Here is my list:

1. Lions in the dark, especially if you are outside the vehicle

2. Hippos in the daytime during a canoeing excursion.

3. Pack of hyenas whether in a vehicle or otherwise

4. Black kites at Ngorongoro Crater who maim people for their lunch

5. Creepy crawlies of any kind...never know which ones are really bad and which ones are harmless

I'll add....

Ele mock charges (who knows, whether it's for real or not)

Lions patrolling their territory and getting to within inches of the landrover i.e., inches of your legs....

Black Mamba, Puff adder....wherever they may be, even if i dont see them.

Hari

I think the aquatic animals will feel discriminated by your lists -- so please allow me to add:

-- Great white sharks chasing seals (and maybe people too) at Seal Island and Gansbaai

-- Nile crocodiles, especially after an American doctor was kiled by one in Botswana recently

Chris

P.S. I actually think hippos and elephants are the scariest of all ...

Elephants who just happen to be there when you are walking along a road.

Though it has to be said - as all you so very well travelled Africaphiles know - it's the hippos who are responsible for most deaths.

A female black bear when you are between she and cubs!

My list

Hyenas howling somewhere outside your tent at night. How close are they? Who knows.

Lioness walking past your vehicle and staring you in the eyes.

Ele charge and you are in a small aluminum boat. It turned out to be a mock charge but you don't know that until they stop!

Not Africa, but a female moose when you are between her and her baby. I can run pretty fast when necessary!

I've had a real-deal charge from a bull elephant in musth in Kruger NP. My guide had to drive in reverse for 20 minutes, before the ele got tired and gave up.

I think the most scariest moments happen in camp grounds when you are walking alone, especially when you hear branches breaking near by!!!! In Zambia, at Chiawa and Sausage Tree, we had to do a full surveillance operation each time we were going back and forth from our rooms. Both camps had elephant, buffalo and hippo wandering around in camp grounds.

Africa, How scary is that!! I've been in a vehicle charged by a young male and he chased us for what I thought was a long time. It was really only a few minutes and we drove in reverse far enough ahead that we could turn the vehicle around before he caught up to us. It was very scary! I looked at going to Sausage Tree last year (ended up mobile safari in Bots) and it was priced a little too high for me (solo). Is that camp worth the $$$?

<i>4. Black kites at Ngorongoro Crater who maim people for their lunch</i>

Yeah when we had lunch there our guide made us stay in the car. Imagine going to Africa, avoiding lions, leopards, etc. and getting your eye poked out by a bird.

<i>Ele mock charges (who knows, whether it's for real or not)</i>

Yup, I had one of these too and I think she was really ready to charge us.

I remember being surrounded by Buffalo, with a bunch of young males getting aggressive with each other at the prospect of mating. Their charges and fights brought them very close to the vehicle.

The only African episode in which I felt actual fear was when I was cage-diving with sharks -- I knew I was safe, but there is a visceral reaction looking at a great white shark while in the water (but the fear passed and it became a lot of fun).

Also, while hiking at the bottom of a gorge in Queen Elizabeth NP (Uganda), we came upon a hippo pod in the stream, and after our guide told us all the hippos had left, we approached the stream, at which time an enormous bull, with a tidal wave in front of him, came charging down the river -- we had just enough time to scramble up the embankment.

Egyptian Cobra

I saw it under the raised walkway at Makalolo Plains Camp, Zimbabwe. It followed me, then came up a small tree next to the walkway and stared me in the face for a minute. I froze, and it eventually went back down to the ground and into the bush. Give me a lion any day!

any snake, though I've only seen 1 dead snake in Zambia (LRL)
hippos while canoeing (Chongwe, Tafika)
elephant watching me shower (Chongwe)

1. I agree with Gaurang -- one of my scariest moments was hearing animals of an indeterminate nature moving around in the bush while using the bush loo at night at the hide at Savuti.

2. The time when my guide got waaaay too close to a herd of elephants with young calves and the matriarch charged -- and when the matriarch charges, everyone else does too.

3. Looking into the mirror while brushing my teeth and seeing a big male baboon behind me. He ran when I turned around, but those teeth are BIG.

Cheers,
Julian

Rock Hyrax. My god, when they swarm unsuspecting safari-goers, my blood runs cold.

Hubby would say the scariest animals were the insects in the tent at Honeyguide Tented Safari Camp in SA as well as the large Elephant who decided he wanted a snack right outside the window of the tent while hubby was attempting to have a siesta, OH and the little lizards at the mara Serena who kept peeping into our room from the balcony... you should have seen the hooha when one actually entered through a gap between the doors

Imelda

&quot;3. Looking into the mirror while brushing my teeth and seeing a big male baboon behind me. He ran when I turned around, but those teeth are BIG.&quot;

Whose teeth? Yours or the baboon's?

Hello,

HIS teeth. of course!

Cheers,
Julian

Julian, your story gave me such a laugh! I just pictured some nice Brit brushing his teeth while a baboon's reflection could be seen in the mirror like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.

Hi Clem,

It did give me quite a turn -- even our teeth aren't usually quite that bad!

Cheers,
Julian