- Gondwana Kalahari Park/ News



		News 2006News 26.05.06

Male Giraffe 'inspects' Gondwana - 26.05.06
The team of Kalahari Anib Lodge could hardly believe their eyes. “First we came across the tracks, then the animal itself”, manager Jaco Visser recounts. The reason for the excitement: Even though giraffe could be found anywhere in the Kalahari in earlier times, there are none in Gondwana Kalahari Park at present; reintroducing the graceful antelope species is something planned only for the more distant future.

“The fully grown male giraffe responded to us with total ease, obviously the sight of cars and people was not new for him”, Jaco Visser says. “But after our enquiries at the neighbouring farms we were still wondering where he came from”, the lodge manager continues and adds, with a twinkle in his eye, “he might just be one of the four giraffe which were released in Gondwana Cañon Park three years ago and disappeared soon afterwards. And now he is on a roundtrip to inspect the four Gondwana parks...” Those four giraffe indeed drifted off to the adjacent national park at the Fish River Canyon; only two of them return to Cañon Park every now and again and seem to relish the unbelieving faces of tourists. Few visitors are aware that until the end of the 19th century this species was indigenous to that area as well.

Turned up in the park out of the blue: a strapping male giraffe.

Further investigations finally produced the answer. “The giraffe is from a farm north-east of our park”, Jaco Visser reveals. “Males force their rivals out of their territory during the mating season. The farm has a game fence but for giraffe that isn’t much of an obstacle.”

The appearance of the giraffe is not the only exciting bit of news from the Kalahari. The 160 gemsbok released in April seem to have settled in nicely. Once they have mixed with the resident herd of 100 animals and the new social structure has been established, it can be expected that larger groups of gemsbok can be seen in the park. Furthermore, the 'vulture restaurant' boasts more feathered visitors again. Bird-lovers are therefore able to watch many scavengers, like Lappetfaced and Whitebacked Vultures or Marabou Storks, at the feeding place.