lion – Page 34 – Christian Sperka Photography

2013-02-02

Mating sounds!

How about waking up in the middle of the night and hearing the sounds of mating Lions nearby?

When we met some of our guests for morning game drive they claimed that they heard the Lions all night. We drove up the hill in front of the lodge to investigate and found our dominant male and the oldest female of the South pride less than 100 meters from the Lodge.

The Thanda guest were most impressed how close they were all night to these formidable cats.

The picture shows the male Lion with the Thanda Luxury Lodge in the background. The female was hiding a few meters away in the bushes.

2013-01-26

Lions only!

This morning’s game drive was amazing. We left the Lodge with the intention to track a herd of Buffalo. But on the way out we decided to have another quick look at our dominate male Lion and the oldest female of the South Pride (“Grandma”), who we saw the previous evening on top of hill.

When we arrived there we met eight Lions – three Sub-Adults (“Uncles” and “Aunt”) and a young Lioness (“Mum” with her two – eight month old – cubs (“Boy” and “Girl”), the Thanda Dominate Male and “Grandma”. This was the complete South pride. Over the next three hours we observed family life and family drama.

“Mum” had kept away the cubs from the rest of the pride for a long time. It was clear after a few minutes that the Thanda Dominate Male had accepted these cubs as his own, but “Mum” would not allow any of the “Uncles” and the “Aunt” near the cubs. (Note: The cubs were fathered by a male that is no longer on Thanda).

Every time one of the “Uncles” approached “Mum” became very aggressive and the Thanda Dominate Male joined her in defense of the cubs. “Grandma” sided with the three sub-adults and was also quite aggressive towards her grand-kids.

We observed “Mum” fighting for her cubs, the cubs playing, the “Aunt” climbing a tree, one of the “Uncles” mating with the “Aunt” (when the big male was not watching), all of them growling a lot at each other and the “Uncles” and “Aunt” in an attempt to hunt for Impala.

The Thanda guests on my vehicle, Behki and I have seldom enjoyed a game drive more, even so we only drove a few hundred meters during the three hours 🙂

I hope you enjoy this picture documentary!

PS: I have a included a “family chart” to make it easier to understand the relationships.

“Mum” disciplining her younger brother “Uncle 2”, who tried to get to close to her cubs.

The Thanda Dominate Male was watching the family drama from a distance.

The two cubs were playing while the adults were arguing about them!

The “Aunt” was observing the scene from a nearby tree.

Mating!

The (not successful) Impala Hunt 🙂

“Mum” getting upset again!

The Thanda South Pride.

2013-01-192013-01-19

Scorpions, Lions … and more rain!

Heavy rains and thunderstorms – again! This year is starting as wet as the last one has ended.

In the morning we showed our guests a Scorpion (in the few hours without rain). This is a picture collage of me presenting one of the large Scorpion species to our group of Swedish guests at our morning coffee stop. Bheki found this impressive specimen under a stone. After the presentation he returned “our performer” back to its stony home 🙂

On the evening game drive we were lucky to find a Lioness with her two cubs just before the skies opened and before the rains drove us back to the Tented Camp.

PS: The picture with me and the Scorpion were taken by one of our guests – Thanks a lot!

About Scorpions:

Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger. Scorpions range in size from 9 mm to 20 cm.

All known scorpion species possess venom and use it primarily to kill or paralyze their prey so that it can be eaten. In general, it is fast-acting, allowing for effective prey capture. It is also used as a defense against predators. Of the 1000+ known species of scorpion, only 25 have venom that is deadly to humans; most of those belong to the family Buthidae. However, all scorpions are able to penetrate human skin and deliver sharp, unpleasant stings, most of which usually leave redness around the stung area.

2013-01-17

Good Morning!

Our dominate male Lion was greeting us at the start of our morning game drive. He had rested on top of a hill for the night.

2013-01-11

Lions on his mind!

I do not often merge or manipulate images, but I had to play with this picture of Bheki – my Tracker – looking into a sunrise. I merged it with an image of our dominate male Lion.

We were looking for Lions at the time, so I created this collage in memory of that morning 🙂

2013-01-05

The Bush School!

On Thanda we have an old bush school (a few A-frame huts and an old wooden classroom building) which is left from the days when Thanda was farmland.

On hot days the Thanda North Pride likes to use the classroom as shelter from the sun. Here are a few images from our Lions in school.

The little ones (about 8 month old now) learn from mom that is time to stop suckling. They complained noisily.

The shaded cool concrete makes for an ideal resting surface. Especially the concrete table (on the left) is popular when is gets very hot.

So if one is on a walk, one needs to be careful to look for shelter at the school – the Lions may already be there 🙂

Have a good week!

2013-01-04

The Kill

If one watches animal programs on TV one usually sees the Lions running after the prey and then eating the animal. The struggle for food/life in between is rarely ever shown.

A few days ago my guests, Bheki and I watched such a struggle. The strength of the Zebra, the rush of adrenaline and the persistence and power of the Lions could be observed.

I was able to get one good images that documents this struggle (it all happened at night and we were using spotlights). Please do not click on this link if images of such scenes disturb you.

http://www.sperka.biz/thekill/h514dab36#h514dab36

2012-12-202012-12-20

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2013

With my best wishes for the holiday season from South Africa – Christian

PS: The picture is of one of the North Pride Lion cubs at Thanda Private Game Reserve …

.. and the reason why I have not blogged since 16 December is that my internet connection was down for a few days.

2012-12-022012-12-02

I have got an eye on you!

This young male Lion was completely “stuffed”. He had feasted on a Wildebeest and had a hard time moving. But he kept an eye on us while we were watching him in his agony.

And this young Lioness was stalking and “mock attacking” our vehicle. This was very exciting for the guest on my game viewer and I got a good picture 🙂

2012-12-012012-12-01

Too close for comfort!

The Thanda North Pride was not willing to move far of their Wildebeest kill when three White Rhinos moved through the area. The Rhinos investigated the kill while the Lions were watching closely. At one stage the Rhinos got too close for comfort and the Lions retreated (but not far :-)). One Lioness even “stalked” and “drove” the Rhinos to get them away from the kill. As soon as the large herbivores were gone the carnivores continued their meal.

I needed the wide-angle lens for most of the images, as it all happened very close to our game drive vehicle.

On the same game drive we saw a Black Rhino with their calf, newborn Helmeted Guinea fowl chicks and a Spotted Eagle Owl. What a day!