The Maasai Mara. Highlands of Kenya: the altitude is well above 1500 meters. Vast hilly plains, the occasional acacia tree in the dry grass savannah landscape. Only cut through by some - dry - rivers with abundant green shrub and trees.
We encountered loads of small groups of Grant's Zebras. We also encountered the tails of the Great Migration: flocks of tens up to a few thousands of Zebras and Wildebeests. A great sight! Not as dense and migrating as you would expect, but this was only the 'achterhoede' as they say in Dutch.
With these Zebra photos you can grasp a bit of the vastness of the landscape. You feel the sun almost burning. The silence, only disturbed by the grazing sounds, the occasional - yeah what sound do Zebras make? I've forgotten it by now :-)
On the back of the Zebra you can see 2 - probably male - Wattled Starlings (Lelspreeuwen, Creatophora cinerea). If they are in their breeding period, their upper heads are yellow and they have a big black wattle (lel) under their chins. Now they are just piggy-back riding the Zebra.
For those who like the biological details:
Click a link and you'll go to the Flickr photo page for that rank in the biological classification. Or have a look in the 'Find wildlife photos' menu item on the left.
Phylum: Chordata; Vertebrates / Gewervelden
Class: Mammalia; Mammals / Zoogdieren
Order: Perissodactyla; Odd-toed Ungulates / Onevenhoevigen
Suborder: Hippomorpha; Horses and allies / Paardachtigen
Family: Equidae; Horses and allies / Paardachtigen
Genus: Equus; Horses / Paarden
Species: Equus quagga; Plains Zebra / Steppezebra
Subspecies: Equus quagga boehmi; Grant's Zebra / Grantzebra