Hippotragus niger
Silhouette: Mathew Stewart · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
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 |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Sable Antelope sighting in Hwange National Park on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 13th most-seen of the 27 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Sable Antelope in Hwange National Park on a given day, against about 10% in March and October–November, the lowest months. That is one of Hwange National Park's wettest months, with about 140 mm of rain against almost none in July.
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.
2nd of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Sable Antelope sightings, Hwange National Park ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 70%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sable Antelope is recorded against all the mammals logged in Hwange National Park (23 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.
