Photo Credit === Danny James
Archive for the ‘Animals’ Tag
Philosophical Fridays. If Not For The Cat 3 comments
Travel Theme — Slow 1 comment
In response to Ailsa and her Travel Theme Challenge.
Kenya Photo Credit — Danny James
Not too near and not too far
Out of the stress of the crowd
Music screams as elephants scream
When they lift their trunks and scream aloud
For joy of the night when masters are
Asleep and adream.
Lawrence, D. H.
Egypt Photo Credit — Danny James
A camel makes an elephant feel like a jet plane.
― Jackie Kennedy
Weekly Photo Challenge: On The Move 13 comments
The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge this week is “On The Move”.
The Great Migration 7 comments
The Daily Prompt is “Twilight Zone“.
Photo Credit Danny James
The Great Migration is a cycle of life and death, played out on the plains of the Serengeti (in Tanzania) and Masai Mara (in Kenya). Some 1.4 million wildebeest, 250,000 Burchell’s zebra and a smattering of trailing Thomson’s gazelle make this year-long round trip. In fact, around 250,000 Wildebeest and 30,000 zebra perish in this tough trek, mainly younger ones. Along the way, many migrating animals become prey to predators including lion, cheetah, crocodile and hyena.
We were one of the lucky people who actually witnessed this event. The Wildebeest would approach the river that they had to cross in response to a lack of drinking water. There appeared to be a leader who, to me at least, was surveying the crossing for predators. He would approach, look around, sniff the air, and taste the water. The first couple of times he, along with the rest of the heard just made a circle and returned in a few minutes. What he was seeing was crocodiles in the river and at least 3 lions on the far side who were also staring at him. Once the stampede began the sound was unbelievably loud with snorts and the water splashing as the Wildebeest began the crossing. Once the leader started across it was like an auto expressway at rush hour. Suddenly a crocodile sprang out of the water and grabbed the Wildebeest and drowned him. Other crocodiles join the fray. The Wildebeest far outnumbered the crocodiles and most made it to the other side. On that side were waiting a dozen or so lions who joined in the feast. The squealing sound was surreal. While having the appearance of a frenzy, recent research has shown a herd of Wildebeest possesses what is known as a “swarm intelligence”, whereby the animals systematically explore and overcome the obstacle as one.
This picture was taken on our recent vacation in Kenya. In fact on our last day. Our guide himself had not seen anything like this. You think you are alone on the large plains of the Serengeti and Masi Mara but the tour jeeps are in constant contact with each other. Once we found these Wildebeest getting ready to cross our guide contacted other tours and within minutes there were around 10 jeeps loaded with tourist like us. Guides are below:
In The Dark I Found Leave a comment
CARPE DIEM “Little Ones” 6 comments
In this weeks Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Special challenge “Little Ones” we are asked to create an American Sentence. Created by Allen Ginsberg to make an “American” form of haiku, the sentence follows the same syllable count as a traditional haiku: 17. Written left to right vs vertically.
Inquisitive face, wagging tail, pleading their case, wishing beyond hope.
KoKo– Sunday Photo Fiction 1 comment
“Come out here KoKo”, her mate requested.
“I’m watching “Pretty Woman” on my big screen. Then I have to answer my emails. My inbox is at 124 unread messages right now. Then I need to finish a chapter in my latest book “The Thoughts of a Gorilla”. I want Julia Roberts to play the lead when it comes out as a movie. Tell those pesky tourist to please go away. I need peace and quite to concentrate on my brand.”
“Your brand? What the hell does that mean. You can do or say anything and it will strengthen your brand. Just don’t scratch yourself you know where and everything will be just fine.”
“Listen, I know over 500 sign-language words and I’m about to use a couple of them on those peeping toms! You know my motto: Avoid Pain/Seek Pleasure. People should be polite to Gorillas.”
These words form my entry into this week’s Sunday Photo Fiction challenge.
