What Makes The Big Five The Big Five?

When planning for a Tanzanian safari, you’ll quickly start to learn about “the Big Five.”  The Big Five refers to the African: lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and Cape buffalo.  While all of these animals are amazing to view on safari, many may wonder how these animals, and not others, made the Big Five list.  For example, what did the hippos or cheetahs do wrong?

The term “Big Five” was first used by African big game hunters. These hunters did not create the term due to a specific animal’s size or rarity. They used the term because the Big Five were viewed as the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot. But, what difficulties could these animals pose? Well, let’s take a quick look.

This should be an easy one.  With knife-like claws and huge powerful jaws, lions could pose a difficulty for even a super-hero on foot.  Lions are also quite stealthy; and, their yellowish-brown coats serve as excellent camouflage when in tall African grass.

Like the lion, the leopard comes with sharp claws and powerful jaws. But the true difficulty with leopards is that there are so hard to find when on foot. They are stealthy and nocturnal. Leopards are also smart enough to take flight when they sense danger.

Elephants are difficult? They look so peaceful though, right?  Well yes, but the elephant is the largest land-mammal on the planet. Elephants are also pretty good at hiding in tall grasses and will charge when they perceive threats. Further, while they can’t run for long distances, elephants can reach speeds of up to 25 mph in small spurts.

A Rhino’s greatest difficulty stems from the fact that the animal is aggressive. Rhinos will definitely charge when threatened. Add to this a rhino’s size and intimidating front horn and you have one difficult animal indeed.