As beautiful as they are, impala (Aepyceros melampus),  tend to be overlooked by tourists to large game parks, such as the Kruger National Park and others – mainly because they are on the constant lookout for ‘more exciting animals’. This is likely so because impala are the most common antelope of the bushveld regions of South Africa. One sees them everywhere and so it came as no surprise when our guide on a night drive through a section of the Kruger National Park declined to stop after we’d spotted a herd or two, laughingly dismissing them as ‘the MacDonalds of the bush’ because they are preyed upon by most predators. Here is a herd of impala ewes lying in the dry winter grass with a few waterbuck doing the same in the background.

I think they are rather elegant animals which deserve a closer look. You will notice…