Big Five Safari

One of South Africa’s main claims to fame is the Big Five – rhinoceros, elephant, lion, buffalo and leopard – in addition to many other animals found on safari. While I knew this was one of the country’s biggest attractions, I still rolled my eyes when someone solely associated my chosen study abroad destination with giraffes. I did plan on going on a safari, but was also interested in a whole host of other sites and sceneries. This made me skeptical towards a safari and whether or not it would make or break my experience in Africa. But, The Lion King fan that I’ve been since childhood, I could not resist the chance to see my favorite characters.

While my safari in Kruger National Park was not quite what I expected, or what it had been made out to be, it was still awesome. No matter what way one looks at it, seeing animals in the wild is a breathtaking experience. My clear favorites are elephants and giraffes; they are the most interesting to watch and have a really unique look. This may have been influenced, however, by the fact that I was reading a book about elephants at the time, and that every giraffe I saw bore a striking resemblance to Melvin from Madagascar. We also saw a giraffe and her 3-month-old calf on a nature walk; we were about 10 feet away from them, which was absolutely priceless.

The lions truly looked like they were straight out of The Lion King, even though I only saw them from far away. Yet for the rest of the day I could not get “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” out of my head!

As to the rest of the Big Five – rhinos, buffalo, and a leopard – those experiences are not what made my trip to Kruger. My rhino and the leopard sightings were from far away, making it difficult to really appreciate them. And the buffalo were just plain ugly.

We also saw a cheetah, which was surprisingly skinny and lazy. The warthogs did not look much like Pumba, however they were both hideous and adorable. The zebras were interesting too, and stand head to tail so that they can watch for predators at all angles.

The most active creatures I saw were the vervet monkeys and the baboons. Some monkeys put on a show of sorts at a lunch spot in the park, which was amusing. And baboons, just like in the Western cape, were everywhere. One very large baboon even jumped onto the side of our vehicle in search of food.

So although the long rides on the open safari vehicle were often cold and boring, the moments in between when we saw a herd of zebras or a lone rhinoceros more than made up for it. And even though I cannot say that the safari was the absolute highlight of my experience in South Africa, it is definitely a necessity for any sub-Saharan jaunt.