African wildlife

The big five—buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino—are only part of the amazing, and often endangered, animals seen on safari. Cheetah, wild dogs, hyena, oryx and bat-eared fox are sheer delights to spot on a game drive. Read more about these fascinating animals.

Aardvark — Aardvark

The aardvark is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Its appearance is somewhat similar to [...]

African buffalo — African buffalo

The African, also known as cape buffalo or congo buffalo, is a large, robust animal that is [...]

African caracal — African caracal

The caracal possesses an extended tuft of hair on the very top of its very large ears, which [...]

Baboon — Baboon

Baboons are extremely adaptable and can be found in a wide variety of terrains. In [...]

Bat-eared fox — Bat-eared fox

Bat-eared foxes have large, wide ears, a short narrow mouth and long, jackal-like legs. This [...]

Black mamba — Black mamba

The black mamba is a regular on the world’s top 10 deadliest snakes. It averages around [...]

Bushbaby — Bushbaby

.c1-ui-state-hover {background-color:yellow !important; padding:5px !important } Bushbabies, [...]

Chameleon — Chameleon

Chameleons are reptiles that form part of the lizard family. Over 150 species of chameleons [...]

Cheetah — Cheetah

Reaching speeds of 115 kp/h (70 mph), the cheetah is the fastest land animal. It can go from 0 [...]

Chimpanzee — Chimpanzee

Chimps are great apes, along with as gorillas, humans and orangutans. There is no hair on a [...]

Dik-dik — Dik-dik

The dik-dik is a tiny antelope that dwells within the bushlands of eastern and southern [...]

Eland — Eland

The eland is a large African antelope having a light brown or grayish coat and both sexes have [...]

Elephant — Elephant

Elephants are expansive warm blooded animals of the family Elephantidae and the order [...]

Fossa — Fossa

Although it resembles a feline in appearance, the fossa is related to the mongoose and civet. [...]

Genet cat — Genet cat

.c1-ui-state-hover {background-color:yellow !important; padding:5px !important } Genets are [...]

Gerenuk — Gerenuk

The gerenuk, also known as Waller’s gazelle, is named after the Somali word generuk, [...]

Giraffe — Giraffe

The giraffe is the largest ruminant animal and the tallest land mammal, with an adult giraffe [...]

Gorilla — Gorilla

Mountain gorilla The mountain gorilla is part of the eastern gorilla species, which is also [...]

Hartebeest — Hartebeest

The hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) is a field gazelle of the family Alcelaphus. It is [...]

Hippopotamus — Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus, or hippo, derives its name from ancient Greek for “river horse”. [...]

Honey badger — Honey badger

The honey badger (Mellivroa capensis) is an opportunistic carnivore that eats a wide range of [...]

Hyena — Hyena

Hyenas are carnivores that are known for their scavenger tendencies. They are clever animals [...]

Impala — Impala

The impala is a medium-sized antelope (Aepyceros melampus) ranging between 75 and 95 cm (30 [...]

Jackal — Jackal

The jackal is part of the dog family and its North American counterpart is called the coyote. [...]

Kudu — Kudu

Two species of kudu are found in Africa: Lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) and greater kudu [...]

Lemur — Lemur

Lemurs are primates endemic to the African island of Madagascar. There are around 100 species [...]

Leopard — Leopard

The leopard is related to the jaguar, lion and tiger, and is the smallest feline of the four. [...]

Lion — Lion

The lion is related to the jaguar, leopard and panther. After the tiger, it is the largest big [...]

Mandrill — Mandrill

The mandrill is a very colorful primate that is closely related to the baboon. It is the [...]

Meerkat — Meerkat

The meerkat, or suricate, is a warm-blooded animal belonging to the same scientific family as [...]

Mongoose — Mongoose

The mongoose is part of the same family as the meerkat. 33 species exist, such as the yellow [...]

Nile crocodile — Nile crocodile

The Nile crocodile is found throughout sub-Sahara Africa, parts of the Nile River and in the [...]

Oryx — Oryx

Two species of oryx can be found in Africa: Eastern African oryx and South Africa oryx, also [...]

Ostrich — Ostrich

Native to Africa, the ostrich is the largest bird on earth and lays the largest of all bird [...]

Pangolin — Pangolin

The physical description of a pangolin is best described as an anteater with silvery, plate- [...]

Puku — Puku

The puku is a type of antelope that is found primarily in DR Congo, Namibia, Zambia and [...]

Rhinoceros — Rhinoceros

Both black and white rhinoceroses are actually gray. What distinguishes one from the other is [...]

Serval — Serval

The serval cat is known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, “tiger-backwoods feline”. [...]

Suni — Suni

The suni is a reddish brown to sand-colored antelope. It is found in eastern Africa, primarily [...]

Terrapin — Terrapin

A terrapin is also known as a fresh water tortoise. It is found in many parts of the world and [...]

Topi — Topi

The topi resembles the Hartebeest but is slightly darker in color and does not have as angled [...]

Vervet monkey — Vervet monkey

The vervet monkey is a small, grayish-white monkey with a black face. It is found along the [...]

Warthog — Warthog

The Warthog is found along the eastern part of Africa and can be found in arid or in humid [...]

Waterbuck — Waterbuck

The waterbuck is a large antelope that resides primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. Waterbucks [...]

Wild dog — Wild dog

The wild dog’s latin name, Lycaon pictus, means painted wolf, and with the multicolored [...]

Wildebeest — Wildebeest

The wildebeest is a large antelope that is better known as a gnu. The name wildebeest comes [...]

Zebra — Zebra

Zebra belong to the same scientific family as horses. Zebra coats are covered in [...]