Giraffes are my favorite animals. I love their elegance when they walk. In Etosha National park you can see many of these magnificent animals either eating the leaves of the trees or drinking at waterholes
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TIPS FOR TRAVEL PLANNING ADDICTS - Spotting Giraffes in Etosha
Some facts first
- Tallest mamal on Earth, they sleep standing up
- They need to drink only once every few days as they get water from all the plants they eat.
- They roam in small groups
- They run as fast as 35 mi/h (56 km/h) on short distances and 10 mi/h (16 km/h) over longer distances
Finding Giraffes in Etosha
- Being quite tall with a low vegetation in Etosha they are easy to spot
- They are often around Klein Namutoni waterhole
- If you see them, I means that most probably there are no lions in the viccinity because they watch carefully, but it can still happen that they cross pass
- Viewing is especially interesting at waterholes to aobserve their drinking technique. But you have to be patient as they are very careful watching their surroundings
Video of Giraffes in Etosha National Park
I assembled for you some footage of the giraffes in Etosha National Park. Look at how they drink, it is fascinating.
Giraffes drinking
As I wrote above, I was really intrigued by their techniques to drink. They keep looking around because they are in a vulnerable position when they drink. They either splay their forelegs or bent their knees:
Giraffes eating
Giraffes eat plan, mostly leaves from Accacia trees. They use their vry longue tongue to cut those.
Being careful at the Okaukuejo waterhole
When observing giraffes you need to be very patient. They know they are not fast to run away so they stop all the time to watch around if any danger is approaching.
I spent more than one hour looking at this group coming from the trees at the back and stopping very few meters to watch around if a predator is coming.
Giraffe at night
At the Okaukuejo waterhole I was lucky at night time to see both a giraffe and some rhinoceros:
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Do you like giraffes?
