Etosha National Park: Zebras

Zebra crossing

I observed that zebras walk in long, ordered lines to waterholes. The lead female first; the stallion last; foals interspersed with other adults in the middle. Sometimes I saw much larger groups and one day, with the stately line almost parallel to the road I could measure the length of the line. It was just on 1km. A kilometre of zebras!

Zebras are the second most common animal in Etosha National Park. One guide book said there were 20,000 zebras. I did begin to think I was trying to take a photo of every one of them.

There are two kinds of zebras. These are all Burchell's or plains zebras. Burchell's zebras have a "shadow" brown stripe on their bodies (but not their faces or necks), their stripes do not go all the way down to their hooves, but their stripes do meet under their tummies.

I commonly saw family groups of five or six. My trusty guide book tells me that this is likely to consist of a dominant male, his females and their foals. The main female directs the family's daily activities; the stallion provides protection.

I think this is my favourite zebra photo. With their very wide eyesight, I just know he was looking at me. This zebra was photographed near the Okerfontein waterhole.

I saw this mum and foal very early one morning at the Kalkheuwel waterhole near the Namutomi camp.

I really like this photograph because it seems to capture the serenity of the whole experience of calmly watching these wild animals.

Zebras come to a waterhole daily. They enjoy walking right into the water, and frequently jostle for position. The zebras walk in a straight line towards a waterhole. They gather in trees on the edge and then approach the water as a group. Having finished their drink they re-establish the line and leave. On one occasion I saw a main stallion hassle a younger zebra to get moving and take up his proper place in the line, leaving the main stallion to bring up the rear.

Zebra foals are desperately cute. Their coats are much furrier than their parents'. This one is likely to be about 7 or 8 months old. I always saw foals with their mothers, who seemed to be quite protective. Some (?all) were still feeding from their mothers, but joined the adults to drink at waterholes.