You can see many unique things while on safari. There are a wide variety of animals to watch and observe. One, recently sighted in Tarangire National Park, where we send many clients on safari is very unique. A rare white giraffe (maybe the only one in the world) with a genetic condition, where many of her body surface cells are incapable of making pigment. I think she is absolutely beautiful.
Ecologist Dr Derek Lee, founder of the Wild Nature Institute (WNI), which conducts scientific research on at-risk wildlife species, took the amazing photographs in Tarangire National Park. She has been named Omo after a popular brand of detergent and has survived the most difficult time in her life, which is as a small calf when they are preyed upon by lion, leopard and hyena.
Now what she mostly has to worry about is being hunted by poachers. WNI, which does great work, is working on giraffe conservation and anti-poaching measures to give her a better chance of survival.
Omo is the only pale giraffe WNI is aware of though other animals have had this condition. What is amazing is that Omo appears to get along with the other giraffes and is seen with a large group of normally colored giraffe.
They don’t’ mind her different coloring. Why should we mind what color someone is?