Let’s get one thing out of the way first. There is no definitive list of animals you must see when you travel on a wildlife safari. This is especially true for things like the Big Five.
What was once just a marketing ploy has become the grail for African sightings, and for no real reason. Because of this list though, travellers are often encouraged to avoid missing anything instead of being encouraged towards experiencing things. It’s for that reason you come across the ‘Ferrari Safari’, seen across various regions in Africa and particularly in East Africa. In this sort of safari, the guides drive at breakneck speed from one animal sighting to the next, just so their clients in the back can tick them off a list they got at the airport.
But who cares about the list? It’s a list that gets stuffed back in a drawer when they arrive home and eventually thrown out. Those ticks, made with cheap hotel pens, don’t gain you entry into an exclusive club reserved for the most experienced of safari-goers. If anything, this surface-level understanding of the environment is the opposite of what you should do. Whilst they dashed from sighting to sighting they missed the chance to really learn about the animal, or to spend a second and take in their surroundings.
Photographs only have meaning if they have memories attached to them. You should spend time with the animals, more than just the time it takes to snap a photo. Admittedly it is easy for us to say as we have been many times and seen these animals before, but even then the best memories are always the ones where we ignored the calls of the checklist and simply stayed with the animals. On your deathbed years later you won’t recall not seeing a cheetah, but you will remember the hour spent in the company of elephants.
Ok, lecture over. On a positive spin, it is perhaps sometimes helpful to have an idea of the animals you might want to see. So, with that in mind, we have taken some time to look at some of the classic groupings of animals and some new ones you might want to consider.
The Classics
The most well-known of the animal lists.
Big Five
We can’t make a list without mentioning this, the grand-daddy of them all. What is funny is that despite this being considered “the” list for Africa, many people don’t even know all the animals on it. They aren’t the biggest five animals, despite the name. Historically, these five are the five most difficult/dangerous animals to hunt on foot. This includes the obvious ones like the elephant and the lion, but also the big and grumpy ones like the rhino and the buffalo. The last on this list is the leopard, one that will fight its way out ferociously if cornered (and generally pretty sneaky). We would argue that most people get more excited about giraffes and zebra than a buffalo, but we don’t want to disturb the souvenir industry.
Little Five
This is a good example of how marketing begets marketing. The Little Five aren’t the littlest five, or the most unique five.Nope, they are five small animals that share names with the big ones. So, here you have the Ant Lion and the Rhino Beetle (both insects), the Leopard Tortoise (not that little), the Buffalo Weaver (a bird) and the Elephant Shrew (a small mammal).
Seven continents
This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you have set foot on all seven continents then you can tick this off the list. Some will argue that sailing past Antarctica counts, and some will argue that it doesn’t. Some would also argue that if you are arguing about that then you might be missing the point of travelling in the first place, but we digress.
It should be noted that branching out from this there is a subset of people who then need to travel to every country in the world to prove their bona fides. And then beyond that, there are those who now claim that they should also travel to every territory as well or else you aren’t a real traveller like them. These people are not ones you’d want to share a drink with around a campfire.
The Adjacent
Not well-known, but already existing out there.
Marine Big Five
This is reasonably new, something that popped in the past 15 years or so in an attempt to remind people that the wildlife in Africa isn’t simply landbound. Just off the coastline of South Africa you have a rich underwater world that supports vast quantities of marine life, including the easily visible African Penguin and the Cape Fur Seal. The Southern Right Whale, Great White Shark, and Bottlenose Dolphin make up the rest of the list. Some might argue that as the Great Whites have been chased away by the orca the list should be edited, but the tea towels have already been printed.
Ugly Five
A less-kind list is this one that features those less attractive members of the African animal kingdom. Interestingly enough, it is because of this lack of good press or natural good looks that conservation for some of these animals is a struggle. This is despite something like the vulture being a key species for maintaining the health of the wild and its wildlife populations. The hyena is on this list, which we protest. We must admit that the hyena, the warthog and the wildebeest aren’t the most elegant of animals, but ugly might be a bit harsh.
The only guaranteed ‘uggo’ is the marabou stork, which looks like a zombified stork and is enough to give small children nightmares.
Famous Five
This was a series of books by English author Enid Blyton and involved the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and their dog Timmy. Revolving almost entirely around their school holidays, for some reason there was a plethora of treasure and criminals all based around their tiny island home.
This has nothing to do with wildlife (apart from Timmy), but just thought we’d mention it.
Secret Seven
Funnily enough, also a book series by Enid Blyton. That aside, it is also the name given to a group of animals that are exceedingly hard to spot due to their secrecy, camouflage or nocturnal activities. This includes animals like the pangolin, the aardvark and the porcupine, each high on the list of ‘one day!’ for many experienced safari-goers. It also includes the spotted genet, the civet and the serval, high on the list of the “what is that?” for less experienced safari-goers. Finally, the African wild cat is often mistaken for a feral cat, except when you realise that feral cats aren’t a common thing in these parts of Africa like in the cities and wouldn’t choose to live in the middle of the Serengeti.
The Big Fifteen
Go big or go home: That is clearly the motto of the Galapagos Tourism Office who have jettisoned brevity with a massive list of iconic Galapagos animals that you ‘need’ to see. This includes the Galapagos Albatross, three species of Booby (Blue-Footed, Nazca, Red-Footed), the American flamingo, the Flightless Cormorant and the Galapagos Hawk. It also includes the cheat umbrella use of “Frigatebirds”, which includes the obviously self-named “Great” and “Magnificent” varieties. This fifteen also includes animals that aren’t birds like three species of iguana (Land, Marine and Santa Fe Land), the Galapagos Penguin, the Galapagos Sea Lion, the Galapagos Fur Seal and the iconic Galapagos Giant Tortoise.
It’s obviously a list from the same marketing agency that decided to put the word “Galapagos” in front of almost every animal. Branding matters!
The Society Lists
These are the ones that we have made up, for your consideration.
Cute Quartet
The cute African animals that we always love to see. This includes the very vocal Dwarf Mongoose, the languid Three-toed Sloth, the haughty Adelie penguin and the nocturnal Bushbaby.
Forgotten Five
These are the animals that, because of the Big Five press, most people forget about until they get there and see them and go “Oh, yeah, I did want to see those!”. This includes the iconic zebra as well as others like the Hippopotamus, Ostrich, Nile Crocodile and the Warthog.
The False Five
These are the mistakes that always give false hope to tourists looking for animals. See if you can collect all five! This list includes the Rocknosaurus, the Giraffe Tree, the Lion Bush, the Termite Mound Elephant and the Logodile.
Spread out six
Iconic animals from across the world, each living in different environments. This list requires time and patience (and a budget). It includes the Gorilla and Meerkat from Africa, the Puma and Capybara from South America and the King Penguin and Galapagos tortoise from far-flung islands in the ocean. Optional advanced difficulty would include the Emperor Penguin in place of the King.
The “Not A” Six
These are the animals that always receive corrections. This includes the Guarnarco (”not a llama”), the Orca (”not a whale”), the Wild Dog (”not a hyena”), the serval (”not a cheetah”), the buffalo (”not a water buffalo”) and the panther (”not a real animal but merely a melanistic version of a leopard or jaguar”).
Cincocat
The five big cat species of the southern hemisphere. This includes the lion, leopard, and cheetah in Africa as well as the puma and jaguar from South America. The leopard, jaguar and puma have many similarities whereas the cheetah and lion sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Decacat
Really stretching the premise, these are the top 10 cat species of the southern hemisphere. Joining the Cincocat species are the Serval, Caracal and African Wildcat from Africa and the Ocelot and Jaguarundi from South America.
What lists would you add?
