The Big Five are the Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo. It’s what we came to see. I didn’t expect to see Rhino because it’s pretty rare. But on the first day our guides did try to chase a white Rhino. It’s tracks were there but we never came across it. Apparently the Rhino moves pretty fast. It can walk about 5km in 30 minutes. I thought that was pretty fast for a large creature but that’s part of the reason why it’s difficult to spot them. One minute they are here and next minute they are gone! Well perhaps we’ll see the Rhino another time on another trip. But we were very satisfied to spot the other 4 in abundance.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many lions and leopards in such a short duration. The leopard is harder to find than the lion apparently. So when we founds them on our first day at Savute it was jubilation. But then we spotted two in Pom Pom and another had killed a Lechwe and stuck it on top of a tree for security 😁 We saw its paw prints around the wall way to tenet but we don’t come across it. I won’t complain about it. I don’t think I’d like to walk into a leopard. As much as I love them and admire them, it has to be from the Jeep. Just too intimidating. Our guide Tabo is an experienced one who has been doing this for 22 years. He said he’d come across lions and leopards but you just give them space and never make them feel threatened or cornered. He said “remember they are just as much as scared of us as we are of them” No one wants an encounter. Anyways we didn’t have one and I was fine at that!
The leopard is very different to the lion. Of course we all know that but it’s always wonderful to see them in their own habitat. It’s much smaller in size. It’s paws are small and so is it’s head. They are avid climbers and solitary creatures who hunt on their own. Lions on the other hand are large and heavy looking. They also command much respect by just being themselves! No wonder they are the kings of the jungle. The male lion is a treat to look at. Considering how intimidating and strong they are they behave just like our home cats. I think it’s adorable. Of course that’s as long as you are inside the Jeep. Tabo said if we just as much put a foot out, they will immediately charge the Jeep and attack everyone inside it 😲 well we didn’t test that. 😜
The elephant is everywhere. They have a matriarch. The matriarch is the oldest female in the herd. She leads everyone to water, food and safety. Young males who are born to the herd are chased after they become teenagers so they don’t inbreed with their sisters. The little elephants can’t use their trunks but have to learn to use it in time. I thought that was so cute. You can see them wagging and wriggling it like some alien thing stuck to the front of their face. It’s funny. Apparently the lion can kills baby elephants so the herd is very protective when there are lions around.
The Buffalo is the ugliest of the big 5 and looks the meanest. They are apparently the most the dangerous and unpredictable. Unlikes all the others it’s not possible to read their body language, even to get out of the way when they seem annoyed or angry. For they look angry all the time. When you drive close they run away but only for a little distance and then stop and look back. All of them. With their big horned head turned keep looking for a while and then they lose interest. We saw a dead buffalo hunted by 4 lions and later on feasting on its intestines. Gruesome site but that’s what it is like. One of the lions pulled at the buffalo gut and the strength of its pull was so much that the entire buffalo was tossed left to right. You see them in herds comprised on hundreds. Apparently when the buffalo runs low on testosterone they move to a place where there is water and food and spent the rest of his life unless first eaten by elephants. Sometimes they group with other like single aging males and form a small group for security purposes. It’s always good to stick together for the security is in the numbers 😲😬 I guess some humans feel the same too 😅😜
So we saw 4 out of the big 5 on number of occasions. It was a treat to see them in the wild. The only interactions between them was seen at the waterhole when the lions came to drink water where the elephants usually hang out in the evening. We got to the waterhole and there was a large herd of elephants including some babies. A few minutes later 7 lions walked in a single file. Apparently animals walks in single files in the wild. So do the lions. As they walk you can see how unhappy the elephants became. The lions had one thing in mind and that was to drink water. They had killed a warthog earlier and how wanted to quench their thirst. They all sat together side by side drinking water. It was a site to behold. They did not threaten the elephants but the elephants felt unhappy and maybe even threatened. A couple of the young bulls seem to want to charge but never to cause a full on confrontation. The lions always moved away when an elephant charged but didn’t seem to want to escalates it further. But they never left the waterhole. Once elephants retreat they’d regroup and drink again. It was so funny to watch. It’s instinct that animals will not fight. Because there is a chance to get hurt or even killed. They will do that as a last resort. Isn’t that funny? I think humans differ because I feel we, the highly intelligent lot, fight even when we know we can get killed and get hurt for more trivial things. Anyways that would be a separate blog.
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