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South African wildlife - Impala

Category: AnimalsMammalsSouth African wildlife
Posted on: December 6, 2009 12:00 PM, by Ed Yong

Impala_sunset.jpg

There's nothing like going on safari, rounding a corner in your open-top jeep and catching a glimpse of your first wild animals. Which will almost certainly be impala. Much camera-clicking, oohing and aahing ensues.

Three days later... you have seen enough impala for a lifetime. They are everywhere. Sometimes, you'll drive for an hour, see nothing at all, catch a glimpse of movement, hurry towards it only to find yet another herd of impala. You start to resent the impala for not being something more interesting, for deigning to be commonplace when they could be, say, hunting dogs. You start trying to mentally will the impala to head in the direction of the leopard you just drove past mere moments ago.

Which is obviously completely unfair, because common though impala are, they are still strikingly beautiful animals.

Impala_closeups.jpg


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Comments

1

My wife and I went driving in the mountains around Banff looking for wildlife. We had just about given up hope, and were driving back, came around a bend and found 3 male bighorn sheep casually walking up the road.

Posted by: mrcreosote | December 6, 2009 5:58 PM

2

LMAO Ed this article was funny! Were your mental efforts ever successful in sending an impala off to meet the leopard?

Posted by: Matt | December 6, 2009 6:50 PM

3

I remember visiting Kruger Park as a kid. On our drive from the gate to the camp we stopped at every gathering of Impala and zebra (they were everywhere). My mom agreed to this because it was the 1st day. We wouldn't stop for impala again during the trip. It was very weird moving to the Cape. There you see Springbok everywhere, not Impala.

Posted by: Kim | December 7, 2009 9:41 AM

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