Tag: rhino

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The Big Five in One Drive!

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!

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Walk the Mapogo Males

You may never heard of the Mapogo Male Lion Coalition of the Sabi Sands. For years a six male coalition “ruled” the Lion prides in the Sabi Sands. Two of these (now ten year old) Lions are still alive. Today we found and walked these two legendary males. We took a direct approach in which we made sure that the Lions knew we were there. The picture above was taken during the encounter.

We approached to about 50 meters (~ 130 feet) when one of the Lions showed some sign of “dis-comfort” with our presence. We extracted slowly (and safely) from the sighting. It was one of the most exciting things I ever done in my life!

We then went back and viewed them from our game viewer.

In the last few days we completed walks 6,7,8 and 9. This makes it now 49 km (= 31 miles) and 28 hours walking in the bush during the last week. The two pictures below are sightings of White Rhino and Buffalo on foot.

PS: If you like to know more about the Trails Guiding Course go to http://www.africanaturetraining.co.za. A great experience, even if you do it for fun and not for professional reasons.

To read more about the Mapogo males go to

History of the Mighty Mapogo Male Lions – by Brett Thomson

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First Dangerous Game Encounter

Walks 2, 3, 4 and 5 – Trails Guiding Course – Africa Nature Training on Sabi Sands Game Reserve

Well, so far it was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed all the walks very much, even if I ended up very tired and with a few blisters 🙂

In the last three days we walked almost 29 km (~ 18 miles) in approximately 15 hours. We had four dangerous game encounters (1x Elephant and 3x Rhino) and saw some animals I had never seen before (e.g. Lesser Spotted Eagle and Giant Plated Lizard) or which I had never gotten close to (e.g. Dwarf Mongoose)

This afternoon I did my first walk as Backup Guide. This means carrying a rifle and being in charge of the group of walkers when the Lead Guide is busy tracking and/or dealing with a dangerous game approach/extraction. I got a good review from our trainer Andre 🙂

The picture shows the first dangerous game encounter during this course. This White Rhino female is quite the unfriendly type, so we kept our distance (around 60 meters = 150 feet). She knew something/someone was there but we extracted before she decided to follow-up!

PS: All pictures on the walks are being taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS-10. I do not carry an SLR on the walks. Also, if you like to know more about the Trails Guiding Course go to http://www.africanaturetraining.co.za. A great experience, even if you do it for fun and not for professional reasons.

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Massive, Flight and Almost!

On today’s game drive we had an encounter with the massive bulk of seven White Rhinos …

… and some Zebras took flight when we approached a waterhole.

At the end of the day two male Cheetah almost caught an Impala.

We also saw an Elephant bull and a group of Wildebeest at the waterhole.

Not a bad Monday.

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More of Mkuze …

As promised here are a few more pictures from my day at Mkuze Game Reserve.

Have a great week!

White Rhino (with mudded horn)

White Rhino

Brown-hooded Kingfisher (bathing)

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Purple-crested Turaco

Cape Turtle Dove (landing)

Blue Waxbill

Crested Barbet

 

Technical Data – for photographers 🙂

Rhino – Picture 1 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L f/4.0-500mm – 1/2000sec – f/4.5 – ISO 400 – +/-0eV – freehand

Rhino – Picture 2 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L f/2.8-300mm – 1/1250sec – f/2.8 – ISO 400 – +/-0eV – freehand

Kingfisher – Picture 3 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L 28-300mm – at 150mm – 1/2000sec – f/5.6 – ISO 800 – +0.67eV – freehand

Kingfisher – Picture 4 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L f/4.0-500mm + 1.4Ext at 700mm – 1/500sec – f/5.6 – ISO 200 – +/-0eV – freehand

Turaco – Picture 5 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L f/4.0-500mm + 1.4Ext at 700mm – 1/500sec – f/5.6 – ISO 200 – +/-0eV – freehand

Dove – Picture 6 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L f/4.0-500mm – 1/5000sec – f/4.5 – ISO 800 – -0.67eV – freehand

Waxbill – Picture 7 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L f/4.0-500mm + 1.4Ext at 700mm – 1/800sec – f/5.6 – ISO 200 – -1.00eV – freehand

Barbet – Picture 8 – Camera Canon 1D Mark IV – Lens Canon L f/4.0-500mm – 1/3200sec – f/4 – ISO 400 – -0.67eV – freehand

 

 

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Force of Nature, Rhino Spa and Purple Beauty

As I am having this weekend off I went today into Mkuze Game Reserve and spent the whole day at the hides on the reserve. I got many very good pictures and will share a few of them with you over the next few weeks (on “Slow Thanda Days” :-)).

For today I have picked three pictures.

The first is titled “Force of Nature”. Four White Rhino made their way straight to the waterhole. From the angle this picture is taken they certainly look loke a force of nature.

The second picture is of a White Rhino bull having a “Rhino Spa” mud treatment. He enjoyed himself thoroughly walling on the side of the waterhole.

The third picture is of Purple-crested Turcao, one of my favorite birds in South Africa, a “Purple-crested Beauty”.

More pictures will follow tomorrow. Have a great Sunday!

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Accidental Game Drive

On Sunday afternoon I was driving to the Bayete Camp on Phinda Private Game Reserve and I took a wrong turn on the way.

It was rather a lucky turn, because after a few hundred meters (or yards) I spotted a Black Rhino that developed some interest in my car. I got a few pictures before I turned around from my “accidental game drive” and got onto the right way to the camp.

My friends from Panthera (www.panthera.org) and Phinda (www.phinda.com) took me on a proper game drive in the evening. On that drive I took this picture with the funny Cheetah pose.

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Cold and Bliss

The morning game drive was very quiet. The cold morning air combined with wind had driven most animals into thick bush. But we had an early morning sighting of this juvenile Bateleur (Eagle). His puffed up feathers suggest that he was a bit cold!

He is at the stage where his plumage turns from the brownish colors of the juvenile bird to the black, brown and white design of the the adult. The morning drive ended with a Cheetah sighting on the savanna.

In the afternoon we saw a herd of Buffalo, White Rhinos and an Elephant Bull. This young Rhino bull was part of a crash of seven animals. I enjoyed his facial expression and his groans when he gave himself a good scratch – Pure Bliss.

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Research Volunteers

Today I drove the African Impact Research Volunteers. This group of volunteers works on various animal research projects.

We set out when the morning mist was still lying over Thanda. The morning started well when we saw two Spotted Hyenas in the Thanda hills. We then viewed two Cheetahs and ended the morning with documenting the encounter of four of Thanda’s Elephant bulls.

In the afternoon I wanted to find some White Rhinos and I found them at a small waterhole :-). The waterhole has almost dried up. In a matter of days all the water will have gone from this watering-place.

Afterwards we looked for the collared male lion (see yesterday’s blog). We were able to locate him with telemetry, but he was in very thick bush, so we could not view him. We then took sunset shots at the largest of our waterholes and on the way home we saw a small Black-backed Jackal calling at sunset.

Another beautiful day in the bush!

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Crash and Pain

Another day with a lot of beginner’s luck. I set out with my group of volunteers this afternoon and the consent was that they all wanted to see Rhinos. One of my fellow guides suggested to look in an area around a waterhole with quite thick bush.

We found some Rhino middens (piles of dung) along the roads. These usually mark the boundary of a Rhino’s territory. We drove around for about an hour and found no fresh tracks, but we were very lucky and turned around a corner to meet a crash of six White Rhinos. We watched the beautiful creatures for over an hour and followed them to the waterhole, where they had their evening drink.

After we left the sighting we ran into a herd of Buffalo. The two males in the picture were sparring. It looked quite painful!

Another hard day in Africa 🙂

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