Warthog, Pilanesberg

Until face to face with a warthog, one doesn't truly appreciate how bizarre they appear. Commenting on the previous photo, Zhoen pointed out how much southern ground hornbills look like dinosaurs; similarly, warthogs remind me of some of the long-gone, prehistoric mammals — turn the tusks upside down and you'd almost have a bantam Uintatherium.


[2 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 200, 1/500 at f6.3]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor

Golden-breasted bunting, Pilanesberg

Golden-breasted buntings (Emberiza flaviventris) belong to the same genus as yellowhammers. However, the other animals with which they share their environments could hardly differ more: rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs and so on for this bunting (in Pilanesberg Game Reserve, South Africa); sheep, possums, rats, an occasional rabbit, etc. for the yellowhammers living here in the Pohangina Valley.

[2 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 200, 1/500 at f5.6]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

White rhino, Pilanesberg, South Africa

An excellent place to see white rhino and black rhino is Pilanesberg Game Reserve in northern South Africa. White rhino are slightly larger than black rhino and generally graze grasslands, unlike the browsing, scrub-favouring black rhino. This white rhino female and calf gradually grazed closer to my car in the early evening. "Prehistoric" is by far the most apt word to describe them.
[April 2007].
All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Giraffe, Kruger NP, South Africa

The sheer size of giraffes never fails to astonish me. They're strange animals, too — so weird they're almost disconcerting.
[April 2007]
 All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Dancers, near Kruger

After dark at the game reserve near Kruger NP, a group of local school kids danced for us as a fund raiser. Some of the US students on the bus needed little cajoling to join in. Not wanting to intrude on the moment with flash (strobe), I dialled the ISO to 3200 and took my chances.

I wish we could all dance together like this.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Cape buffalo, Kruger NP

In Kruger National Park we saw few buffalo and most were difficult to photograph, being distant and having the low sun behind them. This, I think, is one of the better photos; it conveys something of the feeling of belligerence and curiosity underlying that confrontational look. Check out those flies, too — apparently characteristic of Cape buffalo, I was told later in Zambia.
All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

White rhino, Kruger NP

Late in the evening we finally encountered white rhinos. They peered at the truck but their eyesight would not have allowed them to see the numerous eyes, human and glass, gazing back.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Southern red-billed hornbill, Pilanesberg

Southern red-billed hornbill (Tockus rufirostris), Pilanesberg Game Reserve, South Africa.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor