And these are the other four of the Ugly Five …
…. Warthog, Hyena, Marabou Stork and Vulture. An exclusive and pretty ugly club!
The fifth Ugly One is the Wildebeest (see blog https://sperka.info/2014/04/24/the-ugly-five/)
The Ugly Five :-)
The Big Five are very famous. But there are also the Ugly Five!
For guests it is a bit of harmless fun to guess which of the many animal species on Thanda qualify for that very special honour. The Blue Wildebeest (or Brindled Gnu) is one of the Ugly Five. In most human eyes they would certainly not qualify for a beauty contest :-). Blue Wildebeest are a very common antelope on Thanda. They are also one of the major menu items for our Lions.
Stay tuned over the next few days to meet the other four!
Happy Easter!
Frohe Ostern Feliz Pascua Joyeuses Pâques Vrolijk Pasen Buona Pasqua Felix Pascha God påske Wesołych Świąt Happy Easter Glad Påsk Maligayang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay hyvää pääsiäistä 复活节快乐 復活節快樂 부활절 축복 받으세요 สุขสันต์วันอีสเตอร์ イースター、おめでとう Phasika elithokozayo Geseënde Paasfees
From me and my special Thanda Easter Bunny 🙂
… which is actually a young Scrub Hare.
Let’s keep going!
After the fighting break (see yesterday’s blog message) the two Thanda Giraffes bulls continued their fight. We left them at it after observing the slow but intense quarrel for quite a while.
This collage shows the flexibility of their necks and the strategic positioning needed to strike a significant blow.
A fighting break!
These two adult Giraffe bulls took a short break from their rather serious fighting and stared for a while across the beautiful Thanda landscape.
As for most male animals the reason for this fight was a lady in oestrous. These two were both possible mating candidates.
When Giraffes fight they will stand very close facing the same direction. In a strategic opportune moment they will try to swing their necks like long clubs at one another’s neck. If a blow is properly targeted the ossicones (the horn-like skull-extensions on top of the head) will impact with a loud thump. Adult male giraffe are actually bold on top of ossiconses from all the sparring and fighting.
If one of them has enough of the rather vicious blows, he will move off and leave the winner to claim his price.
Tomorrow’s blog message will show some images of the fight itself. Stay tuned!
Posing!
This Water Monitor Lizard was enjoying the sun at Thanda’s largest waterhole. These intelligent reptiles are very shy and usually disappear quickly into water or high grass as soon as one approaches.
This specimen had a “trusting day” and stuck around for a lengthily photo session 🙂
New Arrivals!
What a morning.
Leaving the lodge for a drive a bit later than usual we were first looking for our dominant male Lion. He had been sighted not far away from the Thanda Safari Lodge so we thought this would make a perfect first encounter of the day.
After we had a good look at this large cat, Bheki, one of Thanda’s expert trackers, suggested to have a closer look into a nearby drainage line. He had spotted some movement as I was turning the vehicle to leave the sighting.
And trough the thick bush we saw not only one of Thanda’s North Pride females but also her very small new cubs.
Keeping a respectful distance we made our way slowly around the location where the Lioness was resting, to an open area on the opposite side. After about ten minutes of patience the Lioness decided to present her new cubs to the world.
She brought them right into the open, lay down in the middle of the small pan (facing away from us, which showed how comfortable she was with our presence).
The three youngster, which we estimate to be 1.5 month old, watched us very critically as their mother was proceeding with the morning bath for the little ones.
After they had a good look at this “huge green animal with the round legs and the many eyes” they disappeared back into the shaded shelter of the thicket.
Mum kept enjoying the morning sun as we left the scene. My guests, Bheki and I were very happy. We were the first humans to set eyes on these beautiful little cats – the three newest members of the Thanda Lion family.
An Elderly Lady!
This elderly Giraffe lady had a good look at this “noisy animal” before she decided to move off into the bush following the rest of her Journey (Journey is the proper term for a group of Giraffe).
Giraffes are one of the Thanda game drive favorites, especially for younger children, who seem to have a special place in their heart for these long-necked, gentle creatures.
The Last Bush Disco!
In the past month we played our special “music” to the Thanda Lions on numerous evenings. (Also see our blog message about two young male Lions which are to be transferred to another game reserve – BUSH DISCO ? – http://thandablog.com/2014/03/01/bush-disco/).
A few times they joined us for dinner but often nothing happened. Every time we asked Mike Toft, our veterinarian for this Lion capture operation, to be there during these call-ups, the Lions decided not to respond. A few days ago, just as the sun came up, they came out to a road and decided to take a break right in front of our vehicle. But we had to race off to a very important meeting and the vet was far away. So darting was out of the question. And as usual, when we had everything in place, they were gone.
The next day we found some fresh tracks of these Lions and as we were setting up the speakers for another call-up a giraffe ran towards us and a lion’s head popped out from behind the bushes. By the time our vet arrived they disappeared into the long grass. Luckily one of them came back and Mike managed to dart him. But he disappeared into the bushes almost immediately. Not good 😦 To be continued…
The picture shows one of the young Lions in twilight and veterinarian Mike Toft with his dart gun.
Story and picture by Mariana Venter – Thanda Wildlife Management Team
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My Space or Your Space?
We were watching a breeding herd of Elephants in a forest area when the matriarch decided to change direction and cross the road just where we were. Normally, if one drives to close to Elephants they give clear signs of displeasure and it is wise to adhere to these warnings by giving them their required space. In this case they decided to use our space (around the car) and they were not disturbed at all by our presence. Their usual need for distance was quite diminished. Everyone on our vehicle had a great time watching them pass right in front of us!
The little one on the left side of the picture took a good sniff from this strange animal in front 🙂 – I have left the antenna and the top of the dashboard in the picture to show the distance.
The picture below shows the youngster pointing his nose (trunk) and tongue at us 🙂
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 