Safari Live – Day 162 | National Geographic

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an African safari and may include animal
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we ready for safari sorry everybody you
know sometimes these happen hello
everyone my name is Taylor mccurdy and
well on camera with me today is David
and welcome to the sunset Safari bush
walk we’re gonna walk
are we ready to find some animals I am I
promise I promise I’m ready now we’ve
had some interesting things today we’ve
played cricket that was a lot of fun I
won just thought I’d let you know no I’m
just joking I was terrible and Geraldine
got caught up twice by Amanda chef she
tried to redeem herself and came back
and failed – no it’s not sherry for
those of you have never joined us on one
of these wonderful Interactive’s safaris
will hopefully find you some addicts but
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find them now looking on to the drainage
line just on the other side is get a go
pan where squirrels monkeys Franklin’s
have been alarming all day long I wonder
who’s lurking just on the other side but
you’ll have to wait to find out or if
well good afternoon everybody and
welcome aboard another sunset Safari
you’re watching Safari live and we’re
watching what seems to be maybe an
african hawk eagle getting chased by a
little folktale drongo
I think it was that but we’re only
looking at the silhouette now and please
don’t forget that we are in the juma
Traverse of the gradual Kruger National
Park in South Africa my name is Ralph
Kirsten and on the camera this afternoon
we’ve got since I has it since I please
don’t forget to join us on the hashtag
Safari laughs on Twitter and on the
YouTube live chat send us your questions
and your comments and get involved on
the largest game Drive in the world now
it is a lovely warm afternoon a little
bit of a breeze started to come through
seems like that eagle has been chased
off by that little folktale drongo and
well we’re gonna start up again and
maybe head down towards the twin dams
area as well as treehouse dam which is a
little bit on the southern side south
central side of the juma traverse we are
on the lookout as usual for all the
normal usual suspects such as lion and
leopard as since is sitting there
listening intently to me because well
we’re always looking for that but it’s
nice and hot now in the afternoon so
it’s normal that they could be just
relaxing in the shade a little bit lying
nice and flat there’s a little bit of
potential for them to be up in the trees
we’ve got some clouds around
so it might cool off quite substantially
a little bit later but for now nice and
warm as I said we are feeling the
humidity a little bit that well while we
carry on our search let’s hit you back
to Tyler who’s got a zoo well Ralph you
probably know this hornbill it’s one of
our friends that live around in camp and
I thought why not introduce you to all
the camp characters on this wonderful
Sunday afternoon so this is one of the
yellow-billed hornbills that we have not
named yet coffee flies and he’s quite
relaxed I think
just trying to feed in all the leaf
litter what do we got there picking up
something well shall we see how close we
can get the ones that that live inside
camp are really quite entertaining
because like I said this morning you
literally have to step on their tail
feathers for them to fly away
maybe this hornbills not from here
perhaps I’ve just mistaken him for
yes
and actually I’ve just said the same
thing to David about Esmeralda the
spotter de molde spotted would death
remember we’re talking about her she was
at the car park not so long ago so we’re
gonna see if we can find her – cuz she
or he there very relaxed hello little
horn we’ll see oh there’s the red-billed
horn bill – so we’ve got most species
but no partners today normally we see
them in pairs so there’s about four to
six of them that fly around and chase
one another like I said they go for the
disco ball very very often perhaps we’ll
have to show you the disco ball that
might be a good on my find Esmeralda at
the fire pit
preparing the bonfire for tonight now
mm-hmm
Malaika
we are lucky and I’m sure you’re a
pretty envious there is literally just
wildlife everywhere like I said Coco
Maureen was he was probably only a
couple of meters away from from those
rooms that I was well it wasn’t even my
room that I was in either Oscar Stan’s
room
we just hijacked it but look at this
hello I mean when we’re out there we
don’t normally get to get as close to
the animals on foot and they recently
just cleared here I think they’re going
to do a bit of bit of work on the fence
line so it’s made for a perfect spot the
soils nice and soft so they can dig
through all that leaflets are quite
easily and I’m sure from well all the
workers that were here and well doing
their thing I’m obviously turned up a
few grubs and beetles every may be
trying to hide away so they’re very
happy now about being even closer just
watching us every now and then
so you’ll see basically what we’ve got
going on over here this is our general
carpark this is a fence that really just
tries to keep the elephants and lions
and things
see we can close the gate there and we
have an electric wire on the way around
but it doesn’t stop the records they
come walking right past you all the time
the wolf Mongoose like to play on our
chair – it’s quite fun he’s quite happy
to just hop as close as it really wants
to and if you were to just stand yeah it
would probably just come right at your
feet
hello what you’re doing enjoying an
afternoon snack I’d have to know what
they were thinking we might get the
yellow-billed humble flying back in
again David you know what I’ve just
realized I think we’ve just stumbled
across four greatest sandpaper raisin
ever to be in the sabi sand I’m not even
joking excuse me Birds coming through oh
my goodness I’m not even joking hmm look
that was fun I’m being I know you like
let’s see no either so terrible have you
tried them I’m really disappointed not
because every time we see sandpaper
raisins ants in the bush we’re very
excited because of the delicious fruit
remember I was trying to describe the
taste to you a couple of days ago and
don’t worry they’re very juicy these
ones however a quick dry they’re not
very nice at all and I’m so disappointed
maybe they’re we’re a bit late yeah no
that’s also not nice
Oh literally I’ve never been so excited
in my life for a fruit but we didn’t win
this time around oh they’re not very
nice at all which would maybe explain
why the birds and things are not eating
them it’s not really there isn’t really
any flesh at all on these seeds look at
that completely dry I don’t want to eat
that that’s no good now someone else
that’s in the area driving about about
good afternoon everybody welcome my name
is Tim Falconbridge joined on camera by
mr. Craig is Emmett and we are indeed in
the wilderness
we heard monkeys alarm calling about an
hour and a half ago just here close to
us sort of north west of North the camp
around the small little Gallagher pan
just had little scratch around in the
area but there’s no tracks
apparently hukum or either the visiting
male leopard or their the potentially
new male leopard of the area was left
somewhere sort of north of here this
morning and monkeys do not lie when
their long-haul monkeys don’t lie so
it’s possible that they saw him and he’s
in the drainage line of this so we’re
just gonna get along a little bit see if
sure the others have told you please
feel free to send to your questions
hashtag Safari live let us know what you
would like to see and discuss this
afternoon after all this is an
interactive live Safari and we wouldn’t
do it if it wasn’t for the viewers out
there so let us know what you’d like to
it’s a beautiful day 26 degrees Celsius
80 82 I think Fahrenheit so a very nice
and a relatively cool afternoon it was
overcast this morning with the potential
for rain but we never got wet never got
wet rained in certain places for any
outside the reserve but thankfully we
didn’t get wet it is a little bit
strange to have rain this time of year
Linda you would like to see tanyon cup
well that would be sensational to see
them we are not in the area at the
moment maybe you’re off we’ll go over to
that area I’m going to spend a little
bit of time over here and failing that
decile most definitely go towards the
east and see if we can pick up on any
any more tracks I know teyla had some
tracks this morning I’m not 100% sure
where they were we did walk into that
area this morning and then with looming
rain that we decided to slowly start
moving back so we never on the bush walk
never found any of those tracks I’m 100%
sure where but I have an idea have an
idea hello Ashley you would like to see
lions you’d want to know what the
chances well there’s always a chance
Ashley you know we are an open reserve
and though fences between us and all the
reserves around in the kruger park and
these animals they just come and go you
know we can wake up in the morning and
there can be lions there generally
speaking the cats move in at night or
early morning when it’s a little bit
cooler but only two three weeks ago I
came out of Drive just like this herd
monkeys alarm calling went down to the
damn water hole just off to our western
side now or southern side now and
installed two of the Birmingham a big
male lion so these things can happen
there’s nothing preventing cats from
just walking in and doing their thing
nothing at all nothing at all it’s not
common to see cats moving in the day but
bearing in mind two days ago I think
James was following up on the sticks
prod who were just over here and then
they moved about this time so it happens
you know it happens if they’re thirsty
or if they’re moving in response to
whatever they could be moving in
response to then that is what happened
so this is live we cannot predict what
will happen next so there’s every
possibility of seeing lions
I wouldn’t mind showing you a lion or
okay well pink Taylor has got something
it’s quite unpredictable right you’re
wasn’t a very good throw
this is our bonfire pit so this is where
we normally stand around we hold hands
and we sing songs with one another it’s
really quite nice like you all know camp
is really just one big happy family
family we don’t do any fire walking or
anything like that so don’t worry also
the fire is art but now this is the
prized possession of the wild earth Juma
camp it’s the disco ball and how do we
make it spin suppose you might as a this
is also the water back that lives in
camp I don’t never stick so I’m gonna
normally it spins a little bit but I had
to climb all the way up top there you
may also notice that there’s a torch
that is a tap touch – I had a headlamp
that is attached to the tree that goes
on and then at night you can imagine
it’s just so beautiful and sparkly
Lily you like the paintings on the wall
I think it feels like we’re in
Mozambique sort of when we are when
we’re around here that’s because we have
sand as well that’s quite nice so you
can see why we have so many animals in
camp the warm wolves come down and do
what they were doing outside the dwarf
mongoose often playing around here and
then the starlings like I said they
normally take a perch up one or the
other the other yes sort of the lower
branches come with me Cosi says I’m
gonna show you where Gregory lives are
you ready for this we’re gonna be
careful cuz there’s also a Mamba that
lives here a sandbank you remember the
sand bags from the deluge yes you will
remember that very well here they are
still doing well this is where Gregory
lives now I wish I had a bright enough
headlamp because mine is not working so
well but Gregory goes inside there looks
like somebody’s been walking here
actually I think Gregory’s come out
today I can see a track on either side
very gracefully coming through yet it
was a nice warm day so it wouldn’t
surprise me as Arden about
just catching up on some feeding I don’t
think she likes us anymore because she
doesn’t come to visit very often and
then little Gregory who’s Robert jr.
went down inside there too and then like
I said there’s a snake and squirrels and
all sorts of things that live around
here
so yes close this to keep the Bush back
now apparently somebody else is also
well we’re getting closer to twin dams
I’ve just passed triage dam very quiet
there and now heading down towards a
twin dams and then I think because it’s
this time of the day it’s still quite
warm it’s it’s like I said a little bit
earlier this is a little bit of gusty
breeze coming through every now and then
but you know through all of my
experience at this time of day regularly
you get elephants coming down to drink
you can also have the Predators coming
down to you have that midday drink but
it’s not generally the real active part
of the day the Predators are mean
elephants can be a perfect time and in
different national parks around southern
Africa it’s always been one of my go-to
kinds of things to say to my guests when
we arrive at a and a camp or you know a
place in the early morning or towards
midday I always say go down to the water
hole and wait I’m pretty sure you’re
gonna have some elephants come down and
drink and they’re always used to think I
was the elephant whisperer because you
know it’s just looking at different
animals activity during different
seasons and different times of the day
as well and elephants generally do like
to go down to water holes in the mud day
to go and get their nice big thirst
quencher and before heading out into the
afternoon and going feeding once again
normally quite active in the morning and
then that midday all going down to the
water
and then sort of calming off in the
early part of the afternoon before they
start to feed again gangs right through
into the night as it cools off again
generally very good time to hit down to
the water these times of day all through
the year with elephants and obviously
with the Predators now as we going into
winter and we do have you know cooler
afternoons you can have more activity
from them during the day obviously they
do have the most part during the night
but very good chance of spotting
predators it’s just coming down for a
drink or being active as well more so in
winter in summer
mostly they do rest up during the heat
of the day specially if it’s hot and
humid that combination is is quite a
killer not only for for humans you know
I often think if I feel really sluggish
a lot of the animals with especially
higher metabolism generally will feel
the same if not worse now just coming
down here towards twin dams it doesn’t
seem like there is much happening here
so my next feeling is if I was an animal
like I always say if you want to catch
fish you need to think like a fish so if
I was an animal out here in this kind of
a day I think I’d be like – hanging in
them wotty or drainage line or last big
trees with is a bit of fruits around the
Jackal berries are in fruit at the
moment also the brown ivories the
quarry’s and so it’s normally a good
spot to go into and as I said there’s
twin dams very quiet there for the
moment but we just got to put ourselves
in the right spots and keep on doing
that we’re gonna get something exciting
jumping out at us a little bit of
patience and perseverance and I’m sure
we’re going to have a very good
afternoon say nothing happening there
for now now don’t forget to send us any
of your questions and your comments and
if you want me to focus on any topics in
particular if you’ve got any kinds of
thoughts that you want to share with us
on this wonderful day
out on safari then please just send it
through and I will do my best to focus
on those subjects or chat about them and
see how we can just get the debate going
see also the russet bush will have
fruits fruiting at night MA at at the
moment
and so our canal search is going to
continue out along here I’ve got a very
good feeling there’s something around
just getting in a quick way okay right
done always good to do a little bit of
fitness for the day I believe there were
some requests for the gym well everybody
welcome to the boots and Betty’s gym
it’s lovely
it’s a makeshift gym but we can well at
work so here we have our mats which we
will roll out inside and then what are
we gonna do now bicycles
jerrycan i don’t know I’m just gonna put
these down now and I’m those doorstops I
don’t really know what to do it’s all
falling apart yes Andrea Mumba does the
van Kent I don’t worry about that and
actually these rings over here I’ll pull
the gentlemen normally they are a lot
higher like a quiet I’m sure you’ve all
seen the gymnasts doing it I’m not gonna
do it for you if you ask nicely Conrad
will come out and show you this is no
hiding right he doesn’t want to come out
in the show but now there’s something
very important that I want to show you
our chat it’s one last thing and then
we’re going out into the wilderness is
you can see she has her name on it a
little pot who’s this something to do
with the naming of the plants if she did
that and then I completely understand
they live outside final controls at the
moment killing them so the presenters
come on every now and then and we have
all we have a look actually know anybody
with a green thumb comes our chair has
the waters the plants down normally we
have to do this because they’ve over
watered anyway so we’re gonna go and see
if we can find some elephants out on the
open plains maybe a giraffe if we’re
lucky someone that will have better luck
finding animals is Ralph as Pumbaa and
the family of little piglets start to
disappear off onto the bank of the
Milwaukee and my feeling was quite
correct I’m going to find quite a lot of
animals down here in the Milwaukee I
believe nice little drainage lon lots of
cool areas lots to feed on as well for
herbivores and then that for me is also
gonna lead predators down here as well
look at these little piglets we are now
almost on a level with him and how many
was that since I think it was four
piglets say 1 2 3 4 you know they’ve
disappeared around the corner a little
bit but nice little family of them and
it seems like cuckoo Marie the mail
littered oh then here comes an ass mail
neeyala a bull is crossing the drawer of
a bed he’s a good-looking chap they are
one of the most elegant of all the
antelope I would say
you see eyes got those lovely white tips
to his horns as well let’s showing that
he is into his prime he is a fully grown
matured adult bull in Yala and he’s just
enjoying his time a little bit with
these warthogs no a little bit nervous
of them and sometimes they just trig a
each other and the pigs run off and then
sigh did the Antelope also get a little
bit skittish that’s why I’ve come down
here because I do feel that this is the
place to be when it’s nice and warm so
I’m gonna continue on our little slow
little ramble along there I’m watching
here pill spotted owl it’s calling and
it’s been wonderful
inside research I think hookah moody was
around this morning I think it was
Taylor that found him Steve is also
looking for him and I wonder how that’s
did he hear that pearl spotted owl at
calling I heard it
the search so far for hookah Modi is has
not drawn any conclusions nothing on the
road kind of found the area where the
vehicles that were with him a little bit
turning around and all that sort of
thing
but I think he’s right in there by the
pan in the depression close to the lodge
and I know that there’s some guests have
just checked in so going to give them a
half now an hour or so to sort of vacate
their rooms before I end up getting
accused of peeking so I’m sure he’s
probably right in there in the
depression right next to one of the
rooms and I don’t want someone to think
that there’s this guy with binoculars
stalking around outside my room that
wouldn’t go down very well especially if
you’re a paying guest so we’ll just give
them a little while to to come out of
camp I saw the vehicles arriving just
shortly after or while we were leaving
to go on drive so I think there’s some
new guests checking in and I’ll just
wait for for one of the guides to come
on the radio and then I’ll know good we
can go and have a look but I am sure
hookah buddy would enjoy if there is a
war talks that Ralph has showed you he
does enjoy as you have seen on countless
occasions he enjoys himself a little bit
of pig and I wonder if they are related
to the one from the other day if there
were four of them it’s possible two
adults two youngsters shame they get
over it pretty quickly though and in the
moment it’s pretty pretty traumatic but
there seems to sort of just carry on
with life the next day
hello Bobby I’m on TV show in February
Noel had hooker Maria kilowatt tug and
very shortly afterward to kill the
Steinbach he’s stolen a pushback from
from Tim ganas he didn’t kill that but I
haven’t personally seen him with any
other type of meat have you Craig who
seen Okumura him surely he surely is had
an Impala or two but we just don’t see
it you know that’s also spend a lot of
time in the West we don’t know what he
does that side but I have no doubt he is
a very efficient in parlor hunter as
well talking about hunters and catching
fish Ralph has got someone who’s an
expert and this is a little brown hooded
Kingfisher one of the resident
Kingfisher that stay here some of the
other ones that do stay here the giant
Kingfisher as well as the pied and so
he’s always around but these are
predominantly insectivorous kingfish’s
as opposed to the pod and the giant who
are pretty much passive oars eating
mostly if not only fish you know and I’m
not gonna say that anybody’s experience
is wrong but in my experience with brown
hooded kingfishers I’ve seen them
catching insects next to the water and
I’ve also seen them bombing into the
water but not headfirst now actually if
you watch them very closely they bomb
their body into the water and not in a
fishing mode merely as a boss so they
just splash themselves and then they fly
up onto the branch and they splashed
himself again and they flop onto the
branch nicely down to further
maintenance and helping to get rid of
some of the dust and the oil from the
preen gland but I have heard other gods
saying that they have witnessed them
fishing but through my experience when
I’ve looked at them very closely I
believe that what they’re doing when
they’re splashing in the water is
literally just that
having a nice little splash and this
brown hooded Kingfisher are found here
on numerous occasions and I think he’s
probably got a nest if not just roosting
up in one of these trees here and he’s
always yeah so it’s lovely to come and
see him quite regularly but it’s always
Monique in London you say that she loved
kingfishers I do too they normally very
brightly colored and well the brown
hooded Kingfisher isn’t as elaborate
coloration as for instance the woodland
Kingfisher or the little tiny pig me or
malachite king fishes which are really
beautiful blues and reds but well this
is one of the residents and he just
keeps himself a little bit more of a low
profile I would say and does have a lot
of competition when all the migratory
kingfishers return now in Britain I
think in London well maybe in the canals
and so on I think and you can correct me
if I’m wrong which king fishes do you
get there I think you get the malachite
and I think you might even get the pied
but you can you can correct me I don’t
think you get the giant Kingfisher and
there might be one or two others but I’m
pretty sure that you do get the
malachite Kingfisher in Europe along
those little canals and so on getting
all those little fish but I’m pretty
sure they would migrate don’t they uh
not too much about it so please share
with us let me know send us your
comments about the kingfishers in the
different parts of the world because
it’s always interesting to learn about
different birds from wherever you are
and so we’d love to know and if you’ve
got some photos well send them in to the
hashtag Safari laughs on Twitter we’d
love to see any of those because it’s
normally quite difficult as well to get
especially them in flight or catching
any fish bombing into the water it would
be lovely to see your photos and
showcase your skills
right mr. insectivorous kingfisher its
head on we’ll leave you to it he did
just actually catch it seemed like a
muscle something that was flying on the
ground there we just missed it
but he’s gonna sit on that branch and
stay there while we carry on down them
low wotty and carry on our search for
all sorts everything and Alice and I
think we’re not the only one that’s
doing exactly that yes we are on
probably the worst section of road
around and you’ve come just in time to
experience it with us it’s just a small
we write up on eastern sides
boundaries on the other side here we’ve
some of the roads surely for example
this one would be very very old
management road and so wouldn’t have
been designed with the in interest of
being driven very regularly or for game
drives so arts of elephant activity it
allows to find some elephants there’s
been loads of tracks in and out coming
up and down there is a dam on the other
side of of the road here time Bertie Dam
it’s just north of us no doubts that is
as we head back in towards tumor itself
towards via teller watering hole and
close to Gallagher we’re still looking
for some tracks we switch off every now
and again to see if we can hear any
alarm calls but clearly if it was with
camera he’s probably stopped moving and
when a leopard stops moving he’s not
spotted by anything and they get away
sure mama leopards can go through a
fence no fence can stop a leopard to be
honest
national parks game reserves that I’ve
got fences the fences do not stop the
leopards they do go through them they
can dig or go I know or sometimes even
go over there very very versatile cats
so there’s nothing really keeping them
out of camp apart from their fear of man
and Jerry walking back from her little
house just the other night but we think
she’d do the female right there by the
vehicles so and they’ve had I think it
was Rebecca and cursed had hasanah
right next to their room as well and we
have a hyena that comes into camp every
single night so yeah leopards do come
and go but they don’t see us as prey and
so they’re not really looking for us but
they move through you know they do know
that there’s niala and day care that
like to sort of secret themselves in and
around the camp because we’ve got a
quite nasty wooded vegetation area or or
River drainage depression nearby so
there would be some small antelope
hiding in the thickets there and we find
cats moving through there quite
regularly well whether we see it or not
we often find the tracks of where
they’re been moving and we believe huka
moody is in a very similar sort of place
okay are we going to continue on here
see if we can find anything of interest
while we do taters got something it is
well it is quite interesting because we
found some termites and they’re rather
large termites you can see that one
that’s moving around now I think it must
be a soldier it is almost double the
size of the other termites who are
suspected probably workers you can see a
couple of them now David is actually
there’s a whole lot of them I wonder if
you can see them through yeah Oh shot
actually brought my torch out of city
that I didn’t is normally with termites
there bill there well they start their
colonies underground of course some of
the species will utilize and feed on
wood and that’s exactly what’s going on
over here they die one day I’m not sure
what species we’ve got I think we’re
standing on a developing termite mound
most of it I think is underneath the
ground and it seems like an elephant or
someone has been rubbing up against this
tree and stripped the bark off of it
because there’s all sorts of sorts of
damage here and there’s a couple of
fresh pieces that have been pulled off
too maybe even a wildebeest or a zebra
could have come up and had a scratch on
this too and it’s fairly loose it’s very
very views I mean I just touched that
and you saw how it all shook so I don’t
think that they living up in here I
think that they might just be trying to
more feed on the wood that’s really
really cool how big that is now you
wouldn’t want one of those to bite your
finger because those massive mandibles
will pack a serious punch and that’s
their sort of first defense there is
that if they feel like they are
threatened or if something comes around
like an aardvark and starts digging down
into the earth they’re going to latch on
it every sort of angle from the ears to
the tip of the snout and hopefully
that’ll be painful enough for the I drug
to move away all whatever it may be
that’s feeding on them I’ve had one of
them bite me before it was horrible it
grew blood on my hand and your hands are
fairly tough too and they go back inside
so I wonder if those soldiers aren’t
around
then only she seemed bothered with us at
one point I thought they were all gonna
run away but there’s a whole lot of them
I mean here’s some more they’re all
working here but every time the wind
blows a lot of the soil that has been
taken up yet it all starts to drop down
too so I don’t know how long they’ve
been in here for it seems quite hard I’m
just feeling
sort of the the soil that’s cooler but a
very interesting structure and I don’t
think that this is just home to termites
I think that there are lizards and
things and possibly some scorpions
living here too I’m sure
snakes we’ve actually just been trying
to find some of those critters so we’ll
start looking so I want to stick my face
anyway where something’s going to jump
out and dry and get me but there’s so
many little crevices and yet even for a
squirrel as an emergency it could
probably hide underneath a piece of bark
like this but I’m trying to think I
don’t think I’ve ever seen a snake in
here I don’t think we’ve ever found a
scorpion on here before there are a
couple of trees that we can check where
we’ve seen scorpions before that seem to
be hotspots and we’ll try and have a
look for some of them today – it’s
really pretty in here I’d love to be
that small that I could crawl around on
the inside of the bark and into all
sorts of little crevices that’s really
wonderful they don’t seem to be too
active they’re moving around a little
bit but I mean I can’t see if they’re
feeding they’re not collecting anything
someone walking others are just sitting
in the Sun the soldiers are just
marching about those two in there are
very busy kind of interesting sorry
dubby and Annie it takes them a very
very long time to start the building
amount but sometimes what happens if the
Queen dies of one colony and eventually
the entire colony will disappear with it
and a new colony or a new l8er can move
on in so after you’ve had a lot of rain
then we’ll see the princes and
princesses so the winged termites will
fly off once they find a mate they lose
their wings and they go down into the
east and they can continue in all
termite mound but mmm some of these
bigger ones that we see are probably in
excess of 50 years old maybe even a
little bit more than that so so it all
depends on how long the Queen will
survive for that’s beautiful right it’s
not someone is taking it easy this
afternoon it’s Ralph and he’s on a
yeah well I’m just just making my way
along them low warty and it’s it’s
wonderful in this drainage LAN and house
about coming sphere because it often
reminds me of driving in Namibia in
those ephemeral rivers and this is a
seasonal River it’s not flowing
underground but there’s a ephemeral
rivers that you get in Namibia very
similar to this kind of seen here
there’s another little Kingfisher on the
branch here we can have a quick look at
him if it’s the same as the one before
saying that you don’t get the malachite
Oh the Pied Kingfisher only the common
Kingfisher in Western Europe that’s
interesting because I thought that there
was a malachite but I’ll stand corrected
so well done thank you for that the
common Kingfisher does it have elaborate
colors because I was always under the
impression that the malachite or maybe
that common Kingfisher is a malachite
looking Kingfisher as well no this one
is about 500 metres away from the last
one that we saw ah Aaron you’re saying
that you get the sacred Kingfisher
in New Zealand and that sounds very
interesting
do you know why it is sacred Aaron
because we’ve got the sacred Ibis here
in South Africa and pretty much right
across Africa wherever there’s a quite a
lot of water around because there are
also predominantly you know around
wetland areas marshy areas and the
reason they’re called sacred Ibis a
little bit of topic with the kingfishers
but you’re talking about your sacred
Kingfisher the sacred Ibis is called as
such because in Egypt
yeah and they they had there were making
plantations of all sorts and I think it
was mainly around rice where they had
they failed in a couple of seasons with
their crops and they thought it was
because the sacred Ibis who moved around
in those sort of wetland areas where
they planted their crops were eating all
the seeds and as a result they started
to kill all the sacred Ibis and
obviously wouldn’t call that at the time
and they killed all of them but what
they found out after that was there was
a very big increase in bahasa and that’s
where they actually realized that the
sacred Ibis was feeding on freshwater
snails which is the host animal of the
the virus that that gives you both hacia
so once they worked that out it was one
of the Pharaohs or whoever was in charge
he said to them right from now on we
will be protecting this bird because
it’s helping us with the sickness of Bal
Hodja I don’t think that they probably
called it that at that time but that
sickness anyway a waterborne disease was
the host being a freshwater snail we
leave this bird now because he’s helping
us with this disease and from now on he
will be known as the sacred Ibis and so
that nobody would then touch that bird
off to that so that’s the reason for the
sacred Ibis but what’s the reason for
the sacred Kingfisher that’s the
question Erin so send it through if you
know if you don’t if anybody else does
well let us know and that little
Kingfisher he’s obviously bobbing his
head up and down and left to right
do you know why they do that there’s a
question for you while I continue on my
drive why do birds a lot of hunting
birds as well as lizards why do they Bob
their heads up and down and left to rot
and since I was now doing the
jiggy-jiggy in the back there while I’m
saying this but a lot of birds and
reptiles do that what is the reason for
it I will give you the answer a little
bit
later we’ll try some fun some more birds
that are exhibiting that behavior and
it’s a very interesting reason why they
do that but some other animals that live
up in the trees don’t pop their heads
look at this little critter not open a
tree for a change we’re having luck with
squirrels on termite mounds today this
one apparently was seen by David and
James not so long ago just the other day
and David said something interesting –
you think they think it lives in this
termite mound it honestly would not
surprise me as to where a squirrel would
find a home I think a unoccupied termite
mound would be a great spot to sort of
sleep in although they do prefer trees
but maybe it just means that stay around
your pets as this is its day sleeping
area but if I was a little mammal like
that to anything I think I’d also be
sitting on that little mound enjoying
the last of the afternoon Sun there’s a
bit of the wind picking up so maybe
we’re in for a chilly night so you warm
up I’m surprised we haven’t seen more
squirrels today let’s take a little so
we just pretend like we’re not walking
towards the squirrel and we will it’s
gone we’ll see we’re gonna go towards
this tree you see being a little bit
closer maybe it comes back up because
there’s another hole up in this industry
overhead marina and so Bobby what
importance what ecological importance do
squirrels have well I suppose squirrels
are firstly and prey species so a lot of
animals rely on them so from Eagles to
well snakes and things like that they’re
all feast upon squirrels squirrels also
I would imagine has something and
something to do with them the dispersal
of seeds or car far marula nuts end up
travelling not even anywhere near where
where they were fun they’ll take them to
all sorts of places so I think the help
of dispersing seeds where they don’t eat
all the nuts in the end and what else
could a a squirrel do let me think
hold on I’m sure there’s a whole lot of
different things out there but they’re
very important everything out yet is
exceptionally important I just want to
check this tree to see if this is
actually a hole in the tree or if it’s
just done that’s just deceiving no I
think it is so I wonder if the squirrel
actually isn’t living up in here as well
well has the second sort of house
it’s really big wondering oh you see
just up there it’s all hollowed out
looks like they awesome termites that
have been they’ve been having a go at
this tree – it’s not very nice but
definitely a nice spot for the for the
squirrel to live in exactly some ants
crawling around anyways it’s got safety
here – if it needs to climb to go from
the ground and go all the way up to the
top we’ve got some yes there is a can
now I’m not sure what that was if there
I don’t know why the can is nailed to
the tree for the elephants what does
that do to the elephants I think they
were trying to do some research project
on elephants I’m not really sure anyways
perhaps that was their favorite favorite
cool drink who knows they were trying to
find out what cool drink elephants
prefer what soda elephants prefer so
I’ve actually seen a couple of other
things around but I’m not really sure it
looks like it’s been mowed yet don’t you
think looks like somebody has actually
come with a big lawnmower but it has a
no one has been Eureka’s and most
certainly hasn’t come around yet that’s
all just natural so this is how quickly
the animals can graze down or the grass
anyways let’s go to Ralph before his
well I know that we’ve seen a couple of
pink fishes now but this one is just
sitting so perfectly for us in the light
and I’ve just changed to the opposite
end and now we’ve got him headfirst and
so I thought it would be nice just to
stop and watch him because he’s quite
comfortable there on that branch and
looking like he’s looking for little
insects as well and so don’t forget the
question about the bobbing head if there
are any answers send him through Bridget
that’s an interesting one
bobbing the head helps to move the hair
the the food down the crop I’m sure that
it would but I’m talking more about when
they actually spot something and then
they Bob the head up and down in some
time and also from side to side a little
right mr. Tuvok you are absolutely
correct they do body heat up and down
and side to side to increase the depth
perception of the target that they are
looking at because of the type of vision
that they have it’s all about cones and
I forget the other one that’s inside the
eye as well but you’ve got a number of
cones and it’s ossicles
I forget the other part but it depends
on how many numbers of those that you
have now birds generally have a very
good far distance and extreme distance
but then they can tell very well the
dips so they pop they hit up and down
and and and a little bit from side to
side almost triangulating the target so
that’s why they do it and lizards do it
as well obviously birds have evolved
from lizards and basically flying
reptiles so that’s why they both do it
very good
long distance vision but not a very good
judge of depth and that’s why they do it
you will see birds of prey doing it and
you’ll also see kingfishers doing it
when they’re sitting on a branch and
once they see a target they start
bobbing up and down and little bit Rotty
left as well just working out exactly
how far away from them it is because
they need to plan their attack and this
one obviously seeming quite relaxed the
one previous was a little bit more
actively hunting and was bobbing his
head a head up and down and obviously
working at the little targets now if he
listened at is a little pill spotted
Aaron in New Zealand you say that the
sacred Kingfisher is called as such
because the Polynesians thought that it
controlled the waves that’s very very
interesting indeed so the sacred
Kingfisher of New Zealand was thought to
control the ways well that is very
impressive and I’m sure because it was
around the water so regularly net and
probably so good in the water as well
we’ll start now for me rusty we’re gonna
continue on now look for any other birds
here in the thickets and any animals
that might pop out as well but it seems
Steve has found you an animal that likes
we have found some animals finally we
have done a loop after loop after loop
and I got back into the area of
Gallagher play and I was going to get
off and go have a look and unfortunately
I encountered some guests sitting on the
deck so I decided it was best for us to
just leave
so we’ll maybe go back there after dark
and hopefully get the movement of Moody
but at the moment we’ve got a big male
crew via Taylor waterhole now big male
kudu over there with some Impala behind
it’s good to see the depth or the size
difference between them
there’s still a little bit of rutting
behavior going on with some of the mail
in parlors but isn’t that a magnificent
specimen of the kudu he’s got lots and
lots of ox Pickers on him well spotted
owl at calling in the background if you
and in the dried-up dam itself we have
got herd of zebra feeding on the short
some of its short grass growing in the
mud and some of it quite long juicy
grass yeah they are Betty the zebras are
archaea and feeding on nice sort of
luscious grass that’s growing out of the
pan itself you can see it’s quite green
all sorts of beautiful things in there
Todd for me to really tell what species
you can hear the owl in the background
there’s even some kudu down here as well
in the dried-up dam feeding on the small
forbs that would be growing in and
amongst the grasses that you find out
yeah there we go you can see she’s
ripped up a little creeper of sorts and
as I was saying this morning could you
are not grazers at all so if you see
them at the head to the ground they are
feeding on small forbs or flowers are
not feeding on on a grass feed on
dicotyledons so to lift plants when they
come out with the seed they’ve got two
leaves as grasses are monocotyledonous
only one looking quite healthy in fact
can see her her rump is very very good
Julie you are in luck Craig is going to
pan to the right and we will see the
little zebra foal just the top sort of
topper eightish of the screen Craig is
gonna go into it now here it is not
feeding like the other zebra or is it oh
there we go
but probably still reliant a lot on milk
from mum here we go a little bit excited
jumping up and down so reliant on milk
from mum so not feeding too much at this
time wants to play now come on mum put
your head up
zebra Falls can be the cutest little
things a few months ago you saw a couple
of them behaving very interestingly with
when you drinking mums milk you don’t
need to feed on on the grass and it’s a
it’s a never-ending battle for zebra to
keep themselves nourished constantly
feeding constantly feeding with their
heads down not like the kudu that can
feed Archer in the open and then go and
sit in a shady area to be ruminator the
zebra the disgust of dung of the Rhino
both have their advantages and
mmm baby zipper is very cute so even
though this water hole is dried up they
still benefit for the animals those
forbs and grasses that are growing have
attracted them which means that it’s a
very another attraction for for some of
the Predators even though it’s a dry
water you could still get something
coming through to to take one of these
zippers down well one of the Kudo but
they’re out in the open feeling quite
relaxed there’s a whole lot of them
they’re all over the place tis in parlor
Ayana around the corner as well so
strength in numbers someone is paying
attention so you can feed with your head
down in safety they are the one year old
man in Polish and we are going to stay
here with these animals for a little
while longer and see if anything happens
and let’s go and see if Taylor’s got
anything more interesting to tell you
about the camp we do just sitting right
at the top of this buffalo thorn that
has been beautifully manicured by I
think the elephants and probably the
Impala and kudu that hang around here
and all the way on top of that tree
those birds that are flying those are
all besides the bright blue one of
course are a southern gray headed
sparrows and a cape glossy styling
that’s joining them
I suspect that they’ve decided to sit
all the way up on top of those thorny
branches just like that squirrel was
doing earlier just to catch the last of
the afternoon rays I’m sure that’s going
to warm them up quite nicely and
sunbathing is very important for birds
did you spend a lot of time doing it
always in the morning just as the Sun
has risen although you see monkeys doing
it to lots of the different creatures
well and then of course in the
afternoons it doesn’t look like they’re
doing much foraging at the moment and
they’re very gregarious so you often see
them in big flux on the ground looking
for seeds sometimes they eat a bit of
fruit when it’s available and I’m sure
that the number on the odd insect when
there’s a chance to but predominantly
feeding on all the grass seeds so you’ll
find them in these open areas
and and it’s not uncommon to see them
with lots of other birds – very nice no
preferred you asked how do animals react
to potential natural although all the
natural disasters so maybe like a big
fire or a flood well luckily for four
birds they’re gonna have to abandon
their nest if they do have any and they
will there’s absolutely nothing that
they can do
that’s another starting that’s the
virtual styling they were just flying
down into the distance and they’re going
to do just what that starting that
they’re gonna have to fly away so birds
are really lucky they can escape things
floods and not all of them I think it’s
Jonah on my hand there Davi are you sure
okay well I tried you saw I was trying
to be a gentle lady anyway basically
they’ll just they’ll just often go I
said if you’re if you’re a chicken you
can’t fly it you’re gonna I’m probably
not maked but for natural disasters I
don’t think it’s the birds are the ones
that aren’t worrying about it’s often
the reptiles and sometimes mammals get
to trap – and so yes those it’s a huge
problem for them I always feel sorry for
tortoises and and lizards and things
like that they can’t escape fires quick
enough that aren’t as fast-moving
anyways I think I can actually hear
I wasn’t even speaking she must have
telepathy so here we’ve just moved a bit
further forward not sure if you can hear
the oxpeckers they’re having a feast on
the back of the zebra the male Impala
calling in the background a very strange
gurgling sound see the youngsters
decided it’s had enough it would like to
lie down and that often happens and get
quite tired you know they’re not the
ones feeding so they’ve had their milk
nourishment for the day and they get a
bit tired they want to lie down and it’s
perfectly normal you often get mums
turning over it
watching out quite often in a zebra hood
individuals at a time will lie down
while others stand and watch they have
to sleep have to physically like us to
put their heads down and nod off for a
while so as to maintain their brain
processes minimum when zebras are born
the mother generally goes away a little
bit from the herd and then apparently
the mother and the youngster imprint
their patterns on each other so they
recognize each other’s pattern and then
also the smell so whether it’s just the
pattern or just the smell or both I mean
obviously we can’t know for sure but at
least one of those seems to work quite
well because even when they’re returned
back to the herd the youngster can quite
easily identify mum and vice-versa so
very important for that early stage for
them to spend that time together and
then mum is never too far away from the
youngster there’s a little bit of
playing happening now very tactile
animals live where they love touching
they love playing if any of you’ve ever
played with a horse so know much about
horses you know how much horses like to
touch and feel each other and a zebra
herds for example you get the stallion
and then the stallion starts off when
he’s quite young with one female and
then he might they might have a fall
together and then as he starts getting
more mature he gets a second
the third and a fourth but you generally
see you know stallion getting between
maybe four and ten females in a herd
obviously it depends on on their age
their status
sometimes a male gets killed and then
his females are all up for grabs and
then a local male can sometimes just
adopt them all himself so he can almost
double his numbers in just a day for
example if the male disappears the
females need a male he he helps in
protecting them he helps in fighting off
unwanted attention from other males and
they spend a life bond together till
death do us part you could say and he
releases his youngsters his females his
juvenile is daughter ‘he’s from time to
time to other males that are searching
obviously he needs to challenge them a
little bit but it’s not a very
aggressive challenge almost like a
father sizing up the prospective husband
for their daughter in human society
suppose sometimes it can be more
Ashley zebra are a bulk grazer so they
can feed on quite sort of bulky sort of
nutrient poor grasses but at this time
of year they’ll be selecting as juicier
grasses they can zebra able to crop the
grass so they’ve got two teeth on the
top and the bottom of the jaw of the
front of the jaw so they’re able to
quite easily mowed the grass down so
they will select the juiciest and the
best grass as they possibly can this
time of year in line with all the other
grazers and that but they’re able to
chop quite tall grass we’ve all the best
feed on a grass that zebra have chopped
down so the vault appears to generally
four facilitated by the feeding of the
zebra so they’ll feed on very similar
grasses but zebra able to feed on longer
grass up in the mara you see it very
tall grasses there but crop it right
down and that new growth gets sort of
fed upon by by the vault abyss but all
animals will feed on as best
nutrient-rich vegetation as they can but
it’s all got to do with the size of the
mouth
zebras mouth is equivalently the same
size
of all the best and maybe even a water
back so the water back and the zebra are
quite bulky feeders and of all the best
selectively bulky but you get something
like a rhino or a hippo that’s got an
enormous mouth and very difficult for
them to select what they feed so they’re
just just gulp it all down whereas a
zebra be a selectively as they possibly
can with the tools being their mouth as
they can be but they are benefits at
having teeth in the top of their mouth
hmm
take care that’s an interesting question
very interesting question I have no idea
sake you wanted to know why the body
stripes are vertical and yeah and the
leg straps horizontal I think it’s just
the way that they’ve been painted you
know it’s just the stroke goes from left
to right I have no idea I think it’s
just the way that they the way that it
works at it kind of acts as a blur
together so the legs not necessarily as
sort of optical illusion II as the body
is but when zebras move together that
up-and-down pattern of the body
facilitates a very nice flow and
confusion tactic which works very very
well we’re now in large numbers when
they’re on their own standing the output
that doesn’t work very very well but why
the leg straps are like that I have
absolutely no idea there’s a youngster
Gary yes they will try they will try to
fend their Falls against predators
especially the stallion the stallion
will try and protect the entire herd
against predators sometimes at their
detriment and often when you can
actually tell who the stallion is if you
approach a breeding herd or a family
harem of like this of zebra the stallion
will actually get between you and his
his ladies so without you even noticing
the size difference you’ll be able to
see him quite clearly by the way his
behavior he’ll trying to get in between
you and yes they will definitely try and
defend against their predators Doralee
depends on on on the situation you know
there’s there’s a limit to how you can
defend your youngster if it’s a pride of
lions it’s very difficult to defend and
then it’s all for themselves but one
lion or a leopard most certainly a zebra
might turn on one of them and they’ve
got a very very powerful bite and they
can kick very very effectively so I have
seen male zebras chase leopards off
chase I eanes off I’ve never seen them
chase a line off but I’m sure it
happened but like I said it is also
quite a risky business trying to defend
your youngster and putting yourself in
harm’s way but it is their lineage it
Clifford interesting question well the
zebra has always been known as the
painted horse they’ve got a much weaker
back then horses they are completely
wild I know you get wild horses in the
world but are they indigenously wild I
don’t know exactly how horses evolved or
I think they’re mainly were in Europe I
think that we’re very similar sort of
animal a long time ago but through
through breeding through agriculture or
domestication we’ve harnessed the horses
we have today that are are not ponies
they’re more easily get ponies but they
they’re just a lot bigger a lot stronger
a lot more physical and able to work
with what they’re do so and these guys
are got stripes but they are the same
family they’re very very similarly
related it’s just continental drift many
generations many many many centuries of
domestication has led zebras to be what
they look like just like cows were
probably very similar to Buffalo at one
point or something similar to Buffalo
and they’ve been bred into the vast
varieties of cows or cattle that you
find these days this like Taylor was
talking about that
sandpaper raisin fruit only being very
slightly fleshy and more seed that’s the
same with certain animals they’ve been
bred to a point where they now look the
way they do just like dogs are related
to wolves
some dogs you would look at and think
are you sure but indeed they are
it’s just through selective breeding we
have these very interesting breeds of
today but I think at one stage zebras
and horses would have sort of diverged
from very similar animal species there’s
way too much similar about them the
digestion the sort of social structure
the way they fight the hooves everything
like that even appearance a very very
very very similar don’t actually know
too many differences apart from the
factors that zebras have never been
domesticated and it’s impossible to get
them to do what you want to when is it
when horses are able to be broken in and
used for for grunt work and for riding
and I think just through many many many
years
domestication just like sheep sheep got
domesticated because those sheep that
didn’t do well being domesticated left
and got eaten and those who did well
being looked after by man well
they perpetuated so we gonna go from the
open clearing of the plains to a tree
and Ralph with another bird just burn
away I can hear him calling we had the
bearded would pick at doing in
territorial knocking on this dead branch
and as I say that I can just hear
elephants down in the valley with a very
characteristic the reason we stopped was
because there was a beer that would pick
a doing the territorial knocking which
they normally do on a big date tree like
that sometimes it’s a lid wood sometimes
it’s a knob thorn but it must be a nice
resonating hollow tree and there was
another one calling from just a little
bit further on and that’s actually one
of the territorial calls but the bearded
woodpecker is the only one that does it
and it’s a good a very sort of typical
sound that they make and that is not
them searching for food and it’s
actually them calling two other
woodpeckers in the area and as I said
there was another one responding to it
so it was quite interestingly now I know
that you said I think it was to Steve
that you would like to see Tandy and
Columba well I’ve decided to make my way
into the area that she likes to hang
around and we’re just driving along nice
and slowly and seeing if we can pick up
now a durian you are asking if this is
really live and if you can ask questions
well you just have and I’m answering
your question which is absolutely 100%
we are live there is nothing staged here
this is the wild the bush in the greater
Kruger National Park of South Africa and
you can send your questions and your
comments on the hashtag safari live on
Twitter or on the YouTube live chat so
just click on the link and you can then
sin through any questions and comments
and obviously not all of them gets put
through to us as as we are the guides
with a lot of questions come through but
the questions that are most pertinent to
the subjects that we are looking at will
then generally gets in through to us and
especially if we are sitting with a
lovely subject like an elephant all like
we had there with the woodpecker asked
us questions about birds and woodpeckers
or if we sitting with an elephant ask us
different questions about that but we’re
not going to answer random questions
about random things when we’re looking
at something in particular so that’s the
idea and we want to get the debate going
about different subjects in the wild why
did things happen what happens in your
part of the world etc etc so that’s the
idea and well it’s not about just us
telling you all the answers it’s about
sharing and debating durian thank you
brilliant I say fantastic and if you’re
a new viewer and you’ve just found out
about how to join us
well I’m stoked about that because
that’s just somebody else that’s gonna
join us in the mornings and the
afternoons or you can join us on a
Saturday for the safari live show which
is a catch up of all the week’s
happenings especially around the
Predators and anything very exciting
that we’ve had during the week and it’s
just a two-hour show and that will then
give you a full recap of what we have
done during the week so if you must see
any of the other shows you can then
catch
upon a Saturday and well I’m gonna
continue on towards buffers look
waterhole but it seems that Taylor is
already at one well not one that you
would probably find out in the bush
right and seen as though all the people
that live with this house on holiday
might as well just scoop some of the
leaves art while we here said to you
earlier that it was getting a little bit
windy and while we better keep the pool
clean so this is way on hot summery days
we play there is much I don’t know even
know what what it is I mean told that
I’m not doing a very good job at
cleaning the leaves out of the pool so
we find all sorts of things in the
swimming pool we find frogs water
monitors and then once just behind me
there was a hippo that decided to walk
on in and so that was very very
interesting I don’t think I’ll be able
to get all of these these and I bit
tomorrow oh yeah when I come through
I’ll just be back in here but this is
the cleanest I’ve seen the pool for a
long time sometimes you come here and
there’s all sorts of things living in it
but anyways we actually came into as
well this is the other accommodation so
we have heard wild earth and there’s a
pair of Scott South that live in the
garden some way and we’ve been hearing
them call calling every night and
sometimes in the day as we drive past so
I think if we just scan the branches
we’ll be lucky enough to find them but
something else that I thought was quite
cool and I talk about them often it’s
the round-leaf teak except a much bigger
one now the only reason why this one is
as tall as what it is is because the
elephants can’t get in here well
sometimes if you leave the gate open
then well then they do come on inside
but it’s really really quite nice but
even the trunk is not nearly as big and
as it can get it’s all quite as small
and probably not very old at all but I
have seen some monster around beef teeth
and I’m sure they’ve probably a few in
here there’s lots and lots and lots of
different trees from sickle Bush – lots
of bush willows well no wonder yes
that’s exactly the hippo that destroyed
the decking you can see this is actually
all new over here all these planks
that have been redone over here cause
they’re all not the elephant but the
hippo actually broke them and fell
through it’s not very high so any less
than a foot and anything eventually
Brent managed to to learn art but you
can see in winter why lots and lots of
animals would want to come here please
can you say that all again for me cuz ya
No Oh Hren tourists can’t stay at this
camp because this is where we stand if
you stay here then we’ve got to sleep
outside and it’s quite nice sleeping in
a bed at night and I love spending all
day out with the animals but I’d prove
through not to cuddle with a lion or an
elephant so you can’t stay at Juma
private game reserve
you can stay in two camps you can hire
art Galago camp or if we attend a lodge
and they’re really amazing because
they’re kind of like something’s not
quite self catering that’s wrong word to
use but you can choose what food what
things you want to eat and their chefs
that prepare them for you and it’s
beautiful maybe if a big Steve down at
the dab he can maybe give you a sneak
peak of retailer Lodge if you’re lucky
so stay tuned perhaps you can do that
for you so oh no apparently Steve has
left the dam but keep watching o-ring
will we’ll have a little look and
sometimes you get quite lucky and see
all sorts of animals there’s lots of
spider webs and things around here which
is really quite nice so I’m going to
stop looking at the spider webs and I’m
going to start staring up into the trees
now to see if I can find well a pair of
scrubs I’ll say yeah I know they’re here
but I’m going to send you to somebody
yeah well we’re always looking for owls
owls would be nice we had the pill
spotted and potentially even a barred
eyelid calling earlier but we were too
engrossed in our zebra conversation we
have left the striped animals and we are
back on our quest I’ve been in touch
with Ralph he’s headed up towards purple
sock warthog so we will go in the other
direction maybe even if we are not lucky
with anything soon we might make a
little mission down towards chitra
before the sunset how’s that sound Craig
some Aramark babblers that are just
calling their noise Elizabeth that arrow
shaped mark on the chest
hello magnetic behavior they’re doing
the calling the group bonding as I move
through the vegetation in search of food
where’s a unit well it seems like Ralph
has been lucky this afternoon at the
puffle sook it’s cuz he was surprised he
has for you well look we’ve just had
this little young male elephant who was
really telling us and that he was such a
big man in charting the odds at us he
was really giving us a little bit of a
show putting his ears out and running at
us and now he’s obviously realized that
we’re not going to play that game and
he’s now gone off and tried to catch up
with the rest of his family
but there’s another couple of elephants
just off of the Rajah up in front of us
and mommy and a very small little coughs
just down there now I’m not going to go
too close to her because it’s a very
small little cough and if she comes my
way well that will be great
I might roll a little bit forward since
I just to get us onto the ridge of this
kill but I won’t go any closer than that
because
sighs she’s got a very small little
cough there okay if she comes I’ll
actually stop now and you’re gonna see
the little cough so I don’t want to
disturb you and we can see her very
clearly here’s the little one
hello looks like it’s going for a drink
still suckling from mum obviously and
she looks like she wants to catch up
with the rest of the herd there’s a
young male obviously and we’ve had a lot
of elephants around recently that’s been
very very nice we’re all up and see if
we can get a glimpse of it from behind
before they disappear off into the
thicket just go nice and slowly that is
always the key with elephants don’t
surprise them don’t irritate them and
don’t drive up and you know close them
up in a small space and it’s generally
excellent viewing if you just by those
small rules and give them the chance to
allow you into this space as I say mommy
with a little cough we will be a little
bit careful because we don’t want to
make trouble but they can also sometimes
just move off because they’re the guy it
looks like they’re probably going to be
catching up with the rest of the herd
which seems to be moving in a almost
directly northerly direction so that’s
them I’m gonna continue on now since I
those ones have disappeared off into the
bush we’re not too far from before sook
damn so I am gonna continue on
there’s a nice waterhole there maybe
some of them will be coming for a drink
as I said earlier so we’re gonna hit Oh
like you’ll have to turn around that way
so I’m gonna get the next turn and then
we’ll head back towards before so I
think those elephants might have just
come from there so I’m just getting this
next little road and then we’re gonna
hit through there they’ve probably all
just been down for a drink so we just
miss them I think but maybe there’s some
more down there very often you have some
of the younger males that like to linger
around behind the herd and then very
often get left behind and you see them
then running through the bush as they
get told off or if they get left behind
and when they realize that they’ve been
left behind then they try and catch up
again with what’s the rest of the group
through there I love watching elephants
especially around the waterholes
giraffe girl the youngest elephant that
I have ever seen was it was probably
about 15 minutes old I didn’t see the
birth actually happening but I got there
when the elephant the baby was lying on
the ground and they were still the
afterbirth and all of that and mommy was
throwing sand on her own belly obviously
with the pain of having just given birth
there was a lot of blood around and all
of that as you do get when you when you
have animals giving birth so it was just
a few minutes old and it was beautiful
to see it almost had quite a pinky color
now sins are saying that he can see an
elephant is it walking towards us
okay it’s walking on the wall so we’ve
got some elephants in front of us that’s
great news but I can’t rise through the
bush
especially with elephants you’ve got to
always just be cautious in your approach
and we’re actually approaching the dam
from a different side that I’ve never
come from this is quite interesting from
a new position there’s a couple of
hippos that are normally in this little
waterhole just trying to often come onto
that side to drink so it’s actually a
very nice way this to come down and spot
them from this side because that is a
beautiful sight look at the hippo just
in front there’s some lipids move not
lipids elephants moving off to our left
as well and that is beautiful like a
thought and all the bull walking around
at the back
lingering awesome their egos we just
caught him at the end but I have no
right for him to come through on the
ride it’s just behind those bushes there
he’s gonna pop out in a second
here he comes look at the lash on him
now looking yeah it looks like a bull
and as I said it’s a quite regular quite
normal for the Bulls to be following up
behind a head and you can also see the
sort of the way that they walk as well
very relaxed some of the best viewing
animals when they’re not in must that’s
the problem so we’ve obviously just
missed them coming for a drink but let’s
go forward yeah looks like we’ve got a
couple of hippos still in the waterhole
let’s see I’ll show themselves here we
hello hippos and this is one of the
spots that Tandy and salamba do like to
walk around I’m quite happy just sitting
here and waiting for a little bit and we
see if if she shows herself always just
got to put yourself out there and just
wait around but this it’s um it’s been
quite a long time that I’ve been coming
to Buffalo damn from about November and
each time I come there’s always been one
bull in here and he was always quite a
nervous character and so much so that we
called him Scuba Steve because he would
just come up with his nostrils art and
not sure anything else so it seems like
he’s relaxed a bit with vehicles around
and he’s also now got himself a little
companion for that and she was also
nervous almost following his lead by
just letting the nostrils come out
taking a breath and going under the
water again and not showing themselves
at all but it seems like they’ve calmed
down maybe with a little bit of age and
they’ve relaxed with vehicles coming
through here I love it how they blow the
yeah it’s almost like whales there’s a
little bit of a spray of water as well
millennia you say that hippos are your
favorite yeah I definitely do like
hippos and one of the favorite things I
do like about them as I’ve said many
times before is that they generally go
underwater they tell each other jokes
and that come up laughing and depends on
how good the joke was though because I
think Scuba Steve he still needs to work
on his comedy side because if you go to
check to a dam very often there as soon
as the hippos come up they all do that
and laughing at the good jokes that
they’ve got around a chapter so I think
I’ll Scuba Steve maybe he’s not such a
funny chap he doesn’t have a sense of
humor and while he spends lots of time
underwater what he’s doing I don’t know
but let’s go on our way and see if we
can find a predator around here
somewhere we’ll leave Scuba Steve and
his companion be I’m sure it won’t be
too long and they’ll be coming out of
the water and going looking for some
food that being a good grass nice
grazing area well I’m gonna continue the
search for predators all the way into
this evening I can’t wait I’m sure we’re
gonna find something exciting well we
found something it does a spider that is
terrified of us hiding in this little
leaf layer and that very pretty I don’t
know what spider that is I don’t think
it’s a hairy field spider it must be
something else I think it belongs to or
one of the old web well in the old web
family story that’s what I’m trying to
say and that was making its way when we
were trying to make it all look
beautiful with a golden light behind it
and it was just really terrified of us
it’s the sign into highway obviously
that’s where it takes a bit of shelter
on a not so nice day when it’s too hot
if it gets too cold all these different
types of things that’s a very good spot
to hide away there in some knees and
that’s such as two dead leaves that it’s
sort of strung together or the couple of
pieces of silk it’s got a very intricate
web that so it’s even got some some
waving around basically where it is and
then the rest of the web which we can’t
really see
– well Amon brand big an old shape web
it’s very very pretty
it’s a beautiful spider hasn’t caught
Emilio perhaps it is preparing for the
evening perhaps that’s the case how’s my
audio now cursed I’m just trying to see
I’m looking at my pack okay well I’ll
fix my mic in a minute then I’m not live
I need two hands so that but some very
very cool and I think it’s going to be
quite happy tonight it’s getting chilly
oh it’s getting chilly yeah Sun is
starting to go down I think there’s
gonna be a couple of midges
if we’re lucky well if the spiders lucky
we’ll get stuck on in there we mean for
a bit of a ride now I’ve got a couple of
other things here firstly I think there
must have been some elephants that
arrived in English because I found this
peanut shell and we know elephants love
peanuts I’m obviously talking absolute
nonsense that’s not true
I don’t know someone was eating peanuts
and has the shells and all but I’ve got
these two things first one we’re gonna
have a look at is this this is aloe vera
all the ladies are fair they’d like to
use sort of natural skin products this
is a great thing you can see how it’s
sort of oozing at the moment so if
you’ve got any cuts or anything like
that you can just take that very sticky
sort of secretion and you put it on your
wound so you can put on your skin if you
get sunburn pop it on and the other
great thing and it’s how I stopped
biting my nails as a kid my mom we had
lots of loz growing outside wall that
were planted and then that grew every
night every way in every morning she
would put the aloe vera on my nails like
that and we’ll find go to school dare I
bite my nails there’d get a very bitter
taste in my mouth
so that works really really well in
South Africa – I put on my pants now
we’ll see if it comes off oh no I have
to go wash my hands again and then I
found this way there which is quite cool
very pretty but I have absolutely no
idea who it belongs to it’s quite a big
for them and put my hand I’ve just show
you in comparison it’s quite large I
don’t think it comes from the wing I
think it might come from the breast of
the animal or maybe on on the back sort
of between the wings and hashtag Safari
live let me know if you or any ideas
what you think it could be
it’s very pretty though sort of a cream
color those beautiful
Browns well I’ll give you a little bit
of time to think and I look forward to
hearing of your suggestions
okie dokie well very exciting things
happening this afternoon Ralph with the
smallest elephant he’s ever seen in his
life let’s go and ask him Steve if he’s
ever seen a really small elephant I’ve
seen very small elephants I saw that
elephant shortly after gave birth at
Tristan so a few months ago it is the
cutest little thing ever it has no idea
what to do with this trunk thing it’s
just this thing that it flips around it
is just too precious baby elephants just
there’s something about them babies in
general really the baby elephants oh my
word they could melt anyone’s heart and
Jamie had that sighting of that young
elephant that ended up falling down
there boy
little hill and then mom and someone
else rushing in to pick it up yeah well
we’re going to head on down singers
Ralph went above all suck we were
thinking going there but we communicated
with the radio just as well otherwise we
both would have materialized at the same
spot one of the benefits of the radio
and we’re going to slowly make our way
past treehouse Dam and then down towards
Chitra waterhole in the South East and
see if we can get some elephants of our
own and coming down to drink wouldn’t
that be marvelous
you just hear that noise in the
background of a red crested kahan
they’re coming into the breeding season
now and quite often that call is
followed by the suicide dive that their
practice they will fly up into the air
and do this backwards somersault and
then pull out of the back of some sort
just in time to land on the ground and
the object of that is they’re very
camouflaged and the females and males
are spread out over quite a lodge they
flap they lie down and the reason for
that with it black on the belly
flying up like that is the ladies see
they hear the call and there see the sky
all over the place flying in and they’re
come closer to the guy who seems to have
the most sort of daring dive hopefully
we’ll see them as the winter months
starts to descend on us we will
Mable taffy yes birds sometimes do swoop
down on our heads
I have only ever encountered that the
other day buy a pearl spotted owl at
that we’re sitting on a branch and came
straight for my head it’s quite funny I
think it has to do with the fact that
David was on the back cause everything
seems to suit for Dave I’ve been dive
bombed by blacksmith left wings and
crown left wings but that they’ve got
sort of nests in the open clearing but
I’ve never been dive bombed by any other
bird from a nest but it does happen does
happen I’m trying to think of some
examples but quite often you can
actually stress birds up I go and crush
the nests and they’ll go away and can
abandon the nest so it’s not ideal to
fiddle with birds and their nests
because if they feel like their clutch
has been compromised
and there’s not enough time left in the
season they won’t lay another egg and if
their fleet has been Kama bars they
might not come back so it’s one of the
reasons why in the breeding season we
don’t play bird calls more than once at
a time you can really stress a breeding
pair out and you can cause them to
abandon their chicks and even their eggs
so very important ethical very important
ethical sort of things to pay attention
to there if you just walk around playing
bird calls all the time not good not
Craig has been dog bomba stylings they
are quite sort of sort of in-your-face
kind of birds so your starlings in the
karna bird that would do that but I’ve
never been done by styling but I can
imagine them doing it
folks’ll drongos the karna bird that
would chase you away
most definitely I’m talking about birds
Taylor has got an answer for you on the
filler I don’t have an answer at all I’m
still very confused as to what feather I
was looking at but Karstens going to
give me an answer now
I must try remember this Larry you said
that that feather was from his left back
wing I was sitting up on the second tree
from it was from a pill spotted allas
yes something along those lines at 10:00
p.m. last night that’s amazing
congratulations you wouldn’t marry
that’s exactly what happened
but are you watching me I think
Cameron’s around yeah no I’m just
thinking very funny there might be a
little bit too big for a spotter poles
but I doubt it but I liked your joke
though
I like your joke since we’ve got some
tracks here now I’m actually trying to
think David maybe they’re lying tracks
do you know why I say that cause look
here see look how small these ones are
these are definitely cat tracks you can
tell because you can see a very very
clear that translates to the back pad
and then of course we’ve got the toes I
wonder if this wasn’t the sticks pride
because I know they’ve got fairly young
cubs mmm initially I thought they put I
thought uh okay who’s been looking here
and then I saw this one over here this
footprint which is massive and I think I
think this is from the sticks pride
they’re in an area where we don’t
normally drive I mean unless you got a
swerve out to avoid hitting something
and so they fairly undisturbed in terms
of tires and stuff like that but you can
see how the track has been destroyed
look at that complete side of is
actually looks like an parlor or
something is actually stepped into this
lion track and to me this looks like a
big female footprinting you can see some
more toes but the back of the track has
completely worn away so when were they
here to morning’s ago yes two mornings
ago the sticks pride were around there
eat a wildebeest so it obviously came
around that way and then walk all the
way towards again a go pad case do we
have any more guesses as to what we
think that feather is we have I put it
okay child of the universe you said an
owl and joy from your young Kong oh I’m
so terrible today you said from an
Aramark Babla I don’t think an Aramark
Babla they’re sort of more brown in
color and then anything and a bit more
gray and Charlie the universe I’m just
trying to think what although I don’t
think this is from a spotted eagle owl
they’re quite muffled I don’t think this
would be from over oohs evil I’ll either
I’m wondering if it’s maybe not from a
night jar that’s actually very pretty
I’m just trying to think oh yeah I know
it’s all such it’s quite a big feather
maybe a nice jar I have absolutely no
idea it’s a very pretty feather though
we’ll take it back to camp and also ask
Steve and Ralph and see what they have
to say but your guess is as good as mine
because I found it wedged on a tree so I
don’t know if the wooden just blew it up
there will the bird flew through those
branches losing a feather it was quite
nice on Armour and Paul you said a
hornbill now I can see why you would
have guessed hornbills because they
typically have those sort of white put
those spots all the way down there back
with black but I don’t think so I don’t
think that that’s come from from a horn
ball I’m thinking I’m thinking a
nocturnal bird of sorts I don’t know why
just those very mottled colors or
ground-dwelling bird of sorts as a very
sort of ground or maybe it’s from a
friend fun hmm I don’t know who knows
I’m try and figure it out together
we’ll keep guessing no maybe my pockets
going to be the best bit okay we’re
going to start heading towards the west
Andrew and then slowly to the western
corner of the open plains and see what
we can find and I have absolutely no
well everyone I’m just backing up
slightly because we’ve got a very big
breeding herd yeah and it seemed like
they were just coming straight towards
where I was parked so I was pretty much
blocking their path so I’m just giving
them the paths that they want and in
other words giving them the right of way
so as long as we normally do that well
there’s lots of them so we don’t want to
particularly get surrounded especially
when we’re blocking the path that they
were walking on but now everybody can
come past far past in front of us have a
little look some of them are little bit
nervous especially the ones with little
coughs hello mommy
this one’s got very swollen memory
glands even though she’s got a bit of
them all the cough was here and they all
seemed to be hitting our way now as I
said I want to get particularly
surrounded by big elephants with babies
if they’re not in the mood for it they
seem to be quite relaxed now they
starting to feed the little baby is
having a drink for mummy so they seem to
be quite happy Erin the head of a femur
of an elephant hood is is always a
female yes it’s matriarch now these
elephants are all around us everybody’s
armed just going to be speaking with the
nice soft time because we want them to
know that we are friends not fuzz we’ve
got youngsters we’ve got elephants of
all ages here we’ve got mummies of and
they’re all got little coughs hello
little one this one coming right in
front of our vehicle
hello hello you you’re curious aren’t
you yeah and here comes a mummy with a
little cough so you’ve always very
important that they’ve got this space to
move so yes Erin
the head of it of a group of elephants
is called the matriarch so it will be
one female that is the lead
and she will then sort of make all the
final decisions she’s the one that
normally leads the group and tells them
when it’s time to move off or when it’s
time to stay and these elephants are
moving quite quickly I wonder if they’re
also heading up to will towards where we
just came from they’re heading in the
exact same direction as those other
elephants and it’s almost like they’re
doing a daily movement from one part of
the park but on a sort of southerly side
up into the northerly side which is
going up into buffers look I’m just
going to maybe try and turn us a little
bit I think that’s just about the
majority of them that’s moved now oh but
while I get us a better position it
seems Steve has found one of those
prehistoric creatures very prehistoric
we found ourselves at twin dams and we
found a beautiful monitor lizard that is
enjoying the last rays of the afternoon
a powerful predator they feed a lot on
their own kind as well very good sense
of smell when it comes to finding eggs
and birds nests and one of the biggest
problems for crocodiles searching out
and finding the crocodile eggs Lily it’s
pretty big I’m trying to think
Morse sort of work out the size just
beautiful creature there is another one
a little bit off to the left but not as
good a view
so we’ll stay with this one beautiful
but that’s sort of nice yellowish
with longer nose rock monitors got there
so that yellow and the nose is a bit
more stubby very powerful that tail can
flicking to kick you quite hit you quite
hard and those claws as well the gouge
your skin so not an animal he wants to
go and pick up if you had the
he suddenly looked a little bit more
intense didn’t it like what you want to
come and pick me up no sir
we do not want to come and pick you up
but all the North pretty camouflaged
sitting there just on the bank need to
be with large Raptors flying in and
around martial Eagle being one of the
largest predators of these monitor
lizards the water monitor and the rock
monitor I’ve seen on many occasions I
mean look how camouflaged it is from
where we sit very camouflage so you need
to be if you’ve got the eagle eyes of a
large predator flying in the sky but
also that’s why they are quite close to
the water if something big shadow looms
overhead they will quickly zoom into the
water where they’re consumed very
efficiently side with swiping of the
tail paulius the speckles are very very
nice I do think they’re very pretty that
quite a nice dynamic to the coloration
of the animal but obviously works very
well for camouflage whether it serves
dori I don’t think so you say you want
to know if they raise the offspring I
don’t think they do
the only real sort of parental care
reptile that I can think of first of all
a crocodile will bring the the
youngsters into a sort of a nursery but
that’s about the extent of it and a
Python will sort of look after the eggs
and even the youngsters for a very short
period of time but other than that I
think most most reptiles are very non
parental non parental not the parental
kind but I do stand to be corrected
there if anybody knows better than me
there please feel free to comment was a
phenomenon used well for digging
scratching up the crocodiles like to
bury the eggs on the bank so they’ll do
very very well Molly on a lizard’s will
sleep in all sorts of different places
they might find a crevice under some
rocks they could sleep just under a bush
you’ll find a cavity in a tree it’s not
really safe for them to just sort of
hang out there on the bank but they’d
probably find somewhere to sort of
secret themselves away where they can
have a proper little sleep because as
the nighttime starts to cool down their
body processes start to cool down as
well and they don’t move as quickly so
if anything was moving around at nights
to try and hunt them when the
temperatures are colder be more much
easier to catch so sunning themselves to
give them their last burst of energy
probably before they go find sort of a
favorite sort of spot to spend the night
but no means would it be the same spot
all the time and move and move in
relation to to the to their needs food
water but there would have to be certain
areas nearby bit logs or cavities or
holes in the bank that would be needed
for them
the evening we’re going to move off from
here and see if we can get a glimpse of
the sunset from chitra waterhole but it
seems it’s a Taylor has already lined
hers up we’ve got a different kind of a
sunset this evening this time we’ve got
golden backlit birds hovering around on
a termite mound now there’s virtual
stylings and capes I see stylings
yellow-billed hornbills
and I’m not really sure maybe a couple
of Buffalo Weaver’s in there too but
that termite mound must be open
somewhere where they’re all feeding I
can’t think of any other reason why
they’d all be down on the ground like
that and it’s an awesome little bird
party very nice to see there’s actually
lots and lots of different types of
birds all starting together so I’m
hoping the longer we stay here the more
we’re going to see and sometimes you can
see exceptional bird parties you know
especially when you get the gregarious
Birds moving in like the magpie shrikes
or even the red bull Buffalo Weaver’s
all those southern gray headed sparrows
that we were looking at earlier and that
definitely can contribute to the size of
a bird party but I don’t think they’re
gonna be doing much flushing of food
like bird parties typically do I think
they’re all just gonna feed on the
ground now it must be termites oh and
you can see they’re competing they’re
all chasing one another around they’re
not very tolerant of each other we’ll
just tolerant enough that they’re also
chair and feed but that is just
of course I’m bushwalk we don’t have a
big ambien to my cake we have on the
cars and I wish I was here in a vehicle
which was the sounds that the birds all
the sounds are coming from the birds is
just amazing ok nothing you’ve said
McCrady’s birdies I like that that’s
quite funny that’s so stunning let’s see
if it can hear any sound
now I’m really hoping that hooker
Maureen is going to wake up soon I’m
sure he’s just sleeping supposed to camp
hopefully he’ll wake up and threw a big
rasping soul that
we’ll be able to hear that’s so amazing
we’ll keep walking on on these open
plains it’s very nice see what else we
can find
I’m just trying to think we did have an
in yalla but the in Jana has escaped us
and my plan was that we were going to be
below the in y’all and we were going to
get it silhouetted walking across the
grass that didn’t happen that we failed
in Yanis somehow got away from us well
you know casually just walk around see
if we can get closer to in birds maybe
we find a squirrel again silhouetted by
the Sun who knows Ralph has moved on
from his elephants I wonder what his
plans are next yes well as I thought
those elephants were very much on the
move so they didn’t even stay for us to
reposition so I’ve moved on a little bit
trying to just find any sign of Tandy
and Columba now we are in the area of
the quarry pan where she likes to hang
out which is right on our eastern
boundary and no sign of any tracks just
yet but sometimes you know it’s actually
not always the best you have tracks
because they can almost send you on a
wild goose chase and it was the other
day when I was with Sebastian all the
lazy from Ghana the Ghana Lee’s
Frenchman Cameron camera operator we had
been driving around in circles following
tracks and we were quite frustrated
because we weren’t finding what we were
looking for so I said to Sebastian today
I’m not following any tracks we’re just
gonna look and while we landed up
finding who Kamui and so sometimes you
just need to say that we won’t worry
about the checks because they can often
lead you in the wrong direction because
the animal is turned around in a circle
or it’s you know gone off the road and
come back and done some zigzagging or
whatever and so you following those
tracks and often like I’ve said with my
bastard and he follows his nose and he
follows the scent but an animal could
literally run in a massive circle and
come around and before
him and he’s following the trail of the
animal and then he carries on like that
so yeah not always the way to find an
animal is by following the tracks but it
is obviously a good indication that
there’s an animal in the air yeah so for
the moment we haven’t found any fresh
checks some but I’m not too worried
about that I know that Andy likes this
area he’s been found here regularly and
that Sun is starting to dip towards the
horizon and we’ve actually got the
moonrise on one side I want to find a
nice spot to show you because we got the
moonrise on one side and the sunset on
the other so as we’ve got a nice spot
yeah I think since I don’t have to show
you exactly what I’m talking about
because it’s beautiful they’re almost
chasing each other there we go
this looks like a good site that’s the
one here we go so what’s that sensor
where do you start
I start on the moon and then you can go
the other side to the Sun so look at
that it’s heading towards full moon it’s
maybe a night or two and we’re gonna
have full moon and that is on waxing
gibbous as we would say the phase of the
moon at the moment so anything over half
moon is a give us moon but it’s a waxing
gibbous it’s still getting bigger and
now you can pan across and show us the
sunset seems oh it is very beautiful
that’s one side and the sunset going on
down on that side with some clouds in
the area as well always makes for very
pretty sunset very bright at the moment
it’s still got a little bit of a way to
go if I look at that what’s that it’s
probably about half an hour I would say
oh and I can hear a heavy thunder I
think this is gonna be a thunderstorm
tonight
this is the calm before the storm since
I let’s have a look at all of these
clouds it’s booming now folks is a lot
of noise and it almost sounds like this
blasting going on a big big thunderstorm
in the making here it’s very exciting
and very uncharacteristic as well
because this time of year we should
definitely not be getting thunderstorms
it should be drying up getting very dry
not much rain and this should be
happening in summer full summer we’re
almost fully into winter all the months
without an R in them that’s and may you
know sort of being the the back end of
autumn so we were just about into for
winter now and we’re still getting rain
around so fascinating I wonder what’s
gonna happen
lots of rain possible but speaking of
water and animals that love it Steve has
got some of those hmm the moon does
affect water affects all of us I wonder
how it effects elephants considering we
are 70 something percent water elephants
must be something similar and if they
have different moods and different
behaviors because of the full moon I
a little one on the right struggling a
little bit with the trunk hasn’t quite
got the technique down the others are
quite synchronized you can see that
they’re synchronized and the youngster
is not quite sure okay it’s really funny
when you see youngsters get frustrated
with the trunk that they end up sticking
their whole face into the water
there’s always funny and you love
there’s lake you want to know what makes
it elephant herd a breeding herd and
basically females with the offspring
maker the breeding herd and if you get
and the reason why we use the term
breathing Kurtis because of the
youngsters if you just talk about a
group of elephants if you don’t know the
six there can be some confusion for
example if you see a group of male
elephant together we generally call them
a bachelorhood because of their boys or
a bull with summit is Ascari and when
communicating meta on a game drive with
regards to walking or driving Bulls are
jelly quite docile and quite easy to
approach or his females with babies
because of the youngsters can sometimes
be or have different behaviors about
them because of the youngsters and they
need to behave in a certain way that
protects the youngsters and moves with
the youngsters and all of that so they
can be a little bit more stressed out
and can react to us a little bit more
differently thin then the Bulls can you
can see how there are two of them
they’re stopped with their leg in the
air you see the ones but it’s leg in the
air it’s trying to make a decision right
now let’s make a decision whether it
should be coming pasture
see it delayed drinking as a youngster
trying to steal the water from it I want
some mum see she’s the mum got the
enlarged mammary glands and she’s defi
the one in charge it can see are they
bulimia indeed the youngsters young
elephants for the first year and a half
two years are very very reliant to mums
milk to sustain them not just for
moisture but for food while they start
trying to figure out how to use that
trunk they’re getting majority of their
sustenance from the very nutritious milk
that mum provides but there’s another
reason why there can potentially be
stressed because the mothers are having
to provide lots and lots of good feeding
for themselves so that they can provide
the milk for the youngsters so that is
another reason why elephants can
breeding herds can be a little bit more
funny than boots important to understand
breeding herds versus boots and they’ve
just stopped
what are they’re doing they’re going to
move off soon I am sure but it seems
like Taylor has decided to take a load
we just relaxing here on this brush walk
Steve we’re not doing any work today
we’re now watching the sunset isn’t that
gorgeous and that’s the most perfect
sort of anvil-shaped card don’t you
think just behind it and as ralph
mentioned that he could hear quite a bit
of thunder brewing in a distance so can
we so perhaps that card is going to turn
into something a little bit but bigger
and well create a bit of rain it’s
slowly coming in from the southwest
so I’m not sure what what it is bringing
thunder is going again I don’t think
you’ll be able to hear it with us though
and it’s all starting to look quite hazy
but that’s stunning
now good news guess what I heard hooker
Morey saw can you believe that that all
works out to plan as soon as the Sun
Goes Down I hope that we’ll hear a
leopard saw and I did just down over
there we know it’s aquamarine no he was
left there this morning somewhere in the
thicket and then during the day he
definitely come together go pan for a
little drink of water and now he’s
moving so we’re standing here on the
edge of quarantine we’re not gonna go go
looking for him because they’re starting
to get a little bit dark and I’ll so
we’ll wait I can actually hear a Ralph
racing on and trying to get as close as
you can to come and help us
but he has two roots that he walks one
of them is straight through camp and
basically right past the room that I
came out of earlier today to start the
show oh he’ll walk on the other side of
the drainage line and then come out past
the tent and James’s little little cabin
and then go this way around so you’re
just gonna keep an eye out and scan
around here and well hope that we can
hear and saw once more but I can hear a
Ralph coming in hot
you’re not wasting any time I agree
Paula let’s find a leopard let’s do it
I’m gonna try and wave Ralph down when I
see him maybe he won’t even stop I’ll
just dramatically point like that but I
think what he should do is go and check
Gallagher Road maybe just pop onto
Gallagher shortcut just to check a
little bit and we’ll stand by here and
see how birds will help us although
either just physically see him walking
around then he’s not too far away right
Steve is having all the fun today with
lots and lots of different animals and
it seems like the hippos entertaining
always needs to talk about the hippos
when at Chitwood waterhole they are
always a bundle of joy and this group of
youngsters has been splashing around
scaring the egyptian geese they’re
having lots of fun James is talking
about them last night and how many I
Oh formidable looking creatures aren’t
for those of you who have not been
informed mr. James Hendry has left for
Johannesburg this morning this afternoon
he’s flying off to the Caymans for the
grand opening of dive live not sure
exactly the dates and then he’s going to
enjoy himself some time in New York I
believe 2nd of June is the opening and
then his games enjoy some time in New
York followed by a some often darn back
in South Africa well-deserved leave not
sure if he told any of you out there but
if he didn’t it was a nice silent
disappearance probably hear the
cacophony of Egyptian geese all around
us have grown quite drastically in
see the waves by the hippos created
there Cathy I don’t know any jokes and
if I do did I’m not sure if the hippos
would understand
you know maybe in about 10 15 minutes
they will start laughing probably at
okay they’re too busy playing with each
other to be listening anyway I was
watching some of the water bucket coming
down there Craig to the left will
probably be able to see them in a moment
coming down just between the trees up
there you can see a youngster there is
one of the youngsters two of the
another Egyptian goose in the foreground
feeding they’re following Mumm Mumm is
somewhere there saw her before there she
is there’s some lovely thunder in the
I’m not sure if you can hear that it’s a
Mina moon no hippos cannot survive
without water they’ve evolved to live in
water and if they are not able to sort
of saturate their body every day or
submerge themselves they will dry out
and it will lead to their death not only
do they need to drink water like all the
other mammals and animals we see around
they physically have to get themselves
wet so yes they would not last very long
that’s one of the sort of the downsides
of being a hippo as well evolved as
there are and how many adaptations they
have that I’ve sort of pushed them
forward in the evolutionary perspective
the one that holds them back is their
dependency on water without which they
will their skin will desiccate and try
out and I don’t actually know how long
they would last without the water I
wouldn’t say to be too long they can
walk quite far so if a waterhole does
dry out they will move in vast distances
well it seems as if a Ralph has stolen
well thanks to Tyler for giving us the
heads up that we had a leopard calling
in the area so we raced down to bases
she said it was coming from and surprise
surprise it looks like we’ve got hookah
Maury so wonderful he is now sleeping
out in the open and one of the only
times that you find a leopard very
easily when they’re out on the road so
Thank You Taylor
much appreciated I have and I will
return the favor in future and that is
important between guides we need to
share the knowledge and share what what
is going on around us if you are on foot
you hear it much easier than when you’re
driving around so if you can tell one of
the vehicles that is something happening
close by and I can quickly race there
well that’s exactly the kind of cruise
that we’re looking for
it’s nasty seas poor pads from this
angle as well beautiful and I’m sure it
won’t be too long when you’ll be getting
up I don’t know if he’s drunk already
oh hello he’s sitting up now so you can
see that very clear three three spot
pattern on his whiskers and it’s now
confirmed for me I just looked at him
and as we arrived and it looked like him
but now it’s confirmed that spot pattern
of three three
he’s a good-looking cat is me little bit
irritated with the flowers around and
everyone I am just excited as excited as
you are to see how Komori I’ve been
looking for him for a few days and just
missing him so I’m glad I finally caught
up with him now as well I’m sure he’s
probably come out from sleeping some
nearby Steve said earlier at about lunch
time he heard monkeys alarm calling near
to the Gallagher lodge sort of but
towards for your tailor damn but he said
it was quite quick so I don’t know if he
just made a brief appearance and then
the monkeys couldn’t see him anymore and
but I’m pretty sure they were they were
alarming at him and now Tyler’s picked
up in the rasping that he’s been doing
so he’s obviously been sleeping
somewhere in the thickets yeah pretty
difficult to find him when they knock
that and then now as the sun’s gone –
towards the horizon starting to get a
bit cooler he’s decided to come out I
don’t know if he’s been for a drink
already and he’s come down here or if
he’s still gonna go for one but he’s rot
Muir together got pan so I has every
chance we might get in going for a drink
but for the moment he’s still a little
bit dizzy looks like he still got half a
full belly but well that’s gonna be us
for the rest of the evening if we can
keep up with him but it seems like Steve
average Chitra has got one of those very
we have got a magnificent bird in the
name form of the saddle build stalk and
it is a male you can tell that by that
beautiful pink needs the purpose of
which I have no idea
Greg why do you think they’ve got pink
knees so strange isn’t it
pink feet pink knees because you’re
doing that often the daily grooming
process the preening Birds will do this
every single day a very deliberate
cleaning of the feathers
especially the flat feathers zipping
them back again any Barb’s that have
a little bit of a belly scratch Marya is
a very cool-looking bed it’s one of the
the large stalks we find around they are
very well then I think they’re regarded
as threatened or near endangered
there’s not many breeding pairs left in
the Kruger National Park area they’re
very easy to identify by the color the
name saddle build stalk you can see that
yellow on the top of the beak looks like
Milana no they’re not related to
flamingos flamingos are very unique
species on to their own stalks are very
different I I’m trying to think now the
differences really I mean that the
flamingos is a bird that’s able to to
sort of the double opens the opposite
way it’s the early bird I know that’s
able to do that they’re a filter feeder
and their beak actually opens are their
bull opens top the top B curves away
from the bottom beak or other than most
birds the bottom moves down so very very
interesting and then behavior how they
walk around and the salt pans and they
fall to feed all of different types of
if they’re the greats of flamingos
they’re feeding on on the phytoplankton
and if there are the lesser flamingos
they’re feeding on zooplankton so
they’re feeding on different very small
specimens in the vegetable in the salt
pans and that’s also it gives them their
pink coloration the water buck family
just behind as they climb up onto the
termite mound they’re Crego lots and
lots of little youngsters and they are
feeding on the juicy juicy grass
provided by the termite mound those
little Yanks is there probably nearly
weaned it started to feed more on
vegetation and they’re learning that the
best sweeter stuff is actually on
termite mound which is a good good thing
to learn from an early age are nutrients
and if certain cat was nearby I’m sure
one of these young water buck would
feature very high on his menu let’s go
and see what Ralph thinks yes well we
still with a very sleepy cat yeah he’s
just having a look around every now and
then and then just flops his head back
down a little bit of stretching going on
which is always a good sign that he
might go on the move just now and also a
bit of rasping that happened earlier I
haven’t seen him or hidden rasping since
we’ve got yeah but that’s a good sign
that he might be getting ready to go on
the move but he’s a little bit heavy now
Victoria it was a new viewer thank you
for joining us and thanks for sending
your questions for you the spot pattern
I’m talking about I’m gonna ask Cynthia
to go in nice and closely there because
leopards can look very similar indeed
and if you look just above the whisker
lar name you’ve got three dots that are
just to the left on his right but as
we’re looking at the screen just to the
left of his nose of his nostril you’ve
got three dots there at the top that
first little on above dots one two three
and you see that and on the other side
of his nostril you will also have that
so on the right hand side but we can’t
see it at the moment so if we’ve got
lipids that are there’s no major
characteristics about them that we can’t
tell maybe he’s got half a tail or he’s
got half an ear or a very big scar on
his face then we use these spot patterns
so we got very close in there and who
Komori this one in particular he’s got a
spot pattern of three three so three on
the left and three on the right and if
we go to ting Ghana which is another
individual male that we’ve got here
he’s got five five five spots on the
left four spots on the right and there’s
another there’s a female
young female that likes to hang around
hookah Marie and and then I’m sure do Lu
and she’s got also far five spot pattern
so you can have all sorts of different
ratios you can have a 5/3 you can have a
four three or five four and all sorts
but it’s just a closer or a more
in-depth way of being able to identify
individual lipids especially if you’re
not being able to see any of those
unusual characteristics that would
obviously lead you quite easily to an
answer as well so that’s what we use in
terms of spot pattern obviously we can
also look at the different rosettes that
form different patterns on the side of
them as well because sometimes you get
like a little smiley face type look
especially coming up towards the
shoulder part over there you can have
different little patterns that you could
then if you take photos or if you take
screenshots off the video that we’re
busy giving you now you can then also
make as little patterns that would then
lead you towards which individual it is
now we’re not going anywhere and we’re
going to set our through camera and see
what he gets up to I’m hoping he might
even go for a hunt I think that sounds
splendid but look at how the sky is
changing there is definitely something
brewing out this evening
I don’t know what it’s going to be what
it’s going to turn into if it’s going to
be you know maybe just the
run-of-the-mill thunderstorm or quick
downpour and then off it goes or if the
rain is going to settle in now I know it
was supposed to rain this morning in
fact remove but the rain moves on and
everything and Rickson even told us that
it was pouring with rain and river
Connie which is not too far from here
and he says we better be well I’m going
to make sure that we you know don’t get
rained on them they’re all ready and
then it didn’t it cleared and then
clouds came around again and we’ve had a
beautiful day and so we played cricket
outside obviously even no one plays
indoor cricket I’m not here in the wild
but it was um it was interesting there’s
a little bit overcast but it definitely
didn’t feel like it was going to rain at
all now unfortunately with all this
cloud cover it means that the light is
disappearing a lot quicker and then we
would have hoped Eric and the fellas on
the vehicles are going to have to put
the infrared lights on sooner than they
would have thought to it so we’re gonna
probably head on home now get away from
the storm and well we’ll see you
tomorrow morning no I won’t I’m sleeping
in but somebody else that will see you
tomorrow morning as Steve and he’s with
mmm-hmm blanks Taylor get out of the
storm it seems to be coming quite
quickly from the south we might start
moving back ourselves but this water
buck mal is very interested in that
female and the kids are watching on even
there would surmounting in the kids a
moment ago as they were doing what daddy
was doing or trying to figure out what
game dad was playing he’s been following
that female since since we first saw
them he’s tried to mount a few times but
she keeps moving away you clearly see
see I tests with the leg underneath
quite characteristic for water buck a
lot of other species do it as well such
there we go the yucca stir so they wanna
interesting the color difference between
some of those youngsters there with the
age well the only a month or two in
between but the color match different
from that very very Tony Brown and she’s
still got it on the forehead to that
very gray coloration that male wants to
uncle Freddie I think that’s a good
question I mean I’ve seen domestic
cattle whenever they see a storm
approaching lie down and sort of shelter
the ground underneath em so they’ve got
a nice dry spot to sit I don’t know if
wild animals seem to do something
similar I mean you do see Buffalo sit
down but it’s just there’s a certain
time of day when they start sitting down
and doing the Illuminations but I think
animals are aware on the storm whether
they’d do anything about it from time to
time is hard to say but you know there’s
nothing really they can do about it
anyway they’re going to be caught in it
they can’t decide to go put on a roof or
go shelter underneath some form of
carport carport or something so I don’t
so I’m not sure I don’t know if I mean
every now and again you see lions and
leopards looking up at vultures as
they’re flying because the vultures
gonna track them or guide them to food
but you never I’ve never noticed any any
animal kind of longingly looking into
the sky thinking wow that looks like a
cartoon character that looks like
something I don’t know maybe they do
maybe I do what we’re not we’re not
watching I saw a monkey last night so I
was off and our walks out of camp and I
saw monkeys sitting on top of a tree and
I stopped to have a look at him thinking
maybe he’s looking at a leopard he was
just watching the sky and sort of
looking at the Sun in the distance and
that was you know provokes a few
thoughts in my head like is he actually
watching the sky is he is he like having
a moment with himself there you know a
little bit of a silent moment with
himself it’s interesting not sure hey
Craig a let’s move on that storm does
seem to be moving in from the south so
we had to start hitting a little bit
closer to home
where it will make it a little bit
easier here we go you can see it looming
a bit bit easier to to deal with if we
do does suddenly open up Ralph who is
quite close to home who moved into the
area we were working earlier as
stallworth Walker Marie let’s see if
well he’s got his eyes open but he said
he is still very relaxed just chasing
flies every now and then having a look
around flicking his ears
panting away not really doing too much
why are we sitting here we’re hearing
all sorts of bird laughs you can hear
the noisy Natal spear fowl we’ve got the
very chatty starlings
and we’ve got the odd chat graph and
it’s all heading towards nighttime with
these clouds moving in as well it’s
gonna be quite a dark night even though
we did have that almost full moon I
think with these clouds moving in us
gonna be a dark night and so actually
much better for hunting for the
Predators because when you have that
full moon that’s very light and the prey
animals like all the Antelope they can
then quite easily spot there
the or much easier should I say they can
spot the Predators then coming in and
when it’s dark those are the best nights
for the Predators makes it a lot easier
for them because they can still see much
better than they enter that but not so
who can worry what you’re gonna get up
to tonight Josh the leopard stunt I’ve
never had a leopard jump onto my vehicle
they have moved right next to us they’ve
moved right in front of the vehicle they
move right past us when I was training
students in a game reserve not too far
from here I had a leopard that sprayed a
bush that was right next to our vehicle
and you know we often have these trekker
seats in the front and the student that
was sitting on the tracker seat he got
weight from the leopard spraying on the
bush next to the vehicle so that’s about
as close as I’ve come to a leopard
jumping on the bonnet literally spraying
the student sitting on the bonnet so he
will never forget it he will probably
never be closer to a leopard and he’ll
probably remember that smell for the
rest of his life as well there’s
particular things that happen when
you’re out in the bush that you’ll never
forget and well I’m sure that that
student and that was one of those
moments for him now who Komori is one of
these special animals as well and that I
think he is also going to give me some
special memories and the times to come
still quite a newbie in this part of the
world I haven’t spent too much time in
the sabi sands so I’m very excited that
the prospects of
spending time with these particular
animals getting to know them getting to
know their movements getting to know the
different spots that they’re like
hanging out and where they’re hosting
their kills etc and I’m quite interested
in this in this little relationship
that’s blossoming between kuku Murray
and should you lose now I’ve just got
some other people that have also shown
some interest in coming into the spot so
I’m just gonna chat with him quickly on
the radio yeah you can either come down
on Google or you can come down Gallagher
shortcut and then you know towards
Gallagher 10 but let me know and I can
okay copy no problem yeah there’s
another vehicle on the way in with some
guests I think they’re from Australia
they want to come and have a look at
these this beautiful katiya
no he’s stationary just to the east of
Gallagher pen yeah is Lala pansy on the
road running around yeah Marie that was
a nice little you only gave us as I say
it’s not a bad thing to see him doing
that a little bit of activity because
I’m really thinking that he’s going to
be getting active soon now we’re going
to be swapping over to infrared or our
night vision because we’re losing light
and their sensors just swapped across so
that is the reason why you see it a
little bit black and white because with
the normal camera it’s pretty much like
the prize species there’s not enough
light and then you don’t get to see very
clearly and we’d have to put the
spotlight on him which then does disturb
him a little bit and and the animals
around as well
now what you seeing on your screen is
it’s very much lighted but we don’t need
to use a spotlight and I actually when
I’m looking at him with my naked eye he
could be totally in the dark but you’ll
see him clearly on your screen so
sometimes every now and then I might
need to use my spotlight just to relock
item asan obviously not if he’s lying
down like this because we’ll very easily
see where he is
but if he’s moving around and and
potentially walking through the bush
then I just use the spotlight just to
relocate him and just to help since I
then put the camera on him what’s the
infrared or not vision but for the
moment it’s what we call a flat cat not
really doing too much and even with the
infrared you can see that as flies
buzzing around his ear make you know
that rain and storms can actually assist
predators because
it does dampen sounds noises and it also
does dampen smells so predators can
actually use rain and storms to their
advantage if they are up to going out
and hunting at their time but I know of
lots of predators that have taken down
prey in the midst of a storm as I say it
almost seems a little bit easier for
them so yes and they will go out and
hunt in a storm it’s actually a good
idea and look at that instead of chasing
those flies which must be quite
irritating and at least now with the Sun
setting they should actually start
giving him some peace and in the next
half an hour or so and that’s when
you’ll probably also get up and be
active so all we can do is hope it
doesn’t seem to be a very skinny and we
know that it wasn’t long ago that he
killed a warthog that was with Taylor so
it’s not as if he is starving but he
Kenny I don’t think that lipids will
recognize their names
no and in fact I think it’s just for us
as humans to be able to call the animals
different names but for them yeah the
names that we give them I don’t think
they worry about that in any way
whatsoever so I know that it would be a
nice thing just to call his name and he
had maybe look up and look at us but
yeah and the animals out here there in
the bush and I think they just recognize
smells and sight of animals more so than
any kind of name because for them those
are the highest parts of the heart the
biggest sense is that they will be using
so for instance hukum or you will call
hill rasp and you’ll also mark the
ground and bushes he’ll spray urine on
on the bushes and you’ll also mark with
these claws on different branches and in
tree trunks and so on lions are the ones
that do that the most but lipids can
also mark with their claws as well but
generally it’s about that smell that he
leaves lying around with his urine so
other lipids that come through they’ll
smell that urine and they’ll know that
it’s a particular a male that’s in the
area or female and then they’ll be able
to follow up through the smell mostly or
all factory since and so that’s what
they use the most and so for instance
hookah Murray has been following
shadaloo a young female around who I
would say is probably between four and
six years old and so she’s a young
reasonably young leopard but he’s been
sort of courting her and mating with her
as well and he would be following the
very clear smell of her around she’s
also been marking and she does also rasp
every noun in it’s a slightly different
call to that of a male not really as
loud and not quite as horse it’s
difficult to tell between them unless
you hear
lot of lipids cooling you can just tell
the difference between a male and a
female lipid rasp it’s very difficult
though and also sometimes you can have
males that don’t really want to be
shouting very loud so it can be a bit
all right so let’s just hope that hooker
Marie does and give us a show and at
least go for a drink well anyway that’s
what I’m gonna sit here and hopeful and
we are meandering through the mill Watty
drainage system which is the very nice
area to find something moving along I’ve
yet to find the cat or a leopard walking
down here but we’ve many times that
their tracks and this for continue up
this is probably where alph is with kuku
moody further towards zoomin lodge
itself would tell a camp itself so we’re
hoping something will pop out I’ve had
the uncle homers in here lion pride
we’ve had the Birmingham boys in here
their focus because this drainage system
goes all the way south down to my Allah
my Allah so it’s quite a productive sort
of area and lots of animals will utilize
it nice and soft on either side of it is
a perfect habitat for all sorts of
animals on bush walk this morning I
would have discussed that with you that
we’ve found those niala that were
interested in each other they were
enjoying a little bit of the long grass
in the shadow of the drainage system
also lots of birds ground nesting birds
the impala are moving through they can
love this kind of area bush buck and
obviously monkeys and baboons would be
frequenting the tall trees in and around
these systems so very very important
Josh I don’t don’t keep them off they
they come the Flies they come and I’ve
learned to just ignore them
sometimes you can’t it just gets a
little bit annoying but you try and just
ignore the fly but the mosquitoes
sometimes we add repellents to our skin
I’m not a big fan of a day to keep them
away but the mosquitoes are only really
a problem after we’ve had summer
rainfall so as winter draws nearer they
should be disappearing but we keep
getting these little bursts of rain
which then leads to an outbreak of
mosquitoes again and yes they do bite us
but we do try and avoid being bitten I
have left my jacket at home that’s why
I’m looking so starkers on my arms I had
it attached to my bag off to my walk
this morning I took it off my back to
play some books inside and I must have
left it on my bed okay well we are in
quite a bad signal area because of the
drainage system while we try and
navigate these gremlins let’s go back
so everyone I’m just making space for
another vehicle that also wants to come
and have a look yeah I’m just putting my
nose in yeah get out of his way a little
there we go okay now we can see him not
see just want to check that I’ve got
enough room I like me to go forward a
little bit okay is it so obviously as I
was saying about the infrared obviously
with the s behind us I won’t be able to
see the leopard without the spotlight so
now say me yes you’re right let’s do
pent when it’s hot they’ve also got a
very high metabolism so that means that
the digestive food very quickly but that
makes them pent a lot when it’s cold
they don’t paint as much and I’ve just
got someone on the radio answering for
me that’s good so you see how he’s
panting it is still a little bit warm
and as it gets a bit later you might see
the repents a bit less but they always
do paint a little bit because well
lipids have quite a high metabolism and
if you’ve ever heard a lion compost your
tent at night which I have many times
and I’ve even come past me when I’ve
been sleeping on the ground
one of the first things that has
actually eluded me to the presence is
and that’s actually how I knew the
animal was there so it’s actually a very
normal thing for predators and large
cats to do there’s a lot of panting I’m
just hoping that he’s gonna get up and
go for a drink rather soon malaika the
the light doesn’t particularly bother
the lipids too much it’s mostly the day
time animals or the diurnal animals that
and really do get bothered by it so you
see there you want to look almost
directly into the light and not have too
much other of a difference or change but
you know this is one of the small little
things that it’s almost all of that it
was very pretty the small sacrifice in
enabling people to be able to see these
kind of predators in their natural
habitat it’s he’s gonna move now I think
he might go for a drink why are you
gonna go in the thicket he might mark
he’s gonna scratch that bit of urinating
possibly even a poo that’s typical
marking behavior there there is
urinating any mud
you see wipe his feet him at night and
do you do that looks like he might just
have a little bit more and now I think
he might make his way up towards the
waterhole now the point I was making was
that you know people need to be able to
see these animals because they come in
here they pay a lot of money for tourism
and it’s one of the small little
sacrifices that well it’s a slight
disturbance in a small way but very very
little but you know what it enables
these animals to be protected in their
natural habitat this vehicle just gonna
let’s get up and go but close an eye
I’m sure it’s gonna go for a drink so
let’s just back out yeah let’s get up to
the water and watch him there so yes I
don’t want my my point to be
misconstrued what I’m saying is is that
there’s a small sacrifice to be made
with sometimes with not a massive or
intrusive type of behavior with these
animals but with us being able to watch
them where is he is it off to the side
okay I wonder if he’s gonna go back down
there I don’t know if we’re gonna even
be able to see him I think you may be
already been for a drink Larry is going
into the thickets they’re heading
towards the lodge and we won’t really go
into that thicket they’re us of
stretching he might get a little bit
active now he’s rubbing his nose on a
okay guys I’m just moving just to try to
relocate just to get us into a better
spot here okay so I’m just gonna try and
get in here closer but while we just
getting in here and see if we can do
that this hit you back on over to Steve
maybe he’s been able to find something
else hmm it’s very thick stuff that way
who koumori is so very difficult to
navigate with a vehicle very easy for
leopards are just mission through there
and bear in mind if he does go through
that towards the lodge and around
towards the Dan that’s where all those
niala and couldn’t Impala and the baby
zebra or whether they’re still the same
area it’s debatable they might have
moved off hearing him call would have
given away his position and definitely
put them on alert we are we have decided
to come back towards the east the storm
seems to be south of us and moving
steadily west and we’re going to have
one last-ditch effort today Sunday for
Tandy and la la ba obviously we’re not
going to shine on them if we find them
we do have the IR lights available but
this is the time of night where we could
find ton D maybe just on our own moving
maybe headed in and out of the area that
they had checks this morning who knows
I’ve had a rash once before coming back
and evening with Ferg behind us we came
through a little drainage depression
that she spent some time in back when
Scott was with us here full time darn
ahjumma and we Jerry got her in this
area for quite a few times she spent
some time just up here as well as a few
Josh I don’t think there’s any
difference in the color between man and
female what you do notice is the males
are a little bit bigger so there seem to
be a bit more stretched in my opinion so
the spots seem to be slightly my opinion
further apart so they almost seems to be
a little bit more gold to them than the
black so you kind of in might when you
first see a female in the man you kind
of see like a little bit more dark in
the female a little bit more gold than
the male but that’s just my opinion
right now but they are pretty much the
same there’s just the size difference in
each leopard is quite unique in their
spots in their coloration where they’re
positioned and all that sort of thing
but they all look very very similar in
how they are and it’s only facial
expressions and the spot pattern there
is an ala up ahead it’s not blind him
you can have a look at him with the IR
light that works quite nicely he’s going
come starlings in the background closing
down for the night so we’re looking with
the special light on the special camera
which enables us to see these animals in
the darkness so as not to bother them
with the spotlights this is the time of
day that the leopards like to move
around as you can see who Kimura is
moving
hopefully Ralph is able to find him
again and what antics are is he going to
be up to have another niala
up ahead about to cross the road a
female well no wonder scorpions are
active all the time but they do go
through a sort of a form of torpor where
they’re just slowed down their behavior
and they’re a lot more active in in in
summer months being an arthropod
temperature is a very important aspect
for them in summer we find the scorpions
moving around a lot and that’s a lot of
the time when they do their mating but
there can be active at any time of year
but it is temperature related so we
don’t see as many of them around now
because they’re basically quite ambush
in their predatory ability they will sit
and just wait for something to come pass
and then come out of their rock or bark
or whatever it is that they might be
hiding and then tackle the food but they
are so well adapted that a scorpion can
go for like an entire year without
eating so you thought hookah Maria was
patient the other day he only sat there
for an hour and 40 minutes waiting for
that warthog to come out where a
scorpion can wait for a year
it’s a long time it just made me very
now they’ll very very well adapted to
water conservation heat temperature very
very well adapted haven’t seen many
scorpions at my time here I don’t know
while it is I suppose other places I’ve
worked I’ve had a lot more rocks a lot
of scorpions do do very well in rocky
habitats that’s not the road I wanted to
take we walked up here today
let me try stay on the road shall I
Craig I was busy looking down that road
just to see if we could spots anything
quite often you see animals walking in
the roads it’s always important to scan
down them as you drive fast and let’s
see how our elf is getting on
if Okumura has managed to come out of
well the other vehicles are watching him
is walking is going along that sort of
drainage lighting eating straight
towards via tiller Dam so I’m just
anticipating where he’s going and I’m
keeping in touch with those game viewers
as well and I’m I’m just hitting out in
front of him so that he can head towards
us and we’ll have a nice view of him as
you as he comes towards us and I’ve just
told me in my ear now he is on his way
exactly where I thought he might be so
it might be perfect for us just to hit
the in front and then we’ll we’ll just
come to the northern side of the voya
Atilla dam and also if you watch on the
dam cam I’m sure that you will be able
to see him coming pass there soon but
we’ll see him first and then he’ll
probably go up just off of the side of
the the dry dam at the moment and he
might go up to where the water is next
to the dam cam and have a drink there it
it didn’t seem to have a drink at the
Gallagher pen now I’m not sure the
awesome other vehicles here but don’t
know if that’s beef but you can see that
might be me seeing under the M cam I am
flashing my laptop just waving it up and
down I’m just looking for my particular
spot that I like to go in here at
waterhole itself so don’t go anywhere
we’re gonna watch huka moody coming
and I’m sure he might even come through
yeah after he comes and pays us a visit
let’s go through here and have a look
and Dixon one of the wonderful guards of
Gallagher Lodge he’s just told me that
he that I did the right thing and he’s
coming straight towards us I mean now
hating you’ll probably see on the damn
cam this is me coming towards you hello
you know I think somebody just calling
me on the radio I’m just going to answer
you’re welcome to take a stand by I’ll
probably be here for the next 15 minutes
or so but yeah and then I’ll my cry for
use microwave so long he looks like he’s
coming out towards a voyeur tailor damn
itself so start making your way copy
that’s great okay oopsie
we’ve just got to see when he comes
text us when a chick have you still got
the visual on Okumura so we’re looking
at frontier this is the direction that
he was moving but we come quite far
coppy sorry Aubry man I thought it was
takes ok so there’s lots of him there
but he’s still walking and they’re up on
the right now so let’s um it’s just
gonna have a look now Dorian the damn
cam is a permanent camera that is set up
on one of our little water holes which
is just off to my side here and you can
also get access to it
Kirsten can you tell me in my ear
exactly how they can watch on the damn
cab and I will tell you now once Kirsten
okay so it’s gone to Wilders TV website
and there you can click on the damn cam
and then you can see live what is
happening here at the waterhole which
I’m just driving past it’s just off to
my side and this lipid might also be
coming up to have a drink yeah quite
shortly so gone through the Wilders
website and then you’ll be able to
access that and and it’s one of these
wonderful spots that we often have
lipids coming past is hyenas sometimes
elephants and all sorts happening and we
very often get from the viewers there
telling us what has been happening here
let’s see if we can find this guy again
he’s walking slowly through the bush now
Josh that’s an interesting question do
lepers ever catch fish well I can tell
you something that I’ve actually watched
him doing exactly that it was in the
small little water holes there’s his
yeah I can see is ours there there it
comes okay so we’re probably gonna have
em coming out now just over here sir
there he comes so yes and I have
actually witnessed lipids catching fish
in small little water pans especially
when they start drying up and then they
start just grabbing them with their
claws because it’s quite easy them you
know so what I’m gonna do is I’m
actually gonna reverse up here and get
ahead of him now that we know that he’s
popped out see this grab his and
everything is just running through there
you had a look at it
grab his reign in front of him so I’m
just gonna back out and get in front of
him like I said we just wanted to make
sure that we hadn’t in fact lost him and
it crossed the road but he is now
definitely making his way where I
thought he was going to I just wanna
make sure it was a big lock there there
it is driven into it quickly spin around
view of him from the face coming towards
us rather than his bum it’s much better
that way isn’t it we can get a nice view
on him on this side got to be careful if
you don’t drive into an art for call
now Shamala thanks for your comment and
that you visited South Africa and you
Gaza really amazed how you can stream
Safari live well that’s exactly what we
want to be doing because and we want to
bring this kind of atmosphere to
everybody you know we’re very lucky that
we can actually experience this life
ourselves but Wow for all of you wanting
to get your African fix and your
wildlife fix we do this twice a day
every single day of the year so oh and I
think I’m feeling some raindrops now
Kamui did you feel that too and some
rain starting everybody big drops
starting to fall so it’s heading towards
the end of the game Drive it might be
just in time
kamalii though he might continue on and
go for a bit of hunting I’m gonna try
and getting in front of him again and
hopefully this rain will just give us
enough time to see this guy walk up
before he heads off into the bush need
to be careful like us if not to fall in
an artful barrel because then we get
very easily stuck and sometimes you
don’t see these artful barrels until
you’re in them especially at night when
a little bit ahead of fuku Murray but
also very mindful of the fact of trying
not to get stuck in a barrel let’s now
get a little bit further ahead of him so
that he can walk towards us for but
longer Georgia you’re absolutely right
hooker Murray is quite used to the
paparazzi and we’re gonna get a nice
close view on him once again looks like
he might be heading up towards the dam
cam or will the the video is there yes
look at that
the silent killer that is a very
beautiful animal isn’t he
Wow also I put my spot on interest so
there is a there is that’s just put the
light just near to him not directly on
him just so that it doesn’t disturb him
too much
that’s nice almost bounce the light off
the grass onto him you know and then
it’s not so disturbing other than
shining it straight in his face see he
still got a rather large belly hey I
don’t think that he’s going to be
chasing all sorts of things tonight
there’s every chance obviously the
opportunistic hunters so they candy but
you know he’s not starving so it’s not
like he’s going to be taking lots of
risks or chasing lots of animals down I
think he might be dying for a drink hey
now everybody Wow we were very lucky to
see Oh Kumari even if it is just at the
end of the drive and as I said lots of
rain coming down now we are heading
towards the end of the show I want to
say thank you to all the animals for all
the appearances that they’ve made
especially the elephants and the lipids
thanks to all the FC people thanks to
the cam ups thanks to all the other
guides and most importantly thanks to
you the viewers now please join us again
tomorrow morning for another Safari live good night for now and goodbye