Explore East African wildlife with animal photos, identification notes, habitats, safari locations and practical facts to help travelers prepare for safari s...
Animals move naturally across large ecosystems. This guide helps you understand likely habitats and safari areas, not promise a particular sighting.
Open an animal profile for identification details, habitat notes, useful facts and safari destinations.
Big Five
A powerful social cat recognized by its broad head, tawny coat and, in adult males, a mane. Lions are among the most sought-after sightings on an East African safari.
Big Five
The world's largest living land animal, known for its trunk, tusks, large ears and complex family relationships.
Big Five
A powerful spotted cat with a rosette-patterned coat and a reputation for secrecy. Leopards often use trees, rocky cover and dense vegetation.
Big Cats
A slender, long-legged cat built for speed, identified by solid black spots and dark tear marks running from the eyes toward the mouth.
Big Five
A two-horned African rhinoceros with a hooked upper lip adapted for browsing leaves and shrubs. It is generally more solitary than the white rhinoceros.
Other
The aardwolf is a small, striped member of the hyena family that eats almost nothing but termites. Shy and nocturnal, it is a prized sighting on night drives in the Mara and Laikipia.
Other
The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), also known as the painted dog, is a highly social, pack-hunting carnivore recognised by its mottled black, white and brown coat. Endangered and fast declining, it roams the open savanna and woodland of sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, your best chance of seeing one is in Laikipia and Samburu.
Other
The banded mongoose is a small, sociable carnivore with dark stripes across its back. Packs of up to 40 forage together; look for them around termite mounds in the Mara and Nairobi National Park.
Other
The bat-eared fox is a small, sandy fox with enormous ears that it uses to hear termites underground. Look for families outside their dens in the Masai Mara, Amboseli and Samburu.
Other
The black-backed jackal is a fox-sized wild dog with a silvery-black saddle, big ears and a sharp, wailing call. Look for pairs in the Masai Mara, Nairobi National Park and Amboseli.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The bushbuck is a shy, solitary antelope with a white-spotted coat that hides along dense forest edges. Look for it in Kenya’s Masai Mara, Nairobi National Park and Lake Nakuru
Other
The Cape clawless otter is Africa's large freshwater otter, with a white chin and nimble, clawless fingers for catching crabs. Look for it at Lake Naivasha and along rivers in the Mara and Aberdares.
Grazers & Herd Animals
Coke’s hartebeest, or kongoni, is a long-faced antelope of Kenya’s open plains, easily spotted on termite mounds. Look for it year-round in the Masai Mara, Nairobi National Park and Amboseli.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The common duiker is a small, shy antelope that dives into bush when alarmed. Look for it at dawn and dusk in Kenya’s Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Nairobi National Park
Grazers & Herd Animals
The common eland is Africa’s largest antelope, a gentle giant with spiral horns and a heavy dewlap. Look for herds on the open plains of the Masai Mara, Amboseli and Laikipia.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The common reedbuck is a graceful, water-loving antelope that whistles when alarmed. Look for its Kenyan cousin, the bohor reedbuck, in Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Nairobi National Park
Grazers & Herd Animals
The defassa waterbuck is a large, shaggy antelope that never strays far from water. Spot its solid white rump in Kenya’s Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and around the Rift Valley
Other
The dwarf mongoose is Africa's smallest carnivore, a tiny reddish-brown hunter that lives in close family groups in termite mounds. Look for them in Tsavo, Samburu, Meru and the Masai Mara.
Other
The Egyptian mongoose is a large, grizzled grey mongoose with a long black-tipped tail, found near rivers, lakes and swamps. Look for it at Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru and the Mara.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The fringe-eared oryx is a tough, sandy-grey antelope with long rapier horns and black ear tufts. It lives only south of the Tana River; look for herds in Tsavo and Amboseli.
Other
Fruit bats are large, fox-faced bats that feed on fruit and nectar and spread seeds across Africa's forests. In Kenya, look for roosting colonies in western Kenya, Kakamega and the coast.
Other
East Africa's "golden jackal" is now known to be the African golden wolf, a sandy, long-legged wild dog. Look for it on open plains in Kenya and Tanzania's Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
Grazers & Herd Animals
Grant's gazelle is a graceful plains antelope with long, lyre-shaped horns and a white rump. Look for herds in the Masai Mara, Amboseli, Nairobi National Park and Tsavo on a Kenya safari.
Giraffes & Browsers
The greater kudu is a tall, white-striped antelope with magnificent spiral horns. In Kenya it is rare and shy, so look for it around Lake Bogoria, Marsabit and Samburu.
Other
The honey badger, or ratel, is a stocky black-and-silver digger famous for its toughness and love of honey. Shy and wide-ranging, it is a lucky sighting in Laikipia, Samburu and the Mara.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The impala is a graceful, reddish-brown antelope famous for its huge leaps and the male's lyre-shaped horns. Look for herds in the Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Nairobi National Park and Samburu.
Grazers & Herd Animals
Kirk's dik-dik is a tiny antelope with big eyes, a trunk-like nose and a partner for life. Look for pairs in the thornbush of Samburu, Tsavo, Lake Nakuru and the Masai Mara.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The klipspringer is a small, sure-footed antelope that stands on the tips of its hooves on rocky cliffs and kopjes. Look for pairs in Tsavo, Hell's Gate and Lake Nakuru.
Primates
The large-eared greater galago is Africa's largest bushbaby, a cat-sized night primate with big ears and a bushy tail. In Kenya it lives in the south-west, around the Lake Victoria basin.
Reptiles
The leopard tortoise is a large, high-domed tortoise with a spotted shell, common in Kenya's savannas. Look for it plodding along tracks after rain in the Mara, Nairobi National Park and Tsavo
Giraffes & Browsers
The lesser kudu is a shy, white-striped antelope of dry thornbush, with spiral horns on males. Look for it at dawn and dusk in Tsavo, Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Meru.
Other
The marsh mongoose is a large, shaggy dark-brown mongoose that hunts crabs and frogs along rivers, lakes and swamps at night. Look for it at Lake Naivasha, Saiwa Swamp and the Mara.
Birds
The Masai ostrich is the pink-necked ostrich of southern Kenya and Tanzania, the world's largest bird. Look for males with bright pink necks on the plains of the Mara, Amboseli and Nairobi National Park.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The bongo antelope is Africa’s largest forest antelope, a chestnut giant with white stripes and spiralling horns. Kenya’s critically endangered mountain bongo lives nowhere else in the wild, so conservation matters.
Primates
Mountain gorillas are powerful yet gentle great apes found in the misty forests of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Living in close family groups, they offer an extraordinary wildlife encounter through guided trekking in Bwindi, Mgahinga, Volcanoes, and Virunga
Primates
The olive baboon is a big, olive-grey monkey with a dog-like face that lives in large, complex troops. Look for troops in the Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Nairobi National Park and Laikipia.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The oribi is a small, slender grassland antelope with a bare black spot below each ear. In Kenya, Ruma National Park is the best place to see it; in Uganda, try Murchison Falls.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The roan antelope is a large, horse-like antelope with a black-and-white face and tufted ears. Kenya's last few roan live in a protected sanctuary in Ruma National Park.
Other
The rock hyrax is a furry, rabbit-sized relative of the elephant that lives in colonies on rocky outcrops. Look for groups sunbathing on rocks at Hell's Gate, Lake Nakuru and Tsavo West.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The sable antelope is a striking black or chestnut antelope with huge, back-sweeping horns. In Kenya it survives only in Shimba Hills National Reserve, near Diani and Mombasa.
Primates
The Senegal galago, or northern lesser bushbaby, is a squirrel-sized night primate with huge eyes and ears that leaps through acacia trees. Look for it around lodges in Samburu, Tsavo and the Mara.
Other
The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a slender, long-legged African wild cat with huge ears and a spotted golden coat, famous for leaping up to 3 metres to catch prey in tall grass. Found near wetlands and grassy plains, servals are best seen at dawn and dusk on a Kenya safari in the Masai Mara, Amboseli and Lake Nakuru.
Other
The side-striped jackal is a shy, greyish jackal with a pale stripe along each flank and a white-tipped tail. It prefers wooded, wetter country and is mostly active at night.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The sitatunga is a shy, semi-aquatic antelope with long, splayed hooves for walking on swampy ground. In Kenya, see it from the boardwalks and towers of Saiwa Swamp National Park.
Other
The slender mongoose is a small, lithe, solitary mongoose with a long black-tipped tail that it flicks up as it runs. Look for it darting across tracks in the Mara, Samburu and Tsavo
Other
The southern tree hyrax is a shy, nocturnal forest hyrax famous for its screaming night call. In Kenya, listen for it in the forests of the Aberdares, Mount Kenya and the central highlands.
Other
The spotted-necked otter is a sleek, fish-eating otter with a cream-speckled throat and webbed feet. It lives in clear lakes and rivers; Lake Victoria holds some of Africa's largest populations.
Grazers & Herd Animals
Thomson's gazelle is a small, quick gazelle with a black side stripe and a constantly flicking tail. Look for herds on the short-grass plains of the Masai Mara, Amboseli and Nairobi National Park
Grazers & Herd Animals
The topi is a glossy, reddish antelope with dark "blue jeans" patches on its legs, often seen standing sentry on termite mounds. Look for herds on the Masai Mara plains
Primates
The vervet monkey is a small, grey-green monkey with a black face, famous for its different alarm calls for leopards, eagles and snakes. Look for troops in Amboseli, Naivasha and the Mara
Grazers & Herd Animals
The warthog is a tough, tusked wild pig that kneels to graze and trots off with its tail held high. Look for families in the Masai Mara, Nairobi National Park and Lake Nakuru.
Other
The white-tailed mongoose is Africa's largest mongoose, a long-legged, grey night hunter with a bushy white tail. Look for it on night drives in the Mara conservancies and Laikipia.
Primates
The yellow baboon is a slim, long-legged baboon with a sandy-yellow coat, living in big troops in Tsavo, Amboseli and on the coast. Amboseli's troops are among the world's best-studied primates.
Other
The yellow-spotted rock hyrax, or bush hyrax, is a small, leaf-eating relative of the elephant that often shares rocky kopjes with rock hyraxes. Look for it sunbathing in Tsavo and the Mara
Big Five
A large, square-lipped rhinoceros specialized for grazing. Its broad mouth, heavy build and head-down feeding posture help distinguish it from black rhino.
Big Five
A heavily built wild bovine often seen in herds, with dark coats and substantial curved horns. Mature bulls can develop a thick horn boss.
Giraffes & Browsers
A very tall browsing mammal with irregular, jagged-edged dark patches. It is strongly associated with southern Kenya and northern Tanzania safari landscapes.
Northern Kenya Special Five
A northern giraffe famous for crisp polygon-shaped brown patches separated by bright pale lines, creating a net-like pattern.
Grazers & Herd Animals
The familiar black-and-white striped zebra of many East African savannahs, often seen in family groups and mixed herds with wildebeest.
Northern Kenya Special Five
A large zebra with narrow closely spaced stripes, large rounded ears and a white belly. It is a signature species of northern Kenya.
Grazers & Herd Animals
A stocky antelope with a sloping back, curved horns and dark vertical markings. Wildebeest are famous for large-scale seasonal movements in the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.
Other
A massive semi-aquatic mammal commonly seen resting in rivers and lakes by day. Despite spending much of its time in water, it feeds mainly on land.
Other
A powerful social carnivore with rounded ears, a sloping back and spotted coat. Spotted hyenas are skilled hunters as well as scavengers.
Northern Kenya Special Five
A long-necked antelope of dry East Africa, famous for standing upright on its hind legs to reach leaves and shoots.
Northern Kenya Special Five
A striking dry-country antelope with long straight horns, bold facial markings and a pale body. It is one of the signature animals of northern Kenya.
Northern Kenya Special Five
A large flightless bird of the Horn of Africa and northern Kenya. Adult males can show striking blue-gray skin on the neck and legs.
Reptiles
A large aquatic reptile found in rivers and lakes across much of East Africa, famous for its powerful jaws and ambush hunting strategy.
Explore East African wildlife with animal photos, identification notes, habitats, safari locations and practical facts to help travelers prepare for safari sightings.
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