The beauty of free-ranging game

If you have ever searched for a place to go game hunting, chances are you've come across terms such as 'free-range', 'free-ranging' and 'free-roaming'. The difference in the spelling might be small, but the impact on your hunting experience is big – which is why we’re devoting our very first blog to it.

How free is ‘free-range’?

The term ‘free-range’ is most commonly associated with farm animals, and usually lets us know that the animal didn’t spend its life in a cage, but rather had some room to move around outside. But that’s where things get murky – there’s no single definition of ‘free-range’, and it’s often used by unscrupulous farmers to mean wildly different things. Unfortunately, the same is true of game farms and hunting.

In most cases, if you’re hunting free-range game, you’re hunting animals that are free to move around in large enclosures. However, it’s difficult to know upfront whether the enclosure gives the animals an area large enough to cultivate their natural, wild behaviour, and a reasonable opportunity to elude you.

Free-ranging or free-roaming game – the gold standard for hunters

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the terms ‘free-ranging’ or ‘free-roaming’ have come to refer to game that is free to move in herds over vast expanses, unrestricted. Here in Namibia, hunts of this kind are controlled with quotas, not with artificial barriers or enclosures. This preserves the wild nature of the animals and the hunting experience.

For the any hunter who cares about sustainability, hunting free-ranging game is more than an authentic experience, it’s a way to help support the vast wilderness areas and parks that these species call home. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places left in Southern Africa where you can hunt free-ranging game, but by insisting on it, we can help make game hunting an environmental good.

Hunting free-ranging game at Kanambo

At Kanambo Hunting you have the opportunity to hunt wild, free-ranging game that roams the 420,000 hectare (1,037 million acre) Kalkfeld Conservancy in northern Namibia’s Otjiwarongo region. Our almost entirely self-sufficient family farm is situated on the south-west edge of this magnificent conservancy, making it a great base for any hunter looking for a real wilderness hunt.

If this sounds like your kind of hunting experience, get in touch with us to book your next hunting trip in the untamed Kalkveld Conservancy. You can also read more about our accommodation, hunting camp, and sustainability practices on our website. We hope to welcome you to our beautiful farm soon.