Fill up, get cool and move on!

Imagine you are an Elephant Bull living at Tembe Elephant Park.

It is midday and you are due for a service 🙂 You move to the largest of the
waterholes …

… and fill up with fresh water while some human tourist watch you
drinking…

… you meet a few of your pals, some of them friendly and some of them are ready for a fight…

… you finish your drink and do a little light sparring…

… you move on to the “cool down” mud bath. Some big shots are in front of you so you have to wait your turn…

… what a great feeling to cool down in the heat of the day …

… you chase a Wildebeest around a bit – just for fun …

… and have a little dust shower…

… and now it is time you move back into the bush to continue your on-going
meal (about 350kg per day).

🙂

Today I have observed this scenario 14 times at Tembe Elephant Park. All 14 bulls adhered to the same procedure – creatures of habit!

Have a good weekend!

2013-04-03

Great Tuskers

In 2008 I was for the first time at Tembe National Elephant Park (This picture was taken then).

Tembe is know for some of the greatest tuskers in Africa (=Elephants with very long tusks). I will be spending the next two days at this reserve and I hope I get to see some of these “teeth giants” 🙂

2013-03-31

Prickly Pear

This youngster of Thanda’s herd of Elephant was trying to use his trunk to get a fruit of the Prickly Pear, but he did not succeed.

We watched the little one for quite a while as he was trying to imitate his mum and his older sibling.

A beautiful sighting in the morning sun!

2013-03-23

Welcome home!

The Thanda guests on today’s evening game drive were a bit intimidated and very impressed, but really loved the encounter with one of our two 40-45 year old Elephant bulls.

He gave me a few head shakes as a greeting after my absence on a trails guiding course. What a welcome!

2013-03-23

Heavy Mating and Fishing!

While I was in the Lowveld for my training course I spent a few hours at Lake Panic in the Kruger National Park.

Besides many good bird shots I took a series of pictures of mating Hippos. Because of their size/weight they mate in the water. For most of the mating time one sees only the male but in the quite lengthy process the female occasionally surfaces to get some air.

My favorite lake panic bird picture is of a Malachite Kingfisher returning from fishing. I also got images of a Brown-hooded Kingfisher, a Woodland Kingfisher and a Pied Kingfisher. A good Kingfisher day!

On the way to Lake Panic I passed the Sabi River. This Elephant bull almost disappeared in the high grass along the river bank.

I enjoyed the Sabi Sands, Kruger and Lake Panic!

… and I am back home at Thanda 🙂 …

2013-03-16

Lion’s View

If you ever wondered what a Lion sees from a shady spot under a tree. Here is one possible answer: A group of Humans walking by :-)…….. I am sure that we walk quite often through the high grass and do not even know who spots us.

On our walks over the last two days we saw a few Cape Buffalo and an Elephant bull.

When I arrived at the camp two days ago this Bull was greeting me with a good head shake.

2013-03-05

Unusual Sightings

On the last day of our work cycle we had some unusual sightings. The Thanda guests on today’s morning game drive enjoyed a Spotted Hyena crossing the savanna in full daylight (a very rare occurrence).

We caught a glimpse of a young Leopard before it retreated into very thick bush and …

… we ended the game drive with an unusual view of the Elephant herd on the side of a hill, on which we cannot drive with our vehicles.

We also saw Cheetahs, a White Rhino, Giraffes and a Yellow-billed Kite on the same drive. A great morning!

After a very long work cycle (26 instead of 21 days) I will now be off for eight days before I leave for another “Trails Guiding Contact Session Course” with African Nature Training – ANT (www.africanaturetraining.co.za) in the Sabi Sands. I will return to Thanda on 24 March.

There will be fewer blogs during this time, but look out for the unusual ones 🙂

2013-02-27

Morning Drink Stop

We had a great game drive this morning. After tracking for less than half an hour we found the breeding herd of Elephants feeding in thick bush. We watched them crossing the road in front of us and thought they might go to drink at a nearby waterhole.

And we were right. The whole herd was having a drink. The first picture shows the Thanda matriarch (she has no tusks) with another adult cow, one older calf and the two youngest members of the herd.

The next picture shows one of our oldest bulls drinking (he is currently in musth as indicated by the back legs wet from dribbling urine and the running glands on his head).

The third picture shows him on the opposite side of the waterhole (I prefer this distance for a musth bull 🙂

The herd is very protective of their young. In the last picture you can see on of the little ones “disappearing” between the females.

We finished off this Thanda morning game drive with coffee and cookies in the bush!

2013-02-26

And the answer is … Elephant!

The answer to the question about the “hill climbing” Praying Mantis is African Elephant.

All answers to the original blog message were correct: (https://christiansperka.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/valley-and-hill/)

Have a good week!

2013-02-212013-02-21

I am big and you better leave!

On today’s game drive I had positioned my vehicle parallel to the path which the Thanda breeding herd of Elephant took across an open Fever Tree area.

This young bull did not like my parking spot and displayed his displeasure with various “Big Elephant Warning Signs”. When he realized that I did not move and that non of the adult Elephants came to his aid he shock his head one last time and moved on with the herd.

The Thanda guests enjoyed the “I am a big Elephant” show 🙂