Fill up, get cool and move on!

Imagine you are an Elephant Bull living at Tembe Elephant Park.

It is midday and you are due for a service 🙂 You move to the largest of the
waterholes …

… and fill up with fresh water while some human tourist watch you
drinking…

… you meet a few of your pals, some of them friendly and some of them are ready for a fight…

… you finish your drink and do a little light sparring…

… you move on to the “cool down” mud bath. Some big shots are in front of you so you have to wait your turn…

… what a great feeling to cool down in the heat of the day …

… you chase a Wildebeest around a bit – just for fun …

… and have a little dust shower…

… and now it is time you move back into the bush to continue your on-going
meal (about 350kg per day).

🙂

Today I have observed this scenario 14 times at Tembe Elephant Park. All 14 bulls adhered to the same procedure – creatures of habit!

Have a good weekend!

2013-04-03

Great Tuskers

In 2008 I was for the first time at Tembe National Elephant Park (This picture was taken then).

Tembe is know for some of the greatest tuskers in Africa (=Elephants with very long tusks). I will be spending the next two days at this reserve and I hope I get to see some of these “teeth giants” 🙂

2013-04-02

Symbols of Africa!

For me these are two true symbols for the African bush: Giraffe and Fever Tree! The Thanda guests on my vehicle enjoyed this beautiful scene in the morning sun.

The Fever Tree (Acacia xanthophloea) is a species of Acacia native to eastern and southern Africa. The trees grow to a height of 15–25 m. The characteristic bark is smooth, powdery and greenish-yellow in color It is one of the few trees where photosynthesis takes place in the bark. Fever trees are fast-growing and short-lived.

2013-03-31

Prickly Pear

This youngster of Thanda’s herd of Elephant was trying to use his trunk to get a fruit of the Prickly Pear, but he did not succeed.

We watched the little one for quite a while as he was trying to imitate his mum and his older sibling.

A beautiful sighting in the morning sun!

2013-03-30

Down the Road!

When we left the Thanda Lodge this evening we spotted this Leopard walking down the road. What a start to a game drive!

PS: I will never again complain about my Leopard sightings in Kwazulu Natal. I was very lucky lately 🙂

2013-03-262013-03-26

Always carry …

… not a gun, but a point and shoot camera.

This young female Leopard was standing in the road when I drove towards the Thanda Royal Private Villa. She was curious and waited for me to get closer. She then turned around and walked in front of me for a while before she disappeared into the bush.

I was glad that I always have a point and shoot camera with me, so I got some pictures. Not the greatest quality, but it is evidence 🙂

What a sighting!

… and here is a short video of the young Leopard : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWBd7Ml9moI

2013-03-23

Welcome home!

The Thanda guests on today’s evening game drive were a bit intimidated and very impressed, but really loved the encounter with one of our two 40-45 year old Elephant bulls.

He gave me a few head shakes as a greeting after my absence on a trails guiding course. What a welcome!

2013-03-23

Heavy Mating and Fishing!

While I was in the Lowveld for my training course I spent a few hours at Lake Panic in the Kruger National Park.

Besides many good bird shots I took a series of pictures of mating Hippos. Because of their size/weight they mate in the water. For most of the mating time one sees only the male but in the quite lengthy process the female occasionally surfaces to get some air.

My favorite lake panic bird picture is of a Malachite Kingfisher returning from fishing. I also got images of a Brown-hooded Kingfisher, a Woodland Kingfisher and a Pied Kingfisher. A good Kingfisher day!

On the way to Lake Panic I passed the Sabi River. This Elephant bull almost disappeared in the high grass along the river bank.

I enjoyed the Sabi Sands, Kruger and Lake Panic!

… and I am back home at Thanda 🙂 …

2013-03-19

Hot Walks!

The last few days were very hot and our walks in the morning and in the evening were very exhausting. We had a few animal encounters, but not as many as we hoped for. Even the animals thought is was to hot to be out and about.

During these hot days they spend their time in drainage lines and in thick bush. It is too dangerous to walk these areas so most of our encounters were around waterholes. Rhinos, Buffalo bulls and Elephant bulls.

Yesterday we got a special treat when we went on a short game drive in the middle of the day to observe two Leopards. The female was keen to mate and she tried to “engage” the young male, but he was not interested. So we had a lot of growling in long grass but no action 🙂

Here are two pictures of the Leopards and an image of a young Elephant bull feeding next to my tent.

Young males Leopard

Female Leopard

A young bull behind my tent

2013-03-16

Lion’s View

If you ever wondered what a Lion sees from a shady spot under a tree. Here is one possible answer: A group of Humans walking by :-)…….. I am sure that we walk quite often through the high grass and do not even know who spots us.

On our walks over the last two days we saw a few Cape Buffalo and an Elephant bull.

When I arrived at the camp two days ago this Bull was greeting me with a good head shake.