While I was filing images which I have taken over the last few weeks I came across this picture of an Elephant Bull fight.
I remember that we were quite close to these two young bulls when they started sparring. Ignoring us completely they impressed the Thanda guests on my vehicle with their strength and fighting skills.
This young Elephant bull was testing the strength of my Land Rover and of Bheki’s tracker seat. After a slight shake to the car he decided that this was a “strong thing” and he moved off quietly and continued feeding.
… and this is one of the reasons why our trackers do not stay in their seat when we are viewing Elephants 🙂
When his little sister (she is only a few weeks old) was crossing the road she was giving us a good “Elephant head shake of displeasure” before quickly joining her mother on the other side of the road.
The Elephant moms just watched the displays tolerantly without any signs of agitation.
The Thanda guests enjoyed the “Shaken by Elephant” experiences.
From this angle the difference between a mature (40-45 year old) Elephant bull and a young bull in his teens becomes clear. Two of Thanda’s magnificent Elephants presented themselves during one of today’s game drive.
Thanda’s breeding herd of Elephant was crossing the savanna to get to a waterhole to drink and bath. These are a few black and white images I took at this beautiful sighting.
We tracked our Elephant herd for a long time when we spotted them going up a mountain. It is amazing how these huge creatures can move up a hill.
On the same game drive we found our four Lion cubs resting in a road after playing hard.
And on the way back to the lodge we had a good look at one of my favorite antelopes – female Nyalas.
Another hard day in Africa 🙂
After two weeks of rain, wind and cold we had some great drives in the last few days.
During the bad weather it was very difficult to find animals. They all were hiding in the thick bush from heavy rains, very strong winds and many thunderstorms.
But this morning we got rewarded for our hard work and patience. When we left the lodge we spotted a Leopard just as we left (he did not stick around, but we got a good look). Then we met our dominate male Lion on to of a hill. We tracked our Buffalo herd and just as we left them we saw two White Rhinos (mother and daughter) in an open area. Before we headed back to the lodge we went to the area where we saw the breeding herd of Elephants last. We did not find them but we found one of our oldest Elephant bulls. After observing him for a while we turned back to the lodge.
We also saw Giraffe, Zebra, Impala, Nyala, Kudu, Waterbuck and Wildebeest.
It seemed that all the animals wanted to make an appearance after the long absence from the Safari stage 🙂
PS: All pictures above were taken today!
Today we had a very nice sighting of our breeding herd of Elephants. They were walking up a hill in front of us. I took these pictures of two young bulls at the end of the herd having a bit of a fight (sparring would be a better word).
Have a good week 🙂
When I left Thanda House today to drive over to Base Camp I hit a bit of traffic. But my delay was not caused by other cars but by our herd of Elephants. And just as I stopped the car and got my camera out – never leave home without it 🙂 – our youngest herd member crossed the road. He got a bit excited and I could confirm that we got a little boy!
Today I put together my Thanda sighting report. I had a total of 183 major/special game sightings since I arrived at Thanda in June.
Here are the detailed numbers 🙂
42 x Lions / 40 x Elephants / 34 x Cheetah / 32 x Buffalo / 23 x White Rhino / 3 x Spotted Hyena / 2 x Leopard / 1 x Black Rhino / 1 x African Wild Dog /5 x Others (Jackal, Python, Puff Adder, Vultures)
And here are three of my favorite pictures from this week …
… our Elephant herd moving away from me. Please note the little one (2 weeks old) in between!
… two Zebras biting one another “lovingly”
… one of the Cheetah brothers walking close to my camera (on the savanna)
These are two pictures of our “Thanda Youngster” enjoying a drink. The mums patiently provide the milk.
The Elephant calf is two weeks old and the Lion cubs are about three month old.
Have a good week 🙂
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 