Favorites: The Animal Edition

In honor of the conclusion of my time in Africa, I've compiled a few of my favorite photographs over the past several years.
Here are my favorite animal photos!

For my favorite photographs of Zimbabwe: go here!!

For my favorite photographs of Senegal: go here!!

A lilac breasted roller in Chobe National Park, Botswana - Hope is a Thing with Feathers

A baby elephant of the Presidential Herd, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe - The Ivory Lodge

A crocodile sleeps on the banks of the Chobe River in Botswana - Snapshots from the River: The Chobe Crocodile

A giraffe in Chobe National Park, Botswana - The Chobe smorgasbord of animals!!

I originally captioned this photo of a donkey in Palmarin, Senegal:
"Hello, donkey, the rains must feel like a wonderful break from the heat." - Hello, donkey! Hello, pelicans! Hello, white flamingo?!

A lion at Antelope Park in Gweru, Zimbabwe - ...and then the lions charged!

Elephants along the Chobe River, Botswana - An ode to elephants

A penguin in Boulders, South Africa, on the Cape of Good Hope - Penguins...in Africa! Woohoo!!

A bird searching for food on Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe - The Lake Kariba smorgasbord

Two lions cubs in Hwange, Zimbabwe - I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar.

A herd of bison in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States - Yellowstone: Animals Part II

A mama giraffe in the Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe - Giraffes!! (An Ode to ALDB)

Traffic in Rufisque, Senegal, the only real road off the Cap-Vert peninsula where Dakar is located - Passing Through Rufisque

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The most amazing animal you've never heard of--the pangolin!!

Meet Marimba, the Pangolin!

What on earth is a pangolin you ask?

Why the most adorable and amazing animal you've probably never heard of.

When someone first mentioned the pangolin and its rarity--it's rapidly disappeared in its home in tropical Asia and Africa--

I honestly thought they either couldn't pronounce penguin or were playing a strange practical joke.

(Random fact for you: their tongues are longer than their bodies!!)

Then I met this lovely lady...and fell in love. Pangolins are amazing and so cool!

Beautiful isn't she?

Her scales are keratin--the same material that people have horrendously hunted rhinos for--and is the only known mammal with this adaption.

Pangolin comes from the Malay word meaning "something that rolls up."

They walk on only their hind legs, holding their front legs (arms?) to their chest.

It was so intriguing to watch, just mezmorizing.

Check out how they balance and walk here:

Unfortunately pangolins have largely disappeared because the Chinese believe their scales have medicinal qualities which has resulted in poaching similar to
 rhino horn poaching and their meat is considered a delicacy.

They classified as an endangered species. There is an international ban on their trade.

Isn't Marimba a beauty and just so interesting? 

Wild is Life is trying hard to do its part and save the few pangolins left in Zimbabwe.

In fact, legally, the president of Zimbabwe owns every pangolin in Zimbabwe and regularly receives reports on their health to help combat their trafficking. The man holding her? He's her handler who is with her every day to ensure no one poaches her.

For more information on pangolins, here's their wikipedia page.

Check out some fun facts about pangolins here!

CNN recently wrote an article on them: "The most trafficked mammal you've never heard of"

(From the article: a pangolin--a rare, scale-covered mammal, about the size of a house cat, that's so bizarre it almost forces your brain to flip through a Rolodex of more-familiar images. It could be described as a walking pine cone or an artichoke with legs- a tiny dinosaur or friendly crocodile. The pangolin possesses none of the cachet of better-known animals that are hot on the international black market. It lacks the tiger's grace, the rhino's brute strength. If they pangolin went to high school, it would be the drama geek--elusive, nocturnal, rarely appreciated, and barely understood. When it's frightened, it actually curls up into a roly-poly ball. The pangolin could go extinct before most people realize it exists. Or, more to the point: it could go extinct because of that."

Spread the news about pangolins--let's make sure everyone knows about how awesome they are!

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Wild is Life!

Why, hello, Sweetpea the Kudu!

While visiting Wild is Life in Harare, Zimbabwe, we had afternoon tea with this lovely animal (she's partial to strawberries....)

How's this for a sign?? Probably best to keep your fingers away from lions...

Wild is Life rescues animals who have been orphaned (due to poaching), are ill, or who would otherwise have been killed.

This beauty promptly walked past..see? The sign has some good advice!

Wild is Life has several lions including one that is blind and one that is missing some teeth (making him unable to survive in the wild).

I instantly fell in love with the premises, so easy to get lost among its beauty.

So easy to forget you're in Harare.

I couldn't resist a second shot, I mean, just look at those flowers!

Mirabelle the Giraffe waiting for afternoon tea.

A boat as a swinging seat? Emphatic yes please!

Sweetpea the Kudu--aren't her stripes just lovely?

Wild is Life has also rescued Levi and Diesel, the cheetahs, from poachers who killed their parents.

For more information on the work that Wild is Life is doing, please visit them here.

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Africa Wild Dogs - The Painted Edition!

While in Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe, we were visited by a large pack of painted dogs!

The painted dogs (aka African Wild Dogs aka Lycaon pictus) is an endangered species as their habitats are disappearing and poaching targets them.

Here they are standing at attention:

They were waiting for a member of the pact--here they are greeting the member.

Here's a glimpse of their greeting--it was so enthralling to watch, first they circled and circled the member in a cyclone then this:

Aren't they just so beautiful and some how kind of ugly at the same time?

We were very lucky to get to see them!

For more information on the painted dogs, click here!

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The Imire Sable

While visiting Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe, we came across these beauties.

Sables, of the antelope family, are becoming rarer and rarer.

They are absolutely beautiful to watch, very regal.

Why, hello, sable!

A zebra at Imire.

Zimbabwe is covered with just so many stunningly beautiful trees.

For some reason, our ride at Imire struck me as particularly hilarious.

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The Imire Elephant: Matriarch of the African Buffalos

Some of the elephants at the Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.

One of the elephants eating.  It's amazing how powerful they are, taking down trees.

Hi, elephant tush!

A baby elephant.  Still my favorite of all the animals, how can you not just love a baby elephant?

Imire has an elephant who is rather famous for her 'identity crisis.'

Nzou is the matriarch of this herd of African Buffalo.  That's right, she's the head of a herd of African Buffalo.

When Nzou first arrived at Imire, she was placed with a bull elephant within the only large herd Imire a had at the time---a buffalo herd.  By the time the bull elephant died, Nzou had immersed herself so completely within the buffalo herd that she became distressed when Imire tried to move her to the elephant herd they had obtained.  The buffalo also became visibly unsettled by her absence.

When I visited, fourteen male African Buffalo had challenged Nzou for head of the herd over the past 30 years---she won every time.

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