Page 104 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

102  WILD SOUTH AFRIC A

Red Hartebeest
Species: Alcelaphus buselaphus • Best Seen: Kgalagadi,
Madikwe, Pilanesberg
LC
One of the more conspicuous large antelopes
in the tropical grasslands of Africa, the
hartebeest is similar in height to the related
wildebeests, with large shoulders, a backward-
sloping back, slender torso, pale yellow-brown
The impala, a fast runner and prodigious jumper coat, and smallish unisex horns whose somewhat
Impala heart-shaped appearance may be alluded to
in its name (which is Dutch in origin). Males
Species: Aepyceros melampus • Best Seen: Kruger, frequently climb on termite hills to scan, as a
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, Madikwe display of territorial dominance. Half a dozen
LC races are recognized, the one present in South
Africa being the red hartebeest. It occurs naturally
A relative of the wildebeest, this elegantly only in the north, on the border with Botswana,
proportioned, medium-sized antelope has a but is farmed in many other parts
chestnut coat with black-and-white stripes on of the country.
the rump and tail. Males have magnificent black-
ringed horns. Impalas are usually seen in herds
of over 100, dominated numerically by females
and young. They are agile jumpers, and herds
often leap in all directions to confuse predators.
They are by far the commonest antelope in the
Kruger National Park, whose impala population
exceeds 100,000, and they are also prolific in
bush habitats elsewhere in the northeast,
although they don’t occur naturally in the rest of
the country. The much rarer black impala owes
its coloration to a recessive gene. Red hartebeest, with its distinctive narrow face

Blesbok/Bontebok
Species: Damaliscus pygargus • Best Seen: Bontebok,
Table Mountain, Golden Gate
LC
Endemic to South Africa, the blesbok and
bontebok are smaller and more boldly marked
relatives of the tsessebe that freely interbreed
where their ranges overlap and are thus regarded
as races of the same species. The bontebok is a
fynbos endemic that was hunted to within
Tsessebe, mainly found in open grassland 100 individuals of extinction prior to the creation
of the eponymous national park in the 1930s, but
Tsessebe since then the population has recovered to the
Species: Damaliscus lunatus • Best Seen: Kruger thousands. The blesbok is a more numerous
(north only) resident of highveld grassland in the centre of
LC the country. Both are dark brown with white
faces and legs.
Known as the topi or tiang elsewhere in its
range, the tsessebe comes across as a darker and
glossier variation of the red hartebeest, with
which it shares similar habits and a habitat
preference for open grassland. It is dark brown
in general coloration, with some black on the
flanks and snout, and striking yellow lower legs.
It is very rare in South Africa, with a natural
range more or less confined to the Kruger
National Park, where it is most likely to be
seen on the eastern basaltic plains, north of
the Olifants River. Bontebok, found only in South Africa
IUCN status LC: Least Concern

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