Amazing South Africa!

Things I learned on Safari...

-- South Africa has "The Big Five" considered the most dangerous to hunt on foot: cape Buffalo,rhino, elephant, lion and leopard. We saw 4 of the 5. The leopard hid from us!

-- Rhino poaching is a large problem, in South Africa. Since 2006, when a Vietnamese Cabinet member claimed that some concoction made of rhino horn cured his cancer, rhino horns have become very valuable. Therefore, poachers scout out rhinos and return to steal the rhino 's horn. They shoot the rhino with a tranquilizer dart. This dart causes the rhino too fall over and fall asleep. (Many think South African vets need to be involved because the tranquilizer is only available to them. Then the poachers saw the rhino horn off. Unfortunately, the poachers are greedy and take all of the horn instead of cutting just a little bit. They want all of the horn because it is worth 2.2 million Rand (8 Rand per 1 U.S. dollar) per full grown rhino horn. The rhino could maybe survive the loss of the horn if a bit of it was left to regenerate (it is made up of compressed hair and a lot like human fingernails.) Unfortunately, the wound will ultimately become infected and kill the rhino. The other way the rhino could possibly survive is if the poachers used the tranquilizer reversal because laying on one side for too long basically paralyzes the rhino and it can't get up back up again. One ranger told us that at the current rate of poaching, South Africa could lose all of its rhinos in two years!


-- Termite mounds are every where in south Africa a cool fact about them is that 2/3 of a mound are underground and only 1/3 above ground. Another fact is that the mounds can get up to 2 meters high ( 6 ft.) !!
Fun Fact the termites air conditioning is more advanced than humans it always stays at 27 Celsius.

-- Many baby Girrafes don't live through birth. They usually don't live because when mother Girrafes birth their babies they don't sit down or ly down, they do it standing up. This means the baby has to drop about 2 meters onto the ground. Ouch!




-- On a safari you will see many footprints. One way to tell if the print is a doglike animal Or a cat like animal is at the back of the print there are either 2 or 3 lobes. A dog, like a hyena, has 2 lobes and a cat, like a lion, has 3 lobes. Another way to tell the difference is a cat (unless it is running) won't have claws out. A dog always will.



-- Giraffes never put their head on the ground! One reason they don't is because when they are sleeping, if their head is on the ground, they are vulnerable to predators. So instead, they fold their legs underneath themselves and their head stays straight up when sleeping. (They only sleep less than one hour per day.) The other reason giraffes keep their heads up is because their heavy muscular necks are hard to get off the ground once there.

-- Giraffe skin is thicker than rhino skin. This is because giraffe's blood pressure in it's legs is 3 x that of a human!

-- In the unlikely event of a lion charging you... This is what you should do: if a lion is staring you down fiercely and snarling, something is wrong. If it charges, do not make a retreat. Instead, take one step forward and clap loudly. This will confuse the lion because, all of its prey normally runs away. The lion may retreat, run around you, or charge again. Repeat the above as necessary. The lion may think that you're, in fact, a threat. After the lion backs away and loses interest or leaves, you should slowly do the same. However, always step left or right, not directly back as to avoid stepping in your own poo. (Thanks for that one Alistair)




-- there are two different main kind of elephants, the Asian and the African. The way you can tell them apart is by there ears. African elephants have ears that are the shape of africa. Asian elephants have round ears.

-- Do you no how many chicken eggs are in one ostrich egg? There are twenty- two chicken eggs per ostrich egg!

-- Did you know that hippos can actually get sunburned? They stay in the water to protect their skin from the sun! Fun fact: hippos can stay underwater for up to five minutes. Hippos are actually extremely poor swimmers! They don't swim when they are in the water, they run on the bottom!!!!



-- So you might want to know which is the most deadly of them all in Africa? None of the above, it is that nasty little insect, the mosquito!

Location:Port Elizabeth, South Africa