The phrase ‘the big five’ came about during the era of big game hunting, where lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino were the hardest to hunt – leopard being hard to find and all of them being dangerous. There was also great status and prestige in those days if you were able to return from your safari having been able to locate and kill one of these five animals.
Thankfully, we have, for the most part, come to our senses about senselessly killing wildlife. But the Big Five remain the animals to spot on your viewing safari.
The Little Five are the following: