There are marathons, and then there’s the Big Five Marathon. No cheering crowds. No tarmac. No city skyline. Just hills, wide open savannah, and of course, the famous big five.

Having focussed my travels around climbing mountains over the last few years, I felt like I wanted to do something different in 2025. I wanted to get fitter, take on a big challenge and do something for charity too.

I had stumbled across an ad for the Big Five Marathon in late 2024, and it had stuck like glue in my mind. I had ran a marathon once before, back in 2019, and not enjoyed it. Both with training and on race day, I made a lot of mistakes. I missed my target time, and whilst I was happy to have completed a marathon, the day was tinged with dissapointment. I had unfinished business with marathons.

I frequently went back to the website, and looked again and again at the race information, the photos, the reviews. Like an alcoholic, walking into his favourite Wetherspoons, just to look at the drinks menu, not order and then leave.

Until in early 2025 I said f*** it and booked.

5 months of training ensued in preparation for the big day. From running a humble 1.11 miles in early January, through to my last long run of 18.62 miles at the end of May. I fell in love with trail running along the way.

June soon came round, and before I knew it I was stumbling off a coach, bleary eyed and sleep deprived after a long journey, and into the stunning Entebeni Game Reserve. After a few days of game drives, getting to know my amazing camp mates and inspecting the marathon route, the big day arrived.

In this post, I’ll take you through race day for the Big Five Marathon, one of the most unforgettable races on Earth.

Find out more about the Big Five Marathon here.

Here is the Big Five Marathon through the lens of my camera.

The Route

The Run

An afternoon shake out run 2 days before the marathon, up and down a dirt road just outside the reserve.

The morning of the marathon, waiting to go at the start line. A surreal experience. The start of the race was delayed by 35 minutes whilst Rhinos and Elephants were removed from the route. Lions were tracked throughout the night before, and race day, to ensure they didn’t come into contact with runners. Leopards and Cheetahs however are much more difficult to track and therefore were unaccounted for on race day. Rangers do take up post throughout the route to ensure it’s safe though.

Ready to get to work!

Early views on the route of an old disused lodge with Entebeni mountain as a backdrop.

Our first spectators on the route.

Entebeni mountain providing a stunning backdrop to the running on the upper escarpement at the start and end of the marathon.

Beautiful lakes are dotted about the route. Thankfully no hippos or crocs on the day of the run. Although that would definitely have meant quicker times.

The hardest part of the whole run. The sand. I was well prepared for the elevation gains, having done lots of trail running in my training for the marathon. But the sand was an oversight. There were several miles of sand on the course and running on it was brutal. It was extremely draining and sapped my legs of energy way too early in the race. After about half way I decided the best approach was to walk these sections, as most runners did.

This spectator didn’t make it.

These ones did, but were largely disinterested.

Running on the lower escarpment was tough. Along with the sand, there was also no shade for the most part and, despite temps only being around 20 Celcius, my head felt like it was cooking in a microwave oven. At this point in the run I just started dumping water over my head at the water stations, which made a world of difference to how I was feeling.