The Gazelle's

12.Jan.2011

So, Gazelles. Apparently on the road from EN 1 to Mabote, EN 212 or 222 (the locals call it 212, the sign says 222, so I don’t know what it really is…), there are a lot of gazelles somewhere between. Gazelle’s are like tiny deer. Well, on my way back to Mabote from Vilanculos, I saw what people were talking about… and no, they weren’t in flocks, or groups, or whatever you would call that. No, the gazelles I saw were dead.

First, the chapa (bus/taxi/truck) stopped, and people came up to the back selling cooked meat on a stick. It wasn’t chicken. I was thinking, “That I believe is gazelle meat.” Next time I’ll have to buy some to try it, but my money was buried somewhere deep in my bags.

My belief was confirmed at another time we stopped with more meat on a stick being sold. Not just one, but two, possibly 3, people walked around our truck just holding a dead gazelle by the neck. One plus one equals two, right? In essence, though, what other kind of meat would it have been? It didn’t look like cow, pig, or chicken. The only other animal I know of around us is gazelle’s… besides for birds…and dogs of course.