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Born Free
There are some giants out here, such as the giraffe, the rhino, and even some of the beetles and the grasshoppers, and there are also some of the tiniest creatures you could imagine.
Zebra are the size of a pony, and yet next to giraffe they look ridiculously small, as though they have stepped into Lilliput from Gulliver's travels.
Then there are the big tuskers at Tembe who have tusks so long and heavy they have to rest them in trees!
But the real way to appreciate the size of everything here is on foot.
Last night I opened the door of my room to find a grey duiker antelope on the doorstep - usually they appear so small from the back of the truck and lost in the long grass that I have no photographs of them - but standing on the doorstep it was a lot bigger! Duiker is Afrikaans for diver, and their name describes the way they leap and dive into the long grass when disturbed - this one though ambled off more slowly. I'm not sure who was more surprised by the face to face meeting, me or the grey duiker, but as it wandered away, I turned smiling to see a male Nyala watching the whole thing with curiosity.....and he also looked a lot bigger than they do from the truck.....especially his horns!!
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