Sometimes an image is just right!
I titled this one: Give me patience …
It is one of my favourite 2014 images.
Just right!
A Thanda Sunrise! – No words needed :-)
Silly face and memorable moment!
Well, I usually try not to publish pictures of me making silly faces. But this one I have to post. While I was at a Cheetah interaction this week I tried to demonstrate to my guests how close you can get to these beautiful cats. But this Cheetah male decided I needed to be smacked for my daring. No harm done, but it was a great laugh for all the people watching.
A memorable moment with a silly face 🙂
PS: Thanks Grasie for taking this great picture – even with my silly face in it!
Imagine …
… you are sitting quietly in the bush and watching six little Lion cubs playing all around you. Well that is the experience we had on today’s evening game drive. While the adult Lions were sleeping soundly in the thick bush little ones moved about, climbed trees, stalked one another and ran around like all small kittens do.
This picture is my favourite shot from this magic encounter! The little Lion on the left got interested in the clicking of my camera and posed for a portrait.
Coming and Going!
Not everyone is a bird enthusiast. But, most guests do not only enjoy experiencing mammals but also enjoy sightings of colourful birds and large raptors. One of the most fascinating birds to watch is the Little Bee-eater. This small insect-hunter often chooses a convenient branch as its base of operation. From this single location it will repeatedly depart to and arrive from short hunts. If the observer is very lucky, he or she can even observe a “kill” :-).
The collage above is a merger of nine hand-held images of this fast flying bird. The camera was set on ten frames per second to record this sequence.
The picture below shows a Bee-Eater and a Bee!
And it is a good idea to bring binoculars, which are a great safari tool for observing small birds, as one cannot get too close before most birds get scared and leave.
Gate guards and models!
The last few days I have been working in my office. Which is not bad, but not nearly as good as being out there on game drives. Even so, staying at Thanda house has its merits, too.
This morning our two male Cheetah came for a visit and acted as gate guards for a few hours.
They also posed as models 🙂
Yesterday, a journey of Giraffes and a dazzle of Zebras was grazing in front of the gate during midday.
And the day before our Elephants had a late afternoon drinking and bathing session at the waterhole on the south side of Thanda house.
So, my time at the office got interrupted by some of my “wild friends” offering good sightings!
Golden Light!
It is my favourite time of day. When the sun goes down and the light turns golden it is the right time to take photographs.
I was working in my office this afternoon when I heard Elephants trumpeting at the waterhole near Thanda house. I grabbed a camera and sneaked outside towards the fence. The Elephants did not detect me, so I was able to take a few shots on foot before I retreated back to the house. The Thanda guests were watching on game viewing vehicles from the other side of the dam.
This is my favourite shot of this sequence 🙂
Aggression and Family Life!
What a sighting!
This afternoon the Thanda guests got a great display of Lion family life combined with signs of aggression!
When Thanda’s dominant male and his family (two adult females and six cubs) walked out onto a savanna area they were greeted by the presence of another adult male Lion.
The older female showed immediate signs of aggression towards the second male. A growling match followed. Thanda’s dominant male just observed the situation and placed himself between the second male and his pride.
They all settled on the side of a road and they remained there for a long time. While the adults had their shouting match the little ones grouped around one of the females, played a bit and had a little snooze 🙂
An exciting day for Thanda’s young Lions and for our guests!
Fine Dining – Rough Dining!
Tonight the guests at Thanda’s Villa iZulu had just finished a delicious dinner and we were still sitting around the dinner table when a high screeching sound cut into the conversation. After a few seconds of stunned silence we rushed outside onto the observation deck to see what happened.
At the small waterhole in front of Villa iZulu a pack of Hyenas had just killed an Nyala antelope bull. Illuminated by a floodlight more than ten of these strong carnivores where fighting over the kill and started having their rough dinner!
We all agreed that this was certainly one of the most fascinating and memorable dinner of our lives!
The picture shows a few of the Hyenas on the kill in front of the illuminated Villa iZulu.
One of those days!
It was a windy winter’s day with a lot of the animals hiding in the thick bush. We drove and tracked for over two hours before we found the breeding herd of Elephants. They also had decided to feed in a very dense area and we only caught occasional glimpses. When we were about to leave the sighting, to find a nice location for our drinks stop at sunset, a dozen Elephants crossed the road right in front of us. What a sighting!
It was one of those days, which needed patience for a long time and which ended with a big reward for not giving up!
The picture above shows one of the youngsters waving his trunk before it disappeared after his mum into the bush. The picture below shows the group walking past the vehicle.
