Hmmmm…Is This Lion Smiling Or…?

That is certainly a devilish smile I captured from a Lion one day on safari.

I have another look at our recent African safari adventures: which included many interactions with Lions like this one…as well as a Hippo encounter as well:

With so many incredible animals to showcase, I thought I would take a step back to talk about something a bit more serious:

Retiring The “Big 5” Standard…

OK, a note about safari tourism: one thing you quickly learn on your first safari is that everyone wants to see “The Big 5”: it’s what everyone talks about seeing….but my wife Alex and I decided not to use the phrase “big 5” as it referenced animals that were the hardest to kill by Hunters – a long discouraged form of Safari tourism and certainly not how we want to categorize them. We decided “magnificent seven” was better, but even that didn’t capture all that we loved…check out all of the incredible creatures we met!

The magnificent Lion is certainly the most coveted – and I will be sharing the story behind this wild lip licking encounter soon…as well as the story of thee guys lounging in the savannah:

So much more to come with these guys…but while Lions are incredible, there are so many other animals to see, like the Leopard, elusive and solitary – but we found one up in a tree surveying the landscape:

We also had a number of terrific Elephant encounters, the third incredible Safari animal on our magnificent seven list…enjoy!

Another of the original five is this guy – considered one of the most dangerous safari animals:

The African Buffalo doesn’t like to be bothered and will attack without caution, and then here’s one of the most endangered species, a white Rhino:

The Rhino was the last of the original top five, but there are many more! First, I had to add this guy to the list:

Giraffes are my spirit animal…I could watch them chew their food and eye me warily for hours! More on them soon….then add the elusive Wild Dogs to the list, which we saw twice:

And what about the Warthog?

Those fangs look like an old-time mustache! They do NOT like cameras, so you get short bursts of them like this:

Another elusive cat is the Cheetah, which we tracked one day in a very memorable encounter:

And what about the Zebra, which roam freely in large groups and offer many great photo ops like this one:

Oh, don’t forget the Baboons that sit on your porch and will steal anything left unattended…and so many birds like this one, playing a game of leap frog:

So many incredible creatures to discuss, and I haven’t even mentioned the Hippo again!

So you see, the “magnificent seven” is also far too limiting! I will have stories on each of these incredible safari creatures, like I did when I shared our Leopard sighting:

You can see more video and inside info on this amazing cat…see that here:

I already shared a story about how they greeted us at Singita Boulders in South Africa on our first night, plus a look at the festive food welcome we got when we arrived…see it here!

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Categories: Africa, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir

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