Dik-Dik

I forgot to add this guy to the safari blog's... he's just too cute not to share.  I thought it was a baby, but he's actually a full grown adult.

A dik-dik, pronounced "dĭk’ dĭk", is a small antelope in the Genus Madoqua that lives in the bushes of eastern and southern Africa. Dik-diks stand 30–40 cm (approx. 12–16 inches) at the shoulder, are 50–70 cm (approx. 20-28 inches) long, weigh 3–6 kg (approx. 7-16 pounds) and can live for up to 10 years. Dik-diks are named for the alarm calls of the females. In addition to the female's alarm call, both the male and female make a shrill whistling sound. These calls may alert other animals to predators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dik-dik

Safari Fun

One night we came back from dinner to find this guy in our sink:

Mike took care of it... I'm sure the maid the next day wondered why some of our towels were hanging from the trees in front of our porch....

We got REALLY close to a momma cheetah... unfortunately her cubs were not with her...

such a pretty cheetah...we we're just hangin out in the bush having a stare down...

teenage cheetah... hanging out with 3 of its buddies... that's a yawn not a growl...

those eyes!

just chillin' with a lion and his pride... no barrier whatsoever...

Female lion ~ my favorite picture out of all the 2000 pictures I took

Every morning we'd stop for coffee and every evening we'd stop for the beverage of our choice

sleepy female lion... they sleep approximately 18+ hours a day...

A dead warthog in the tree... probably put there buy a leopard so no one else will eat it...

that's a male leopard walking behind me... it had just jumped the fence...

me and four young cheetahs

me and giraffes on a rainy day

If you are curious $1 USD equals R8.20 (South African Rand)
For example a 6 inch Subway sandwich would cost you 31 rand
Heineken would cost you roughly $2 a beer...
I may be wrong on the gas per gallon, but I think it was something like $5 a gallon or something in that price range...

There is no other antelope like the wildebeest. It looks like it was assembled from spare parts – the forequarters could have come from and ox, the hindquarters from an antelope and the mane and tail from a horse.

I loved our Safari!

I'm alive!!

I'm alive and back from South Africa... I'm still in the grieving process of leaving that beautiful country (I could have stayed longer) so it'll take me a couple days to pull myself together, do a few loads of laundry, and get back to blogging... but until then here is a picture that I took while on Safari!

female lion sitting approximately 20 feet from me in South Africa ~