This is a speedy one minute Thanda Safari with a herd of Wildebeest on the way to having a drink at a waterhole.
Have a good evening 😊
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THE EVENING POST – ONE MINUTE
THE MORNING POST – SMELLY PUPPIES
It was a long time ago when I took this picture of 15 cute Wild Dog puppies. Whenever we tracked Wild Dogs in the past we could smell them before we could hear them or see them. They are cute, but very smelly 😊
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THE EVENING POST – RARE ONES
Here are the IDs for this mornings little quiz: Aardwolf, Bush Baby (Brown Thick-tailed Galago), Bat-eared Fox, Bushpig and African Civet. And we had sightings of Bush Babies and Bushpigs on Thanda Safari.
This picture is my favorite Bushpig picture which I took many years ago.
Have a good week!
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THE MORNING POST – ID?
Most of my posts are about mammals and birds regularly seen on Thanda Safari, my home and work place for the last eight years. But today’s post is about some of my rarer pictures taken over the last 20 years in Southern Africa. Can you ID them and can you tell which two of these five mammals occur on Thanda, even if they are seen very rarely ?
Let’s see who gets it right 😊
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THE EVENING POST – THE SMALL CARNIVORES
Most of my carnivores pictures are of Lions, Cheetahs and the occasional Leopards. Hyenas and Jackals also often featured in my posts.
But there are many more little hunters on Thanda. This is a picture of the smallest member of the order carnivoria, a Slender Mongoose, which one usually only sees sprinting across the road. This one stayed a bit for a photo shoot.
Have a good evening 😊
And in case you are interested this is a list of all 16 carnivore species on the reserve:
Order: Carnivoria
1 African Lion
2 Leopard
3 Spotted Hyena
4 Cheetah
5 Brown Hyena
6 Caracal
7 Serval
8 Honey Badger
9 Black-backet Jackal
10 Side-striped Jackal
11 White-tailed Mongoose
12 Water (Marsh) Mongoose
13 South-African Large Spotted Genet
14 Banded Mongoose
15 Striped Polecat (Zorilla)
16 Slender Mongoose
Have a good evening!
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THE MORNING POST – A LITTLE FIGHT
This morning’s picture is one from my archives. I took this image of Southern African Ground Squirrels during my trip to Namibia’s Etosha National Park ten years ago.
I had to lie flat on the ground to get on eye level with them, which was much easier to do at the time then it is now 😊.
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THE EVENING POST – CROSSING THE ROAD
Let’s make this Elephant week with my fourth Ellie post.
Today this bull calmly crossed the road right in front of me. I love to be close to these impressive creatures. As he approached I backed up a bit and made space for him to cross without changing his direction. He gave me a ‘smell’ with his trunk and a good look before he crossed.
Have a good weekend!
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THE MORNING POST – OBSTINACY
You can almost see this Cape Buffalo calf thinking: ‘what are you looking at?’ – Very fitting for an animal whose group name is obstinacy!
Have a good weekend 😊
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THE EVENING POST – JUST TOO CUTE
This picture was just too cute. I had to post it even if we are having a bit of an Elephant week 🐘
The picture was taken with my iPhone at the Thanda Safari Lodge.
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THE MORNING POST – ASKARIS
Askaris are a group of young Elephants found in the company of an old bull. As Bheki and I drove back in my SUV from Villa iZulu to Base Camp we encountered these Askaris crossing the road.
I had to back up a little to make space for the old bull coming from the side. It might sound and look threatening but these young bulls were busy with one another and had no interest in us and the old gentlemen just passed by without even looking our way. You can see that his arrival alone calms down the young bulls immediately.
Observe the low-rumble communication. A perfect Elephant encounter 🐘
PS: The mystery bird from yesterday’s evening post was a male Golden Breasted Bunting 🐦
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