Wednesday 30 April 2014

Z is for Zebra


Grevys Zebra
For the final day of my alphabet challenge, I've picked Zebra as my topic - mainly because I love zebra print and I have a couple of favorite photos from my safari but also because, if I'm honest, I've just about run out of steam!

I was lucky enough to have a 7 night safari holiday in Kenya a few years ago. We saw so many animals - I think the only ones we didn't check off the list were hyenas which was no great loss for me. After the first day or two though, coming around a corner to see a horizon filled with zebras and wildebeests became so common place we almost stopped even noticing them.

Until, that is, we stopped for lunch under a tree one day and were treated to a small herd of about 20 Grevys zebras just wandering past. Like so many travellers, I had no idea there were 3 types of zebras until our guide pointed out the differences to us. The Grevys are considered an endangered species so we were really lucky to see them. I'd never noticed before that zebra stripes are not all the same. The Grevys are the largest of the 3 types but their stripes are very narrow.

Another photo I managed to get was of a baby zebra - again my ignorance showed itself as I squealed with delight - I had no idea baby zebras are brown & white striped! The best bit for me was the joke in the photo though - a zebra crossing the 'road' - never thought I'd manage to make the guide giggle but he did at that one!

If you look at the two photos I've included today, you can clearly see the baby zebra is a Common zebra with the wide stripes. It's only when you see them alongside each other that you really notice the difference!

And so, my month long post every day A to Z Challenge is finally at an end. I've enjoyed the challenge but I'm not sad to see the end of posting every day! It's not something I've ever tried to do before, even when I was doing my 20 Days of Goldmaking on my other blog, I struggled to do it every day. There are just so many other things that get in the way and frame of mind is important for me too.

I hope you've enjoyed my foray into random topics through the alphabet. I'd definitely recommend it as a way to challenge yourself as a writer and blogger and some of the ideas I had for posts will probably turn up in future random posts. But for now, I say goodbye to every day posting and take a well deserved breather for a few days. I have a Liebster Award post to pull together though so I will be back shortly :)


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2 comments:

  1. I am insanely jealous that you got to go on a safari - it's something that I've always wanted to do! One day... though I'm not sure how well my lily whiteness would do in the sun :(
    I'm also a fan of zebra print - my surname begins with a Z so I used to mark my school books with zebra print stickers, or have zebra print stationary to identify things as mine and it kind of escalated to the stage where I own zebra blankets, onesies etc.
    The baby zebra is incredible cute! I knew the striped were different widths but had no idea's the juveniles were brown and white :) Lovely pics too!

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  2. Oh I've always wanted to go on safari. Navi and I used to talk about it at university and the zebra crossing was a nice touch too :)

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