“Love is spending your life with someone you want to kill but won’t because you’d miss them.”
Sometime back there was a picture taken by renowned photographer Eric Smith showing a man on his phone as a humpback whale breached just in front of his boat. That image titled ‘A Sign of the Times’ brought into sharp focus the kind of life we live nowadays where we are so engrossed in our phones, computers or social media posts that we miss the most beautiful things right in front of us.
Why you need to look up…and keep looking!
Every now again we see something that is so unbelievably spectacular that it defies logic! For example, have you ever seen an albino elephant? To be honest most us probably didn’t even know that albino elephants exist but ‘lo and behold’ they do! Check it out:
This beautiful, exceptionally rare creature was spotted by Nicki Coertze when he was on Safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa. While albinism is a little common in Asian Elephants, it is near impossible for it to occur in African Elephants. That, however, did not stop these lucky tourists from seeing what is believed to be a one-in-a-‘gazillion’ chance and capturing it on camera!
Of Impalas, Cheetahs and SUVs
Crazy stuff like this happens all the time and for some reason, they are mostly concentrated around the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Take for example this incredible footage of an Impala jumping into an SUV to save itself from marauding cheetahs at the park:
In this case, tourists were treated to a scene straight out of the movies but we can bet you the occupants of the car didn’t have as much fun as those of us on this side of the camera!
These spectacular safari sights caught on camera are about much more than just incredible safari images and videos; they are about the message behind the images. They are a tale of life and death in the wild and oblivious we can be to the beauty that lies just outside our doors.
Yes, visiting any one of Kenya’s 54 National Parks and Game Reserves promises to lavishly present you with heartwarming scenes of baby elephants walking alongside their mothers or horrifyingly vivid Kamikaze like plunges into the abyss by the wildebeest as they dare to cross the Mara River during the Great Migration. However, you would have to look beyond these…dare we say ‘common place’ occurrences to find the truly spectacular images that burn themselves into your memory forever.
Let’s take a trip around the world to see what else this green jewel has to offer:
A giraffe in the palm of your hands
Trying to picture what this title says will drive you stark raving mad considering the fact that a Rothschild Giraffe (the type found in Giraffe Manor) can grow up to 19.3 feet tall and weigh about a ton and some change but it is true: at Giraffe Manor in Nairobi you can actually have Rothschild Giraffes feeding off the palm of your hands!
Unbelievable? Yeah… we know. Even Ellen DeGeneres had to try it out for herself:
Photobombing Stingrays of the Cayman Islands
Yes…you read that right. There are stingrays in the Cayman Islands that are into that whole social media scene now. Three ladies got the surprise of their lives when they took the time to take a picture in the water while communing with the marine life. One smooth-talking, selfie-taking, ladies-man of a stingray could not let the opportunity pass him by as he popped right out of the water to take commit the perfect photo bombing crime!
Because being a sting ray isn't epic enough… #Photobomb #Epic #Lolling pic.twitter.com/BLq5Jc7s7Q
— bleghy. (@Yeloow_Minions_) April 2, 2013
Sharks so big they can barely swim
Have you ever seen a shark so big it looks like it can barely swim with ease? Granted, this is a Great White, which means it can probably reach speeds of up to 40 km/h and launch itself up to 10 ft. out of the water just to scare the bejesus out of cage divers, but this one looks like it can barely move.
Down in Cape Town, South Africa, you can go Shark Cage Diving…for those of us who do not mind chanting ‘nearer to thee my Lord’ throughout the experience. If you can master the courage and trust that the more than capable cages will keep you from becoming shark food, then you should really try it out sometime. Take videos then tell us all about it!
‘Surfer Dude’ dolphins
Dolphins are regarded as some of the most intelligent and friendly marine mammals known to man. Every now again they remind us why we like them so much. Like these dolphins taking the time to show these surfers how the pros do it:
Gravity-defying leopards of the South
Didn’t we tell you these things tend to happen in South Africa a lot? In MalaMala (the largest privately owned game reserve in South Africa), a lucky tourist caught an unbelievable hunting scene on camera. This leopard must have been part of the circus performing arts in its past life:
Spiderman leopards
This one happened in Botswana: a leopard jumped down from a tree to catch an unsuspecting Impala that was minding its own business just beneath the leopard-hoarding tree that spelt its doom. The death-defying leap in itself is spectacular enough but it is the fact that it actually caught the Impala that makes this leopard a hunting superstar!
From swimming pigs in the Bahamas to lions adopting motherless impala kids in the African Savannah, this world is full of scenes and stories that strain credulity at best. You simply have to travel and witness them for yourself to actually believe that these things exist and can happen.
The stories, pictures and videos shared here are but a fraction of what goes on every day. This world is full of wonders and as soon as you get off your phone and walk out the door you will begin to experience them in your own unique way. When you do, feel free to share each moment with us in the comment section below.
Have you seen something that defies logic while on safari? Tell us all about it here!