What a day – During today’s evening game drive we saw all the Big Five – Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo. The Thanda guests were delighted – and so was I 🙂
Down the Road!
When we left the Thanda Lodge this evening we spotted this Leopard walking down the road. What a start to a game drive!
PS: I will never again complain about my Leopard sightings in Kwazulu Natal. I was very lucky lately 🙂
Always carry …
… not a gun, but a point and shoot camera.
This young female Leopard was standing in the road when I drove towards the Thanda Royal Private Villa. She was curious and waited for me to get closer. She then turned around and walked in front of me for a while before she disappeared into the bush.
I was glad that I always have a point and shoot camera with me, so I got some pictures. Not the greatest quality, but it is evidence 🙂
What a sighting!
… and here is a short video of the young Leopard : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWBd7Ml9moI
Hot Walks!
The last few days were very hot and our walks in the morning and in the evening were very exhausting. We had a few animal encounters, but not as many as we hoped for. Even the animals thought is was to hot to be out and about.
During these hot days they spend their time in drainage lines and in thick bush. It is too dangerous to walk these areas so most of our encounters were around waterholes. Rhinos, Buffalo bulls and Elephant bulls.
Yesterday we got a special treat when we went on a short game drive in the middle of the day to observe two Leopards. The female was keen to mate and she tried to “engage” the young male, but he was not interested. So we had a lot of growling in long grass but no action 🙂
Here are two pictures of the Leopards and an image of a young Elephant bull feeding next to my tent.
Young males Leopard
Female Leopard
A young bull behind my tent
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 🙂
What a morning :-)
When it has rained as much as it did the last few days we cannot drive off-road for quite a while. So game viewing becomes rather more difficult, especially when looking for carnivores.
This mornings game drive was therefore a great surprise. We left the Lodge looking for Lions. About half an hour into the drive we came across a male Leopard walking down the road towards us. Luckily he took his time moving off the road.
He was followed a few minutes later by a Spotted Hyena, which did not run immediately as usual, but stayed for a “photo shoot”.
And when we stopped for our morning coffee break a dazzle of Zebra nearby did not run away as usual, but approached us quite close. Two of the males in the group started fighting which resulted in an interesting series of pictures.
What a morning 🙂 Have a good week!
Leopard Week at Thanda
It is hard to believe but I had four great Leopard sightings in one week. That is more than in the six month since I started working at Thanda.
Today’s sighting was especially good. The young Leopard in the picture above stayed around a waterhole for half an hour and then joined a second Leopard in the bush nearby.
Below are pictures of all five Leopards which featured in this week’s sightings 🙂
Enjoy your holiday weekend!
One of the Five!
Well, I had planned not to publish a “Big Five” picture for ten posts. But tonight’s Leopard sighting changed my mind.
On the way back to the lodge we had a very special night encounter. This Leopard female was a few meters (yards) of the road in the thick bush. When I moved the game viewer a bit closer she had a good look at us before she disappeared into the bush. Bheki’s excellent spotlight work made this picture possible.
I really like her alert expression in the picture!
Leopard!
Today we had an excellent Leopard sighting on Thanda. This beautiful large male was first hiding in thick bush but then decided to rest in the open. He had a few wounds which suggests that he has been in a fight recently.
On the same game drive we saw Elephants and Lions. A very productive afternoon 🙂
The Big Five in One Drive!
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!
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 