No big story – just one of my favorite pictures – Thanda’s dominant male Lion watching a helicopter!
2 Month Old
During yesterday morning’s game drive we spotted the newest additions to the Thanda South Pride of Lions (seen for the first time, ever). The mother must have introduced the two cubs (+/- 2 month old) very recently to the Pride. The two youngster were very shy at their first vehicle encounter and went into thick bush to wait for the ‘large unknown animal’ to disappear. I was able to take two images before they moved off. Very soon they will get used to the vehicles, observing their mum’s reaction – or lack thereof – to our game viewers. I am sure there will be great sightings to come!
Four Drives – A Picture Diary
I drove Thanda Safari guests for the last three days. We had some great sightings and I thought I would share the most exciting sightings with you. So here they are …
It is amazing how many great sightings one can have in only four drives if the weather is right and luck is on your side!
Bloody – The Thanda Safari North Pride Lions were feeding on a Wildebeest kill!
Charge – A Black Rhino bull gave us an exciting mock charge – we had two more Black Rhino sightings!
Morning Light – Two Giraffes were posing for us in the perfect morning light.
A ‘Small Five’ – We found a large female Leopard Tortoise. She was moving into high grass to hide.
Zebras, Zebras and more Zebras – On all four game drives we saw large numbers of general game. Especially the large herds of Zebras impressed the overseas guests.
Growing fast – Thanda Safari’s youngest Elephant is growing fast – I last saw the little one a few weeks ago and he has grown visibly since then.
Naughty – Vervet Monkeys provide great sighting, as long as they are far away from our Villa, our Lodge and our Tented Camp.
A Favorite – One of the favorite sightings over the last two days were Warthogs.
Night time – On the way back to Thanda’s Villa iZulu we had to stop as this young Python was crossing the road. I got out of the game viewer and shot some close-ups.
Relaxed – These White Rhinos were far more relaxed than their ‘black cousins’
Evening Drinks – A herd of Cape Buffalo arrived at a waterhole when we got news about White Rhinos nearby – tough choice!
Many Birds – This European Roller was one of many bird sightings – from small (Blue Waxbill) to large (Common Buzzard)
… and many more sightings!
Girl!
Well the correct answer is that adult female Elephants have more angular foreheads than adult males. The young female in my last post shows this feature unusually clear for her age 🙂 – see https://sperka.info/2016/12/02/boy-or-girl/
Today’s picture shows an young adult male and a female. Observe the difference!
Have a good start into the new week!
Just over the fence …
What do you see when you look out your window past your garden fence?
Well, for me most of the time it is the beautiful scenery, a nearby waterhole and often general game, like Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeest …
But sometimes I see a cat strolling by …
This week it was a Lioness on her way to get a drink at the waterhole. I jumped into my car, drove around to the waterhole and got a few shots of her having a drink 🙂
Green, green , green …
Green everywhere! I had almost forgotten how beautiful Thanda looks when it turns green after some decent rain falls. Since the start of this rainy season we had over 150 mm rain and in just a few days the reserve has turned from brown&grey to green.
Even the behavior of many animals has changed almost over night. Where during the drought they had to spent most of their day to find food and water, they now have extra time to chase one another and be just idle once in a while.
Art Project Thanda – South Africa 2016
An inspiring week!
An exhausting week!
An interesting week!
An unforgettable week!
Since I have arrived in South Africa four-and-a-half years ago I spent my time exploring and photographing the bush and its wild animals, I was guiding and teaching many Thanda guests about the environment and about photography, I have developed websites and worked on social media. None of that had prepared me for the last week.
Twenty well known artists from the Americas and Europe stayed at Thanda Safari to create art work to benefit the Star For Life organization (http://www.starforlife.org/). I was part of the team to host these creative guests. I spent my week responding to their needs and request, I set up a photo studio in the middle of the bush, I helped the photographers among them to get the right setups and I spent many hours photographing Colette Lumiere, a multimedia artist from New York, in her various installations. And I also took pictures during the event which will become part of a book about the project. What an experience! I will never forget it.
All the work created will be auctioned at the end of next year at Stockholms Auktionsverk (http://artprojectthanda.com/) to benefit Star For Life.
These are a few pictures from this very special week! Enjoy them!
#artprojectthanda
It has been a while …
You have not heard from me for a while. But tonight is the first time in the last two weeks that I have had a bit of time to myself to write a blog message. And that will probably be the last one until early November as we are hosting a big art project at Thanda Safari and I will be in the thick of it!
So here are a few of my favorite wildlife images from the last two weeks. I hope you will enjoy them!
PS: I am happy to report that we had over 30mm rain in the last few days. Let’s hope more is on the way …
A bone cud, a cuddle and a drink
A Giraffe family with a little calf, only a few days old 🙂 [mum is chewing a bone for calcium intake – dad is rubbing his face on mum’s throught and rump – baby is having a drink!
What a week!
Last weekend I was very busy in the office and teaching photography at Thanda. On Monday I went to Pongola to get my car serviced and for a short visit to Pakamisa. On Tuesday and Wednesday I ran errands in Durban where a met a very cute puppy dog. Yesterday and today I played again catch-up in the office.
But, I still got a bit of photography done. At Pakamisa I took some pictures of Isabella working with one of her horses and at the Thanda House Waterhole (next to my home) I got some good pictures of Elephants, of Giraffes and of a young Lioness. I also shot some good-bye pictures of our young male Lion, who will leave the reserve soon for a new home. And in between I posted one of my favorite Leopard shots (taken in 2006) on Facebook.
So, here is my week in pictures. Enjoy them and the weekend 🙂
PS: As a bonus I added a short Thanda Elephants video – four times the regular speed!
Watching Giraffes …
Watching out for Lions … (for the biders: there is a Wahlberg’s Eagle in the tree!)
Well hidden …
Leaving Thanda for a new home soon …
Having a bath …
… and a good scratch …
Isabella working with Joaquino …
An excited Pakamisa mare …
… and one of my favorite Leopard pictures taken in 2006 …
… and a cute little puppy I met in Umhlanga (Durban)!
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 