Of all of South Africa’s species of antelope, the kudu is my favourite, mainly because of those elegantly spiralling horns. They adorn the logo of the national parks and several street signs (which promise kudus majestically leaping out across highways, but seldom deliver). And they’re pretty tasty too…

This individual is one of the only adult males we saw. The one in the second photo is a juvenile, and his shorter horns have only begun their first turn. The animals in the bottom two photos are hornless females.

The fact that they’re called antelope suggests a relationship with gazelles, impalas and the like, but kudus are more closely related to cows. They belong to the subfamily Bovinae, which includes domestic cattle