When I was in Africa a few years ago.....in the middle of Niger in a place where there are only a few outcroppings of rock in a sea of desert.....we came upon the largest rock art carving in the world...the giraffes of Niger. They were beautiful but made you feel unsettled.....because the artists carved what they knew and lived with...meaning these creatures had walked here....when the desert was a savannah....lush with some trees and grass. How surreal to stand in a desolate section of the desert and see the remnants of a lush land that vanished.
People fear for the giraffes of Niger...they fear vandalism....theft....political destruction....so the National Geographic ordered three exact casts made of the rock art to preserve them. They keep one of the cast in their outdoor garden.
At first I couldn't find them....but then just when I was about to return to the indoor museum....I saw them. Tooo far away to touch....the replicas seem ghostly compared to the real rock of the desert.....but they were here....a bit of Africa and a bit of my history.....in a windy cold courtyard in Washington D.C
The cast in Washington DC
What I saw in the desert~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
