Category: lion

Today was a very exciting day at Thanda Safari. The Lion leadership changed with the arrival of two new dominant males from a game reserve in the Eastern Cape.

I photographed the arrival of these two beautiful and large cats, which replace Thanda’s current dominant Lion. He is moving to a new home in another Big Five Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal.

This change ensures that the Lion genes at Thanda remain strong.

The two four-year-old brothers will stay in a boma (enclosed area) for a while so they can get used to their new surroundings.

Left: Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 640 | 1/2000sec | f6.3 | ev-0.5 | 24mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 90% of original image

Right Top: Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 3200 | 1/750sec | ev+0 | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 10% of original image

Right Bottom: Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 2000 | 1/500sec | ev+0 | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 10% of original image

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All the common ‘rule books’ for Lions talk about well-formed prides ruled by single males or coalitions of males.

Our Thanda Safari Lions have not read these books. The dominant male roams between multiple prides and often chooses to have quiet time by himself.

And our pride structures are quite loose, especially when various females have litters of cubs of different ages.

Females give birth secluded and then, on many occasions, choose not to join their original pride again but to raise the young ones by themselves.

So keeping track of all groups of Lions is not an easy task, but a very interesting one.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 25600 | 1/20sec | f6.3 | ev-3 | 240mm | WB 6500K-edited | AV Mode | Crop to 30% of original image | Note: This picture was taken last night using the light provided by a spotlight from another vehicle. Side-light works very well for night portraits | Limited image quality did to distance and low light

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

On my way home last night, I encountered two Lionesses. They were inspecting all the various game on a open savanna with great interest. From their appearance, I could tell that their stomachs were quite empty, so I concluded that they were actually hunting.

From their shaded position upwind, they must have been quite invisible to the Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeest, Nyalas, and Impalas. On occasion, some of them looked straight towards the two cats but did not see them.

I stayed with them for about ninety minutes until the sun had set.

Unfortunately, their patience was not rewarded that evening. As they approached a Zebra very carefully, a nearby Nyala bull spotted them and gave an alarm call. All the prey animals immediately retreated to a safe distance, and the Lionesses moved on to try somewhere else.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 800 | 1/500sec | f6.3 | ev+0 | 240mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 60% of original image

If you want to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/

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

When a pride of lions has many juvenile members, the experienced Lionesses often leave them for a while to attempt hunting on their own.

Especially young male Lions regularly “mess up” a hunt by being too obvious and/or too clumsy.

In this picture, a Lioness returned to the pride from such an unsuccessful outing, and all the youngsters ran enthusiastically to greet her.

A moment after this image was taken, they complained (moaned) to mum about being hungry.

And a few minutes after that, a dazzle of Zebras walked by, and the whole pride (8 lions) tried to catch one of them, again with no success.

As it got very warm at the time, they all decided to settle down in the shade of a tree and try their luck again in the evening.

A great experience for the guests on my vehicle!

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 1250 | 1/3000 sec | f6.3 | EV +0 | 150mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Cropped to 25% of the original image

If you would like to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://www.sperka.com

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

When I sent this picture (which I took this evening on my way home) to a friend, he responded with ‘this is Photoshop, isn’t it’.

Well, the answer is that it is not! Our dominant male lion raised his head from sleeping just as the sun had set. I was in the right place at the right time!

This picture was taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max and was edited with the standard iPhone tools.

Here are the steps taken:

1 – The picture was first cropped to 9:16 (portrait).

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Crop, Pre-Sets, 9:16, Portrait, Zoom In, Done.

2 – Then the shadows were brightened as much as possible.

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Adjust, Shadows, +100, Done.

3 – A slight vignette (darken the ‘frame’) was then added.

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Adjust, Vignette, +10(black), Fine.

I have also posted the original image so you can see the difference to the edited version.

Technical data: Apple 14 Pro Max | Main Camera 24mm | ISO 64 | 1/350sec | f1.8 | ev+0 | 48mm

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

Two weeks ago, I wrote about our largest pride of Lions (called Zanele’s Pride). I described the energy with which the seven youngsters of the group trained for their adult life hunting skills.

When I met the group again a few days ago, they lounged comfortably at Thanda House dam near my home.

As I approached the waterhole, all nine Lions raised their heads, and I was able to get a frontal portrait shot of each of them.

It is astonishing that all of the young ones now look very much like adult Lions. Here is a bit of a quiz question:

Can you identify Zanele (15 years old) in this collage?

I give you a little hint: Look at the noses!

[The answer will be in my next post.]

If you would like to like to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/

Young Lions have a large amount of energy. They play hard and then crash hard.

Their sparring is good training for stalking and attacking behavior for hunting in their adult life. It also readies them or future serious fights with other adult Lions.

Male lions are sexually mature at about 2 years of age and are fully grown at 4. Competition for the ‘Dominant-Male-Job’ is very harsh, and only one out of ten young males ever accomplishes this ultimate goal before being killed. The life expectancy of a male who makes it to full adulthood is ~12 years.

Females usually have their first litter between 2 and 4 years and live up to ~16 years.

Last Friday, the two young females in these pictures enjoyed a sunny day after a lot of rain, playing very hard on the savanna. They and their five siblings were constantly stalking each other and fending off various attacks. It was very exciting to watch, and we stayed for a long time.

The pride we observed is led by a 15-year-old lioness. We refer to her family as “Zanele’s pride”. She has four youngsters who are 24 months old.

The other adult female of the pride – Zanele’s adult daughter – is three and a quarter years old, and her three cubs are now 17 months.

Technical data for all three images: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 2500 | 1/2000sec | ev-0.5 | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Drive mode: Continuous fast

If you would like to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you might want to visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/