About ...

Christian Sperka is a wildlife photographer based at Thanda Private Game Reserve, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa (www.thanda.com)

He works as a Specialist Photography Guide and Field Guide (Ranger) on Thanda and also teaches wildlife photography at the reserve. Any Thanda guest can request a complementary photography session with Christian. He will help with the correct camera setup and the most important rules of wildlife photography.

Christian teaches photography according to his “Nine Basic Rules of Wildlife/Motion Photography” under the motto “keep it simple”.

Over the last 11 years, Christian has traveled the world photographing animals in wild game reserves of South Africa and Namibia, the jungles of Costa Rica, in Yellowstone National Park in the USA, as well as zoos in Europe and the United States. His work has been featured in wildlife magazines, in books and in many zoo publications.

From 2009 to 2012 he has worked as the official photographer and photography teacher at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, Tennessee, USA.

Since 2002 he has been involved with various conservation projects. His main interest is the Munyawana Leopard Conservation Project in Kwazulu Natal and other cat conservation projects run by panthera.org.

Christian is also an experienced and very engaging public speaker. He has given presentations about animal photography and wildlife conservation at various photography clubs and he has also spoken at schools, universities and other organizations about his experiences in Africa and as professional zoo photographer.

He has his own internet blog (www.sperka.info) where he publishes information about wildlife, conservation and photography. Over 2,000 people receive and enjoy these regular postings.

Between 1986 and 2009 Christian worked very successfully in the Information Technology field; the first 13 years as owner of an independent IT consulting company and the last 10 years as a corporate executive (CIO and Company President). During that time he worked in 22 countries and visited 50 countries around the globe.

Christian was born in Switzerland. He went to school and university in Germany and holds a German passport. His home is now on Thanda Private Game Reserve.

Picture 1 and 4 by Jim Bruner
Picture 3 by Heather Robertson
Pictures 2 and 5 by Christian Sperka and other photographers