Spotting the Big Five in the Serengeti

The term "Big Five" refers to lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, and its roots are a little uncomfortable. Big-game hunters coined it for the five animals regarded as the most dangerous to pursue on foot. These days it's simply a benchmark for wildlife viewing, though the name's history is worth keeping in mind. Rhino is the real outlier among the five when it comes to difficulty. You'll rarely find one in the Serengeti proper, so if a rhino matters to you, the Ngorongoro Crater offers a much better practical chance, with one of Tanzania's few black rhino populations that visitors can reach. No leopard sighting is ever certain, but your odds rise sharply when your guide knows the riverside trees where particular leopards hold territory. Here, knowledge built up locally over time matters more to the outcome than luck. We also have guides focused on individual species: lions, leopards, rhino and elephants.