We saw eland (the tawny, huge antelope you’ll see in the pics), Cape Mountain zebras, bontebok (the handsome black, brown and white ones), grey rhebuck (the long-eared, small antelope), baboons, and a variety of lizards, insects and birds, including ostriches, the Blue Crane (the willowy gray bird you'll see, which is South Africa's national bird) and oystercatchers (the 2 black birds you'll see -- which are threatened, only 5,000 remain in the wild.)
Here’s more info from De Hoop's website:
“De Hoop's many terrestrial habitats support a diversity of animal groups. The marine environment is likewise home to a variety of life forms. The reserve has 86 mammal species. Most notable are the rare bontebok and Cape mountain zebra, as well as eland, grey rhebuck, baboon, yellow mongoose, caracal and the occasional leopard.”
I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to see these animals so close up. The eland are HUGE. HUGE. In fact, they are the world’s largest antelope (Africa has no deer by the way.) And you'll see in the pictures below that we also saw a whole nursery of eland babies!
The bontebok look majestic but sometimes act like clowns. We saw 2 engaging in what can only be described as a massive pissing contest. Literally, one would pee for a while and then the other and then the other … unfortunately the light was bad so, sorry!, no weeing bontebok pictures to share!
Enjoy these amazing animals and happy Friday everyone!
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