The Week In Pictures #650 – Londolozi Blog

We found the Jacana Female in an unfamiliar territory. We found her in the central parts of Londolozi, to be more specific in the Ximungwe Female’s territory. We often find the Jacana Female in the southwestern parts of Londolozi. Is she looking to establish her territory here or is she looking for a mate?

The Jacana Female walking through the golden grass during sunset. The purpose of this photo was to try and get the glow outlining her body. It is not often that we can get a photo of her as she is often skittish so I was glad to capture her relaxed.

It is always hard to get a portrait of a painted dog as they hardly sit still. In this photo not only did I finally manage to capture a painted dog standing still but I think it is an interesting shot because the patchy light in the background looks similar to the patches of this painted dog. A testament to their camouflage.

A newborn elephant calf, with pink ears and blue eyes. This calf could only be a few hours old. Mother elephants cannot lick off the afterbirth on the calf, instead, they try to cover the calf with sand to mask the scent and clean it. This could be the reason for this calf’s greyish tint.

The Nkoveni Female and her two cubs. The cubs are now at an age where they are stalking anything that moves, in this case, it is their poor mother.

A giraffe calf stands near its mom as she feeds. Giraffe mothers are usually docile animals but when their calves are under threat they become very aggressive in protecting them. Usually, the mother will stand over her calf and use her front legs to kick the threat demonstrating the bonds between mothers and calves.

The golden glow of the Sand River. The sun was setting and a herd of elephants came down to drink in the Sand River leaving a trail of dust behind. As a wildlife photographer, you are always looking for the perfect shot with animals in perfect light or in the mist. You look at the landscape around you wishing that an animal will emerge into the shot but we sometimes forget that the landscape can also be the shot. I personally love this shot as it is an appreciation of the land and its beauty, even without the elephants in it.

A pile of lions. A Kambula Lioness is greeted by the cubs. I am always amazed by the bonds they share.

A Yellow-billed Stork fishing. As this stork was walking through the water it chased a fish around using its wings to make sharp turns while attempting to catch the fish with its bill.

The Nkuwa Female glares at an impala herd in the distance. She had just left her two male cubs to go and hunt. She climbed a marula tree to scan for prey.

The Xinkhova Female has been seen every now and then around the Sand River. She has been chased a few times by the Three Rivers Female, so it will be interesting to see where she will start to establish her own territory. We all hope she sticks around.

The new moon in the sunset. To me, this scene looks like it is from a movie set on another planet.

An elephant calf smelling us while we watch it feed in the golden light. This scene, to me, looks like it should be in an enchanted fairytale book.

The Kambula Cubs. I am amazed at these younger Kambula Cubs’ resilience, a few months ago they were looking skinny and had mange (A skin disease caused by mites causing them to lose their fur) but now they are looking very healthy and like real fluff balls.

A male elephant shakes a torchwood tree. Torchwood trees are starting to fruit and elephants will shake the tree so that the fruits will fall on the ground for them to feed on.

The Nkoveni Female collects her cubs that were waiting for her in the safety of a dry riverbed. The cubs came running to greet her as she called for them softly.

The Nkoveni Female had just finished feeding on a kill that she had left stashed in a jackalberry tree so when the cubs came to greet her they could smell the fresh blood on her. This caused them to lead the way with excitement.

While the Nkoveni Female’s cubs were greeting mom they also took the chance to stalk and play with each other as they walked down the dry riverbed.

The young male cub took the chance to grab Mom’s tail as she stopped and listened. A mother leopard’s tail always seems to be an easy target for cubs to learn to stalk.

One of the Ndzhenga Males looks up at circling vultures. Often lions will follow the vultures if they see that they are starting to descend and land in an area knowing that there could be possible food for them to steal and eat.

An elephant herd following their matriarch. As the role of the matriarch, she must lead her herd to water and food down the paths that she was taught by her ancestors.

Another portrait of a painted dog from the same pack. If you look closely you can see it has wet fur. Luckily for me, I was able to catch another painted dog still as it briefly stopped to rest after playing in the water with the rest of the pack. Often painted dogs will lie or play in shallow water to cool off and maybe just have fun, who knows but whatever the reason it is always fun to watch.