It’s difficult to update this regularly because the hotel wifi is not that good, and we are on the go almost constantly. Or taking a nap because of the early morning game drives. Or eating–they feed us well here, and the spices are so interesting that you feel you need to try at least a little of most everything.
This little guy looked like he wanted us to take his picture, just standing there looking cute. Zebras really are such beautiful animals. They look like a horse, but have a different skeletal structure. Our ranger told us that their spines are along the tops of their bodies, unlike a horse, whose spine is lower down. The reason this is important is, horses can serve domesticated purposes, like riding, with no problem. Using zebras for the same sorts of things hurts them. So in 1895, a law was passed that they can’t be domesticated. I’m not sure that applies to the poor donkeys painted to look like zebras that I saw in Tijuana…
I love giraffes! They stand so still, and seem to be looking at you with curiosity. Sometimes you’ll see two or three all standing the same way, necks at the same angle, heads cocked identically, as if they are studying you.
Giraffes are the only mammal that makes no sound, not even when they fight. Never knew that before. This one is an oder guy. His skin is darker, and his horns have no tufts on the top because he’s worn them off in fights.
Don’t know what they’re looking at this time, but they stand this way a lot. You can see the tufts on the tops of the horns of the younger two on the right. Those will be worn smooth at some point in their lives.
That face! The animals here aren’t scared of the vehicles because they know they won’t be hurt. Also, these giraffes could turn around, flip out their back legs and kick the snarf out of us with no problem. They’re bigger and stronger than humans, but don’t seem to mind how much we stop to look. And we stop a lot. These creatures are just so elegant and interesting.
This is an aloe palm when it’s all growed up! They’re everywhere, in various stages of growth. This one has obviously been around awhile.
And the elephants! The thing that surprised me the most about them is, they are very noisy because they are constantly eating. And that means they are stripping leaves off of trees, pulling branches down, knocking trees over to get to the roots, and so on. I see now why we were told that you don’t want to have too many elephants for the size of land you have, and you don’t want them to breed unless you have enough room.
Stories from the Hat 