CHRISTIAN SPERKA PHOTOGRAPHY – Page 100 – Christian Sperka Photography

2017-03-25

With one look …

There are big five pictures and there are BIG FIVE pictures 🙂

I recently needed a collage of the BIG FIVE for a presentation and I came up with this one. Being in the focus of these amazing and impressive animals is one of the real thrills of an African safari!

In Africa, the big five game animals are the African Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, African Leopard, and Rhinoceros. The term “BIG FIVE” was coined by big-game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot.

www.sperka.com www.sperka.biz #christiansperkaphotography #bigfive

PS: For all my blog followers in Germany and Switzerland: In April I will be giving a public presentation (with many of my pictures) during my visit to Europe – all visitors are welcome! Details at https://sperka.info/2017/03/19/e2017

2017-03-19

Deutschland/Schweiz – Germany/Switzerland 2017

As every year I am visiting my family and friends in Germany and Switzerland in April/May.

This year a small town in Switzerland has invited me to give a presentation about “ZULULAND – Wildlife and the People in South Africa”. This is a public event on 28 April and anyone is welcome at the presentation. I will talk about my life and my work in South Africa and show some of my pictures. The presentation I will be in German … 🙂 .

I am also planning to be in the Zurich Zoo on one of my days in Europe and I happy to meet and chat with any of my social media followers. I will announce the date for this a bit later.

And now in German…

Wie jedes Jahr besuche ich meine Familie und Freunde in Deutschland und der Schweiz im April/Mai.

Dieses Jahr hat mich eine kleine Gemeinde in der Schweiz (Schlossrued) eingeladen, einen Vortrag zum Thema “ZULULAND – Tierwelt und Menschen in Suedafrika” zu halten. Dies ist eine oeffentliche Veranstaltung und jederman ist willkommen. Ich erzaehle ueber mein Leben und meine Arbeit in Suedafrika und zeige einige meiner Bilder. (Den Vortrag halte ich in Deutsch).

Ausserdem plane ich einen Besuch im Zoo in Zurich. Ich treffen mich gerne zu einer Unterhaltung mit Social Media Followers (fiel mir keine gute Uebersetzung ins Deutsche ein :-). Das Datum hierfuer gebe ich ein wenig spaeter bekannt.

Looking forward to seeing some of you in Europe 🙂

2017-03-092017-03-09

More birds …

I recently did a bit of bird photography … this was one of my favorites … more to come soon …

Picture details: Reed Cormorant | Location: Drakensberg, South Africa
Canon 1D Mark IV | Canon EF500mm f/4L | AV | ISO 1600 | 1/1000s | f/8 | 0.5eV | WB 6500K | free-hand

2017-03-04

What a month!

Many of you have realized that I did not blog a lot in February. I had two good reasons. First I had to have an eye operation to remove a small foreign object from my right eye (the surgery went very well :-). Then I took a while off to recover and to spend some time with my brother who visited South Africa.

We enjoyed our stays at the Oysterbox Hotel in Umhlanga – one of the best hotels anywhere – at the Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse in the Drakensberg – rightly known for its gourmet cuisine – and at Pakamisa Private Game Reserve – next to Thanda Safari my favorite place in KwaZulu Natal. We also did a day-excursion to St.Lucia for a walk on the Indian ocean and an excellent lunch (at a restaurant named ‘Reef and Dunes’). These are certainly some of the best places KwaZulu Natal has to offer. What a special program!

Here are a few pictures which I took on our travels to Durban, Pakamisa, Thanda, St.Lucia and to the Drakensberg.

And now it is back to Wildlife on Thanda Safari 🙂

The Oysterbox Hotel in Umhlanga, what a place, what a setting ... — The Oysterbox Hotel in Umhlanga, what a place, what a setting …

What an arrangement ... — A special flower arrangement in Oysterbox lobby …

Rain over the Pakamisa mountains ... — Rain over Pakamisa mountains …

Pakamisa, a special place to relax ... — Pakamisa, a special place to relax …

The Thanda Safari Lions impressed my brother by getting quite close ... — The Thanda Safari Lions impressed my brother by getting quite close …

And I slipped off the road on a game drive after heavy rains, but Bheki - my tracker - and I got the vehicle back onto the road ... — And I slipped off the road on a game drive after heavy rains, but Bheki – my tracker – and I got the vehicle back onto the road – what fun 🙂 …

... and Bheki's special smile as the rains approached ... — … and Bheki’s special smile as the rains approached on Thanda …

Near the beach in St.Lucia ... — Near the beach in St.Lucia …

A Splendid Locust on the St.Lucia beach ... — A Splendid Locust on the St.Lucia beach …

A beautiful setting and gourmet cuisine, Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse ... — A beautiful setting and gourmet cuisine, Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse …

The Drakensberg Mountains in the early morning ... — The Drakensberg Mountains in the early morning …

Not-so-wild-life ... this old cat kept me company as I relaxed at Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse ... — Not-so-wild-life … this old cat kept me company as I relaxed at Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse …

... and finally a dramatic sky over Thanda as I returned after travelling for almost 2,000 kilomteres ... — … and finally a dramatic sky over Thanda as I returned after travelling for almost 2,000 kilomteres …

2017-03-032017-03-02

Look after this world and its wildlife – for future generations sake!

World Wildlife Day 2017 – http://www.wildlifeday.org

wwd2017

‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught’ Baba Dioum

Pictures by Christian Sperka

#DoOneThingToday, #youth4wildlife, #YoungVoices, #EndWildlifeTrafficking #WWD2017 #listentotheyoungvoices

2017-02-062017-02-06

No Power – Three Hours !

20170204-cs0_0759-e-00

During our last power failure – which lasted about 6 hours – I decided to leave my hot office and spend a few hours at the kuMasinga Hide and at Nsumo Pan on Mkhuze Game Reserve.

In the three hours I sat at the two hides I took mainly bird pictures. I thought I create a little bird quiz from these images.

Can you identify all 11 species?

Have fun and a good week!

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2017-02-05

Water, finally …

For the last few weeks we had proper rainfalls (over 125 mm) and most of the waterholes at Thanda Safari are now filling up nicely!

The small picture shows a herd of Buffalo in a completely dry dam only a few weeks ago. The big picture of the same waterhole was taken this week. Let us hope the rains will continue to the end of the wet season…

In the small picture below the Elephant bulls were bathing in an almost empty dam. The large image shows the same dam almost full. The Elephants would now be under water 🙂

Pictures by Christian Sperka – Resident Wildlife Photographer – Thanda Safari

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Thanda Safari is a member of The Leading Hotels of the…

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2017-02-05

A Rough Meal

When food is plentiful and the kill is large a pride of Lions will feed without a lot of fuss. But if the carcass is small and there are many Lions it can be a rough meal. If the dominant male is present then he will demand to eat first in peace and quiet. If any other member of pride approaches there will be a lot of growling and if they come to close the huge paws and long claws will come into action.

In this sighting two Lionesses and a young male had killed a Wildebeest and were feeding when the dominant male appeared. A fight over the food broke out. After the initial confrontation the Lions were ‘sharing’ the kill, but it was a noise and violent affair.

After he finished his meal the large male got up and started walking towards a nearby waterhole for a drink. This…

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2017-02-01

Leopard+

I have just uploaded a few more Leopard images taken between 2005 and 2016. Have a look at http://www.sperka.biz/sg2 (total 74 images).

This is one of many species gallery available online at http://www.sperka.biz/sg

Please contact me at info@sperka.com in case you are interested in publishing any of these images or if you would like to license any image for printing (for personal or commercial use).

These are the newly uploaded images!

Next to the road ... — Next to the road …

2017-01-27

From the archives …

I have just uploaded 74 more Cheetah images taken between 2004 and early 2017. Have a look at http://www.sperka.biz/sg3 (total 189 images).

This is one of many species gallery available online at http://www.sperka.biz/sg

Please contact me at info@sperka.com in case you are interested in publishing any of these images or if you would like to license any image for printing (for personal or commercial use).

These are a few of these new images!