Tragelaphus spekii
Silhouette: Robert Hering · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii) or marshbuck is a swamp-dwelling medium-sized antelope found throughout central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Ghana, Botswana, Rwanda, Zambia, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
The sitatunga is mostly confined to swampy and marshy habitats. They occur in tall and dense vegetation as well as seasonal swamps, marshy clearings in forests, riparian thickets and mangrove swamps. The scientific name of the sitatunga is Tragelaphus spekii. The species was first described by the English explorer John Hanning Speke in 1863. Speke first observed the sitatunga at a lake named "Little Windermere" (now Lake Lwelo, located in Kagera, Tanzania). In his book Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile, Speke called the animal "nzoé" (Kiswahili name for the animal) or "water-boc" (due to its resemblance to the waterbuck). The word "sitatunga" itself comes from an ancient Bantu language. The scientific name has often been misstated as T. spekei, and either Speke or Sclater is referred... Wikipedia →
Alarm call0:38
Gabon · 2022
© BurBenj · XC1120039 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Recording0:34
Gabon · 2021
© bureaubenjamin · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Odzala-Kokoua National Park | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 2 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Sitatunga sighting in Odzala-Kokoua National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 32 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, July and September
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Sitatunga in Odzala-Kokoua National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–May and December–February, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sitatunga sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Sitatunga sightings, Odzala-Kokoua National Park has the highest daily chance: about 30%. Next come Moremi Game Reserve (Botswana, about 20%).
Same genus: Tragelaphus
The closest relatives of the Sitatunga that you can see in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (genus Tragelaphus, Spiral-horned Antelopes) are Northern Bushbuck (about 40%) and Bongo (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sitatunga is recorded against all the mammals logged in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (11 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.
