Just NB

One of the animals that I didn't really get to see up close on my last trip was hippos. There were many times I thought the guides were getting far too close to the animals - but - they would NEVER go near the hippos. And even when we'd see some hippos, they would slow their boat down and be carefully watching the behaviour of the hippos. As soon as one would break away from the pod, the guide would start up the boat and immediately head away. I learned that hippos are very aggressive and one of the most dangerous animals in Africa! Here are a few of the pictures I got...unfortuantely (or maybe not, given how aggressive they are) we never saw any out of the water in the evening (but heard them often in the night when I stayed at Africa-Disney Nxbega . They make like... a deep laughing kind of noise?) Here's a group of hippos in their pod. An adult can spend up to 5 minutes under water (I had to google that fact...not consult my notes :-P) We're being watched...

Giraffeafy, defined: is random facts I found on the internet + giraffe pictures I took on my Accidental African Adventure Part 2 . Males and females tend to eat from different parts of a tree to ensure that the sexes do not compete for food The mighty giraffe can drink 12 gallons in one setting Like human fingerprints, each giraffe's coat is unique. Giraffes rarely lay down; they even sleep and give birth standing up. A giraffe's tongue is on average 18 inches long A giraffe can run at a speed of 35 miles per hour. They have also been known to jump up to 6 feet. Male giraffes stand up to 18 feet tall and weigh up to 4,000 pounds. Females grow up to 16 feet tall and weigh approximately 2,500 pounds. Giraffes need very little sleep and may only sleep between 20 minutes to two hours out of a twenty-four hour period. The color of a giraffe's coat tends to become darker with age. A giraffe eats about 140 pounds of food a day. A male giraffe can tell ...

Wow, I have truly been sucking at getting my African Adventure Part 2 posts up!!! I still have quite a few animals to cover!! Next up on the animal pictures are leopards and lions! (I know...I know...my creative title skills suck lately....) I saw these guys on my last night at Elephant Valley Lodge . What a great way to leave this place! The guides were great and tracked down these leopards This guy (or gal?) was pretty brave and let us take pictures. Hope I didn't blind him with my flash!! He stayed for about half an hour or so....gave us some great poses.... and then he was off.... And lions! I think we saw at least one lion every day... ..sometimes closer than I would have liked.... These ladies gave us some good photo ops, but apparently we annoyed them, because they growled at us! Pretty scary where your about five feet away with nothing in between you and them! But they weren't that concerned....as soon as we started to drive away th...

Alright, I'm finally here with some wildlife pics from my Accidental African Vacation Part 2!! It's *possible* that I went a little overboard on the picture taking... Day 1, I would take about 500 pictures of elephants. Day 2, maybe 250 pictures... Day 3, 100 pictures.... Days 4, 5, 6....well...I don't think I ever took less than a hundred pictures a day... Since a) my internet connection isn't good enough to post a lot of pictures, and, b) pictures of other people's holidays get boring really quick... I've tried to pick through the thousands of pictures and I'll post a different animal every day. Starting today with Elephants!! (As indicated by the incredibly creative title...) A thirsty youngster (with an impala in the background) This guy was actually more interested in watching us! Why DID the elephant cross the road??..... We got like REALLY close to the elephants! And a great "ear shot". African elephants can be distinguish...