Category: lion

Taking pictures on eye-level is one of the most important components of many good (wildlife) photos. And even after over 20 years of taking Lion pictures, facing a large cat in that fashion is still very exciting.

Last night Thanda Safari’s dominant male appeared at the right place and at the right time for me to get this shot. He was patrolling his territory, stopping occasionally to roar and assert his position.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 1000 | 1/500sec | f6.3 | ev+0 | 240mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 25% of original image

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Male Lions are often described as lazy pashas living in cozy comfort, while their females do all the hunting work. That is very far from the truth.

For the first two to three years of his live a young male is looked after very well by his pride. But once he hits puberty and is ready to mate his dad does no longer like him and will kill him unless the youngster runs away. He now has to try to survive by himself.

Only one out of ten male Lion ever makes it to full adulthood. That one survivor will be a strong animal and ultimately kill an older dominant male and take over his territory and his prides. From that moment to the end of his life he will fight other males who want to displace him, until one of them succeeds. A very hard life!

This picture shows a young male at the edge of puberty.

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f2.8/70-200mm | ISO 1600 | 1/350sec | f2.8 | ev+0 | 200mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 25% of original image

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

Lions, as most large carnivores, spend most of their time resting. They can afford to do this as they are consuming ‘high-energy food’ (meat eaten very quickly after a kill). In contrast all the large herbivores (eg Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalos, Giraffes) must spend most of their time ingesting their ‘low-energy food’ (plant material like grasses and trees).

So Lions may sleep up to 20 hours per day whereas Elephants will sleep as little as 2 hours in the same time frame. Have a good -lazy- weekend!

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f2.8/300mm | ISO 2500 | 1/500sec | f2.8 | ev+0 | 300mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 40% of original image

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

Yesterday morning Thanda Safari’s dominant male Lion appeared on top of a hill and settled down on a rocky – recently burned- area. He had a full belly and did not move away from this location for the remainder of the day.

Contrary to most people’s beliefs a dominant male is usually not part of only one pride (family). He is the master of a territory in which there can be multiple prides. A large part of his time this very powerful cat is spending patrolling his area and vocalizing (roaring) to announce his presence to the neighboring males and any possible intruders into his territory. Each roar also serves as ‘a locator’ in case a female Lion requires his services and wants to find him.

And as they are often spending a lot of time away from their ladies, adults males are quite capable of hunting for their own meals. But if they are with a pride then the females provide the dinners.

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f4.0/500mm | ISO 500 | 1/500sec | f4 | ev-0.5 | 500mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 15% of original image | shot taken using a beanbag from a vehicle across a valley

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

As most cats, African Lions have very sharp and retractable claws (Five on each front paw and four on each back paw). These 18 most formidable weapons are up to 38mm (1.5″) in length.

And as most other cats they are very at good climbing up trees but they are rather bad getting down again. Their sharp claws support their ascent, but they are facing the wrong direction when descending head first. Unfortunately the Lions have never learned how come down backwards!

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f2.8/70-200mm | ISO 1000 | 1/2000sec | f2.8 | ev+0 | 165mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 20% of original image | handheld on eye-level

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

Disney’s cartoon character slept 24 hours a days. Our Lions manage almost as much. If they have a full belly from a good meal they can easily sleep up to 20 hours per day.

Like most carnivores (meat eaters) they are able to ingest huge amounts of meat very quickly. A male Lion can eat around 40kg (~90lbs) of meat from one kill. With such a full stomach they rest and only get up to drink lots of water and urinate/dedicate as needed.

But one should not be fooled. Their sleep is not deep and if anything disturbs them they are up in seconds, ready to defend themselves, run away, or kill a prey animal if it ventures too close to them.

This picture shows a young Thanda Safari male Lion resting on a recently burned area with the new grass sprouting after the recent rains.

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f2.8/70-200mm | ISO 800 | 1/500sec | f2.8 | ev+0 | 150mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 80% of original image | hand-held on eye level

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

… means ‘the one who rules’ in isiZulu. Thanda Safari’s dominant male Lion ‘rules’ all the prides on the reserve. Well, at least as far as the leading ladies let him.

I took this picture last Tuesday as he was tracking the Intibane Pride on the western part of the reserve. But one thing is certain: He is a handsome chap!

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f4.0/500mm | ISO 200 | 1/500sec | f4 | ev0 | 500mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 40% of original image

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

A young Lion enjoying some spare ribs!

Last night we watched one of Thanda Safari’s pride of Lions resting next to this Nyala carcass. All nine cats had very full bellies, so we assumed there was at least one more kill near by. A single Nyala would not have provided enough meat to fill them all up.

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f2.8/300mm | ISO 100 | 1/750sec | f4 | ev0 | 300mm | WB 6500K | Crop to 40% of original image

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

At 4:30 this morning I woke up to an incredible loud Lion‘s roar, obviously just front of my home.

Not to miss the opportunity to record this incredible noise I grabbed my iPhone and rushed to my car as I was (in Pyjamas☺️).

And our dominant male delivered! I captured what I think is my best Lion roar sound recording since I came to Africa. The first 30 seconds of this video were recorded long before sunrise with the Lion hiding in high grass (I used a still picture of the morning sky with the video).

Once he got moving I followed him for the next two hours, recording two more roars. But none was as good as the first one in the dark.

‚Hearing cat‘s night noises in the front yard’ has a totally different meaning when you live in the bush. I love it!

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography