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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Diffusion

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I do not really like to work at night with artificial light. But sometimes this sort of light creates a very special mood. Using a diffusing filter on Bheki’s strong spotlight I was able to take a portrait of this Lion cub. The soft widely spread light through the filter is not too hard on the young eyes and we only use it for a few moments during the photo shoot. The rest of the time we use a red-light filter.

This night photo-session was part of two game drives of wildlife photography lessons. At Thanda it is possible to book a “Photography Private Safari Vehicle” which includes me as the wildlife photography instructor. My student on this evening game drive enjoyed her night-light lesson very much!

 

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When a camera meets a Hyena :-)

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We had made up this little project to try and capture some small night creatures with my camera trap. We selected the location carefully and installed the camera high enough not to attract Hyenas.

At least that was what we thought 🙂

This collage shows the camera before its meeting with some Hyena teeth. Then the last pictures it ever took, and finally the electronic rubbish it is now after the Hyena had a go at it.

Lesson to be learned – no more camera traps without steel casing!

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A Rainbow over the Lebombo Mountains, a Road Block and two Freezing Cheetah!

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As it happens during this time of the year strong winds frequently follow heavy rains. On our afternoon game drive we first encountered a beautiful rainbow over the Lebombo mountains, then we met with Thanda’s breeding herd of Elephants.

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One of our largest bulls gave an excellent demonstration on “how to create a perfect road block”, right in front of the vehicle.

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Last but not least Bheki – one of Thanda’s most experienced Zulu tracker – found the two Cheetah brothers on the open savannah. They were huddling together in the freezing wind.

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Not a bad drive for a very windy day!

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No camera :-) :-(

What an evening.

As I drove up to the Lodge on Friday evening  – for a meeting – a Leopard appeared around a corner in front of my vehicle and calmly walked up the road for about ten minutes, illuminated by my headlights, before settling down next to my car in the bushes.

On the way home an Aardvark crossed the road in front of me and stayed for about five minutes on the road, just sniffing around.

Now that was the good part of the evening, the bad part was that I had no camera with me. A beginner’s mistake!

But I will never forget these sightings, especially my first Aardvark on Thanda.

no camera

 

These two images are of similar sightings a few years ago (with camera :-))

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A heron, a band of mongoose and the king of Pakamisa

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Sometimes a drive from the Pakamisa lodge to the horse stables can turn into a nice game drive. I first encountered a band of mongoose running across the road and I managed to take a picture as they quickly disappeared into thick bush.

Then I had my first ever sighting of a Black-headed Heron perching on of the stable fences.

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And last but not least we encountered a beautiful, dark and very large male Giraffe. His name is Rufus and he is considered the king of Pakamisa 🙂

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Pakamisa Dinner Plans!

Two images I took yesterday on Pakamisa.

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The first one shows some of the horses looking eagerly out of their boxes for the upcoming dinner.

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The second one shows Pakamisa’s Ostrich family at their evening dinner – dad, mum and 16 little Ostriches.

 

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What cat is that?

A short quiz for the cat lovers among you!

These are 16 pictures of 14 different cat species – what species are they?

What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
What cat am I?
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Just cows? Not so much ….

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Sometimes safari guests think that a Cape Buffalo is just another type of cow. Far from it. These stocky herd animals can turn from fairly docile bovines into very dangerous opponents within seconds.

When threatened a herd will form a “battle array” with the large males up front, the younger males on the sides and the females and calves behind. In that formation they can even stand down a pride of Lions. For Humans on foot they can be one of the most dangerous encounters in the bush. There position as one of the Big Five is therefore fully justified.

This picture shows the Thanda Buffalo herd leaving a waterholes.

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

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