No. 7B African Safari, Part 2

No. 7A African Safari in Black and White, Part 1

Most of the pictures in this gallery are from a safari in Entabeni Safari Reserve a couple of hours Northeast of Johannesburg, South Africa. The featured image is of a bull elephant urging our Land Rover to back up. Once we’d gotten back far enough he downed a tree, laid it across the track and signaled his followers to cross.

No. 6. Capetown Landscapes

No. 5. Jackass Penguins

Grooming
Grooming
Nesting Females
Nesting Females
Hanging on the Beach
Hanging on the Beach
Hello
Hello
Got an Itch
Got an Itch
Basking
Basking
Smooching
Smooching

This species of penguin is also called the African or Black-Footed Penguin. Its numbers have seriously declined in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. This is one of the few colonies on the African mainland. Because of its protected status this particular colony at Boulder Beach is thriving.

No. 4. Canyon Climbers

Canyon Climbing Elephant
Canyon Climbing Elephant
Grabbing Some Greens
Grabbing Some Greens
Grabbing Some Greens 2
Grabbing Some Greens 2
Grabbing Some Greens 3
Grabbing Some Greens 3
Moving Rock on the Canyon Wall
Moving Rock on the Canyon Wall

While descending in a 10-seater Land Rover from the high plateau in South Africa’s Entabeni Safari Conservancy to the bushveldt where most of the animals live, we spotted this elephant climbing the steep canyon walls. These are all pictures of the same animal. I’ve included them in descending order to provide a sense of the elephant in relation to the steep canyon.

The bottom picture shot with an 18mm focal length is included to provide scale. The top picture was shot at a 250mm focal length and cropped to get in closer to the animal.  Turns out Elephants are great climbers. I guess that’s why Hannibal attempted to use them to cross the Alps during the Punic Wars in the Second and Thrid Centuries BCE. (Most of Hannibal’s elephants did not survive the hostile Alpine climate).