Animals
Plains game is the antelope, zebra, and wild pigs of the Limpopo bushveld. You select from this list. There is no package. Horn length is a conversation with the professional hunter, not a guarantee. Safari Club and Rowland Ward methods differ — ask before you care about a book. Confirm the list a few weeks out so permits can be pulled.
Greater kudu
Tragelaphus strepsiceros. Tall spiral horns, thin white stripes, and a habit of vanishing in leadwood shade. A 50-inch bull is a solid trophy. Mid-50s is excellent. The Limpopo rut often falls in May and June. Give him eight days if he is the reason for the trip.
Gemsbok
Oryx gazella. Both sexes carry long straight horns; the face mask is the field mark. Desert-adapted, often taken on open ground where the shot is longer than an Indiana woods shot. Cows can out-horn bulls. Decide which you want before you glass a herd.
Impala
Aepyceros melampus. Lyre horns with ridges, reddish coat, black heel tufts. Rams only. The meat is the best of the common antelope, and a good ram is still a proper trophy. Rutting rams in autumn are louder and less careful.
Blue wildebeest
Connochaetes taurinus. Heavy boss, slate coat, and a reputation for soaking up a bad shot. Bracket the shoulder and wait. Black wildebeest is a separate, lighter animal of the highveld, quoted on request.
Nyala
Tragelaphus angasii. Shaggy dark coat, white stripes, and a short spiral. He lives in thick cover along drainages, mostly in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. A different stalk from gemsbok: close, slow, and easy to bump.
Burchell’s zebra
Equus quagga burchellii, the plains zebra. A hide animal as much as a trophy. Cape mountain zebra is a different species, permit-restricted, and an Eastern Cape hunt — do not book one under this name.
Warthog
Phacochoerus africanus. Upper tusks are the ones you notice; lower tusks do the cutting and are what the record books measure. Boars kneel to feed and root. A common, worthwhile animal, and a bad one to rush.
Springbok
Antidorcas marsupialis. Common, black, white, and copper are color phases, not separate species. The “slam” only counts if the concession actually holds them. More Karoo and Northern Cape than classic bushveld.
Same sheet as everything else. Select them, and the fee is added. They are not a package add-on.
Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi. White blaze, purple-brown coat, open grassland. A clean add-on on many Limpopo and highveld farms. The bontebok is the related Western Cape animal and is not the same hunt.
Kobus ellipsiprymnus. The white ring on the rump gives him away. Heavy, often near water, and a stronger animal than the day rate suggests. Bulls only if you want the trophy.
Potamochoerus larvatus. Nocturnal, thick cover, lower tusks for the book. Not a warthog with a different name. Often a night or bait hunt, and not every camp offers it.
Alcelaphus buselaphus caama. High shoulders, bracket horns, long shots on open ground. A good third or fourth animal when the kudu is already down.
Tragelaphus sylvaticus. Small spiral horn, thick cover, and a short temper if followed badly. Limpopo bushbuck and the southern races are quoted separately when the farm holds them.
Eland is the largest antelope and a heavy animal to hunt and to cape. Sable is a premium trophy with a fee to match. Both go on the list the same way as an impala: selected, then quoted. Neither is assumed.