Make this a wildlife summer to remember by going on safari in search of Europe’s iconic Big Five mammal species
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In the dappled light at the edge of the woodland there’s a movement. Just a hint of the grass parting. If anything, it’s just a sense of movement and then, for just a moment, all is still. Even the scream of the cicadas seems to pause. Suddenly, and with lightning speed, the tension breaks as a large cat races in a blur of speed toward a potential meal.
To see a big cat hunting is one of the natural world’s most thrilling experiences. But this particular cat was no lion tearing into a herd of wildebeest on the plains of the Serengeti and nor was it a beautiful tiger leaping onto a passing sambar in India. Instead, this was a rare Iberian lynx leaping onto a rabbit in southern Spain.
Made famous by 19th-century big game hunters in East Africa, the Big Five – Lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo – are what almost every modern-day safari-goer hopes to see. But, while the dream of an East African safari might be out of reach for many of us, it doesn’t mean the Big Five are. Back in 2014, the IUCN and Rewilding Europe declared that the wolf, lynx, brown bear, wolverine and bison were Europe’s very own Big Five. Seeing some of these iconic creatures in the wild is no less exciting than watching a pride of hunting lions.
To find out how to see them, follow our guide to having a European Big Five safari this summer.
European Wolf
The boogey creature of many a fairytale and persecuted for centuries, the wolf has made a recent stunning come back in much of Europe. In 2022 it was estimated that the wolf population across Europe stood at around 21,500 and growing fast. Despite this, the wolf knows that ‘big, bad’ humans should be given as wide a berth as possible and so for the most part they remain very hard to see in the wild. But, there are a couple of places where the population of wolves has become sufficiently relaxed around people to mean that patient wildlife watchers have a real chance of seeing a pack in action. The Abruzzo National Park in Italy is home to seven or eight packs of Apennine wolves. The wolves move throughout the park and surrounding areas and to see them you really need the help of an experienced local wildlife guide. This is easy to arrange locally, but even so, a lot of time will be spent driving and hiking around this mountainous region and you might only see footprints and other clues to a wolf packs passing. Although active year-round the wolves are generally easier to track in the winter months.
Lynx
Europe’s only large feline, the lynx is a gorgeous cat with a blotchy coat, long, elegent legs, a short stumpy tail and tufted ears. There are two kinds of lynx in Europe, the European lynx which is generally found in colder parts of the continent and the rare Iberian lynx, which until recently was the world’s rarest feline. Today its population is rising but seeing one in the Spanish wilds is certainly not guaranteed. The best place to find them is the Sierra de Andújar in southern Spain. Although a natural park, much of the land here belongs to vast private hunting reserves, but yet the strictly protected lynx have become quite habituated to people and sightings of the lynx here are common, can be at fairly close quarters and the cats are relaxed enough that they don’t tend run away as soon as they sense a person. Even so, a local wildlife guide, who knows the lay of the land, is a must.
Brown bear
Mainland Europe’s largest carnivore, the brown bear can be observed in several European countries (Spain, Finland, Greece and Italy), but perhaps the best place is the Lož area of southern Slovenia. Living in the heart of one of the largest areas of uninhabited woodland in central Europe, there are thought to be around 2,000 bears in Slovenia with a large percentage of them in these forests. Bears have an excellent sense of smell and will normally vanish into the woods at the first scent of a human. To get around this shyness, a number of smell-proof observation cabins have been set up in prime bear habitat. By spending a day or two in one of these cabins you have an excellent chance of seeing a bear up close.
Wolverine
A member of the weasel family, the wolverine is like a weasel on steroids. They can be as big as a medium sized dog, as tough as old boots and they have a feisty temper. In fact, so formidable is a wolverine, that even bears are known to run away from them! These creatures of the northern forests are notoriously hard to see but in the remote taiga forests of eastern Finland, close to the border of Russia, wildlife observation huts have been set up in which wildlife tourists spend the entire night waiting in silence to see what comes past. In order to increase the chance of seeing wolverines and other creatures, a livestock carcass is often left out to tempt the animals in. Even so, wolverine sightings are still rare enough to be a cause of celebration but even if a wolverine doesn’t turn up brown bears are almost guaranteed, and packs of wolves are also commonly seen.
Bison
The European bison was once widespread in Europe but by the early 20th Century hunters had brought these massive creatures to extinction in the wild. Fortunately, though, there were some in captivity and now thanks to intense captive breeding, strict conservation rules and successful rewilding programmes, the European bison is back in European forests. The largest number is found in the Białowieża Primeval Forest, an ancient woodland that straddles the Poland-Belarus border. Regular bison safaris set out from villages around this vast – but sadly threatened – forest. For much of the summer the bison hide away in the cool shade of the forest, but at colder times of year they’re tempted out into the open meadows that dot the forest.
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