After staying over night in George at The Red House B&B I was off early to Cango Cave.
The drive away from the coast into the Outeniqua Mountains was spectacular as I headed towards Oudtshoorn.
Outeniqua is said to be derived from a Khoisan tribe that once lived in these mountains and means “they who bear honey”.
Sure was a sweet drive.
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Cruising through Kruger National Park on the second day proved to be full of wildlife, both big and small.
If you’ll remember, Joan and I saw ALL the BIG 5 on our first day in Kruger National Park. You might think that would be hard to beat. No way. Joan had me up before sunrise every day. Of course she also had the coffee made, such a sweet woman.
We would be out the gate at sunrise, the best time to catch some animals like this waterbuck in the golden light.
wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, marabou storks, kudus
Then spend the morning slowing cruising the roads, scanning back and forth. By noon we’d seen over a dozen species.
Joan let me practice driving on the right side, seemingly wrong to me, of the vehicle and left side of the road.
And we had lunch at Oliphants Rest camp plus saw some Bug Lady wildlife.
Continuing on safari we were attacked by these turtles…
…as this crocodile lay idly by…
…and this snake tried to ignore our plight.
But we were able to seek shelter, first under this ancient Baobab Tree,
and then at Letaba Rest Camp where we hid in visited the Elephant Museum. (See what happens when the turtles get to you.)
Back to camp for dinner and then a guided “Night Ride” with a very unfunny thought he was a comedian driver/guide.
We did get to see a few animals.
But the best part of the night ride was the sunset.
A most unusual animal, so tall and lanky, in fact the tallest mammal on earth plus one of the strongest and most peaceful. But Joan said they can kick real bad, so I didn’t get to ride one. And like the wonderful tour guide she is she told me lots of other things about giraffes as well.
Relative to a 6 foot tall man
Even the giraffe’s tongue is long! The 21 inch (53 centimeter) tongue helps them pluck tasty morsels from treetops like the acacia. They eat about 100 pounds a day everyday and, like cows, regurgitate food and chew it as cud.
This large size can also be a disadvantage as it is very awkward for a giraffe to drink water and makes them very vulnerable to predators like lions and packs of hyenas. Good thing they only need to drink once every several days as most of their water comes from the plants they eat.
The giraffe’s long neck has the same number of cervical vertebrae that we do. But they have elastic blood vessels in their necks allowing them to drink with their heads down without fainting.
They really do almost everything standing up like sleep about 30 minutes a day and even giving birth. Their young endure a rather rude welcome into the world by falling more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) to the ground at birth. These infants can stand in half an hour and run with their mothers an incredible ten hours after birth.
Giraffes and a few other animals such as brown bears and camels move both legs on one side and then both legs on the other side. Every step they take is about 15 feet (4.57 meters) in length.
Male giraffe
You can tell the difference between a male and female giraffe by looking at their horns or ossicones. The male has shorter hair which reveals an obvious bump of cartilage while the female’s longer hair hides the cartilage.
The name giraffe is derived from the Arab word “Xirapha,” which means “the one who walks very fast.” Their scientific name is camelopardalis. This is the Latin version of cameleopard because of their beautiful spotted coats.
While no two individuals have exactly the same pattern, giraffes from the same area appear similar.