Christian Sperka

2014-10-182014-11-23

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.

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

2014-10-142014-10-14

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

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.

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 🙂

2014-10-13

Pakamisa Dinner Plans!

Two images I took yesterday on Pakamisa.

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

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

2014-10-12

What cat is that? – The answers!

… here we go … (answer to https://sperka.info/2014/10/10/what-cat-is-that/)

Snow Leopard, Pallas’Cat (or Manul), Tiger, Lion, Clouded Leopard, Jaguarundi, Cheetah, Serval, Jaguar, African Wild Cat, Leopard, Cougar (or Mountain Lion or Puma), Caracal and Eurasian Lynx.

2014-10-10

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?

2014-10-09

Oldies but goodies!

Oldies but goodies – one of my favourite Lion images ever 🙂

2014-10-082014-10-07

Just cows? Not so much ….

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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2014-10-05

Operation Cheetah

Today we changed the radio collar on our Cheetah mum so that the Wildlife Team can continue to monitor her progress – I was allowed to be hands – on for a moment – Thanks to Warren for taking the picture 🙂

And this is a collage of the operation – before – during – after

2014-10-01

OPERATION RHINO … continued

I love photo shoots like this one …

… a few more images from yesterday’s Rhino capture operation at Thanda.

Under the guidance of Dr.Mike Toft this White Rhino female was tranquillized, a transmitter was implanted into her horn by the Thanda Wildlife Management Team, a general health check was performed and many measurements and some DNA samples were taken.

A group of Thanda guest was participating in this IN THE PATH OF THE WILDLIFE experience which was organized together with Wildlands Conservation Trust. At the end of the successful procedure one of the guests was allowed to “wake up” the Rhino under the watchful eyes of Dr.Toft. What a day!

For more information about Thanda’s IN THE PATH OF THE WILDLIFE guest experiences go to http://www.thanda.com/experience/top-3-activities.htm.

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

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2014-09-30

Operation Rhino!

What a day – long but satisfying!

Today a group of Thanda guests took part in an exciting Rhino capture operation. Thanda’s IN THE PATH OF WILDLIFE guest experience is an excellent way to participate in wildlife conservation operations. This Rhino darting procedure was organized together with Wildlands Conservation Trust.

The picture collage shows veterinarian Dr. Mike Toft explaining the upcoming operation to the guest before he boarded the helicopter to dart the Rhino from the air. And it shows the female White Rhino to be fitted with a radio transmitter before the procedure.

Stay tuned for more posts with many images from this exciting operation!

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

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