Namibia’s Wild Meat Economy

Where animals are harvested legally, wildlife populations surge. Namibia offers a striking example

Imagine a country as vast as France and Italy combined but with a population of only a quarter that of Paris. Now, imagine most of this population crammed into a narrow band in the country’s far north. Across the rest of its expansive, rural landscape, human density drops to fewer than one person per 10 square kilometres – levels comparable only to Greenland or Mongolia. It’s natural to assume an abundance of space for wildlife there – and you’d be right.

Welcome to Namibia, where the butcher’s counter in the supermarket might offer antelope, gazelle, or zebra alongside more conventional carnivorous treats. At the country’s massive farms or community-run conservancies, wildlife is just as common as livestock. Wildlife is woven into everyday life. The biltong (jerky) that hikers pack is just as likely to be made from oryx as from beef.

This reality may seem surprising, given the awful impact of European settlers on wildlife elsewhere. How has Namibia’s wildlife survived, and why is it more abundant here than elsewhere in Africa?