These are the enormous Anatolian Shepherd dogs that CCF Namibia trains for their livestock guarding program. These 4 guys are retired and live at the house I stayed at while I was visiting. I don't know if you can tell how big they are from how they dwarf my book bag in the upper corner of the pic? If not, think about this. When the smallest of the 4 jumped on me (and they all jump on you cuz apparently they love the life of leisure they now live and are very grateful to be retired) his front paws landed on the top of my head.
A pretty African sunset in Namibia. I saw so many beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It was hard to capture them on film sometimes but they are forever burned into my memory. There were very few buildings once you got out of the cities and so you could watch the sun rise and fall over the horizon and it was just awesome!
An African Tortoise! I was so excited! I got to hold him and everything. We were driving along and he was just there on the side of the road and he was so slow we were able to park, get out, get our cameras, snap some pictures, and pick him up all before he even got 5 steps away from us!
So in the city, they drive a lot of cars with the focus on Toyotas (Botswana) or Volkswagens (Namibia) but in the rural areas, they still use donkey carts or their legs to get around.
And they also still use their head for more than thinking. I saw women everywhere carrying unbelievably heavy looking loads on their heads. I don't know how they do it without breaking their neck. Remember you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them!
The tiny little plane I flew on when I traveled from Botswana to Namibia. The airport actually lost the plane it is so small....they couldn't figure out which slot it was in so we drove around on this little bus for 20 minutes and stopped at every South African Airways puddle jumper we saw until we found the one that was going to Namibia. All I could think was if they can't find the airplane do I really want to get on it when they do? Luckily, I made it safely to Windhoek Airport!
Me in front of the Jwana Game Park sign in Botswana. The DeBeers Diamond Mine, which owns the Park, is one of the largest diamond mines in the world. To protect their loot from greedy hands they created a huge fenced off border all along the mine and then thought, "hey, how about we bring some animals in and let the locals enjoy them a bit?" and so the Game Park was born with the Diamond mine smack in the middle. You can't get very close but you can see it off in the distance.
This is me in front of David Livingstone's tree with two local boys. Have you heard this story? Rebecca, the executive director of the Botswana cheetah project I visited and a Brit, was appalled when she realized I had never heard of the guy. I told her we Americans don't teach our kids about any historical events that the US does not play a central role in. Anyway, David Livingstone is considered to be the man who discovered Africa for Europe. He was the first white missionary to come to Africa, arriving in Botswana and taught people here how to read and write.
This picture is me with Duma, which means "cheetah" in Swetsana. He is one of the two tamed cheetahs at CCB in Botswana. You can go in and play with them as I did here!
These are two wild spotted hyenas that are at Mokolodi Nature Reserve (Botswana) until they recover and can be re-released. Aren't that so cute and fuzzy? When I think of hyenas I think bloody fangs and awful noises but these guys were so cute and they have enormous paws!
This is me about to embark on my rhino tracking adventure. It was very exciting. We drove along until we spotted rhino tracks and then we walked on foot through the brush following the tracks and the rhino poop. It was hard work. Those rhinos are big but short so to follow their path we had to weave through acacia thorn branches, duck, crawl at some points....It was so exhilarating though and I felt like I was a rhino walking through the African bush!
Success! We found two sets of moms and babies. The first set, seen here, just laid there and let us take their picture. The second set almost charged us though and I realized why our guide carried a shotgun and why they make you sign a liability waiver before you start the trip! Needless to say I didn't stick around to take any shots of the second set! I have some great rhino pics from this outing Mom so I will bring one to you at xmas.
The above is just a beauty shot of the lake where the hippos live. I saw them on my last day in Botswana but even with the telephoto lens they look like two large brown blobs in the picture they were so far away. Oh well. I am still marking it down as a hippo sighting :). The shot below is of my last night in Botswana. The woman in the center is Kyle Good. She is the only other American I met while in Botswana. I did see a local with an Ohio State hoodie on and while I didn't get a picture I did go over and try to give him a "Yay Ohio" high 5, which he didn't want to do. Seems he went to college there but came back to Botswana as quick as he could. He wasn't too impressed with Ohio....The woman on the end is Rebecca, mentioned above.
No comments:
Post a Comment