Pietermaritzburg,
KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Nikki is an excellent game driver! We took her dad's car to Tala Game Reserve outside of Durban. The reserve hosts, rhino's, zebra, giraffe, wildebest, wharthog, ostritch, and many kinds of buck. There are no preditors in the reserve therefore the animals are not as scared and are more tame. Upon arrival we encountered many wildebest and zebra hanging out on top of the entry hill. I was much closer to the animals than I have been on any other game drive or walk. It was quite amazing. Rhino's are one of Africa's Big Five animals. I had not seen one yet and was very anxious to see one. We found a mommy rhino with two babies, they are not the most attractive animals. The best part of the day was spoting a giraffe after searching for quite a while. We were so happy when we found one big giraffe in the trees snacking. Slowly we crept out of the car and through the bush to get a closer look. The giraffe had her eye on us every step of the way. After I backed away out of the bush toward the road I heard something running across the road and into the bush, it was another giraffe. I looked over that way and with amazement saw 10 more giraffe in the tree's nearby. I motioned to Nikki to come look. We were both amazed, here we were suprised by this one giraffe meanwhile there was a herd on the other side of the road. We then started to sneak close to the herd to get better pictures. They all heard us and were starring us down, so we did not test our luck. To our surprise the origional giraffe that we found had a baby with her, must have been the reason she was keeping such a close eye on us. We continued to watch but let them have their space. The baby didnt notice anything and kept eating and walking toward the road. As she crossed the road the mommy followed her keeping an eye on us. They were only about 50 meters away. I have never seen a giraffe up that close. They are so magestic. Nikki made me take my camera away from my eye for a moment to take in the true beautfy of such an amazing animal. It really was huge!!! After they went back with the herd we drove up the path a little more to get a good look from the top of the hill. Then we could see the hold herd, all the parents and babies. Nikki and I sucessfully stalked our favorite animals!!!
