The AFRICA BIG 5

When you go on Safari in Africa, you need to see the Africa BIG 5.
 
These were the most dangerous. Our list of dangerous animals today might feel different because of trucks and guns but the story says when a native hunted with a spear and these 5 would charge back on the hunter.  Others are dangerous but don't necessarily charge the person on foot. 

You might think you are seeing the animals through a great zoom lens, and yes we used zoom, but Lisa's camera only zoomed to 10X and Kathy's zoom was blurry when the truck engine rumbled or people shifted in their seats.  Know that were as close to every animal as you are to your bathroom from your bed.  For the big 5, Philemon our guide said to stay sitting so we don't break the profile of the truck and they recognize us as humans.  He said the "petrol" smell would cover our scent.

The Leopard
Let's get this one out of the way. No, we didn't check it off our list and probably won't today either.  It is a rare thing to see a leopard and we weren't one of the lucky ones.

The Cape Buffalo

The Cape Buffalo is usually just called Buffalo by the natives.  Sometimes from a distance we mixed it up with the Wildebeest.  Up close his size commands attention.

The Rhino
At Zulu Nyala, Phina and Hluhluwe-Impolosa reserves they have the White Rhino.  "White" is a misnomer. They are black in color. The dutch named them "wide" rhino for their fat lips. The dutch "wide" sounds like "white" hence the name.

The rhinos are in danger from poachers because of some liquid in their horn that the Asians sell for an aphrodisiac.  Our reserve, Zulu Nyala, had security on foot 24 hours to protect their rhino.

We were pleasantly surprised to see many babies.  As it is winter in South Africa we thought we wouldn't see them.

The Lion

Everyone knows the lion.  The pride we saw was large --10 or 11 lions: One dad, two moms and several babies.  They had already eaten so were only interested in napping.  See dad's big yawn.

Notice how the babies pestered their dad.
The Elephant
Zulu Nyala has 3 elephants - two females and one baby. We followed them until they came really close to our truck.

We hope to post a video section that shows Kathy so close to the elephant that you could feel her hold her breath.