The Big Five Live
This is the story of
four buddies from college days, now into their sixties, and their spouses who
chose Africa for an adventurous vacation. These four guys celebrated their
college alumni day (BITSians Day) in Dar-es-Salaam. Following picture posted on
facebook on 1st August 2014 received an incredible 500+ likes from
fellow BITSians and other friends world over!
Our wildlife safari
kicked off with a domestic flight to Arusha. All eight safari enthusiasts had
been profiled in the curtain raiser of our African Adventure. If you haven’t
yet browsed the story titled ‘Life Begins at Sixty’, here is the link to the adventurous-eight:
Arusha is the wildlife
capital of Tanzania as all wildlife tours for Northern circuit start from here. See Tanzania flag below. More on Arusha
later.
Ever since we returned from African Safari, many friends and
readers of Ghumakkad’s blog have been pressing for pictures of African
adventure. Individual stories of National Parks/regions in Tanzania are still
under compilation. So we decided first to share a story on the Big-Five.
What is Big Five?
In Africa,
the big five game animals are the African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, African lion and White/Black rhinoceros.
The term big five game (sometimes capitalized or quoted
as "Big Five") was coined by big-game hunters and refers
to the five most difficult animals
in Africa to hunt on foot. Subsequently the term was adopted by safari tour operators for
marketing purposes. The term is used in most tourist and wildlife guides that
discuss African wildlife safaris. The members of the Big Five were chosen for
the difficulty in hunting them and the degree of danger involved, rather than
their size. Wikipedia, the source of this information adds, “The 1990 and later
releases of South African Rand banknotes featured a different
big-five animal on each denomination”.
Countries where all the
big five can be found include South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya. However, you may not sight all the “Big five” in one wildlife
park. We visited four National Parks in Tanzania's famous northern circuit.
Here are some pictures
of the “Big Five” seen “live” by us across all four parks in Tanzania-- that's why the title "The Big Five Live". However, the Big Five are not so easy to spot. You have to start early. At times before sunrise-- as in this picture of rising Sun from our moving 4x4 Land Cruiser below.
The vegetation in African parks varies from acacias on the slopes of Ngorongoro highlands to thorny shrubs in the plains of Serengeti. See the flora map of Tanzania.
Credit for background information on each of the Big Five animals described below goes to Wikipedia.
The vegetation in African parks varies from acacias on the slopes of Ngorongoro highlands to thorny shrubs in the plains of Serengeti. See the flora map of Tanzania.
Credit for background information on each of the Big Five animals described below goes to Wikipedia.
African Elephant
The African
elephant (Loxodontaafricana) is a very large herbivore having
thick, almost hairless skin, a long, flexible, prehensile trunk, upper incisors forming
long curved tusks of ivory, and large, fan-shaped ears. The elephants are
difficult because despite their large size, they are able to hide in tall grass
and are more likely to charge than the other species.
We saw herds and herds of African elephants in every national park which we visited. Here are a few pictures clearly showing their fan shaped ears and their care for the babies.
We saw herds and herds of African elephants in every national park which we visited. Here are a few pictures clearly showing their fan shaped ears and their care for the babies.
A family of elephants grazing near our vehicle with open canopy. You get as close as this!
This family decided to cross the track. Of course we gave way to the elephants. They have the right of way!
Even the baby elephant's ears have the fan shape!
Cape Buffalo
The African or Cape
buffalo (Synceruscaffer) is a large horned bovid.
Buffalo are sometimes reported to kill more people in Africa than any other
animal, although the same claim is also made
of hippos and crocodiles. It is considered the most
dangerous of the big five, reportedly causing the most hunter deaths, with
wounded animals reported to ambush and attack pursuers.
Buffalo and other herds can be spotted from a distance from the dust which they raise while walking. See the wildebeest herd and the panorama of the vast plains against the wall of Ngorongoro crater.
We saw from close quarters many herds of Cape Buffaloes. They tended to size us up, our vehicle as well as our posture. Only when the lead male buffalo gave ‘all clear’ to fellow buffaloes, they shifted their ‘numbing stare’ elsewhere. You can get a feel through the pictures below.
We saw from close quarters many herds of Cape Buffaloes. They tended to size us up, our vehicle as well as our posture. Only when the lead male buffalo gave ‘all clear’ to fellow buffaloes, they shifted their ‘numbing stare’ elsewhere. You can get a feel through the pictures below.
African Leopard
The leopard (Pantherapardus)
is a large, carnivorous feline having either tawny fur with dark rosette-like
markings or black fur. The leopard is considered the most difficult of the big
five to sight because of their nocturnal and secretive nature. They are wary of
humans and will take flight in the face of danger. The leopard is solitary by
nature, and is most active between sunset and sunrise, although it may hunt
during the day in some areas. Leopards can be found in the savanna grasslands,
brush land and forested areas in Africa.
Our encounters with the
African leopard were at a safe distance—unlike the lions, elephants and
buffaloes where the animals brushed past our 4x4 land cruiser! We had three
different sightings of leopards-- two on a tree and a third on a rock.
Here is the first sighting on a tree some half a km away! Can you spot the leopard on the tree?
Here is the first sighting on a tree some half a km away! Can you spot the leopard on the tree?
Here is an enlarged view. The leopard had carried its kill- Grant's Gazelle, an antelope-- up the tree. You can see both the leopard and the kill in the picture below.
Notice the different shade of its fur in the belly and rest of the body? That is the characteristic of African leopard.
It was a female leopard. How do we know? Because it had carried its cub and safely perched it atop another tree close by. See the hanging legs of the cub in the centre of the picture below.
It is a challenge taking pictures in such poor lighting. However, we got luckier with another sighting when the sun came out just in time. See the picture when the leopard-- once again on the tree beautifully camouflaged-- posed for us by turning its head!
Black Rhinoceros
This is another of the
Big Five from whom a distance is to be maintained. It appeared to be shy of
humans. The black rhinoceros (Dicerosbicornis) is a
large, thick-skinned herbivore having one or two upright horns on the nasal
bridge.
Here are the pictures of our sighting almost a kilometer away!
An enlarged view showing the two horns-- unlike single horned rhinos of Kaziranga, India.
Even at that distance, it did not like to be disturbed. See the expression and the charge!
And don’t miss the number of safari vehicles which converged within 15 minutes from across the 400 square mile Ngorongoro crater. Rhino sighting is not easy.
Lions are easier to sight! Read on.
Here are the pictures of our sighting almost a kilometer away!
Even at that distance, it did not like to be disturbed. See the expression and the charge!
And don’t miss the number of safari vehicles which converged within 15 minutes from across the 400 square mile Ngorongoro crater. Rhino sighting is not easy.
African Lion
The Lion (Pantheraleo)
is a large carnivorous feline of Africa and northwest India,
having a short, tawny coat, a tufted tail, and, in the male, a heavy mane around
the neck and shoulders. See the picture below.
Lions live in the savanna where tall grasses, shrubs, and bushes obscure them and provide cover and camouflage. This thick undergrowth is commonly referred to as jess. As lions are ambush hunters, they use this natural cover when stalking to creep as close as possible before making a final charge to catch their prey. Lions do not generally avoid confrontation, but will usually face a challenger. Lions are unpredictable and may charge when sufficiently annoyed or confronted by danger.
We had many sightings
in all the three parks except Lake Manyara. Here are a few pictures of the
lions. A male lion walks past our safari vehicles.
Before we end this story, the Big Five have company-- the "Little Five"-- Elephant Shrews, Ant Lions, Leopard Tortoises, Buffalo Weavers and Rhino Beetles. Credit for this revealing information goes to Lonely Planet and their excellent book on Tanzania. Though we sighted only the buffalo weaver, readers of this blog may share their sightings of the other Little Five!
Hope you enjoyed the “Big Five Live”. Every evening after the wildlife safari, when we returned to the safari camp/lodge, it was an additional treasure trove of memories.
The Sun never seemed to set in Africa.
Watch out for next set of stories on our African Adventure.
-
Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/
24th Aug 2014
Postscript: Almost after eight years on 25th March 2022, Ghumakkad posted the story on African Lions titled 'Lazy Lions'. The story has pictures and videos of African Lions and its cousin the Asiatic Lions as well. The story also includes the winning captions for a picture of two male African Lions which made it to NatGeo YourShot! Browse it here.
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