Big 5, Kruger National Park

Kruger National Park and South Africa in general, have spent a considerable amount of money on anti-poaching activities, with a special army-trained squad going after ivory and rhino poachers.

Having said this, South Africa has been pushing hard for a lifting of the ivory ban. This is mostly so they can unload the huge stocks of ivory that the National Parks hold, and use the revenue for the parks.

The "Big Five" animals (lion, rhino, elephant, leopard and buffalo,) are all very well represented within this park.

Anne and I experienced excellent viewing of all of the big 5, except for the leopard which is referred to as "notoriously difficult to find."

More than 15,000 buffaloes live in the Kruger National Park and often large herds of a hundred animals can be observed. To avoid the heat, they prefer to graze in the cool hours of the morning or evening and even at night. They very much like to wallow in the mud and so build up a protective layer against mosquitoes and other insects on their skin.

The big five got their name from the era when we were killing animals for "sport" (fun) and paying big bucks for the experience. The "big 5" were the 5 most sought after trophies by these hunters.

Personally I do not agree with this and I feel the name that these magnificent creatures are refered to should be changed to reflect a tourism view point.

On our first full day in Kruger, we had a very interesting sighting at just after 1 PM, not long since we had left our lunchtime stopover at Oliphants Camp. As we continued our drive north, we noticed a lion and two females sleeping in the bush at the side of the road. We pulled the car over and switched the engine off to see what, if anything, would happen. We were totally surprised when, a few minutes later, the lion roused himself up and approached one of the lioness' with amorous intentions! As soon as he stirred, I clicked the video camera on to catch this possibly award-winning sequence! Alas, the battery immediately conked out - the photo that you see of the lion staring after her is all that we have. He was rejected and the lioness strolled off into the bush!

Big game hunters in Africa are always after one of the 'Big Five' - Lion, Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Rhino or Leopard. Although I am always shooting only with a camera, it was a great thrill to come across a herd of Cape Buffalo north of Mopani, on our last hot afternoon in the Park. Here, the herd is not bothered at all as they forage beside the road. We were so close to these ones that we did not need a telephoto lens!

4 more images

The African Elephant is easily distinguished from Asian Elephants as they have larger ears. The fact that you are in Africa is also a give away. They guys are massive. They are the largest land animal in the world, eat 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food a day and drink 30-50 gallons (113-189 litres) of water. Females are pregnant for 22 months! They roam around constantly looking for food and are amazingly clumsy. I watched them happily knocking down trees when they could have easily avoided them. Because of the damage they do, they are sometimes culled here in Kruger.

If you are driving yourself here in Kruger, do not get too close. In fact move away slowly with your car. In addition to accidentally knocking down trees they can knock into your vehicle and damage will definitely occur. Worse case scenario is that a bull may just decide to destroy you car and they would probably have fun doing it. Even ‘small’ cut ones can inflict damage and I have been charged by an angry mother elephant. With their huge size you can still get great pictures at a respectable distance.

There is an estimated 1500 lion in the Kruger Park. Lion can be found all over the park, however the highest density are around Satara which is flat basalt plains with very shallow soils that grows knob thorn savannah with some mixed bush willow and woodlands.

Lions have a wide range and are very social maintaining large prides up to 40 animals. Although they have a reputation for being boring to watch as they sleep all day, it is interesting to watch the lions interact with each other. Members of prides or relations rub their heads and sides together when greeting. They raise their tails high and make low groaning sounds.

Mothers tend to stay on the same territory their whole lives where males will have to leave as they mature to find their own territories.
It is very difficult for males to maintain a territory independently and therefore are forced to make coalitions with other male lions. These coalitions tend to be brothers up to three or four but are occasionally other nomadic lions that are unrelated.

Lions eat everything but tend to hunt zebra, wildebeest and giraffe. Some lions and prides specialize in hunting large animals like buffalo or elephant.
If you are lucky you may find these lions mating as I did in Kruger and Kgalagadi many times. They mate about every 20 to 30 minutes all day. It is quite a fascinating ritual.

3 more images

The Big Five are the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo. They were named the Big Five not because of their size alone, but because they were the most challenging of South Africa's large animal species to hunt. Tourists who come to Kruger tend to get fixated on the Big Five, often to the point of missing out on sightings of other, smaller, but still interesting species, such as impala, warthogs, and birds.

Of the Big Five, leopards are by far the hardest to find, becasue they are nocturnal and are usually sleeping during the day, often up in trees. Lions are the second-hardest to find. Usually the easiest way to find the Big Five in Kruger is to look for stopped cars. Where two or more cars are stopped, there is usually a Big Five animal nearby that they are all watching.

We saw three (elephant, rhino, and cape vuffalo) of the Big Five during our drives through Kruger. We saw a leopard in Sabi Sand, a private game reserve next to Kruger, where we went on an evening game drive.

The Big Five are not the biggest animals on Africa, but definately the most famous ones. Try to spot everyone of them. I tried, but missed the leopard, the hardest one to see.
They are:

1. Elephant
2. Buffalo
3. Rhino
4. Lion
5. Leopard

(If you've never seen these animals on TV, try my travelogue)