CHAPTER VI 



THE ROAN ANTELOPE (HIPPOTRAGUS EQUINUS) 

 ARABIC Abu Uruf 



THE roan was a special object in my Sudan programme, 

 not merely because it represents one of the most imposing 

 of African trophies, but chiefly because my previous 

 experiences with this antelope had been slight and the 

 Sudan promised a better acquaintanceship. 



A characteristic of the roan is that, while widely 

 distributed throughout Africa, it is nowhere common- 

 common, that is, in the sense that sable, waterbuck, gnu, 

 hartebeest, or impala, each in their respective areas, are 

 common. I first came across the roan in Transvaal ; and 

 thence northwards it is known to every hunter, white 

 or black, throughout Rhodesia, and onwards across the 

 Equator to the verge of Sahara. Yet nowhere in that 

 vast area is the roan really abundant ; everywhere it 

 exists locally, yet always relatively scarce. 



To-day in the Sudan the roan is not only as abundant as 

 anywhere else in Africa, but apparently reaches therein 

 its highest development as a species. By inference, 

 perhaps, it may have sprung from a northern ancestry 

 whose subsequent dispersal has trended southward. 



Though its actual numbers (as compared with the 

 mobs of waterbuck, tiang, and cob) are relatively small, 

 yet the roan is spread evenly over the whole game- 

 country of Sudan, including Atbara and Dinder, Blue 

 and White Niles, with their tributaries. 



