thought a nice title for this picture would be “No more”.
It appears that this young male Lion was hiding his eyes from the world, when in fact he was flicking away some flies from his nose.
I also caught this beautiful Giraffe pose in front of the setting sun.
Have a good week!
No blog yesterday!
I was very busy all day and we had a bush dinner which lasted until late in the evening. So I went straight to bed with no blogging 🙂
This weekend I will be helping out in the Lodge driving guests for tonight and tomorrow. Another bush dinner and another late night!
This morning a did a short drive with two 11-year-old kids, the daughter of one of the Thanda managers and one of her friends. We enjoyed our drive with Buffalos, general game and many birds. The two youngster especially enjoyed the rough ride of the Land Rover through some drainage lines :-).
Quite a few people have asked me about my workplace. So here is a picture of my Land Rover “cockpit” with my cameras, binoculars, GPS navigation system, bean bags and my accessory box between the seats. There is also room for my little notebook in which I take down all important sightings of each game drive.
Jabulani, one of the large Elephant bulls on Thanda came quite close to the car today. I had positioned the car just off his path when he was walking away from a waterhole, where he had his evening drink.
I love bird photography! When I was having a bit of a rest on the porch of the Intebane Lodge (This is the place where all the volunteers stay), I took this picture of a Fork-tailed Drongo enjoying the aloe fruits. The orange on his beak is pollen from the aloe.
And another beautiful sunset in South Africa 🙂
Another day with a lot of beginner’s luck. I set out with my group of volunteers this afternoon and the consent was that they all wanted to see Rhinos. One of my fellow guides suggested to look in an area around a waterhole with quite thick bush.
We found some Rhino middens (piles of dung) along the roads. These usually mark the boundary of a Rhino’s territory. We drove around for about an hour and found no fresh tracks, but we were very lucky and turned around a corner to meet a crash of six White Rhinos. We watched the beautiful creatures for over an hour and followed them to the waterhole, where they had their evening drink.
After we left the sighting we ran into a herd of Buffalo. The two males in the picture were sparring. It looked quite painful!
Another hard day in Africa 🙂
Well, normally it is the Thanda guests that have some nice drinks in the bush at sunset. But today we were very lucky to see an Elephant breeding herd having their drinks at the largest waterhole on Thanda just before the sun set.
This evening’s game drive was excellent. First we saw six Elephant bulls feeding and sparring. Then two male Cheetahs made their appearance – being disturbed by the bulls – and at the end we saw the breeding herd crossing the savanna ending up at the waterhole.
What a day 🙂
I tried to find Elephants today, but I was not successful (= bush frustration :-). In the evening we found tracks and knew in which block they were, but they did not emerge before we had to leave (as all light was gone).
For my picture collection it was a good day. I added a new bird to my bird list and my picture library. It is of a Common (Greater) Scimitarbill, a beautiful bird with fluorescent colors.
I spent my Sunday in one of the many Kwazulu Natal Parks. Mkuze Game Reserve is one of the smaller parks well known for its birds (It’s entrance is only 40 minutes from Thanda).
I had a look at all hides at the waterholes and at the large dam on the reserve. I got pictures of many bird species and also a lot of pictures of general game (e.g. Wildebeest, Zebra, Impala, Nyala and Warthogs).
The bird I chose for this blog message is a Pied Kingfisher. This bird hovers over the water until it sees its prey (fish) and then dives into the water.
The mammal picture I chose for this message is of a yawning (laughing 🙂 Zebra.
Have a good week!
I thought I would have nothing to post today, but I was wrong.
When I left this morning at 6:45am to drive to Richards Bay I met a very unexpected scene. A Spotted Hyena was chasing a small Black-backed Jackal into a thicket next to the road. By the time I had my camera out they were gone 😦
I see this little scavenger regularly along the fence line, which I have to drive along to get from Thanda House to the gate of the reserve. The picture above is from one of these encounters.
Enjoy your Sunday!
This afternoon I was sitting next to a waterhole when this Fork-tailed Drongo was taking a bath.
Have a good weekend!
PS: There will be no post tomorrow as I have to go into town for shopping 🙂
This evening we went up to a outlook on the newest Thanda section. This land is owned by the King of the Zulus, HM Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, and is now managed by Thanda. It is planned to drop the fences between the original Thanda reserve and this new land soon. Today, the photography volunteers did their sunset shooting assignment from this beautiful viewpoint.
Quite a few people have asked me about the volunteer program and the lodge.
African Impact runs various volunteer programs on the reserve. I am currently working as Thanda guide for the photography program. If you would like to know more about these programs go to http://www.africanimpact.com/volunteer-projects/projects/african-wildlife-photography-and-conservation-south-africa/overview .
If you like to know more about the Thanda Lodge and the Thanda Tented Camp go to http://www.thanda.com/. I am also teaching wildlife photography to guests at the lodge and the tented camp upon request.
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 