of the same Equus genera, the zebra is indigenous only on the African continent, and evidence that it existed elsewhere in prehistory is unclear. In Africa the zebra is not found continent-wide, but occupies an extremely broad range across East and Southern Africa. There are actually three species of zebra: Plains, mountain, and the Grevy’s zebra. There are, or were, seven races or subspecies of plains zebra and two of mountain zebra; the distinct Grevy’s zebra stands alone.

All zebras are primarily grazers, social animals that form into herds. Typically, these are harems with a dominant male and his mares. With both mountain and plains zebras these are permanent bonds, but Grevy’s zebra groups are temporary, with the males wandering off on their own after a few months. With all zebras, surplus males form bachelor groups. Size of the herds depends on population density and available grass and water; mountain zebras, usually in harsh habitat, are found in smaller groups—twenty is a lot—while plains zebras can form into large herds.

All visitors to Africa want to see this signature animal, and indeed they’re marvels to observe… it doesn’t take long before the seemingly nonsensical stripes make perfect sense: In shadows the zebra’s camouflage is amazing. Even in sunlight the stripes merge and blend…and imagine what a predator, sans color vision, is observing in black-and-white.

I am not a casual visitor to Africa. I love to observe her wildlife, but I make no secret that I am a hunter, always looking with a hunter’s eye. So, with zebras, I am studying the striped patterns and trying to locate the stallion in the group. This is fascinating…and often difficult! I must also make no secret that I enjoy hunting zebras! Sorting the correct animal from the herd is an interesting and sometimes frustrating puzzle. The fully utilized meat is unusually marbled, and a zebra rug seems almost an essential safari memento!

Because of their resemblance to the horses we love, anti-hunters, many non-hunters, and even many hunters are shocked at the thought of hunting a zebra. The best answer I have to the question, “How could you possibly kill a zebra?” comes easily: “Only with great difficulty!”

But, back to this matter of stripes.   

BLACK AND WHITE?

Portrait of a Burchell’s zebra, probably a mare because the neck seems a bit too thin to be a stallion. On the shoulder the upside-down “V” marking can be seen. With a broadside presentation, this chevron offers a perfect aiming point. (Photo by Dirk de Bod)

The three species and several races of zebras vary in striped patterns, but universally have vertical stripes on the body and horizontal stripes on rump and legs. The several plains zebras have stripes all the way to the belly, while the mountain and Grevy’s zebras have a white belly, their vertical stripes stopping short. It’s commonly believed the zebra is a white animal with black stripes, but recent research suggests the opposite: The zebra is a black animal, with white added during development. While some varieties have distinct striping, all are pretty much black and white, except – the young mountain zebras have undertones of brown that remain on the face in maturity. And several races of plains zebra have noticeable “shadow stripes” between the black and white bands that can be brown, gray, or muted.

So, which zebra are we looking at? There are hybrid zones, and today there are differences between historic native ranges and current distribution. The three species remain pure, at least in the wild – plains zebras, mountain zebras, and Grevy’s zebra do not interbreed! But some of the subspecies, and exactly where they range today, is a bit messy. Relatively little precise DNA work has been done because, after all, a plains zebra is not a mountain zebra, and the endangered Grevy’s zebra is very distinctive. Here’s a rough guide:

PLAINS ZEBRA: The plains zebra is Equus quagga. The type specimen, the quagga, E. q. quagga, became extinct in 1878. Once numerous, the quagga lay squarely in the path of South Africa’s settlement; the last wild quaggas were in Orange Free State. A few skins and photographs of one zoo specimen survive, so we know the quagga had vertical stripes on neck and shoulder and a dark body, perhaps with muted stripes. There are six extant plains zebra races, though not all authorities are in complete agreement.

Most widespread and numerous is the Burchell’s or “common zebra,” E. q. burchelli. This is the zebra most prevalent in South Africa, the southern three-quarters of Namibia, and most of Zimbabwe and Botswana. This zebra has the most prominent shadow striping, although zebra stripes are like fingerprints – no two are exactly alike!

Farther north is the Grant’s zebra, E. q. boehmi, found from Zambia’s Kafue (west of Luangwa) north through western Tanzania and on up into Kenya. This is the zebra I hunted in western Zambia, central Tanzania and Masailand, and southern Kenya. Grant’s zebra is slightly bigger than Burchell’s zebra, with mature stallions weighing up to 700 pounds. The big difference: This zebra lacks shadow stripes and has an extremely beautiful black-and-white skin.

This is a Selous zebra taken in coastal Mozambique. The Selous is a smaller zebra with beautiful black-and-white skin. Once seriously threatened, good management has brought this zebra back to huntable numbers.

Chapman’s zebra, E. q. chapmani, is the zebra of Caprivi, adjacent Botswana and Zimbabwe, and southern Angola. Chapman’s zebra is a large zebra, up to 800 pounds, with shadow stripes much like the Burchell’s zebra. A major difference is that younger animals are more brownish than black, and some Chapman’s zebras maintain the brownish tint into maturity.

In northeastern Zambia and on up through Malawi and into southeastern Tanzania the zebras are Crawshay’s zebra, E. q. crawshayi. This is the zebra of the Selous Reserve and adjacent areas. I have found that this is a big zebra, generally with narrower stripes than other plains zebras, but with slight shadow stripes on some individuals

The signature “Christmas tree” marking above the tail of a mountain zebra, where vertical stripes meet horizontal stripes on the hips. Both Cape and Hartmann’s mountain zebras have this characteristic.

GREVY’S ZEBRA: To my thinking Grevy’s zebra, E. grevyi (a unique species with no subspecies) is the most beautiful of all zebras, sort of a pin-striped zebra, found in northern Kenya, Somalia, and up through Ethiopia to the Danakil Depression. Grevy’s zebra is the largest of all zebras, weighing up to 900 pounds, with big ears, more like a wild ass, while other zebras are more horse-like in appearance. Regrettably, the gorgeous Grevy’s zebra lives in bad neighborhoods and is seriously threatened, and as few as 3000 remain in the wild.

CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES

A common waterhole scene at Namibia’s Etosha National Park, where Burchell’s zebras roam in the many thousands.

(Photo by Dirk de Bod)

Well, it took me 40 years, but, except for the long-gone quagga, I’ve actually seen all the races of zebra! The only time I’ve seen Grevy’s zebra in the wild was in Ethiopia’s Danakil in 1993; even then they were completely protected. The tide seems to be turning, with the remnant population stable, but it is highly unlikely Grevy’s zebra will ever return to huntable numbers. In March 2017, in Uganda’s Karamoja District, hunting along the boundary of Kidepo National Park, we saw a couple of herds of Sudan maneless zebras. The manes are not quite absent, but clearly not the long, stiff manes of other zebras.  This zebra, too, is protected and has not been hunted since 1983, when hunting in Sudan ground to a halt. The population is stable and probably not endangered, but this zebra’s range is limited, so it is definitely vulnerable.

All the other zebras are huntable today, depending primarily on where you are. Burchell’s zebra is, of course, widespread and numerous. Grant’s zebra is the zebra you will hunt in western Zambia, and central and northern Tanzania. You’ll love the black-and-white skin without shadow stripes! In Mozambique’s Marromeu complex the Selous zebra has been brought back from the brink and is hunted. The annual quota is just a handful; you need to speak up well in advance if you want this set of stripes.

Among the zebras, it is probably least clear exactly where Burchell’s zebra stops and Chapman’s zebra takes over. Without question Namibia’s Caprivi (now Zambezi Region) is the best place, and these are pure Chapman’s zebra, but, as with the Selous zebra, the quota is small, so you have to speak up.

In Zambia the Luangwa River is said to be the boundary between Grant’s and Crawshay’s zebra, so this one is fairly simple: You will be hunting Crawshay’s zebra in the Luangwa Valley, and in the Selous and adjacent areas, but Grant’s zebra lies to the west and north.

Thanks to game ranching, permits are available for the small and utterly gorgeous Cape mountain zebra, but they cannot be imported into the U.S. The larger Hartmann’s mountain zebra is readily available throughout much of Namibia, also thanks to game ranching. A huge boon to ranchers, mountain zebra and plains zebra don’t interbreed, so today many areas offer both Hartmann’s and plains zebra. I’ve never known anyone who wanted to make a collection of all the zebras. It would be impossible, and also silly: Several are visually indistinguishable. But wherever you are, the “local zebra” offers a good hunt… and a lovely set of stripes!

IT AIN’T THAT EASY

Putting things in perspective! The zebra is a large animal, weighing up to 800 pounds…but dwarfed by this eland bull, easily in excess of a ton! (Photo by Dirk de Bod)

As I said, you will often obtain that zebra rug only with great difficulty! If you’re a “horse person” or you’ve ever done any horseback hunting, you know that equines have all senses tuned and are amazingly aware of their surroundings (if only we could instantly understand what they’re telling us!). Zebras have all this, and more… they are among the wariest of animals in the African bush or, as our PHs say, “the most switched on.”

Zebras are extremely difficult to approach and difficult to fool. Unlike some animals, their eyesight is sharp, and their ears and noses are keen. All of this is compounded and conflicted by a simple physiological fact: Zebras are uniquely difficult to sex! It isn’t just that they are without characteristics like horns or antlers! The stallion’s junk is very tight between the hind legs. In open ground you might get a glimpse, but in long grass or thornbush habitat, never.

A zebra was at the top of Caroline Boddington’s wish list on her first safari. She took this big Burchell’s zebra with Carl Van Zyl. A single shot to the shoulder chevron with her 7mm-08 worked perfectly.

The absolute mandate to shoot only males depends largely on the local population and herd dynamics. There is no shame in taking an older female. Stallions fight viciously, and mares usually have skins that are much less scarred. However, all things equal, in most areas we try to take only stallions. But not always. There is evidence, especially with mountain zebras, that, depending on local population, it can take a long time for a stallion to come into the herd. So, it’s not cut-and-dried, but typically a major hurdle in any zebra hunt is to identify the stallion.

There are many clues. The zebra stallion is generally larger and has a thicker neck; mountain zebra stallions have defined dewlaps. More important is behavior: The stallion can be the leader and will frequently bring up the rear, tending his mares, but he is rarely in the middle.

You have to keep looking, waiting for that glimpse, and take in all the clues. My first Hartmann’s zebra, in then-South West Africa 40 years ago, was in a little valley straight below us – no way to see anything from that angle. We watched for three eternities, and finally took the shot based entirely on behavior. Correctly, we took the stallion. Last year, in the Eastern Cape, we had a small herd of Burchell’s zebra feeding and milling below us, it wasn’t straight down, but the brush was up to their bellies, nothing to be seen. We watched and waited; there had to be a stallion, and we thought we knew which one. After a tense hour the most likely candidate turned away, and for just an instant I saw testicles under the tail.  

TOUGH STUFF

Zebras are a favorite prey of lions. A leopard is probably unable to pull down a mature zebra, but they love the fatty meat, so zebra is preferred bait for many leopard hunters. (Photo by Dirk de Bod)

Legend has it that “all” African game is extremely tough. This is not true, but zebras are very tough! Hit a zebra poorly and you will be in for a long day with unknown chances for recovery! The books say, depending on the subspecies, mature zebra stallions range from 550 to 900 pounds. Having shot quite a few but properly weighed none, I have no idea, but I figure 700 to 800 pounds is about right. Whatever, it’s a big animal and very strong!

The target area is large, and there is often an upside-down “V” of stripes on the shoulder, offering an inviting aiming point. With or without that guide, the middle of the shoulder is the right place, one-third up from the brisket. Center the shoulder with a good bullet that gets in and does its work, and there will be no problems. Flub the shot, and chances for recovery depend only upon the exact location of the hit and good tracking. Over 40-odd years I’ve only seen a couple of zebras lost, but I’ve been on some very long tracking jobs!

Zebras are often taken for lion or leopard bait, which means you need a zebra down now. The best-case scenario is to whack a zebra on the shoulder with a .375 – game over. However, I have seen zebras taken very cleanly with mild 6.5mms, 7mms, and .270s, and the great old .30-06 is awesome. But what really matters on zebra is shot placement. You gotta do it right. If you don’t, a lot of extra foot-pounds may not matter. These animals are tough.

Both of my daughters, despite teenage girls’ affinity for horses, put a zebra at the top of their wish lists on their first safaris. (Knock me over with a feather!) When questioned, one said, “Well, my Mom tells me zebras are really tough and hard to hunt, so it sounds interesting.” Unsolicited, both copped to the real reason: “Well, I’d really like a zebra rug for my room.” Fair enough, who doesn’t?

Only partly joking, wife Donna has often said, “No girl has too many zebras.” This has created a monster. She has nine nieces… and each one now wants a zebra skin, whether as a wedding or graduation present. We’ve covered some of them, but not all. At least I have an excuse to keep hunting!

THE BEST HUNT

Hunting with PH Carl Van Zyl, Donna Boddington prepares to take a shot at a Burchell’s zebra.

Difficulty always depends on terrain, vegetation, numbers of animals, the wind… and blind luck! Once in a while a zebra rug comes easy with a quick shot, but not very often. Usually a few blown stalks and serious scrambling are needed. Honest, it’s all good, but the most enjoyable zebra hunting I’ve done has been Hartmann’s zebra in native habitat in Namibia’s rocky ridges, truly a magical hunt.

As I said, the first time was 40 years ago, in a time when game ranching was in its infancy and mountain zebras at their zenith. Ben Nolte and I climbed to the top of the Erongo Mountains, following intermittent tracks and hearing whistles. We got right on top of them among knife-edge ridges, a magic experience.

Since then I’ve done it many more times, certainly not all with me as shooter (after all, how many rugs do I need?). The mountain zebra in native terrain offers a real hunt, and a real mountain hunt! I may never fire another shot, but I’m sure I’ll make the climb a few more times!

By Ed Stoddard and Adam Hart

This article was first published on the Daily Maverick on 2 July 2025

Instead of mourning the animals killed by trophy hunters – which in many ways owe their existence, like it or not, to the hunting industry – we would suggest tears should instead be shed for Josephi, his widow Elphina and their son, Success.

Many people in the West know Cecil the Lion, but who can name an African killed by a lion or another species of dangerous megafauna in the decade since Cecil’s demise?

Our guess is not many, and that speaks volumes to the chasm that divides Africa and the affluent West on polarising wildlife issues such as trophy hunting that were unleashed by the Cecil saga.

In the eyes of many Africans, affluent folk in the North often seem to have more empathy for the continent’s wildlife than they do for its people, especially the rural poor who have to live in the terrifying shadow of large animal attack – a precarious existence that no middle-class resident of London, New York or Toronto would wish on their kith and kin.

These cultural fault lines were brutally exposed when Cecil was felled by an American trophy hunter on 2 July 2015 outside Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park.

Cecil’s biography was well known to a handful of dedicated researchers, as he was the subject of a study by the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). Cecil had a satellite tracking collar that would emit signals every two hours, providing his GPS coordinates.

According to WildCRU, Cecil was one of 65 lions killed by trophy hunters in the area from 1999 to 2015, 45 of which were equipped with radio collars. Two other satellite-collared lions with human nicknames were also killed by hunters in the same area in 2015.

But Cecil was popular with visitors to Hwange and park officials, and Zimbabwe launched a probe into the hunt. This, in turn, launched the affair, aided and abetted by social media, into orbit.

As the uproar in the West spread, US dentist Walter Palmer was eventually named as Cecil’s killer, and that placed him in the crosshairs of public indignation.

Jimmy Kimmel

American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, on 28 July 2015, made an impassioned commentary about the incident, choking back tears as he assured Africans that “not all Americans are like this jack hole” — the jack hole in question being Palmer, whose dental practice was already being besieged by protesters.

But in Africa, the response was pointedly different, and Kimmel’s tears – over a lion – provoked incredulity.

Asked by reporters for comment on the unfolding drama, Zimbabwe’s acting information minister at the time, Prisca Mupfumira, snapped: “What lion?”

A few days after Kimmel’s emotional outburst, Goodwell Nzou, a Zimbabwean doctoral student studying molecular medicine in the United States, had an opinion piece published in The New York Times titled, In Zimbabwe, We Don’t Cry for Lions.

American outrage over the incident, he wrote, had provoked “… the starkest cultural contradiction I’d experienced during my five years’ studying in the United States”.

“Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people? That all the talk about Cecil being ‘beloved’ or a ‘local favourite’ was media hype? Did Jimmy Kimmel choke up because Cecil was murdered or because he confused him with Simba from The Lion King?” Nzou asked.

“When I was nine years old, a solitary lion prowled villages near my home. After it killed a few chickens, some goats and finally a cow, we were warned to walk to school in groups and stop playing outside … The lion sucked the life out of the village: No one socialised by fires at night; no one dared stroll over to a neighbour’s homestead.

“We Zimbabweans are left shaking our heads, wondering why Americans care more about African animals than about African people.”

In response, Nzou received death threats, underscoring his point in a chilling and telling manner.

The floodgates

Jimmy Kimmel’s Cecil outburst opened the floodgates. The global media jumped on the story, pushing trophy hunting to the front page. David Macdonald, then head of WildCRU, said that “in terms of attracting global attention, it [Cecil] was the largest story in the history of wildlife conservation”.

In the UK, pre-Cecil, trophy hunting had barely registered in print media. When it was covered, stories frequently highlighted the complexities of the issue. Discussion of the conservation benefits hunter revenue brought was commonplace, albeit often alongside a general sense of disapproval. After Cecil, the tone moved sharply towards condemnation. This coincided with increasing NGO and campaign-led calls for hunting bans, with Cecil as the inevitable focus.

Calls to ban trophy hunting from nations like the UK ring hollow for many living in countries such as Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The hypocrisy is glaring. The UK has a thriving trophy hunting industry focused on deer, the heads of which adorn many a country pub, hotel and stately home. And these trophies can also be exported.

Meanwhile, the UK is anything but a conservation success story, in stark contrast to the successes of African nations with trophy hunting as part of their conservation strategy.

A 2017 study titled “Relative efforts of countries to conserve world’s megafauna” should be required reading for those calling for bans on trophy hunting. The top five countries were Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Bhutan and Zimbabwe. Four of the top five are southern African nations. All four are major trophy hunting destinations. The UK was 123rd.

Such facts are usually ignored by domestic politicians. Or, worse, spun to suggest the UK can manage wildlife responsibility while other nations cannot. Understandably, accusations of neocolonialism have become a fixture of public discourse on trophy hunting.

Nonetheless, there remains considerable political traction to ban the import of hunting trophies from species that are, regardless of their actual status, “close to extinction”. Evil trophy hunter, goes the media-friendly and seemingly intuitive story, are driving elephants, lions and other charismatic species to the brink. Just so they put a head on their wall. Trapped within this narrative, the easiest way to save wildlife seems obvious. Condemn the cruel and senseless practice of trophy hunting to the dustbin of history.

It is precisely this thinking that has led to proposed bans, in various stages of legislative development, in the UK, numerous countries in Europe, Australia and the US. Such global political will is backed by assumptions of popularity.

Misinformation and naivety

But what seems like a quick and easy conservation and political win is shot through with misinformation and naivety. In the Second Reading of a failed UK-based Bill to ban trophy imports at the end of 2022, analysis by a team of scientists led by Oxford University indicated that around three-quarters of verifiable statements made by MPs speaking in support of the Bill were demonstrably false. For more than a third of those MPs, every verifiable statement they made was false.

What is more, the public is far from overwhelmingly supportive, as is usually claimed. One of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s specialist groups, Sustainable Use and Livelihoods commissioned a survey of the UK public on the topic and found that, if a ban were to increase overall threats to wildlife conservation (as is very likely to be the case), only 42% supported them, and only 39% supported bans if they negatively affected marginalised communities (which they would).

The idea that more than 80% of the UK public supports bans is based on a highly leading, flawed survey undertaken by the NGO Ban Trophy Hunting. Politicians would do well to actually read such surveys – they might then realise how they are being played.

Ban Trophy Hunting – and several other NGOs – know that Cecil remains a gold mine. Prominent on its site is a red headline – “REMEMBER CECIL” – clearly displayed as the 10th anniversary of his death looms – and below, there is a tab to donate.

Cecil has been dead for a decade, but the vultures are still circling the memory of his carcass. Revealingly, there is no similar site asking people to remember Africans killed by big animals.

Trophy hunting vs extinction threat

Trophy hunting is a complex aspect of conservation, and nowhere more so than in southern Africa, where much of the northern hemisphere’s disapproval, and in many cases disgust, is directed. While unregulated or poorly managed hunting can lead to local declines, a recent analysis found that there were no species for which trophy hunting was considered a threat.

The same analysis found that for a number of species, including black rhino and lion, regulated hunting provides clear conservation benefits by producing revenue and incentivising communities to live alongside wildlife that may pose a threat to them and their livestock.

If you track the spoor of the scientific literature, there are no objective, peer-reviewed articles in any reputable journal that we are aware of that make a direct link between trophy hunting and the threat of extinction. “Studies” that make this link are usually commissioned by animal rights organisations with a transparent agenda.

When science and facts are not on your side, raw emotion works.

Conservation without money is just conversation. Lions and elephants are irresistible to photo tourists, but a very different prospect to live alongside. Without providing real incentives to communities and respecting their rights to a sustainable livelihood without reliance on the whims of overseas aid, habitat is lost and wildlife suffers.

Safari tourism may be a thriving business post-pandemic, but Africa is vast and the landscape mixed. For every Serengeti migration honeypot, there are thousands of square miles of featureless bush, unsuitable for those on a one-week trip of a lifetime, anxious to tick off the Big Five before sundowners. In many such areas, hunting remains a vital lifeline for people and habitat.

In response to calls for bans, more than 130 scientists and conservationists signed a joint letter to the journal Science, outlining why “trophy hunting bans imperil biodiversity”.

Community leaders from across southern Africa have written open letters to UK politicians calling on them to stop legislation that will harm conservation efforts and community livelihoods. The ghost of Cecil, it seems, roars far louder than the stark reality of real-world conservation challenges.

The human victims

We have been unable to find comprehensive, up-to-date data on the number of humans killed in Africa in attacks by big, dangerous animals in the decade since Cecil died, but it is safe to say that it numbers in the thousands.

In Zimbabwe, the national parks organisation Zimparks recently said that in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, human fatalities from such attacks rose 20% to 18 compared with the same period in the previous year.

It also said its data showed that over the past five years, 300 people had been killed in wildlife encounters – an average of 60 a year. And that is just a five-year timeframe restricted to Zimbabwe.

These victims are often – unlike Cecil – faceless and nameless outside of their rural communities, where they have friends and family who grieve their loss and live in fear of the next attack. But outside their close circle, it is as if such horrifying incidents are simply the natural order of things in Africa, with Africans themselves simply the extras on the set of some Tarzan movie.

The rural Africans who have to live alongside dangerous megafauna rank among the poorest of the poor, and their poverty is both a cause and effect of this precarious existence – a terrifying socioeconomic realm that can be described as living below the faunal poverty line.

This state of affairs can also be usefully viewed through the prism of inequality. The rural poor in Africa are expected to share space with potentially menacing megafauna, a scenario that no middle-class suburbanite – including those who see red over trophy hunting – would tolerate.

This is one of the many ways in which poverty makes you prey.

Among the thousands of human victims in Africa since Cecil was felled, spare a thought for 27-year-old Josephi Kapalamula of Malawi and his family.

Josephi was among the first of 10 victims to date killed by elephants in the wake of an ill-conceived translocation of 263 of the animals to Kasungu National Park in Malawi from Liwonde National Park in the country’s south in June and July of 2022. This has transformed the landscape around the park in Malawi and neighbouring Zambia into one of fear and loathing for the subsistence farmers who toil there.

Josephi’s wife, Elphina, was pregnant when he was killed by elephants in July 2022. When Ed spoke to her in June 2024, her 17-month-old son, Success, was strapped to her back, a child who will never meet his father.

“My husband heard that there were elephants, so he went to see them. The elephants

By Lucas Paugh

“Nothing captures your heart like Africa,” was the mantra of my friend and mentor Craig Boddington. And as a young hunter I had always dreamed of hunting Africa to experience what most others only talked about, and very few Americans ever experienced.

Seeing the Big Five taxidermy exhibits at various trade shows sparked a fire in me to someday make this dream a reality. My longtime friend and hunting partner Jason Quick had previously introduced me to Alex and Johnny Thomson of Eland Safaris, a private hunting concession in the Northern Limpopo Province of South Africa, and we finally inked the date for early July 2018

We were met in Johannesburg by PH Petrie Boshoff, and on arrival at the farm were welcomed by Johnny and his family. We spent the afternoon shooting our bows to ensure accuracy, and recovering from jet lag after 26 hours in the air. Needless to say, we were ready to go experience Africa after over a year of waiting, and after an early breakfast next morning we split into our groups with our PHs. I was fortunate to have Petrie as my PH (or he was the unfortunate one to draw the short straw and have me as his client!).

One thing about bow hunting in Africa is that you will sit in blinds over water. At first, I was having a hard time with this concept, but I learned to respect and understand their hunting culture, and it wasn’t more than 30 minutes when my first encounter with an African species came straight to drink. A large mature impala ram had me at full draw, and when the arrow released that animal sprung up from the water and hightailed it out.  It was a good shot, but the “vital triangle” sits a bit forward and lower in South Africa than in our traditional North American species. This took some getting used to as my impala proved by escaping my first arrow and disappearing in the bush!

I had a sleepless night worrying about it, but the good news was that thanks to my tracker Abraham, the impala was recovered within a few hundred yards of where I had hit him.

After what felt like hours, I lined up my single pin on the first stripe running down the front shoulder, and released a deadly arrow that made a full pass through and hit the dirt before the bull even knew what hit him. I managed to double down that morning as a nice-sized blesbok also came to water and took one of my arrows. One morning and two animals in the salt!

As the days passed, I also managed to hunt the holy grail of a gemsbok, a 40” horned beauty that turned out to be just an incredible representative of the species. Although all that was stimulating and fun, it wasn’t till the last day that was for me the most exciting and entertaining.

Alex and I had previously discussed which species were on the target list, and he convinced me to acquire a baboon permit.

“You never know when that opportunity could arise,” he said. All through the plains-game hunting I had this baboon permit sitting out there, and I thought, “Why not go and see what this baboon hunting is all about?”  

So Petrie and I set out to an offset concession where the landowners were having issues with the baboons damaging their crops. After sitting in the blind for 20 minutes, a shrill shriek sounded out in the distance and my PH smiled. Within minutes a female baboon had entered the area and started feeding on the rotten tomatoes strategically placed. She was smarter than most, as she would grab a few veggies and run off. Then I noticed a silhouette in the bush walk out into view.

“A mature male,” Petrie whispered. “Take a shot if you can.”

I was committed to using my bow, which limited my opportunity as these primates are extremely clever and cunning. But this male slipped up by walking into my lethal distance. The shooting window was narrow and based on an angle did not give me much of a shot. As I went to full draw, I hoped that little sliver of an opening would be the vital zone I was looking for. One more step was needed for the baboon to give me a broadside shot…

The step was taken and arrow released. The animal immediately ran off for 50 yards till it expired with an arrow perfectly placed high in the shoulder.  Petrie was delighted, as it was the first time he had been with successful bowhunter on baboon. We laughed and celebrated all the way back to camp.

That evening, we decided on a night hunt for steenbok. This was another hunt where they had never taken an archer at night to hunt one of these common small antelope species. We met the landowner and started out flashing spotlights across the fields looking for eyes. We had looked over many small game and then found a lone male ram feeding in the distance.

As we approached, my good friend Jason Quick helped me range the animal as I focused on making the shot in the dark. I recall hearing 48 yards, I set my pin, and the visible lumenok vapor trail traveled over the back of that ram. It ran off and went out quite a bit farther out of my effective range. We slowly moved forward and Jason whispered out another range of 38 yards. We followed, and after setting my pin I let an arrow fly and watched the ram buckle up hard and run about 20 yards before folding up. I was ecstatic at what I had just accomplished. Never had I thought this was achievable, but again proved these animals could be taken with archery equipment. We spent that evening under a sprinkle of rain taking photos and enjoying the beautiful winter’s night under the stars. 

I’d like to thank Eland Safaris for making our experience incredible and providing world-class accommodations, and special thanks to our camp of hunters and friends: Dave Kelner, Bob Anderson, Jason and Wyatt Quick, Brandon Williams, Derek and Meredith Franklin.

Africa certainly captures your heart unlike any other place in the world. For a hunter or someone just looking to experience the culture or sheer beauty of the country, it offers everything one could ever imagine – and some. The density and diversity of wildlife is unlike anywhere else I have ever seen. On that last evening watching the sunset, the enjoyment of our final dinner was bittersweet as we broke bread with some amazing people from all walks of life and backgrounds. But all good things must come to an end, and I had memories that will last a lifetime.

By Cassie Carstens, Secretarybird Conservation Manager, BirdLife South Africa.

As with most large bird species across the globe, the threats that Secretarybirds face are varied and widespread. Loss, fragmentation, and habitat degradation have the most significant impact, with the open savannas and grasslands they prefer having seen dramatic changes over the past few decades, with the most prominent expansion of agricultural and residential areas. Land use changes have caused smaller pieces of veld to be suitable, and even the protected areas where these birds are supposed to flourish appear to be too overgrown with tall grass, encroaching trees and shrubs. Fatal collisions with powerlines, fences, and wind turbines also negatively impact them, with the potential addition of secondary poisoning also playing a role.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), over the past 15 years, this iconic African species has gone from being considered Least Concern to Endangered. The IUCN’s Red Data grading system reflects the conservation status of species worldwide, and the plight of the continent’s birds of prey is especially dire. In South Africa, Secretarybirds are still hanging on, with an estimated population of 5,500-11,000 birds remaining in the wild. Across the rest of their Sub-Saharan distribution, however, they are disappearing at a rapid pace. That decline is slower here, but immediate action is required to ensure their survival.

Breeding movements

Once independent, the youngsters disperse long distances, with one individual travelling from Gauteng to the Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana and back. Another moved from the nest near Warden in the Free State all the way to Amanzimtoti in KwaZulu-Natal!

With the data gained from this first phase of the tracking study, the first conservation actions could be implemented, and this entailed the recommendation to buffer an area of 1,6 km in radius around nests during the development of wind energy projects. However, the lack of adult movement data was a key shortcoming. A second phase of tracker deployments was conducted from 2020 to 2021, with 12 more units used. Four of those birds and the tracking units they diligently carried managed to survive, and for the first time, adult movement during breeding attempts was recorded!

The results show that the 1,6 km distance is inadequate, with adults moving an average of 3,5 km from the nest. This newly gained knowledge will improve the mitigation measures, with the hope that their survival rate will improve.

Future work entails the deployment of several more trackers in a third phase of the study. Additionally, the sharing of bird-friendly grazing and burning regimes with the farming community will also be prioritised. A wildlife-friendly fence design is also in the works, with which we hope birds and mammals will be protected without compromising the needs of livestock farmers.

Should you know of any Secretarybird pairs in your area, if you know the location of a nest or two, or even if you just want to learn more about these amazing birds, please get in touch with BirdLife South Africa’s Secretarybird Conservation Manager at cassie.carstens@birdlife.org.za.