Of all the African game meat, which is your favourite? How would you rank them?

[TOBY458]

Kudu Shins and Eland steaks.

 

[Happy Myles]

Gerenuk is hard to beat but there are so any good eating African animals. the weirdest so far is Spotted hyena cooked by a couple bushmen. It tasted like hyena but the sauce was not bad.

 

[Dewald]

Buffalo typically are shot as old battered trophy bulls, then posed for pictures without being bled out, loaded on a Land Cruiser, driven around the bush in the sun for another few hours, then caped, then eventually gutted, and quartered. Not exactly a recipe for tender meat.

Almost all plainsgame can be very good table fair if young animals in good condition are shot. Headshots are preferable here when the object of the exercise is venison, and not a trophy. Reedbuck, impala, springbuck, kudu, eland, gemsbuck and many more are all very good.

We are very fond of bushpig in our house. By the time a sounder of pigs had fed on sugarcane and macadamia nuts on bait for a few months I usually try to shoot a fat young pig dressing out around 20kg to process into mince and various roasts. A pig like that is wonderful on a spit as well, typically roasting for 6-7 hours.

 

[Tucketed]

I have to say the buffalo my son shot was some of the best meat I have had, thou Elk is hard to beat. Marinated for a few days and then grilled to perfection. Mrs Vorster has down.

 

[Nevada Wapati]

Eland tenderloin is absolutely great. A couple weeks ago while in southern Africa I was able to eat various game including blesbok for the first time. It was surprisingly delicious. Better than kudu or gemsbok.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Gemsbok is my favorite. My Namibian outfitter told me that without a doubt, zebra is the best. I’ll take his word that.

 

[chashardy]

Tenderloin of eland is maybe the best meat I have ever eaten. Buffalo T-bone steaks were surprisingly good and tender. Almost all the plains game makes great eating.

 

[Green Chile]

Kudu is good...sable is as good or better...one of my favorites is eland steak. Buffalo prepared like ox tail stew (braised preparation) is excellent.

 

[Mekaniks]

Everything I have had in my two trips was excellent. But, waterbuck and zebra steaks cooked on the braii were defiantly the best

 

[Scott CWO]

As a north American hunter that's never tried African game meat, what's it like?

What tastes the best? the worst?

Are they comparable at all to any North American game meat.

I'm a huge fan of bison meat, how does cape Buffalo compare?

There’s no comparison. African plains game meat puts even elk and moose to shame. No gamey taste at all. I wish I knew why.

According to several PHs and some of my personal experience, eland and reedbuck are supposed to be the best. Zebra, kudu, sable and impala are very good. I really liked blue duiker as well. The buffalo I’ve had cooked on the brai was very good.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Eland, Kudu, Sable, Waterbuck, Nyala, and Gemsbok Tenderloin are amazing on the open wood fired grill… Can’t say I’ve had a bad game meal in all my visits…

I’ve eaten plenty of Elk and different types of deer in the states and they are great too. But, I’ll take Africa game as my first choice…

 

[Fatback]

Eland and Zebra have been the best I’ve had followed closely by kudu and blue wildebeest. I will say I’ve never had a bad meal in the times I’ve been to Africa.

 

[Berettaco]

Gemsbok, eland, kudu, impala - are all very excellent. I had waterbuck and it was very good as well, but as others have mentioned it depends on prep in the field/at the shed. I found buff to be ok flavor wise but a bit tough. Haven’t tried ele or hippo but wouldn’t mind trying that. I have ZERO desire to try hyena

 

[Houston Bill]

I have not had a bad meal of any African plains game but my favorites are eland, zebra, blue wildebeest and kudu.

 

[MarkB]

I will start with, here at home (BC) I shot a really big bull moose while he was engaged head to head with another slightly smaller bull. He was knife dulling tuff, even the ground. I shot a massive bull caribou while he tended to 64 cows, he tasted as he smelled, all 322 lbs of him, the mink in our local mink farm was all that would eat him. Even my buddies cougar hounds refused to eat it.

Now every African PG animal I have eaten, and there are many tasted far better than the 2 animals above. The cooks in camps are amazing in my experience. I always request solely game from what we shoot, no chicken, beef and pork on safari.

Impala liver rare with onions.
Stuffed buff heart,
Many species steaks/chops, loins on the Braai, all PG and zebra, warthog, bush pig,
Various sausages made from "Africa's meats"
Stews, meat sauces,
Southern Fried Guinee fowl,
Ele over open fires around kill site,

All above were excellent and welcomed in safari camps, most PG animals are less gamey than at home species, as tender (age, handling and Rut depending) and vary in texture, color and flavour. But all have been equal to, some better than NA game in my freezer species.

Now for the "I am different" meats one can try on safari,

Baboon in Zim, PH Wayne did NOT eat, was OK but not exciting "lets have more".
Jackal/vervet monkey same as above. those were your "worst".
Leopard, lion, serval, all outstanding as is cougar here at home.
Eating what the trackers, scouts eat during daytime breaks, "meat items" clients do NOT normally eat with hand rolled balls of sudza and "juice/gravy".

I have eaten all above, I did not eat hyena, its body disappeared after I asked for a loin steak for dinner. I was robbed!

As a client I have always asked to eat and try what I shot, first days in camp maybe we eat last clients success but after my game falls I specifically want to eat it. I cannot say what was best, all meats served have been excellent in their own ways.

All is part of safari.

MB

 

[Spooksar]

Hartmans Zebra hands down. Cape Buffalo tenderloin second.

 

[Rubberhead]

Have you tried Eland?

No. I was just running my mouth and showing off one of my photos.

This is such a subjective subject full of wives tales and urban legends that there's no real answer. It is a great way to spend time bantering with friends, though.

I have several, otherwise credible, references that say waterbuck are terrible eating, yet there's a video where they ran a blind taste test. It started with a waterbuck loin carefully removed to not spoil the meat with the oil from the stinky animal's fur. The same group was fed the other loin, cooked identically where they rubbed the loin on the outside of the waterbuck before cooking it. Both pieces of meat got good reviews and the one rubbed on the outside actually had a few votes as the better of the two.

I'm sure there's overlap between a good piece of a bad animal and a bad piece of a good animal. It's subjective to the person. It's subjective to the animal. It depends on how hungry a person is. One guy may legitimately like the way bushpig taste while another may prefer impala. A well-shot, quickly dead animal should be better than one that was run by dogs or wounded and killed an hour later.

Duck hunters are the worse. Because of all the wives tales and urban legends that I was almost gaging while I cooked my first bluebill. Turns out, it was great and remains one of my favorite ducks to eat yet I have a friend that will eat mergansers but won't touch a bluebill.

It's fun to banter about which wild game is best but, in my opinion, it's pointless to really argue about it.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

For myself the Blue Wildebeest is probably the best tasting thing I have ever eaten. The Impala chilli bites were great to snack on while on the hunt. However all the game meats were excellent table fare. I didn’t see to many salads in camp, which was perfectly fine by me.

 

[Marc Ret]

Eland would be at the top of my list. That said, I had warthog made with a honey raisin glaze in Vic Falls that still makes my mouth water when thinking about it 15 years on.

 

[Surgeon1]

have found any meat in Africa that wasn’t excellent! Only issue it is often overcooked
like any wild red meat anything more than medium rare is overcooked
Sable, eland, oryx, Nyla, buffalo tenderloin in that order