We won a 6-day safari in South Africa (Zulu Nyala Reserve) from a charity auction hosted by Open Door Ministries in Denver. We have game drives every day from 6:00-8:00am and 4:00-6:00pm. We have seen all kinds of animals throughout our drives: giraffes, white rhinos, black rhinos, warthogs, cheetahs, impalas, elephants, hippos, wildebeests, buffalo, zebras, kudus, waterbucks, crocodiles, nyalas, turtles, monkeys, and all kinds of birds.
Here are some facts we learned:
- Animals who eat grass are called "grazers" and animals who eat from the trees/bushes are called "browsers"
- Elephants eat 18-20 hours per day and eat 880lbs (400kg) of grass/leaves daily too!
- Black rhinos have teeth shaped to make a perfect 45 degree cut so they are essentially pruning the branches as they eat which helps the plant regrow
- A group of giraffes is called a "tower" of giraffes
- With the rise of poaching during COVID, South Africa passed a law that now allows owners to legally shoot anyone who is on their private property without permission (i.e., poachers)
- Rhino horns are the new "ivory tusks" for poachers; horns can be sold on the black market to China for over $160,000 each. Scientifically they have found that the horn does not have any medicinal properties (they are made of material similar to our fingernails) but in Chinese medicine, they think it has medicinal properties. To combat this, some private reserves cut off the rhinos horn to deter poachers from killing the animals and chopping the horns off
Our gang from the week:
Adult and teenager giraffes:
White rhinos:
Zebras:
Adult giraffe:
Female elephants:
Male kudu:
White rhinos:
Elephant viewing from our truck:
