I promised a few close ups of the Buffalo that we saw the other day and here they are… I’d parked on the same side of the road as them as they lay calmly in the grass and I love to capture something different… so look out this is the sharp end of a buffalo…
This young buffalo was doing his best to get his mother to stand for a drink…. I think she was ignoring him as a weaning tactic… but it was amusing and interesting to capture on camera… he ended lying on top of her like a puppy or lion cub would do on their mothers….
One can almost see the pleading by the youngster… and the last photo, momma seems to be saying an emphatic “NO !!!”
You might have realised that I have a love relationship with Buffalos… their power, tenacity in the face of lions and their look of absolute contentment fascinates me….
But when you find them like this lying in the winter grass I can only think of one title and that is the one I’ve used above….
So here is my “Horns in the Grass”…. a different photographic perspective…..
Momentum Life have come up with a series of Saturday races for those so inclined to rather do this than spend an hour on a psychiatrists couch….
It is a run of 5 kilometres ( 3,125 miles) then a bicycle ride of 30 kilometres (18,75 miles) then another run of 2,5 kilometres ( 1,56 miles)…. now none of these distances seem all that far, but, and its a big BUT, the elevations one goes up and down vary by 500 metres ( about 1550 feet)….
Now I think you realise why I say they should rather see a psychiatrist….
Nearing the end of the race there is a dam crossing that one can attempt on a floating walkway, or, you can take the chicken run across the dam wall…. fortunately for me some decided on the floating path and I was there to take the photos…
All looked good and this photo shows the thousands of idiots that wanted to attempt this race…
My SiL was one of those… I was not there for the race, I have more brains with plenty of life savvy… but I was there to see someone fall in the water… and some obliged….
Some got chicken and turned back……
But I just loved the scenery and all that came with it…..
The area where they raced had all this wild life on the property and it was interesting to see wildebeest running to get out of the way of runners/ cyclists/ runners……
The springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) is a medium-sized brown and white antelope. It is extremely fast and can reach speeds of 100 km/h (62 mph) and can leap 4 m (13 feet) through the air. The common name "springbok" comes from the Afrikaans and Dutch words spring = jump and bok = goat.
So we have a fast moving, high jumping springing goat….. But what I saw at an outing with my SiL was for me a first….
Their colouring consists of a pattern of white, reddish/tan and dark brown. Their backs are tan-coloured and they are white beneath, with a dark brown stripe extending along each side from the shoulder to inside the thigh. The face is white in adults, with a dark patch on the forehead, and a stripe running from just above the eyes to the corner of the mouth……
There are three variations in the colour of springbok pelage. In addition to the normal-coloured springboks there are also black and white morphs. Although born jet black, adult "black" springboks primarily have two shades of chocolate-brown and a white marking on the face…..
The springbok was a national symbol of South Africa under white minority rule (including a significant period prior to the establishment of apartheid). It was adopted as a nickname or mascot by a number of South African sports teams, most famously by the national rugby team. It appeared on the emblems of the South African Air Force, the logo of South African Airways (for which it remains their radio call sign) and It also featured as the logo of ‘South Africa’s Own Car’, the Ranger, in the early 1970s.
After the demise of apartheid, the African National Congress government decreed that South African sporting teams were to be known as the Proteas after the national flower of South Africa. ..
During the Second Boer War, a Boer force attempting to sneak up on the Royal Canadian Dragoons was defeated after their movements startled the nearby springbok, thus alerting the Canadian sentries, which is why the Dragoons have the springbok as their cap badge and as their mascot…..
The Photographic Journey of bulldog. 