What Are the Big Five Animals? Africa's Famous Safari List

Meet the Big Five

Weights vary widely with sex and population; males of all five are larger than females. “Rhino” in the Big Five covers both African species, the smaller black rhino and the much heavier white rhino.

Where does the term “Big Five” come from?

The phrase dates from the colonial era of big-game hunting in Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hunters used it for the five animals they regarded as the most dangerous to track and shoot on foot. Size was not the point: the leopard is far smaller than a hippo or a giraffe, yet it made the list because a wounded leopard was notoriously hard to find and quick to attack.

Over the second half of the 20th century, photographic safaris and wildlife tourism overtook hunting in most of Africa. The phrase stayed, but its meaning changed. Tour operators and parks now use “Big Five” to mean the iconic animals visitors hope to see and photograph. The five animals also appear on South Africa’s rand banknotes, one on each value.

Why each animal is on the list

• Lion. Africa’s largest predator, living in prides; dangerous mainly when surprised, cornered or wounded.
• Leopard. Solitary, secretive and mostly nocturnal, which made it difficult and dangerous to follow into cover.
• Elephant. The largest land animal, able to charge when threatened, especially mothers protecting calves.
• Rhinoceros. Heavy and fast, with poor eyesight; the black rhino in particular has a reputation for short-tempered charges.
• African buffalo. Huge, fast and quick to defend itself, especially lone old bulls. Read more in Why are Cape buffalo so dangerous?.

The hippopotamus, crocodile and cheetah are popular safari animals too, but they were never part of the traditional list.

Where can you see all five?

You need a park or reserve with healthy populations of all five, and that is harder than it sounds, because rhinos are scarce in many places and some parks lack one or more of the animals. Well-known places to see the Big Five include:

• Kruger National Park and the neighboring private reserves, South Africa. Probably the most famous Big Five destination, with good roads and many lodges. Private reserves such as Sabi Sand are known for leopard sightings.
• Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa. Historically important for saving the white rhino.
• Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. Famous for its elephants, with lions and rhinos also present.
• Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. One of the few places in East Africa where black rhinos are seen fairly reliably.
• Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Excellent for lions, leopards, elephants and buffalo; rhinos are present but rarer.
• Akagera National Park, Rwanda. A conservation success story: lions were reintroduced in 2015 and black rhinos in 2017.

Some well-known parks are missing a member. Namibia’s Etosha National Park, for example, has elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos but no buffalo. Leopards are the hardest to find almost everywhere, so a game drive at dawn or dusk with an experienced guide gives the best chance.

Big Five conservation today

All five animals face serious threats, mainly habitat loss, poaching and conflict with people. Rhinos have been hit hardest: poaching for their horns pushed the black rhino to the brink in the late 20th century, and it is still listed as Critically Endangered. The African bush elephant was listed as Endangered in 2021 because of ivory poaching and habitat loss, and both lions and leopards have lost most of their former range in Africa.

Tourism helps. Visitors who come to see the Big Five bring money and jobs to parks and nearby communities, which gives people a direct reason to protect wildlife.

The Little Five and other “fives”

Guides like playing with the name. The Little Five are small animals named after the big ones:

• Elephant shrew (sengi), a small insect-eater with a long, flexible nose.
• Leopard tortoise, whose shell has a spotted pattern.
• Rhinoceros beetle, males of which have a horn on the head.
• Buffalo weaver, a bird that builds large, messy communal nests.
• Antlion, an insect whose larvae dig cone-shaped pits in sand to trap ants.

Some guides also talk about the “Ugly Five,” a tongue-in-cheek list that usually includes the spotted hyena, the vulture, the marabou stork, the warthog and the wildebeest.