The term Big5 originates from the world of professional hunters, and relate to the fact that they deemed these animals the most challenging to hunt.
The safari tourism marketers, and travel agents, were quick to push the simple-to-sell Big5 idea. In fact the term “Big5” is so over-used that most safari guests struggle to name all the constituents. So here they are: Elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and the rhino.
But they are not called Big5 because they are the “biggest”. A giraffe, or a hippo, are bigger than most of thee Big5 animals, and a crocodile is certainly more dangerous to a human than pretty much any of the Big5.
While the Big5 animals are undoubtedly beautiful and interesting, the obsession, and often true belief that African nature consists just of them and that nothign else is worth travelling, is deeply misleading, and will reduce the spectrum of what one can see in terms of African wildlife.
For xample: zebras, giraffes, impala, crocodiles, hyena, wild dogs, cheetahs, caracals, … these are only some of Africa’s equally fascinating, and beautiful animals, and I would argue that seeing a cheetah is infinitely more a gracious and memorable thing to experience than a buffalo. The same is true for the wild dog. The Moditlo Private game Reserve, is home to a breeding pack of wild dogs, which, with only an estimated surviving bunch of 2000 specimen in the whole of Africa, counts as one of the rarest carnivors in the world, and the second rarest in Africa. That’s why the reserve is not a Big5 reserve, as the buffalo, a TB disease carrier, would threaten the very survival of the wild dog. So the Moditlo Private Game Reserve is, for the moment, a Big 4 reserve.
This is something to keep in mind: Not everything that says “Big5” is best. Far from it. Our Big4 reserve is a good example of an extremely diverse, and, as many experts have found out, a much more diverse place wildlife-wise than most Big 5 places.
Here an example: the more lions a reserve has, the rarer cheetahs will be, and also wild dogs will be pushed out, as well as number of other predators. Lions may maximize the amount of bookings, but the true safari connoisseur will prefer to see a cheetah over a lion any day, and that is true for all rangers and conservationists as well.
So these are some of the animals that call the Moditlo Private Game Reeserve their home: lions, elephants, rhinos (now also black rhino!), hippos, giraffes, crococile, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, zebras, kudus, impala, wildebeest, hyena, and hundreds of other species, one more fascinating than the other.
The pure Big5 obsession is indeed not helpful to a fulfilling and rich safari experience in Africa. All animals are beautiful and equally interesting, and all just as worthy of protection, and of being admired, than any other.
Please click here if you want to see more details about our lodge and reserve: http://www.vuyanilodge.com/lodge.html
