Al-Qalam 
Retired Durban businessman and part game farm owner, Ayub Desai, says he lives for game hunting. He spoke to Ismail Suder.
If you are ever invited to the Durban home of veteran hunter and game farmer, Ayub Desai (60), you would be greeted by dozens of trophy heads and skins of various animals mounted on his walls.
In his two dedicated trophy rooms at his Durban North home, Desai has over 70 species of taxidermy animals, including antelope, leopards, jackals and various species of birds adorned on his walls.
Desai, whose interest in game hunting spans almost 50 years, holds a 20-year lease in a 2000-hectare game farm outside Middleburg, in the upper Karoo, Eastern Cape. A veteran of various hunting associations, he is currently hunting on the farm with close friends – and when the time comes to return home, he and his team would have taken about 40 carcasses of various species of buck. He has hunted in many locations in southern Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, including his favourite location – Namibia.
The meat is then sliced up, frozen and shared among family and friends.
In an interview with Al-Qalam before his departure, Desai, a retired businessman who is well respected in the hunting fraternity, said apart from him, there are many Muslim game farmers and Muslim professional hunters in South Africa. Desai is often seen at game auction sales across the country, bidding for the best game to stock the farm.
He said scores of Muslim men have successfully entered the game farming and hunting industry – and interest is growing rapidly.
Desai said his interest in hunting started when he was 10-year-old when he often joined his grandfather on hunting trips. His “job” was to pick up the birds, such as guinea fowl, that had been brought down by his late grandfather. He hunted his first antelope at the age of 12. As the years passed, the passion for the sport grew and he now owns a vast collection of hunting rifles. His son Mohammed, who has followed in his footsteps, has become an excellent trophy hunter in his own right. He has hunted in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Somaliland, Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia and other countries as well. He has hunted in almost all provinces of South Africa as well. He is well established and known among hunting outfitters and professional hunters in Africa, as well as international hunters. He is the secretary of the South African Arms & Ammunitions Collectors Association and is the owner of a firearm dealership in Kloof (KZN).
After recently adding about 5,2km of fencing around the game farm, stocking the land with hundreds of game animals, and building a seven-bedroom game lodge and another three-bedroom lodge – thanks to the material support of a friend – Desai says he is the happiest when he stays at the game farm for several weeks a year. The game farm is leased from his friend Cecil. Desai says it is a worthwhile investment for him, his family and close friends.
“I know it will never make financial sense, but I do it because I’m driven by passion for the sport…” he said with a smile.
