There’s something so amazing about the animals of Africa. Maybe because they are so different than the animals of America, but I don’t think so. I think there’s a beauty and amazing-ness beyond words. Unfortunately, I don’t have back door access to these beautiful African animals here in America like I do in Africa. Only through photos and/or TV programs do I get to witness these amazing animals (and maybe a trip to the zoo, however, going on safaris kind of forever ruins the excitement of zoo trips). This past week I got a little of both!
On Saturday, I was working on a knitting project and decided to turn on the TV. As I flipped through the channels, I stumbled upon a show, I Shouldn’t Be Alive. I had never heard of it, but because it was about a group of people who survived being capsized in a boat by a hippo in the Zambezi River, I was intrigued. The story was simply amazing. First of all, I can’t imagine going out in a little boat on a river ridden with hippos and crocs. Definitely not on my to do list.
The waters were calm and it was a beautiful day, but they didn’t see the rogue hippo just under the water that dumped all of them into the river. Four of the 5 people made it to a sand bank out in the middle of the river while one swam to the shore to try and get help. This was a dangerous move as there were crocs all around. Almost to safety, he encountered a croc. The croc attacked him, but with his arm in the crocs mouth, he was able to find the valve that, if punctured, will cause a croc’s lungs to fill with water and drown. I never knew about this little valve but will keep that bit of info tucked away for safe keeping.
To make a long story short, the guy survived the croc attack and made it to a tree. The sun went down and a cape buffalo came up, only to stare at him and lay down. If you know anything about the cape buffalo, you know how rare this is. He lost consciousness but was awakened in the morning by a herd of safari ants digging into his croc wound. I encountered these ants in Uganda. They are painful, very painful. Thankfully, this story has a good ending. After standing on the sand back all night, fearing a croc attack, some other people saw the group and got in their boat to go rescue them and then went back and found their friend. Everyone survived and they still go back and camp at the Zambezi and even go out on the boat! I wish you could watch this episode online but I couldn’t find it. It’s called Blood In The Water in case you ever find it.
I also did some editing of some African animal photos this past week for a potential sale. The photos, the show, all brought me back to these amazing animals that I just love. You can see the full African animal set here, but I’ve put my favorites from that set here in this post. I thought a little voting action would be fun, so I’ve added a poll to the sidebar for you to vote on which is your favorite animal print from the photos in this post. Will it be the zebra herd, monkey in a tree, elephant family, buffalo stare, giraffe love, or eating rhino?
Of course, all are available for sale, but the photo with the most votes will make it to my online store faster than the rest! It takes time to get those up! Thanks for your participation!
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