Pulchritudinous Plants

A sampling of the pretties from Africa:

A sample of clawfoot grass in its dried out summer state:

These next two pictures are of the dada plant--it is the local version of pot! We had one of the more politic guides try to convince us that no one smoked it, but a couple other guides were very up front about the fact that it is indeed smokable! The first picture is of the dried seed pod and the second of the still green slowing plant. The pod beneath the flowers will expand to become like the top picture. The plant is interesting as each stalk can have several (4 or 5?) of these pods along its height.


Thorny acacia. Only tasty to giraffe's. Somehow they manage to wrap their almost prehensile tongues around the branch and remove the leaves without getting skewered!

One of the many water lilies seen in Namibia. There are actually two kinds--a night lily and a day lily. Both evidently are white until pollinated at which point hey turn light purple!

Where the Deer and Antalope ROAN

Oh give me a home where the deer and the antelope Roan (Groan!). As mentioned in previous posts, there are many an antelope throughout Africa of many different types and by the end of the trip they were all kind of blurring together :) The Roan antelope is not the most common, but is a truly beautiful animal and it was very nice of this male to pose in both portrait and profile. He was actually quite a distance away so these were taken with my telephoto on max. We saw a few of these throughout the trip--not nearly as plenty as impala! I find the markings on his face to be very striking and I love the line of his body as he starts to take a step in the profile picture. The sweeping antlers are a favorite.
The Sable is another beautiful antelope with somewhat similar facial markings and is also very striking. Unfortunately the Sables seemed to be particularly camera shy for me though others in our group got to see them well. Here are the best shots I was able to get and a link to Wikipedia to show you what it is supposed to look like :)

Mom's Favorite

June 5 and a sunset cruise on the Kwando river in Namibia (who ever thought I would be in Namibia some day?!?!) and we ran into another of my mom's favorite animals! OK, that may be a bit of a sarcastic exaggeration :) This guy was a BIG one, estimated to be in the 5ish meter range. We were on a boat and so safe as long as none of us hopped out to say hi! His full picture is below, but I liked the textures of the ridges along his back and I think that they made for an interesting picture. We ran into many a crocadile thoughout the trip of a variety of sizes. I think that this guy may be the winner for largest.

What is black and white and re(a)d all over?!?!?

Of to Namibia for today's picture. I think you can all identify the animal in today's shot--if not, then you need to eat more animal crackers. These three guys lined up for their group portrait very conveniently when were in Namibia. They were grazing in and amongst many a wildebeest (otherwise known as Gnu's) and were very cooperative to help out with the picture :) I love the fact that their mains are colored too!