Safari South-Africa & Botswana

So, what is "The Big Five Animals”? It means: the elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard (from biggest size to smallest). The term was used by big-game hunters, referring to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on by foot, but now it's also widely used by safari tour operators.

The elephant is known as world’s largest land mammal, weighing up to 7 ton. They can live up to 70 years and reside mostly in big groups. Knowing they're herbivore, elephants need to consume up to 300kg of plants per day. Very often resources are scarce, so the animals wander around and end up on the agricultural fields of poor farmers.

Next up the buffaloes. They look like innocent cattle, but nothing is less than it seems. The animals are considered to be one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Did you know even hunters fear them? Then can grow sizes up to 3m long and weight up to 600kg.

The rhinos are very interesting, because of their impressive size and rare appearance. Mostly known sub-species are the Black Rhino and White Rhino. These two types differ in upper lip, not in colour: The White Rhino is actually grey, but ancient people were talking about the animal as the "wide" type, because of its "wide" mouth for grazing. Today they’re still being hunted for their horns, so they live in protected areas. We were never allowed to share pictures from the Rhinos we've spotted, because hunters might localise the animals by looking at the surroundings.

Then the lion, the king of the Africa jungle. They are one of the most social cats, living in prides up to 20 lions (1-4 males per pride). Lions are widely spread in South-Africa and Botswana, with the biggest difference that South-Africa is all fenced (National or private Parks) whilst Botswana is not. That’ because South-African land can be bought privately, including the animals, as in contrary to Botswana where only land can be bought but the animals remain proprietary of the government. That's how we understood auctions are a big thing in South-Africa, so that private land owners can introduce new game into their lands without them running away.

Finally, the Leopard. This animal is very rare to see, as they're night hunters. They differ from cheetahs by looking at the legs and skin "rosettes": Leopards have shorter legs and “rosette” marks on the skin, whilst cheetahs have longer running legs and more round spots on the skin. If you’re lucky to spot a leopard, you’ll probably just see one because the live solitaire (unless for mating). They can produce nests up to 3 babies all your round.

Now time to see them ourselves. Cannot wait.Read more