It's Halloween, October 31st, and most importantly, Tim's birthday! This year is three-quarters of a century (wow, when put that way it seems like a very long time!). No matter, he still looks like a pup and has the breath to easily extinguish the candles on his early morning birthday sweet.
To celebrate we're off to Mountain Zebra National Park. I had no idea there were two varieties of zebras - the Burchell or plains and the Cape mountain, the latter close to extinction prior to the establishment of this park in 1937. There's also another variety of mountain zebra - the Hartmann's - found only in Namibia. Now there are over 750 mountain zebra in this park, and almost the instant we drive through the gate we're greeted by one!
The first thing we notice is the ears which have a reddish hairy lining (only shows slightly in this photo) and the fact that they have a very short mane. But are they ever cute and friendly!!
A gorgeous black wildebeest and (below) a jackal with the most bizarre black speckled jacket running the length of his back!
And our first sighting of a blesbok!
A mama zebra and what looks like an adolescent. We speculate that the scruffy coat is this young adult molting into his/her adult striping.
And a short distance from this first pair we spot a second pair: a very, very pregnant mama and what was probably her adolescent offspring. Couldn't help but empathize with this mama zebra! Her face reflected the feeling of having reached term and just wanting to scream - 'enough already!!!'
Every national park gives you a map and 'an animal sightings list' which we excitedly check off each time we see one on the list. Today we checked several other animals (vervet monkey, chacma baboon, verraux's eagle, ground squirrel, and ostrich) but didn't get a photo of them.
And having seen a springbok, Tim has announced that it's time for his birthday dinner! We choose one of the highly-rated restaurants, Coldstream, a short drive into town, and are not disappointed.
No, that's not springbok, it's actually fish with a fabulous sauce.
Paul is about to tuck into what has to be the latest piece of steak this side of Amarillo with a side order of monkey gland sauce (which turned out to be surprisingly tasty!).
This was a fabulous choice of restaurants; we all had something different and were all very pleased. And the birthday boy most of all! Here's to the next 75 years!!
To celebrate we're off to Mountain Zebra National Park. I had no idea there were two varieties of zebras - the Burchell or plains and the Cape mountain, the latter close to extinction prior to the establishment of this park in 1937. There's also another variety of mountain zebra - the Hartmann's - found only in Namibia. Now there are over 750 mountain zebra in this park, and almost the instant we drive through the gate we're greeted by one!
The first thing we notice is the ears which have a reddish hairy lining (only shows slightly in this photo) and the fact that they have a very short mane. But are they ever cute and friendly!!
A gorgeous black wildebeest and (below) a jackal with the most bizarre black speckled jacket running the length of his back!
And our first sighting of a blesbok!
A mama zebra and what looks like an adolescent. We speculate that the scruffy coat is this young adult molting into his/her adult striping.
And a short distance from this first pair we spot a second pair: a very, very pregnant mama and what was probably her adolescent offspring. Couldn't help but empathize with this mama zebra! Her face reflected the feeling of having reached term and just wanting to scream - 'enough already!!!'
And the last of the photos for today, the beautiful, elegant, graceful, and according to Tim - oh so tasty -springbok!
And having seen a springbok, Tim has announced that it's time for his birthday dinner! We choose one of the highly-rated restaurants, Coldstream, a short drive into town, and are not disappointed.
No, that's not springbok, it's actually fish with a fabulous sauce.
Paul is about to tuck into what has to be the latest piece of steak this side of Amarillo with a side order of monkey gland sauce (which turned out to be surprisingly tasty!).
This was a fabulous choice of restaurants; we all had something different and were all very pleased. And the birthday boy most of all! Here's to the next 75 years!!
ahhh! monkey gland sauce... never too much of that around, eh? the Owl House artistry was great, good pics... thanks monkey gland sauce... hmmm mmm mmm easier to swallow than our election results...
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