In Europe, a steenbok is a big and impressive curly-horned mountain goat. In South Africa, it is the cutest little antelope. The male has two twig-like horns on its head, the female has no horns. They are extremely shy and will run away at any suspicion of danger. It’s a blessing to find one that stands still for long enough to be photographed!
Tag: male
Fighting giraffes
Giraffes seem such gentle animals, but looks can deceive. Giraffes fight by clobbering each other with their necks. Male giraffes fight for dominance in a certain area, and for the right to mate with the females in that area. A giraffe’s neck is a powerful weapon, and the clashes of neck against neck can sometimes be heard from afar.
Kudu male
What a majestic beast is the kudu! This male was out walking with his harem in the afternoon when the sun was setting. Actually, male kudus generally live in bachelor groups, or, more often, solitarily.
Kudu bull
A beautiful male kudu appearing from the bush. Look at those horns! This male is one of a bachelor group of six big bulls in Pilanesberg National Park.
Portrait of a giraffe
Who says portraits should be of people? This majestic male giraffe obviously has personality!
Photo taken in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa.
Weaver birds
When we were living in the Netherlands, we loved to go to the zoo and watch the weaver birds making their nests. Now that we live in Africa, it’s a blessing to see these birds in our garden! This picture, however, was taken in the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria, South Africa – we still love going to the zoo.
The majestic impala
The humble impala is one of the most common animals one might encounter on a safari game drive. While first-time visitors may be reasonable impressed by the impalas’ soft eyes and the males’ horns, those who have been on safari more often generally just pass them by. Impalas are ubiquitous, they are everywhere – and like everything that is considered ‘normal’, they lose some of their allure.
I often pass the impalas by too. But I’m happy that on this occasion I didn’t. Because this is a majestic impala, with impressive horns, completely at ease while eating his grass. He looks at us but knows that here, today, he is the king of this grassy field.
Photo taken in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa
Awesome wonder 