Bongani held up a hand and Mia slowed to a stop. He flicked his head to his left and Mia saw the giraffe in the distance.
‘What is it?’ Sue asked.
‘Off to the left,’ Mia said.
‘Giraffe!’
‘You’ve got good eyes, Laura,’ Mia said.
‘How on earth did any of you spot that?’ Sue said.
Laura and her mother scrambled for their phone and a camera respectively. Mia took out her binoculars and handed them to Sue. ‘It’s a female.’
‘How can you tell, at this distance?’ Sue asked, working to focus the binoculars.
‘Look at the two horns on her head, which are actually bony protrusions. You can see tufts of black hair at their tops. The females have hair up there, but the male is bald, with the white caps of bone showing.’
‘Amazing.’
‘They’re so beautiful,’ Laura said.
Mia reeled off her standar
