THANDA – Page 92 – Christian Sperka Photography

2016-06-29

there and BACK AGAIN :-)

I am back on Thanda and back at home 🙂 I took this iPhone picture of a beautiful sunrise just as I left my room at Thanda House this morning.

So no more ‘travel journal’ until next year – back to Wildlife!

2016-05-20

Clean-Up

The cleanup-crew was busy in front of my home (Thanda House) when I left in the early morning hours (6:06am). These three Spotted Hyena were cleaning up a nearby Lion kill.

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… and have a look at this recent Thanda Safari blog about our Hyena census project https://thandablog.com/2016/05/18/hyena-census/

2016-05-16

A journey of Giraffe (8 in total) were crossing the road in front of my home, just as I was approaching. I waited patiently for these graceful giants to move on before I passed through the gate to Thanda House.

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2016-05-15

Mum’s shade!

This little Black Rhino calf enjoyed her mother;s shade on hot day 🙂

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Morning has broken!

This was the view a few minutes ago when stepped in front of my room at Thanda House – winter is coming and so are the beautiful sunrises and sunsets – Have a good day!

2016-05-05

50mm

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It has been years since I have used a ‘short fixed focus length lens’. Last week, when cleaning my equipment, I picked up my Canon EF f1.4/50mm lens and decided to put in my camera case to give it a try at low light.

And two days ago such a scenario presented itself.

After the sun had set I took this image of our north pride Lions sleeping off a good meal. With very shallow depth of field it creates a special artsy atmosphere. I like it and I think I will use this ‘short beauty’ more often.

2016-04-27

A little kiss :-)

The traditional pose …

… and another one …

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A Little Detour

Today a little detour was required on my way home from the Thanda Safari Lodge. The two Cheetah brothers were resting in the shade under a tree in the middle of the road, so I had to get a bit of the street as they would not move for my car 🙂

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The Two Boys!

2016-04-25

Backlight

Lions at one of Thanda’s waterholes – I was able to play with the light from another game viewing vehicle (thanks to my fellow guide) – despite the fact that I did not have the right lens for the job I like the atmosphere of the scene!

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The South African Kingfishers

Kingfisher Collage

After yesterday’s post about a Malachite Kingfisher on Thanda a few people have asked me about the various South African Kingfishers. So, here is a short post about them:

There are ten Kingfisher species in South Africa. Five are aquatic species and five are considered woodland Kingfishers. Up til now I took pictures of eight of these ten species. I am still missing the Half-collared Kingfisher and the Grey-headed Kingfisher.

Four of them (Woodland Kingfisher, Striped Kingfisher, Brown-hooded Kingfisher and African Pygmy Kingfisher) are regularly seen on Thanda Safari Private Game Reserve and I had one – rare – sighting of a Malachite Kingfisher. Giant Kingfishers, Mangrove Kingfishers and Pied Kingfishers are aquatic species and are therefore not resident on Thanda.

Enjoy the pictures!