The obsession with delivering the “Big Five” (i.e. Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo) in South African game parks to foreign tourists has the potential to marginalise South African tourists’ interests in these very same parks.
The growing number of tourists in South Africa means a growing number or tourist service organisations are increasingly out to deliver “big ticket” game, at the cost of perceived waining interest in fauna and flora seen to be “less interesting”.
South Africans can count themselves lucky that they live on a continent that has arguably the widest array of animal and plant species on the planet. We even sometimes take it for granted.
But, as an avid nature lover and bush-freak, the reality hit home on my recent trip to the bush; that this obsession with the Big Five can ruin a bush experience for South Africans who are interested in other things like birds, plants and antelope, for example.
The resounding (and somewhat predictable) chorus of “Lion!”in a mix of European accents that greets game rangers’ enquiry as to what tourists would like see on a game drive spells doom for any person sitting on the same safari vehicle, hoping to spot a Fork-tailed Drongo or Lilac-breasted Roller.
I have to admit, this is not the general trend at ALL game lodges in South Africa, but it’s a growing trend where lodges lump foreigners and South Africans on the same safari vehicle – much to the dismay of true nature-loving bush-goers.
This was further emphasised on my recent trip where the ranger in charge of driving us for the weekend commented on how happy he was to drive South Africans because the foreigners can get too demanding with wanting to see the Big Five and tended to get quite irate when he couldn’t deliver all the said animals in a single game drive.
The truth is that locals and foreigners have very different needs. Even many locals share the foreigners’ compulsion with seeing the Big Five, which is why it is vitally importnat that game lodges and tourism operators have a clear picture of who their clients are and what these clients expect from an excursion or trip.
I would welcome a game lodge that put like-minded people on the same vehicle to avoid both the frustration for nature-lovers not being able to stop for birds and plants and the equal frustration for Big Five-seekers having to stop for “every darn bird and plant”.
There is also a clear need to market the wide variety of animals and plants available for tourists to see in South Africa. The Big Five is not everything and, while these animals do epitomise Africa, there are hundreds of equally-alluring animals to keep tourists (both local and foreign) interested.
Maybe people should try obessing over “The Ugly Five” or “The Little Five”.
