The Big Five

When I left for Africa I knew that there were some animals that everyone had on their list of "must sees," or "The Big Five"....I didn't.  I wanted to experience the place for its natural beauty and while I did really REALLY want to see elephants, I didn't really have any other animals on my list that I'd feel disappointed if I didn't see.

Along the way people kept asking us if we'd seen the Big Five and all three of us shrugged and said something to the effect that we'd seen lots of animals.....because, honestly, we weren't quite sure what they were and while we felt a little ignorant that we didn't know, we were having fun and it didn't matter that much to us if we ticked off a list of animals.  If pressed, we decided that we were pretty sure the lion was on the list and maybe the elephant, but we also thought the giraffe must also be represented, because, it IS tall after all.  (We were wrong....)

It wasn't until halfway through the trip, when we were approached by a street vendor selling wooden animal carvings (of the Big Five), that we figured out what they actually were.  And, by then (to our surprise) we'd seen all of them with the exception of the rhino, which came later.

So, on my bucket list trip, I filled up someone else's bucket list card, which was nice.

For your education and enjoyment, here are the Big Five in alphabetical order:

Photo Montage

I have a lot of sorting to do in the photo department, but I wanted to share a small sampling of some of the better animal photos I took over the last 2 weeks.

These animals are from the Chobe Game reserve, where, among other things, 50,000 elephant live.

Three pied kingfisher on the lookout for their next meal.

Kudo and crocodile co-existing, for now....

Birds really do hang out on the backs of large herbivores...

Elephant and egret

Cape buffalo walking to breakfast.  Due to their hide and horns, we were told that they are very difficult to kill.  We didn't try.

Warthogs are built with front legs too long to allow for standing and feeding at the same time...so they kneel to eat.

They say that you should never get between a hippo and the water, as they have poor eyesight, and are prone to a short temper....we were.

The cats are from Deception Valley Lodge:

Lion cubs saying "hi" to Mom after returning from her long night of hunting

Lion cub practicing his hunting skills on naive tourists

Female leopard  crossing the road after her hunt was interrupted, by tourists

These are from Nxamaseri in the Okavango Delta:

A bee eater looking for dinner before sunset, while perched in the reeds

A fish eagle attempting to snag a meal, sadly, unsuccessfully

Yawning male hippo.  Note the teeth.


These pictures are from a place I won't mention, because rhinos are being killed off at a rate of at least2 per day.  If it continues, they estimate that rhinos will be extinct in less than a decade.  They are magnificent animals.  This one, a male, weighs more than 3 tons and stood taller than my car.