Botswana, Animals

Ostrich

Shakes, our guide at Karangoma, asked us what we'd like to see on our last game drives? Dom said “Ostrich” So Mosamali, our tracker, got to work in the bumper mounted seat. As we drove, he looked at animal tracks in the sand and occasionally pointed left or right.

Sure enough, Shakes and Mosamali soon found an ostrich. It was standing, its head held high and looking around. As we got close, it sat down and looked at us.

Shakes told us that male and female ostriches take turns sitting on eggs. One guards the nest during the night, the other takes the day shift. Since our ostrich was not moving, there might be eggs or even chicks hidden under its feathers.

It just sat there for a long time, looking around. I took a photo of it looking at us. By chance, I suppose, the ostrich has its inner eyelids closed in that one photo. Ostriches actually have three eyelids. The inner one is called the nictitating membrane. It looks milky white in the lower right image.