WHICH is your favourite animal to hunt? I can’t answer that question, as Africa’s game offers such widely varying experiences. But the animal I find most rewarding to hunt is the Hartmann’s mountain zebra – in the Namib Desert. Many find my choice strange, as this is not a handsome animal. One of my reasons is the extreme physical challenge offered by the mountain zebra in its historically natural habitat – hence the high sense of reward that goes with success. Another is my great love for the vast, rugged mountains and canyons of the Namib Desert in all its remoteness and emptiness and silence. And I admire the mountain zebra’s astounding toughness – there is no hardier animal in Africa. I also regard him as an enigma – his strange choice of habitat intrigues me.
When I lived in South West Africa (Namibia) during the 1970s and early ’80s, Hartmann’s mountain zebra occurred only in their natural habitat – the mountains of the Namib Desert and the Khomas Hochland. Since then, they have been widely introduced to game ranches and can now be hunted in much more hospitable terrain, which in my view, defeats