Today I saw our newborn Elephant calf for the first time (born last week). It was difficult to get any pictures of the little one, because the cows surrounded it at all times.
Green!
I have promised to post some pictures of Thanda after the recent rains.
These three pictures of Giraffes on the savanna, a White Rhino on a grassy hill top and an Elephant bull in between Fever trees show Thanda animals in their “new juicy” environment.
Have a good weekend!
PS: If you are wondering why most of the Giraffe stare in the same direction. They were watching two Cheetah males lying under a tree :-).
Large and Small
This morning we had two visitors in the camp. A breeding herd of Elephant and a Chameleon.
The herd walked around the camp and then they took dust baths on the road nearby.
The Flap-necked Chameleon spent its time sunning next to the road.
Enjoy the pictures!
Crossing fast!
I usually do not post more than once a day, but I had such a great game drive tonight, that I wanted to share one of my favorite pictures with you.
The drive started with two male Cheetahs greeting us on the savanna, then two Elephant bulls made their appearance and had a good meal on some acacias. And while we were watching them the breeding herd crossed the savanna very quickly (Elephants with young ones do not like to be in the open). We then viewed a Lioness sleeping while Wildebeest were feeding near by. And on the way home we viewed a herd of Buffalo resting near a waterhole.
What an afternoon!
Bath Time!
Sorry that there were no blog posts on Friday and Saturday, but I drove all weekend with guests at the Lodge and had no time to blog.
One of the main reasons for not blogging was that, when I was on my way home just before noon on Saturday (to work on some pictures …), the breeding herd of Elephants crossed the Savanna just behind me. They were on their way to our largest waterhole. So I spend the next 1.5 hours there.
After arrival they not only drank, but they swam, sparred and mud-bathed.
It was incredible to see how the females took care of the youngsters and how our oldest bull made sure that no other mature bull (or any Land Rover :-)) came to close to “his family” while they were enjoying themselves in the water.
They young bulls in the group were sparring quite a bit …
… and once the breeding herd had moved of the mature bulls took a mud-bath. Especially the “old guy” enjoyed himself once everyone else had left.
I also recorded some video footage. A YouTube video will be published soon.
Enjoy the pictures and have a good week!
PS: Besides me a herd of Buffalo, a journey of Giraffe and a group of Wildebeest were watching the scene and waited for their turn to drink. The Elephants would not tolerate anyone else near the waterhole during their bath and the old bull made me re-locate a few times before he accepted my presence and I could shoot in peace 🙂
Battle at Thanda – YouTube Video
A lot of people have asked me if they were more images of the Battle at Thanda.
(Blog message from 9 July 2012 https://christiansperka.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/battle-at-thanda/).
Here is link to a YouTube Video with video footage and with more images of the interaction:
CAUTION: PLEASE DO NOT PLAY THE VIDEO IF YOU ARE DISTURBED BY WILD ANIMAL INTERACTION VIDEOS AND PICTURES!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOEe5QeiKuU
Thanks to Mariana Venter for letting me use the video footage and some of the images she took at the encounter.
A Game Drive in Pictures!
This is the picture story of today’s evening game drive.
After leaving the camp we first encountered Giraffes with Oxpeckers on them.
We moved on to view a large group of Zebra.
Then we spotted an Elephant bull while we were looking for …
… the herd of Buffalo. The volunteers on my vehicle were most impressed when we were surrounded by one of the “Big Five”.
And while we were viewing the Buffalo we heard about a Cheetah sighting at a waterhole nearby.
After the Cheetah left we stayed until the sun was gone to take a few beautiful pictures of the sunset over the dam.
Another hard day in Africa 🙂
I am big!
This small Elephant tried to impress us on today’s game drive. He behaved exactly like an adult bull, but in his case the gestures were rather comical than intimidating.
Enjoy the pictures!
Forest Work – Elephant Style
At the end of a very quiet morning game drive we watched this Elephant bull doing a bit of forest work. He knocked over the Acacia tree to get to its roots, which in the winter time hold most of the tree nutrients.
Have a good weekend!
Breakdown and Musth!
As one of the car mechanics put it, my Land Rover finally broke down and is in the “Intensive Care Unit” 🙂
But, I still went on game drive this afternoon with another car. This vehicle can only drive on roads, because it go a roof!
But we were lucky. We ran into an Elephant bull (in musth, but still pretty relaxed), into a White Rhino and also saw the Buffalo herd. The wet back legs (from dribbling urine) and the secretion from the glands on the side of his head are clear signs that the Elephant bull is in musth.
So the new group of volunteers – which arrived today – had a good first drive.
Let’s hope I get my car back tomorrow night in time for my drive on Wednesday morning!
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 