Big 5

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 animals are found all over in the easily accessible and affordable Krueger National Park. However, the best places are in the far north or far southern reaches of the Park. A few years ago a baby buffalo was snatched away by crocodiles and lions in Krueger, and video footage of this went viral on social media and via YouTube. Happily – and quite astonishingly – the baby was rescued by [...]

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 exception to this is in Zambia, in South Luangwa National Park, which is indeed another good choice as night safaris greatly increase your chance of seeing leopards there. However, Lake Nakuru is arguably a better choice because the leopards here are commonly seen in the daytime – which is a real rarity. This is mainly due to landscape, which has a high density of fever trees which have very thick [...]

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. So your chances of seeing these big 5 here are statistically better than anywhere else; except perhaps Selous Game Reserve mentioned above in Tanzania, which is said to have the highest density of elephants in Africa. However, Chobe National Park has the biggest overall population in Africa, and the elephants here are said to be some of the biggest elephants physically you can find in Africa. So Chobe just edges [...]

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 extinct in as little as 5-10 years if poaching for the ivory trade is not thwarted in the next few years is in conservation parks and sanctuaries. Undoubtedly the best of these has to be at Ol Pejeta in Kenya; It is the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa and thus is home to a great number of free-roaming black rhinos. But the icing on the cake here is [...]

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. Although two of the most popular National Parks in Africa – The Serengeti (northern Tanzania) and the Kruger National Park (South Africa) – are great places to spot Lions, mainly due to the fact that the populations in both are not in decline, Selous comes highly recommended because you are likely to be the only tourists around when you spot them, so you have the whole experience to yourself. [...]