After being stuck at home with online schooling for a long time this young lady enjoyed the ‘live Thanda Safari biology class’ very much, learning all about White Rhinos and their role in nature.
It is amazing what quality pictures and videos modern smart phones can produce. I often use a holding frame on a clamp mount on my vehicle to get steady videos. I love this little video ‘Elephant and Goose’ which I recorded this weekend.
Common (or Grey) Duikers are the largest of the small antelopes on Thanda Safari. The other three residents which are considered ‘small antelopes’ are Natal Red Duikers, Steenboks and Sunis. All of them are very elusive.
I call them the ‘back side antelopes’ because in most cases that is all one gets to see of them 😊
In my eight years at Thanda Safari I had never seen a Brown Hyena. But yesterday morning we were lucky. As we drove onto the savanna this specimen stared at us for a few seconds and then started running fast towards nearby thickets.
I was not fast enough to catch the staring on camera, but I got the running 😊
As promised last night here is a short video of the two Cheetah boys having a busy time analyzing all the scents left by other Cheetahs. They sound a bit out of breath for a good reason. Just before I was taking this video they were jogging for quite a while.
The snorting sound you hear at the end of the video in the background is not me 😊. It is the alarm call of some Zebras watching the Cheetah from a distance.
After over 100 days of ‘quarantine’ in a boma our Cheetah coalition was re-released onto the reserve. One of the two males had broken his leg and after the required surgery the duo had to remain in the boma for recovery.
Both cats showed a lot of energy after their release and started inspecting their territory. Scents from other Cheetahs in the area kept them very busy until after sunset. The top picture shows them in front of the same tree which was featured with another male Cheetah in this morning’s post.
Tomorrow morning I will post a short video of the two boys in their new found freedom 😊
Sometimes a bit of heights is needed to spot ones prey. This Thanda Safari male Cheetah was hunting when I caught him on camera moving in and out of a tree.
We had another enjoyable game drive this morning. Just as the sun was about to burn away the morning mist, I took this image of two Lionesses with their five cubs.
I had not seen Lions for quite a while but last night I found a single male in the western part of the reserve. It was be quite unusual that he was by himself.
He is part of a male coalition, but I assume his brother is attending to some Lionesses in estrous and inflicted some temporary social distancing rules on his brother 😊