William Randolph Hearst and the mythical zebras…

Y0u’ve probably heard of William Randolph Hearst, and if not, you’ve almost certainly heard of Hearst Castle.  It’s the former private residence of William Randolph Hearst, who was about as eccentric a figure as ever lived.   As I hear it, every US President was in his back pocket during his reign, and the guy had more money than God.   The original family fortune was made in silver mining and then publishing.   Old Hearst built himself a castle along (you guessed it) the Pacific Coast Highway.   We passed right by it yesterday, and I’ve taken the Hearst Castle tour no fewer than four times.  If you’re ever out that way, I think it’s a “must see” part of any inaugural trip along the PCH.  When we do our CSC tour, we’ll take a half-day to do just that.

Anyway, to get to the point, on all of my prior visits I heard from  the tour guides that Hearst’s eccentricities included a world class zoo, and wild animals (including zebra) could still occasionally be spotted running free on the Hearst Castle’s substantial grounds.  I had never seen any of these rumored remnants from the Hearst reign…until yesterday, that is.

Look what we spotted on our way back to So Cal!

I had my Nikon D810 with me, and I brought along the 70-300 lens (the same one I grabbed those dynamite vulture photos with on the RX3 expedition in Colombia).   The zebras were a good 400 to 500 yards from the road, but that 300mm lens with vibration reduction really pulls them in.  It was a lucky break.  I’d never seen the zebras before and I thought the stories about them were baloney, but I was happy to be proven wrong!

That black-and-white paint theme is interesting, and on the way back, I wondered what a TT250 would look like done up in a zebra design.  Hmmm…