Impala

The Common Impala (Aepyceros melampus melampus), is a prevalent antelope found in the Greater Kruger Area, which includes the Kruger National Park and its surrounding private game reserves, have adapted well to a great range of habitats. They are able to both graze—eating grasses and other low-lying vegetation—and browse—feeding on leaves, twigs, and shoots of trees and shrubs—allowing them to have a more abundant and reliable food supply than animals that only do either one or the other. They live in herds that can vary in size. Large herds of females are often led by a dominant, territorial male. On the other hand, there are much smaller "bachelor herds" of non-territorial, young, or subordinate males who have not yet established their own territories or mating rights. Unfortunately, they are the most commonly hunted antelope on hunting safaris in South Africa. Additionally, poaching is threatening their stable population. Only male impalas, known as rams, have horns. A female impala is called a ewe.

The impala is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2016) with a current population trend that is stable.

I have found that people go to the wilderness for many things but, the most important of these is perspective. They may think they go for the fishing or the scenery or companionship but, in reality it is something far deeper. They go to the wilderness for the good of their souls.

—Sigurd Olson, writer, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wilderness