Elephants and Clouds

This week we had some amazing sunsets. I really enjoyed this particular evening as I was watching a few Elephant bulls in front of Thanda House. They grazed around the house for over an hour. As I was watching them the most amazing cloud formations passed by. I captured them with my iPhone 7 Plus. Enjoy these African skies!

Elephants at Thanda House
White clouds …
Orange clouds …
Cloud formation …
Browsing under the evening sky …

 

Lion+

I have just uploaded a few more Lion images taken between 2006 and  2017. Have a look at http://www.sperka.biz/sg1 (total 76 images).

This is one of many species gallery available online at http://www.sperka.biz/sg

Please contact me at info@sperka.com in case you are interested in publishing any of these images or if you would like to license any image for printing (for personal or commercial use).

These are some of the newly uploaded images!

Focus!
Focus!
50mm Lens!
50mm Lens!
iPhone Photography!
iPhone Photography!
My 2016 Favorite!
My 2016 Favorite!
Little one!
Little one!
His Majesty!
His Majesty!

Lions …

I am currently working on an update of my online Lion picture gallery (http://www.sperka.biz/sg1).

This is one of the images which will soon appear with many others on my gallery site.

Have a good week! Stay tuned for more updates …

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No Power – Three Hours !

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During our last power failure – which lasted about 6 hours – I decided to leave my hot office and spend a few hours at the kuMasinga Hide and at Nsumo Pan on Mkhuze Game Reserve.

In the three hours I sat at the two hides I took mainly bird pictures. I thought I create a little bird quiz from these images.

Can you identify all 11 species?

Have fun and a good week!

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Leopard+

I have just uploaded a few more Leopard images taken between 2005 and 2016. Have a look at http://www.sperka.biz/sg2 (total 74 images).

This is one of many species gallery available online at http://www.sperka.biz/sg

Please contact me at info@sperka.com in case you are interested in publishing any of these images or if you would like to license any image for printing (for personal or commercial use).

These are the newly uploaded images!

Morning stroll ...
Morning stroll …
Change sides ...
Change sides …
Relax ...
Relax …
Rest and drink ...
Rest and drink …
Safe ...
Safe …
Rush ...
Rush …
Next to the road ...
Next to the road …

 

The Cheetah brothers on a kill …

As I walked out of my room at Thanda House I spotted the two Thanda Cheetah brothers just beyond our garden’s northern fence line. They were moving west, while carefully checking for other predators.

I walked around the building to my vehicle when I saw them again much closer to our northern gate. They were now feasting on a large Kudu cow, who must have been killed a while ago (large parts of her were already eaten). Her unborn calf was lying next to her. Unlike Lions, who would have eaten the fetus immediately, the two Cheetahs were eating the adult Kudu first.

This kill was so large that the Cheetah would never finish it. So Hyenas, Jackals, Vultures and many other smaller creatures will enjoy meals from this Kuku cow.

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Checking around …

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Moving along the Thanda house fence …

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On the kill …

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Feeding together – no fighting over the large meal …

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Always on the lookout for possible thieves …

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A few hours later – full bellies and still a lot of meat left – the Hyenas will love it!

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And this is my favorite shot from that afternoon …

@thandasafari @christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #thandacheetahbrothers #christiansperkaphotography

A look back!

It is custom to have a look at the previous year when the new one has just started.

For me it has been a good year. I enjoy my life and work in the South African bush as much as when I moved here in 2012. Since then I have led over 1,000 game drives, I have had over 1,600 Big Five sightings, I taught over 900 people my way of motion/wildlife photography and I have written over 900 blog posts.

Today I would like to share with you some of my favorite pictures of 2016: One wildlife picture per month and a bonus scenery picture 🙂 – Thank you for following my blog!

I hope you will enjoy my photographer’s picks for 2016 and I hope that all of us will have a good 2017!

January - Relax!
January 2016 – Relax!
February 2016 - Charge!
February 2016 – Charge!
March 2016 - Run!
March 2016 – Run!
April 2016 - Fight!
April 2016 – Fight!
May 2016 - Neck!
May 2016 – Neck!
June 2016 - Curious!
June 2016 – Curious!
July 2016 - An itch!
July 2016 – An itch!
August 2016 - Evening light!
August 2016 – Evening light!
September 2016 - Wary!
September 2016 – Wary!
October 2016 - Family! (My personal favorite for 2016)
October 2016 – Family! (My personal favorite for 2016)
November 2016 - Age!
November 2016 – Age!
December 2016 - Chase!
December 2016 – Chase!
Scenery 2016 - African Sky!
Scenery 2016 – African Sky!