The Rhino or Rhinoceros is another of the “big five” and is in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of the species in this family are native to Africa and three to southern Asia. The three species that are most endangered are the Javan Rhino, Sumatran Rhino and The Black Rhinoceros. The Indian Rhino is also endangered with less than 2700 remaining in the wild. The White Rhino is registered as vulnerable with around 14,500 remaining in the wild.

The Rhinoceros family is branded by the large size and all of the species are capable of achieving a weight of around a ton or more. They have a herbivorous diet and a thick protective skin that is around 1.5 – 5 cm thick and the skin is formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure and is highly impenetrable when compared with other animals. They have relatively small brains for mammals of their size – around 400 – 600 grams) and of course the large horn.

They generally eat leafy substances although their ability to ferment food in their gut means they can eat more fibrous plant matter if need be. (more…)

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One of the most famous of the “big five”, the Lion or Panthera Leo is a member of the family Felidae and is one of the four big cats in the Panthera genus. Large males can exceed 250kg in weight and it is the second largest living cat after the Tiger.

Lions in their natural habitat currently live in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia and have a critically endangered population in northwest India. They used to live in North Africa, the Middle East and Western Asia but have all been wiped out since.

About 10,000 years ago the lion was the most widespread large land mammal besides humans and they were found in most of Africa, much of Eurasia from Western Europe to India and in the Americas from the Yukon to Peru.

Being a lion cub is actually quite hard however, lionesses in secure habitat such as Kruger National Park may frequently reach an age of 12-14 years old whereas lions seldom live longer than 8 years. (more…)

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Another big cat of the “big five” is the Leopard or Panthera Pardus which is a mammal of the Felidae family and is the smallest of the four big cats of the genus Panthera, which includes the Tiger, Lion and Jaguar along with the Leopard. The Leopard was once seen across southern Eurasia and Africa as well as Korea, Spain and of course South Africa but it has since disappeared and now mainly resides in sub-Saharan Africa much like the Lion.

The Leopard can be seen in other places such as Israel, Indochina, Malaysia and western China but always in very small populations. Despite the continued population decrease this cat remains a lesser concern for conservationists mainly because its numbers are far greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns. The Leopard is famous for its spots and these cats have relatively short legs and a long body and usually a massive skull. Physically it most closely resembles the Jaguar although it is usually smaller with more delicate features. (more…)

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The African lion is fabled as the King of the African Jungle. On a recent vacation to the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya, I was awed at the sheer respect that the African lion commands. It was one of the most rewarding trips in all my wildlife safari vacations.

It was the morning a day after our arrival at Olarro Camp located in the Maasai Mara, one of the best animal safari destinations in Africa. We departed camp at around 6.00am in the morning for our much awaited morning game drive. Our Maasai guide, Sammy, and the camp manager Sean packed us in their open Land rover truck and off we went on a popular game track. We were pleasantly surprised at Sammys spotting prowess that, less than a kilometer from camp, had already spotted a lone male cheetah. Probably on its early morning hunting stakeout, the cheetah wasnt very amused at our unwelcome intrusion and trudged along grudgingly.

The mating Lions
Off we went to look out for the elusive lions in the short savannah brush. We were negotiating a blind corner when ..Wham a pride of 3 young males in the company of a lone female. The minute I spotted the lions, I knew this is not the situation you want to seem too intrusive. One seemingly larger male Lion with a slightly darkening mane was separated from other 2 young and was busy courting a Lioness.

(more…)

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One of the best known “big five” is the Elephant which is part of the Proboscidea family and is the class of Mammalia. They were once classified along with other thick skinned animals in a now invalid order, Pachydermata.

At the moment there are three living species – the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant. Mammoths of course are part of the same family, however since the last ice age around 10,000 years a go they have become extinct.  At that time the Mammoth was the largest land animal alive but today it is the Elephant. An Elephants gestation period is around 22 months and this is the longest of any land animal. At birth an elephant calf is commonly around 120 kg in weight and can live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer.

Many people are aware that Elephants are big animals but the largest recorded elephant that was shot in Angola in 1956 was male and weight an astonishing 12,000 kg! It’s shoulder height was 4.2 meters which is about 1 meter taller than the average male African Elephant. (more…)

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The Cape Buffalo may be more commonly known as the African Buffalo and is a bovid from the family of the Bovidae. Generally Savanna type buffalos are up to 1.6meters high and 3 meters long and weigh around 500-900 kg – males are usually bigger than the females and are the only gender to reach the high end of the weight range whereas Forest type buffalos are only half the size of savanna buffalos.

The African Buffalo is commonly mistaken for being related to the slightly larger water buffalo but actually its ancestry is unclear to this day.

The African Buffalo is one of the most successful grazers in Africa and they generally live in swamps, floodplains as well as mopane grasslands and forests of the major mountains of Africa.
Buffalos are adaptable and can live in a variety of areas from the highest mountains to sea level areas but they prefer habitats with dense cover such as reeds and thickets. Herds have also been found in open woodland and grassland. (more…)

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Luangwa River is situated in a valley with three national parks and South Luangwa National Park is the southernmost of the three. It’s renowned throughout the world for being a wildlife haven and supports large populations of African animals including the Thorneycroft Giraffe, Elephants and Buffalo. The rivers in the parks are also home to large herds of Hippo’s and Crocodiles.

Africa is well known for its Safaris and this park in particular is known for walking safaris. It was founded as a game reserve in 1938 and became a national park in 1972. The park itself covers around 9,000 km squared of land.

The park is situated mainly on the western bank of the river and it’s north western boundary is formed by the Northern and Central Provinces of the Muchinga Escarpment. Making up two ecoregions, both of which are woodland savannah, the higher slopes are dominated by the Miombo tree because the Mopane trees that are dominant on the lower elevations are more tolerant to the higher temperatures and lower rainfall.
Zebra’s and Giraffe’s are found in large herds in these woodland savannahs due to the larger patches of grassland that can be found for the grazing animals. (more…)

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