Most of this hunting was done for subsistence needs, with occasional surplus carcasses being sold in the village market. Now, rapid commercialization has expanded the trade to crisis proportions. In a Kinshasa restaurant, protected species like elephant and chimpanzee are official menu items. Most of the meat arrives on river boats. There are bush meat markets in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire in the Congo, Libreville in Gabon, in Yaounde in the Cameroon, and elsewhere.
Elephant steak is sold in the region's most up-market supermarket chain.
At USD 12 per kilo, bush meat is not poor man's fare. It is generally two to three times as expensive as beef or pork. For the causes of the increased commercialization of the trade in bush meat, Ammann points to the forests. Recent years have seen a rapid rise in commercial exploitation, mostly by foreign-owned logging companies. The new roads are the main problem.