I heard the term “big five” used a lot while we were on safari: what the big five were, whether one had seen all of the big five, etc.
I soon found out that the big five game were the elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and rhino. It seemed a bit odd to me to single those animals out as had to see. Maybe it’s because I like giraffes. Moving on.
It wasn’t until I decided to put together this post of some Big Five pictures that I found out what the origin of the term is. It’s actually a hunting term — these animals were considered by hunters as the five most difficult animals to hunt in Africa on foot. Later the term was adopted by safari companies for marketing purposes. I suppose that explains why I was confused about why giraffes weren’t “big” enough to be in the group. It certainly explains all the big five magnets and postcards!
Be that as it may, since I gathered the pictures, here are some of my favorites of the big five from our trip.
Almost Never Clever 
Maybe Big 5 means “the big 5 thinks that could easily kill you.”
*things
Oh Natalie– these photos are incredible– and I know that they don’t even compare with the experience of actually being there! Wow, wow, wow. Thank you so much for sharing them here.