I never realized just how bereft of antelope we are in this country. I don't know how many different species of antelope reside in Africa but we saw a bunch of them and I am sure we barely scratched the surface! Being prey animals, they were quite difficult to photograph in most cases. By far the largest number of any single species we saw on our journey was impala and yet I have few decent shots of the beautiful creatures.
The top two shots are of blue wildebeest, an animal I will admit I never even thought of as an antelope. What look like wrinkles in the neck are largely darker stripes. I love a number of things about these animals: The unusual tail, the unique head shape, the amazing twisted horns….
This beautiful antelope, below, is a Greater Kudo cow. Look at those ears!
To the left and below are the impala. This was one case where I was trying to get a butt shot as the markings on their rear ends are so beautiful.
The buck shows off the long, graceful horns indicative of this species.
The next two shots are of the male and female Nyala. The markings on the face of the buck are especially striking.
We saw several species of the group known as "dwarf antelope" including this small steenbok ewe (below) trying to disappear into the grass.
One of the most regal looking antelope is the common Waterbuck. At least until you find out their other name is the "toilet seat antelope", so called because of the distinctive white ring circling the animals' rump!
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ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Billings, MT our house was located at the base of the rimrock. Every year a herd of antelope wintered over in the fields on the rim above us. There were around 40 of them, and they looked so lovely against the snow. I hope they are still there.
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