Top Five: The Big, The Little, and the Ugly

Denise

You can’t look at an African safari guide without seeing promises of The Big Five. I would have guessed the list included (ahem, BIG) animals that every 4 year old knows–lion, elephant, giraffe, rhino, hippo, maybe monkey or ape. But no, it’s all about how dangerous the animal is to hunt on foot. I think it’s telling that of the leopard, elephant, Cape buffalo, rhinoceros, and lion, three of them are herbivores. And the list leaves off alligators and hippos which, according to WorldAtlas, kill respectively ten times and five times as many humans as elephants and lions. Well done, marketers, you’ve killed off logic.

The Big Five, as stolen from Bing Images

Regardless of the history behind the list, WE SAW THEM ALL! Today, towards the end of our 6-hour morning drive, Simon-the-Amazing guide spotted* the elusive leopard, checking off our African Animal Bingo card.

When you see a leopard against the green grass, you wonder why it’s so hard to locate. Find the same cat when he’s prowling more stealthfully by sliding the arrows to the left.

Admittedly, we saw none of the Little Five, but I can appreciate the list: elephant shrew, buffalo weaver, leopard tortoise, ant lion, and rhino beetle.

The Little Five, as stolen from Bing Images
The Ugly Five, per Bing Images

The Ugly Five deserve their time in the spotlight. Two are birds, which I find funny and fitting, but my beloved warthog hangs out on this list: Wildebeest, Warthog, Spotted Hyena, Lappet-Faced Vulture and Marabou Stork. Even though wildebeest come in the millions to Masai Mara during the Great Migration, we only saw one, and at a distance, on Crescent Island when we were at Lake Naivasha. Vultures were flying overhead and storks hung out at the water, so we saw them, but not close enough to appreciate their special beauty. We checked all of these off our list, but I only got to study the hyena and warthog.

*Word choice deliberate. Low hanging fruit, I know.

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