This afternoon we had some winter rain. Despite the unusual wet weather for this season the Thanda guests enjoyed great game drives with Elephant bulls, a herd of Buffalo and this young Giraffe (in Zebra company).
Center Focus!
We were the center of focus for this young male Lion when we watched him and his family feeding on a Wildebeest kill. The Thanda guests on my vehicle enjoyed the attention!
Across a valley!
This morning we spotted Thanda’s herd of Elephants in a remote area of the reserve. We watched from top of a hill as they faded in and out of the trees. After the herd had gone by Thanda’s two largest Elephant bulls were making their way across the valley.
Not only the closeup sighting can be magnificent!
Close up and personal!
Thanda guests often have fabulous Lion sightings. This morning the North Pride was resting on the savanna before continuing their walk to a near waterhole. They came close up and personal to one of our game drive vehicles. A thrilling moment for any safari guest!
Not always the five!
Sometimes your best sighting of the day is not one of the big five. Today was such a day. As beautiful and exciting as the Rhino, Buffalo and Cheetah sightings were, seeing this African Harrier Hawk flying from tree to tree and looking for nests was very special.
The Thanda guests enjoyed watching this raptor concentrating on his afternoon hunt (and almost giving some Guinea Fowls a heart attack in the process :-)).
One more way to fight …
Fight Rhino Poaching from the Air!
ZAP-Wing is a partnership between the provincial conservation agency Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Project Rhino KZN. 24 game reserves (300,000ha) in northern KwaZulu-Natal currently benefit from daily aerial surveillance and reaction support; over 3,000 rhino are under the ZAP-Wing watch.
Thanda supports the organization and the reserve is covered by the ZAP-Wing.
Watch the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YY883N2d-Og),
check out the website (www.zapwing.org),
and support the fight for Rhinos!
A quiet evening drive!
Today’s evening game drive on Ithala was rather quiet. Besides the usual suspects (Zebra, Wildebeest, Kudu and Warthog) I got some funny images of a female Ostrich and when I got back to my room at the camp a Bushbuck was eyeing me for a while before disappearing into the bush.
Now I am off to dinner after a lot of driving 🙂
New, funny, harassed, well light and rocky!
A good morning drive on Ithala. I encountered …
… a new species (for me :-)): An antelope named Tsessebe, which I have never seen before.
… two Secretary birds with their funny walk across a burned area.
… a Tawny Eagle who was harassed by a Black-shouldered Kite.
… a well light scene at sunrise with Zebra and Wildebeest.
… and an exciting drive on a very rocky 4×4 trail.
Let’s see what the afternoon will bring!
Ithala
Today I have spent my first day at Ithala Game Reserve in the North of Kwazulu Natal. Ithala is a beautiful mountainous reserve with many interesting tracks. I will spend three days of my off-time here.
Next to regular roads Ithala has some interesting 4×4 trails. Some of them are rather rocky and very challenging (Inclines for first gear low with center and back diff set). My Toyota Fortuner mastered the steepest one very well.
This image was taken after the ascent from top of the mountain …
… Once back in the plains I took this image of a male Giraffe at sunset …
… and just after sunset I encountered this male Ostrich along the road.
I also saw White Rhino, Zebra, Wildebeest, Kudu and many different bird species.
A good first day!
My favorite Elephant …
I like all the wild animals on Thanda but if I had to name my favorite Elephant this is the one. His name is Thulani.
Normally I do not use individual names for wildlife, but for our two largest bulls (40-45 years old / approx 6 tons in weight) I make an exception. Thulani can be identified by his calm nature and the “slightly out of line” tusks.
The Thanda guests on my vehicle really enjoyed the recent sighting of this gentle giant.
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 