| Actual Image
Giraffe, and the spider? (24)
nixpix
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 73 W: 26 N: 120]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif) (438) | Taken in the beautiful South Luangwa National Park while I was staying at Chichele Presidential Lodge. South Luangwa is an awesome park and boasts a rich diversity of game and bird species and some beautiful vistas. The park is famous for its leopard sightings. Chichele used to be the private lodge of President Kaunda in days gone by. Today it is a top quality safari lodge operated by Star of Africa.
This giraffe has a passenger. It is difficult to tell for sure but I think its a spider hanging from a web strand just below the giraffe's jaw, directly in line with the eye. It could be a flying insect of sorts but the form, although very small, suggests it is a spider. Giraffe spend a lot of time with their heads in acacias and other trees browsing and I guess this would be a perfect opportunity for a spider or other resident to catch a free ride to another tree, either intentionally or unwittingly.
The photograph was taken from the back of a landrover using a 300mm lens and a 2x converter. This enabled me to get close and eliminate the acute upward angle at the giraffe's head way up in the sky. Sadly the skies in the area often tend to be a bit dowdy due to crop burning in the areas adjacent to the National Park.
The image has been cropped to a square format and a little sharpening and saturation adjustment applied. |
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