Tag: wildlife

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2019-11-10: Amongst the herd

Sometimes on safari, the vehicle is stopped to watch a small group of elephants, and quite suddenly, you find yourself in the middle of a rather large herd, with elephants to all sides of the vehicle as they make their way through the bush.  I feel incredibly blessed as this has happened to me numerous times while out on game drives.  For some people, the situation can feel a bit intimidating, but I always trust that my guide is reading the situation correctly, and has an exit strategy prepared in case things get dicey.

Thankfully, we’ve never had to use one of those, and instead can enjoy elephants as far as the eye can see.

I hope you enjoy my selections for today, and wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

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Part of a breeding herd of elephants that were moving back into the bushes after being down at the river for a drink.  All of the dust in the air had been kicked up by others elephants passing by.  We had thick bush to both sides, so we just sat and waited until this group moved off the road before carrying on our way.  Tinga Lodge, May 2019.
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This is the closest I have ever seen to the cute drawings of baby elephants hanging on to Mom’s tail.  This was just a fortunate flick of Mom’s tail and the baby moving its trunk at the right time.  These two were part of a massive herd that we spent time with at Kings Camp in the Timbavati.
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A few more elephants from the large herd at Kings Camp.  We saw this group a couple times during our stay, but because the ground is fairly flat with short, bushy trees, there was no way to really capture the scope of the herd.  Groups of a half dozen or so was all I could accomplish.  There were so many little babies in this group, it was heartwarming to see such a baby boom.
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The fading late afternoon light wasn’t great for photography, but sitting with this herd while on a game drive from Chitwa Chitwa was a lot of fun.  We had a couple of safari newbies on our vehicle, and their reaction to how close the elephants came to us while grazing was great.  Lots of gasps and excited whispers from the back of the vehicle!
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Another situation where there were elephants in all directions, but only opportunities to capture a few individuals at a time.  But this adorable baby!  Just look at that face!
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2019-11-04: Monochrome Monday

While staying at Lion Sands River Lodge, we set out on our afternoon game drive and came across a small bachelor group of elephants.  These four broke off into pairs, play fighting as the day grew dim, while a couple of other bulls grazed nearby.  It’s so cool watching the interaction of these animals.

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Happy Monday everyone!

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2019-11-03: Baby Elephants

My focus for the month is on elephant images, and I decided to start off with some of the adorable babies that I saw on my last safari.

I’ve had the great fortune to spend time amongst the shy ones, the boisterous ones, the playful ones and the ones too focused on food to even give the vehicle a passing glance.  I adore them all.  I hope that the individual character of each animal shines through these images below.

Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead!

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This little elephant was having a blast playing with this branch.  Waving his trunk while holding it, smacking itself on the sides with the branch, and at one point, tossing it in the air and having it land on its head, wearing it like a leafy crown.
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When you’re hungry, you’re hungry.  Even if that means creating a bit of a traffic jam for the herd behind you.
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This little elephant seems to be very proud of the stick that it is holding.
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Another elephant calf with a stick.  Fetch anyone???
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This was the first group of elephants I saw on my trip.  Being around these beautiful animals makes me incredibly happy.  The elephant baby boom we witnessed at all the properties we stayed at was just amazing.  There were babies everywhere, and so many of them, in large herds.

 

 

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2019-10-14: Monochrome Monday

For some reason, lions were calling to me today, so that’s the feature of monochrome Monday for the week.  These images were from a few different lion sightings on my most recent trip to South Africa.  I hope you enjoy, and wishing you a fantastic week!

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The Torchwood pride spent one day around Chitwa Chitwa, and we were fortunate enough to see the whole pride on the move, both in the morning, when this image was taken, and long after dark the same evening, where instead of trying to take pictures, I just sat back and enjoyed watching the lions walking under the light of a full moon.
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A lone lioness moving through the bush.
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An impressive male lion.
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2019-10-13: Leopards

I finished off last Sunday’s post with the promise of sharing a few more leopard images this week, and here they are.

I was fortunate enough to spend time with this mother leopard and her cub on a couple of different occasions, in slightly different areas, providing a nice variety of images.  All the ones shared today though were taken on the same morning.

I hope you enjoy the selection below.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving today; I hope you have the opportunity to share the day with people that you care about, and can take some time to reflect on all the things to be thankful for.

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Five seconds that felt more like five minutes.  This tracker remained calm and completely still when the leopard stopped by and checked him out. 
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Once Mom was away from the kill in the tree, and out in the open, the cub came out of hiding.
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Greetings between mama and her cub.
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I like to share images like this to show the reality of a lot of leopard sightings, which is often viewing them through trees, tall grass or other obstructions.  Still beautiful to see (of course!) and it makes the moments when they are completely out in the open that much more special.
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Something startled Mom and caused her to sit straight up and look around; the cub is quite indifferent and sniffing an interesting spot of grass (which reminds me of walks with my dog!)
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2019-10-07: Monochrome Monday

I think a lot of times, the antelope species seen while on safari get a bit ignored, as many guests want to focus on finding the Big 5 or Magnificent 7.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love those as well, but I do also enjoy stopping to watch the antelope going about their day.

Nyala are beautiful animals.  The males have curving horns and a shaggy coat on the underside of their necks.  The females are smaller and more lightly coloured (almost the same colouring as an impala).  Both feature white facial markings, and subtle stripes on their backs.

So why monochrome?  It just seemed to fit the images (and it gave me something to post today!)

I hope everyone is having a great start to the week!

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An older image that has been in my edited file for quite some time.  This mother and her calf were lounging the mid afternoon away in the undergrowth outside of my tent at Ngala Lodge.  I just loved the expression on the nyala’s face, like she is saying hi.

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This guy wandered right up to my deck at Lion Sands River Lodge while I was sitting outside having a cup of tea and reading my book.  He obviously felt safe and knew I was no threat to him, and he peacefully grazed while I snapped a few photos.
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