I’ve often seen peoples photos in A4 size printed with a circular frame and being sold to the general public… I experimented with a few of mine today and wonder if I could sell them… I have dome a few that I like and printed for myself… what do you think….??
Try and imagine it in a frame…..
One of my favourite animals that fascinates me beyond words… the giraffe… It stands 5–6 m (16–20 ft.) tall and has an average weight of 1,600 kg (3,500 lb.) for males and 830 kg (1,800 lb.) for females.
Despite its long neck and legs, the giraffe’s body is relatively short. Located at both sides of the head, the giraffe’s large, bulging eyes give it good all-round vision from its great height. Giraffes see in colour and their senses of hearing and smell are also sharp. The animal can close its muscular nostrils to protect against sandstorms and ants. The giraffe’s prehensile tongue is about 50 cm (20 in) long. It is purplish-black in colour, and is useful for grasping foliage, as well as for grooming and cleaning the animal’s nose. The upper lip of the giraffe is also prehensile and useful when foraging. The lips, tongue and inside of the mouth are covered in papillae to protect against thorns.
A giraffe has only two speeds: walking and galloping. Walking is done by moving the legs on one side of the body at the same time, then doing the same on the other side. When galloping, the hind legs move around the front legs before the latter move forward, and the tail will curl up. The animal relies on the forward and backward motions of its head and neck to maintain balance and the counter momentum while galloping. The giraffe can reach a sprint speed of up to 60 km/h (37 mph), and can sustain 50 km/h (31 mph) for several kilometres.
There is just too much to tell you about this ungainly looking animal that is a marvel of nature…
I love this photo above… “whatcu doing?”
and below a big male..
I have not got the time to write out a long splurge of this site we discovered in our trip around the Northern Cape, but if you are ever between Danielskuil and Kuruman, do yourself a favour and visit the cave..
Wonderwerk Cave is an archaeological site, formed originally as an ancient solution cavity in Dolomite rocks of the Kuruman Hills, situated between Danielskuil and Kuruman in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. It is a National Heritage Site within a servitude ceded to and managed as a satellite of the McGregor Museum in Kimberley. Geologically, hillside erosion exposed the northern end of the cavity, which extends horizontally for about 140 m into the base of a hill. Accumulated deposits inside the cave, up to 7 m in depth, reflect natural sedimentation processes such as water and wind deposition as well as the activities of animals, birds and human ancestors over a period of some 2 million years. The site has been studied and excavated by archaeologists since the 1940s and research here generates important insights into human history in the subcontinent of Southern Africa. Evidence within Wonderwerk cave has been called the oldest controlled fire. Wonderwerk means “miracle” in the Afrikaans language.
Thanks to the Bulldog for the photos…
From the outside….
Just on the inside….
and this great big stalagmite…
the Bushman paintings are fascinating and even show an elephant.. so they must have roamed here in the past…
and now we go and have a look at some of the dig sites all they way down to the back of the cave…
Travelling around between Mata Mata and Twee Rivers exit point we saw so many different animals and birds that I will have to make two posts of it..
To continue with the trip… our first 50 km we took 4 hours to do… we were on the Twee Rivers Nossob road… lets show you a map to help keep track….. (to see the whole area map, click on it to enlarge….)
We had passed Kij Kij and had heard from a fellow visitor there where Lion at Melk vlei…. this required a bit more speed but we must have been too late.. so a stop at the picnic spot was called for….
Now just to give you an idea of the feel of this park, there are no fences around the picnic spot, so before you alight from your vehicle, you tend to check to see if there is anything around that might want to make a snack of you… nothing there unfortunately, so we used the toilets… Remembering to close the entry door so you don’t get a visit whilst doing your thing…. mind you the appearance of a lion peeping at you, could work well as a laxative…..
With everyone feeling better and after partaking in a little sustenance, we were on our way up to Dikbaardskolk and then over to Kamqua for an eventual stop at the Kalahari Tented Camp our home for the night…. and these are a few things we saw on the way (remember I will be doing photo posts of these sightings in detail later on)… enjoy an entrée…
And then we found him.. or should I say them…. BIG and MEAN… now I’m talking nonsense, lovely looking, healthy and beautiful….in his prime.. Can’t wait to show you more of these photos…
MAN I HOPE WE REACH THE CAMP SOON – SEE YOU TOMORROW…..
The Photographic Journey of bulldog. 