‘For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord.’ Leviticus 25:3,4
I sat in a semi-daze, not so much from the bourbon in my hand as from the day’s happenings. My befuddlement was due to having taken one of my dream animals. In the Zambeze Delta Safaris’ skinning shed across the airstrip from Mungari Camp, and the firepit at which I was sitting, skilled staff were preparing my trophy sable antelope.
Male and female sable antelopes carry scimitar-shaped horns, but the horns of a mature male sweep back in an arc that seems to just keep going. Old males are also as black as a classic tuxedo, wonderfully offset with snow-white markings on face, rump and belly.
I know of no one who denies the sable antelope a standing as one of the glamour species for trophy hunters. Sadly, sable antelopes are decreasing in numbers across Africa, not from trophy hunting, but because of encroachment of humans and the associated habitat loss, with an
