Sometimes it's easy to overlook a giraffe because they look like tall trees. Every one we approached, moved away from us so I don't think they're very curious creatures. Males can grow up to 19' tall and weigh up to 3,000 pounds ... females are 3' or so shorter. Their lifespan is about 20 - 25 years in the wild.
This female was browsing near a herd of impala when we saw her. As she moved away we noticed she was limping and we all came to the unfortunate conclusion. She walked a little way and then stopped and as we drove on we found the rest of her herd.
We were interested to see the different colors on several giraffes. This one is noticeably darker than the limping female and we found one close to camp who was very dark indeed - his photo is below.
These two were so 'into' each other, they paid no attention to us. The young female was in estrus and the big handsome guy was checking her out. When giraffes mate (or drink), it's a long, long process. They are very wary and constantly checking their surroundings.
After a few minutes, the young lady peed while he was checking her out and he raised his head, flared his lips and had the most weird look on his face.
His ardor was dampened (pardon the pun) and when we saw him move next to her, we knew it was over ... and we moved on.
One morning in camp, I looked across the river and watched this very dark giraffe approach the water. Even while standing at the edge, he constantly looked around then bent as if to drink, and stood up again and looked around some more. He probably spent a good 10 minutes before he actually took a drink - a short drink at that.
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