Hippotragus niger
Silhouette: Mathew Stewart · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) is a large antelope which inhabits wooded savanna in East and Southern Africa, from the south of Kenya to South Africa, with a separated population in Angola. The sable antelope shares the genus Hippotragus with the extinct bluebuck (H. leucophaeus) and the roan antelope (H. equinus), and is a member of the family Bovidae.
In 1996, an analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from a mounted specimen of the bluebuck showed that it is outside the clade containing the roan and sable antelopes. The cladogram below shows the position of the sable antelope among its relatives, following the 1996 analysis:
Often referred to as the black sable antelope because it tends to have the darkest coat, this subspecies occurs south of the Zambezi River, particularly in northern Botswana and in large numbers in the Matsetsi Valley of Zimbabwe... Wikipedia →
Recording0:22
South Africa · 2020
© Chiquita Knoll · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 2 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 3 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 5 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 6 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 7 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sable Antelope sighting in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 39th most-seen of the 44 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–August and October–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sable Antelope in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and September, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sable Antelope sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Sable Antelope sightings, Addo Elephant National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 70%), Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe, about 40%) and Kafue National Park (Zambia, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Bovidae
The closest relatives of the Sable Antelope that you can see in Addo Elephant National Park (family Bovidae, Bovids) are Greater Kudu (about 50%), African Buffalo (about 50%) and Khama (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sable Antelope is recorded against all the mammals logged in Addo Elephant National Park (34 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
