Where to See the Big Five

The Lion King…

He-Lion (taken in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania)

For most people who go on safari in Africa, it’s all about the Big Five: lions, leopards, African bush elephants, black and white rhinoceroses and African (or Cape) buffaloes. Back in the days of big game hunting, those were the five most dangerous beasts, so hunters prized them as trophies to take back home and put on their walls.

Not many people do that these days (except dentists from Minnesota!), but wildlife photographers still focus most of their efforts on the Big Five. Seeing your first ever lion or leopard is a big deal, and people want to see pictures of them or buy prints for their homes.

So where should you go to see these animals in the wild? I’ve been to Africa more than any other continent, visiting Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. I also spent four months as the Resident Photographer at various lodges in Tanzania and Kenya.

All those countries offer the chance to see the Big Five, but not necessarily all of them in the same place. If you’re planning a safari, it’s worth knowing where you’re likely to see your favourite animals and, of course, when to visit to maximise your sightings.

If you want a detailed view of the major safari destinations in Africa, including a fact file on each country, you can read my Safari Destination Guide. In the meantime, here’s my advice on where to see the Big Five.

Lion

"No means no!" (taken in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania)

Best Countries

• Tanzania

• Kenya

Best Areas

• Western Corridor in Serengeti National Park

• Masai Mara National Reserve

If lions are at the top of your wish list, your best chance of seeing big prides is in the Western Serengeti. While I was working as the Resident Photographer for &Beyond, I spent a few weeks at Grumeti Serengeti Tented Camp (now Grumeti Serengeti River Lodge). There, I saw several prides of up to 56 individual lions, and I understand that the Super Pride of Namiri now consists of 62 members!

While I was there, I remember seeing a lioness walking with her cub before dawn. I followed her for a good two hours as she tried to rejoin her pride, and it was an amazing reunion when she finally found them and said hello to the 26 other lions by rubbing her head against theirs!

Quantity isn’t everything, though. Most people don’t want to see dozens of lions lying down in the shade. They want to see lions hunting, mating or nursing cubs. That’s the kind of thing that produces great wildlife photos, so you should try to find out as much as possible about the habits and composition of the local prides:

• How many males and females are there?

• How often do they hunt during the day?

• What’s their favourite or typical prey?

• Are there any mating pairs?

• How many cubs are there?

• How old are the cubs?

It’s possible to do some of that research online or by asking someone in advance, but it’s not too late to ask the same questions when you’ve actually arrived at your lodge or camp. There’s usually a welcome briefing, so feel free to ask questions of the manager, the guides and the other staff members.

In my experience, the best places to go for lions are the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. They’re essentially two parts of the same area, an enormous, grassy plain that spans the international border.

There are several advantages to going to Kenya and Tanzania:

• the sheer quantity of lions (out of 20-25, 000 in Africa, there are 850 to 900 in the Masai Mara National Reserve and surrounding conservancies and 3-4,000 in the Serengeti National Park)

• the lack of trees, making lions much easier to see and photograph, especially at sunrise and sunset

• the variety of topography, from the endless plains of the Serengeti and Masai Mara to the waters of Lake Manyara and Lake Nakuru, the silhouettes of Mount Kenya in Laikipia and Mount Kilimanjaro in Amboseli and the extinct volcano of the Ngorongoro Crater, now the largest intact caldera in the world

• the chance to see tree-climbing lions, especially at Lake Manyara.

If you go further afield to places like Namibia, you won’t see as many lions, but the appeal is that you might see desert-adapted animals against a spectacular, sandy backdrop. You also get lions in Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, but sightings tend to be much rarer as there are so many wooded areas.

South Africa is a special case. It’s a popular safari destination with paved roads and even cafés in the middle of Kruger National Park, but there are too many trees for my liking. The first time I entered Kruger, I just couldn’t believe how many there were. How could I possibly get any decent wildlife shots with so many trees in the way?!

There’s also the problem of self-drive visitors. There are so many tourists that sightings of lions and leopards tend to create traffic jams. You can’t drive off-road in the Kruger, so it’s hard to get close enough to the big cats.

Your best bet is to visit one of the private conservancies in the area adjoining Kruger National Park, known as Greater Kruger, where you can drive off-road and you’ll see far fewer visitors. I went to Timbavati and Sabi Sand in June 2024, and I saw all of the Big Five—but it was certainly a case of quality over quantity!

Leopard

"Is this close enough...?" (taken in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya)

Best Countries

• South Africa

• Kenya

• Tanzania

• Botswana

Best Areas

• Greater Kruger (MalaMala Game Reserve, Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, Sabi Sand, Londolozi Game Reserve)

• Masai Mara

• Serengeti

• Moremi Game Reserve

When I ask guests on safari what their favourite animal is, they usually say the leopard. Although there are far more leopards than lions in Africa (700,000 vs 20-25,000), they’re far harder to spot.

That gives them a certain cachet. There’s richness in rarity. In my experience, there’s a real thrill to seeing a leopard—even if it’s just lying in a tree doing nothing in particular!

Leopards are always hard to find, but you’ll probably see more in South Africa than anywhere else. When I was in Timbavati and Sabi Sand, I’d regularly see the same leopard on the same tree on successive game drives—which is not my usual experience on safari!

The only caveat is that you don’t get many sightings in South Africa. I remember my last morning game drive at Kings Camp. I was out in the bush for two whole hours, but I only saw one lion and a lilac-breasted roller!

If you’re after more than just leopards, you could try the Masai Mara or the Serengeti. The density of game there is phenomenal, especially during the Great Migration, and you’re bound to see a few leopards.

I had a bit of luck when I spent a week at Ol Jogi Wildlife Conservancy, a rhino sanctuary in Kenya. I didn’t see any cats at all during the first three days, but then my guide found a female leopard with a cub at White Rock, and I was able to go back and see them for four days in a row!

I’ve only ever seen leopard cubs in two places, so that was very special. Unfortunately, it’s not really something you can investigate, research or plan for—except in certain places. I’ve visited Kicheche Camps in the Masai Mara a few times with Paul Goldstein, and he’s very good at knowing where all the cats are.

There was a famous leopard called Fig a few years ago, and she had several litters of cubs, some of which have now had their own cubs. In fact, I’m going to Kicheche in a few days, so I hope I see them!

Another potential benefit of visiting Kenya is the chance to see a black panther. This is a melanistic variant of the leopard that can sometimes be entirely black. One famous female panther is named Giza, and the best place to see her is near Laikipia Wilderness Camp, about 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of Ol Pejeta.

Outside South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, your chances of seeing leopards will probably drop, but it’s very unpredictable. The first time I visited Botswana, I didn’t see a single leopard in three weeks. The next time, I saw leopards every day for a week!

Equally, I went to South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, as I’d heard it was a great place for leopards, but I only saw one in a fortnight. You never can tell…

Elephant

Dustbuster (taken from a boat on the Chobe River)

Best Countries

• Botswana

• Kenya

• Namibia

Best Areas

• Chobe National Park

• Amboseli National Park

• Aba Huab River, Palmwag etc

Of the 415,000 African bush elephants in the world, 132,000 are in Botswana—and 120,000 of them are in Chobe National Park. I’ve been to Chobe several times, first on a mobile safari in 2016 and then visiting Muchenje Safari Lodge on three separate, three-week trips in 2022 and 2024.

Funnily enough, I’m not a great fan of elephants. They may be the largest land mammals in the world, but unless they’re taking dust baths or they have young calves playing in the mud, I find it hard to get excited about photographing them. However, I have seen market research suggesting that the elephant is people’s favourite safari animal, so if you love elephants, the best place to go is definitely Botswana.

One of the good things about Botswana is the presence of water. In the south, you have the Okavango Delta while in the north, you have the Chobe River. For a number of reasons, water is great for elephant photography:

• It makes a good background.

• Elephants drink and interact with one another.

• Elephants swim or walk across the river.

• There are likely to be wallows where elephants can take mud or dust baths.

• Baby elephants play in the water and mud.

• You can go on boat rides as well as game drives to get closer to the elephants.

There may be a lot of elephants in Botswana, but they don’t generally have great ivory. If you’d prefer to see the big tuskers, you might be better off going to Amboseli National Park in Kenya, where you’ll be able to photograph them against the backdrop of a snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro.

Alternatively, if you want to see elephants amongst the sand dunes, you should go to Namibia. There, you have a chance of finding desert-adapted elephants in various places:

• Aba Huab River

• Palmwag Rhino Camp and Concession Area

• Puros and Hoarusib River

• Sesfontein and Hoanib River

• Twyfelfontein

• Ugab River

I didn’t see them myself when I went to Namibia, but they’re definitely on my bucket list…

Rhino

Eye of the Rhino (taken in Ol Jogi Wildlife Conservancy, Kenya)

Best Countries

• Kenya

• Namibia

• South Africa

Best Areas

• Ol Jogi Wildlife Conservancy

• Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

• Etosha National Park

• Timbavati Private Nature Reserve

Black and white rhinos are among the most difficult Big Five animals to see. White rhinos are grazers, and they get their name from the Afrikaans word ‘wyd’, meaning wide. Black rhinos are browsers, and they tend to be grumpier and far less approachable!

I don’t see rhinos very often in Africa, but that’s largely because I go to the ‘wrong’ places. When I visit Botswana, I never see rhinos, but when I went to Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Ol Jogi in Kenya and Etosha National Park in Namibia, I saw black and white rhinos every single day. In fact, I saw so many rhinos in Etosha (17 in one weekend) that I eventually didn’t bother stopping for them…!

If you’re on a limited budget, I hear you can see rhinos in Malawi at Majete Game Reserve, Liwonde National Park and Kasungu National Park. You can also find black rhinos in North Luangwa National Park in Zambia.

Finally, I should mention South Africa. The country is again a special case, this time because most of its rhinos are dehorned. To my mind, this is the most barbaric solution to poaching that’s ever been invented, and the first time I saw a dehorned rhino in Kruger National Park, I had to look away.

There are rhinos that haven’t been mutilated, but it’s hard to know where they are. It’s against South African law to publish their location, and when I asked someone to call one of the lodges in the Greater Kruger to find out if the local rhinos still had their horns, he couldn’t get an answer! In the end, I had to rely on the word of a guest who’d seen a mother and calf with her own eyes.

All that makes it a bit difficult to recommend anywhere in South Africa for rhinos, but a little bird tells me you might have some luck in Timbavati Private Nature Reserve or Madikwe Game Reserve. If I go any further, I’ll probably be banned from entering the country…!

Buffalo

Horn of Africa (taken near Kicheche Bush Camp, Kenya)

Best Countries

• Tanzania

• Kenya

• Botswana

• South Africa

Best Areas

• Katavi National Park

• Serengeti National Park

• Masai Mara National Reserve

• Duba Plains, Okavango Delta

• Kruger National Park

• Chobe National Park

The African buffalo (usually called the Cape buffalo) is probably the least glamorous of the Big Five—but it can be very dangerous. Sometimes referred to as ‘the Widowmaker’ or ‘the Black Death’, it’s killed more hunters in Africa than any other animal, and it’s currently responsible for the deaths of around 200 people a year.

I wouldn’t necessarily book a safari based on the likelihood of seeing buffalo. Once you’ve got a few close-ups of a male staring straight down the lens, it’s probably time to move on! However, if you’re a fan, there are plenty of places to see large herds of them in Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana and South Africa.

When I went to Klein’s Camp in Tanzania, there were dozens of Cape buffalo on the plain just below the lodge almost every day, and I’ve seen herds of hundreds of animals in various countries. Botswana is a good place to see them as they have a habit of grazing individually or in groups on Sedudu Island in the middle of the Chobe River.

All Five

Olympia (taken in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya)

Best Countries

• Tanzania

• Kenya

• South Africa

• Botswana

• Malawi

• Namibia

• Zimbabwe

Best Areas

• Serengeti National Park

• Masai Mara National Reserve

• Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

• Greater Kruger

• Madikwe Game Reserve

• Chobe National Park

• Okavango Delta

• Majete Game Reserve

• Etosha National Park

• North Luangwa

• Gonarezhou National Park

• Malilangwe Reserve

There are a handful of countries where it’s theoretically possible to see lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffaloes. They’re mostly found in the southern and eastern parts of Africa: Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

However, there’s a big difference between theory and practice. In the Masai Mara, I once saw all the Big Five in the space of an hour, but there are very few individual parks, reserves or private concessions where you can do that.

You can get round the problem by staying a few nights at different lodges, but shorter stays will reduce your chances of seeing your target animal at each location—unless you have the time and the budget for a marathon trip!

Perhaps it’s easier to explain with a few numbers. When I was at Klein’s Camp, the manager kindly gave me the sighting sheets from July 2018 to January 2019 so that I could work out the likelihood of seeing the Big Five (plus cheetahs, African wild dogs, servals, caracals and aardwolves).

Klein’s Camp isn’t necessarily one of the best places to go if you’re looking for as many wildlife sightings as possible, but it’ll still give you an idea of the relative frequency by species. You can see the full results by reading my Wildlife Sightings article, but here are a few highlights:

• There were 1,017 sightings of the Big Five over 215 days (or 4.7 per day)

• Lions were the most common sighting (312), followed by buffaloes (311), elephants (284), leopards (100) and rhinos (10).

• The chances of seeing a lion on any given day were 81% from July 2018 to January 2019 (from 52% in October 2018 to 93% the following month).

• The chances of seeing any big cat were 85% (from 55% in October 2018 to 100% the following month).

• The chances of seeing at least one of the Big Five were 87% (from 58% in October 2018 to 100% the following month).

• The chances of seeing all the Big Five on the same day were vanishingly small—only 0.93%! It only happened on two days, 1 and 10 October 2018.

Verdict

Dark Waters (taken in the Greater Kruger, South Africa)

If you’re desperate to see the Big Five, it’s probably best to go to one of the major safari destinations, such as the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, the Masai Mara in Kenya, the Okavango Delta in Botswana or the Greater Kruger in South Africa.

However, it’s important to think about your priorities. If you just want to tick the animals off a list, that’s fine, but you might have a different perspective. Most people don’t have unlimited time or money to spend on safaris, and it might very well be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. In that case, you might want to prioritise certain animals or certain experiences.

I go to Kicheche in Kenya for the cheetah hunts. I’ve seen a cheetah killing its prey every single time I’ve visited, so it has a great track record—if you like that sort of thing! I also go to Chobe in Botswana for the elephants, the birdlife and the boat rides—and because I get free accommodation!

Every lodge, every area, every country has its pros and cons, its strengths and weaknesses. If you do a little research, you should be able to find a destination that matches your preferences. Then it’s just a question of finding the best time to go…!

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