This afternoon we had some winter rain. Despite the unusual wet weather for this season the Thanda guests enjoyed great game drives with Elephant bulls, a herd of Buffalo and this young Giraffe (in Zebra company).
Center Focus!
We were the center of focus for this young male Lion when we watched him and his family feeding on a Wildebeest kill. The Thanda guests on my vehicle enjoyed the attention!
Across a valley!
This morning we spotted Thanda’s herd of Elephants in a remote area of the reserve. We watched from top of a hill as they faded in and out of the trees. After the herd had gone by Thanda’s two largest Elephant bulls were making their way across the valley.
Not only the closeup sighting can be magnificent!
Close up and personal!
Thanda guests often have fabulous Lion sightings. This morning the North Pride was resting on the savanna before continuing their walk to a near waterhole. They came close up and personal to one of our game drive vehicles. A thrilling moment for any safari guest!
Not always the five!
Sometimes your best sighting of the day is not one of the big five. Today was such a day. As beautiful and exciting as the Rhino, Buffalo and Cheetah sightings were, seeing this African Harrier Hawk flying from tree to tree and looking for nests was very special.
The Thanda guests enjoyed watching this raptor concentrating on his afternoon hunt (and almost giving some Guinea Fowls a heart attack in the process :-)).
One more way to fight …
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!
New, funny, harassed, well light and rocky!
A good morning drive on Ithala. I encountered …
… a new species (for me :-)): An antelope named Tsessebe, which I have never seen before.
… two Secretary birds with their funny walk across a burned area.
… a Tawny Eagle who was harassed by a Black-shouldered Kite.
… a well light scene at sunrise with Zebra and Wildebeest.
… and an exciting drive on a very rocky 4×4 trail.
Let’s see what the afternoon will bring!
My favorite Elephant …
I like all the wild animals on Thanda but if I had to name my favorite Elephant this is the one. His name is Thulani.
Normally I do not use individual names for wildlife, but for our two largest bulls (40-45 years old / approx 6 tons in weight) I make an exception. Thulani can be identified by his calm nature and the “slightly out of line” tusks.
The Thanda guests on my vehicle really enjoyed the recent sighting of this gentle giant.
Exciting encounter!
Thanda’s two Cheetah brothers had an exciting encounter today. When walking along Thanda’s fence line they walked into two Lionesses which gave immediate chase.
The Cheetah out-ran the Lions to the open Savanna and then were very alert for a while to make sure that the “ladies” were no longer around.
Buffalo Scenery
At the start of today’s morning game drive we found ourselves in the middle of Thanda’s herd of Cape Buffalo …
… Then we watched a herd of Elephants drinking at a waterhole and …
… at the end tracked down the North Pride of Lions (the images shows a young male at his morning cleaning routine).
Three out of five – a good morning!
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 