African Faces~

On By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS

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There are no other places (curious vervet),
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that have African faces (smiling impala).
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The animals you see here (Confident Southern Yellow Billed Hornbill)
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are full of the joy (Square Lipped White Rhino)
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of being free (African Elephant).
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Much more free (Kudu)
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than you and me (waterbuck).
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Wild zebra send cheers to you from the still remaining free creatures of Africa~

193 thoughts on “African Faces~”

  4. I’m swooning. I wanna go there. It must be magical! Awesome! Breathtaking! to see all those magnificent animals in their natural habitat. And to be able to get such fabulous photos of them!
    Alison

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  8. Cindy, these photos are all exquisite; showing these unique animals, and bird, from their best aspect. ‘All things bright and beautiful’ comes to mind! 🙂

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  18. Great shot, Ms Knoke. I remember being in Africa and you can tend to get a bit blase. ‘Oh look, there’s yet another herd of zebra.’ Then you go, ‘Bloody hell! There’s another herd of zebra! Where do they all come from?’

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    1. Yes, laughing, and you can’t resist taking photos of them all!! Wonderful to hear from you and hope all is well. Heading over to your blog to see what’s up with you~

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  19. Liebe Cindy das sind einfach wunderschöne Fotos super danke dir für die schönen Fotos sei ganz lieb gegrüßt in Freundschaft Klaus

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  20. Oh yes, nothing makes my day like seeing images of animals who’re content in their freedom! They all have such a serene expression. All adorable! Thank you for this treat Cindy! <3 ~Lynn

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    1. What a great first trip! You Europeans are so lucky, it’s only an eleven hour flight. For me, two flights, 11 hours each and I’ve done it for two trips. I can’t get enough of the wild things!

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      1. I was born in Europe, at the border between Austria and Italy, came here to the US over 30 years ago. You know I haven’t really figured it out yet, so I just ask. Where are you from? Or what do you call home?

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      2. Those are good neutral questions! We drove from Austria into Italy, the beautiful Alps region. I just consider many bloggers to be citizens of the world because we have global perspectives……

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  30. You captured the majesty of these animals. These photos bring tears in my eyes… Thank you so much for posting while you are traveling.

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    1. I’ve noticed that wild animals usually look me in the eye. Zoo animals avoid eye contact. Maybe they’ve had their fill of humans. Who can blame them~

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  39. Thank you for sharing pics like these as I have always wanted to go on an African safari and feel like I did through your pics!! 🙂 I am scared of flying- so I can live vicariously through your experiences 😉 😀

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    1. I despise flying, so you have my full empathy. I forced my self to endure four 10 hour flights in order to see these creatures again. So happy you came along virtually!

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    1. I don’t know how it was named. It is an old world monkey and it’s coat looks like soft velvet so let’s pretend that it why it’s called a vervet!! 😉 😉

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    1. The kudu is gorgoues isn’t he! I got pics of several grazers I have never seen before, sable antelope, eland, roan antelope, and several of the really interesting nyalas, steenbok and duikers too! So many interesing antelopes!

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  54. África me fascina. Impresiona la variedad de fauna, su riqueza de flora, sus diferentes paisajes… En fin, tiene un atractivo especial. Por algo fue la cuna de la Humanidad.

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    1. Danke Gislinde. Es ist wunderbar, von Ihnen zu horen. Ich wurde in einen Blog Besuch vor ein paar Tagen und konnte einen Weg, um einen Kommentar nicht zu finden. Ich wollte dir nur sagen, dass ich liebe deine schone Beitrige.

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  58. What an amazing journey you have had in Africa Cindy. These photos of the animals in the wild have a look of freedom too, it’s in their eyes, that they never have in a zoo.

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    1. Exactly! I am so glad you can see the difference in the eyes too! To me the entire demeanor of these creatures in the wild is so very different than the ones we see in cages. I support zoos because they aid in conservation of endangered species, but this should be their primary purpose, and they need to utilize an open spaces philosophy.

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  68. Beautiful presentation of magnificent animals Cindy, all special, and all giving joy to those who appreciate their beauty and place on Earth.

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    1. Never had a problem. One just needs to attempt to limit the element of surprise which can result in problems, and pay close attention to, respect, the animal’s body language, the same thing I did for all the years I was a shrink.
      I got nervous a couple of times though, once when I was chased off by a aggressive baboon. I did photograph him chasing me though which was a positive! The second time I got nervous was in our car when an entire herd, many hundreds, of Cape Buffalo, surrounded us. We were trapped by them for around half an hour. I know they are more dangerous when alone, but still it was nerve-racking……Also we happened upon a rhino by surprise who was much too close, and a vervet bit a woman several times in the rump. I did get a photo of that too as I ran to help her. No one else saw it, but she did give out a loud yelp. Didn’t break her skin though which would have happened if the vervet had wanted to really injure her.
      I’ve been to Africa twice. On the first trip we had no problems whatsoever while alone. The only problem happened when we went on a ranger led game drive. He didn’t respect a bull elephant in musk, got way too close and ignored the rage. We got charged and the ranger pulled out his rifle and nearly shot the ellie and it was all his fault. My son was with me and I remember looking at him during the charge, and he was laughing in amazement at this incredible animal. It’s all good. Wild animals are more civilized than lots of people.

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      1. Sorry for the delay response, well you certainly got to write a novel about your experiences. The title could be ” Cindy in the wild”, quite interesting stories happened to you in Africa. Plus you where a shrink? That was an interesting fact to know, I don´t know how people do that job, the hole day listening to other peoples problems, it would depress me or anger me one of the two….or both.

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    1. Amazing and sobering that one can detect so clearly the difference in affect in a wild animal in it’s natrural environment, vs a wild animal in a zoo.

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    1. Aren’t they marvelous creatures! I have some optical illusion photos with the zebras. I finally got why their coloration pattern is confusing to predators, from different angles and distances they morph and change, becomming quite confusing. The camera got confused and the optical illlusions this produced were interesting. They say big cat’s vision is confused by zebras. I can see why….Thank you Resa and be well my friend~ <3

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    1. Yes, Kruger is an impressive conservation park, very devoted to animal conservation. I think there were poachers when we were there because the police and army were all over the nothern part of the park one day and we never saw them again.

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  84. I see what you did there. 😉
    Amazing images!
    And – love you you put it all together.
    I LOVE your blog. I feel like I’m always traveling.
    {Hugs}

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