Skywatch Friday - The day the sky came down to earth

My, my but the week has flown by quickly.

With two long weekends in a row and a short week in between, with only three working days, it been a manic time, trying to get through all my work.

Last weekend Suzie-K and I did a spontaneous trip to the Mountain Zebra National Park. What was just going to be a day visit turned into an overnight stay, when we secured a chalet as a result of a cancellation. Unless you book well in advance accommodation in the Park is not available over a long weekend.

But for that we would never have seen the sky come down to earth.............

This picture was taken three years ago looking in the same direction at the endless vista of rolling hills that disappeared when the sky came down.

Two mountain zebras having a drink in a pool, reflecting their images and the sky. These rare animals may at a first glance look like their cousins, the burchell's zebra, but they are quite different with denser stripes, a brown muzzle, a dewlap and slightly larger ears.

More pictures from around the world can be seen at the Skywatch site.

Eating dirt

Zebra looking for minerals in the road as a boost to its diet.

Skywatch Friday - Zebra crossing

This is what one can call a "zebra crossing" against a perfectly bleak sky. This shot as taken at Vukani Loop in the Addo Elephant National Park.

Visit Skywatch for more great skies from around the world.

New life - zebra

For the past five months my focus has shifted away from much of what I enjoy doing, as I have been involved in a protracted dispute in our community, which I have decided is now going to take a back seat.

It is now a time for renewal for me, to look around and enjoy the beauty of the Eastern Cape and for doing the the things I enjoy most, like indulging myself in photography and spending time in nature, especially the Addo Elephant National Park.

The Park has a harsh climate, but after good spring rains the green countryside is interspersed with large expanses of yellow flowers and splashes of pale blue where the plumbagos ramble through the bush.  In some areas where the park was extended there is still evidence of the former farm lands, where the bush was cleared, with the alien thistles making a  make a statement all of their own. I know they should not be there, but I am still captivated by their beauty.

Wherever you look there is new life like this zebra foal that momentarily separated itself from the safety of the herd, as it frolicked through the bush.

For many of us Addo holds a special appeal, because of its enormous bio-diversity and yet many people visiting the area choose give it a miss, in favour of the game parks up North. We don't only have the big five, we have the big seven - when we throw whales and great white sharks into the mix.

Zebra

Burchell's Zebra at the Addo Elephant National Park.

Skywatch Friday - Edge of the World?

The world is flat? Well it certainly looks like it may be. Actually this is a road that goes over the top of one of the highest points at the Mountain Zebra National Park.

So while we are at the Mountain Zebra National Park, let's check out and enjoy one of the mountain zebras.

For more great pictures from around the world visit the Skywatch website 

Z for Zebra

I am sure that many Zebras will be gracing the Wednesday ABC posts today, but I cannot resist them as they live on our "doorstep".

We have two of the three species of Zebra in the Eastern Cape - the Burchells Zebra (Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchelli), and the Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra).



BURCHELLS ZEBRA

These pictures of the Burchells Zebra were taken at the Addo Elephant National Park. They are not as numerous as they once were, having been decimated through hunting and the encroachment of their habitat



The Northern populations have narrower and clear defined stripes, whereas the Southern populations have brown "shadow" stripes between the black and white coloring.



There are 6 sub species of Equus Quagga. Unforunately the first subspecies to be described, the Quagga which is now extinct, had plain brown hindquarters. There is a project in the Western Cape which is trying to breed the Quagga back from extinction from the local plains Zebra. They are using stock like the one below, which has no stripes on its hind quarters.



CAPE MOUNTAIN ZEBRA

Mountain zebras live in dry, stony, mountain and hill habitats. They prefer slopes and plateaus and can being found as high as 2,000 meters above sea level.
These were photographed at the Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock.

The Cape Mountain zebra was hunted to near extinction with less than 100 individuals by the 1930s. However the population has increased to about 700 due to conservation efforts. Both Mountain zebra subspecies are currently protected in national parks but are still endangered.

Cape mountain zebra exhibits sexual dimorphism, with larger females than males, while the other sub species, the Hartmann's mountain zebra does not. It is boldly striped in black and white and no two individuals look exactly alike. The stripes can be black and white or dark brown and white. Their stripes cover their whole bodies except for their bellies



The Cape Mountain Zebra has a dewlap, unlike its plains relatives who have a more streamlined look.



SEMI URBAN ZEBRAS

This group of Burchells Zebras were photographed chilling out near Stellenbosch in the Westen Cape. They are more like farm yard animals than their relatives in the wild.




INTERESTING ZEBRA FACT

In 1890 the Zeederberg brothers, who had a succesful transport business, went into the passenger business at the request of Cecil John Rhodes. They started a coach service from the Cape of Good Hope to Fort Salisbury, in what was to become Rhodesia. They succesfully trained and harnessed Zebras for the job, but only used they on a few trips as they did not have the stamina of the coach horses. Follow the link to see the Zeederberg's Zebras in harness