In Dangerous Hunts 2011, the Kaftar really is supernatural
In the 1982 sequence, Mbeki, Samson Rainsford, and their unnamed friend are attacked by
the Kaftar; a centuries old cursed beast. Their friend is killed but Samson and Mbeki manage to seemingly kill the Kaftar. This results in the collapse of the already plummeting project Nightfall, but the last scientist involved managed to get the research to Samson and the States. However, because he got the killing blow, Samson is now cursed by the Kaftar; which rather than being solely a large unknown species of hyena is a legitimate werehyena with the curse transferring to the hunter who slays it and takes up the power. Already wanting to be the ultimate hunter, Samson succumbs to the curse and it begins warping his personality. This is how he turned into the abusive man we see in the 2001, someone who rails against his wife constantly, blatantly favors the more brutal Adrian over Cole, and insists on potentially dangerous traditions like having his sons eat fresh, uncooked elk heart they just killed. He's acting like an overly macho, aggressive, barely contained predator. We also find out the "poachers" he sends Cole and Adrian after were just helpless campers who got lost and received no help as they were beset by overly aggressive wolves and a grizzly bear after some high pitched "whistle" was heard that seemed to drive the animals mad. Samson himself stated he'd been in the same area the night the campers had been attacked, stalking the elk he had Cole kill. The same whistle is heard again when Adrian is trying to help up Cole, who is exhausted after fighting a grizzly bear. The wolves appear again in a frenzy and kill Adrian.
Later in Africa in 2011, Mbeki confides to Cole that the Kaftar is both man and beast and that Samson, an old friend of his, seems completely different from the man he once knew. Later on after more boughts of crazed wildlife, Cole finds Samson seemingly in a moment of lucidity. Samson confesses that the events of 1982 changed him and he regrets a lot of actions, even stating he thought "the wrong son" died in 2001. He urges Cole to leave and shows him the way out, before a convenient cave-in separates them. After he goes quiet, the Kaftar suddenly appears and starts stalking Cole. Cole gets out of the caves and finds an exit to them... leading directly into Samson's hunting lodge. The Kaftar comes crashing in for the final confrontation, with a lantern knocked over to start a Battle Amongst the Flames. This time Cole manages to wound it enough to trap it under burning debris as the lodge goes up in flames, linking to words by locals that the Kaftar can only be killed by fire. Why does the Kaftar only show up after Samson sent Cole on the right way? Because it was Samson, fully transformed and taken over by the curse. The reason he'd been such a harsh father was because he was training his sons to take up the mantle as the next Kaftar, by setting berserk wildlife upon them on hunts. The cycle of the Kaftar works where the one who is a good enough hunter to kill the last Kaftar becomes the next one, so Samson was first setting up Adrian, and later Cole, as his successor. Whether Cole is similarly cursed now or broke the cycle by killing his transformed father via fire is it's own WMG.
An analysis of Samson Rainsford's character
Samson's failed attempt at killing the Kaftar had a long-term effect on his mindset. Before this, he seems to have been more reasonable, with a healthy dose of concern for his task of killing the Kaftar (noting the bad feelings he had and the insufficient pay during the prologue). Following the incident, he became more obsessed with being a tough, formidable hunter. After all, the Kaftar not only attacked and injured him, but it also seems to have killed Mbeki's friend (the unseen man you play as in the prologue) and even more people later on (as revealed by Samson's audio logs). This traumatic incident, coupled with the already-established Rainsford family tradition of turning their sons into hunters, is the reason for Samson's over-the-top manly personality and methods of teaching Cole and Adrian to hunt.
As stated above, one of the audio logs explains that a scientist in the Nightfall program got Samson to get the research into the United States. If the Kaftar really has the ability to control other animals, and the people of the Nightfall program tried to duplicate this ability (but didn't completely succeed), then what Samson took with him was a whistle that's supposed to let him mimic the animal-controlling vocalization of the Kaftar (the player can find a red whistle hanging on a root in the caverns mission). Years later, in 2001, he uses the whistle to control the animals living on his property. Samson uses the whistle (a holdover from his time in the Nightfall program) to make animals attack people (whether it's campers trespassing on his property, or his own sons to train them to become better hunters), as well as to stop attacking people (like the pack of wolves that attack Cole towards the end of "Full Moon").
A decade later, when the Kaftar is at large once again, Samson reaches out to Cole (who has since become a professional hunter) for another hunt, with the goal of killing the Kaftar once and for all. All the talk about Samson losing his mind or being "cursed"? That's just hyperbole for his unhealthy obsession and mindset after failing to kill the Kaftar the first time around. However, the trauma of Adrian's death, as well as a whole decade of seclusion and bad blood with Cole, has made Samson regretful of the way he treated his sons. For this reason he tries explaining himself to Cole in the caverns and cannot bring himself to let Cole fight the Kaftar (even knowing how formidable of a hunter he's become), knowing it may very well kill him. Right before Samson dies, he senses the Kaftar is near and blows the whistle one last time: it is his last ditch effort to derail the Kaftar and buy time for Cole to escape.
The Kaftar is an ancient creature
Both the prologue and caverns mission reveal some cave paintings made by ancient Ugandans. The largest of these paintings depicts what appears to be a large hyena-like creature confronting human hunters. Maybe this is meant to be a depiction of the Kaftar. If this is the case, that would suggest it's not a product of science, but a supernatural or natural origin (i.e. that it evolved like every other animal) can't be ruled out.
Dangerous Hunts 2011 was originally meant to be it's own game and an original IP
Even though the series took a very different direction after the first one,
2011 still stands out compared to every other title in the series, as it has a
much darker atmosphere and topics than them and always takes it's story very seriously, with numerous character deaths and horror movie-like scenes. It's possible that, early in the development, it was actually meant to be a standalone game with no connection to the previous
Dangerous Hunts entries, but it was eventually attached to the Cabela's license because Activision believed it wouldn't sell otherwise.
