elephant – Page 22 – Christian Sperka Photography

2012-08-12

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 🙂

2012-08-052012-08-05

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.

2012-07-31

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 🙂

2012-07-30

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!

2012-07-27

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!

2012-07-23

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!

2012-07-19

Sniff!

My favorite picture from today’s game drive is of one of the younger Elephant bulls sniffing the back of Anton’s game viewer. Priceless looks on the faces of some of the volunteers 🙂

2012-07-092012-08-05

Battle at Thanda

If you ever have seen the YouTube video “Battle at Kruger” here are images of a similar scenario at Thanda Private Game Reserve.

The actors in the drama were a herd of Buffalo, a Buffalo calf, a male Lion and an Elephant bull.

CAUTION: PLEASE DO NOT SCROLL DOWN AND READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE DISTURBED BY WILD ANIMAL INTERACTION PICTURES!

WATCH THE VIDEO OF THIS ENCOUNTER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOEe5QeiKuU

It all started with the herd of Buffalo drinking at a waterhole. A young Buffalo calf had an injury above its left front leg which seem to have resulted in an infection. The calf could no longer follow the herd when they were ready to leave the waterhole.

Its cries for help attracted a male Lion who came to investigate. When he attacked the calf the Buffalo herd returned to the waterhole to defend the calf. The lion ran off.

The herd tried to leave again, but the calf – now also injured from the lion attack – could not follow. The Lion moved in again without actually making contact with the calf. This is my first picture as I arrived on the scene at this stage – the Assistant Wildlife Manager – Mariana – was already on the scene.

The herd drove the Lion off again.

And now an bull Elephant arrived at the waterhole to have a drink. He first ignored the calf now lying on the ground. At this stage I had to leave, so the following pictures are thanks to Mariana, who continued operating my camera in my absence (Excellent job – thanks!)

The lion tried to move in again, but the Elephant now drove him off. The Buffalo returned and guarded the calf for a while with the Elephant watching.

Only after all Buffalos and the Elephant had left the scene did the Lion return. He then carried away the carcass into thick bush.

The most amazing thing for me was that the small calf faced the lion and did not try to run away – a true Buffalo!

Below is a picture of the calf with its mother, which I took four days ago. At that stage the wound was visible, but the calf was still fully mobile.

A bit sad, but this is nature at work!

2012-07-052012-07-05

Jabulani, Drongo and the Sun

Jabulani, one of the large Elephant bulls on Thanda came quite close to the car today. I had positioned the car just off his path when he was walking away from a waterhole, where he had his evening drink.

I love bird photography! When I was having a bit of a rest on the porch of the Intebane Lodge (This is the place where all the volunteers stay), I took this picture of a Fork-tailed Drongo enjoying the aloe fruits. The orange on his beak is pollen from the aloe.

And another beautiful sunset in South Africa 🙂

2012-07-03

Sundowners!

Well, normally it is the Thanda guests that have some nice drinks in the bush at sunset. But today we were very lucky to see an Elephant breeding herd having their drinks at the largest waterhole on Thanda just before the sun set.

This evening’s game drive was excellent. First we saw six Elephant bulls feeding and sparring. Then two male Cheetahs made their appearance – being disturbed by the bulls – and at the end we saw the breeding herd crossing the savanna ending up at the waterhole.

What a day 🙂