There are some things I hear about from time to time that make me wonder how many people actually understand the habitats or regions that the game in Southern Africa actually live in. I hear about folks hunting in various locations in South Africa specifically for animals that are hundreds of miles from their natural or indigenous habitat. The majority of hunters know that the species they are hunting are indigenous to the African continent; however that is about the limit of their knowledge. To put this another, way Dall sheep are indigenous to the North American continent. They do not occur in Texas though. javilina are also indigenous to North America but they do not live wild in Alaska.
Hunting a large fenced area for whitetail deer in Texas is a hunt for natural indigenous game. Hunting that same property for blackbuck, eland, or Roosevelt elk is not. The same can be said for many places in South Africa. There are hunts that are very inexpensive where you can shoot about 30 species of game. Most of these are not in the indigenous habitat of the animal though. Americans seem to be naive enough to assume that because youre hunting in Africa for African game it must be legitimate. Not so!
Hunting many of the large Eastern Cape properties will allow you to harvest many different species that never occurred there naturally. They are in fact stocked prior to the arrival of the hunters in many cases.
I have no issue with genetic improvement through introductions of indigenous game. These animals turned loose to breed with other naturally occurring game already in existence there. This is the proper way to manage game on any contained property and even in most open free range populations. There have been significant transplants of goats and sheep through out the northwest USA over the years to improve genetics and population numbers. The same has happened with wolves and grizzly bears in Idaho and Montana.
It makes no difference to me if a hunter shoots a moose or caribou in Georgia and calls it hunting. It makes no difference if he shoots an eland or dall sheep in Texas and feels it was a hunt. The part I want to make sure people are actually aware of is that just because they have gone to Africa and hunted in RSA that does not mean the fallow deer, aoudad or other non-indigenous game was naturally occurring. Speaking only for myself, I would just as well go to an exotic game farm in Texas and save the 17 hour trip over the Atlantic and big airfare expense! Why go all the way to Africa to shoot an animal that does not even live natural where youre hunting? It would be the same as a South African coming to America to shoot a Musk Ox in Nebraska. Then he goes home to tell the story of his wonderful and exciting hunt in America.
The most common location for sport hunters to have opportunities to shoot non-indigenous game is out of the Eastern Cape. This tends to be one of the more popular areas for traveling hunters because its one of the least expensive locations to operate a hunting concession. Its also typically the cheapest safari location in South Africa. These ranches or hunting concessions have plenty of stocked game placed there just to be shot. Its not a location I would even slightly consider for most species or general bag plains game when hunting in South Africa. There are indigenous species that make sense to hunt there but only very few when compared to other regions of the country. If you are going to fly to Port Elizebeth to meet your outfitter you will very likely be hunt in the Eastern Cape. This is a much different habitat than most of the released game would naturally occur in nature.
As an example I will use a well known Book written by Clive Walker a native South African who is the author of several wildlife books, and an expert on South African wildlife. It is also a strongly suggested study book in the Northern Province PH schools. In his book he has maps showing where the wildlife of South Africa naturally lives.
In the Eastern Cape as defined by the South African Book of the road (AA version), here is the typical indigenous species list of game hunted by International sportsman. If what you are hunting is not on this list and its being offered by your outfitter it is stocked just for hunting or game viewing. Just because the animal is not indigenous does not mean its not a challenge to find and shoot. It just means that you harvested a stocked animal in an un-natural habitat put there for the exclusive reason of being killed by a sportsman. No different then a Texas exotic hunt. I have used the Northern Province as a comparison of indigenous species so you can see the difference.
Animal----- Eastern Cape----- Northern Province
Spotted Hyena----- no----- yes
Brown Hyena----- no----- yes
Leopard----- yes----- yes
Cheetah---- no----- yes
Elephant---- no----- yes
Lion----- no----- yes
White Rhino---- no------- yes
Burchells Zebra---- no------ yes
Bush pig---- yes---- yes
Warthog----- no----- yes
Hippo----- no------ yes
Giraffe----- no------ yes
Grysbok---- yes----- no
Rhebok----- yes----- yes
Klipspringer----- yes----- yes
Duiker----- yes---- yes
Steenbok----- yes---- yes
Blesbok----- fringe---- fringe
Reedbok----- fringe---- yes
Mtn reedbuck---- yes---- yes
Springbok---- no---- no
Impala---- no---- yes
Blue wildebeest----- no yes
Black wildebeest----- no no-----
Tssessebe ----- no yes-----
Gemsbok ----- no fringe
Red hartebeest----- no yes----
Sable------ no------ yes
Roan---- no------ yes
Waterbuck ------ no----- yes-----
Bushbuck----- yes yes
Nyala----- no----- yes
Eland------ no------ yes
Buffalo------ no----- yes
Kudu----- yes---- yes
Total ------13 species ------32 species
Of these listed only the Grysbok does not occur in the Northern Province, but can be hunted in the Eastern Cape. It's a logical choice to be hunted there.
If you truly want to go to Africa and see wild game in natural habitat the choice becomes very clear with minimal research. If you want to go to a place where you can see game taken from its natural habitat and placed in a location for game viewing or to be shot then the Eastern Cape is a good choice. Please do your homework before you book a hunt. You may have a great disappointment with the animals you have harvested from a stocked game farm which is not much different then just booking an exotic hunt in Texas. Its not just the hunting either, its the whole package of game you will see while being there. That is part of the experience of being in Africa and seeing game in its natural environment, living the way it should.
If you only wish to see the animals themselves then the San Diego Zoo, and Busch gardens in Florida have them and they are much less expensive to see! This Eastern Cape game ranching or stocking situation is one of the reasons RSA has had/has a bad rap for many years, with the plains game hunts.
This is certainly not the case for the whole country or every Province. To be fair Natal and the Northern Provinces have outstanding indigenous hunting for plenty of game as can be seen from Clive Walkers List of indigenous species. For my money the African Experience is only an Experience when you are in the bush with natural wild game that should be where you see it, not planted for your viewing or shooting pleasure!
Not sure why my several attempts to get the list of game with proper spacing has been automatically changed by the system to make it difficult to read now??
