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 🙂
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!
I do not often post two pictures of the same series (bush photo shoot :-)), but after looking through all my images from that afternoon I really liked this picture of a Lion cub, being observed by Thanda guests from a game viewer.
My next guests are arriving tomorrow afternoon, so I had a day to do some photography work by myself. Just me, my cameras and my Land Rover.
My goal for the day was to take pictures of youngsters. I was lucky to get pictures of Lion cubs and Zebra fowls.
Here are two of my favorite images of the day.
It is not always the Big Five which provide beautiful and special sightings. This Waterbuck bull was looking at us when we drove towards him on Ndlovu Highway. A rare treat.
We got many different antelope species on Thanda. Next to Waterbuck we have Impala, Wildebeest, Nyala, Kudu, Duiker, Steenbok and Reedbuck on the reserve.
… and a little special Waterbuck info: Waterbuck and Elephant are the only two large mammal species on Thanda which will not allow Oxpeckers to sit on them and feast on their ticks (see yesterday’s post: https://christiansperka.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/oxpeckers-and-buffalotail/)
The grass was bit high for one of our Lion cubs. The little one could not see properly so it decided to use the back of its uncle to get a better look what was going on.
Enjoy the weekend!
We tracked our Elephant herd for a long time when we spotted them going up a mountain. It is amazing how these huge creatures can move up a hill.
On the same game drive we found our four Lion cubs resting in a road after playing hard.
And on the way back to the lodge we had a good look at one of my favorite antelopes – female Nyalas.
Another hard day in Africa 🙂
Our young north pride male Lion participated in a Porcupine hunt. Inexperience and clumsiness resulted in two Porcupine quilts getting stuck in his mouth and chest. That hurt!
But he managed to get them out again. When we saw him two days later the quilts were gone 🙂
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!
Today I got my Land Rover properly stuck for the first time. While we were trying to get close to a pride of Lions resting in thick bush I dropped my right back wheel into the entrance of an old Warthog borrow which was filled with water (it looked like a puddle!).
So Bheki and I got to work while are guests remained on the vehicle. In close proximity to the Lions we used a high-lift-jack to lift the car out of the hole, placed two special “mud-ramps” under the wheel and drove the car out of the hole. This was a first such rescue mission for me. The guest thought the procedure was very exciting.
So for today I have chosen a Lion picture (taken today – a cub hugging an adult’s tail for comfort) and a picture of two Warthogs (taken a while ago – two males fighting).
I have no pictures of the vehicle rescue (I was otherwise engaged at the time :-))
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 