Photo: Becky Rutherford

It is the classic story of young lovers separated by the briny deep, of a young heroine on a storm tossed voyage with unexpected adventure. Oh, yes, and the young heroine is a giraffe.

The Aukland Zoo has been trying to setup Nakuru, a fifteen month old Rothschild giraffe, with the Melbourne Zoo’s male giraffe,  Makului.  Rothschild giraffes are among the most endangered of giraffe sub-species and the hope is that the two giraffes will mate.  Nakuru was born in in the Aukland Zoo in New Zealand, the daughter of resident giraffes Rukiya and Zabulu.   To get Nakuru across the Tasman Sea to Melbourne, Australia, the Aukland Zoo arranged for a special shipping container to be fabricated to fit the young giraffe, which, at over 3 meters tall, exceeds the dimensions of most containerized cargoes.  Last Monday, Nakuru, accompanied by zoo vets and handlers, was loaded aboard the container ship, JPO Scorpius, for the four to five day voyage  to Melbourne.  The voyage has been neither smooth, nor uneventful.

On the previous Saturday, a solo Russian sailor set off from Portland in the Victoria, Australia bound for New Zealand on an intended round the world voyage. The boat was dismasted in heavy weather early Friday and JPO Scorpius was diverted to help in the search for the missing sailor.   The ship was unable to continue the search due to bad weather. There are no reports that a sea-sick giraffe played any role in the decision to withdraw. The sailor in the dismasted yacht was later located by a C-130 Hercules search plane and subsequently rescued by a Victoria Police helicopter about 220km south of Mallacoota.

Nakuru is now expected to arrive in Melbourne on Sunday.