Mammal Tragelaphus spekii
A shy, swamp-living antelope with long, splayed hooves that let it walk on soft mud and floating vegetation.
Sitatunga are semi-aquatic antelope, perfectly adapted to swamps. When threatened they slip into the water and can hide with only their nose above the surface.
Rubondo Island is one of the best places in East Africa to see them, as the island’s population lives undisturbed.
Papyrus and forest edges on Rubondo Island National Park.
Guide’s tipSearch the swamp edges quietly from a boat at first light, when they come out to feed.
Sightings are never guaranteed: these are wild animals in wild places. What we can promise is a guide who knows where to look.
Destinations
The parks and reserves where our guides look for it, each with its own best season and safaris.
Quiet island park with forest birds, waterbirds and sitatunga.
Keep exploring
Loxodonta africana
Tarangire’s big herds are the classic sight: families drifting between baobabs to the river in the dry season.
Panthera leo
The Serengeti holds one of the largest lion populations left in Africa. Prides of twenty are not unusual.
Panthera pardus
Secretive and beautiful. The Seronera valley’s sausage trees are the best place in Africa to find one by day.
Acinonyx jubatus
Built for the short grass plains. Watch one scan from a termite mound in the southern Serengeti.
Diceros bicornis
Critically endangered and closely guarded. The Ngorongoro Crater is the most reliable place in Tanzania to see one.
Syncerus caffer
The Big Five’s heavyweight. Herds of several hundred are a daily sight in Arusha National Park and the crater.
Giraffa tippelskirchi
Tanzania’s national animal, with jagged star-shaped patches. Common almost everywhere except inside the crater.
Equus quagga
The migration’s other half. Hundreds of thousands of zebra move with the wildebeest across the Serengeti.
Tell us your dates and the birds or animals you most want to see. We’ll reply within 24 hours with a route and a full quote.
