You wouldn’t say so, because buffalo traverse in large herds, but they are actually quite hard to find. After an afternoon speeding from one end of the Thornybush Game Reserve to the other, we finally found this old, angry, solitary male glaring at us after he had to get up from his personal spot on the beach. Hrmph.
Tag: nature photography
Cubs
One of the highlights of our trip was finding this mother lion with two cubs in a river bed. At this age – maybe three months old – they are still reliant on mother’s milk and too little to engage in the hunt with the rest of the pride, so mother will hide them for long periods to go hunting and come back for feeding and play time.
Falling…
A leopard dozing in a tree above us. In fact, he was dozing so hard that he lost his balance and needed some claw action to prevent him from falling out of the tree and on top of… well, me. That was a scary moment!
At first sight
It was a long journey from the Netherlands to Tangala Safari Camp in #Thornybush Nature Reserve. We were just in time to catch the departure of the afternoon safari drive – and this was the first picture I took. What a welcome in South Africa!
On second glance
Sometimes you take a photo and you come back home and it just doesn’t do anything for you. If that’s the case, it may be worthwhile to take a second look at it a couple weeks later. This one matured pretty well!
Jansberg
Recharging my batteries today by taking a long walk to my favorite spot. It’s still winter, the trees are bare, but still so beautiful!
In transit
Work has begun, and my commute brings me past many beautiful sights – taken by phone through dirty train windows. Here is a selection.
Madeira 12: Boaventura
Our final levada hike! In the northern part of Madeira there is more rain, but we were lucky with the weather again. Not with the levada, though, because a boulder had fallen onto the ledge and we couldn’t pass. It took us a bit to find a way around. In the end, it was more than worth it. Watch the video for the amazing views!
Madeira 11: Encumeada
We had planned to hike along an old trading route, the Caminho Real, but unfortunately there were roadworks with heavy machinery happening there and the road was closed. But nowadays it’s easy to find another hike on the many hiking apps, so we soon set out for a 9 km circular walk near Encumeada.
This walk started along another levada, and this time we would have to face the tunnels as well. The tunnels are passable, but you need a torch and some surefootedness! We were rewarded with some stunning waterfalls, so it was well worth it.
As we turned our backs to the levada and headed down into the valley, we found out what happens to the water in those waterfalls: it becomes a wild stream. We managed to cross one, but eventually we came to a river that was impassable. At this point we were about 7 km into our hike, and we saw no other option than to turn back.
The clouds are never far away in the Madeira highlands, so as we climbed back up, it started getting misty. In the video you see the same waterfall as in the pictures, but now it looked very different! We fortunately made it back in time to our car. Lesson learned: do not try to cross rivers in the rainy season!
Awesome wonder 