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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Without the Five (2) – Common Beauty!

Today’s image is a portrait of an Impala ram. Impalas are the most common antelopes on Thanda. They have a special dental arrangement on the front lower jaw similar to a tooth-comb which is used during grooming to comb the fur and remove parasites – hence their impeccable appearance 🙂

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This image is part of my “Without the Five” series:
Each image will features a species, which is usually not in the safari limelight. So they will be no images of Lions, Leopard, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalo, Cheetahs …

Enjoy the “without the Five” series

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Without the Five (1) – Head Salad!

For the next ten posts I have planned a special series of pictures. Each image will feature a species, which is usually not in the safari limelight. So they will be no images of Lions, Leopard, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalo, Cheetahs …

Today’s image is of two Nyala bulls. One of them wearing “Head Salad” 🙂

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Enjoy the “Witout the Five” series

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Sparring!

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While I was filing images which I have taken over the last few weeks I came across this picture of an Elephant Bull fight.

I remember that we were quite close to these two young bulls when they started sparring. Ignoring us completely they impressed the Thanda guests on my vehicle with their strength and fighting skills.

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Random!

I have uploaded new header images for my blog page. They will be displayed randomly.

Lion, Leopard, African Elephant, White Rhino, Black Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Cheetah, Cape Hunting Dog, Spotted Hyena, Black-backed Jackal, South African Giraffe, Plains Zebra and Impala are the species represented with one image each.

More will follow – including birds, reptiles and more 🙂

Enjoy all these images taken around on Thanda Private Game Reserve.

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Ostrich, River View and Trogon

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I spent a few days at Amakhosi Safari Lodge, a beautiful place near Pongola. Have a look at their website www.amakhosi.com.

One of my favorite pictures from this weekend is of this female Ostrich …

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… and despite the weather (from humid/hot to raging thunderstorms) I enjoyed my stay very much. From my room I had a great view of the Mkuze River. I relaxed quite a bit in the hammock while listening to the river sounds and the many bird calls …

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… I saw a Narina Trogon, one of my favorite birds and a Paradise Flycatcher (no good pictures, but evidence 🙂 …

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… and I enjoyed this view of the Mkuze River from a hide near the lodge, high above the river bed (with Nyala, Bushbuck and Kudu in view while I was at the hide).

Have a good week!

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Spotting Spotted Hyena!

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It does not happen often that we see Spotted Hyena at daylight. So my guests were very happy to see this Hyena just after sunrise on the Thanda savanna.

PS: I will not be posting anything until early next week. I am spending this weekend at Amakhosi Safari Lodge on the Mkuze River near Pongola 🙂

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“Night Drives”

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As a photographer I am usually not too keen on early evening “night” drives. Usually there is little to be seen, but the occasional eyes of a Bush baby.

But on this particular evening we saw a Spotted Eagle Owl on the way home to the lodge (this picture was taken with the help of Bheki’s spotlight).

 

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Shaken by Elephants!

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This young Elephant bull was testing the strength of my Land Rover and of Bheki’s tracker seat. After a slight shake to the car he decided that this was a “strong thing” and he moved off quietly and continued feeding.

… and this is one of the reasons why our trackers do not stay in their seat when we are viewing Elephants 🙂

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When his little sister (she is only a few weeks old) was crossing the road she was giving us a good “Elephant head shake of displeasure” before quickly joining her mother on the other side of the road.

The Elephant moms just watched the displays tolerantly without any signs of agitation.

The Thanda guests enjoyed the “Shaken by Elephant” experiences.

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Leopard!

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Today we had an excellent Leopard sighting on Thanda. This beautiful large male was first hiding in thick bush but then decided to rest in the open. He had a few wounds which suggests that he has been in a fight recently.

On the same game drive we saw Elephants and Lions. A very productive afternoon 🙂

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Mature and Teens!

From this angle the difference between a mature (40-45 year old) Elephant bull and a young bull in his teens becomes clear. Two of Thanda’s magnificent Elephants presented themselves during one of today’s game drive.

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