Big 5 or Bust?

Something that always amazes me is the mod­ern day traveller’s over­whelm­ing desire to spot the Big 5. This is not to say that I don’t appre­ci­ate such a sight­ing and rel­ish every moment watch­ing Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo and (for me, the as yet unseen) Leopard in the wild, but when lucky enough to spend some time in South African Game Reserves, any sight­ing fills me with joy ...

On a game drive in a private Big 5 reserve recently, I was dis­ap­poin­ted to find that our game ranger was giv­ing pref­er­ence to these spe­cies, to the near exclu­sion, or rather, dis­missal of other game spe­cies. There were 3 couples in the vehicle, one of which were first-time vis­it­ors from the USA. Speeding past numer­ous spe­cies of Antelope, Warthog and count­less birds, we tracked lion (though it felt more like chased) for more than half of the game drive. Sadly, it seems as though our mod­ern approach to life is rub­bing off on our wild­est and most pre­served areas. Get in, get out – tick off as many spe­cies as pos­sible in as short a time as possible.

Can’t speak for every­one, but as a vis­itor this is not my inten­tion. Perhaps the most enjoy­able thing about being on a game drive, is the sense of time com­ing to a com­plete stop. Looking out at an untouched land­scape, tak­ing the time to watch a bird soar through the sky, appre­ci­ate a mag­ni­fi­cent sun­set and mar­vel at the num­ber of stars in the night sky – these are things, I regret to say, I find little time for in the city, but which leave me with a sense of well-being long after I’ve left.

I later saw check-in forms that had been com­pleted by guests vis­it­ing the game lodge, and under “What do you hope to see dur­ing your stay”, I was saddened to note “Big 5” scrawled on almost all of them. I can under­stand this desire, as find­ing the elu­sive Leopard has been added to my bucket list, but I feel these desires are start­ing to change the way game drives are handled by game rangers. Foreigners vis­it­ing our coun­try have more than likely never seen the “less in demand” spe­cies (except per­haps in a zoo) and I’d like us all to spend more time appre­ci­at­ing any spe­cies we’re lucky enough to come across.

To put my mind to rest that I’m not the only trav­eler who appre­ci­ates any sight­ing in a game reserve, I’m launch­ing another pho­to­graph­ers’ com­pet­i­tion. Submit your pho­to­graphs of any mam­mals, bird­life, rep­tiles or insects or any sun­sets, land­scapes, trees or even rocks that took your fancy, whilst vis­it­ing a game or nature reserve in South Africa. Find out more about the com­pet­i­tion at Photographers Competition November 2009.

Photographs: Not the Big 5 ...

Useful Links:
South Africa Wildlife
South Africa Birdlife
South Africa Game Reserves