wildlife – Page 152 – Christian Sperka Photography

2012-12-252012-12-25

Christmas and New Year in South Africa

Quite a few people have asked me how I spend my Christmas and New Year at Thanda. The answer is simple: Working…

This is one of the busiest times of the year at a game reserve as many guests want to spend a special “Wildlife” Christmas or New Year.

But – as I enjoy being in the bush and guiding people in this beautiful Big Five reserve – working over the holidays is not a sacrifice.

Yesterday I went with two guest families to the Elephant interaction at Bayete Game Reserve. This is one of the regular excursion we do with our guests. Everyone enjoyed interacting with Rambo, Rachel and Jabulani. These three “semi-wild” Elephants which roam freely on the game reserve show up every day for their “human interaction”.

I hope all of you enjoy the festive season, wherever you are!

2012-12-212012-12-21

Leopard Week at Thanda

It is hard to believe but I had four great Leopard sightings in one week. That is more than in the six month since I started working at Thanda.

Today’s sighting was especially good. The young Leopard in the picture above stayed around a waterhole for half an hour and then joined a second Leopard in the bush nearby.

Below are pictures of all five Leopards which featured in this week’s sightings 🙂

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

2012-12-202012-12-20

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2013

With my best wishes for the holiday season from South Africa – Christian

PS: The picture is of one of the North Pride Lion cubs at Thanda Private Game Reserve …

.. and the reason why I have not blogged since 16 December is that my internet connection was down for a few days.

2012-12-152012-12-15

Without the Five (3) – Black on White or White on Black?

White stripes on black background or black stripes on white background?

It was previously believed that Zebras were white animals with black stripes, since some Zebras have white underbellies. Embryological evidence, however, shows that the animal’s background color is black and the white stripes and bellies are additions.

The pattern on every Zebra is unique, very much like fingerprints. And sometimes the white stripes are wider or narrower. The faint stripe in between the black and white is called a “shadow stripe” and is typical for the Burchell’s Zebra (a sub-species of the Plains Zebra).

These images are part of my “Without the Five” series:

Each image features a species, which is usually not in the safari limelight. So they will be no images of Lions, Leopard, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalo, Cheetahs …

Enjoy the “without the Five” series

2012-12-132012-12-13

Sparring!

While I was filing images which I have taken over the last few weeks I came across this picture of an Elephant Bull fight.

I remember that we were quite close to these two young bulls when they started sparring. Ignoring us completely they impressed the Thanda guests on my vehicle with their strength and fighting skills.

2012-12-042012-12-04

Leopard!

Today we had an excellent Leopard sighting on Thanda. This beautiful large male was first hiding in thick bush but then decided to rest in the open. He had a few wounds which suggests that he has been in a fight recently.

On the same game drive we saw Elephants and Lions. A very productive afternoon 🙂

2012-11-302012-11-30

Observed!

I do not often post two pictures of the same series (bush photo shoot :-)), but after looking through all my images from that afternoon I really liked this picture of a Lion cub, being observed by Thanda guests from a game viewer.

2012-08-14

Silent Night!

What a night!

After I finished my evening game drive and after a quick meal at Intebane camp I was ready to go home. It was a dark, warm night with many stars overhead.

Just when I left the camp I heard a Lion’s roar nearby. Just a few hundred meters (yards 🙂 up the road a large male Lion walked towards me in the dark. Once he appeared in my headlights I switched them off, stopped the engine and watched him passing my vehicle just within a few meters (using my red-filtered spotlight).

I turned my car around and started following him. He made his way around the camp and moved to a dried-up waterhole in the valley below. On his way he stopped a few times to listen to the voices from the camp and to scent-mark along the road. He finally settled down in the middle of the waterhole. I switched off my car and my lights and I did let me eyes get used to the dark.

I stay with him for a while – looking at the stars in total silence – just a few meters away from one of the most magnificent creatures on earth.

That is why I love Africa!

2012-06-27

Lion Chase!

Today we had a very interesting Lion sighting. The picture above suggests that this beautiful male Lion was chasing one of our Land Rovers.

He was not!

He was following three other male Lions on a neighbouring reserve up and down the fence. A lot of growling and snarling made for a very impressive “show” for our photography volunteers.

Enjoy the pictures!

2012-06-12

Greetings after a day in the city!

When I returned this afternoon from Richards Bay, a city about 1.5 hours away from Thanda, a troop of Vervet Monkeys greeted me at Thanda House. One of them kept alarm-calling. He obviously did not trust me 🙂

A short while later a herd of Buffalo moved from East to West along the fence. When I got a bit closer to get some pictures they all focused on me for while and then lost interest and kept grasing and moving.

Tommorrow I will get my game viewing vehicle and I will start driving on the reserve learning the roads (and probably getting lost a few times in the process :-).

Good night!