Posted under travel & wildlife (general)
OK, admittedly this has nothing to do with birds or with the Bay Area, but hey, slow news day, so this is what you get. This is me in Botswana last September, in an area near the Makgadikgadi Pan (made famous in The Gods Must Be Crazy). We stayed at a tent camp called Jack’s Camp, and they took us out one day to watch a group of meerkats. This group had been studied years ago by a grad student, and became used to people. They’re not tame — they don’t seek out people and are not rewarded for coming near — but they are “habituated”: they don’t think of people as predators, so you can walk right along next to them. They were just remarkably indifferent towards us. As I discovered by sitting on the ground, very still, ahead of the group, if you are very lucky a meerkat might climb up your back and stand on your head to get a better look around! This photo was taken by a very nice Dutch guy named Dirk Ponsioen. Some of my own Botswana photos are on my web gallery.
Kate on 22 Feb 2008 at 5:05 pm #
I’m so happy it was slow news day so I could see the famous “meerkat on my head” photo discussed at that dinner party the other night! Too funny. My sister will get a big kick out of it too.
admin on 23 Feb 2008 at 6:50 pm #
Thanks, Kate! I love this picture, too—in fact, I think it’s my favorite of all of the pictures that I’m in, ever!
–Phil
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