Jan and James had the opportunity to visit Tambuti wilderness - a private ranch in Namibia a few years back. They enjoyed the chance to see Africa from different perspectives such as on horseback. They also visited several parks and reserves including Etosha where Jan photographed the zebra foal in this painting.

Natural History Notes: There is a lot of controversy about exactly how many species of zebra that there are. Jan subscribes to the school of thought that there are three main species: Mountain, Grevy and Burchell's (also called Common or Plains). There are two subspecies of Mountain and several sub and sub in the Burchell's. Jan tends to recognize mostly two subspecies of the Burchell's - the Grant which is found in East Africa and tends to be VERY black and white - and the Chapman's found in Southern Africa (including Namibia) where they tend to be more brownish and beige with shadow stripes commonly found between the main stripes, particularly on the rumps. Their stripes also do not carry on strongly down the legs.

Foals of all species tend to be very "fuzzy", their coats become slicker and tighter with age. The stripes also tend to be much browner than those of adults.