So this is definitely one of my favorite photos of all times, and I took it! Go me 
Yes I know it’s lame to root for one’s own photography, but I mean come on look at this picture! Maybe I’m biased because I love lemurs so much. When I saw this as I was going through, oh the thousands of pictures I took in South Africa, I was all “YES! I got it…I got the golden ticket photo of a lemur.” The hardest thing about photography, I have found so far, and maybe it’s me or maybe my camera is broken, but it never focuses where I want it to…so having the picture focus on the exact spot I wanted it to and it coming out clear and pretty was a lucky strike. This was taken at Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa, September 2009.
Here is another photo showing off the beauty of the cape vulture. I love their piercing amber eyes encircled in turquoise. I love their magenta neck encircled in downy feathers. And then you have the body covered in gorgeous white, beige, and light blue-grey feathers, tipped with mahogany wing feathers. And with those claws you would never imagine that they weren’t hunters, but merely nature’s recyclers, feeding off the leftovers of the true carnivores. These vultures have their wings clipped to keep them at the ranch (they are all injured birds and would not survive on their own in the wild). I would love to see these birds encircling in flocks in the wild, what a sight it must be. Taken at Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa, September 2009.
I love banana, and so do they! It was neat watching them pick through the white buckets of fruit we had for them, looking for the banana slices. Their precious tiny hands grabbing onto the bucket and pulling it towards them and peering inside looking for the sweet morels of goodness…finally seeing one they plucked it and shoved it in their mouths. This was a shot of a Ring-Tailed Lemur enjoying his (or her) banana slice. I did not increase the saturation of the eyes. The way the sun hit them made them reflect that beautiful vibrant orange color. Lemurs truly are precious gems of the animal kingdom; my heart burst with joy whenever I was around them. Taken at Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa, September 2009.
Say hello to adorable Harold the Pygmy Hippo. Yes I think he is cute, drool and all. I especially like this photo because the water, or slimy fluid covering his body left rainbow sparkles in the photo. We got to feed the pygmy hippo’s Harold and Hilda every day. Even though they are tiny they still were quite intimidating especially when you see the next picture of his teeth! They got a yummy meal of veggies. Andrea is feeding him a potato in this picture. What was kind of gross about the hippos was that their skin excreted this weird slimy jelly fluid out of their pores, I’m sure to make them either more fluid in water or to protect their fragile skin from drying out in the hot sun. They are still cute; just warning you if you ever get to touch one! Taken September 2009, Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa.
Now this is one gorgeous cat! It looks like the tiger is ready to pounce on its next victim, when in reality she is just avoiding the sprinkler system from hitting her in the face…sorry to ruin the romantic and mysteriousness of the picture…but it is still striking and gorgeous nonetheless. Taken at Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa, September 2009.
Not too many people would feel comfortable kissing a 200 pound white tiger, but for the staff at Cango Wildlife Ranch it’s just another day at work. While I don’t support the “conservation” work they do, I am extremely jealous that they get to spend their days (and get paid for it) raising and taking care of such amazing creatures. Taken at Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa, September 2009.
Twice the mischief…actually there were three of them, so triple it, but these little babies were quite naughty and playful; put a few holes in t-shirts, left quite a few bite marks and scratches, but all in good fun. Taken at Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa, September 2009.
