lion – Page 28 – Christian Sperka Photography

2014-07-13

Aggression and Family Life!

What a sighting!

This afternoon the Thanda guests got a great display of Lion family life combined with signs of aggression!

When Thanda’s dominant male and his family (two adult females and six cubs) walked out onto a savanna area they were greeted by the presence of another adult male Lion.

The older female showed immediate signs of aggression towards the second male. A growling match followed. Thanda’s dominant male just observed the situation and placed himself between the second male and his pride.

They all settled on the side of a road and they remained there for a long time. While the adults had their shouting match the little ones grouped around one of the females, played a bit and had a little snooze 🙂

An exciting day for Thanda’s young Lions and for our guests!

2014-07-03

Lion Family Life – A short video :-)

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Lion Family Life!

During this morning’s drive we spotted a Lioness with her small cubs along the road. She was leading us directly to a Wildebeest kill. The Lions had taken down the antelope only a few minutes before we arrived.

We observed the two Lionesses and their six cubs (three cubs approx 1.5 month old and three cubs approx 2.5 month old) while they had their relaxed meal. The little ones were eating and playing at the same time.

The cubs’ dad, Thanda’s dominant male, had obviously eaten before. He had a full belly and just watched his family having their feast. After a while he joined them without feeding, just to play with the kids 🙂

Warren Beets – Thanda’s Reserve Manager – was with me on the vehicle and as he had the better view from his position he operated the camera from time to time – Great job!

Lion Family Life – Enjoy the pictures!

Mum and her three cubs

An anxious look

The signs of a good meal

Resting on the kill

It is all mine 🙂

Cubs (2.5 month old and 1.5 month old)

Dad watching the scene

A bloody affair

2014-05-08

28mm

Sometimes pictures tell an exciting story. So do these!

They were taken with a 28mm (wide-angle) lens and not cropped.

Our oldest North Pride Lioness had decided to walk up to our vehicle and she had first a good look at me (picture below) and then at the guests behind me (picture above). My instruction to hold still and not move was followed without any discussion :-).

As she was in touching distance I took the picture above without moving the camera and without looking through the viewfinder (hence the funny composition). Nevertheless I thought many of you might enjoy this awesome predator’s look.

If you are interested why we were not in danger during the encounter with this dangerous cat go to https://sperka.info/why/.

2014-05-01

Not only milk!

Our little Lion cubs have graduated to meat dishes 🙂

Their mum – Thanda North Pride’s oldest Lioness – had caught a Warthog for dinner. As the sun set she moved the kill into a thicket not far from one of Thanda’s main roads. And as the light fated she fetched her little ones for dinner.

The image above shows one of the youngsters with a red nose from enjoying one of its first meat meals.

The collage below shows a small Lions’ feeding frenzy, a watchful mum and another on of the cubs showing some interest in my clicking camera.

What a sighting!

And this last collage shows the young Lions two weeks ago venturing very close to the game viewer before their mum led them away into the bush.

Pictures (1-4) by Christian Sperka

Pictures (5-9) by Bheki Ngubane – Senior Tracker – Thanda Private Game Reserve

2014-04-09

New Arrivals!

What a morning.

Leaving the lodge for a drive a bit later than usual we were first looking for our dominant male Lion. He had been sighted not far away from the Thanda Safari Lodge so we thought this would make a perfect first encounter of the day.

After we had a good look at this large cat, Bheki, one of Thanda’s expert trackers, suggested to have a closer look into a nearby drainage line. He had spotted some movement as I was turning the vehicle to leave the sighting.

And trough the thick bush we saw not only one of Thanda’s North Pride females but also her very small new cubs.

Keeping a respectful distance we made our way slowly around the location where the Lioness was resting, to an open area on the opposite side. After about ten minutes of patience the Lioness decided to present her new cubs to the world.

She brought them right into the open, lay down in the middle of the small pan (facing away from us, which showed how comfortable she was with our presence).

The three youngster, which we estimate to be 1.5 month old, watched us very critically as their mother was proceeding with the morning bath for the little ones.

After they had a good look at this “huge green animal with the round legs and the many eyes” they disappeared back into the shaded shelter of the thicket.

Mum kept enjoying the morning sun as we left the scene. My guests, Bheki and I were very happy. We were the first humans to set eyes on these beautiful little cats – the three newest members of the Thanda Lion family.

2014-04-04

The Last Bush Disco!

In the past month we played our special “music” to the Thanda Lions on numerous evenings. (Also see our blog message about two young male Lions which are to be transferred to another game reserve – BUSH DISCO ? – http://thandablog.com/2014/03/01/bush-disco/).

A few times they joined us for dinner but often nothing happened. Every time we asked Mike Toft, our veterinarian for this Lion capture operation, to be there during these call-ups, the Lions decided not to respond. A few days ago, just as the sun came up, they came out to a road and decided to take a break right in front of our vehicle. But we had to race off to a very important meeting and the vet was far away. So darting was out of the question. And as usual, when we had everything in place, they were gone.

The next day we found some fresh tracks of these Lions and as we were setting up the speakers for another call-up a giraffe ran towards us and a lion’s head popped out from behind the bushes. By the time our vet arrived they disappeared into the long grass. Luckily one of them came back and Mike managed to dart him. But he disappeared into the bushes almost immediately. Not good 😦 To be continued…

The picture shows one of the young Lions in twilight and veterinarian Mike Toft with his dart gun.

Story and picture by Mariana Venter – Thanda Wildlife Management Team

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2014-03-192014-03-19

Going Vegetarian?

Hardy!

But this Thanda Lioness nibbled on grass for quite a while. That sort of behavior can mostly be observed after heavy meals, apparently to help with a full or upset stomach.

The Thanda guests were quite impressed to see this method of Lion “self medicating” 🙂

2014-03-12

With Lions in a Car and an Elephant in the Garden!

What a day 🙂

In the late afternoon I was documenting a Thanda Lion capture operation on camera.
(Check out the Thanda blog with the pictures of that operation at http://thandablog.com/2014/03/12/a-new-home-for-two-thanda-lionesses/)
Two young female Lions were to be transferred to a new home on another game reserve in Kwazulu Natal. I was taking pictures of the scene when I found myself on the back of the vehicle speeding down the road – with the two sleeping Lionesses at my feet. My first time in a car with two Lions 🙂

Later in the evening I went out for dinner with a few colleagues. When we returned back to Thanda house we heard some branch-breaking-sounds from the garden. We took a look and realized that one of our young Elephant bulls had broken right through the Thanda house fence to get to some tasty looking trees.

He kept feeding of a fever tree while we were watching him from the side of the house (25 meters/yards away). From many signs all over the garden it was obvious that he must have spent hours feeding around the house. When he had enough of our garden he decided to take a different route out and “punched” another hole into our fence.

With Lions in a Car and an Elephant in the Garden! Another day in Africa 🙂

PS: Sorry for the low-quality Elephant image, but I thought it was worth showing this gentle giant in our garden at night.

2014-03-09

Getting close :-)

If one would ask anyone who plans an African Safari what they would like to experience on their trip to the wild, most of the answers would include “getting close to the animals”.

For the Thanda guests on my vehicle that wish came true. Even more than expected!

This young Lioness was passing our vehicles in touching distance while staring at my passengers. One could hear a pin drop and breathing stopped for a little while as the predator silently went its way.

What a safari experience!