Topi

Topi

Damaliscus korrigum

Silhouette: [unknown] · PhyloPic

Daily sighting probability ~80% · Very likely
at Akagera National Park

In 3 days >90%

68 Verified sightings at Akagera National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,118 In all 7 parks
July Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Topi

Damaliscus lunatus jimela is a subspecies of topi, and is usually just called a topi. It is a highly social and fast type of antelope found in the savannas, semi-deserts, and floodplains of sub-Saharan Africa. The word tope or topi is Swahili, and was first recorded in the 1880s by the German explorer Gustav Fischer to refer to the local topi population in the Lamu County region of Kenya; this population is now designated as Damaliscus lunatus topi. Contemporaneously, in English, sportsmen referred to the animal as a Senegal hartebeest, as it was considered the same species as what is now recognised as D. lunatus korrigum.

Other names recorded in East Africa by various German explorers were mhili in Kisukuma and jimäla in Kinyamwezi. The Luganda name was simäla according to Neumann, or nemira according to Lugard. By the turn of the 19th century this antelope was called a topi by most in English. Writing in 1908, Richard Lydekker complains that it would have so much simpler if all these new forms of korrigum had simply been called East African korrigum, Bahr-el-Ghazal korrigum, etc., than constantly adopting different native names for different geographic forms of essentially... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Akagera National Park 🇷🇼 Rwanda
~80%
2 Lake Mburo National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~70%
3 Masai Mara National Reserve 🇰🇪 Kenya
~70%
4 Serengeti National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~60%
5 Queen Elizabeth National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~40%
6 Virunga National Park 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo
~40%
7 Ngorongoro Conservation Area 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Topi in Akagera National Park?

Very likely

About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Topi sighting in Akagera National Park on a given day, based on 68 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 20 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Topi in Akagera National Park?

March, May–August, October and December–January

In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Topi in Akagera National Park on a given day, against about 60% in November, the lowest month.

What time of day is best to see a Topi?

Between 10 am and 1 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Topi sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Which relatives of the Topi live in Akagera National Park?

Same family: Bovidae

The closest relatives of the Topi that you can see in Akagera National Park (family Bovidae, Bovids) are Impala (about 80%), Waterbuck (about 70%) and African Buffalo (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Topi sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Topi is recorded against all the mammals logged in Akagera National Park (68 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.

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