Cheetah Spots

Its not like you can just walk up to a wild animal and ask them to sit still for a little while you try to get a closeup of them.  Our cheetah interaction experience at Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve outside East London did give me the opportunity to get such a shot of one of their cheetahs.  A cheetah's spots are unique like finger prints and no two cheetahs are exactly the same.

The black "tear marks" running from the corner of its eyes down the sides of the nose to its mouth is to keep sunlight out of its eyes and aid in hunting and seeing long distances.  How? Don't ask me.  That's what Wikipedia said.  Another interesting fact that I discovered after mentioning them purring yesterday was that unlike lions, tigers and leopards, the cheetah can purr as it inhales, but cannot roar. By contrast, the big cats can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling.

Inkwenkwezi cheetah interaction

When it comes to big cats in Africa people usually think of the lion and the leopard as they both fall in the Big 5, which means that the cheetah are often neglected a bit.  But a big cat stays a big cat and during the Mini vs Maxi trip through the Eastern Cape we just couldn't let the opportunity go by to have a cheetah interaction session at Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve outside East London.

Approaching the enclosure you hear a low growling coming from inside.  The ranger quickly assured us that its not them growling but in fact purring.  After a quick briefing we headed inside and once you start to interact with what at 120km/hour is the fastest land mammal in the world, you suddenly realise that they are nothing more than overgrown pussycats.

A hansom pair we make

Looking up

My favorite photo from my walk with elephants at Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve.  It would have been magnificent if he had looked at me and flapped his ears, but just being down on the ground looking up at him made for a great photo opportunity.

Elephant heads

Walking with the elephants at Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve on the Mini vs Maxi trip gave me the wonderful opportunity to get a number of photos of the elephants while being close to them and not needing to use any type of zoom. 

I could change the angle by taking a couple of steps left or right and didn't need to move a vehicle to do so.  I think I may have previously said that the experience was absolutely awesome.  If not, let me reiterate.  The experience was absolutely awesome.

Big butts

When I was editing my pictures from the Mini vs Maxi adventure I spotted this picture from our walk with the elephants at Inkwenkwezi and a certain song popped into my head.  There is a song by the rapper Sir Mixalot called Baby got back (I like big butts) which was used in the movie Shrek during the party dance song right at the end where Donkey sings it to Dragon (0:48 / 3:00).  Just thought I'll share the picture and the trivial information that goes along with you. *big smiley face*

Walking with elephants

Most people the world over may never get the opportunity to see an elephant in the wild and a much smaller number will have the chance to walk and interact with these giant creatures in their natural habitat.  Team Mini had the amazing opportunity to do just that at Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve outside East London on the recent Mini vs Maxi adventure.

I can go into lenghts about what it is like to walk step (on their part) by a couple of steps (on our part) with them, being able to put your hand on his body and feeling him draw a breath, standing face to face with them sensing their amazing intelligence or suddenly having one of them steal the cap off your head and putting it on their own.  But if I do this may just become a very long post.  

The Mini vs Maxi trip was literally made up of highlights with this experience being one of my favorites

Inkwenkwezi burgers

There are normal hamburgers...

... and then there is the ultimate hamburger.  The Godzilla of hamburgers, the Mount Everest of hamburgers, the type of hamburger that can feed whole villages.  Yes, the one I'm trying to figure out how I will be able to get in my mouth.  But just like with eating an elephant you do it one bite at a time, until you are so stuffed you can't but help to fly the white flag of defeat.

Just to explain.  Wednesday night burger nights at Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve outside East London has become an institution over the last 10 or so years  and people go there in numbers every week to try and finish these gigantic burgers.  Those with a really big (and I mean BIG) appetite can take Inkwenkwezi up on their challenge of finishing two of these along with its chips and trimmings within an hour and will win for themselves 24 cases of beer.  I couldn't finish one, so it explains how only three guys have ever succeeded in this challenge.