Being chased by a male Lion is an incredible feeling.
Even if the chase is not meant for the vehicle but for other Lions nearby. When this huge predator runs to close the distance to the vehicle your instinct is telling you to get away while your knowledge tells you to stand your ground.
While the experienced Thanda guides take the proper decisions – keeping a cool head – some of our guests have one of the most exciting moments in their life.
What a feeling!
This young male Lion is having a drink at one of Thanda’s waterholes. We were watching the Lions in the early morning going to drink after they had feasted the in the night on a Wildebeest kill.
More about cats drinking (quoted from ANTRANIK.ORG):
Cats lap water so fast that the naked eye can’t follow it fast enough to notice. When a cat is going to drink water, it will stick its tongue out, curl the tip of its tongue backward, not forward. This curled tip will touch the liquid, barely penetrating the surface, then retract its tongue back into its mouth very, very fast. The water sticks to its tongue and a mini-stream subsquently shoots up into its mouth thanks to the power of adhesion and cohesion, respectively. The cat will then close its mouth at exactly the precise moment where the most water will be in its mouth, just before gravity starts to pull it down.
And this is a link to a short video showing a cat drinking (really slow :-)):
This small male White Rhino calf put us in our place!
He came right up to the vehicle (which was standing below his level) and showed us his “big” horn, jumped up and down and snorted a bit. When we did not react he retreated quickly back to mum. She was undisturbed by his “manly behavior”.
They were grazing in a beautiful area surrounded by trees. A fabulous sighting for my guests.
Thanda’s dominant male Lion gave us “a good look” when we spotted him on the way to the lodge after bush dinner.
The guests on my vehicle were very impressed with the beautiful cat at moon light.
These were the three adjectives that came to my mind when I saw this young male Lion displaying his sharp claws. He was very wet and very dirty when we encountered the Thanda North Pride on our morning game drive.
On today’s Thanda Game Drive we encountered this Giraffe on a hill top under a beautiful sky.
Have a good week!
Dedication is everything. One of Thanda’s youngest Lion was jumping over his uncle to get to his brother and retrieve the small wooden stick that had been taken from him just a few seconds ago. Their sister was watching for a few moments before joining the game.
The Thanda North Pride stopped for a morning drink at a small dam on the savanna area. The cubs are now almost a year old and their aunts and uncles almost two, but all of them were very playful this morning. A great sighting!
The guests on my vehicle thought it was a bit like Romeo and Juliet, the Montgues and the Capulets.
One of our Lionesses had split away from the pride and was obviously looking for a mate. But the perfectly good dominant male Lion provided by the Thanda management was not of her choosing!
She had an eye on one of the male Lions on the neighboring property. After she roared for a while he came to the fence and then walked up and down with her for a while.
But, as in the Shakespeare play, “a happy end” was not possible and after a while both of them went their own way.
Our Lioness re-joined her own pride the next day and looked again content in her familiar surroundings. And … as we have a lot of Lions already … it was a good thing that she did not mate at this stage!
If one gets up at 6:30 in the morning a good stretch is in order.
Well, the dominant male Lion on Thanda Private Game Reserve thought so, too.
Before he started for his morning walk he got himself aligned for the day 🙂
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 