These young Lions were sitting still and watching their mother, aunts and older sister going off hunting.
The guest on my vehicle were very exited when the complete Thanda North Pride moved around the car towards their prey. The Lions just came from a meal – judging from their reddish fur – but they were looking for a second course. As long as we watched them they were not successful. Better luck the next time!
The face of Lions change completely if they are looking up at the sky and follow birds.
One of the Thanda guests on my vehicle suggested that this Lioness must really love birds – I am sure she does 🙂
Watch Thanda’s herd of Elephants having a bath at Mgankla Dam. The Thanda guests enjoyed observing these gentle giants playing with Water and Mud!
Another BIRD series image: A Green-winged Pytilia (Melba Finch). This picture was taken at Thanda Private Game Reserve on 15 August 2013.
One of the youngest Thanda Elephants had to move fast to catch up with its mum. We had an excellent sighting this evening when the breeding herd crossed the road right in front of our vehicles.
Five of the Thanda bull were trailing the herd. The two young bulls in the picture below gave us a good look before they moved on.
“Mami, Mami – I can see it – I can see it – move faster, pleeeease!”
Well, this little Baboon was standing up on his hind legs to get a first glimpse of the waterhole, which he and his mum were approaching.
I thought the quote above would be what he would tell his mum if he could speak 🙂
Have a good week!
Thanda’s two male Cheetah killed a female Nyala. The pictures shows them right after they started their meal.
If you think that this White Rhino bull is just scraping his dung around you are mistaken. He is actually adding important information to this Rhino Communication Center, called a Midden. The same location is used by many Rhinos to place their dung and with it to place information.
A dominant bull will mark his territory and he will scrape the dung to show his dominance.
Females in the area by will leave their droppings, but they will not scrape. They leave a scent message for the dominant bull in case they are ready to mate. If that is the case he will pick up the info at his next visit and look for the lady.
Any young bull pathing through the territory will also leave his message (a distance away from the big guys’s stuff) without scraping to tell the dominant bull that he does not want to challenge him.
If another bull puts his dung on top or near the dominant bull’s droppings and scrapes them around then he declares his intention to challenge the territory holder. As soon as they meet they will fight!
So, if you see dung in the bush, it is not always just waste 🙂
“Well, you probably have seen many pictures of me since last year.
Since this funny German photographer arrived here at Thanda we have had to pose constantly for pictures. But this way all of you Thanda fans got to see me, my brother and my two sisters growing up. Don’t I look like a big Lion now?
Christian – that’s the photo guys name – took his shot this week when I and my family were relaxing after a really big meal. Mom and grandma could hardly move and my cousin did not stir for hours. What a day!”
A blog message from a lion’s point of view 🙂
At a sighting with six White Rhino I took this image of a Fork-tailed Drongo.
These small birds are known for their ability to imitate the sound of other animals and for their hunting technique. They follow large mammals and hunt for any insects stirred up by their large “helpers”.
PS: One of the Rhinos provided the background for this image 🙂
More about Fork-tailed Drongos:
The Fork-tailed Drongos is a widespread resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush. They are aggressive and fearless birds, given their small size, and will attack much larger species, including birds of prey if their nest or young are threatened. The call is a metallic strink-strink. Fork-tailed Drongos are capable of using deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food from small mammals.
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 