wildlife – Page 148 – Christian Sperka Photography

2013-03-05

Unusual Sightings

On the last day of our work cycle we had some unusual sightings. The Thanda guests on today’s morning game drive enjoyed a Spotted Hyena crossing the savanna in full daylight (a very rare occurrence).

We caught a glimpse of a young Leopard before it retreated into very thick bush and …

… we ended the game drive with an unusual view of the Elephant herd on the side of a hill, on which we cannot drive with our vehicles.

We also saw Cheetahs, a White Rhino, Giraffes and a Yellow-billed Kite on the same drive. A great morning!

After a very long work cycle (26 instead of 21 days) I will now be off for eight days before I leave for another “Trails Guiding Contact Session Course” with African Nature Training – ANT (www.africanaturetraining.co.za) in the Sabi Sands. I will return to Thanda on 24 March.

There will be fewer blogs during this time, but look out for the unusual ones 🙂

2013-03-04

Not your best day!

Imagine you are a Lion!

You are feeding on a Zebra kill and you had already a lot to eat. So it is a bit hard to move with your full belly. And just as you feel ready for a snooze a herd of Buffalo is crashing the dinner site of your family. They chase all of you around a bit.

You climb a tree and find out that the tree you chose was not high enough.

You growl at the Buffalo and they get even more agitated than they already were.

At the right moment you jump out of the tree and you flee to the next tree.

There you wait until the annoying bulls and cows are gone.

Only then can you re-join your other eight family members (coming down from other trees) to continue the meal and the now well deserved snooze.

Not your best day!

A very special sighting at Thanda Private Game Reserve 🙂

2013-02-27

Morning Drink Stop

We had a great game drive this morning. After tracking for less than half an hour we found the breeding herd of Elephants feeding in thick bush. We watched them crossing the road in front of us and thought they might go to drink at a nearby waterhole.

And we were right. The whole herd was having a drink. The first picture shows the Thanda matriarch (she has no tusks) with another adult cow, one older calf and the two youngest members of the herd.

The next picture shows one of our oldest bulls drinking (he is currently in musth as indicated by the back legs wet from dribbling urine and the running glands on his head).

The third picture shows him on the opposite side of the waterhole (I prefer this distance for a musth bull 🙂

The herd is very protective of their young. In the last picture you can see on of the little ones “disappearing” between the females.

We finished off this Thanda morning game drive with coffee and cookies in the bush!

2013-02-26

Outside the house!

When I lived in the USA and in Europe I used to see children playing outside my front door, I saw joggers on their morning runs and dog owners out on a stroll. Occasionally a car came by and if I was very lucky when I got to see a bird from time to time.

My front door view has changed 🙂

I regularly see Giraffe, Buffalo, Elephants, Rhinos and many different other species around the house. Today the Thanda North Pride of Lions walked by the garden fence.

I saw the young mother with her cubs and our juvenile male at the fence. The other four Lions were already resting under a Fever Tree near by.

What a place to live!

2013-02-212013-02-21

I am big and you better leave!

On today’s game drive I had positioned my vehicle parallel to the path which the Thanda breeding herd of Elephant took across an open Fever Tree area.

This young bull did not like my parking spot and displayed his displeasure with various “Big Elephant Warning Signs”. When he realized that I did not move and that non of the adult Elephants came to his aid he shock his head one last time and moved on with the herd.

The Thanda guests enjoyed the “I am a big Elephant” show 🙂

2013-02-20

Moonlight, again!

It seems to be a moonlight week. While I was waiting for my guests to be finished with bush dinner I watched the moon and the stars. I took these two – very different – images of the moon 🙂

2013-02-15

Summer Crossing

This picture shows the Thanda Elephant herd crossing a road in front of two game drive vehicles.

In the summer time when the vegetation is very dense it takes excellent tracking skills and also a bit of luck to view these magnificent creatures in the open.

2013-02-13

A good scratch!

If you think that only members of the human race make funny faces when attending to a little itch then have a look at our dominant male Lion.

He was scratching his left front leg with his left back paw. Judging by his funny face the procedure was quite successful.

The Thanda guests on my vehicle enjoyed the moment 🙂

PS: We had to wait for a long time for him to get up. He was sleeping for a long time in the grass. He even collected some spider webs in the process!

2013-02-11

Rare Hare!

It may sound funny, but to take a good picture of a Scrub Hare in the wild is more challenging than to photograph a lion. Scrub Hares are quite common around Thanda, but it is very rare to get them in front of the lens (unless on the road blinded by headlights :-).

This little one was very relaxed and the Thanda guests on my game viewer enjoyed this special sighting. We also saw Lions and Rhinos during the game drive, so the Hare was in good company!

2013-02-102013-02-10

Lion Twilight!

The sun was just setting when we found some of our South Pride Lions playing in a tree on top of a ridge. The Thanda guest on game drive enjoyed this most beautiful sighting until the light was gone completely and the Lions had left the tree and rested in the grass next to the road.

Have a good week!