{"id":1649,"date":"2015-05-08T00:25:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T00:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/2015\/05\/08\/land-of-the-giants"},"modified":"2021-09-24T04:19:29","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T11:19:29","slug":"land-of-the-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/?p=1649","title":{"rendered":"Land of the Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The safari jeep rolls down the dusty road, thick trees surround us as we go. All eyes are wide open searching for signs of wildlife in the <a href=\"http:\/\/chobenationalpark.co.za\/\">Chobe<\/a>, none of us really knowing what to expect.<\/p>\n<p>We emerge from the thicket of trees close to the mighty river. For a moment I think I&#8217;m seeing a mirage through the leaves.<a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ec87a-dsc00112-edit.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ec87a-dsc00112-edit.jpg?resize=640%2C555&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"555\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>I&#8217;ll never forget the sound of the mighty and graceful elephants walking along the river&#8217;s edge. Witnessing the family dynamics of the herd ; Father&#8217;s showing dominance through size and strength, Mother&#8217;s protecting their young. You can see into their eyes and know they are thinking about you, just as curious about us as we are them. It&#8217;s an epic feeling.<a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/8d7a9-dsc00183.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/8d7a9-dsc00183.jpg?resize=640%2C426&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>Giraffes here bend in the most curious of ways to forage for food. I&#8217;ve never seen this type of flexibility before. It shows just how nimble and amazing these creatures are, and how adaptable to their environment. Nature surely is a wonder to behold.<a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/7dba6-dsc00175.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/7dba6-dsc00175.jpg?resize=640%2C426&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>You can say it a million times and it never gets old or untrue, the skies of Africa are unlike anywhere else on the planet. Everything is bigger, more open and wild.<a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/fda13-g0100385.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/fda13-g0100385.jpg?resize=640%2C480&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>As this may have been my last African safari for quite awhile, I treasure the people I shared the experience with even deeper. True bonds of friendship that were formed, unbreakable memories I hold dear.<a style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/c46ca-2014-06-212b15-09-19.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/c46ca-2014-06-212b15-09-19.jpg?resize=640%2C480&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>My love for the Motherland will never fade.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OGKO5lg6JtQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The safari jeep rolls down the dusty road, thick trees surround us as we go. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAowqprcCw:productID":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7315],"tags":[589476282,2214,119492,119792410,4727215,43017,631143,139,200],"class_list":["post-1649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-day-in-the-life","tag-a-day-in-the-life","tag-africa","tag-botswana","tag-build-create-kenya","tag-chobe-national-park","tag-elephants","tag-giraffes","tag-safari","tag-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mywalkabout.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/fda13-g0100385.jpg?fit=1600%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99I7P-qB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1649"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15171,"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649\/revisions\/15171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mywalkabout.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}