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Explore African wildlife through the lens of leading photographers
The Big 5: Cape Buffalo
Undoubtedly the easiest of the Big 5 hard to hunt animals to see, the Cape Buffalo is not endangered and is found in herds of up to an incredible 500. These hard to hunt [...]
The Big 5: Leopards
Leopards are mainly nocturnal beasts who primarily hunt at night. These big 5 can make themselves particularly tricky to be seen because very few Parks and Reserves in Africa allow night-time driving safaris. The [...]
The Big 5: Elephants
This National Park has to be the clear pick of the bunch simply because of the fact the Park is estimated to be home to around 70,000 elephants, best viewed in the dry season. [...]
The Big 5: Rhino
Fastly becoming extinct, the rhinoceros is on par with lions for people's favourites of the Big 5 hard to hunt animals. Sadly, the best places for viewing these endangered animals that could well be [...]
The Big 5: Lions
Arguably the Lion is the most popular out of the 'Big 5' hard to hunt animals people want to see, perhaps because it's so associated with and deeply attached to Africa in people's consciousness. [...]
African Dogs: Aardwolf
Aardwolves have a yellow-brow coat which includes vertical black stripes and a dark haired stripe on the back which stands on end when it is threatened or scared. It is a moderately-sized dog with [...]
African Snakes: Bush Vipers
Bush Vipers, commonly known as Atheris, are found commonly throughout tropical Sub Saharan Africa, excluding southern Africa with sporadic distribution due to their preference for primarily rainforest habitats. Due to deforestation, the Bush Viper [...]
African Snakes: Gaboon Viper
This form of viper is found most commonly in rainforests and savannah regions of Sub Saharan Africa. The main regions this viper can be found stretch from the coasts of Sierra Leone, along the [...]
African Snakes: Puff Adder
The Puff Adder, also known as the African Puff Adder or common adder is a species of viper that is found extensively throughout both Saharan and Sub Saharan Africa. Its territory range reaches from [...]
African Snakes: Egyptian Cobra
This cobra is one of the largest of the cobra family to be found in Africa. It is also known as an asp, and is the snake that was famously believed to have been [...]
African Snakes: Cape Cobra
The Cape Cobra tends to make its home in the southernmost tip of Africa, usually in the region of South Africa, into some parts of southern Botswana and Namibia. In South Africa its primary [...]
African Snakes: Spitting Cobra
The Spitting Cobra can refer to any number of the cobra species which use its fangs to project venom, sometimes as much as three metres, towards potential enemies when it feels threatened. This venom [...]
African Snakes: Boomslang
The name Boomslang is a derivative of both Dutch and Afrikaans with “Boom” meaning tree or beam and “Slang” meaning snake. Therefore, the Boomslang is literally a tree snake, and has so far been [...]
African Snakes: Western Green Mamba
The Western Green Mamba, like other mambas is a highly toxic snake found in the Western regions of Africa including Gambia, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia being [...]
African Snakes: Eastern Green Mamba
Unlike its cousin the Black Mamba, the Green Mamba lives in trees along the eastern coastal areas of the Sub Saharan African region including in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania (including the island of Zanzibar), Mozambique, [...]
African Snakes: Black Mamba
The Black Mamba is a common snake found in numerous parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, normally residing on the ground as opposed to in the trees like other species of mambas. One of the longest [...]
African Unusual Animals: Pangolin
Pangolins are an interesting African animal, native to around fifteen African nations. Similar in appearance to an Armadillo, Pangolins have a series of scales which act as a deterrent for attacks and aid in [...]
African Unusual Animals: Yellow Mongoose
Sometimes referred to as the red meerkat, this mongoose tends to be around 20 inches in length and gets up to a weight of only around one pound. They are typically found only in [...]
African Unusual Animals: Elephant Shrew
This small mammal is native to more than six African countries and is found in parts of the DRC as well as through Tanzania, parts of Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique. They prefer closed canopy [...]
African Unusual Animals: Western African Crocodile
The Western African Crocodile is often confused with the larger and more aggressive Nile Crocodile. While the two are distant cousins, there are variations worth denoting between these two species of crocodiles. The Western [...]
African Unusual Animals: Nile Crocodile
Despite the name Nile Crocodile, this species reaches as far west as The Gambia and as far east as Tanzania, Somalia and even the west coast of Madagascar. This widely known crocodile throughout the [...]
African Cats: Leopard
The beautiful majestic Leopard is the second largest of Africa's large cats. Leopards have distinctive black spots contrasted with a golden-yellow background, while they also have singular black spots on the limbs and head. [...]
African Unusual Animals: Warthog
Warthogs are widely found throughout eastern Africa in countries such as Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, parts of South Sudan, parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, South Africa and Zambia. Typically the predators of the Warthog [...]
African Unusual Animals: Hedgehog
The hedgehog has a wide reach of habitat, stretching across the main belt of vegetation from Western Africa all the way to Eastern Africa and then south to Kenya and Tanzania, Malawi and some [...]
African Unusual Animals: Bush Pig
Bush pigs can be incredibly dangerous, using their tusks when threatened, especially when it has young. Known to raid through farmers crops on the hunt for food, their diet primarily consists of roots, seeds, [...]
African Unusual Animals: Aardvark
Aardvark comes from a word literally meaning “earth-pig”. The Aardvark is found throughout the African continent primarily south of the Sahara region. It can be found in some of the more northern countries with [...]
African Cats: Cheetah
Although Cheetahs are not included in the 'Big 5', it's on the must-see list of many tourists. Weighing at a slender 110-140lbs, and at a height of 30 inches from the shoulder, this Carnivorous [...]
African Cats: Lion
Lion's are undoubtedly synonymous with the continent of Africa and is usually at the top of the 'must-see' list for tourists on safari. A female Lion can be identified from a male Lion by [...]
African Cats: Genet
The Genet has a shoulder height of 210mm, however it has small legs in proportion to the body. The body is elongated and is 460mm in length and has a mass of 1.6kg. The [...]
African Unusual Animals: Porcupine
The porcupine is nature’s shield, with their dozens of long, prickly spines acting as its first line of defense. Their stretch of habitation reaches from throughout Italy, along the northern coast of Africa through [...]
African Cats: African Civet
The Civet has a short dense fur that is a greyish colour with black spots in rows across their bodies. They also have striped markings including a black coloured band over their face and [...]
African Antelope: Gazelle
Gazelle are generally small types of antelopes, with most only standing 60-110cm high at the shoulder, with a fawn colour. However, for what they lack in size, they more than make it up in [...]
African Antelope: Cape Buffalo
The Cape Buffalo are Africa's only wild cow but is in the same species as the domesticated cattle. They are very powerful animals, with a shoulder height between 1 to 1.7 metres and with [...]
African Antelope: Waterbuck
The Waterbuck is a very large and powerful antelope, with a shoulder height of 1.4 metres and can weigh up to an impressive 260kg. The cows are smaller than the bulls, but both share [...]
African Antelope: Tsessebe
The Tsessebe bulls are quite bulky, weighing in at 140kg and measure an impressive 1.2 metres at the shoulders, and they are only slightly larger than the cows who weigh up to 120kg. However, [...]
African Antelope: Springbok
The Springbok has been an icon of Africa just how like Lions are. In fact, the South African rugby team is named “The Springboks” after this famous antelope. Springboks are the most abundant antelope [...]
African Antelope: Sable
The Sable Antelopes are a favourite among game and safari tourists, and this is partly because of their beautiful appearance. The Sable is a large and powerful antelope, with the male bulls having a [...]
African Antelope: Roan
Roan are found almost exclusively in lighted wooded savannah, favouring open areas of grass and with easy access to drinking water. Sadly the Roan are an endangered species and only has a haphazard distribution [...]
African Antelope: Reedbuck
Reedbucks have a distinctive grey or brown pelage with white underpants and a bushy tail with a white tip. They are moderately sized weighing in at 70kg and with a shoulder height of 950mm, [...]
African Antelope: Puku
Pukus are found exclusively in central Africa, with only a few living in Botswana further to the south of the Africa continent. Although they have a herbivorous diet, their social system is focused on [...]
African Antelopes: Oryx
Oryx are well-known due to their very long, striking horns which the males use to fight for mating rights and self-defence. They are 47 inches tall and in the region of 250 pounds to [...]
African Antelope: Oribi
Oribi are one of the smaller antelopes with a height of 600mm and only weighing around the 14kg mark. The adult rams have small horns varying from 80-180mm. Oribi is very much a grazer [...]
African Antelope: Okapi
The Okapi has a striking zebra coloured rump, but surprisingly is not related to zebra but to giraffe. Okapi generally have a height of 1 and a half metres and weigh in at 200-350kg. [...]
African Antelope: Kudu
Weighing from 420 to 600 pounds, and with a height of 55 inches, the Kudu is one of the larger antelopes. Their habitat is woodlands and bushlands, which accounts for the regions they are [...]
African Antelope: Blue Duiker
Duikers come in 21 species, they are omnivores and favour forest and bush habitats. The main predators they have to worry about are Eagles, Lions and Leopards. In captivity they generally live to about [...]
African Animals: lmpala
If there was any one antelope that is etched into peoples minds, it is probably the Impala, being featured on numerous wildlife programmes. Weighing from 100 to 130 pounds and ranging from 28 to [...]
African Antelope: Hartebeest
Hartebeests are found in medium and tall grasses, and even Savannas. But it's this pickiness about their habitat, they're found in haphazard areas across Africa, from Benin to South Africa and all the way [...]
African Antelope: Gemsbok
Gemsbok are another big antelope, being in fact the largest in the Oryx species in the world. Gemsbok have very large horns – being around 85cm in length – which makes humans their number [...]
African Antelope: Eland
Elands are the biggest (and slowest) antelope in the world, generally weighing a whooping 1500 pounds, and have a height of 70 inches. Elands are found on grasslands, mountains, semi-arid areas and woodland areas. [...]
African Antelope: Dik-Diks
Dik Diks weigh from 10 to 12 pounds and are around 15 inches in height. They live up to 10 years in captivity but only 3 or 4 in the wild. Their main choice [...]
African Antelope: Bushbuks
Bushbacks are found in a large swathe of Africa, from the southernmost areas of South Africa up to Ethiopia and as far west as Senegal. Weighing in at 90-180 pounds, and at a height [...]
African Antelope: Blue Duiker
Duikers come in 21 species, they are omnivores and favour forest and bush habitats. The main predators they have to worry about are Eagles, Lions and Leopards. In captivity they generally live to about [...]
African Birds: African Crowned Eagle
The Crowned Eagle is found in sub-Saharan Africa, but tends to be restricted to eastern areas in southern Africa. Its diet is overwhelmingly mammalian, but the type of mammal hunted varies from region to [...]
African Birds: Hornbill
Hornbills are distinctive with a long, curved bill which is brightly coloured with yellow and red being the most common colours. They use this unique bill to break open fruits but being omnivorous they [...]
African Birds: Flamingo
Flamingos are spread throughout world, but the best place to see them is certainly Africa, where it is found on almost every country with a coastline barring Tunisia and Namibia which do not have [...]
African Birds: African Grey Parrot
The endangered grey parrot has distinctive grey feathers and is a fairly small parrot that weighs only 400 grams and has a length of 30cms, and a wingspan of 46-52cm. Their diet could be [...]
African Birds: African Penguin
The African Penguin is found exclusively in South Africa and Namibia. It is related to the infamous Galapagos Penguin that is found in the pacific and is thought to be one of the first [...]
African Birds: Fischer’s Lovebird
The Fischer's Lovebird is one of the most colourful birds in the world which has a green back, chest and wings. The bird's neck is a sunburst yellow to orange which blends into a [...]
African Primates: Gorilla
Gorillas are made up of a few different subspecies, however the Mountain Gorilla is the most sought after for tourists. Sadly, only 660 individuals remain from this species. They are confined to the Virunga [...]
African Birds: Ostrich
Ostriches are known the world over for their unique and striking physical appearance and their inability to fly. However, it's inability to fly is overshadowed by the their sheer speed and power: They are [...]
African Birds: Wattled Crane
The Wattled Crane has an impressive wingspan of 8 feet and a height of around 5 ft, with a white long neck, black undersides and a bare red face with a black 'hat'. This [...]
African Primates: Bonobos
Bonobos are tied with Chimpanzees for the animal closest to humans genetically (98%) and in their general behaviour. They are very intelligent and look very similar to chimps too, with distinctive black faces and [...]
African Dogs: Wild Dogs
A member of the dog family, the wild dog measures 750mm at the shoulders and the males are slightly larger than the females, weighing from 20-30kg. They have a mix of yellow, black and [...]
African Birds: Eagle Owl
The eagle-owl is an impressively powerful and yet graceful bird of prey, and it is the largest owl in Africa with a length measuring up to 66cm. It is grey in colour and has [...]
African Birds: Vulture
Vultures can be found all across Africa, though in declining numbers that have made them an endangered species. However, they are found in literately every kind of habitat available in Africa. These include wooded [...]
African Primates: Chimpanzee
The Chimpanzee (Chimps) is the closest living relative to humans. Chimps are very adaptable because they are not fussy eaters. Their preferred staple food source comes from various fruits of the forests, but they [...]
African Primates: Bush Baby
The Bush Baby has a cute appearance, and is one of the world's smallest primates. In fact newborn Bush Babies only weight half an ounce, while even at full size they are only 7 [...]
African Dogs: Hyaena
The Hyaena is probably the most synonymous dog associated with Africa. This canine has distinctive pointed ears and striped legs with a dark brown or black coat, white shoulders and a long creamy coloured [...]
African Grazers and Browsers: Hippos
Hippos are now only found in scattered pockets across eastern Sub-Saharan Africa, in countries popular for good quality safaris, such as Tanzania ad Kenya. They are the third largest land mammal in the world, [...]
African Grazers and Browsers: Giraffe
Another popular animal synonymous with Africa, the Giraffe is famous for its bizarre physical attributes, particularly its very long neck and its black spotted coat on a sand coloured background. They are also the [...]
African Primates: Baboon
The Baboon – like humans – are extremely adaptable and thus they can live in all sorts of habitats. Their adaptability is largely down to their varied diet: The Baboon is both an opportunistic [...]
African Grazers and Browsers: Zebra
If you thought Wildebeest migrate impressive distances in the constant search for grass lands, they pale in comparison to the Zebra, who regularly migrate up to 1,800 miles annually. Famous for its vertical black [...]
African Grazers and Browsers: Wildebeest
Wildebeest are also on the “Big 5” list, and tourists on safari often come to see their great migrations across the plains of Africa. They continuously migrate and live a nomadic type lifestyle on [...]
African Grazers and Browsers: Rhino
The third-largest land mammal in the world, the Rhino is in the “Big 5”, synonymous with Africa along with the Lion, Elephant, Buffalo and Leopard. They are often on “must-see” lists of those who [...]
African Dogs: Side-Striped Jakal
The Side-Striped Jackal is larger and much more common than its Blacked-backed Jakal relative, with a grey coloured body with white stripes on each side, and a dark, white tipped tail and black ears. [...]
African dogs: Bat-eared fox
The bat-eared fox has very large distinctive ears relative to the size of its body which look just like bat ears, hence the name. It is a small creature, weighing in at just 7 [...]