Some of Thanda’s Cape Buffalo came for their evening drink to a waterhole. And while they were drinking and mud-bathing some of them picked up a scent they did not like. Many heads went up and with ears directed forward they were trying to establish a possible threat.
After a few minutes they all stampeded away from the waterhole. The Thanda guests on my vehicle enjoyed the show, even if we were not able to figure out what had bothered them 🙂
Well, it is Dung Beetle season. In this warm and humid weather these insects are getting very active. This makes for a great “small” sighting during a game drive.
The males of this Dung Beetle species creates a large dung ball which then attracts the ladies. Once a female has approved of a ball she hitches a ride while he rolls it to an appropriate “burial site”.
When a spot with soft soil is found, they stop and bury the ball, then mate underground and the female lays eggs inside the brooding ball.
Dung beetles go through a complete metamorphosis. The larvae live in brood balls made with dung prepared by their parents, feeding on the dung surrounding them.
In a five-star lodge service delays are not acceptable. So normally the game drives start just in time! But the rules change when the Thanda Elephants get involved.
Today a few of Thanda Elephant bulls were making their way to the Lodge when guests spotted them from the Lodge deck just before game drive.
Everyone waited patiently for the giant creatures to arrive. And only after they finished their drink at the water feature in front of the Lodge did the guests depart for the evening drive.
Half an hour late – quite acceptable when caused by Elephants 🙂
Photographers seldom end up on pictures. Well, there are not very many pictures with me in them, especially not during interesting wildlife operations.
But at this Rhino darting operation one of the subjects of my pictures (it was actually Kingsley Holgate, a well known South African explorer, humanitarian and author – who was present during the operation) took the camera away from me and shot this image. Thanks!
And then a member of the wildlife team took this image with all the guides, trackers, game guards and the Rhino boy involved in this procedure.
So, two picture with me in it in one day – must be a record 🙂
This small Thanda Elephant bull wanted to make sure that we came no further towards the herd. All the adult females were very relaxed when this little one showed us that he is a big Elephant already.
We adhered to his wishes and approach no further. He shook his head in “big bull fashion” and turned away to continue with his feeding.
A very memorable Thanda Elephant encounter 🙂
It is not all about the Big Five. A game drive on Thanda is much more than just looking at the “famous grand creatures” of the bush.
Enjoying the presentation of a Scorpion by Bheki, one of the experienced Thanda trackers, spotting a male Southern Tree Agama in its “ready for mating” coloration or viewing a African Blood Lily growing in a burned area after the first rains of the season are just some of the special sightings of “Small Things” which make every day in the African bush very special.
Well, a lot of you got it right! (see previous blog)
I use these goggles when catching or releasing spitting snakes (or if I do know which snake I might encounter). In this case I caught a Mozambique Spitting Cobra (in Zulu:Mfezi) which had strayed into a room at Thanda house late at night. Today I released it onto another part of the reserve.
This collage of images shows the release of the snake. Thanks to Warren Beets for taking the pictures (I could not take any myself – I was busy :-))
PS: I will add a GoPro camera to my equipment set so I can record these sort of procedures on video – from my view-point.
It looks like a silly picture, but I was preparing for something serious!
What was I preparing for? Have a guess?
I will blog the answer this evening 🙂
Picture by Warren Beets
From Thanda’s dominant male Lions point of view …
“It was a hard first week, but what a place! As soon as they let me out of the boma – which was pretty nice, by the way, with full room service and everything – the Thanda Lion ladies were most hospitable…
… The first three days I spent with the most experienced female of the North pride and when she left I was pretty exhausted …
… From time to time these strange rolling animals with lots of round eyes came by. One can’t eat them so I just ignore them …
… On Thursday a younger Lion lady showed up and she was very forthcoming. But I was just too tired. Maybe next week …
… I was just “lion” around when another of these large animals with the round eyes came by – it must like me! It followed me for a while …
… when I heard another male roaring. I decided to investigate. The funny animal was still following me ?:-)
… I showed it how to sharpen my claws – just in case! …
… and then the strange animal almost got stuck in the muddy ground – which gave me quite a scare – Now it is gone and I will have a little rest – what a first week!”
This is a “record” of the new male Lion’s first week at Thanda Private Game Reserve, observed by many Thanda guests (sitting in the strange rolling animals with the round eyes :-).
These are two “time-lapse” collages made from various images of a camera trap.
This small camera is installed at a small waterhole in the western part of Thanda.
We have identified many different species drinking at day and at night (including Lion, Hyena, Nyala, Zebra, Kudu, Impala, Warthog, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Elephant).
The camera trap will stay in place for a little while longer – we may catch more Thanda residents having a drink!
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 