a lion

The most beautiful relaxed lion, we found as he lay sleeping on the road. The fact that he's so calm looking didn't stop me from hiding behind the seat in case he decided to jump into our open top vehicle. And that eye contact could win him the gold medal in many a staring contest.

And then he growled.
No just kidding. He posed like a good boy and actually yawned, which meant we could take this awesome picture.


Stay tuned for the May photo theme!

Mornings in Africa

 On the way to our morning walk, where we stalked a rhino and her baby.

And afterwards, once the sun had come up.

More elephant!

So this was taken before we had a run in with an extra-defensive herd, so I wasn't scared of them yet and this baby was cute and shy and not harmless at all. Of course I know otherwise now, even though I have forgiven the elephants because we were in their territory and are merely watching their lives, and I do understand that we (accidentally) overstepped that unspoken personal space.

But, back to the photo.

Baby elephant!

eeek!

Impala close up.

Impala face, close up.
They have the most beautiful lyre-shaped horns

Birds.

 the ever beautiful european roller

who is also wondrous at posing

and the hamerkop, the most awesome shape of any bird's head that i've seen

the sky

i love nature photos

and i love these nature photos because they are such good memories

the top one was at about 4.30 in the morning, we went on a crazy lion hunt that ended up being a false trail

and the bottom one was the morning after the elephant incident, we went on a walk and i was so scared, because our tour guide said we had to be quiet as we might turn a corner and come face to face with a pride of lions. or run into some more elephants..

in the water

it's a GOLIATH HERON!
so I don't actually know anything about this bird, except that it has an AWESOME name. I came across it when we were researching the camp we stayed at - lower sabie - and they talked about some of the animals more commonly seen in the area. on the list, was, you guessed it, the GOLIATH HERON. and everytime I say the name it is said in a way that you would imagine saying a word that's all in capitals.

And this crocodile has the best idea, when the river has more water than usual, as was the case this year in January, just open mouth and wait on one of the banks, and the fish will swim into your mouth.

sunrise

a real african sunrise through the condensation on the window

stripes

i really really really love animals. 

but baby ones?

they make me squeal and turn into a blabbering, incomprehensible person - the kind you want to keep away from your kids. 

see how it shakes?
that's just normal behaviour eva
yes, but when it's done by a baby animal, it just... it's different!


or how cute are it's fuzzy little stripes!
eeeeeeeeeeeek

and check out this zebra's battle scar!

it looks like someone sewed his skin back on after a cut, but accidentally forgot to match up the stripes :)

alain de botton

i came across this in my readings and it stuck with me, of all the things i read, this was the quote i remember


lovers practise a form of rudeness that is generally impossible outside of open warfare




and the quote was following a small paragraph:
'she: you don't like intelligent women, that's why you're disagreeing with me
he: i do like intelligent women, but sadly you're not one of them'


from on seeing and noticing,
penguin 2005

More impala!

The impala nursery, where all the babies lie.

 I love close ups of impalas, because they're just so adorable!

And such beautiful, envy-worthy eyelashes :)

The reason I'm scared of elephants now.

This is a picture of the herd of elephants.

After we accidentally stopped our truck on the road, whilst they were, unbeknownst to us until they charged us, in the middle of crossing the road.
Then the matriarch ran at the safari thing we were in - I say thing because it in no way protected us from her, yet a truck might have offered some sort of shield - and stopped about 2 metres from it, rocking on her front foot, as they're known to do when they're about to charge.
Then she took a step backward and ran again, but came a bit closer.
At this point a guy sitting near our guide let him know that it was now past exhilarating or adrenaline-rushing and high time we turn on the engine - because we had it off the whole time - and hope that it didn't rev or stuff up, and that the matriarch didn't get angry at the noise of the engine, and we would be able to make a quick getaway.
But, contrary to what most herds will do, which is continue to cross the road and be happy that we've left, the entire herd started chasing us, and the photo was taken a couple of hundred metres down the road when they gave up!


It's quite an unusual story and makes me wonder what would have happened had the matriarch pushed our safari thing over, would the entire herd have joined in stomping on us? Great...

Animal behinds.

 Hippo.

Zebra and giraffe posing.

Rhino and baby, who we followed on foot, which was exhilarating.

Vultures.

This was taken on night safari, at sunset. They were content sitting and all of a sudden all three flew off.
I love that I was able to capture all three quite in focus, because usually movement in my photos is blurry.

this. is. epic!

BRILLIANCE!

african sunrise

from the van

makes me miss the holidays, safari, the sun. i need to get out into nature more often.

in the grass

hornbill with lunch!

little elephants

happy friday!

monkeys!

 a collection of the animals we discovered on the road, as we were driving around kruger.

baby franklins with guinea fowl babysitters? sure, why not.

warthog family.

my bro managed to capture this beautiful shot, it's definitely tourist postcard worthy!

have wonderful weekends.

zebras + impala

This zebra photo is another of my favs from the trip, just because one zebra is modelling and the others are like extras on a set. I'm pretty proud of these photos, considering impala usually ran away we were able to get pretty close. And I love that they were just in a big group along with some zebras too.

mark twain

considering i'm procrastinating my italian study i thought this was appropriate

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.



:) wish me luck on the test tomorrow!

there's something in the water

a collection of some of the animals we found in the water

 water buffalo

and elephants playing!

and a tiny baby elephant!

thank you Africa!

a simple mirror. or is it?

oh man, imagine the fun you could have with this.

colours!

the most amazing and unexpected colours on this little lizard!

Lovely giraffes

Giraffes amaze me, the way they can bend their necks over without losing balance has also impressed me.
And I must admit that I'm quite proud of the above photo, I like that the front giraffe is in focus and the back one is looking nicely and they just fit together. Of course, this photo is amongst a whole lot of other ones that didn't work out, so, y'know, 1 in 50?

And then they slowly ventured off back into the scrub. Such lovely animals, I must say. Slow, peaceful, graceful.

they don't usually sit on their knees..

but we saw it twice, at the edge of the same dam. it must have been the same bird.

but why, lazy hyena?

And why was there a lazy hyena lying on the side of the road?
Guarding a den of course! The hyena walked back into the scrub and came out again, procuring this little baby that about 3 or 4 hyenas were minding. Then, after proudly showing off the offspring, the adults put baby back in the den and went off hunting.

Hyena

Lazy hyena on the side of the road. Absolutely amazing that we managed to get so close!

Impala!

Impala are one of the most populous animal in the Kruger Park, so of course, the first time we saw them we were so excited but within the first day we saw hundreds, so we didn't appreciate them as much. but they are beautiful creatures, and I wonder how they manage to balance on those petite little ankles, or how this one manages to scratch it's ear without losing balance.

And a baby impala featuring an ox pecker. Not the best quality, but he was far away from us.

Spotted!

On a side road, in the first 5 minutes of entering Kruger Park at 6 in the am.

italian homework vs. improv everywhere

guess who won? so instead of doing my aforementioned italian homework that's been freaking me out, i spent a good chunk of my evening watching youtube videos of improv everywhere. i've been a huge fan for a long time, but i just think is hilarious because the people who are improv-ing are so nonchalant to the attention they're attracting.



i want to try it here in sydney - who's with me?

Beautiful, magestic, massive...

...the Elephant

Of which we were so lucky (or not so lucky, but that's a story for another day) to see so many of!

The teardrop behind it's eye is a result of a thing called musth, where reproductive hormones of bull elephants grealty increase and cause them to behave more aggressively. 

The temporal duct on the side of their heads secretes this thing called temporin, and the word musth is actually derived from a Persian word meaning intoxicated (I think it's a worthy derivation, non?)

Dung

the first of many

edward bunyard

It is, in my view, the duty of an apple to be 
crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have
such a texture as leads to silent consumption.

Xa mina i Xa wena

 So we flew from Zurich to Johannesburg, stayed there for a couple of days and then rented a van and went to KRUGER PARK!

Can I just recommend to anyone who's ever wanted to go anywhere, to pick Africa and go visit the Kruger Park? It's an amazing, unforgettable experience. You will NOT be disappointed, as long as you take your time, follow the park rules, respect the animals, and of course pay attention to all the small things too, you will see some amazing things.

We drove into the Park at Phabeni Gate, where they had these beautiful traditional huts.

AFRICA

yup we roadtripped it across south africa

amazing amazing experience - i loved it!