This picture shows the Thanda Elephant herd crossing a road in front of two game drive vehicles.
In the summer time when the vegetation is very dense it takes excellent tracking skills and also a bit of luck to view these magnificent creatures in the open.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY to all my friends near and far!
If you would like to send a Valentine’s Day e-card with one of my images and make a donation to Panthera at the same time go to http://www.panthera.org/ecards
PS: All the donated money goes 100% to projects to protect the World’s Wild Cats.
If you think that only members of the human race make funny faces when attending to a little itch then have a look at our dominant male Lion.
He was scratching his left front leg with his left back paw. Judging by his funny face the procedure was quite successful.
The Thanda guests on my vehicle enjoyed the moment 🙂
PS: We had to wait for a long time for him to get up. He was sleeping for a long time in the grass. He even collected some spider webs in the process!
This male Giraffe was looking for a shady spot in the middle of the day. A Marula Tree on top of one of Thanda’s hill was just the right place. And with a view, too 🙂
It may sound funny, but to take a good picture of a Scrub Hare in the wild is more challenging than to photograph a lion. Scrub Hares are quite common around Thanda, but it is very rare to get them in front of the lens (unless on the road blinded by headlights :-).
This little one was very relaxed and the Thanda guests on my game viewer enjoyed this special sighting. We also saw Lions and Rhinos during the game drive, so the Hare was in good company!
The sun was just setting when we found some of our South Pride Lions playing in a tree on top of a ridge. The Thanda guest on game drive enjoyed this most beautiful sighting until the light was gone completely and the Lions had left the tree and rested in the grass next to the road.
Have a good week!
This little Cape Buffalo calf obviously does.
Mud baths are used by many mammals to help them to cool down in Summer, protect them from the sun and deter insects from being too friendly 🙂
This little bull was looking for his mum, hence the puzzled expression on his face. He found her very soon after I took this picture.
Have a good weekend.
Mother and son in a lengthy morning cleaning session. Lions are the only gregarious cats. They really enjoy being close to each other 🙂
These two Lions are part of the Thanda South Pride.
Some of you may have seen my EYES series images. I enjoy creating these pictures by removing the colors from all parts of the image except from the eyes.
Over the next few month I will try to create a few more EYES images and place them into my web-gallery (www.sperka.biz/eyes)
To start with, a little quiz: To what animal belong these eyes?
Yesterday I spent a few hours at Mkuze Game Reserve. My main aim was to get some good bird pictures. The day was not as productive as a Winter’s day at Mkuze but I got some images of Pelicans, Bee-eaters, a Sparrowhawk, an Ibis and a small Crocodile. Not bad for a hot morning!
Especially during the Winter month Mkuze is one of the best birding places in Kwazulu Natal. It is only 45 minutes from Thanda and always worth-while an excursion.
Pink-backed Pelican
Black Sparrowhawk
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
Hadeda Ibis
Nile Crocodile
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 