The Thanda North Pride stopped for a morning drink at a small dam on the savanna area. The cubs are now almost a year old and their aunts and uncles almost two, but all of them were very playful this morning. A great sighting!
Romeo and Juliet
The guests on my vehicle thought it was a bit like Romeo and Juliet, the Montgues and the Capulets.
One of our Lionesses had split away from the pride and was obviously looking for a mate. But the perfectly good dominant male Lion provided by the Thanda management was not of her choosing!
She had an eye on one of the male Lions on the neighboring property. After she roared for a while he came to the fence and then walked up and down with her for a while.
But, as in the Shakespeare play, “a happy end” was not possible and after a while both of them went their own way.
Our Lioness re-joined her own pride the next day and looked again content in her familiar surroundings. And … as we have a lot of Lions already … it was a good thing that she did not mate at this stage!
A good stretch!
If one gets up at 6:30 in the morning a good stretch is in order.
Well, the dominant male Lion on Thanda Private Game Reserve thought so, too.
Before he started for his morning walk he got himself aligned for the day 🙂
Ears!
I love the back-light ears on this little Baboon!
Pride Rock
Thanda’s Lions have their own pride rock 🙂
In the late afternoon two Thanda North Pride youngsters were overlooking the northern part of Thanda with the Lebombo Mountains in the background.
We often stop at this beautiful spot with our guests for a drink stop at dusk. Needless to say on this day we went to an alternate location 🙂
Have a good weekend!
Rare Sightings!
Sorry for not blogging for a few days. I was very busy guiding and teaching photography. Now I am off work for seven days 🙂
So, I thought I share a few recent and very Thanda special sightings with you.
We spotted a small Serval on the fence to our base camp. This was my first Serval sighting at Thanda …
… our dominant male Lion got quite a fright when he almost stepped on this Puff Adder in the dark. The snake gave him a warning hiss and continued on its path …
.. and another first for me was a Secretary Bird hunting on our savanna …
… and last but not least two of my favorite Rhino images from the last two weeks. A Rhino illuminated with red light walking at moonlight and …
… a Rhino having a mud bath – pure bliss!
Big Five in One Drive !
What a day – During today’s evening game drive we saw all the Big Five – Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo. The Thanda guests were delighted – and so was I 🙂
ET?
It might look like something from a science fiction movie, but is a small insect, a Praying Mantis.
This specimen took a ride on my vehicle for over 20 minutes. The Thanda guests enjoyed taking pictures of this little “alien” 🙂
PS: If you are male Praying Mantis you live very dangerously – see below!
About Praying Mantis:
Mantodea (or mantises, mantes) is an order of insects that contains over 2,400 valid species in 15 families worldwide. The English common name for any species in the order is “Praying Mantis”, because of the typical “prayer-like” posture with folded fore-limbs.
Sexual cannibalism is common among mantises in captivity, and may also be observed in the field. The female may begin feeding by biting off the male’s head, and if mating has begun, the male’s movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm. The male engages the female in courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating.
Convinced!
I am convinced!
With all the input from many snake experts around the world I have changed the story 🙂
“When we were on the way to pick up our Thanda guests for the afternoon game drive we ran into these two Black Mambas. The two males were fighting for mating rights with a female in the midday sun on one of the main roads at Thanda. Both of them were so engaged in their actions that they were completely oblivious of us. What a sighting!”
For more images of this encounter go to https://christiansperka.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/mating-mambas/
A Funny One :-)
As I shot over 200 images of the two Mambas I took four shot of this Locust quietly crossing the road while the two fast and venous predators were engaged in their “mating games”.
I thought this was funny! Have a good week!
The “Mating Mamba” blog message: https://christiansperka.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/mating-mambas/
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 