Buck at Saadani Hide

The waterhole at the Saadani hide - see earlier post here - brought in a number of different antelope species, of which the most frequent visitors were waterbuck. Some magnificent bulls came to drink, usually alone, and usually extremely warily - so they would stand around a few metres from the edge of the pool for some time, watching and sensing the air, before they approached it to drink.

Female waterbuck tended to arrive in small groups with their young but had the advantage that some could drink while others kept watch.

As their name suggests, waterbuck are found around water and on one occasion a young bull took a swim in the pool - but then had considerable difficulty in getting out again.

The buck were right to be wary: lion also used the waterhole. We never saw them but their tracks were not infrequently visible round the pool.

Bushbuck are timid animals which prefer a forest habitat. I only saw two in the many hours spent at the hide and both seemed ill-at-ease. They have a strange, hunched-up posture and rely more on camouflage and keeping a low profile than on speed to avoid predators.

This one is a female seen in evening light.

If bushbuck are difficult to see then the sitatunga, or marsh buck, is an even more unusual sight: this one was the first I had ever seen. It shouldn't have been here at all. While it is found in Tanzania, it's an inhabitant of swampy places and operates mainly in the half-light of dawn or dusk, and in the night, yet here it is at the waterhole in a dry area at five in the afternoon.