This afternoon we followed a few of Thanda’s White Rhino on there way to a waterhole. The guest on my vehicles enjoyed watching these large creatures “filling up” before they went back to grassing on the savanna. This was a perfect ending for a game drive that started with rutting Impalas and a pride of Lions at another waterhole.
If you think that this White Rhino bull is just scraping his dung around you are mistaken. He is actually adding important information to this Rhino Communication Center, called a Midden. The same location is used by many Rhinos to place their dung and with it to place information.
A dominant bull will mark his territory and he will scrape the dung to show his dominance.
Females in the area by will leave their droppings, but they will not scrape. They leave a scent message for the dominant bull in case they are ready to mate. If that is the case he will pick up the info at his next visit and look for the lady.
Any young bull pathing through the territory will also leave his message (a distance away from the big guys’s stuff) without scraping to tell the dominant bull that he does not want to challenge him.
If another bull puts his dung on top or near the dominant bull’s droppings and scrapes them around then he declares his intention to challenge the territory holder. As soon as they meet they will fight!
So, if you see dung in the bush, it is not always just waste 🙂
With two guest from Germany – staying for 12 nights at Thanda – we planned some game drives in rather remote areas of the reserve. When we drove in a very hilly area we spotted a Black Rhino moving fast across the opposite site of a valley.
When we went off road down a slope to follow up we spotted one of Thanda’s pride of Lions lounging on the other side. We decided to lounge as well and my guests had some wine and snacks while watching the Lions. The Black Rhino had disappeared by this time into a very thick area – as they usually do. A very special game drive. Lions at sunset with a glass of red in your hands!
Fight Rhino Poaching from the Air!
ZAP-Wing is a partnership between the provincial conservation agency Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Project Rhino KZN. 24 game reserves (300,000ha) in northern KwaZulu-Natal currently benefit from daily aerial surveillance and reaction support; over 3,000 rhino are under the ZAP-Wing watch.
Thanda supports the organization and the reserve is covered by the ZAP-Wing.
Watch the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YY883N2d-Og),
check out the website (www.zapwing.org),
and support the fight for Rhinos!
This small male White Rhino calf put us in our place!
He came right up to the vehicle (which was standing below his level) and showed us his “big” horn, jumped up and down and snorted a bit. When we did not react he retreated quickly back to mum. She was undisturbed by his “manly behavior”.
They were grazing in a beautiful area surrounded by trees. A fabulous sighting for my guests.
Sorry for not blogging for a few days. I was very busy guiding and teaching photography. Now I am off work for seven days 🙂
So, I thought I share a few recent and very Thanda special sightings with you.
We spotted a small Serval on the fence to our base camp. This was my first Serval sighting at Thanda …
… our dominant male Lion got quite a fright when he almost stepped on this Puff Adder in the dark. The snake gave him a warning hiss and continued on its path …
.. and another first for me was a Secretary Bird hunting on our savanna …
… and last but not least two of my favorite Rhino images from the last two weeks. A Rhino illuminated with red light walking at moonlight and …
… a Rhino having a mud bath – pure bliss!
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 🙂
When we were looking for Rhinos in the South of Thanda Private Game Reserve we came across some very rare guests.
A few Woodland Kingfisher were displaying to one another in the Fever Trees along the Mduna River.
A little later found a female White Rhinoceros and her calf and ended the game drive with gin&tonics – enjoying a beautiful summer evening in the bush!
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!
Watching White Rhino is amazing but it is much less exciting than watching a Black Rhino in its natural environment.
This is a picture I took today on our game drive. The Black Rhino and her calf had a good look at us before she decided to retreat into the bush.
Seeing Black! What a joy!
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 