Four Drives – A Picture Diary

I drove Thanda Safari guests for the last three days. We had some great sightings and I thought I would share the most exciting sightings with you. So here they are …

It is amazing how many great sightings one can have in only four drives if the weather is right and luck is on your side!


Bloody – The Thanda Safari North Pride Lions were feeding on a Wildebeest kill!


Charge – A Black Rhino bull gave us an exciting mock charge – we had two more Black Rhino sightings!


Morning Light – Two Giraffes were posing for us in the perfect morning light.


A ‘Small Five’ – We found a large female Leopard Tortoise. She was moving into high grass to hide.


Zebras, Zebras and more Zebras – On all four game drives we saw large numbers of general game. Especially the large herds of Zebras impressed the overseas guests.


Growing fast – Thanda Safari’s youngest Elephant is growing fast – I last saw the little one a few weeks ago and he has grown visibly since then.


Naughty – Vervet Monkeys provide great sighting, as long as they are far away from our Villa, our Lodge and our Tented Camp.


A Favorite – One of the favorite sightings over the last two days were Warthogs.


Night time – On the way back to Thanda’s Villa iZulu we had to stop as this young Python was crossing the road. I got out of the game viewer and shot some close-ups.


Relaxed – These White Rhinos were far more relaxed than their ‘black cousins’


Evening Drinks – A herd of Cape Buffalo arrived at a waterhole when we got news about White Rhinos nearby – tough choice!


Many Birds – This European Roller was one of many bird sightings – from small (Blue Waxbill) to large (Common Buzzard)

… and many more sightings!

My Photography Game Viewer Project

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Since I started my job in South Africa as field guide, wildlife photographer and photography teacher I always envisioned my own – photography oriented – game viewing vehicle.

This weekend I bought a used Land Rover Defender 130 (TD5) from a friend in Durban. He – being an engineer and very handy with that sort of thing – is now working on the conversion of the vehicle into my very own photography game viewer. It will take a bit of time to change the Landi to have all the features I want and I am looking forward to start using it in January or February next year.

The vehicle will lose its roof and all the windows except the windscreen, which will be hinged to be able to lower it when driving on the reserve. It will feature two seat rows behind the driver’s (first) row for a maximum of five passengers. The second row will have three comfortable and slightly raised seats. But the really special feature is going to be the third row. It will have only two high-backed seats with lots of room in front of them. In this space photographers can slide off their seats and take pictures over the sides of the vehicle (close to eye level). It will feature special canvas-covered mats on the vehicle floor for comfortable shooting positions and custom made bean-bags will be provided for the ideal camera placement.

There will be spotlight sockets in all rows as well as on the specially fitted tracker seat up-front. Behind the third row a storage compartment will have room for all necessary game drive gear. Each of the two photographer’s seats in the back will also have a turn-able and height-adjustable bean bag support. An Apple iPad will be available in each row (with many special applications available to the guests including Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, eGuide to African Mammals, a TrackID application and a map of Thanda).

I am looking forward to using the Landi for my own photography work, for teaching wildlife photography and to drive photography enthusiasts and professional photographers on Thanda Safari.

PS: I am searching for a snappy name for my new photography Landi. Please let me know if you have a good idea!

Girl!

Well the correct answer is that adult female Elephants have more angular foreheads than adult males. The young female in my last post shows this feature unusually clear for her age 🙂 – see https://sperka.info/2016/12/02/boy-or-girl/

Today’s picture shows an young adult male and a female. Observe the difference!

Have a good start into the new week!

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Just over the fence …

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What do you see when you look out your window past your garden fence?

Well, for me most of the time it is the beautiful scenery, a nearby waterhole and often general game, like Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeest …

But sometimes I see a cat strolling by …

This week it was a Lioness on her way to get a drink at the waterhole. I jumped into my car, drove around to the waterhole and got a few shots of her having a drink 🙂

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EYES!

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It has been years since I have created my EYES series of carnivore portraits. I love the strong expressions, especially in the feline eyes, when the color is removed from the rest of the images.

I am currently working on a new selection and this is one of my favorites so far.

Enjoy this Lion King, King of Lions!

Green, green , green …

Green everywhere! I had almost forgotten how beautiful Thanda looks when it turns green after some decent rain falls. Since the start of this rainy season we had over 150 mm rain and in just a few days the reserve has turned from brown&grey to green.

Even the behavior of many animals has changed almost over night. Where during the drought they had to spent most of their day to find food and water, they now have extra time to chase one another and be just idle once in a while.

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Art Project Thanda – South Africa 2016

An inspiring week!
An exhausting week!
An interesting week!
An unforgettable week!

Since I have arrived in South Africa four-and-a-half years ago I spent my time exploring and photographing the bush and its wild animals, I was guiding and teaching many Thanda guests about the environment and about photography, I have developed websites and worked on social media. None of that had prepared me for the last week.

Twenty well known artists from the Americas and Europe stayed at Thanda Safari to create art work to benefit the Star For Life organization (http://www.starforlife.org/). I was part of the team to host these creative guests. I spent my week responding to their needs and request, I set up a photo studio in the middle of the bush, I helped the photographers among them to get the right setups and I spent many hours photographing Colette Lumiere, a multimedia artist from New York, in her various installations. And I also took pictures during the event which will become part of a book about the project. What an experience! I will never forget it.

All the work created will be auctioned at the end of next year at Stockholms Auktionsverk (http://artprojectthanda.com/) to benefit Star For Life.

These are a few pictures from this very special week! Enjoy them!

#artprojectthanda

Art Project Thanda @ Intibane
Art Project Thanda @ Intibane
The Grand Atelier @ Intibane
The Grand Atelier @ Intibane
Johan Falkman taking portraits of Zulu dancers at the Intibane photo studio
Johan Falkman taking portraits of Zulu dancers at the Intibane photo studio
Star For Life students showing their dreams through drama to the artists
Star For Life students showing their dreams through drama to the artists
Students at a Star For Life school were performing for the artists
Students at a Star For Life school were performing for the artists
Johan Falkman creating a group portrait
Johan Falkman creating a group portrait
Agustin Gonzalez working on a painting
Agustin Gonzalez working on a painting
Ike Ude taking Star For Life school students images at the Intibane photo studio
Ike Ude taking Star For Life school students images at the Intibane photo studio
Leslie Sardinias explaining his work to four interested Star For Life school students
Leslie Sardinias explaining his work to four interested Star For Life school students
Camilla Thulin showing her beautiful creation - 'Zulu Queen' gown and robe
Camilla Thulin showing her beautiful creation – ‘Zulu Queen’ gown and robe
USA and Swedish artists were working together on large pieces of art
USA and Swedish artists were working together on large pieces of art
Chrissie Hansson was videoing Elisabeth de Jesus Espinosa working
Chrissie Hansson was videoing Elisabeth de Jesus Espinosa working
A young Zulu model in front of the group portrait which he is part of
A young Zulu model in front of the group portrait which he is part of
Korakrit Arunanondchai taking video of a burn as part of his installation art
Korakrit Arunanondchai taking video of a burn as part of his installation art
Leslie Sardinias working on his painting
Leslie Sardinias working on his painting
Colette Lumiere in her installation 'Le tresors de L'afrique' in one of the Intibane chalets - artists viewing the installation - Colette posing with a Zulu warrior
Colette Lumiere in her installation ‘Le tresors de L’afrique’ in one of the Intibane chalets – artists viewing the installation – Colette posing with a Zulu warrior in front of the chalet

It has been a while …

You have not heard from me for a while. But tonight is the first time in the last two weeks that I have had a bit of time to myself to write a blog message. And that will probably be the last one until early November as we are hosting a big art project at Thanda Safari and I will be in the thick of it!

So here are a few of my favorite wildlife images from the last two weeks. I hope you will enjoy them!

PS: I am happy to report that we had over 30mm rain in the last few days. Let’s hope more is on the way …

Giraffe in the morning light - during a photo shoot with a photographer for a German magazine
Giraffe in the morning light – during a photo shoot with a photographer for a German magazine
Morning after heavy rains - everything is wet - including the Lions ...
Morning after heavy rains – everything is wet – including the Lions … (taken with an iPhone 6 Plus)
The smallest calf I have seen in a long time. Sightings like this give hope ...
The smallest calf I have seen in a long time. Sightings like this give hope …
Chasing Giraffe after heavy rain in hope that they would stumble and fall - no luck this time - but a good show ...
Chasing Giraffe after heavy rain in the hope that they would stumble and fall – no luck this time – but a good show …
Let's push that one over and then feed on it for about two minutes ... typical young Elephant bull.
Let’s push that one over and then feed on it for about two minutes … typical young Elephant bull.
Smacking their lips after a drink of milk ...
Smacking their lips after a drink of milk …
Six beautiful Kudu bulls - all at once and quite relaxed - a very rare sighting ...
Six beautiful Kudu bulls – all at once and quite relaxed – a very rare sighting …