lion – Page 29 – Christian Sperka Photography

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!

2014-03-05

New cubs!

It was the first time I saw the new Lion cubs of the oldest Thanda South Pride female. The mum of the two youngsters is quite shy and likes thick bush. Bheki and I were on our way to take some pictures on the Thanda Mduna Royal Reserve. As we approached the fence line to this new part of Thanda we spotted the female with her two new cubs and the their two older brothers.

I got a few shots of some of the family members before they disappeared into a drainage line. This is my favorite images from this fast photo shoot 🙂

2014-03-01

Bush Disco?

This is a story from the Thanda Wildlife department I just posted on Thanda’s blog. I am sure you, the reader’s of my blog, will enjoy it as well!

Far from it – Enjoy this story from the Thanda Wildlife department 🙂

Relocating Lions

Every now and again we have to say goodbye to some of our animals on Thanda. Not because we want to, but because we have to in order to manage the reserve properly.

Currently we have two beautiful, two and half-year old male Lions. They have decided to join up with their mom and her two new cubs. In order to prevent inbreeding and fighting with the much bigger older males, we will have to move them to a new home. A game reserve nearby, whose male lion was caught in a snare, is looking for a replacement. A good match!

Well that was the easy part… Unfortunately you don’t just walk up to a lion and ask him to please climb into the vehicle for a ride to his new home. So we bought 2 HUGE speakers and an amplifier which we will take out into the bush and use it to play the sound of a distressed animal from a recording, which should attract these two elusive boys.

We will have bait tied to a tree to make it irresistible for them to stick around. This way the vet can dart them once they start eating.

Sounds like fun, right? Well attempt number one brought us a Hyena after playing “distress sounds” for three hours and we eventually decided to pack up for the day. So this is what we’re going to do for many nights so to catch these lions for their big move. Wish us luck!

Mariana Venter – Thanda Wildlife Operations

The image above on the left shows John and Mariana from Thanda Wildlife Operations “playing to the Lions”. The image above on the right shows one of two young males.

The image below shows mum and her two boys – They are also hard to catch on camera as they are quite shy 🙂

2014-02-22

With all senses!

If you shut your eyes and hold your ears closed you can experience a Lion’s roar through the stomach 🙂

When – at sunrise this morning – Thanda’s dominant male started roaring only a few meters from our game drive vehicle all conversation stopped and everyone on the vehicle held their breath until the call was completed. This was not a beginner’s roar, but the territorial call of a dominant male. One does not have to hear it, one can feel it.

I have included a small sound bite of the roar – click on either of the images to hear the Lion. But it is only a poor representation of the amazing feeling when experiencing such a Lion’s roar with all ones senses.

What a morning!

2014-02-18

Black & White

I do not often create black & white versions of my pictures. But when I came across this image of a young Lioness lounging in a tree I thought this would look good in b&w. And I like it!

The young lady surprised many Thanda guests when she presented herself just outside the Thanda Tented Camp during check-out time. A great good-bye for our guests.

2014-02-11

A Lion Portrait

This is my favorite of all the Lion images I took in January. When I was editing my January pictures I came across this portrait of one of the Thanda North Pride Lionesses.

2014-02-04

Location, Location …

As we were watching a male and a female Lion at a Waterhole they both got up and started walking between two game drive vehicles. In front of the astonished Thanda guests they started mating. A common procedure in a not so common place. I was about 2 meters (10 feet) from the Lions when I took the picture – In the right place at the right time 🙂

What an evening!

2014-01-122014-01-12

Stalking!

This young Lioness was stalking prey – using one of the game viewing vehicles as cover. An exciting and unforgettable moment for the Thanda guests on the Land Rover!

2014-01-05

Hunter or hunted?

We had some great sightings this morning – First a herd of Buffalo enjoying themselves at a Waterhole, then four Lions trying to hunt some Buffalo and finally three White Rhino enjoying the sun after a mud bath. The guests on my vehicle were especially impressed with the Lion-Buffalo interaction. It was not always clear who was the hunter, and who the hunted? The Lions gave up at the end and the Buffalo moved on.

At one time we could see all three “Big Five” species from one spot : looking to the left > the Lions / looking straight on > the Buffalo / looking to the right > the Rhinos. The three landscape images below were taken without moving the vehicle!