Koodoo

“ Like many other antelopes, the koodoo is a wary animal, and no small amount of pains must be taken before the hunter can succeed in his object. The koodoo is one of the antelopes that require water, and is not like its relative, the eland, which never cares to drink, and which contrives, in some mysterious manner, to be the largest, the fattest, and the plumpest of all the antelope tribe, though it lives far from water, and its principal food is herbage so dry that it can be rubbed to powder between the hands. ”

“ We camped near the water at Mandeira at midday, and found the valley occupied by a section of the Habr Gerhajis tribe, who were friendly. While here I shot a buck lesser koodoo and missed a splendid bull koodoo, which crossed a ledge of rock two hundred feet above us. The buck lesser koodoo is, I think, the most beautiful wild animal in Somáliland; his coat is fairly long, of a French gray colour in old males, and nicely marked with white bands across the body. The horns are spiral, and about twenty-five inches long, and he has a bushy tail tipped with white. ”

“ And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked up underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out in a spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. Down went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to be standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and then over he rolled and lay still. ”

“ Of all that varied and beauteous form of animal life to be found in the boundless woods and plains of tropical South Africa, the koodoo is unquestionably the most distinguished for elegance and gracefulness, united with strength. The height of the male at the shoulder is about four feet. The general color of his body is a “rufous gray,” marked with several white bars over the back and croup. The male carries his exquisitely formed head, ornamented with ponderous spiral horns of about three feet or more in length, very erect, which gives him an air of nobility and independence. ”

“ The bull tried to chop him with its fore feet, but could not raise itself enough, and at each pause Jock, with his watchful little eyes ever on the alert, dodged his body round to avoid the chopping feet without letting go his hold. Then with a snort of fury the koodoo, half rising, gave its head a wild upward sweep, and shook. As a springing rod flings a fish the koodoo flung Jock over its head and on to a low flat-topped thorn-tree behind. ”

“ A koodoo hide, well prepared according to the custom of the country, is worth from twenty to thirty shillings; and, being much in request among the farmers, is no despicable article of commerce for home consumption.
The koodoo is naturally of a shy and timid nature; but the male, when hotly pressed and wounded, will not unfrequently face about, and even attack his pursuer.
[467]
This species of antelope is gregarious, though seldom seen in large herds, five or six being the usual number. The males are frequently met with singly. ”

“ A sportsman could not wish for a grander sight than a startled Koodoo dashing off along the hillside, or standing on the look-out on some point of vantage. Their flesh is poor eating, and their hides are of little value from an ornamental point of view, but the head and neck, and the ruff, when well mounted, form a splendid trophy. ”

“ All that part of the country is very pretty; there are no hills, small koptjies are numerous. The trees and bush that grow in such park-like clumps, of great variety, add to its charm. The first year I travelled that road, eighteen years ago, the whole country swarmed with game, lions, and wolves, that is, at the time I speak of. The koodoo, with fine spiral horns from three to four feet in length, is a noble animal, the size of an ordinary ox, of a dun colour; their fine action when trotting or on the gallop, carrying their heads well up, is a fine sight. ”

“ The koodoo lives chiefly on buds and leaves and the young shoots of trees and bushes, and it is said that he is capable of going a long time without water. He is of a very timid disposition, but I am told, however, that when hotly pressed or wounded, he will sometimes face about and attack his pursuer. ”

“ As I reached this point, and stopped to look out between the bushes on to the more open ground, a koodoo cow walked quietly up the slope from the water, but before there was time to raise the rifle her easy stride had carried her behind a small mimosa tree. I took one quick step out to follow her up and found myself face to face at less than a dozen yards with a grand koodoo bull. It is impossible to convey in words any real idea of the scene and how things happened. ”

“ They resumed their journey before daybreak, in no way abating their speed, though the stamina of the three younger travellers seemed now on the point of giving way. They struggled on, however, hour after hour, until the sun began to mount high in the heavens, and the heat to grow every moment more intolerable. Then, suddenly, Kobo pointed with his finger to a narrow ravine, richly wooded with trees of every variety of leaf, running between two lofty mountain ridges, and exclaimed—
“That Koodoo’s kloof. We safe now!” ”

“ So, leaving Mirogo and Kalil behind, I took my small rifle, with a beltful of ammunition suited to it, and away I started.
There is an old saying that you do not hunt ducks with a brass band, and you do not hunt koodoo with a tracker and a gun-bearer. Like all animals of the antelope kind, the koodoo is very shy and also very sharp-sighted. To stalk him you must do a great deal of creeping on the ground, and take advantage of every bush, tree, rock, ant-hill, or anything else that rises more than six inches from the ground. ”

“ We made our way out as quickly as possible, and careering back to camp as though all the fiends were after us, brought Clarence and four of the hunters with axes and hangols to the place where the koodoo had been. Had been! For there it was not when we returned. The dragging of the bushes and the crushed grass showed us the way. There at some two hundred yards off was all that now remained of the lesser koodoo.
A flash of sinuous yellow. A cry of “Libbah! Libbah!” from the left-hand hunter. The durr grass waved, and a fine lioness bounded high and sank again. Crack! from Cecily’s rifle. ”

“ The plains stretched away, to an immense distance. It was in this tract, far below the gazer on the cliff-edge, that romance dwelt in the tents of enchantment. Over it roamed the buffalo, the koodoo, and the giraffe. In the dark hour just before dawn the dew-laden boughs shrouding it trembled to the thunder-tones of the lion as he roared over his kill. Above all, its thickets of mystery had hardly been trodden by the foot of civilized man. ”

“ When Jan Prinsloo trekked into the kloof, towards the end of the last century, the place must have been a very paradise and nursery of game. In the river the hippopotamus played, elephants roamed through the valleys and poorts everywhere around, the zebras ran in large troops upon the mountain tops, and many of the larger game, such as koodoo, the buffalo, and the hartebeest, wandered fearlessly and free; while of the smaller game, such as rhebok, duykerbok, and klipspringer, judging from the abundance of the present day, there must have been literally multitudes. ”

“ Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a stand, for there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful curved horns outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble koodoo bull (/Strepsiceros kudu/) . Even at that distance, for as you know my eyes are very keen, I could distinctly see the white stripes on its side when the light fell upon it, and its large and pointed ears twitch as the flies worried it. ”

“ Several days elapsed before anything was heard of the war party, and nothing of any consequence took place at the kraal till it was proposed that a few of us should make a party to hunt the koodoos. This animal is much admired owing to its splendid spiral horns, while its flesh—a rarity with South African animals—is both tender and of a good flavour.
On setting out, the direction we took was that where, between two shelving plains, covered with bright green vegetation, a sparkling river flowed; for the koodoo requires water. ”

“ The range of the koodoo to the south of the Zambesi extends farther to the south and west than that of the sable antelope, but I think I am justified in saying that up to the time of the deplorable visitation of rinderpest in 1896, wherever, between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, sable antelopes were to be met with, there koodoos were also to be found, and outside of districts infested by the "tse-tse" fly, excepting amongst rocky hills, I have never met with the latter animals in any country where I was not able to gallop after them on horseback. ”

“ The horns are large, curved, and spreading. The klippspringer (Oreo- tragus saltatrix) of South Africa has a close resem blance in size and habits to the European chamois. The koodoo (Strepsiceros Koodoo) (Plate I. fig. 1) , inhabiting South and West Africa, and otherwise widely distributed over the continent, is provided with very long spiral horns, which, however, exist only in the male animals. These latter antelopes represent " solitary " species, that is, they are generally found living in detached pairs, or as solitary individuals. ”

“ Because this antelope mostly lives in thick cover where quick hearing is his only safety, his ear has grown in accordance with necessities. Somali hunters never seem to differentiate between the koodoo and the lesser koodoo. ”

“ The average length of a good buck’s horns is about 25 inches from base to tip. The longest I have shot or seen was between 27 and 28 inches in length in a straight line. The horns are very sharp, but I have never seen a Lesser Koodoo attempt to charge.”
Lt.-Col. H. O. Olivier, R.E., who has lately made a short hunting-tour in Somaliland, sends us the following field-notes on the Lesser Kudu:—
“The Lesser Koodoo is, I consider, a more difficult animal to circumvent than the Larger Koodoo. ”

“ Its strong individuality must ever stand out in the minds of those who have been so fortunate as to see and shoot it, and it is certainly one of the chief objects of interest in the splendid fauna of that country. Apart from its satin-like hide, sweeping horns, erect mane, and great strength, the Sable Antelope presents an appearance of fearlessness and nobility that is very striking, to say the least of it. Though the Koodoo surpasses his rival in elegance and general appearance when dead, he is but a skulker, and makes but a poor show beside the Sable on the Veldt. ”

“ These Webbe specimens are different from those found under Gólis, as they are smaller, have shorter horns, are still more brilliantly marked, and have hoofs nearly twice as long. The hoofs of a Webbe Lesser Koodoo are, like those of a Webbe Bushbuck, of extraordinary length.
“The Lesser Koodoo likes to be near water, and, living as it does amongst the densest thickets, has its ears wonderfully well developed. It has powerful hind-quarters, and is [190] a strong leaper, the white bushy tail flashing over the aloe-clumps as it takes them in great bounds. ”

“ From the koodoo’s secluded habits, fewer of these animals are killed—as regards Damara-land, at least—than any other species of antelope indigenous to Southern Africa. He is sometimes hunted on horseback, and if a hunter has the good fortune to meet with one in a favorable and open locality, there is no great difficulty in running it down; but as the animal holds, for the most part, to hilly and stony ground, and such as is wooded withal, the chase, even if successful, usually proves an arduous one. ”

“ As a rule, in the latter district they are fairly easy to run into on horseback, although individual bulls and the cows will display great speed and endurance; but in the hill country it requires much patience and care to circumvent an old bull successfully. Unfortunately for themselves, Koodoo are of a most curious disposition, and seldom run far without standing and looking back at their pursuer. ”

“ The little koodoo, when brought up to Kate and Bella, allowed itself to be stroked, and put out its tongue and licked their hands, though I saw from its startled eye and the tremor in its slender legs that it was as yet far from happy in its captivity. In a short time David came in, and after he had congratulated me on my improved looks, examined the little animal.
“Yes, indeed, it is a pretty creature,” he observed; “but the full-grown one is still more beautiful. ”

“ The koodoo had been shot through the body, and even without being run to death by Jock must have died in the night, or have lain down and become too cold and stiff to move. If not discovered by wild animals there was a good chance of finding it untouched in the early morning; but after sunrise every minute’s delay meant fresh risk from the aasvogels. There is very little which, if left uncovered, will escape their eyes. ”

“ The best way to get a specimen is to follow the fresh tracks of a buck, the sportsman advancing in a direction parallel with that of the tracker, but some fifty yards to one flank and in advance; a snap-shot may then be got as the Koodoo bounds out of the farther side of a thicket, but you may be months in the country before getting a really good buck. They go in herds of about the same number as do the Greater Koodoos. Old bucks are nearly black and the horns become smooth by rubbing against trees ”