Giraffes, South Africa.

“Travels with a Biro”

I tried and tried to draw a giraffe but each time it looked most odd.  They are an odd shape, so perhaps my drawings looked odder than they really were.  Also I just can’t be doing with all those patches. They make me impatient.

A few facts about giraffes:-

– they live south of the Sahara

– thier feet are about 12″ across – ie the size of a dinner plate

– males grow up to 18′ tall, females 14′ and babies are as much as 6′ at birth

– their corns are called ossicones and the male ones tend to be more ahiry than female ones

– they spend 75% of the day eating, usually acacia leaves

– they live till about 25 in the wild, longer in captivity

– thier tongues are 20″ long and blue-black in colour

– they stay in groups of about 8 with just females or young males

At first it is really fun to see the giraffes, and in the dry season they move very very slowly, taking their time and not burning unnecessary calories – so you can see them a long way off, slowly making their way to a water hole.  After a while you get kind of giraffed-out.

Click here for my terrible photos in Africa

Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist.  She is widely travelled and writes regularly for magazines and blog sites.  Her sketches are on her web site http://turquoisemoon.co.uk .  Her books are available from Amazon and on Kindle, or can be ordered from several leading book stores.

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Catherine Broughton is a novelist, a poet and an artist.  Her books are available as e-books on this site:-

https://payhip.com/b/tEva            “A Call from France”

https://payhip.com/b/OTiQ          “French Sand”

https://payhip.com/b/BLkF         ”The Man with Green Fingers”

https://payhip.com/b/1Ghq        “Saying Nothing”

They are also available on Amazon & Kindle, or can be ordered as paperbacks from most leading book stores and libraries.