Great news for Cheetah conservation. A Cheetah female on Thanda Private Game Reserve gave birth to four cubs. Yesterday we managed to get pictures of the five weeks old cubs for the first time. They played around a thicket in which their mum hides them when she goes hunting.
The collage shows a few images of the cubs and the mother. Theses pictures were taken with 910 mm lens length across a valley (hence the marginal quality :-)).
Enjoy your weekend!
Imagine you are a Cheetah male!
You have not a had a meal for a while and you and your brother are getting hungry …
… you stalk some newly arrived Impala. It is a good thing (for you not them) that they do not know the area so well yet 🙂 and …
… you got one. And after a good and hasty meal (not touching the prey’s stomach – its smell could attract some nasty company) …
… you can hardly move …
… so you decide to clean yourself up a bit and get some needed rest – A good day!
Hundreds of additional Impalas, Wildebeest, Nyala, Zebra and Kudus are arriving over the next few weeks at Thanda Private Game Reserve. This large number of additional plains game will enhance the excellent Thanda Game Drive Experience even further. Besides seeing the Big Five on daily drives it is very exciting to see large groups of these herbivores roaming on the reserve.
Thanda will also receive additional Cape Buffalo Bulls. Together with over 30 Buffalo birth in this rainy season, this will bring the number of Buffalo at Thanda to well over 160.
The images show the release of Impala and Wildebeest onto the reserve…
… and this is a link to a short video from one of the Impala arrivals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67OVEjBepFw
This is a collage of the fourteen different Elephant Bulls I observed at the “Masahlela” waterhole at Tembe Elephant Park. Last Friday all of them came to drink at the waterhole between 10:00am and 2:00pm.
If you want to have a look yourself you can tune into their 24hr webcam at the waterhole – just remember that South Africa is 6 hours before New York Time (EST) and 2 hours before London Time (GMT): http://www.tembe.co.za/webcam.htm
Also, check out my Friday’s blog post for more images: https://christiansperka.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/fill-up-get-cool-and-move-on/
Whenever I look into a Buffalo bull’s eyes I see a pendulum swinging in its head:
Flight Fight Flight Flight Flight Fight Flight Fight Flight Fight Flight Fight Flight Fight ….
And if you are on foot it better stop on “Flight”. Buffalo’s are one of the few mammals that will attack without warning. So it is important to respect these formidable creatures and keep the appropriated distance 🙂
I really like this Buffalo picture I took on Thursday at the Tembe Elephant Park.
Imagine you are an Elephant Bull living at Tembe Elephant Park.
It is midday and you are due for a service 🙂 You move to the largest of the
waterholes …
… and fill up with fresh water while some human tourist watch you
drinking…
… you meet a few of your pals, some of them friendly and some of them are ready for a fight…
… you finish your drink and do a little light sparring…
… you move on to the “cool down” mud bath. Some big shots are in front of you so you have to wait your turn…
… what a great feeling to cool down in the heat of the day …
… you chase a Wildebeest around a bit – just for fun …
… and have a little dust shower…
… and now it is time you move back into the bush to continue your on-going
meal (about 350kg per day).
Today I have observed this scenario 14 times at Tembe Elephant Park. All 14 bulls adhered to the same procedure – creatures of habit!
Have a good weekend!
In 2008 I was for the first time at Tembe National Elephant Park (This picture was taken then).
Tembe is know for some of the greatest tuskers in Africa (=Elephants with very long tusks). I will be spending the next two days at this reserve and I hope I get to see some of these “teeth giants” 🙂
This youngster of Thanda’s herd of Elephant was trying to use his trunk to get a fruit of the Prickly Pear, but he did not succeed.
We watched the little one for quite a while as he was trying to imitate his mum and his older sibling.
A beautiful sighting in the morning sun!
When we left the Thanda Lodge this evening we spotted this Leopard walking down the road. What a start to a game drive!
PS: I will never again complain about my Leopard sightings in Kwazulu Natal. I was very lucky lately 🙂
… not a gun, but a point and shoot camera.
This young female Leopard was standing in the road when I drove towards the Thanda Royal Private Villa. She was curious and waited for me to get closer. She then turned around and walked in front of me for a while before she disappeared into the bush.
I was glad that I always have a point and shoot camera with me, so I got some pictures. Not the greatest quality, but it is evidence 🙂
What a sighting!
… and here is a short video of the young Leopard : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWBd7Ml9moI
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 