When I was driving on the reserve today I saw my first lion since I started working at Thanda. The young lioness was sleeping on top of an old cattle loading station. I thought she was dreaming of cattle 🙂
I also got a beautiful shot of a Brown-hooded Kingfisher. (see below)
Enjoy the pictures!
Quite a few of you have asked me if all the pictures I am publishing on my blog are available for purchase. The answer is yes. I have created a new gallery on my website: Thanda 2012 – Direct link: http://www.sperka.biz/thanda
It may sometimes take a few day (after the blog has been published), before the images will appear on the gallery.
If you live in the USA or in Europe you can order prints and other products directly online. They will be produced locally and sent directly to you (So you do not have to pay shipping cost from South Africa :-))
Next to the new Thanda 2012 gallery there are thousands of other animal images available on my site – http://www.sperka.biz
Feel free to contact me if you cannot find your favorite image or a specific species and I will make it available to you.
PS: Today I was again in Richards Bay and I did not take any animal pictures, so I have uploaded a picture I took last year in July on Thanda (Two young male Lions). Enjoy the image!
Today to got my Land Rover Defender assigned to me, my real “open air office”. Thanda 3 is not a new Landi, but he has a lot of character 🙂
I took him for the first drive this afternoon (to start learning the roads) and I ran into a large group of Giraffe. Looking at the picture above it is no wonder that a group of Giraffe is called a Journey of Giraffe.
The two pictures below are of one of Giraffe in the evening sun and Thanda3 in front of Thanda House.
Enjoy the pictures!
When I returned this afternoon from Richards Bay, a city about 1.5 hours away from Thanda, a troop of Vervet Monkeys greeted me at Thanda House. One of them kept alarm-calling. He obviously did not trust me 🙂
A short while later a herd of Buffalo moved from East to West along the fence. When I got a bit closer to get some pictures they all focused on me for while and then lost interest and kept grasing and moving.
Tommorrow I will get my game viewing vehicle and I will start driving on the reserve learning the roads (and probably getting lost a few times in the process :-).
Good night!
I took this picture of a Brown-hooded Kingfisher while I was sitting at the desk in my new “South African Bush Office”.
The room is quite spacious for all the computer and photography gear I brought with me and all my the stuff that will arrive by sea freight sometime in July.
Below are also pictures of the outside of Thanda House and of my office.
In my blog message on Friday I mentioned various birds around my Thanda Lodge room.
Here are four pictures I took that evening sitting by the small pool on my porch.
They are Pied Crows (top left), a White-brown Scrub Robin (top right), a Green-winged Pytilia (bottom left) and a Yellow-bellied Greenbul (bottom right). I hope I identified them correctly (I am still a bit shaky when it comes to birds 🙂
Good night from South Africa!
Yesterday and today I moved all my stuff into Thanda House. The office is still a “work in process”, but here are a view pictures of my room at the house.
It is certainly a room with a view. The picture with the Giraffe and my car was taken from my front door 🙂
More to come …
PS: The Journey of Giraffe was made up of 18 animals – adults and youngsters!
Today is a very happy day for me 🙂
After many years of planning to work in South Africa I have arrived at Thanda Private Game Reserve and I am enjoying a beautiful winters evening at the Thanda Lodge. I got a very warm welcome from staff members – many still knew me from my previous visits.
Tomorrow I will move into my room and my office at Thanda House.
This is a picture of the view from the porch of guest room No.9 at the Thanda Lodge (where I am typing this blog message right now).
The only sounds I can hear are the birds around the place – heavenly 🙂
From now until end of May I will be preparing my move to South Africa. This will leave me less time than usual for shooting pictures and posting blog message.
Once I have arrived and settled in at Thanda (South Africa) I will be posting again regularly (probably end of June 2012).
Thanks for subscribing to and reading my blog!
PS: I will post as often as possible during the move and let you know how it is going 🙂
Coveted by Lions! ?
That’s how many of my friends see me once I am in Africa, including a cartoonist many years ago :-). Well, I will try to stay off the lunch menu of these beautiful cats at Thanda, my new home and place of work in South Africa.
Over the last few weeks I got asked many times where exactly is Thanda? So here is some more information:
Thanda is situated approximately 220 km north of Durban. The closest commercial airport is Richards Bay and the closest international airport is King Shaka Airport, Durban.
Coordinates – Base Camp: 27° 48′ 23″ South, 32° 06′ 33″ East (View using Google Maps)
It is located in northern Kwazulu Natal, in a sub-tropical, semi-arid area and the climate is very warm with average daily temperatures spanning 20°C – 30°C. Because Thanda is situated so close to the Indian Ocean, warmed by the Agulhas sea current, the summers are not as short as Mpumalanga and the winters are not as cold.
Reserve size: ~14,000 hectare / ~140 square kilometers /~35,000 acres
Thanda hosts the magnificent seven – Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Cape Hunting Dog, Black and White Rhino, Cape Buffalo and African Elephants – as well as a large variety of general game species (Giraffe, Zebra, Kudu, Impala, Nyala, Wildebeest ….) and many different birds species.
I have started my preparations for the move to South Africa, if everything goes well I will arrive at Thanda on June 7, 2012!
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 