A 4x4, a driver, and guide in tow, we basically went off-roading all over the park territory, only occasionally staying on dirt roads. Our guide had some super-human ability to sense where the animals would be and could spot them in the distance long before we even knew where to look.
Being in the park and observing wildlife in their natural habitat really made me reflect upon Mother Nature and extol her virtues…
1. She must be a feminist.
Why else would she make all giraffes – male or female – look so girly, with their wide-set, flirtatious doe-eyes and long lashes? We crept up on the giraffes, and watched the elegant beasts, silently chomping on leaves, intently watching us.
Only a true fashionista would think to outfit the zebras in stark black and white coats. How au courant.
Showing your stripes.
The zebras’ shape reminded me more of donkeys than horses, and the little ones had stripes that were more brown and white than black and white.
3. She is so wise…
… for harmonizing an animal’s anatomy with its environment. Like designing the hippos' eyes to be able to poke above the surface of the water like two periscopes.
Snorkeling.
We caught the hippopotamuses enjoying a morning swim. For hippos, water represents safety, so you would do well never to come between a hippo and the water! We would have liked to see them in all their immense glory, but they stayed mostly submerged with only their close-set, beady eyes and snouts breaking the surface. I could swear that one laughed at us as we waited for them to make an appearance, playing with the papyrus rods and swatting the small black butterflies in the bush.
“I peeled my papyrus and now it’s all clean”
4. She has a healthy sense of humor…
…for giving baboons those angry pinkish bottoms.
Unlike the hippos, the baboons were all too happy to make an appearance… everywhere! I find their pinkish bottoms rather disturbing. It’s almost like Mother Nature forgot to finish the baboon’s coat and as a joke, left them the way they are, so that they can perpetually moon their onlookers.
Cheeky Monkey… Stop looking at my bum!
5. She is industrious!
So much wildlife... So worth protecting...
