The sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii) is a medium‑sized antelope adapted to life in swamps and reedbeds. Its elongated, splayed hooves, shaggy coat and water‑repellent skin allow it to wade and swim through marshes. Males carry spiral horns and are dark brown, whereas females are chestnut with faint stripes. Elusive habits and the challenge of hunting an animal that spends much of its life half‑submerged make the sitatunga a coveted trophy.
Sitatunga hunts focus on narrow windows of activity around dawn and dusk. Outfitters often pattern animals along feeding trails and build blinds in papyrus stands or on elevated platforms overlooking swamp clearings. In deeper marshes, hunters may drift silently in small boats and take quick shots when a head appears among the reeds. The best success is typically during the driest months—May through November in Zambia and July through December in Tanzania—when lower water levels concentrate game.
An estimated 170,000 sitatunga remain, and roughly 40 percent live in protected areas. Unregulated snare hunting and the drainage of wetlands threaten local populations. Well‑managed trophy hunting programmes, such as Uganda’s Sitatunga Project, channel revenue into science‑based quotas, anti‑poaching patrols and community development. Subspecies differ geographically: East African sitatunga inhabit Kenya and Tanzania, Zambezi sitatunga occur in the Okavango and Bangweulu swamps, and the Sesse Islands form a distinctive insular population.
These antelopes move through reedbeds using networks of submerged tunnels and can dive underwater with only their nostrils exposed. Their diet consists mainly of aquatic plants, but they will browse on leaves and fruit when available. Sitatunga are solitary and extremely secretive; males and females come together only briefly during mating. Because they swim so well, local hunters often compare them to “swamp ghosts,” appearing silently and vanishing just as quickly.
Sitatunga can be found in the following location:
Sitatunga has the following variations:
- Zambezi Sitatunga
- East African Sitatunga
- Sesse Islands Sitatunga
