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!
[View all Pictures of the Week 2012]
I was very surprised when, on one of my first game drives at Thanda Private Game Reserve in 2010, this male Leopard crossed our path just as we left the lodge.
In Kwazulu Natal Leopards are usually very shy and are very hard to view, as they are still prosecuted by humans in many areas. Unlike in the Kruger National Park and the surrounding game reserves the Leopards in this part of South Africa have not be habituated to “non-threatening” human presence over many decades.
For more leopard images from my various trips to southern Africa go to www.sperka.biz/leopard.
I will start working at Thanda Private Game Reserve in June 2012.
A personal message
As many of you know I love South Africa and it has been my goal for many years to be able to live and work in this magnificent place.
Well, the dream has come true. I have been offered and accepted a position as Photography Specialist Guide and resident Wildlife Photographer at Thanda Private Game Reserve, one of my favorite places in Kwazulu Natal. On Tuesday this week the South African Consulate in New York approved my work permit and I will be moving to South Africa at the beginning of June 2012.
This means that I will close my gallery in the Arcade in Nashville (the Gallery Crawl on Saturday, April 7, will be the last day the gallery will be open – with a big party 🙂 and I will teach my last photography class at the Nashville Zoo on May 23. I enjoyed my time at the Nashville Zoo very much, first as docent and then as the official photographer and photography teacher. I will miss all my friends at the zoo and all over the USA very much (and I hope that many of them will visit me in South Africa).
My blog, my web-gallery and web-store as well as my website will remain unchanged. In the future the “Picture of the Week” will come directly from the South African bush!
I am looking forward to working with my friends at Thanda, one of the most beautiful private game reserves in South African (http:/www.thanda.com). I will have to learn a lot of new skills, as I am new to the field guiding part of my job, but I will enjoy that very much. And if you wonder where I will be living: In the middle of a game reserve, in between Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Buffalos, Rhinos, Cheetahs and Wild Dogs!
Thanks for the support from all of you who helped me in changing my life from an being an IT Executive to becoming a South African Field Guide and Wildlife Photographer.
See you in South Africa!
