This is part of a trip report to South Africa and Zimbabwe. I flew United Global first/business class to South Africa, using 120,000 miles and $87!  We flew into Johannesburg, visited two camps, Victoria Falls, and Capetown.

What is the “Big Five” anyway? It’s a term coined by big game hunters referring to the difficulty and danger of hunting five animals: elephant, lion, cape buffalo, rhino, and leopard. It had nothing to do with the size of the animal and now it’s commonly used by safari operators as a marketing tool.

Here’s some of my favorite shots of Africa’s Big Five!

One lady at our first camp had been on 38 safaris (rich widow) and told a story about an elephant attacking her jeep when it perceived its’ baby as being threatened. We NEVER looked at elephants the same after hearing that account. They are wild and can be ferocious and they do like to make noise.

This elephant has mud all over it, that’s why it looks discolored. They also flip sand on their backs to cool themselves!

Elephants will also dig in the sand of a riverbed until they find water so they don’t have to walk so far! Amazing…!

Lions are the king of the bush – NO other animal will prey on it. They will sleep up to 20 hours a day and are not bothered by anything.

Love this photo…I wonder if I look like that when I yawn?!?

Male (with mane) and female, the dominant female of the “pride.” The lion is the only cat that forms social groups, called a pride. All prides are different, but they usually have more females than males.

There were hundreds of cape buffalo one afternoon at our first camp, these beside the pool. We had to be escorted by an armed guide to take a restroom break!

The cape buffalo is the most ferocious animal on land, and also one of the ugliest, in my opinion.

 

Unfortunately, there were no rhinos at our first camp in Zimbabwe due to poaching. We saw the anti-poaching unit and were told if poachers are hunting rhino, it is “shoot to kill.” At that camp, one of our guides saw human footprints and reported it to the anti poaching unit.

These rhino are from the camp in South Africa, on the back side of Kruger National Park. We were told that horn is worth about $50,000.

And last, but certainly not least, is the leopard. All our leopard viewing was at the second camp, Mala Mala. This is a female cub about eight months old, one of a set of twins. The mother leaves them to go hunt for about two days. We watched her stalk a small animal.

This male leopard is eight years old and has only one eye, notice the right eye, damaged when fighting prey. He is the father of the twins above and is one of a set of twins.

These are the Big Five of Africa, but I have my own personal big five and they are: elephant, lion, leopard, giraffe, and zebra! The cape buffalo and rhino are not nearly as exciting to me as a giraffe and zebra! So here’s some shots of MY two additional big five!

Giraffes are such majestic looking creatures!

Don’t you wish you had eyelashes that long?!

And they walk like a model down the runway, ie, elegantly and with style!

The stripes on zebras are so amazing! These zebras have a different stripe pattern than the ones in Mala Mala.

 

Coming next, arrival in Johannesburg, and our camp in Zimbabwe, Little Makalolo.