Category: lion

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/

When I moved from posting wildlife images to posting reels, many of my followers asked me to bring back my picture posts. And I did. I must confess, I really enjoy posting my images accompanied by facts about the ‘models’.

Now, I have also received a few requests to continue posting videos/reels.

So, let’s do both!

Occasionally, I will post short videos/reels when I come across interesting situations to capture.

Let’s start today with this morning’s short clip of Thanda’s dominant male lion moving past my vehicle and admiring my camera hand! Switch on the sound!

Technical data video: Apple 14 Pro Max | Main Camera 24mm

Technical data picture: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 3200 | 1/500sec | ev+0 | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 45% of original image

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

Mating is a very exhausting business for Lions. Once a female in estrous has found a suitable male they will stay together and mate in intervals of 20 to 30 minutes over 3 to 5 days.

During that period they usually do not eat, and only drink if they get an easy opportunity.

The female sleeps in between the copulations, but the male gets much less rest. He is on constant watch to be ready once the Lioness wakes up for the next session.

After waking up she will usually start walking away from him for a short distance before condoning to his advances. The male will often rub along her side or bite her tail.

At the end of the mating period the intervals between mating will get longer and longer before they part company and go their separate ways. (Note: In my 11 years at Thanda I have observed that the male Lion only spends very limited time with his prides and therefore usually goes his own way after mating).

These pictures, taken in very low light after sunset, documenting such a session.

Technical data pictures: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 102400 | WB 6500K | 1/500sec | f 6.3 | Various focal length

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

This collage illustrates why animal tracking is such a very specialised skill. The bottom pictures of this collage shows a Lion track on the side of the road (Toes on the right, foot pad on the left).

Unless one has experience and the aptitude for reading tracks one would never interpret this faint print on the ground as that of a Lion. I am not very good at this, but my tracker Bheki Ngubane can spot these tracks from a moving vehicle!

The picture on top shows the corresponding underside of the back foot of a Lioness. The track shown in the bottom picture was created by her walking just before she lay down to rest.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f11/800mm | ISO 6400 | 1/60sec | ev+0 | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 50% of original image

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

Don’t be fooled. Even if a Lion is sleeping with its eyes closed it can go to high alert within seconds. If it hears a suspicious sound or gets a whiff of an unexpected smell it will be ready on its feet with open (very round) eyes right away.

Lions can sleep soundly with a game viewing vehicle and a group of chattering humans parked next to them (which they are used to and which is of no interest to them). But if a small branch is broken or a foot is set on gravel they will react immediately as this could mean a possible meal or some threat.

Technical data: Canon R6 with EF lens f2.8/300mm | ISO 2000 | 1/500sec | f2.8 | ev+0 | 300mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 25% of original image

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

Lions are not very squeamish when it comes to their food. Even days old carcasses will not deter them from filling their stomachs. Their average meat intake per day is between 5kg (11lbs) and 7kg (15.5lbs). But as they usually only eat every few days, they will consume much more in one go. A large male can ingest over 40kg (88lbs) in one sitting.

Last Sunday this young male ‘took over’ a Cape Buffalo carcass which was attacked and killed by the pride at the edge of a waterhole and died in the water. It was rather comical to observe this huge cat avoiding the water as he was trying to get to the meat (like most cats, Lions do not like water very much).

At the end he and all the other members of his pride (nine Lions) had to step into the water to get to the meat inside the body of the Buffalo. His ‘island approach’ did not work!

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 3200 | 1/500sec | f6.3 | ev+/-0 | 140mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 50% of original image

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

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

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