CHRISTIAN SPERKA PHOTOGRAPHY – Page 107 – Christian Sperka Photography

2015-10-19

Imagine …

What an evening …

Imagine at the end of your evening game drive your field guide just stops the vehicle on top of hill. He and his tracker switch off all the vehicle’s lights and everyone agrees to keep quiet for a few minutes; listening to the bush sounds and observing the night sky. Then, unexpected, a Giraffe steps out of the tree line and walks in front of the sky, lending its silhouette to this very African scene.

That was the perfect ending to a Thanda game drive!

NB: The image is slightly blurry, but it gives an idea of this beautiful setting. For the photographer’s among you this picture was taken of a bean bag, f/2.8, 2sec, ISO6400,25mm.

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

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2015-10-17

Organization!

I am working on organizing all the Wildlife images, which I took between 2001 and 2010. This is a major undertaking which will take me many month.

But one of the rewards of this -sometime tedious – work is that I find some good images I have never published before. Here is one of them. Three Cheetah cubs watching their mum going off to hunt.

Precious 🙂

2015-10-14

A brotherly fight!

As many other peoples – who have existed for a long time – the Zulu people have a lot of customs and traditions.

I am now living for over three years in Zululand and I have tried to learn about the Zulus as much as possible. Even if I have not improved my Zulu language skills by much (isiZulu is quite difficult to learn and I am a bit on the lazy side when it comes to learning languages) I was able to observe quite a lot. Bheki Ngubane, my Zulu tracker and friend, has taught me much about his people and I was invited on some special days to the local communities.

This is a picture of Bheki (on the right) having a friendly ‘demonstration’ fight with his brother Mbongeni. When the Zulus have an occasion to celebrate – for example at a wedding – the men like to test their strength in such fights. A specially appointed Induna yenzinsizwa (fight leader) makes sure that these confrontations do not get out of hand. In this picture both brothers wear traditional men’s cloths, made from animal skins, mainly from cows and goats. And do not worry; the leopard skins around their necks are artificially made. Nowadays such traditional attire is mostly worn on special occasions and also when going to church services (similar to ‘Kilts in Scotland’ and ‘Lederhosen in Bavaria’).

Behki is a typical example of a Zulu man, living in a rural area. He wears modern cloth, works on Thanda as a tracker, drives a small car, uses cell phone technology to communicate with his family and friends – mostly by texting – and enjoys watching TV at his room at base camp.

But he is also the husband to two wives, has nine children and lives with his family on a large plot of land on Lake St.Lucia. At his home he has no access to electricity or to running water. His first wife and some her older children spend part of their days collecting water for a central point in the community and collecting firewood from the forest. Bheki comes from a very traditional background. His father had eight wives, 40 daughters and 25 sons. As a married man – with more than one wife – Bheki is a much respected man in his local community. It helps that the local Induna yesizwe (equivalent to a major) is his uncle and the Inkhosi (equivalent to a chief or governor) of his community is his nephew :-).

Quite a few of my blog followers have expressed interest in these subjects, so over the next couple month I will write a few more blogs about Zulu customs and traditions, and always with pictures 🙂

Please let me know if you have any questions or interest in specific topics and I will try to cover them. Siyabonga (Thank you in isiZulu).

2015-10-142015-10-14

Just below the Lodge!

This morning I was taking some landscape picture on the western part of the reserve. On the way back I decided to drive a different route home and pass by the Lodge. And I found our dominant male Lion having a rest in the morning sun. I called in the game drives and all our guests enjoyed this beautiful sighting 🙂

This morning Thanda’s dominant male Lion was lying just below the Thanda Safari Lodge. He enjoyed the morning sun on a very pleasant summer day.

And our guests appreciated the – up close and personal – sighting of this beautiful cat.

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

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2015-10-122015-10-12

Rosettes

A two nights stay at Thanda = Great sightings (the weather gods were on our side) and some excellent photo opportunities for our guests – I love my job!

Spotting the rosettes of this male Leopard completed the ‘Big Five’ sightings for a group of Swedish Thanda guests during their stay.

On only three drives they encountered a breeding herd of Elephants moving across the reserve, a South Pride Lioness drinking at a small waterhole, a Spotted Hyena scouting, the Thanda North Pride of Lions running into a crash of White Rhinoceros and a journey of Giraffes, Vervet Monkeys eyeing the safari vehicle with suspicion, Lions on a Zebra kill, two male Cheetah resting in the morning sun, a Zebra mum and her calf on the move, Blue Wildebeest avoiding the Cheetahs, a herd of Buffalo disturbing three Kudu bulls at their morning drinks stop, a Common Duiker accelerating very fast, and many groups of Nyala and of Impala browsing and grazing. And just before a beautiful sunset the Leopard was the last sighting of the day and of these guests’ visit to…

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2015-10-112015-10-12

Cape Glossy Starling

One of my favorite bird images – a Cape Glossy Starling!

2015-10-09

New Online Galleries & How to Buy a Print

Recently, quite a few people have asked me how to see more of my images and how to buy some of them as prints on paper or canvas. (For their personal use at home – not for commercial use, retail or publication).

I have created new online galleries with many of my images for review and selection.(https://sperka.info/pictures)

It is not easy to ship anything from South Africa to anywhere else in the world. So, I have come up with a simpler way to do this. You can now buy a digital download of any of my images and have the print produced locally.

And here is how it works:
– Pick your image(s) and send the picture code(s) via email to info@sperka.com (just click on the image and the code will appear above or below the image)
– A download license for a single image (except Limited Series Images) cost 50 US Dollars. Please ask for the rebate structure in case you want to get more than one image.
– I will send you an invoice, which you can pay with PayPal or you can transfer the money to one of my accounts (USA/Germany/Switzerland/South Africa).
– Once the payment is made I will send you a download link to a high-resolution file of the images, which you can then use to have it printed locally in any way you like, and you can also use it as wallpaper on your phone(s) or computer(s). Please do not use it commercially, publish it on social media or forward it to third parties.

Please note: This license does NOT allow re-selling, sharing with third parties or publishing [LIMITED SERIES IMAGES ARE NOT FOR SALE UNDER THIS LICENSE]

2015-10-042015-10-04

Symbiosis

An Impala and a Red-billed Oxpecker – An example for a mutualistic symbiosis, a relationship beneficial to two interacting species.

2015-09-29

Stampede

One of my favorite shots this year!

This morning three beautiful Kudu bulls came to drink at small waterhole at Thanda. After they had quenched their thirst a herd of Cape Buffalo started stampeding the scene. The Thanda guests enjoyed this excited sighting after a action-filled game drive with a pride of eight Lions interacting with four White Rhinos (meaning: getting chased around by them :-)) while three Giraffe watched the turmoil.

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

Thanda Private Game Reserve is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World

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2015-09-242015-09-24

South Africa’s Heritage Day

Today South Africa celebrates Heritage Day to commemorate the heritage of the many cultures that make up the population of South Africa. In the region where I live we especially celebrate the culture of Zulu people, who have inhabited this region for hundreds of years.

The Zulu were originally a major clan of Nguni decent, in what is today Northern KwaZulu-Natal, founded around 1700. In the Nguni languages Zulu means heaven. Nguni communities had migrated down Africa’s east coast over centuries, probably arriving in Southern Africa in about the 9th century.

The Zulu formed a powerful state and empire after King Shaka Zulu became their leader in 1816. They conquered large parts of Southern Africa using their superior military skills and tactics to subdue many other nations. They were defeated by the British in July 1879 but retain their identity with a King as their leader until this day. The Zulu Kingdom still exists under the traditional leadership clause of the South African constitution.

Thanda Private Game Reserve, my employer in South Africa, has 180 employees, of which more than 90% come from the local rural Zulu communities surrounding the Reserve.

This portrait shows one of the young ladies working on Thanda. Her name is Khethiwe Sphesihle Jiyane from the Magolwane clan. The gallery below shows a few more images of people in Zululand, which I took over the last three years.