Author: Christian Sperka

Christian Sperka is a wildlife photographer based at Thanda Private Game Reserve, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. Over the last 11 years, Christian has traveled the world photographing animals in wild game reserves of South Africa and Namibia, the jungles of Costa Rica, in Yellowstone National Park in the USA, as well as zoos in Europe and the United States. His work has been featured in wildlife magazines, in books and in many zoo publications. He actively supports wild cat conservation, working as a partner photographer for Panthera, the world's leading organization devoted to the conservation of all wild cat species (panthera.org). From 2009 to 2012 he has worked as the official photographer and photography teacher at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, Tennessee, USA (nashvillezoo.org). Christian is also a qualified South African field guide. He now works as specialist photography guide on Thanda Private Game Reserve in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa (thanda.com).
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Chewing bones, parking backwards, fishing large and catching big!

A strange title for a blog?

Yes, but these images explain it all …

… a female Nyala chewing on a bone to get some extra calcium during the dry season.20140921 - CS2_0599 - E

… two Elephants wetting their bums by backing into a waterhole.20150515 - CS3_6934 - E

… a Seagull catching a very large fish!20150727 - CS3_8298 - E

… and a little Bee-Eater catching a ‘big’ Butterfly.20150422 - CS3_5848 - E

I really enjoy these unusual sightings – remarkably uncommon 🙂

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Thanda Cats

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Watching Africa’s iconic large cats – Lion, Leopard and Cheetah – is always a special treat on any safari. But these three sighting were even more exciting than usual. First we saw Thanda’s dominant male Lion mating with the oldest female of the Mduna pride. Then we observed a young Cheetah female doing what Cheetahs ‘never do’, climbing up a tree trunk. And last but not least we sat with a relaxed and very beautiful male Leopard for quite a while, in broad day light!

A pleasure for the Thanda guests and great picture opportunities for all Wildlife photographers among them!

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Black Rhino, Leopard, Hyena and Jackal!

I saw them twice in the last week 🙂

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What a Thanda morning! After spotting a Black Rhino on the savanna we watched two Leopards feeding on an Impala kill, which was high up in a tree. And we saw a Hyena ‘stealing’ some of the meat which had dropped from the tree onto the ground below. A small Black-backed Jackal waited for his turn to get a few left-overs from the kill. A great sighting!

The picture shows one of the Leopards on the kill.

Picture by Christian Sperka – Specialist Photography Guide and Resident Wildlife Photographer – Thanda Private Game Reserve

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Lion vs. Rhino 0:0

I really enjoyed taking these (even if the light was not good) 🙂

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It is always exciting to watch animals interact. And some of the best entertainment is provided when Lions and Rhinos meet!

The Thanda guests enjoyed it when a few White Rhinos started chasing Thanda’s North Pride cubs. It took over half an hour before the dust settled. The Rhinos went to sleep in a tight formation and the cubs withdraw into thick bush up a hillside. And it was time for us humans to retreat for dinner :-). Lions vs. Rhinos 0:0

Below are seven images from this encounter at fading light. The quality of the picture is  not great, but I think the content makes it worth wile to look at them.

Three of the young cubs keep an eye of the situation. Notice their wide open eyes!20150801 - CS3_9336 - T

One of the cubs got quickly out of the way, as one of the Rhinos turned on her.20150801 - CS3_9347 - T

All the sudden on of the…

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