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Rain, beautiful rain!

A great night!

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Some rain has finally arrived. Last night we had 53mm! (~2inches). Some of our waterholes have filled up quite a bit and in a few days the place should look much greener with lots of fresh growth.

This picture was taken during the spectacular lightning show which preceded the heavy rains. We observed this amazing display as our guests had their evening drinks on top of one of Thanda’s hills.

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

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That’s in the tree!

A Leopard. This female was feasting on the remains of an Impala kill, which she had dragged into the tree. But she lost a large part of her dinner when she dropped it and a Hyena picked it up from below the tree. When I took this picture she had only one leg left. The image was taken with a 500mm lens :-).

Quite a few of you spotted the animal. Well done!

PS: Always look for branches which grow vertically down. They are usually a tail of a Leopard 🙂

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Live Show for Photographers

Vision Art Q&A

Today I did a live (online) show for photographers at Light Vision Art Q&A. If you would like to hear what I had to say (and see me :-)) go to http://sprc.st/a1nUF. My part in the show starts about 7 minutes into the one hour program. Thanks for all the participation and the questions.

Enjoy the show!

Please share this message with any photographer friends for yours. They might enjoy the program.

LightVision

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To strengthen the genetic pool…

What a joy to take pictures of a ‘new arrival’ after my return from Europe.

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Thanda welcomes the arrival of a new male Cheetah, which originates from Sanbona Wildlife Reserve in the Western Cape. He is a spectacularly handsome creature and possibly the largest Cheetah we have ever seen. This male was introduced in an effort to strengthen the genetic pool at Thanda and this was done in conjunction with The Endangered Wildlife Trusts’ Cheetah meta population management programme. Many thanks to Sanbona and EWT for all the assistance and effort.

To help him to get used to the Thanda surroundings our new Cheetah will spend a while in a boma and he will wear a radio collar, to ensure that our wildlife team can keep an eye on him as he settles into his new home.

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

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Stunning

  
It is a long drive from Johannesburg to Durban, but there was some stunning South African scenery along the way – Now I am back on Thanda!

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Bloody Face!

  
One of my favorite animal portraits – This Lioness just finished her Giraffe dinner (first course!) – The Lions must have killed the Giraffe just minutes before we arrived, judging by the color of the blood.

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Contrasts

Warm – Cold | Rough – Smooth | Right – Left | Happy – Sad | Cramped – Spacious

A day of contrasts – Coming from the cold of a German autumn to the warm temperatures of a Pretoria summer – changing from the smooth ride of my dad’s Renault to my rather rugged Fortuner – moving from the right side of the road to the left – being happy to be back in South Africa and being a bit sad to have to leave my family and friends in Europe – enjoying the space in the Gautrain from Johannesburg Airport to Pretoria after the 11 hour ‘torture’ in a economy plane seat, which is far to small for me:-)

Well, I love change and these contrasts are rather invigorating. The hot shower, a Peking Duck for lunch and my mum’s poppy seed cake for desert helps to improve the spirit even further!
From tomorrow Wildlife will be back on the ‘posting menu’ 🙂

PS: Today’s pictures show me on the Gautrain.


  

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