Farewell South Africa {for the SECOND time!}

This is the 44th, and last, entry ... and it completes the South Africa Tour blog for May 2012 - now I head for Thailand and Malaysia ... the new blog address is http://jerrisimo-thai-mai.blogspot.com/

Once again it's been a privelege to see new places and meet new people.

It's also been an additional privelege to catch up with old friends.

300 page views can't be bad, especially in this age of bombardment of information :-)

Look forward to 'seeing you' in Thailand and Malaysia!!!

Hyenas - don't argue with these either!

Remeniscent of the domestic dog at times, they can look playful and cuddly, but make no mistake, these are deadly!!!

They have a bite strength of 800Kg/Sq Cm, which is 40% more than a Leopard can generate. 

It also explains how they can bite clean through bone, and therefore tend to 'clean up' after the bigger animals have eaten their kills and left the remains to be picked over.  

Striped Hyena http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_hyena

Spottd Hyena http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_hyena

I'm deadly and not human, but I still like to be tickled!

Baby Giraffe - they're unfortunately unsure about the survival chances :-(

This chap looks fighting-fit, but unfortunately 'mummy' has rejected/neglected her two previous babies and they didn't survive ... Lynne wondered whether it could be down to the 'easy-feed' environment for mum, so she didn't have to make an effort for junior? 

A big shame whatever the reason. 

Apparently they really don't last with hand-rearing ...  

Look at the tongue on that Giraffe!!!

30Rand {~£2.30} gets you a bag of Giraffe-nuts and you can climb the wooden 'scaffold' and get slobbered on by an enthusiastic Giraffe with a VERY long tongue...

These gentle giants will happily munch all day - the female is the smaller of the two, and was reluctant to push in front of the male too much - she's also the mother of the third baby {mentioned in the next post} ... unfortunately the other two didn't survive :-(

This is the female

Lynne goes first ...

... and Jerry follows

Jonny Morris would have had fun putting voices over these guys!

Well give-us-it then!

You put your whole hand in ...

Yeah? ... WotEVER! (female behind)

Love that post!

Tasty! {note tongue right rear of post}

They are quite large!

In the Lion Cub enclosure ...

These guys and girls are kept in this area/environment until they're ~5 months old {these are 3 months!} then they have to be supervised and kept in a different area.

It's a height thing as much as anything else - once they get above the height of the kids that love to visit, the kids become potential dinner! So time to move!!

These two guys are 7 months old, so they've been moved

You wouldn't want to get in the way of THAT foot if it was angry Hey? [7 months old remember!]

And this is a claw belonging to one of the 5 month old cubs!

Wild Dogs {endangered species now!} and EnglishmAn

There were two pairs of Wild Dogs in their enclosure - as it was mid-afternoon, everyone was basking the sun and waiting for the cooler evening before getting active ...

Just a quick glimpse of the size of these animals from the head in the third photo!

Friendly Lions