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On our resent Kgalagadi trip we saw a lot of Gemsbok Cucumbers, especially in the area near Gharagab, suppose that is also why we had the privilege to see the porcupine in this area. Here is a photo we took of the fruit.



Found the following on 50/50 website. It was as a response to a photo that was sent in:



Also found this:



Firstly, have any of you ever tried eating the fruit of the Gemsbok cucumber?
Secondly, has anybody witnessed a lion eating this fruit?

Some more info:

The Gemsbok cucumber occurs in the southern parts of Africa, namely South Africa, Namibia, Zambia Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Toxicity
Unripe fruit contains cucurbitacins that cause a burning sensation in the mouth.

The fruit is a major source of food but it is eaten mainly to allay thirst.

FOOD - INFRUCTESCENCES
Epicarp: Roasted and pounded for meal.
Fruit pulp, potable water: Fruit flesh is 90% water.
Fruit pulp: Green, translucent, jelly-like flesh (a has a distinctive slightly rank flavour) eaten raw but is nearly always roasted by placing fruit in hot ashes near a fire, leaving it there for several hours and turning it over once or twice.
Cooked flesh delicious with a refreshing sweet-sour taste.

Fruits, potable water: Used by the indigenous peoples of south-western Africa
FOOD – SEEDS
Seed cake, starch based preparations: Kalahari Bushmen roast the seeds and pound them to make an edible meal.
FOOD - 'ROOTS'
Tubers: Nutritionally, the species compares favourably with other cucurbits (example Cucumis kalahariensis A.Meeuse, which compare with the carrot, potato and turnip).

MEDICINES - INFECTIONS/INFESTATIONS
Fruit juice, humans, gonorrhoea, enemas: Claims that extracted juice could be used in enemas for gonorrhoea, by inducing a strong purgative action and heavy urination.

NUTRITIONAL VALUE
Fruits: Compared with the cucumber it has either similar or notably higher values for fibre, magnesium, potassium, nicotinic acid and vitamin C and energy.
Seeds: Contain c. 35% protein.

We visited some family on Namibia's side of the Kalahari and were intrduced to the wild cucumber (Gemsbok komkommer) wich we had as a cucumber salad. But it does not look like the pictures above . I will try and get a photo of it. It is approx. 75mm long and 25mm wide with two different coloured stripes running lengthwise and also covered with the same "thorny" protrusions as in the picture above.

Jannie, now I'm confused I thought the image was of a gemsbokkomkommer and not the wilde augurkie (Cucumis africanus) and that they are two different species?
This is what I've been able to find:

Acanthosicyos naudinianus
Family: Cucurbitaceae (= Cucumber family, Cucurbit family, Gourd family)
Genus: Acanthosicyos
Common names:
Afrikaans: gemsbokkomkommer
English: gemsbok cucumber, Herero cucumber, wild melon

Cucumis africanus
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Cucumis
Common names:
Afrikaans: doringkomkommertjie, wilde agurkie, wilde komkommertjie, springbokkomkommer
English: (small) wild cucumber, wild gherkin

Care to shed some light on this?