Work in the bush for 20 years and you may never see this. Probably one of the worst photos ever to grace the Week in Pictures, but certainly one of the most amazing moments. The Tailed Tsalala lioness carries one of her cubs through the twilight as she leads them to a kill for the first time. Low light meant a very low shutter speed, and as we weren’t about to use the spotlight on very young cubs (the other three were tagging along behind), I just snapped one anyway to capture a reminder of the moment. f3.2, 1/80, ISO 800

The Thickbilled Cuckoo is a very special bird to see. There were actually two of them in this sighting, most likely a male and a female, and this was probably only the fourth or fifth time I have ever seen this species. They are migratory, coming down from North and West Africa for the Summer, but these two have arrived quite a bit earlier than we would have expected. f3.5, 1/6400, ISO 320

Wild dogs from the pack of 8 (that we were ironically looking for in the Dudley Riverbank/Camp Pan sighting of two days ago) delight in each others company as they reunite after a successful hunt. f2.8, 1/1250, ISO 400

An African Fish Eagle soars majestically over the Sand River. The pair that nests across the River from Granite Camp have been successfully raising a chick this year, faring better than last year when their nest was raided by a large male leopard. f6.3, 1/6400, ISO 500

This point in the Sand River is rather appropriately named ‘Old Elephant Crossing. Go figure. f8, 1/800, ISO 500

Summer’s creatures are starting to appear in greater and greater numbers as the weather heats up. This tiny frog was found next to the Pioneer Camp car park as we waited to depart on morning game drive. It was still quite gloomy, so with Mike shining the spotlight I was able to capture a shot with a Macro lens. f5.6, 1/320, ISO 2000

This poor lioness from the Mhangeni Pride had 7 little cubs vying for suckling rights on her 4 teats. As you can see, she was NOT impressed, yet whenever she tried to move off she was followed religiously by the hungry things, not allowed a moment’s peace. f8, 1/500, ISO 400

A tender moment between cub and mother in the Mhangeni Pride as they settle in for the day on the cool sand of the Sand River. f5, 1/1000, ISO 400

A Fiery-necked Nightjar alights on a thorny branch next to the road. It’s rictal bristles can clearly be seen in this photo. These modified feathers supposedly help funnel insects into the mouth. f2.8, 1/640, ISO 1600

A rare visitor to Londolozi, the Piva female is occasionaly seen in our Southern areas. On this day she had caught a duiker near Weaver’s Nest Pan and hoisted it into a Weeping Boer-Bean tree. f2.8, 1/800, ISO 640

The South Pride is a pride we don’t often see. They were far into Londolozi on this day, following the large herd of buffalo that were in the area. I like the South Pride for their wide range of shapes and sizes. Adult females, sub-adults and young males provide a wonderful variety of lions in this, the biggest pride in the Sabi Sands. f3.2, 1/800, ISO 800

Fresh blood dripping from it’s mouth and chin, and resembling the Joker from Batman in a rather uncanny way, this hyena had just robbed the male cheetah of his impala kill. The cheetah had barely had time to catch his breath before the hyena, coming to investigate the alarm calls of the rest of the impala herd, came sniffing in to steal a free breakfast. f5, 1/1250, ISO 640

A weevil. Don’t ask me what species, but I will try to find out. This tiny little critter was crawling along the rifle rack on the front of the Land Rover as we stopped for coffee this morning, providing a perfect opportunity to get the Macro lens out and take some shots. f10, 1/640, ISO 1600

The Tamboti female and her cub explore a fallen Jacket Plum as they head East towards an impala kill the adult female has made. f3.5, 1/1250, ISO 800

The pair line up together for a drink and a wonderful photographic moment at Gert’s Pan. This was less than 200m from where the wild dogs were lying and we believe the leopards had actually been chased by them earlier, as when ranger Greg Pingo first found the female she had been calling urgently for her cub. I simply kept my shutter button depressed, shooting at high speed, hoping to capture both tongues out at the same time. f3.5, 1/800, ISO 800