Big 5 Safaris in Africa

The Big 5 is an old hunters' phrase for lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino that safari travellers kept because it is a useful shorthand for the great parks where all five still live. A Big 5 safari with Safari Continents Travel is a route built around those parks, with enough nights in each to give the drives a fair chance.

Days follow the animals' hours. A morning drive leaves before sunrise, a long break covers the heat of the day, and an afternoon drive runs into the first hour of dark, when a spotlight picks out the species that only move at night. Guides read tracks and listen to the radio, but nothing is staged. A sighting is never promised, which is exactly why a good one stays with you.

Southern Africa is the heartland. The private reserves on the Kruger's western edge, Sabi Sands and Timbavati among them, allow off-road driving and night drives, and their guides have decades of leopard knowledge between them. Botswana adds Chobe's elephant herds and the Okavango's water, and Zimbabwe's Hwange and Mana Pools bring big, quiet parks with few vehicles.

East Africa offers the open-grassland version: the Masai Mara and the Serengeti, where lion prides and the migrating herds share the plains, Ngorongoro Crater with its resident black rhino, and Kenya's conservancies in Laikipia, which have become known for their rhino work and their low vehicle numbers.

Each itinerary below names its parks, its camps and the nights in each. Park and conservancy fees are included in the published per-person rate. Pick the one with the parks you want, then ask for a quote. The quote comes before any payment.