THANDA – Page 83 – Christian Sperka Photography

2014-12-15

Rosettes, Horns and a Gorgeous Bird!

Two amazing days at Thanda! Even our most frequent safari guests were very impressed when we had Leopard and Black Rhino sightings two days in a row.

After last night’s exciting encounters with a young Leopard and three relaxed Black Rhinos (a bit of a contradiction in terms :-)), we spotted a big Leopard male early this morning and then found a quite nervous Black Rhino bull (being nervous is more standard Black Rhino behavior).

But the most exciting sighting for our guests was a Gorgeous Bush Shrike. This very colorful bird is often heard, but seldom seen (especially in good photographic condition). So after six years in which our guests were tracking this species in many different places around South Africa, yesterday Bheki and I were able to show them this beautiful creature (and we even got some decent pictures).

PS: I should mention that during their two-nights stay our guests also saw Lions, Elephants, White Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Cheetah, Black-Backed Jackal, Giraffe, Zebra, Kudu, Nyala, Impala, Wildebeest, Warthog and many different bird species.

Young Male Leopard

Nervous Black Rhino Bull

2014-12-02

Modern Zulu – Traditional Zulu – more images …

I promised some more images from my recent photo shoot [ttp://sperka.info/2014/11/29/modern-zulu-traditional-zulu].

Here they are (these versions are in sepia, which I think works very well for such images).

2014-11-29

Modern Zulu – Traditional Zulu

Today I had the opportunity to do a rather special photo shoot. A group of young Zulu dancers from one of the local communities is performing regularly for the Thanda guests. This afternoon I got the chance to take some pictures of the group in daylight, as they normally only perform in the evenings around a camp fire (with not very good light for photography).

But I was not only taking pictures of them dancing in their traditional attire, but I also took portraits and group shots in their modern day-to-day outfits. Nowadays, as in many other cultures, traditional Zulu dress is only used on special occasions and festivities.

I really like these two portraits of this young dancer, one as a modern Zulu and one in traditional attire. Stay tuned for more images from this photo shoot …

2014-11-28

Afternoon Guests

This week, when sitting in my office, I had two repeat guests at Thanda house. On various occasions the breeding herd of Elephants came to drink at the waterhole and Thulani, one of our two large and old Elephants bulls, made his way from the water along the the fence around our garden. And a pair of Striped Kingfishers made their home in our garden. Both birds get very excited about their reflection in my office windows and they knock at them regularly. These good looking little birds are very territorial and obviously not too bright 🙂

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Watch her!

It is not easy to get prey and predator into the same picture, unless on occasions when one is eating the other :-).

But on this evening a Thanda North Pride Lioness was resting on a waterhole wall as a Giraffe female kept an eye on her; both in the right position for a great photo opportunity. After a while the Lioness walked off in one direction and the Giraffe the opposite way.

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Diffusion

I do not really like to work at night with artificial light. But sometimes this sort of light creates a very special mood. Using a diffusing filter on Bheki’s strong spotlight I was able to take a portrait of this Lion cub. The soft widely spread light through the filter is not too hard on the young eyes and we only use it for a few moments during the photo shoot. The rest of the time we use a red-light filter.

This night photo-session was part of two game drives of wildlife photography lessons. At Thanda it is possible to book a “Photography Private Safari Vehicle” which includes me as the wildlife photography instructor. My student on this evening game drive enjoyed her night-light lesson very much!

2014-10-22

When a camera meets a Hyena :-)

We had made up this little project to try and capture some small night creatures with my camera trap. We selected the location carefully and installed the camera high enough not to attract Hyenas.

At least that was what we thought 🙂

This collage shows the camera before its meeting with some Hyena teeth. Then the last pictures it ever took, and finally the electronic rubbish it is now after the Hyena had a go at it.

Lesson to be learned – no more camera traps without steel casing!

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A Rainbow over the Lebombo Mountains, a Road Block and two Freezing Cheetah!

As it happens during this time of the year strong winds frequently follow heavy rains. On our afternoon game drive we first encountered a beautiful rainbow over the Lebombo mountains, then we met with Thanda’s breeding herd of Elephants.

One of our largest bulls gave an excellent demonstration on “how to create a perfect road block”, right in front of the vehicle.

Last but not least Bheki – one of Thanda’s most experienced Zulu tracker – found the two Cheetah brothers on the open savannah. They were huddling together in the freezing wind.

Not a bad drive for a very windy day!

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No camera :-) :-(

What an evening.

As I drove up to the Lodge on Friday evening – for a meeting – a Leopard appeared around a corner in front of my vehicle and calmly walked up the road for about ten minutes, illuminated by my headlights, before settling down next to my car in the bushes.

On the way home an Aardvark crossed the road in front of me and stayed for about five minutes on the road, just sniffing around.

Now that was the good part of the evening, the bad part was that I had no camera with me. A beginner’s mistake!

But I will never forget these sightings, especially my first Aardvark on Thanda.

These two images are of similar sightings a few years ago (with camera :-))

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Just cows? Not so much ….

Sometimes safari guests think that a Cape Buffalo is just another type of cow. Far from it. These stocky herd animals can turn from fairly docile bovines into very dangerous opponents within seconds.

When threatened a herd will form a “battle array” with the large males up front, the younger males on the sides and the females and calves behind. In that formation they can even stand down a pride of Lions. For Humans on foot they can be one of the most dangerous encounters in the bush. There position as one of the Big Five is therefore fully justified.

This picture shows the Thanda Buffalo herd leaving a waterholes.

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

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