Giraffic Park

 

Giraffes are in big trouble in most of the places where they are still found. But the South African giraffe is still doing well in Kruger National Park where they have healthy numbers. I loved spending time with them.

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I waited by a waterhole outside Crocodile River hoping to see the giraffes take a drink. And these skittish impala thundered past.

Some giraffes have to splay their legs wide and contort themselves as if they are unfolding a stubborn stepladder to reach water. But this young giraffe simply knelt gracefully. This move requires a lot more strength.

Summer is a time of plenty for grazing and browsing animals like giraffes.

South African giraffes are smaller than the Maasai giraffes found in Tanzania and Kenya, but they are not small. They are enormous with sturdy legs like tree trunks. It's no wonder that lions can be killed with one kick of their enormous anvil-sized hooves.

South African giraffes have less distinct patterns than reticulated giraffes. But each is unique.

Giraffe dawn. I captured this giraffe in the pre-dawn gloaming. It's one of my fav pics from Kruger.

This is biggest South African giraffe I have ever seen. He towered more than 16 feet over a prairie scorched by wildfire.

Giraffes have cloven hooves like a deer — if a deer could see over your house. They are so incredible! 

A lioness rests in meager shade, refusing to relinquish her giraffe kill to the vultures waiting their turn. The pride ambushed the giraffe near a ravine. It had nowhere to go.

The next generation. A baby giraffe has fuzzy little ossicones. They're born with these bony, cartilaginous protrusions. But the ossicones lie flat against their heads at birth.