wildlife – Page 114 – Christian Sperka Photography

2017-10-03

White last night – Black this morning!

Over the last few days we had some incredible sightings on Thanda. But these are two of my favorite images from ten exciting game drives.

A White Rhino Bull last night and a Black Rhino this morning.

More soon …

#christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #whiterhino #blackrhino #rhino

2017-09-222017-09-22

World Rhino Day 2017

I hope the sun will never set on Africa’s Rhinos – WORLD RHINO DAY 2017

www.worldrhinoday.org | www.sperka.info | www.sperka.biz

Black & White under the African Sky – a sight to behold, to cherish and to never forget!

2017-09-18

Just now – for the first time in the last two weeks – I had a chance to think about a blog message. I thought you might enjoy a summary of all my Instagram images posted since my last blog post on 29 August, And I have included four new bonus images for all my blog followers 🙂

Let’s start with the ‘bonus material’ …

… our oldest Cheetah boy enjoying a drink at Thanda Safari’s Villa iZulu waterhole (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 4/500mm L) …

… a Thanda Lioness flehmen (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 4/500mm L) …

… a Burchell’s Zebra hosting 15! Red-billed Oxpeckers at the same time (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 3.5-5.6/28-300mm L at 235mm) …

… Thanda’s dominant male Lion at the end of the terrestrial twilight (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 3.5-5.6/28-300mm L at 210mm / f5.6 / 1/30s / ISO 6400) …

… and now the images published on Instagram …

… a young female Rhino denying the advances of a male (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 3.5-5.6/28-300mm L at 300mm) …

… Egyptian Geese mating (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 3.5-5.6/28-300mm L at 300mm) …

… the bliss of mud-bath (Canon 5D Mark IV / EF 4.5-5.6/100-400mm LII at 220mm) …

… one of Thanda’s largest Elephant bulls feeding (iPhone 7 Plus) …

… two baby Scrub Hares (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 4/500mm L / ISO 3200 / -1EV / 1/500s / f/4) …

… the view from the Thanda Safari Lodge as the mist rises in the early morning
(iPhone 7 Plus) …

… an awesome White Rhino sighting (iPhone 7 Plus – using the 2x optical zoom – still pretty close 🙂 ) …

… Buffalo yoga at the bush spa (Canon 5D Mark IV / EF 4.5-5.6/100-400mm LII at 180mm)

… Moon and Sun in the same picture – and Bheki 🙂 (iPhone 7 Plus) …

… a little Ellie protected by the herd (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 3.5-5.6/28-300mm L at 90mm)

… Thanda’s young male Lion – ready to mate (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 4/500mm L) …

… Cheetah at sunset (Canon 1D Mark IV – EF 2.8/300mm L) …

I hope you enjoyed the selection. Have a good week.

www.sperka.info | www.thanda.com

2017-08-29

Hectic …

Well, my South African friend’s love the word hectic to describe a busy time. And my last few weeks were quite hectic!

I had very little time to blog and to document what I was doing. So I want to make up for that today. Here are pictures taken during these last few weeks.

… A young Lioness in her stride (23 July) …

… Elephants huddling for a family picture in front of the Thanda Safari Tented Camp (30 July) …

… A Lilac-breasted roller sighting making my day (31 July) …

… A Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl on its nest (1 August) …

… Me on game drive with my Green Mamba 1 – I love every minute 🙂 – Picture by Warren taken during our last game drive together before he exchanged the rolling hills of Zululand for the rolling hill of Scotland!

… My drone and the moon (4 August) …

… The Green Mamba 1 on top of the world (5 August) …

… A tiny Thanda Elephant marching along (9 August) …

… The night sky during the meteor shower (12 August) …

… A massive Eland bull at Nambiti Game Reserve (16 August) …

… Working on a photo shoot at Nambiti Plains Lodge (17 August) …

… Visiting the Blood River battlefield (18 August) …

… Another photo shoot, this time at Fugitive’s Drift Lodge (19 August) …

… Three days old – a baby Giraffe …

… And an agitated White Rhino cow (26 August) …

www.thanda.com | www.fugitivesdrift.com | www.nambitiplains.com | www.sperka.info | www.sperka.biz

2017-08-19

The Battle of Blood River …

Sorry – I have not blogged for quite a while as I was very busy before I went of my off time.

Earlier this week I visited Nambiti Game Reserve and stayed at Nambiti Plains Lodge. Then I visited the Blood River Battlefield. This battle between the Boers and the Zulus was one of the most important events which shaped South Africa’s history. A very impressive monument – build by the Afrikaans people – and a rather neglected museum – documenting the battle from a Zulu perspective – serve as reminders of this battle. And now I am at Fugitives Drift Lodge near the battlefields of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift just above the Buffalo River. One of my favorite locations in KwaZulu Natal.

Here are a few pictures – including some drone images I took during this trip. I hope you enjoy them!

The Blood River Battle Memorial … (DJI Phantom 4 Plus Drone)

Blood River Memorial … (DJI Phantom 4 Plus Drone)

The Laager – Defensive Boer position on the bank of the blood river … (Apple iPhone 7 Plus)

An aerial view from my drone … (DJI Phantom 4 Plus Drone)

A bull in musth at Nambiti … (Canon EOS 1D Mark IV)

A Black-Shouldered Kite at Nambiti … (Canon EOS 1D Mark IV)

The Buffalo river valley and the Fugitives Drift Lodge … (DJI Phantom 4 Plus Drone)

Fugitives Drift – Site of one of the real dramas in the British and South African history … (DJI Phantom 4 Plus Drone)

Home

http://www.fugitivesdrift.com/

Tuis

http://www.sperka.biz

http://www.sperka.info

2017-08-10

WorldLionDay 2017

Today is Wold Lion Day – a day to celebrate one of my favorite cats!

#LetLionsLive #worldlionday

2017-07-19

Amazing Camouflage …

Today I had a great sighting of a Vine Snake at Pakamisa Private Game Reserve. This small specimen was quite relaxed and made for an excellent photo model :-).

Pictures 1/2/3 – taken with a Canon 1D Mark IV and a 28-300mm lens
Pictures 4/5 – taken with an iPhone 7Plus

http://www.sperka.com

2017-07-012017-07-01

Chacma Baboons (SG19)

Fun to watch, no fun to have around the house: Chacma Baboons!

I just uploaded 45 of my Chacma Baboon images – taken between 2005 and 2017 – to www.sperka.biz/sg19.

More species gallery available online at http://www.sperka.biz/sg.

The galleries for Aardvark, Aardwolf and Blesbok are also new.

May and June

In the last weeks I did not have a lot of time to blog. But over the last few days I worked on a lot of images (sorting/filing/deleting/editing a few thousand) and I thought you might like to see some of my favorite shots from May and June 2017 which I took at Thanda Safari.

The Big Five, Cheetah, Hyena and more …

Enjoy them!

Almost no light, but still very special indeed …

Me and The Green Mamba 1 – More information at https://sperka.info/gm/

Pictures information for the photographers among you:

10 June – Small Elephant – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 300mm
11 May – Large Elephant – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 85mm (DoF-PP)
30 May – Small Lion – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 85mm
28 May – Me (Mirror) and Hyena – iPhone 7 Plus
9 June – Vulture – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 270mm
30 May – Pride of Lions – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 105mm
2 June – Cheetah – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 250mm (DoF-PP)
5 June – Bark Spider – iPhone 7 Plus
28 May – Hyena on Kill – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 90mm (DoF-PP)
28 May – Giraffes fighting – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 235mm
12 May – Leopard with Nyala kill – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 300mm
20 May – White Rhino with new-born calf – Canon 1D Mark IV with 28-300L at 105mm
8 June – Cape Buffalo bull – iPhone 7 Plus (2x magnification)
28 May Me with my Canon 1D Mark IV and the Canon 28-300L lens sitting in the Green Mamba 1 – iPhone 7 Plus

Note: DoF-PP = depth of field change in post processing

2017-06-14

iPhone Photography

In the last few weeks I was driving a lot with journalists, photographers and many Thanda Safari guests. I had only limited time and opportunities to use my Canon DSLR. But I used my iPhone 7+ quite a bit. Here are some of my favorite iPhone shots 🙂