Best places to see the Big Five

Last updated June 16th, 2023.

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The Big Five are synonymous with safaris, and safaris with the Big Five. While the great plains of Africa are teeming with wildlife, it’s these five animals that get much of the attention. So much so, that lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and Cape buffalo have become emblematic of the best safari destinations. No longer present right across the continent, these are the best places to see the Big Five.

1. Maasai Mara & Serengeti, Kenya & Tanzania

Head to either Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve or Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and you get two for the price of one.

Together these parks form an unfenced ecosystem. And it forms the quintessential place to see the Big Five in their natural habitats. It was in this region that the very phrase was coined.

All five species are present within the parks and their surrounding conservancies throughout the year. With the exception of rhino, they are relatively easy to spot on game drives too.

Poaching for their horn has had a huge impact on rhino. Numbers have dropped to a few tens of individuals as a result. The good news is that numbers are on the increase again. What’s more, the Maasai Mara is the only place in Kenya with an indigenous population of these gentle giants.

2. Kruger National Park, South Africa

Stretching much of the length of South Africa’s border with Mozambique towards Swaziland (eSwatini) is Kruger National Park.

It forms one of the largest areas of protected land on Earth, roughly equivalent to Wales or Belgium. Partly due to its size, the park has the largest number of mammal species of any in Africa, totalling 150.

When it comes to the Big Five, its herds of elephant have become so large that controversial culling took place as late as 1994.

Its black rhino population is equally buoyant, rising from 390 individuals in 2009 to roughly 600 the following year. Leopard and lion are both found in high numbers too, while Cape buffalo numbers are topping 40,000.

3. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana

Although Botswana’s Chobe National Park is probably its most famous Big Five destination, Moremi also has a lot going for it.

It lies on the northern third of the Okavango Delta, and has some of the densest populations of animals anywhere.

While costlier to explore than the likes of Kruger, which can be done in a private vehicle, Moremi is great value when compared to the private camps further south in the Okavango basin.

Here you can still get the dreamy Okavango experience of slipping silently through wetlands by way of mokoro traditional canoe too.

And while Moremi has each of the Big Five species, rhino are under severe pressure from poachers in the region. Visiting is probably the best way of stopping them in their tracks.

4. Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools is named after the lakes that form in the floodplain of the Zambezi River each year during and after the rains.

It’s located in the far north of the country, opposite Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park. As water gets scarer during the dry season, huge congregations of animals begin to form at the remaining pools. They include the Big Five among their number.

Although it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984 because of its unspoilt beauty, catching sight of all the Big Five is no easy task. Not only does the park cover a huge area, but its rhino population is incredibly small.

This shouldn’t put you off the chance of seeing its incredible list of species, including predators and prey sharing the same watercourses.

5. Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi

Malawi’s Majete Wildlife Reserve is one of the new kids on the block of Big Five safaris. Managed by conservation not-for-profit Africa Parks since 2003, it lies in the lower Shire River Valley (pronounced ‘shear’) in the country’s south.

Previously decimated by poaching, fencing, together with ranger patrols has meant no elephant or rhino has been lost since the takeover by Africa Parks. It has taken the title of Malawi’s first Big Five park when lions were translocated and introduced in 2012.

Since then Majete has become such a success its translocating elephants to other Malawian parks. It also provides job opportunities for hundreds of locals, preventing the need for poaching, logging, or charcoal production.

Other reasons to visit Majete Wildlife Reserve include its population of Cape Wild Dogs, one of the rarest animals on the African plains.

6. Best of the rest

The wildlife credentials of Etosha National Park in Namibia are also largely due to its permanent water sources.

Its ‘pans’ are a vital source of drinking water in an otherwise parched landscape. Etosha Pan, after which the park is named, spans an astonishing 1,800 square miles.

There’s therefore no shortage of wildlife viewing opportunities, although Big Five fans will be missing out as the last Cape buffalo was shot sometime in the middle of the twentieth century.

Likewise, South Luangwa National Park in Zambia is in many ways a fantastic safari destination, albeit without the chance of laying your eyes on one of the continent’s incredibly rare surviving rhinos.

Best places to see the Big Five

Sadly, it’s a mistake to think that any national park or protected area in Africa will contain populations of the Big Five. The best places to see the Big Five are few and far between.

However, with a little careful planning, it’s perfectly possible to tick of these majestic creatures at several destinations across the continent.