Meet the Giraffe

I never really paid attention to giraffes. Of course, they are huge and pretty, but I have never been to excited about them.

That changed when I got to know them better here in our camp in Selati. They are often seen feeding around, or even in the camp. The one day, when I was on my to do laundry, one was standing just a couple of metres away from me, at a tree right behind the washing line. I was unsure what to do. Giraffes are usually quite shy. I experienced it a couple of times that when they saw me (or a group of people) coming towards them, they just stopped doing whatever they did (usually eating) and looked at me. I often thought they simply try to not move so the other one can´t see them. Or maybe they think about what to do next.

The usual scenario whenever I met them here in camp was: I walk along a path when I suddenly notice a slow movement or rustling noise in the tree beside me. In most cases the giraffe has already seen me at that point, swings her head towards me and stares at me, stockstill. I also stop and look at it and after a couple of seconds, the giraffe turns and walks away.

It always disappointed me. I mean, I am just 1.60 and those animals about 4.50 metres. Why would they see a danger in me? Why can´t they just continue their business and let me watch them for a while?

Then I heard from one of our instructors, that if you do not look at them and ignore them, they would not run away but only stand still and look. Soon after, the opportunity came on my way to the bathroom where I was about to do my laundry. Right behind the washing line, a giraffe was foraging on an acacia tree. So I simply ignored it and went to wash my clothes. When I came back, the giraffe was still there and I started to put up my clothes, hiding behind them on the line. The giraffe was first a bit unsure what to do. As usual, it stared at me but after a couple of second it started chewing again, not turning its eyes from me. Eventually, after some time, it went back to its leaves and continued feeding.

I was stunned!

Having that step mastered I decided to risk a bit more. There was a small rock and I sneacked towards it, slowly sitting down, with the back towards the giraffe. What shall I say … it worked. The giraffe had a look from time to time but did not bother to much. What an experience 🙂

I now started to observe them whenever possible. Giraffes are wonderful, calm, peaceful and somehow elegant animals (even if their gait more compares to a camel). It is not the same when you see them in a zoo, eating their hay. But to see them walking silently in the bush, unimpressed by the thorny acacias, that is different. If the thorns are too nasty, they are puckering their lips to grab leave by leave. If not, they wrap their long, purple tongue around the branches and rip the leaves.

I love their fur pattern that is different in every indiviual, just like our fingerprints. Young giraffes are usually lighter in colour and the patches become darker in age, but some giraffes are in general darker or lighter. I fell in love with the dark ones. They are just exceptionally pretty.

And I love their eyes and eye lashes. They have this very kind and gentle look when they watch you.

The pattern on the fur is for camouflage. Whenever an animal is not unicolor but has stripes, dots, spots or other patterns, this is called disruptive coloration and serves to break the outline and shape of the body to better fit into the environment.