Let's settle this! Africa's most dangerous?

[pilar]

There was s similar thread a few years back and I answered croc, and still say the same. We are out of out depth in his element and he has full advantage. If you enter his domain, and he is there, he will attack you and likely kill you in a very unpleasant way. The croc is the arch opportunist and looks upon humans as food only, no fear.

Yall might find this podcast with a Zimbabwean animal control government agent
Interesting? Hyena and crocodile, until you blunder into a cow elephant or a buffalo with a snare or gin trap on its leg

 

[pilar]

I have always wondered how many fine English rifles & ivory lay moldering on the bottom of a river or lake because hippopotamus attacks back when hunters used canoes as their transport vehicles

 

[Green Chile]

I looked at your list and the answer was obvious...it's the one that surprises you...could be any of them...could be the wounded bushbuck that spears your guts...could be something hurt by a snare in the bush and you walk past it...or the time you check a waterhole without your rifle and the ele cow and calf get offended. Most of the fatal accidents that happen and we discuss here were a surprise to those who were hurt/killed.

 

[375Fox]

I answered cow elephant. If we see a leopard, bull elephant, buffalo, hippo, croc while hunting the plan doesn’t really change. If we see a cow elephant herd while hunting the plan changes a lot to avoid them. Maybe a black mamba makes a slight detour but a puff adder doesn’t make any. The only other animal that’s concerned me while hunting has been black rhino. They charged truck and we bumped into one on foot and retreated fast. Really makes you think when you don’t have right to defend yourself because the black rhino is more valuable and you are hunting on a park area. Any of the list could be dangerous on a given day and given hunt, but I think cow elephant is the most frequently dangerous on a hunt.

 

[steve white]

You forgot to include Africans, esp. ANC supporters....kill the Boer.

 

[roverandbrew]

Two weeks drinking with @spike.t

 

[Hunter-Habib]

To hunt ?

Hands down, hippopotamus in the sugarcane fields at night. Nothing comes even remotely close. Those who have hunted hippopotamus in this manner will know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm saying this after 51 years of successfully hunting multiple members of all the African dangerous game species (barring rhinoceros at this time of writing).

For locals ?
Hippopotamus & crocodiles claim the most casualties per year.


I'll add one more personal note. Even though I've only hunted two bull elephants at this time of writing, I have it on good authority that tuskless cow elephants in the jesse are EXTREMELY aggressive. This is hardly surprising. They compensate for their lack of tusks with their aggression.

 

[kpoynter]

Least Dangerous is the Rhino (particularly White Rhino and Black numbers are so low)
Most Dangerous in terms of wounding and causing damage is the Leopard. A wounded Leopard is a high probability problem
Most Dangerous in terms of killing you is a Cow Elephant. Aggressive, powerful, and they mean to kill you
Buffalo…only when wounded as opposed to Elephant
Hippo…only in limited circumstances
Croc…don’t swim with the damn things…they are scary and they want to eat you. Easy to avoid any situation to get yourself killed.
Lion… damn sure can kill you. Damn near killed me…I think people don’t encounter quite as much in general

 

[BryceM]

Well, this thread will certainly settle it, once and for all.

In terms of what scares me in Africa, it's:
- humans with weapons
- humans in cars
- humans at borders and checkpoints (the 17 year old skinny kid in a uniform that is too big with his finger on the trigger of an AK scares me to death).
- humans with government jobs
- humans who are desperate
- elephant (wounded > cow with calf > cow > bull)
- buffalo
- lion
- leopard
- hippo
- croc
- rhino
- snakes
- mosquitos
- bott flies

Of course, circumstances can change all of this. Wounded, just about anything can be at the top of the list including bushbuck, warthog, gemsbok, wildebeest, sable.......

In water or next to water, croc is #1. On land, I'd rather not bump into a hippo, especially not at night. A surprised, ticked-off buffalo that was chewed on a few hours ago by a lion can be plenty ill-tempered.

Going into thick stuff after a wounded leopard would not be my idea of fun. I've had a grumpy 5 pound housecat wreck me before. I can't even imagine the speed and ferocity of a leopard attack.

Maybe lions aren't all that high on most people's list, but my brainstem and spinal cord disagree. They get my knees knocking and all they have to do is roar a couple of times. Or even just look through the back of my head to the depths of my soul.

Planning helps. Not too many elephant, croc, or hippo attacks happen in the Kalahari.

Avoiding insurrections helps.

 

[mark-hunter]

So far, elephant cow is in the lead and likely to stay there.
Rhino is overlooked. However, I think that lack of votes on rhino is mostly due to their small numbers and the very small number of annual hunts.

 

[Sarg]

So far, elephant cow is in the lead and likely to stay there.
Rhino is overlooked. However, I think that lack of votes on rhino is mostly due to their small numbers and the very small number of annual hunts.

If we had more & could hunt Black Rhinoceros it would be right up there near Elephant,Lion,Hippo !

He was the original member of the Big Five not the White Rhinoceros !

 

[analog_peninsula]

I second the choice of African drivers. Lots of of crazy stuff on African roads.

 

[mark-hunter]

If we had more & could hunt Black Rhinoceros it would be right up there near Elephant,Lion,Hippo !

He was the original member of the Big Five not the White Rhinoceros !

Indeed!
The reason why I did not make white/black rhino as a separate choice in the poll is the lack of space. Only ten options allowed.

 

[BeeMaa]

Ticks.

 

[nomspc]

Animal? Mosquito, no doubt. Snakebite #2.
Large mammal? Hippo.
Anecdote vs data? I have a Namibian friend whose dad was a PH killed by a client-wounded leopard.

 

[RLD]

You forgot to include Africans, esp. ANC supporters....kill the Boer.

Funny, last I checked Africans were people not animals.

 

[Nyati]

Having hunted hippo at night, I can only agree with @Hunter-Habib

 

[HookMeUpII]

Anecdote vs data? I have a Namibian friend whose dad was a PH killed by a client-wounded leopard.

I may have to revise my answer:

1) Leopard hunted with hounds

Seems like for every 5 leopard with hounds hunts, 3-4 of them have either an incident or close call.

Might not exactly kill you, but doesn't seem like a good time.

 

[8 x 60]

It doesn't count. We are looking for dangerous species indigenous to Africa only.

That handsdown wins the internet!

 

[HookMeUpII]

Funny, last I checked Africans were people not animals.

Funny, last time I checked:

There are multiple Classes within a single Phylum, multiple Orders in a single Class, etc. Each of these categories is called a taxon. The taxon to which mammals belong is the Class Mammalia, which is in the Phylum Chordata in the Kingdom Animalia. Placing mammals in one Class indicates that they are more closely related to one another than any mammal is to an animal in a different Class.

About Mammals | American Society of Mammalogists

What are Mammals? Scientists classify organisms in a hierarchical scheme. With the broadest category at the top and most specific at the bottom, the scheme looks like this: Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus species

www.mammalsociety.org

That's not just "Africans" it's "Americans" "Asians" "South Americans" etc.