Today have some more photographs of Africa from the many sent me by reader Benjamin Taylor. His captions are indented:
African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Okonjima Nature Reserve, Namibia:
Damara ground squirrel (Xerus princeps) or possibly the Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris):
South African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus), Okonjima Nature Reserve, Namibia:
The Milky Way:
African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) drinking at a waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia:
Namibian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis):
Panoramic view of a waterhole at Etosha National Park, Namibia:
Click twice on this one to make it really big and to see everything.
Nice Kitties.
Very nice photos.
Not easy to get such great closeups of leopards and cheetahs!
No, it isn’t!
I confess that these photos in particular were taken on the Okonjima nature reserve where many of the animal were only semi-wild.
The cheetah shown above was one of a group of four siblings who were orphaned after a farmer shot their mother. The farmer couldn’t bring himself to shoot the little cubs, so he contacted the reserve who took them in.
Many cheetahs in the area are not so lucky. Aside from being a nature reserve, the Okonjima/AfriCat Foundation set out to educate local famers about the importance of the big cats to Africa as well as offering to remove any cats from their land, and giving them free cow bells, fences etc. to protect their livestock. Sadly, the local farmers were not receptive and continue to shoot most cats on sight, or to use horrific traps that maim or kill.
The people who run the foundation told us that the problem with the farmers was so entrenched that they’ve completely given up trying to educate them. They now put all of their resources into looking after the existing animals and in hosting visits from school children to help educate the next generation about conservation and the important of wildlife.
Let’s hope these kids grow up to appreciate the natural heritage of their country.
We were lucky enough to get to see a truly wild leopard later on in Chobe National Park, Botswana, and we think we saw a group of wild cheetahs in the region around Okonjima, but we weren’t sure.
Photographs coming out of Namibia are just spectacular. These are just beautiful. They make me want to go there and see it for myself.
Beautiful! That must have been quite a trip.
I’m so jealous of your close ups of the leopard and cheetah. We saw a leopard but from a distance, and no cheetahs. I guess we’ll just have to go back. Darn. 😉
Excellent. Double clicking on the waterhole picture is well worth it. It was fun to just pan around in there.
Thanks for the double click tip. I noticed the large piles of elephant dung in the foreground. It reminds me of a guide on my S.A. trip who grabbed double hands-full of the stuff fingering through it to explain what was in the elephants diet. It is so fibrous and undigested, it helps explain why elephants have to eat so much every day to keep up their energy.
Hope you noticed the two ducks. I can’t tell the species, though.
And of course the curly horned antelope types. Do we have a ID on them?
They are Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)
But what about the ducks?
Those aren’t Greater Kudus. 😉
And the nightjars…
It is a very effective use of panorama.
I hope that cute little squirrel isn’t the reason for the satified expression on the cheetah in the next picture.
I saw the photo of the Milky Way, and thought back to one night on a coconut-palm clad beach in the Indian Ocean, gripping a slightly cooled beer, hearing the rattle of the derrick tripping pipe behind us, and staring over the Ocean at the Milky Way. And screaming “Mine! All Mine! Muwahahahaha!!!!” at the universe in general.
As one does, from time to time.
The world needs more giraffids, IMHO.
Dear Professor Coyne, before going any further I have been a follower of W.E.I.T. for quite long enough to know that d*gs are not altogether âyour thingâ. So having thus prepared you for the subject of this e-mail I hope you wonât dismiss it out of hand. Attached is rather a good photograph of not one but two of afore mentioned d*gs but if you view it you will, I hope, see my reason for sending it. Facing (in the photo) is Captain Haddock, his one blue eye and one brown eye showing up well, and his brother Bob with his back to the camera. As you can see they are both chasing the Frisbee ring and it would appear that Bob has been successful in catching it. However, the shadow to the left shows, on closer examination, that the ring is still in mid-air and not yet caught by either d*g. The question is, should you care to accept it: did Bob catch the ring or was it Haddock. The answer is that Haddock cleverly ran ahead to position himself ahead of the flying ring whereas Bob was content chasing it. The result being that Haddock snatched victory from what on first appearance seems to be ignominious defeat. The who-got-the-ring-first photo of 2015 was played out on Laig Beach on the beautiful Isle of Eigg, Scotland. The photographer, Ben Cormack. In an attempt to have this photo put up on you excellent web site Iâm sorely tempted to ingratiatingly tell you how great W.E.I.T. is but the mere fact that I have subscribed to it and passed it on to many friends and relations will I hope be enough to clinch the deal. Yours, in admiration of your work, Greg (Reggie) Cormack
I got no photo of Captain Haddock!!!!