Giraffe pattern

The patterns on a giraffe must be amongst the most interesting in the animal kingdom.  They're not just spots, they're more like carefully laid slate stones.

What you're looking at?

A giraffe at Amakhala Game Reserve outside Port Elizabeth gawking at the tourists gawking at her.  Actually, she posed very nicely for us all to get a couple of photographs.

Giraffe tracking on foot... and breakfast after

The Mini vs Maxi trip was starting to draw to an end and we were just about done with our morning game drive at Bucklands Game Reserve.  We had one thing left to do and that we to find some giraffe to walk.  We got as close to them as it was possible with the vehicle and headed further on foot.

Along the way our ranger pointed out jackal spoor

Not long after we started to approach the giraffe.  Spot the ranger's rifle that I was firing during our firearm handling exercise.  We were approaching through an open area so we couldn't get too close.  The giraffe with their high vantage point spotted us coming a long way off.

I did get a could of photos of these long necked creatures before we had to head back to the vehicle, but anyway, I've had my giraffe close encounter during the trip already.

On our return to the lodge brunch was waiting for us out on the stoep (veranda) and by then all out tummies were rumbling.

We did all agree that a hearty brunch with this fantastic view was the perfect way to end a fantastic and memorable trip.  All that remained for us was to head back home with our photos and start telling the story. 

Game drive at Bucklands

During our wonderful stay at Bucklands Private Game Reserve during the Mini vs Maxi trip we had the opportunity to go on two game drives.  The first one starting at about 15:00ish (sorry, but I just can't remember the exact time) in the afternoon with the other one early the next morning.  As we were the only ones at the lodge for the night we had a game drive vehicle all to ourselves.  Our ranger, Werner, must be one of the most knowledgeable ranger I've ever had on a game drive.  He also literally went out his way to find us as much as possible during the drive and when there was nothing to see he was telling us about trees, plants and the history of the area.  Some of the game we saw on the drive included:

Blesbuck

Burchell's Zebra

Ostrich

Kudu

Giraffe

And Homo sapiens, also known as the visitors staying at the Luxury Tented Camp.

Smack on the lips

On my quad biking experience at Areena Riverside Resort during the Mini vs Maxi experience I met Abby.  Not being very tall myself, I've never really been into tall girls.  Not that I disapprove of their long legs and lanky bodies, just that I always preferred somebody about my length. 

When we encountered Abby she seemed to take a liking in me and immediately came closer.   Ed, Areena's owner, suggested that I blow in her nose and, thinking that its a way to deter her, I did so.  Deter her, it did not. She nuzzled me and planted a kiss smack on my lips.

With her big eyes and sexy eye lashes, who can resist this face?  Her nose is a bit big though, but I'm not judging. 

Skin patterns

It is amazing how beautiful some animals are. The tiger, leopard, cheetah, giraffe and a couple of others must heave been in the front of the row when God created the animals and were dishing out the skins. Poor warthog must have been standing close to the back. Here are a couple of close-ups of animal skins. All of these animals were (and hopefully still are) alive when I took the pics.

Cheetah



Crocodile


Giraffe

Giraffe horns

The giraffe... the world's tallest mammal. In Afrikaans a giraffe is called a kameelperd (camel horse). Just like a camel, the giraffe walks with both legs on each side of their body at the same time. But that's not what this post is about. Have you aver wondered about a giraffe's horns? Are they real horns or just tufts of hair?

A giraffe has horns. I found this giraffe skull in the garden at Elephant's Footprint Lodge. In the picture you can see that the horns are growing on to of his head and isn't just hair. The way to easily see the difference between males and females are that the females have lots of long hairs growing on top of the horns while the male's horns are normally bold on top. Go figure.

Giraffe

Janet of Greetings from Gauteng did a post today featuring two giraffe and I went looking to see if I still had giraffe pics that I haven't posted yet. Here is a couple I took a week or so ago at Seaview Game and Lion Park just outside Port Elizabeth.

What's everybody looking at?

These four giraffe crossed the road right in front of us at Kragga Kamma Game Park on Sunday. (Why DID the giraffe cross the road? The chicken was having a day off.) As soon as they were on the other side they stopped dead in their tracks and stretched their necks (get it? stretched their necks) and stared down the hill. I wonder what they were looking at.

Sitting Giraffe

On my recent visit to Sun City I got to go on a game drive into the Pilanesberg National Park. Although we didn't see a huge amount of game, we did see this very unusual sight of a giraffe sitting down. What makes this unusual is the fact that giraffes don't usually sit down much in reserves where there are predators like lions as they can't get up that fast being all neck and legs. This makes them more vulnerable sitting down than other animals (although they can still see a long way even when sitting, LOL)

Giraffe

Today I decided to post a couple of giraffe pics. Both were taken at different game reserves and are different types of photos. Giraffes are facinating animals. The tallest mammal in the world with the longest neck, yet they only have 7 vertebra (the same as a human). To get blood up that neck and to the brain, they have a heart as big as a soccer ball. This poses a problem when they drink water, because dropping the head down could cause a sudden rush of blood to the brain. To avoid that they have a valve system that controls the bloodflow. Giraffes are also the youngest bungi jumpers in the world. The mothers stand up while giving birth and the babies fall the 2 meters or so to the ground which also snaps the ambilical cord. Lastly. What do you call a group of giraffes? The answer is at the bottom of the post.

A young giraffe eating in the Kragga Kamma Game Park just outside Port Elizabeth while his older brother is keeping an eye on the tourists.A couple of giraffes in the Schotia Private Game Reserve, about 50km outside Port Elizabeth, walking off just before sunset. The plant in the foreground is an Aloe Ferox.

A group of Giraffes are called... A Journey of Giraffes.

Giraffe Silhouettes

Kwantu Private Game Reserve is an unique reserve in that it is owned by a Muslim family and they are sticking strictly to their Islamic traditions by not allowing alcohol on the reserve. Their food is also very Eastern in flavour. I've had the opportunity to visit the reserve a couple of times while I was a tour guide and this giraffe pic was taken one late afternoon at about sunset.