The A - Z April Challenge: H...and Camera Critters

H is for Hartebeest

.

This fine fellow is a Coke’s Hartebeest, also called kongoni and is found on the open grassy plains of southern Kenya and Tanzania. Although ungainly in appearance, the Hartebeest is one of the fastest antelopes, and the most enduring of runners. We came across a few on the Serengeti Plain and though not able to get close, I managed to capture a few shots.

H is also for Hyena

 .

.

As Hyenas are nocturnal, it was our good fortune to come across them several times in the morning. Hyenas have unjustly been reviled as cowardly scavengers…in truth they hunt their own food and will fearlessy drive off leopards and lionesses who covet their kill. In spite of his fierceness, the Spotted Hyena in these photos looks as harmless as his distant canine cousins.

 And H is also for Hyrax

I had not heard of the Rock Hyrax until we came across them in the Tarangire National Park in Tanzania. These stocky little mammals lazed quietly on the warm stone walls surrounding the lodge swimming pool, and seemed quite undisturbed by our presence. They are numerous enough to be considered pests, but I found their funny little faces to be adorable.

 And of course, H is for Hippopotamus

As I recently did a piece on the the semi-aquatic Hippo and his antics, I think I'll just redirect you to that post which may tell you more than you ever wanted to know about them!

.
But do notice the crocodile in the background of this last photo...they invariably lined the edges of every hippo pool we saw, neither one seeming interested in the other...
 http://imaginationlane.blogspot.com/2011/03/watery-hippo-reflections.html

For more A - Z posts, be sure to pop by Arlee Bird's site and see what others have done with the letter H...

.

http://www.tossingitout.blogspot.com/2011/01/very-special-and-exciting

I'm also linking to Misty Dawn's Camera Critters, always a great page to check out if you have the time...:)

.

http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

Watery Hippo Reflections

On our photo safari through Kenya and Tanzania, we saw countless magnificent animals whose beauty and stealth stirred in us incredible awe.

.
Alas, the hippo was not one of them!

.

Interesting these fellows are…and most definitely entertaining, but by no-one’s definition of charm would they be placed high on a list of the world’s beauties.

Driving through wild game reserves necessitated our remaining in the trucks most of the time. Danger was ever present as lions slid by close to our wheels and elephants stood nearby in angry disdain, looking as

 if they’d like nothing better than to charge.

.

.

Hippo pools were one of the few places at which our driver allowed us to set foot on the savannah. There were some who regretted doing so one Serengeti evening…

 .

Too busy frolicking to pay us any heed, these lumbering beasts swam, played and fought at a frantic noise level one rarely hears elsewhere. But it was the stench that made a few of the less hardy scurry back to the truck.

.

In the interest of remaining ladylike, I will not even mention what the brown stuff splashing about is…but it’s not water. I need only point out that hippos have a quite unorthodox way of greeting one another!

 

.

Enough said…I am too easily able to visualize the look of  horror my mother would shoot my way, were she still here to read this post…:)

.
(I think I know what kind of comments I'm going to get on this one!)

.

Today, I’m linking this to three wonderful memes you would very much enjoy checking out…

.

Watery Wednesday

.

http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/
.

Weekend Reflections

.

http://newtowndailyphoto.blogspot.com/
.

Camera Critters

.

http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

.