IT SEEMS that in recent years, hunters have woken up to the potential of the blue wildebeest as a sporting quarry. Being so common both in Southern and Eastern Africa, wildebeest were often described in books as boring, dull-witted and lethargic. It is easy to get this impression in game reserves where they mope along in large numbers, blocking the roads like domestic cattle. In the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park you almost have to nudge them out of the way. Consequently hunters long regarded them merely as biltong animals. Yet blue wildebeest are amazingly agile and, like many other species, make a challenging quarry if ethically hunted – particularly in bushveld, where they become shy, very alert and skittish.
The blue wildebeest is also known as the brindled gnu. The name gnu was first given to the black wildebeest by the Khoi people for the nasal hoot made by that animal. The black wildebeest occurred south of the Orange River and was the wildebeest that was first encountered by the early Dutch settlers. The blue wildebeest remained north of the
