The Tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus) is one of the stepchildren when it comes to African plains game.
This is Africa's fastest antelope, and can only be beaten for speed by the cheetah. However, it very rarely falls prey to the cheetah as it can hold top speed for much longer distances than the cheetah. The cooling system of the cheetah only allows it to keep going at top speed for a maximum of 300yrds before it "overheats".
The Tsessebe is seen as an indigenous "exotic" due to their low numbers, and can be extremely expensive to hunt. I've seen prices of up to 5,000USD. The minimum requirement for Rowland Ward is 15" and for SCI 40". I will genuinely recommend that, if given the chance to hunt this rare and beautiful animal, provided it is a good specimen, do not pass up on the opportunity.
The animal above was hunted by Eric Nysse (HN member enysse) with me on May 19th, 2009. It measured 15¾" on Rowland Ward, and a very respectable 47¾" on the SCI measuring system. The animal is a good mature and old bull that is going to make an extremely beautiful wall mount.
