Special South African gin infused with elephant dung
The gin’s flavour is described as ‘lovely, wooded, almost spicy, earthy’ and one that changes subtly with the seasons and location.
The makers of a South African gin infused with elephant dung swear their use of the animal’s excrement is no gimmick.
The creators of Indlovu Gin, Les and Paula Ansley, stumbled across the idea a year ago after learning that elephants eat a variety of fruits and flowers and yet digest less than a third of it.
“As a consequence, in the elephant dung you get the most amazing variety of these botanicals,” Mr Ansley said during a recent visit to their operations.
Her idea came after a safari during which a wildlife ranger described an elephant’s digestive process.
Weeks later, he said his wife woke him up in the middle of the night with the inspiration.
“OK, I said sleepily. Let’s give this a bash. Let’s see how it works out.”
Now they collect the dung themselves, using their bare hands.
They described the gin’s flavour as “lovely, wooded, almost spicy, earthy” and one that changes subtly with the seasons and location.
The gin bottles are marked with the date and co-ordinates of where the elephant dung was collected. “So, you’re able to compare almost different vintages of the gin,” Mr Ansley said.
Eventually only the remains of the fruits, flowers, leaves and bark eaten by the elephants are left behind.
Those botanicals are then sterilised and dried again and placed in an airing cupboard. Think of it like a “spice cupboard”, Mr Ansley said. Eventually, the remains are infused in the gin.
The couple are not above testing the gin on friends before explaining its provenance. Even with an explanation in advance, they get raised eyebrows.
And once people hear about elephants’ digestive process “it becomes a lot clearer to them, and they accept it very well”.
They decided to name the gin Indlovu, which means elephant in the Zulu language. A bottle sells for around 500 rand, or about £26.
With that in mind, the gin is sold in game lodges and duty-free shops in addition to regular online sales.
One customer, Jade Badenhorst, said: “Interesting. Very tasty. Very nice. I didn’t expect to be able to drink a gin smoothly.”