A lot of attention is paid to the “Big 5” African animals – Lion, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard, and Elephant – however, we saw a lot of other animals over our 3-day game drive which were also very interesting to see. I wanted to share some of our favourite photos of these animals with you.
Birds
Land Animals
Plants and such!
Other, Interesting Pictures!
In this section I just wanted to share some of the other things I’ve seen over the course of our 3-day game drive…I hope you enjoy!
When I see these beautiful animals roaming free, being protected from poachers and from further human encroachment of their natural habitats, it makes me feel great.
As we drove through the National Parks on our game drive, I couldn’t help but notice that there were a lot of others out as well, even though it is now “low season”. Seeing all these people out had me thinking…what is the economic value of these beautiful creatures? Can a poacher be convinced that an animal is worth more alive than dead? National Geographic referenced a report back in November 2014 which indicated that the contribution of a single elephant to tourism over the course of its lifetime is about $1.6 million. Cutting that life short hurts.
As with almost everything, there is no easy answer to this debate. There is poverty, and the people here are trying to scrape out a living in any way they can. The government seems to have taken some concrete steps to curb poaching, but in the end education is key to conservation…
Comments
18 responses to “We’re not the “Big 5”, but still pretty awesome!”
Beautiful photos!
Thanks Maria…lots of fun taking the photos!
Great pictures and commentary! Harriet
Thanks Harriet…thought that all the other animals we saw on our game drive were overshadowed by the “Big 5” so…
BEAUTIFUL pictures posted by all! Really enjoyed this leg of your blog!
Thanks Colleen. How did Harper and Owen enjoy these posts? Would be interesting to hear their opinions on zoos vs. no-zoos!
For zoos: http://www.globalfieldtrip.com/zoos-fabulous/
Against zoos: http://www.globalfieldtrip.com/zoos-animal-prison/
🙂
Amazing photos Oliver, did you have to wear mosquito protection? Have fun in India, travel safely. Love to all, Doreen
Hi Doreen, we did spray with deet, though while on the game drive it didn’t seem like there were a lot of mozzies around. We focused a bit more on sunscreen – very intense sun! At night we did deet-up, and having the mosquito nets over our beds at night made us feel better as well.
Great photos!!
Thanks Bev! We had an amazing time seeing the animals and taking the photos!
Wonderful Photos and commentary , Oliver! Enjoy India! Mom P.
Thanks Baba. It has been a special experience, that’s for sure. Looking forward to India!
Hi, Oliver, you never disappoint, there is always this little extra special. Dad and I love all your reports and photos, but we find this posting special. The lovely colours of the birds, the huge lone elephant in the lush green surroundings, the big Baobab tree. It must have been quite an experience. Thank you for letting us tag along. Lots of hugs to all
Hi Oma,
The good thing about digital photography is that you can take lots of photos and then delete the ones that didn’t turn out that well. The bad part is that you never seem to actually go through them all and delete the bad ones! We’re up to over 12000 photos between the 4 of us…maybe even more! That’s well over 300 rolls of film! Can you imagine?!
It was all pretty amazing. The termite nests were particularly interesting. I saw one starting to get built up next to one of the Baobab tree, which I thought was pretty impressive (didn’t get a photo…moving too fast in the truck!)
Oliver,
Thank you for sharing these amazing photos! Loved the birds in flight!!
Ginny
Hi Ginny,
That was a tough picture to take…the birds were moving, we were moving…and it wasn’t exactly on a smoothly paved surface! I must have shot about 20 pictures to get that one! 🙂
Along with everyone else, I thank you for these amazing pictures. For me it was a walk down memory lane . What I remember best (aside from the animals of course) was the quiet. I also appreciate your thoughts on poaching. Milkhaila sent me a great article re rhinos and the horn poaching. Please thank her for me. It is certainly a conversation starter!
Hi Herta,
I’m glad we could take you on a trip down memory lane. It certainly was quiet out there, and the air was incredibly clean and fresh. I passed on your thanks to Mikhaila, and she responded with “mission accomplished” – one of our goals is to start conversations on some of these issues. 🙂