Blog – Page 199 – Christian Sperka Photography

2013-01-08

Seven without the Five :-)

These are seven images I took during the holiday season – when my Internet connection was down. They are part of my “Without the Five” series (images 5-11).

– A colorful Caterpillar (I have no idea what species this is)
– A Thanda summer sunrise
– A morning bush scene with Giraffe and Buzzard
– A Spotted Eagle Owl in the moon/spot light (this image is a “merge” of two pictures from the same scene)
– A male Cheetah in motion
– A Red-billed Oxpecker resting on a Buffalo horn
– A Praying Mantis sitting on my car

Enjoy these beautiful images from my African home!

2013-01-062013-01-06

The Elephants’ choice

One should never push Elephants and move in too close to them.

But sometimes they choose to come close themselves. This female Elephant and the two calves where browsing on trees right next to our Land Rover before moving on to follow the herd.

My guests loved this close encounter!

PS: For the photographers among you: To get the effect with both “the Elephants” and “me in the mirror” in focus I overlaid two images with different focus (post-processing).

2013-01-05

The Bush School!

On Thanda we have an old bush school (a few A-frame huts and an old wooden classroom building) which is left from the days when Thanda was farmland.

On hot days the Thanda North Pride likes to use the classroom as shelter from the sun. Here are a few images from our Lions in school.

The little ones (about 8 month old now) learn from mom that is time to stop suckling. They complained noisily.

The shaded cool concrete makes for an ideal resting surface. Especially the concrete table (on the left) is popular when is gets very hot.

So if one is on a walk, one needs to be careful to look for shelter at the school – the Lions may already be there 🙂

Have a good week!

2013-01-05

Without the Five (4) – Sun Spider

This sun spider sat in the middle of the road when I left the lodge. I took an eye level shot of this small predator – lying on my belly as usual 🙂

About Sun Spiders:

Solifugae are known variously as Camel Spiders, Wind Scorpions or Sun Spiders. The order includes more than 1,000 described species. Sun Spiders are a different order from the true Spiders and the Scorpions. Much like a spider, the body of a Sun Spider has two tagmata (body segments).

Unlike Scorpions, Sun Spiders do not have a third body segment that forms a “tail”. Most species of Solifugae live in deserts and feed opportunistically on small ground-dwelling animals. A number of urban legends exaggerate the size and speed of Sun Spiders, and their potential danger to humans, which is practically nil.

This image is part of my “Without the Five” series:

Each image 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

2013-01-04

The Kill

If one watches animal programs on TV one usually sees the Lions running after the prey and then eating the animal. The struggle for food/life in between is rarely ever shown.

A few days ago my guests, Bheki and I watched such a struggle. The strength of the Zebra, the rush of adrenaline and the persistence and power of the Lions could be observed.

I was able to get one good images that documents this struggle (it all happened at night and we were using spotlights). Please do not click on this link if images of such scenes disturb you.

http://www.sperka.biz/thekill/h514dab36#h514dab36

2013-01-042013-01-04

Summer Sunset

Yesterday evening we spent the sunset time next to our largest waterhole watching Cape Buffalo having their evening drink stop.

A great way to end a game drive with Giraffe, Sun Spider, Cheetah, Wild Dog, Yellow-billed Kite, Leopard Tortoise, Tawny Eagle, Lions and Cape Buffalo.

2013-01-022013-01-02

I am back :-) – Happy New Year

Sorry about not posting since Christmas but my Internet connection was down until yesterday.

We were very busy at Thanda over the holidays and I had quite a lot of great sightings (pictures and stories to follow in the next few days).

I will be on my “time off” starting next Sunday. Believe it or not – next Monday I will go for my South African drivers license test (I need that one for a Public Transport Permit). After 32 years of driving a car I had to go back to driving school again 🙂

Today’s picture was taken by one of my guests from Germany after a particular interesting drive in rainy and muddy weather conditions. The mud ended up on my face and on my guests faces. We had a great time!

I wish all of you a Happy New Year 2013!

2012-12-252012-12-25

Christmas and New Year in South Africa

Quite a few people have asked me how I spend my Christmas and New Year at Thanda. The answer is simple: Working…

This is one of the busiest times of the year at a game reserve as many guests want to spend a special “Wildlife” Christmas or New Year.

But – as I enjoy being in the bush and guiding people in this beautiful Big Five reserve – working over the holidays is not a sacrifice.

Yesterday I went with two guest families to the Elephant interaction at Bayete Game Reserve. This is one of the regular excursion we do with our guests. Everyone enjoyed interacting with Rambo, Rachel and Jabulani. These three “semi-wild” Elephants which roam freely on the game reserve show up every day for their “human interaction”.

I hope all of you enjoy the festive season, wherever you are!

2012-12-212012-12-21

Leopard Week at Thanda

It is hard to believe but I had four great Leopard sightings in one week. That is more than in the six month since I started working at Thanda.

Today’s sighting was especially good. The young Leopard in the picture above stayed around a waterhole for half an hour and then joined a second Leopard in the bush nearby.

Below are pictures of all five Leopards which featured in this week’s sightings 🙂

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

2012-12-202012-12-20

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2013

With my best wishes for the holiday season from South Africa – Christian

PS: The picture is of one of the North Pride Lion cubs at Thanda Private Game Reserve …

.. and the reason why I have not blogged since 16 December is that my internet connection was down for a few days.