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African Cape Buffalo (male). The African Cape Buffalo is considered the most dangerous animal in Africa, and is often referred to as "the Black Death." Cape Buffalo are one of "The Big Five," the five animals considered the most dangerous and difficult to hunt. The others are the elephant, rhino, lion and leopard.
Got really close to this lioness out on the Chobe floodplain.
Lion
Pantera leo
Chobe National Park, Botswana
Sri Lanka's Big Five - Blue Whale, Asian Elephant, Sperm Whale, Leopard and Sloth Bear.
Outside the continent of Africa, the tiny island of Sri Lanka is the next best for Big Game Safaris.
Jetwing Eco Holidays are the first Sri Lankan tour operator to run 'The Big Five Tour'. Visit www.jetwingeco.com and click on the 'tours' page for more information on the Sri Lanka Big Five Tour.
African Cape Buffalo (male). The African Cape Buffalo is considered the most dangerous animal in Africa, and is often referred to as "the Black Death." Cape Buffalo are one of "The Big Five," the five animals considered the most dangerous and difficult to hunt. The others are the elephant, rhino, lion and leopard.
This is Africa’s ‘upside down’ tree with an incredible number of uses and is known as the Tree of Life.
It provides shelter, food and water for animal and human inhabitants of the vast African Savannah.
The cork-like bark is fire resistant and is used for rope and cloth.
The fruit is rich in Vitamin C.
It is a source of water in the dry winter months, with a capacity of storing hundreds of litres of water.
The age of some of these remarkable trees have been dated at over 2000 years old.
White Rhino at a watering hole. White and Black Rhino are both the same color. The names are misnomers. There are two species of rhinos. One species are grazers that eat grasses and ground plants. The other are browsers that eat leaves from trees and bushes. The grazers have a broad face with a wide mouth to take in as much grass as possible.The browsers have a narrow pointed face in order to reach between the branches of bushes to get to the leaves. The name given to the grazers, White Rhino, is actually a corruption of the Dutch word for "wide." To distinguish the two, the browser species became known as Black Rhinos.
He was actually so close that I hardly could catch him with my long lens any more...
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Do not use, copy or edit any of my images without my written permission.
African Lion (male). We encountered this young male lion just after he had been in a battle with another lion. There is still blood on his muzzle and chin, and his right ear has been mauled. Our guide Kenny said that he had probably been in a fight over females and that since he was alone, he had lost the fight.
a Big story behind this Lioness........This Lioness is mother of two cubs which she left behind in the bush safely before going for a kill,she seemed very tired and hungry and weak.I followed her all along since I saw her,she was on her way to a large herd of Zebra,hiding in the valley luckily she made an attempt on the Zebra and made a very close encounter BUT the Zebra was faster and escaped Death..!!!!!
I followed her for almost one hour all the way,until she tried another attempt on an Impala and it flopped. I could feel she was weak and lacked speed,after a while I saw two young Lions approached her and after a bit of a grumble they rested together,they were her two year old boys...What a an adventure I experienced this time.All this was in Nairobi National Park.. Kenya
THE CHEETAH
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that is unique in its speed, while lacking climbing abilities. As such, it is placed in its own genus, Acinonyx. The word "cheetah" is derived from the Sanskrit word chitrakāyaḥ, meaning "variegated body", via the Hindi चीता cītā.
The fastest land animal, it can accelerate from 0 to 110 km/h in three seconds and reach speeds up to 120 km/h for short bursts covering distances up to 460 m.
Often mistaken for the leopard, the cheetah does have distinguishing features, such as the long "tear-streak" lines that run from the corners of its eyes to its mouth. The body frame of the cheetah is quite different from the leopard, most notably it is thinner and has a longer tail, and unlike the leopard, its spots are not arranged into rosettes.
DESCRIPTION
The cheetah's chest is deep and its waist is narrow. It's coarse, short fur s tan with round black spots measuring from 2 to 3 cm (0.79 to 1.2 in) across, affording it some camouflage while hunting. There are no spots on its white underside, but the tail has spots, which merge to form four to six dark rings at the end. The tail usually ends in a bushy white tuft. The cheetah has a small head with high-set eyes. Black "tear marks" run from the corner of its eyes down the sides of the nose to its mouth to keep sunlight out of its eyes and to aid in hunting and seeing long distances.
The adult cheetah weighs from 40 to 65 kg (88 to 140 lb). Its total body length is from 115 to 135 cm (45 to 53 in), while the tail can measure up to 84 cm (33 in) in length. Males tend to be slightly larger than females and have slightly bigger heads, but there is not a great variation in cheetah sizes and it is difficult to tell males and females apart by appearance alone. Compared to a similarly-sized leopard, the cheetah is generally shorter-bodied, but is longer tailed and taller (it averages about 90 cm (35 in) tall) and so it appears more streamlined.
Some cheetahs also have a rare fur pattern mutation: cheetahs with larger, blotchy, merged spots are known as 'king cheetahs'. It was once thought to be a separate subspecies, but it is merely a mutation of the African cheetah. The 'king cheetah' has only been seen in the wild a handful of times, but it has been bred in captivity.
The cheetah's paws have semi-retractable claws(known only in three other cat species) offering the cat extra grip in its high-speed pursuits. The ligament structure of the cheetah's claws is the same as those of other cats; it simply lacks the sheath of skin and fur present in other varieties, and therefore the claws are always visible, with the exception of the dewclaw. The dewclaw itself is much shorter and straighter than other cats.
Adaptations that enable the cheetah to run as fast as it does include large nostrils that allow for increased oxygen intake, and an enlarged heart and lungs that work together to circulate oxygen efficiently. During a typical chase its respiratory rate increases from 60 to 150 breaths per minute. While running, in addition to having good traction due to its semi-retractable claws, the cheetah uses its tail as a rudder-like means of steering to allow it to make sharp turns.
Unlike "true" big cats, the cheetah can purr as it inhales, but cannot roar. By contrast, the big cats can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling.
The cheetah is a vulnerable species. Out of all the big cats, it is the least able to adapt to new environments. It has always proved difficult to breed in captivity, although recently a few zoos have managed to succeed at this. Once widely hunted for its fur, the cheetah now suffers more from the loss of both habitat and prey.
INTER-SPECIFIC PREDATORY RELATIONSHIPS
Cheetahs are outranked by all the other large predators in most of their range. Because they are designed for extreme bursts of short speed at the expense of both power and the ability to climb trees, they cannot defend themselves against most of Africa's other predator species. They avoid fighting typically and will surrender a kill immediately to even a single hyena, rather than risk any injury, as anything that slows them down is essentially life threatening. The cheetah's death rate is very high during the early weeks of its life; up to 90% of cheetah cubs are killed during this time by lions, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, or even by eagles. Cheetah cubs often hide in thick brush for safety. Mother cheetahs will defend their young and are at times successful in driving predators away from their cubs. Coalitions of male cheetahs can also chase away other predators, depending on the coalition size and the size and number of the predator. Because of its speed, a healthy adult cheetah has no predators.
A cheetah has a 50% chance of losing its kills to other predators. Cheetahs avoid competition by hunting at different times of the day and by eating immediately after the kill.
DIET and HUNTING
The cheetah is a carnivore, eating mostly mammals under 40 kg, including the Thomson's Gazelle, the Grant's gazelle, the springbok and the impala. The young of larger mammals such as wildebeests and zebras are taken at times, and adults too, when the cats hunt in groups. Guineafowl and hares are also prey. While the other big cats mainly hunt by night, the cheetah is a diurnal hunter. It hunts usually either early in the morning or later in the evening when it is not so hot, but there is still enough light.
The cheetah hunts by vision rather than by scent. Prey is stalked to within 10–30 m (33–98 ft), then chased. This is usually over in less than a minute, and if the cheetah fails to make a catch quickly, it will give up. The cheetah has an average hunting success rate of around 50% - half of its chases result in failure.
Running at speeds up to 70 miles puts a great deal of strain on the cheetah's body. When sprinting, the cheetah's body temperature becomes so high that it would be deadly to continue - this is why the cheetah is often seen resting after it has caught its prey. If it is a hard chase, it sometimes needs to rest for half an hour or more. The cheetah kills its prey by tripping it during the chase, then biting it on the underside of the throat to suffocate it, for the cheetah is not strong enough to break the necks of the four-legged prey it mainly hunts. The bite may also puncture a vital artery in the neck. Then the cheetah proceeds to devour its catch as quickly as possible before the kill is taken by stronger predators.
The diet of a cheetah is dependent upon the area in which it lives. For example, on the East African plains, its preferred prey is the Thomson's Gazelle. This small antelope is shorter than the cheetah (about 58–70 cm (23–28 in) tall and 70–107 cm (28–42 in) long), and also cannot run faster than the cheetah (only up to 80 km/h (50 mph)), which combine to make it an appropriate prey. Cheetahs look for individuals which have strayed some distance from their group, and do not necessarily seek out old or weak ones.
Excepted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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MALA MALA
MalaMala is the oldest and largest private game reserve in South Africa. One of the first areas of private land to switch from hunting to conservation, it is spread over 70 sq miles of the Mpumalanga Lowveld. The property shares a 12 mile unfenced border with Kruger National Park and contains the longest stretch of the Sand River of any of the Sabi Sand resorts. Its varied habitats - riverine forest, acacia bushveld, and savannah - support a broad selection of wildlife, and provide excellent opportunities for spotting the Big 5 (Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion & Rhinoceros).
Upon checking in, your game ranger will greet you and accompany you throughout your stay. The rangers, selected for their knowledge of African plant, animal, and bird-life, oversee your personal service. They will be your guide for your twice daily, four-hour game drives, sit with you at meals and impart their knowledge of African wildlife with stories about the individual behavior of animals within the MalaMala reserve.
Game drives are conducted in an open safari vehicle, accompanied by a professional Shangaan tracker. Despite the refined attention to detail, you are immediately aware that you are in Africa and that the unexpected may happen. Breakdowns and stuck vehicles are a hazard of driving through donga and bush, but the staff handles this with aplomb. Radio contact, a large reserve, and excellent guides enhance the probability of seeing the big five. The camp also offers guided bush walks.
African Cape Buffalo (male). The African Cape Buffalo is considered the most dangerous animal in Africa, and is often referred to as "the Black Death." Cape Buffalo are one of "The Big Five," the five animals considered the most dangerous and difficult to hunt. The others are the elephant, rhino, lion and leopard.
African Lion (male). We encountered this young male lion just after he had been in a battle with another lion. There is still blood on his muzzle and chin, and his right ear has been mauled. Our guide Kenny said that he had probably been in a fight over females and that since he was alone, he had lost the fight.