| The Big Five |
| The "Big Five" is a term you will hear a lot in Africa, and in my view it gets used just a bit too much. Still I certainly enjoyed seeing these animals, and yes, they are all pretty big (and potentially dangerous!). So here they are... |
| Buffalo |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| I never saw a Leopard, which is the last of the Big Five, so instead here is a picture of my cat Zuki. |
| Elephant |
| Lion |
| Rhino |
| Leopard |
| My best views of buffalo came in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park in Zululand. They are usually found by water holes or wallowing in mud. The dangerous thing about them is they will charge without warning, so if you get too close and are unprotected you don't get a second chance. |
| These pictures came from Kruger National Park, where we were lucky to encounter a large group. Our vehicle was confronted by a big male blocking the road, and when we reversed another came onto the road behind us. So for about five minutes things were a bit tense, with this huge male flapping his ears and looking quite pissed-off and our driver revving the motor to keep him back. Elephants are capable of overturning vehicles and smashing them (and their passengers), so we were well-relieved when the last of the group passed by and the dominant male then allowed us to continue. |
| We saw lions at Kruger, but the best encounter was in Swaziland, at the Hlane Royal National Park. We were in an open-top vehicle and had just spent a half-hour seeing not very much when one of the other guides drove past and said there was a pride (group) of lions immediately across a fence nearby. So we drove up and there they were - about ten of them, mostly concealed in the bushes. So we spent a while there looking and taking pictures, and occassionally getting growled at. Because of the fence we were able to stand only a few metres away from them, and it was easy to feel intimidated knowing that without that fence we could easily have been their dinner. |
| Probably my favourite Big Five encounter was with the rhinos, mainly because we were able to approach them on foot at times and also because twice we saw very young baby rhinos accompanied by their mother. In fact these two features have a relationship, as a mother rhino with a baby will not charge because this would require her to leave the baby alone, and staying with the child is a top priority. So we were able to walk very closely sometimes. These were all "Square-lipped" rhinos, also known as "white" rhinos, as opposed to the less common ""Hook-lipped" or "black" rhino. We saw rhinos in four different parks, but these pictures were taken during the walking safari in Hlane Royal National Park in Swaziland and in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park in Zululand. |
| This poor rhino was feeling unhappy, and had apparently just lost a battle with another rhino. You can see the cuts and blood stains near his eye. |
| Here was one mother-child pair we observed on a walking safari. We were able to walk within about 5 metres of them before the baby got a bit stressed and we decided it was time to leave them alone. |
| This is another mother-child pair, and in this case they didn't want to stand around to be observed for long. The baby was only a few days old. |
| An African traffic jam. You know you're in South Africa when you see a rhino holding back a white Mercedes. |