THE BIG FIVE

The famous big five!

Everyone knows the big five, lion, elephant, rhinoceros, leopard and buffalo but have you ever experienced them from close up?

Imagine you are watching a beautiful red and orange bushveld sunset over the horizon. In the distance you can see some animals grazing and a herd of 500 buffalo strolling towards a watering hole. Elephants playing in the water! All of this you can experience here in South Africa, in the wild!

Buffalos

Buffalos prefer the woodland savannah and grassland where there is enough shelter. If you wait long enough at a watering hole in the mornings and evenings you are very likely to spot these animals as they tend to stay in the shade during the day and graze during the night.

They are like a massive cow that is on steroids and very popular trophies for game hunters. If I think about buffalo the only words that come to mind is incredibly social, fascinating and big. To drive through a herd of buffalo is surely the ultimate rush even if they are only peacefully grazing. Switch off your engine and listen to them munching away. Every beast in the buffalo herd has a place; the higher ranking groups will be at the front and centre thus giving the herd the best protection from predators. The lowest ranking buffalo will graze at the back and obviously they will be the main targets for predators. As you can think the male testosterone plays an important role in this class society and the bulls dominate the cows. Females only move up in the hierarchy if they have a calf. Males will raise their status by fighting with a lot of head butting. You are indeed lucky if you can see one of these fights, imagine 2 bulls charging at each other at 20km an hour and then smashing their heads together with a force, just like a car crashing into a wall.

Herds are very peaceful but only until alarmed, then they wil stampede with dire consequences to any predator that is in their path. If any of the herd members give a distress call the whole herd will rush to its defence and chase the predator away. If you think about it they are not much different from the domesticated cows and even us!

Rhinos

There are two types of these magnificent beasts, the black and the white rhino. The Black Rhino's head is much smaller, it is a solitary animal, more aggressive and the calf usually follows the mother. To be charged by a Rhino, with its loud snorts, it is truly a terrifying matter. They eagerly attack predators including humans. They are also short sighted, but their sense of smell and hearing is very sensitive. They live for about 40 years.

Leopards

I think these animals are the most difficult to spot as they normally hunt at night and dusk, staying in secluded spots during the day or lying in high branches of trees.

Elephant

They are always fun to watch. They are very intelligent and highly social animals. They also live in herds that are made up of the matriarch which is the oldest animal in the group, her female calves and the youngsters. Do watch out for that solitary bull cause they can be very bad tempered.

Lion

Don't be deceived by the playful cat appearance you sometimes see. They are very strong and can kill a swipe of one of its powerful paws, Lions can break a Wildebeest's neck, and they can carry twice their weight in their powerful jaws.