Zebra Hunting

So the word around campus is that if you go hiking really early in the morning you can see a zebra family walking around the nearby game reserve. After a prolonged debate with Jessica and Sarah about whether we should leave at 5:30, 5:45, or 6am we finally compromised and decided to wake up at 5:45am. The hike is uphill and it's very steep, but it was well worth it. We saw a couple deer, bunnies, and some antelope, but no monkeys. We also heard that a pack of like 20 monkeys hangs around grooming themselves, but it was a cloudy day so they weren't out this morning.

Finally, after 40 minutes of walking we turned around to see what another group from our campus was staring at and there they were. At first we could only make out the top of the zebra's body, but then they slowly moved up the hill, chewing grass as they came up. We got close by and stood still on the road. I thought the zebras would stop when they saw us and walk away, but they kept coming nearer. They crossed the road right in front of us and were about 5 feet away. We took plenty of pictures and they just glanced at us and kept walking. There was a baby zebra keeping close to what I assumed was his mother. There was another adult zebra and a 4th adult zebra that looked like the male leader.

It's interesting to watch wild animals because, just like the lions the other day showed clever instincts, the zebras were clearly instinctive. They looked at Sarah, Jessica, and me, but decided we weren't dangerous so they walked by with ease. Once they had crossed the road a guy named Rob came closer and pulled out his camera. The biggest male zebra started flapping his hears and looking in Rob's directions. As Rob came closer, the zebra began trotting and then charging towards him. Rob backed away and the zebra stopped, but kept staring at him.

As we walked back we wondered why the zebra thought Rob was dangerous or that he possessed some sort of threat. We decided it was either a) because Rob is a guy and is actually very tall b)because Rob was walking fast towards him and then pulled out his camera fast, so this could have been taken like someone hunting and pulling out a weapon and c)Rob was wearing black pants with white stripes going down the sides and a white shirt

The last one isn't very likely to be the problem; we just thought it was a funny coincidence. The zebras actually look more brown and white than black and white. As we exited the game reserve and came back home to get ready for breakfast I couldn't help but think how cool it must be for zoologists to observe animals in nature. Animals are so interesting and what goes on inside their brains is such a mystery to the human mind.