If you’ve ever been on safari in Africa for any length of time, there’s a good chance you’ve seen some of the continent’s most iconic wildlife, including elephants, giraffes, and zebras. Maybe you observed a lion resting after a feed or a striped hyena wandering across the plains. But while many of these animals make their presence known, there are some species that are extremely hard to track, no matter how many game drives you’ve been on.
Logging Africa’s most elusive animals takes a mix of both luck and patience. This is the type of fauna that you’ve seen highlighted countless times in BBC specials narrated by Sir David Attenborough but know of few friends or travelers that have actually laid eyes on them in the wild. And while your own chances of spotting them may remain slim, knowing where to look—as well as what to look for—can definitely strengthen your odds.
Here are six of the African continent’s most elusive wildlife species and the best parks, reserves and countries to cross paths with them.
1. Pangolins
These scaly insect-eaters reside across Africa and can grow over four feet long. However, it’s unlikely (though not impossible!) that you’ll spot a pangolin in the wild. That’s because these reptile-like mammals are solitary creatures mostly active at night and notoriously shy. Sometimes known as ‘scaly anteaters,’ pangolins dine primarily on termites and ants. In fact, just one pangolin can eat an estimated 70 million insects annually!
Temminck’s pangolin—also known as ground pangolin—is one of four species of pangolins found in Africa.
Out of the world’s eight pangolin species, four live in Africa.
First, there’s the black-bellied (a.k.a long-tailed) pangolin, native to parts of western and central Africa, including Uganda. It’s the only pangolin species that’s diurnal (meaning they’re only active during the day). Next up is the white-bellied pangolin, a.k.a. the tree pangolin, a semiarboreal species found from Guinea to Sierra Leone and throughout much of Central Africa (keep an eye out for them in northwestern Zambia or southwestern Kenya).
The giant ground pangolin is the planet’s largest living pangolin species, with large concentrations in Tanzania and western Kenya. Finally, you have the Temminck’s ground pangolin, a terrestrial creature that makes its home from northern South Africa through East Africa.
Like armadillos, pangolins are covered in protective armor—in this case, an entire body of keratin scales—which they use to deter predators. They roll themselves into tight balls whenever they sense danger, lashing out with their sharp-scaled tails as an added defense mechanism. Sometimes, they’ll even release a stinky fluid to mark their territory or keep predatory wildlife like lions and hyenas at bay.
Another thing about pangolins: They don’t have teeth. Instead, they use their long snouts and sticky tongues—which are often even longer than their own bodies—to lap up insects from mounds.
Keep an eye out for these elusive critters during night safaris in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, featured on Nat Hab’s Secluded Botswana Safari, and Tanzania’s Serengeti, a part of our epic 18-day Ultimate East Africa Safari.
2. Pygmy Hippos
These reclusive herbivores are some of Africa’s most difficult mammals to spot in the wild for a number of reasons. Although they can weigh up to 600 pounds and grow up to six feet long, pygmy hippos are much smaller than their more common counterparts. This allows them to hide in swampland bushes and dense riverside forests by day, quietly searching for edible fruits and grasses under cover of night.
Unfortunately, there are only about 2,000 to 2,500 of this endangered species remaining, and all within West Africa. Shiny-skinned, pudgy-faced, and portly-framed, pygmy hippos spend more time on land than in water. But they do like to cool off in the wallows and rivers of the Greater Gola Landscape, a biodiversity hotspot that spreads across Sierra Leone and Liberia and includes the former’s Gola Rainforest National Park.
3. Zorillas
In Africa, if it looks like a skunk and stinks like a skunk, then chances are it’s a zorilla. The name zorilla comes from the Spanish word “zorillo,” which means “little fox” or “skunk,” though this extremely tough-to-spot creature also goes by the moniker “striped polecat.” Zorillas tend to avoid the wetter rainforests of the continent’s western equatorial region and instead reside across sub-Saharan Africa’s savannas and plains.
Resembling skunks with a coat of coarse black hair and white stripes, zorillas are one of the smelliest animals on the planet. The sticky, foul-smelling liquid they emit from their anal glands to defend against predators and to mark territory is said to reek like a combination of rotten eggs, burnt hair and garbage. Phew!
Usually averaging about two feet long, these nocturnal creatures are small enough to hole up in rock crevices and hollow trees by day while feeding on snakes and other small animals at night. They’re mostly solitary. However, zorillas do come together with other members of their species during the mating season, which takes place in the spring.
The best places to follow the scent (should you dare) of zorillas are in Kenya’s Maasai Mara and South Africa’s parklands.
4. Riverine Rabbits
This little mammal also goes by the “bushman hare” or “bushman rabbit” and is extremely rare, only existing in the central and southern regions of South Africa’s Karoo Desert. Estimates total about 400–500 riverine rabbits left in the wild, with about 1,000 more in captivity. With such a tiny geographical footprint and so few numbers, it’s no wonder this nocturnal creature is so uncommon to spot.
Still, you’ll want to keep an eye out for them hiding in the low scrub that grows along seasonal rivers or jumping over bushes to outrun predators like hawks and eagles. Otherwise, they tend to sit quite motionless and blend in with their surroundings.
Riverine rabbits have longer bodies and ears than European rabbits and sport brown, wooly tails and a club-like back foot.
South Africa’s Sanbona Wildlife Reserve and Anysberg Nature Reserve are two of the best places to look for riverine rabbits in the wild.
5. Black Leopards
Leopards are already tough to spot, being generally solitary and preferring to hang out in dense bush and trees. They also tend to do most of their hunting at night. But Africa’s black leopards are even rarer since no one really knows how many there are or where to find them.
Black leopards are what’s known as melanistic, meaning they have an excess of melanin, or dark pigment, in their fur and skin. It’s the opposite of albinism. While the rosettes of black leopards are still visible, their inky silhouettes tend to disappear seamlessly into the night.
Ethiopia and the forests of Kenya’s Aberdare National Park have the most reported sightings of these hard-to-find felines.
6. Aardvarks
With their porcine snouts, stocky bodies and large rabbit-like ears, aardvarks are somehow both exceedingly awkward-looking and oh-so-adorable all at once. The name “aardvark” actually means “Earth pig” in Afrikaans. However, these burrowing mammals have more in common with elephants, hyraxes, and manatees—all of which you have a better chance of seeing in the wild.
Like most of Africa’s most elusive wildlife, aardvarks are nocturnal and solitary to boot. They also spend a lot of time underground sleeping or hiding from predators like hyenas and lions.
They can consume more than 50,000 insects nightly, sussing them out with their long noses and sticky tongues and using their powerful claws to break open termite mounds.
Ask about possible aardvark tracking while visiting the Kalahari Salt Pans, a stop on Nat Hab’s 10-day Botswana Family Safari adventure.
