“Keep your eyes peeled for zorrilla,” says safari guide Barend Lamprecht as we summit a ridge overlooking Laikipia Wilderness Camp in Kenya.
Have I heard him right? We’re almost 1000 kilometres from the rainforest habitat of Central Africa’s mountain gorillas, and further still from their western lowland cousins secreted within the folds of the Congo Basin.
“Not gorillas,” Lamprecht says, noting my befuddlement. “Zorrillas – African polecats. You tell people ‘zorrilla’, they think it’s huge. It’s not very big, but it’s very special.”
A zorrilla – also called the African polecat.Getty Images
In the end, we don’t see these black-and-white-striped, skunk-like creatures. Our curiosity is assuaged by lapis-breasted vulturine guinea fowls, flaxen-eared jackal cubs and a black eagle scouting for hyraxes.
We see striped hyenas, diminutive dik-diks, a Goliath heron perched on a riverbank peering at its reflection. Finally, we find the animal I’ve travelled here in the hope of seeing: a melanistic leopard – a particularly rarefied member of that holy grail, the Big Five.
It’s a triumphant moment, but her appearance doesn’t diminish the joy those other creatures have kindled. As Satao Camp guide Nganba Malingi later tells me, “You don’t exhaust nature – it’s always fascinating.”
But these enchantments of nature are often overlooked in the quest for the “perfect safari”, a modern-day hunt for Africa’s Big Five: lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos. The designation itself has ignominious origins; the motley group was gifted the collective moniker by colonial-era trophy hunters, who declared them to be more dangerous and difficult to hunt on foot than any other game.
White rhino.
By and large the hunters prevailed, thereby hastening the depletion of some of Africa’s most formidable creatures. Their reward? Assorted trophies – tusks, pelts, horns, stuffed heads – and a perception of victory.
Conservation has largely supplanted hunting, and the “Big Five” honorific is now used extensively in safari marketing campaigns. Thrilling as it is to spot these “biggies”, the PR blitz has had unintended implications. It encourages unreasonable expectations, leads to overtourism in places where the Big Five are present, and diminishes the thrill of seeing common or less-familiar wildlife.
Neither ecosystem nor safari can exist without the presence of an exhaustive supporting cast of equally charismatic creatures.
As an antidote to the lionisation (pun intended) of the Big Five safari celebrities, here, with guidance from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, is a sampling of African wildlife that deserves a share of the spotlight.
African wild dog or painted dog
African wild or “painted” dog.Getty Images
Where Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, where 210 individual adults were counted last year (2024). There are also scattered populations in Southern, East, Central and West Africa.
Status Endangered
Tell me more Veteran safari-goers prize rare encounters with “painted dogs”, an experience that’s becoming more common thanks to the gradual comeback of these once-endangered carnivores. Rotund ears crown their patrician faces, tortoiseshell-daubed coats flash gold, black and white as they race across the bushveld in packs of 30 or more. The real treat is spotting puppies: ears protruding like satellite dishes from their tiny heads, they yap and clamour as female members of the matriarchal clan regurgitate into their mouths the first bites of a fresh kill. The dogs’ numbers and range have shrunk dramatically over the decades; fewer than 7000 remain across 14 countries, according to the not-for-profit Painted Dogs Conservation.
Start spotting Wild dogs are most active at sunrise and sunset; the denning season, when pups are born, runs from about April to August. Stay at Somalisa Camp in Hwange, where wild dog sightings are a possibility, on a tailored Classic Safari Company journey. See classicsafaricompany.com.au
Grevy’s zebra
Kenya’s Grevy’s zebra.Getty Images
Where Laikipia, Kenya is home to a large share of the country’s Grevy’s population. Their range also extends to parts of Ethiopia.
Status Endangered, but it faces a “very high risk of extinction in the wild” due to the rapid decline in population caused in part by habitat loss, reduction of water sources and hunting, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
Tell me more Where common plains zebras dazzle, Grevy’s zebras stun. Though they’re the largest of the equid family, their heft is counterbalanced by cartoonish ears and stripes so delicate they seem to have been hand drawn with a quill. Their name is borrowed from 19th-century French President Jules Grevy, who was gifted a noble specimen by Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in 1882. Most of the 3000 remaining Grevy’s zebras – down from a population of 15,000 in the late 1970s – are found in Kenya. The KWS is working with the Grevy’s Zebra Trust and other organisations to reverse their decline.
Start spotting You’ll see Grevy’s zebra congregating around waterholes at dawn and dusk during the dry season from June to October and December to March. They’re one of the attractions on Bench Africa’s three-day itinerary in Kenya’s Laikipia Wilderness Camp stay. See benchafrica.com
Western lowland gorilla
Western lowland gorilla… “An encounter with these gorillas transcends the usual safari sighting.”Alamy
Where Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, where habituated gorillas can be tracked. Their range extends across central-west Africa’s rainforests.
Status Critically endangered
Tell me more Long overshadowed by the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and Uganda (which also range into the Democratic Republic of Congo), these slightly smaller apes are making a gradual recovery in Odzala-Kokoua National Park after an outbreak of Ebola almost wiped them out in the early 2000s. Just a handful are habituated for human encounters, making them one of the most exclusive wildlife sightings on the safari circuit. Led by a tracker and a guide, visitors must plunge through the undergrowth searching for these gentle, contemplative creatures. An encounter with these gorillas transcends the usual safari sighting: lock eyes with a silverback, and you’ll feel your souls connect.
Start spotting The gorillas remain in their range throughout the year, but the equatorial weather is marginally more bearable for visitors during the so-called dry season (December to March and June to September). The Classic Safari Company’s 12-night Congo Odzala Odyssey with Kamba includes guided gorilla treks. See classicsafaricompany.com.au
Gerenuk
Gerenuk… “Just when you’ve come to terms with the gerenuk’s peculiar appearance, it turns bipedal, standing on hind-legs and pulling its forelegs against its chest meerkat-style.″Getty Images
Where Tsavo National Park in Kenya, which is home to a stable population. Their range also encompasses the Horn of Africa and Tanzania.
Status Near threatened
Tell me more Where giraffes made those trophy hunters do a double-take, this giraffe-necked gazelle would have left them utterly bamboozled. Appearing from a distance to be a springbok (to whom it’s related), this arid-region dweller distinguishes itself upon closer inspection with a llama-like neck, a goggle-eyed, purse-lipped face, and in males, a large crown of lyre-shaped horns. Just when you’ve come to terms with the gerenuk’s peculiar appearance, it turns bipedal, standing on hind-legs and pulling its forelegs against its chest meerkat-style, or resting them against the branches as it browses the succulent leaves that keep it hydrated. This balancing act is perfected at a young age: fawns raised in captivity have been recorded attempting to stand on their hind legs at just two weeks’ old.
Start spotting Gerenuks range across the Horn of Africa and south into parts of Kenya and Tanzania. They can be seen throughout the year, and usually browse during the cooler times of day. Bench Africa’s 10-day Classic Kenya safari includes visits to Tsavo East and Amboseli national parks, which are within the gerenuk’s range. See benchafrica.com
Shoebill
A shoebill stands guard as vultures fight over a carcass Alamy
Where Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia, where members of the community are employed as 24-hour guardians during peak nesting season. Small populations can also be found along a narrow vertical band of Central-East Africa.
Status Vulnerable
Tell me more Wearing permanent frowns above bills that appear to be armour-plated, these dodo-like birds can grow to the height of an adult human. Their imposing size is unfortunately no protection against human interference: eggs and chicks are frequently victims of the illegal wildlife trade, and though shoebills can lay multiple eggs, they typically raise only one chick to maturity. Help is now (quite literally) at hand with the establishment of the Shoebill Captive Rearing and Rehabilitation Facility at the African Parks-managed Bangweulu Wetlands in north-western Zambia. Here, conservationists remove the surplus eggs or chicks from the nest, hand-raise the fledglings using “surrogate” hand-puppets, and release them into the wild.
Start spotting Bangweulu is submerged during the rainy season, from February to April; the dry season falls between August and December. Shoebill Island Camp opens at the beginning of May. See africanparks.org
Cheetah
Cheetahs play-fighting, Karoo Reserve.
Where Samara Karoo Reserve, South Africa, where cheetahs have been reintroduced after becoming locally extinct. Populations still inhabit parts of Southern, East and North Africa.
Status Vulnerable
Tell me more The most surprising sound you’ll hear on safari is a cheetah’s call – more mewling kitten or chirping bird than steel-jawed, speed-of-lightning sprinter. These lean felines are the underdogs among Africa’s Big Cats, despite holding the record as the world’s fastest animal on land. But those black tear lines running down their faces don’t imply self-pity; the species is now thriving in South Africa’s Eastern Cape after being eradicated in the 19th century. In 2004, cheetah returned to the Karoo for the first time in 130 years after Sybella, a female rescued from a hunting dog attack in North West Province, was released here. Two males joined her, and she reared 19 cubs before her death at the old age of 14 in 2015.
Start spotting Cheetah sightings are most likely at dawn and dusk; they can be viewed year-round on game drives, and on Samara Karoo Reserve’s on-foot cheetah tracking experience. The Africa Safari Co’s six-night, self-drive Discover the Karoo safari includes a stay at the reserve’s lodge. See africasafarico.com.au.
Lilac-breasted roller
Striking … a lilac-breasted roller.Getty Images
Where Kruger National Park, South Africa. They are also plentiful throughout Southern and East Africa.
Status Least concern
Tell me more These flamboyant, gemstone-hued birds are a counterpoint to the LBJs (“little brown jobs”) that too often blend into the bush. During the breeding season (May to mid-September) they perform dizzying aerobatic swoops and rolls, their feathers whizzing by in a psychedelic spray of pink, green, turquoise and lapis lazuli. They are common across Southern and East Africa, but it’s their beauty rather than their ubiquity that has led to them being declared “Africa’s most photographed bird”. Be patient as they perch on dead trees, and you might get to snap their lift-off: a dramatic revelation of the electric-blue undersides of their half-metre-wide wings.
Start spotting You’ll see these rollers throughout the day, resting atop trees, streaking the sky or disappearing into tree hollows repurposed as nests. Pack your binoculars for World Expeditions’ four-day Kruger Lodge Safari, which includes guided walking safaris and game drives. See worldexpeditions.com
Warthog
A warthog in Kruger National Park, South Africa.iStock
Where Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. Safari-goers will be pleased to hear they are widespread across sub-Saharan Africa.
Status Least concern
Tell me more If warthogs were dogs, they’d swish-swash through the scrub with furiously wagging tails. Instead, those tails stand alert as antennae as they whiz along with nary a care in the world. Their uncomplicated conservation status is reflected in their cheeky, carefree personalities, which came to global attention in the blockbuster movie The Lion King. “Hakuna matata” (“there are no troubles”, in Swahili), sings Pumbaa the warthog with his meerkat friend, Timon. But warthogs’ affable appearance belies a feisty side: they’re not averse to charging predators three times their size. Wart-faced, prickly haired and stumpy-tusked, these upbeat characters delight onlookers as they kneel to dig for bulbs and roots, wallow in mud and snuggle into abandoned burrows to sleep.
Start spotting Warthogs make regular appearances throughout the day, no matter the season. For possible campsite encounters, try a seven-night mobile camping safari through Botswana’s Savuti and Moremi Game Reserve with Classified Safaris. See classifiedsafarisbw.com
Giraffe
A Namibian giraffe in Etosha National Park.Getty Images
Where Etosha National Park in Namibia, home to the Angolan giraffe, a subspecies of the southern giraffe. Other species can be found in Southern, East and Central-West Africa.
Status Vulnerable, but the Giraffe Conservation Foundation’s State of Giraffe 2025 report says three of the four distinct giraffe species (northern, southern and reticulated) are increasing in number. The Masai giraffe population is stable.
Tell me more Can you imagine those trophy hunters clapping eyes on a giraffe for the first time? It sails through the thickets, neck towering like a wobbly mast above the ocean of leaves, bony head balancing at its apex, pelt decorated in lopsided mosaics. This is surely the most improbable of creatures, a disproportionate cartoon character set down in the bushveld on impossibly precipitous legs. Like warthogs, these apparently serene animals are not to be messed with. They have a mean kick, and when threatened have been known to kill humans. Stay seated in the Landcruiser (or remain at a distance on a walking safari), and crane your neck to see the world’s tallest terrestrial animal wrapping its purple, prehensile tongue around thorny branches.
Start spotting Dawn and dusk waterhole pit stops can reward with views of giraffe awkwardly manoeuvring into position to drink. Spot the Angolan giraffe, a subspecies of the southern giraffe, on Intrepid’s 10-day Premium Namibia tour. See intrepidtravel.com.au
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee trekking… Great Lakes Safaris’ Primate Lodge Kibale is inside Kibale National Park, Uganda.
Where Kibale National Park in Uganda, where habituated troops can be tracked. Their range extends across West and Central Africa.
Status Endangered
Tell me more Our closest relatives (besides the bonobo) mirror the best and worst of human traits: they depend on loving social contact, mourn deceased family members and sometimes engage in vicious conflict. Chimpanzee behaviour was intimately documented by primatologist Dr Jane Goodall during her time at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania; her subjects’ Ugandan cousins display a snapshot of her findings on chimp tracking hikes led by experienced guides and trackers in Kibale. You might see these capricious creatures rampaging through the canopies, or reclining blissfully in the crook of a tree.
Adult chimp, Kibale National Park, Uganda.Getty Images
Start spotting Chimp-tracking expeditions operate throughout the year, but forest trails are easier to navigate during the dry season (January and February, June and July). Great Lakes Safaris’ Primate Lodge Kibale is inside Kibale National Park; activities include chimp tracking, chimp habituation experiences and nocturnal forest walks. See greatlakessafaris.com
See iucnredlist.org
Counting down the Big Five
Elephant
Elephants… endangered but abundant in certain regions.Getty Images
The African elephant’s heft is incongruous with its gentle demeanour, and its ability to slip through the bush with barely a whisper. But don’t ever agitate an elephant: protective mothers, bulls in musth and herds pursued by poachers or trophy hunters can turn deadly. Prized for their ivory tusks, they’re listed as endangered but are abundant in certain regions.
Lion
King of the Jungle.
Behind every golden-maned king of the jungle is a harem of females that brings home the lion’s share of the bacon (read: antelope) while raising successive litters of cubs. Young Masai men once hunted lions to mark their coming of age; today they safeguard these vulnerable-listed big cats in the name of conservation and tourism.
Leopard
Leopard… hard to spot.Getty Images
The most introverted member of the Big Five is so elusive that it’s able to slip through cities without anyone knowing. No such luck in pastoral regions, where their tendency to prey on livestock has historically prompted farmers to exterminate them. Along with habitat loss and a reduction in the availability of small prey, this human-wildlife conflict has earned them a “vulnerable” listing – one step away from endangered.
Rhino
A threatened species … the rhinoceros.iStock
Such is the plight of critically endangered black rhinos and threatened white rhinos, safari-goers are advised to disable geotagging on their cameras so as not to alert poachers to their precise location. The illegal trade in their keratin-rich horns has decimated 8000 African rhinos in the past decade, according to the Save the Rhino organisation. Conservationists are helping the population to recover through initiatives such as dehorning, translocations and anti-wildlife crime advocacy.
Buffalo
African Cape buffalo.Getty Images
They might look like droopy-eyed, dim-witted, mud-spattered cattle, but these near threatened bovids – also known as Cape buffalo – are the most notorious of the Big Five. When threatened, they tilt their heads and aim their looped, scimitar-sharp horns at the object of their vexation. About 200 people are killed by buffaloes in Africa each year.
… and then there’s the Small Five
Elephant shrew
Imagine a mouse-like creature with an elephantine snout, and you’ll have an approximation of the elephant shrew. Also known as sengi, these littlies are actually more closely related to elephants, aardvarks (whom they also resemble) and sea cows than shrews.
Ant lion
Where lions have powerful jaws, the tiniest of the Little Five sport mean-looking pincers during the larval stage, and leave behind whimsical tracings as they scurry across the sand. The spiky, fearsome-looking larvae become airborne when the “ants” metamorphose into gauzy lacewings.
Leopard tortoise
If you squint, this tortoise’s patterned shell resembles a leopard’s rosette-imprinted pelt. They’re abundant and sluggish enough for regular sightings; if you’re on a self-drive safari be alert for potential collisions with these slowcoaches.
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Rhino beetle
Regarded as the “Hercules” of the beetle kingdom, these insects are said to be able to support up to 850 times their own weight. Their “horns” are proportionately larger than those of the rhino; males lock horns during the many combats that arise between them in the mating season.
Buffalo weaver
It’s easy to spot these rowdy birds in the company of their Big Five namesakes: hitching rides on Cape buffaloes’ backs, they peck at the insects buried in their coats. The buffalo weavers’ nests are also easily identifiable: built to accommodate an entire flock, they overflow shambolically from tree notches and powerlines.