The Big Five Blog

The Big Five animals are the animals that where the most dangerous to hunt. Not necessarily the prettiest animals in the bush.  This blog is devoted to the big five, Elephants, Lions, Leopards, Rhinos, and Cape Buffalo.

Baby Zebra killed was placed in a tree by the Leopard.

The Leopard took his kill up a tree to protect it from the Hyenas. 

This male leopard is the dominate male for this part of the Kruger Reserve.

A large male Rhino.  All of the reserves have asked that I not identify where I took my Rhino pictures.  About 900 rhinos have been killed in South Africa this year for their horns.

These young males where waiting for mom to bring her kill to them.  In another year they will be forced out of the pride. They will need to hunt for themselves and avoid the dominate male lion.

Cape Buffalo are very aggressive when wounded. They have killed many a hunter. 

This lion walked within two feet of the vehicle. No cropping in this image.

Impressive size and still growing.

Two younger elephants.

Large Bull Elephant. They spray mud on themselves to reduce the number of bugs and for sunscreen.

A herd of Cape Buffalo. They say there must be 50 plus Cape Buffalo in a herd before you can place them in an environment with lions.

Panning shot of a lion cub. This picture was taking late at night with a slow shutter speed to blur the background. I was lucky enough to get a sharp head.  I am not showing you that 10 that didn't work.

Baby Male Rhino.This will be my last blog from this trip to South Africa. I have enjoyed almost five weeks here but I am ready to head home.  I have thousands of pictures to work through and lots of great memories. One more day of game drives and then it will be time to give my shutter finger a rest.

The African Bird Blog

We just completed our two week visit to Christie's Kamp at the Makalali Game Reserve.  Our accommodations were very good but electricity was a luxury and there was no internet. So I am just now getting a chance to put out another blog. I know there are a few birders out there so this is the Bird Blog. I will post a big five blog tomorrow.There are some average pictures in this group but I wanted you to see a good sampling of the bird variety here.

A male Ostrich can have up to eight females in his harem.

Black Winged Stilt 

Dipkop

Steppe Buzzard

Helmeted Guineafowl

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Levaillant's Cuckoo

Green Backed Woodhoopoe - Shot in poor light just before sunrise.

Tawny Eagle

Jackal Buzzards - One arriving as the nest as one leaves.

Hammerkop

Yellow Weaver - The male builds the next. The female has final approval. If she doesn't like the nest she tears it apart and the male builds a new one.

Giant Kingfisher

I used a flash to capture this Tawny Eagle on an overcast cloudy day. Then I used photoshop to put it into a nice blue sky with the moon. The background shot was taken earlier in the week.

Red Created Korhaan - These guys fly straight up into the air. Fold their wings against their body and plummet back to earth. Right before landed they place their legs down and open their wings.

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Woodlands Kingfisher - The one Kingfisher that doesn't eat fish.

A Yellow Billed Hornbill - Not a great picture, but this guy worked for 20 minutes trying to get this over-sized frog down his small throat.  He never suceeded but didn't want to give up his prize. 

White Backed Vulture

Lilac Breasted Roller and my favorite bird picture so far.

Little Bee Eater

Red Headed Weaver

Hooded Vulture

European Bee Eaters

European Nightjar - You usually only see these at night when it is too dark to get a good picture. This one was napping right next to the road. They use the long hairs on their chin to feel for their food.

Cape Glossy Starling. When the sun is shining these birds look amazing. Their feathers are about the equivalent of metalic paint. 

Black Bellied Korhaan. This bird is about three times as big at the othe Korhaan.

Bateluer Eagle. 

That's all for this blog.