When you hear hooves - think ZEBRAS!

No one could resist getting excited at the sight of a baby zebra!  They are so cute and cuddly looking that they look more like stuffed animals than wild animals!  (By the way, if you are reading this and saying zee-bra, you are pronouncing it wrong.  In Botswana and Zambia, the last letter of the alphabet is pronounced "zed".  The word Zebra should rhyme with the word Debra).

We saw a LOT of zebras in Botswana and Zambia, and eventually they became so familiar that they hardly rated a second glance. These zebras were our first ever, though, and we were all awestruck by their beauty and by their behavior.  Just look at these guys - you could spend hours just studying the different patterns of their stripes!  These wild Savannah zebras seemed to be as fascinated by us as we were by them.

This particular fellow (and I felt certain it was a male, although I have no real reason for thinking that)  had a really LARGE head and neck compared to the rest of the herd.  I couldn't take my eyes off of him!

The only thing that I found more fascinating than the big zebra was the baby zebras.  There were a few youngsters in the bunch.

Our guide in Botswana, Ra KB, told how to distinguish male zebras from female zebras.  Unfortunately, I can't remember if you go by the stripe on the belly or the stripe on the butt, so I don't know if this zebra a girl baby or a boy baby!

I think looking at a zebra is like looking at an M. C. Escher print; each one is a unique work of art, and each one is also an optical illusion!


Here's a very unique zebra!  This one was spotted at our hotel at Victoria Falls in Zambia.  Since all the Zambia photos will be explored in later posts, I'll finish my zebra post with this fantastic artwork photographed by my daughter, Meghan Wrublewski.  Thanks, Meg!