| The second week
was a photo safari. That was the whole reason we went to South Africa
in the first place.
I
have been fascinated with African wildlife ever since I did a project on
giraffes in fourth grade. Being able to travel to Africa to see
giraffes and other African animals in their native habitat was one of
the most exciting experiences of my life. There were so many awesome animals to see and photograph. In my family, my Dad and my sister take the pictures and my Mom and I try not to be in them. Between the two of them, they took 8,000 pictures during our two week vacation and over 6,000 of those were during our one week safari. I teased them about it at the time but I am thankful now because I have the best documented photo safari trip that I could hope for. The location of our safari was a private reserve called Zulu Nyala. Zulu for the tribal people native to the region, and Nyala for the abundant nyala antelope that live there. We had nothing but excellent experiences with all of the people we met. We even made friends with a family from Connecticut also on safari. |
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| The
most important goal of the reserve is conservation. They are dedicated
to protecting the wildlife and their habitats. This is a picture of the
only male
rhino on the reserve. The threat of poaching is so high that he had
two twenty four hour guards. Their only job was to follow the
rhino wherever he went and use their loaded fire arms to keep
poachers away. Sadly, this was not enough and we recieved word in 2015
that this rhino was another victim of poaching. Zulu Nyala is by no means unique in this goal. Rhino conservation is an important topic for the whole country. The International Rhino Foundation focuses on southern Africa and is working to ensure a future for the species. The photo above is a link to their website where they give more information about the threat facing these giant vegetarians. |
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| This was our safari group. Chis, our guide is in the driver's seat. I got to ride shotgun that day, My dad is right behind me showing off his telephoto lens responsible for so many of our pictures. Next to him is Dan and Marie who are on the trip with their daughter, son-in-law and their two grandkids. My sister, Libby, and my Mom are hidden behind the front row. Photo Credit: Geoff Fitzgerald | These are our friends from Connecticut that we met just before the start of our Safari. Geoff is wearing sunglasses and holding a camera. His twin daughters Lauren and Brooke are in the vehicle as well. They were part of a different group that we met up with on occasion while in the reserve. |
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| There were warthogs all over the place. They always have to kneel down to eat because they have no neck. At least not a flexible one. Everytime we'd see one out on safari someone would say "Puumba!" And our guide, Chris would have to sing "When I was a young warthog!" We were only able to convince him to do this twice before he was too embarrassed to do it again. | The cartoon version may have been slightly exaggerated but this is the real life version of Zazu! It is a red-billed hornbill. I was a little too excited to see all of the cartoon animals I grew up with come to life. |
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| Baby rhino! There were two other rhinos with the baby, it's mother and another female. | On our first drive out into the reserve we came across three cheetah cubs just weeks old. Photo Credit: Libby Smith | On our last drive we saw the cheetah cubs again. It was amazing the difference one week made. Photo Credit: Libby Smith |
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| Giraffes have been my favorite animal since I was in fourth grade. I was more excited than anyone else when we saw the herd. They were so calm and graceful. The giraffes helped us find a lion. When alerted to danger, they all stand still and stare at the intruder until they decide to run or the threat moves on. | This old male has scars on his face from years of defending his right to lead the pride. His right eye is completely blind. When I asked the ranger how it happened, all they could tell me was that they saw him walking around like that one day. Photo Credit: Libby Smith | We went on our last drive at sunrise and saw this male cheetah using a tree to get the lay of the land. He is most likely the father of the cubs in the previous photos. |
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| This is the pride that goes with the old male. There are two adult females with one more not in the picture, two adolescents, and four younger cubs. The lioness on her side in the back is the one of the largest lionesses on record in the country. She is approximately 1/3 bigger than the males of her species. | This is a male Kudu antelope.They are prized hunting and poaching targets for their curled horns. The number of times their horns curl can help determine their age. | Elephants are the quietest animals when they want to be so they were hard to find. Once we found them, they were curious enough to come within inches of our vehicle. My personal favorite fact about elephants: On average, it's thirty minutes from "mouth to butt." After eating, it only takes thirty minutes to travel the entirety of the digestive system. Photo Credit: Libby Smith |
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