Double the Lion Prides – Day 96 | Safari Live

we’re down to sunny and warm South
Africa
where a few of my friends are starts in
the afternoon drive and I believe mr.
Scottie Dyson is already on Drive and is
ready to say good afternoon strive in
the Maasai Mara he must be very very
excited my name’s Scott and I’m teamed
up with Davi on camera as you can see
we’ve got lucky and managed to relocate
a portion of the Inca home a pride of
Lion Tristan did find them in the same
spot this morning and well done to him
for finding him because it was very very
thick and tricky spots so he did a great
job this morning and it’s not the entire
pride we’ve noticed that over at least
the last week or so that we’ve been
seeing them quite a bit again is that
there’s three lioness that are spending
time away from the rest of the pride and
here it’s built up of two adults six
sub-adults
and one tiny youngster so nine lions in
total or snoozing here and I did go out
last night with some of the staff after
dinner and we did manage to find
actually both different sets of the
pride they were quite far from one
another but interestingly this portion
definitely looked a bit hungrier than
they do nos I’m guessing there may have
had a small snack during the night I
wonder what they would have caught but
their bellies do seem like they’ve at
least got something in it late last
night they were looking very very hungry
when we found him at the puffles of
course oh there’s a good example over
there and most of the individuals that
we’ve been looking at now are the
youngsters the sub adults which there
are six of them I think it’s just one
boy and five girls and for me it’s just
so incredible to see how much bigger
this pride is compared to when I last
left chair it’s definitely going to be a
force to be reckoned with the ones or
these five young ladies come of age and
also start having their own Cubs so
exciting prospects for the future and
very soon we could have a mega pride
waltzing around Juma
mirror you wondering or not the Lions
down here and Juma maybe slightly darker
than the ones up in the Mara I don’t
think so but what you may find is that
the kind of all the different colors and
contrasts and textures of the Mara
creates kind of different canvas on
which we see the line that may look that
make them look a little bit more pale
than the ones here but I certainly
haven’t noticed the ones here being any
darker but you are you have a finer
attention to detail an idea and maybe
that’s just the problem maybe I’m just
haven’t been paying enough attention but
I haven’t really noticed major
differences in color in general between
lions the dog is actually not easy to
see from where we are but some of moms
milk and I really hope that this Cub
Cubs health takes a turn for the better
it has conditioned and got a little bit
of a cuff at the moments or at least the
last few days that we’ve been seeing it
but if the pride continues to be
successful making lots of kills then
it’ll definitely improve the chances of
this cub getting rid of its illnesses
we’re not entirely sure what could be
wrong with that it could have feline TB
a lot of alliance in the Kruger National
Park do have this wonderful stuff well
we’re gonna stay put with this pride in
the hope that they may get up and take
us for a walk who knows maybe something
will stumble into them in this very
thick area that then so they could get
lucky with the meal coming to them and
the meantime there we’re gonna stay put
and send you across to Noel to let you
know what her plans are for the
afternoon afternoon everyone we have a
very lovely overcast and cloudy day
which is keeping everything nice and
cool I am a Noel and on camera I would
like to welcome back
pilot Fergus hello pilot Fergus
solutely actually run a car it was
supposed to salute like this and
amazingly we have Jorah oh and then of
course they run away I got so excited we
framed at this beautiful shots and then
of course they move but we have giraffe
we don’t get to see a lot of draw here
and they move around and we have a
little journey I’ve counted three or
four already but we’ve just got this one
that we can see nicely here so this is
the southern rough different there’s the
big one that we had framed up and then
she decided to meander off I’m different
from the drop you’ll see up there in the
Mara
there’s Masai giraffe up there and we
have a couple of youngsters and this big
beautiful female and then there was
another female and that’s probably
lurking around the corner so we have a
journey or a tower or a kaleidoscope of
draft whichever collective now and you
prefer something I love about giraffe
very much is there long long long
eyelashes and also their long tongues
which you just saw her poking hers out
there their tongue is probably over 20
centimeters was one I heard and then off
up to 40 centimeters is another one that
I’ve read and it’s a sort of bluish
black color I’ve always been told it so
that it doesn’t get sunburned and then
those long eyelashes are to help keep
things away from their eyes when they’re
busy feeding I think I maybe maybe just
want to pull up a little bit so we can
watch our journey progress on and we’re
also gonna be able to see these
beautiful storm clouds that we have
forming in the back so someone’s getting
rain it’s not us but I do hope that it
will be us at some point today I believe
there’s rain forecasted for the whole
week and I’m hoping we get 300 mils that
will be my hope Tom really good question
could these those lines the Inca Houmas
that are over there with Scotty D huntys
giraffe most definitely Tom they would
love a big meal like giraffe and those
females would be very capable of taking
down a draft these sizes now that female
that’s there on the right hand side she
sort of walked into this tree and that’s
helping itch in spots that she can’t
reach also helps take some ticks off
beautiful there we’ve got a lovely
oxpecker on her neck also helping to
take ticks off as many of you know but
many of you may not know oxpeckers main
diet is blood and so they land on prey
species so giraffe impala Rhino Buffalo
zebra and they take those ticks off but
if there’s a wound that’s on that animal
they’ll also keep the wound open to keep
the blood flowing now I’m really loving
that slate slate grey sky and the colors
of this drop in the background making me
happy and the green foliage mixed in now
every giraffe every subspecies of
giraffe has a unique coat pattern and
then every individual within the species
has an individual pattern like a
fingerprint
so the females and the young will live
in a herd and then the male’s will
sometimes be in little bachelor groups
little loose associative herds and
sometimes on their own very similar to
many other herd species so for elephants
for instance you’ll get females all
together and then the males will
sometimes the adult males will sometimes
be on their own and then sometimes in
little groups now the females are also
known to be in what’s known as a loose
associative herd meaning they’re not
always very close together like you see
now sometimes they’re very spread out so
if you see one female there’s probably
more that you just that are not in the
immediate vicinity but probably within
within a hundred meters of each other
and their communications are on
frequencies that we can’t necessarily
hear so their distress call is a sound
it’s very light and then if they’re
being eaten by something like that in
Kuma’s they do make a sort of throttling
noise when that happens but the rest of
the communications are on a very low
frequency so for a very long time the
assumption was that drafts are mute they
are in fact not mute it’s just something
that our ears do not register and pick
up I would be interested to know if
elephants can can register giraffe
communications because elephants have
much more sensitive vocal abilities and
are very receptive to things like the
thunder and lightning that’s probably
happening on the back end of that storm
elephants here can recognize that can
feel that can hear that a very good
question Wow we’re looking at that a
beautiful landscape I’m going to see if
in my book I have any examples to show
you but basically a the the Masai
giraffe the pattern looks like a
Canadian maple leaf like on the Canadian
flag and for ours we have more of this
block look there’s other species that
you’ll find up in that area you get
reticulated draft but the main draft
species is Masai giraffe and on.for
okay I can show you a thornycroft what
they which they’ve actually regulated as
not a subspecies anymore they’ve
recently done a lot of DNA testing
that’s changed how many subspecies
around and how many species are around
but here is our southern draft okay now
notice that the pattern comes most of
the way down the legs and then it’s
these sort of blocks but they’re blotchy
blocks it’s not like a reticulated draft
that are very very square abstract
blocks as you will and then the
Thorneycroft over here the pattern stops
this way they’re shorter and the pattern
is even more mixed mixed media inside
inside of there and then if you can
forego I don’t know if you can zoom in
on this little one that’s at the tip of
my fingertip there oh sorry I’m a first
sorry for my hat that’s almost like the
maple leaf almost like the maple leaf
you’d see on Masai giraffe so when I
started guiding they said that there was
one species of giraffe and nine
subspecies now they’re saying that
there’s three species of Jalapa
draft and six subspecies and then
they’re still doing a little bit of more
research on that now I’m gonna head I’m
gonna head up I’m not gonna head up I’m
actually gonna stay here in jima but I’m
gonna send you all up back to the Masai
Mara to Steve and Steve oh I hope you’re
having an amazing time up there in Kenya
we miss you give Ralph a hug for me and
Taylor and Jamie and everybody and say
hi to Meg’s and good faith and everybody
that’s up that side and then I hope you
have something interesting to show
everybody you whilst you’re up there
thanks Noel I miss you guys too and when
I got you I gave everybody a hug
anyway so I think there’s already a
close-knit sort of team going but when I
get back up you should
the more I hug again and what we do have
here what is the trip to the Mara River
folks without spotting a hippopotamus we
have a pot of them here in the river and
we just missed the one doing its
ablutions as it was defecating it is
just off to the right there by the rocks
it might pop up again but it’s a very
important ecological sort of thing in
the rivers here there he goes as the
ears of the back there is the hippo
because their feet on grass they take
their grass material and they bring most
of it back down to the river and a lot
of it gets defecated in the river and
now what that does is it produces I mean
that’s grass so it’s very similar
digested to that of the verano as well
as the elephant apart from the fact that
elephant has bark and twigs and stuff in
it but that grass material just
semidigested it’s fermenting deposited
into the little dam you or the river
should I say and that is a huge huge
proponents of the diet for the fish lots
of what’s the word vegetarian fish I’m
not getting my words right right now at
the Mara River but this is lots of fish
that eat vegetation and eat all sorts of
materials in the river from algae to
plant material to hippo dung and so then
that provides food for your herons for
the fish eagles for the crocodile and
maist mainly what most of the food
crocodiles feed on here is in fact fish
we don’t have zebra and wildebeest
crossing by the thousand every day they
only are crossing at a certain time of
the year and it is not their prime
source of food but their feed on fish
and most places else in the country
where we find crocodile they don’t feed
on too much meat but mainly fish and
having hippos in the pool provides the
organic material which feeds the fish
which then feeds a huge amount of
trophic animals above them so very very
important and if any of you’ve ever been
to Dhaka vengo Delta or have seen the
Okavango Delta the entire Delta itself
is managed and kept open by hippo
movement they make these very big
pathways through and they keep the
stream moving the
the sediment from depositing anyway and
that allows movements of warts and that
allows the Delta to perpetuate and I
reckon in a place like the Delta would
have well is what it is because of
animals like hippo
what is this hippo doing is moving with
some intention towards the left and not
sure if it’s a male or if he’s just
moving there was another hippo in front
of him there or her it’s running if he
was moving across to do a little bit of
a bit of a G bar G which often happens
in in pods of hippo they do sort of
assign themselves little territory
there’s the other one
to assign themselves some territory and
you don’t see hippos doing too much and
when they are doing something that’s got
something to do with territory or
reproduction or feeding other than that
they’re pretty docile individuals the
one on the left looks like a female okay
that’s what I was talking about you see
with the tail it’s busy defecating me
that’s the vegetation splattering around
in the river take chaos a question do it
hippos use infrasound I don’t think so I
mean I think they’re only animals that
use infrasound or elephants bats use
form of sonar echolocation dolphins use
sonar but I don’t think hippos are have
the ability I mean they’ve got the
reason why they have been put in the
family of whales now is because they’re
communicating an order they’re able to
anyway but that’s through those large
grunts and stuff I don’t don’t think
there’s any sort of low key frequency
that hippos are communicating with but I
you know I could be wrong but I’ve never
heard of anything like that before but
they definitely have very loud grunts
and snorts that they do do and that you
spend most of the time in water and as I
said same families hippos because as
whales they give birth in water they
mate in water they suckle in the water
they’re communicating what and they
spend most of their time in water so why
not call them a whale and they were also
vegetarian of course
definitely something going on between
these two I wonder if that one of the
back is actually a young male or maybe
these are too territorial Bulls that
have small little claims to this pond
with very invisible lines that we are
unaware of it’s often the case the
territorial boundaries are things we
cannot perceive I would like to do with
smell and maybe some in the case here of
some fecal content and here we go it
doesn’t look like a very big hippo by
those teeth there might just be some
youngsters if either one the left
doesn’t look very big so we’re here with
this dangerous animal that is
responsible for many human deaths in the
world and we’re going to be going down
to South Africa to be a good friend of
mine who’s got another very dangerous
animal not that dangerous but rather
dangerous sounds like you’re having a
good time at the Mara River with Stephen
the hippos
we’ve just been sitting here patiently
kind of planning our attack for the
afternoon and we think it’s probably in
our best interest to head off for about
45 minutes to an hour or so these guys
are all looking quite comatosed for the
time being so we’ll probably do a bit of
snooping about see if we can’t find any
sign of Tandy Lepidus and a young cub we
all desperately trying to work out where
they are so do a kind of loop around the
general area and see if we can’t find
any sign and come back here a little bit
later once these guys seem to wake up
well hopefully wake up a little bit
later on like I said I’m fairly
convinced that they did catch something
last night and I was surprised that they
were found in this area because from
where we saw them at Buffalo quartz or
last night at serve ours
she’s a kilometer you know half a mile
from there to here and I would have been
surprised that they’ve moved such a
short distance considering they were all
quite hungry when when we saw them so I
think they had a small snack maybe an in
yellow or an Impala something you know
that would have got at least something
into all of their bellies there is of
course quite a few lions here that’s why
it’s not too easy to notice that they’ve
had a snack
but I’m confident they have so seeing as
though they’re not absolutely starving I
don’t think they’re going to get up
anytime soon
afternoon it’s by far the coolest
afternoon we’ve had in quite some time
and I’m hoping this cool weather brings
us a little bit of rain later on we are
desperate for some rain
Kathy you’d like to know if these
youngsters are doing any hunting with
the adults yet not that I’m aware of
they could well be getting to that kind
of stage of their lives where they could
contribute to the ants but I’m guessing
they’re not kind of fully involved for
the time being they could probably look
and the outskirts and the background and
contributes if and when some of the
fleeing animals run into them and that’s
very often the case with lions because
there are multiple members and the pride
when they ambush their prey they can
sometimes get lucky and send
members and I remember sitting with a
pride of lions very similar set up to
actually exactly what we’re experiencing
here they’re lying up in very thick bush
there’s a similar amount of lions and
was also just a couple of adult lioness
and quite a few youngsters just like
we’re seeing here although those
youngsters were considerably younger
than these guys they were probably only
a year old these guys I’m guessing are
closer to two years of age now I’m not
actually sure how old they are so if
anything you could help us with had info
I really appreciate that and what
happened was the lioness got up and
started stalking we weren’t sure what
because it was very thick vegetation
like this and we heard the ambush kind
of take place and we heard hooves and
bushes breaking and all of a sudden and
parlour and straight into all the
one-year-old Cubs and they instinctively
latched onto the sand parlor and could
subdue it for long enough for the adults
to return and dispatch its I guess
that’s an example of our even young cubs
may not have the skills required but
could sometimes have some luck with
helping the pride doing some hunting we
said
– sure haven’t been lucky enough to see
them hunting mister q-tip you’d like to
know how many lions are in this pride
well in this portion of the pride that
we looking at now there’s one tiny
youngster who’s here we can see touching
over there I think it’s nursing oh no
it’s not it’s just sleeping so there’s
that’s the smallest one and then it’s
got five sorry six slightly all the
cousins which comprised of I think it’s
five young girls and one young boy and
then two adult lioness so there’s nine
in total here but the honor the three
adult lioness that are fragmented from
the pride that we saw not too far from
here actually last night but we’re not
too sure where they ended up in the
early hours of this morning so in total
there are twelve lines in the inka home
of pride but only of which four are
adults sorry five or adults my abacus is
a bit rusty clearly I’m still astounded
at how Tristan found these guys in here
this morning he did an incredibly good
job and well done to him for pulling
that off because it really is a tricky
area wonderful stuff well it’s not just
lions down here in the sabi sands of
South Africa it sounds like Jamie has
got lucky up in the Mara Lions in the
sabi sands are lions in the Mara and
what else are Sundays for but for
relaxing lying back and cat napping and
in this particular case a cat napping on
a very freshly dug a pile of dirt that
is not why I am late this afternoon I am
late this afternoon because I had many
problems and that is not a personal
confession I literally had many problems
to do with vehicles and broadcasting but
we’re back up we’re out and about and we
are with the hola Lola pride all 14 of
them that are being able to count now
but that doesn’t mean that they’re not
prizant and accounted for just a quick
introduction for those of you that have
a perhaps just discovered this live
stream my name is Jamie and uh this
afternoon
Manu is on camera with me for the first
time in ages Manu it really it has been
a while don’t forget because this is a
live Safari hashtag Safari live is how
you can get hold of us to ask your
burning questions on lions and other
creatures of the African wilderness and
other aspects of the African wilderness
I’m waiting patiently because every time
that I have come to the spot neeyala
Lawler’s have just been lying doing
nothing but then every time that wolf
has come to this spot he has had them
climbing trees and doing acrobatics and
hula hooping and balancing balls on
their noses I’m hoping that as it gets a
little bit cooler that’s what they have
in store for us this afternoon and just
in case you’re wondering about the
freshly dug dirt let me just mention it
now this is what’s known as a borrow pit
so you’ll see that there’s lots and lots
of places where the earth has clearly
been excavated lions don’t have a feel
necessarily for for posing or picking
the most picturesque place to be they go
where it’s comfortable and this is very
comfortable for them but it has been
artificially dug it is what’s known as a
borrow pit for the roads so for the
repair and maintenance of the roads dirt
gets dug up and that’s where the all
alors have decided to settle and you can
imagine the dirts still nice and damp so
on a hot Sunday afternoon when the Sun
is blazing down actually probably really
comfortable for them it’s all soft it’s
not compact on other place and like it
is in other places and it’s a really
good snuggle position it’s all loose and
comfy and nice and cool and you will
notice at some point or another that
there are other vehicles in the sighting
they all uh no laws are an extremely
popular lion pride they have been so
reliable over the last few days this
morning when we caught up with them on
the Sunrise Safari briefly they were
being chased by the resident heard of
what we termed Duggar boys old Buffalo
balls and one random buffalo cow
actually and they were chasing they were
chasing the Lions round and there was no
real threat to the Lions the Cubs are
now all large enough to be able to
escape and fend for themselves and have
a little bit of common sense now they
immediately sort of snuck away and went
to lie in the shade a few just just far
enough that the Buffalo couldn’t do
anything about it just to taunt them and
keep them on edge a little bit Mary you
say that are those lions look exactly
how you feel they look exactly how I
feel as well Mary after our series of
complications this afternoon at a sense
of relief that all is now working well
that’s how I’m feeling I’m almost at the
point if they weren’t actually wild
Lions that I’d be tempted to go and join
them and lovely to hear a Scarlets name
again now Scarlett’s wondering about a
question that we answered recently
actually and something that we’ve
discussed and it might be worthwhile
getting the other guides opinions as
well
now scarless wondering what the largest
lion pride is that we’ve ever seen no
I’ve never seen the the famous super
pride and I’ve lived around the lebombo
mountains in the kruger park apparently
apparently at one point there were over
40 members strong but very seldom seen
all together the largest pride that I’ve
seen has been over 20 I never managed to
successfully do a headcount but around
about 20-25 lions possibly there have
been times in my life where I’ve seen
even more lions but I can’t think of any
at the time I mean 17 Lions is quite a
large pride it’s a relatively large
pride 13 of them are Cubs so there’s no
guarantees until they reach their first
year at which point their chances of
survival increased dramatically these
Cubs still have a long way to go they’re
definitely out of the most risky risky
time of their lives though they’re no
longer small and delicate and hiding
away all the
their mothers don’t have to leave them
hidden in potentially dangerous places
they don’t look as though they’re under
feeling under threat at all they
couldn’t look more comfortable if
they’re tried now I have to tell you
that this morning as Steve was in his
absolute element when it came to the
birds that we were seeing on his first
drive out Lamora it sounds like he is
continuing his birding streak and we are
back with some beautiful birds one of
them is the Sandpiper I’m not sure which
one I’m pologize for leaving my app at
home today and the other one is a snipe
but folks look how beautiful they are in
contrast but what I really want to look
at is look at the feeding depth that the
snipe is able to achieve with that beak
look how far into the mud it can probe
oh look at that a little bit of a dance
we’ll have the wag of the tail look how
much further can dig its beak into the
mud then this then the Sandpiper can do
I think it’s a green Sandpiper but I’m
not sure something spooked them very
very beautiful it’s nice to be able to
see them in the open like this and what
I love about the birds and their beaks
is a different feeding that they have
and whenever you look at a bird you can
often find five ten fifteen different
types of species in and around an area
and they are not competing because of
our the length of their legs or the
length of their beak or the shape of the
beak so it enables them to compete for
different food as soon as birds are too
similar they are to compete each other
and displace each other it’s not often
you find animals that will compete
without displacing and that’s why you
find large predators medium sized
predators you don’t find two species of
lion anymore I only find one because the
the niche would only fit for one of that
type so that’s what happens in birds
whenever you see the length the beak
it’s very interesting
yes natural the snipe has got beautiful
coloring and I believe that’s a painted
snipe and what’s interesting about it is
that when we look in the bird Kingdom
normally in the bird Kingdom what do we
see we see that the feed that is the the
sand pipe if we just go to the other one
please Adrian there we go it’s just
forward middle of your screen I think
that is the mail is not very pretty but
the female is very attractive because
the female is actually a little bit of a
other what would you say she likes to go
out and look pretty and have all the men
so he obviously the the males like to
choose the female when it comes to snaps
and she has more than one mate and she
will not look after her chicks she’s
very naughty like that he will do all of
the work so it’s lovely to see beautiful
birds like this and there’s not many in
the bird Kingdom where the female is
more attractive than the male but when
it comes to snaps that is the way they
roll but I just love how they are
competing at various similar areas on
the mudflats there for any sort of
insects in the mud and the the longer
beak you can see the sand pop and the
leaf is just picking whatever can off
the surface it’s not really allowing too
much feeding depth but then the legs are
bit longer so it can probably weighed
more then the snipe could do a snap has
given up doing his activity they call it
needling I’m gonna stick that beak in
quite deep you see it with who poos the
ground who poos they walk around there
what the not a normal common Hoopoe
they’re jabbing their beak in looking
for any form of insects on the floor
obviously the schnapps beak is very
straight and we are watching it go right
up to its to its nasal passages this or
add up to the end of the beak in the mud
and that it’s a really nice depth and
also enables them to preen a little bit
easier as you can see the long beak like
that helps you just scratch further back
is it some birds fly by on the picture
and if you saw that but the snap got a
bit of a fright you know this is for me
the first time I’ve seen a snap just out
in the open just sort of hanging around
normally they sort of concealed and sort
of
quite bushy undergrowth on the side of
the dam or river they don’t often spend
too much time just out in the open so
it’s nice to be able to see them doing
that very very special and if we pan to
the left something that is what we first
saw you can see that wonderful tail over
there little pan of water in the side of
this river we have got a Nile crocodile
lettuce gentlemen that is just taking
life extremely easy initially thought it
was a piece of a crocodile but if you
pan left you will see that the rest of
the body is kind of submerged with just
the head and the nose sticking out and
that is actually a really big crocodile
it’s very hard to see because it’s quite
submerged and the hippo thought that was
quite funny yes I don’t think that’s
infrasound at all that’s just very loud
loud and interesting behavior I don’t
know what they’re saying I’d love to
know what they’re saying there’s only so
many notes that they use but there must
be some form of language in the hippo
there it tells all sorts of things like
I look at these tourists watching us
again don’t they know the migration is
only in for so months love to know what
hippos think when they’re watching us
you can see that little pod of hippos
little family units the water is a lot
deeper here we just at the base of some
Rapids and it seems like there’s a
little bit more water accumulated here
so a little bit more sort of suitable
habitat more territory for a bull and so
s Bianca hippos do make very cool sounds
and I wish what they were saying but it
is quite funny and it’s quite
interesting but so what I was saying is
that the the hippos would this is what
it would be a small demarcated territory
of one maybe two bulls and having the
water the water is the territory the
water is the resource the females need
to submerge themselves in a female can
get a really nice pool a perennial pool
that is wet all year round and can keep
quite a number of females that is
prime location other areas that might
dry up aren’t ideal and your weaker
Bulls would look after those areas and
then they don’t obviously tracks as many
females the females want access to food
and on our way down to this crossing
there was huge amounts of Hippo paths
going in and out because they travel
quite large distances every night to
feed or depending on how much food there
is but they’ve been known to do round
trips of 60 kilometers so that’s just
under 30 miles in the source of search
of food in one evening before coming
back to to these shallows to keep
themselves nice and cool from the hot
Sun and having these territories and
these puddles is very very important for
the hippos survival wonderful crocodile
they’re a lot smaller than the other one
so can you come again with that faith I
didn’t get your message
okay copied so beautiful crocodile but
we are going to be leaving this area
shortly and navigating further down the
stream and while we do so we’re going to
be going all the way back to South
Africa to my good friend Noelle and see
what she has for you who won all right
we’re over here in the big beautiful
open areas that are just on the southern
side of chitwa chitwa Lodge and we have
some impala males that are busy fighting
I just want to come around the corner a
little bit so we can get as unobstructed
of view as possible so that we can watch
that here we go how’s that Ferg is that
okay – very good size males – decent
size males I don’t think that they’re
fighting to the death at the moment I
think it’s more of testosterone-filled
and lots of ladies around here they come
again one of the reasons why I say I
don’t think it’s to the death it’s
because one keeps running away now I do
just mmm it’s hard because we’ve got
this tree that’s in the way so I kind of
want to move forward but I don’t cuz I
don’t want to miss any of the action now
if this was ready in season you would be
seeing a much heavier black you would
hear it a little bit more with their
horns and you would also see them really
really really going at it because there
we go
let’s see if we can hear
see if we can hear against out there
I hope you you all can hear this it’s
like if you take two sticks and like hit
them hit them together so um elephant
toss hitting each other sound like two
big broomsticks hitting each other and
then what this sounds like is two thin
sticks that are very rigid and when you
smack them together that’s what it
sounds like
very cool so if this was ready in season
they would be trying to kill each other
to a point but they also for dominance
over these females right now they’re
just exercising and getting themselves
ready for rutting season that will
happen in what month are we and now
we’re almost in fab so in the next few
months
and of course the grin behind a tree let
me just roll forward Monique you’re
saying it seems is it the Royal Rumbles
on today I like that comment that’s a
really great comment
I enjoyed that one eek there this is a
little bit of a better view
now I also just heard now a little bit
of Thunder rolling in the distance which
is making me happy however that being
said I feel like the clouds are not
coming towards us if you like they’re
going more towards Kruger and north to
thorny bush and Tim Bhavani but
hopefully tomorrow and I just also
warrant you guys to know so here’s the
Mail’s here if we go to the left a lot
of the females are over there not paying
any attention they really don’t care at
these two males are fighting so these
males are not just fighting to condition
themselves but it’s also for the ladies
saying look at me look at me like they
don’t care and there’s a couple other
males that are in there like yeah yeah
yeah you two go at it
a lot of beautiful wind and a few bird
calls that are popping through but the
wind keeps carrying them away all right
so now I’m Paul our herd animals similar
to those giraffes that we saw earlier
and you’ll get females and herds with
dot lots of females and youngsters and
then you’ll get Bachelor herds of males
the collective noun for Impala is a rank
of Impala and then this time of year you
get lots of mixed herd so males mixed in
with the females as we get closer to
rutting season you will start to see the
defined bachelor herds and defined
breeding herds and the breeding herds
will have one male attached to him but
usually that only lasts for a few
minutes during the middle of rutting
season because all they do is fight and
mate they don’t eat they don’t sleep
they just carry on we’ve got a vehicle
that will be passing by us shortly so
sorry about the noise
scarlet you’d like to know if I’ve ever
seen an Impala injured while fighting
I have scarlet there was a male Impala
on one of the properties I used to work
at whose horn grew funny it grew out
sideways and he used to take that horn
and shove it in to the rib cages and
sides of the other male impala and
killed them so yeah I have I’ve seen
that fur this is great footage
notice how they look at each other when
they’re getting in there and they’re
also trying to sort of one-up each other
as well as not get there
I really fight horn on horn but
something like a kudu that’s got really
really curly curly horns does more
posturing so a more sort of chest
puffing out look at me I’m so big as
opposed to actually trying to hit with
the horns because they can get stuck and
if those curly horns get stuck then they
can die like that I have never found
impala horns stuck together but I have
seen males fighting like this and once
they’re like that had leopard come and
kill them and then the one that the
leopard killed the horns got stuck into
the other one the other one couldn’t get
away she also killed that one as well
amazingly enough
I really aren’t giving you all a very
good show now these two males are in
very good Nick I know we’ve all been
worried about the lack of rain the side
and myself and Scot and Tristan and I’m
sure everyone else as well has been
chatting about it quite a bit something
that’s important to remember about
impalas and Paul are mixed feeders so
they eat leaves and grass and right now
the conditions are really only affecting
the grass instead of instead of the
trees and the grass similar to our
drought that we had a couple of years
ago now where we are and well they
had a lot more rain during that big
storm than we did we just got a little
sprinkly and they got some proper rain
all right these two seem to be taking a
little bit of a break and as I say that
of course here they go again but Scott
has a tiny little mammal that he would
like to show you so I think let’s head
on over to him thanks Noel we’ve got a
wonderful scene yeah this is an animal
that we very very seldom see other than
a fleeting glimpse they’re usually quite
shy but the slender Mongoose has got a
good reason why it’s hanging around here
we got alerted to its presence by some
starlings of which you can hear them all
alarming now that’s them showing their
disapproval of the slender Mongoose and
as you can see there’s a dead scrub air
and we can only guess that the slender
Mongoose has been feeding on the scrub
air it looks like it’s hardly being fed
on it looks like it’s almost very fresh
I haven’t had a good look at it yet Reed
literally stopped the vehicle as soon as
we saw both the scrubby and the slender
Mongoose let’s keep it honest Linda
Mongoose David is on the move there it
goes it’s a Black Mamba that killed the
stead that killed the scrub and the
black mambas going up the tree and and
the Mongoose is attacking it’s this is
absolutely ridiculous
up above Davy there we go look at this a
ginormous black mamba and that explains
exactly why the scrubber looks quite
fresh this Mamba would have just killed
it and I’m guessing the slender Mongoose
responded to the scene because of the
alarm calls from the birds
oh my shattered nerves and I think we
should definitely welcome on board as
many other people as we can to this
fascinating scene I saw the Mongoose
running and then I just saw it kind of
bites it something and it actually tried
to bite the tail of this black mamba I
thought it was trying to make another
kill at first and then I saw this
almighty Serpent’s start slithering
about good grief now I was telling Dave
as we approach the sighting please could
it be a big snake please could it not
just be a slender mungus have a look at
the slender Mongoose below there Dave
directly below it’s on the dead stump
that down a bit it just jumped down but
it was standing kind of looking up at
the black mamba and isn’t this a
wonderful wonderful kind of David and
Goliath display here the slender
Mongoose looks like it’s trying to work
its way higher up this tree I’m gonna
reposition ever so slightly
hello everyone who has just joined us on
this unscheduled Safari broadcast as you
can see there is a snake up in that tree
and it is a Black Mamba one of the most
highly venomous snakes that we see in
Africa my name’s Scott and it’s great to
have you on board with us well let’s
take a closer look at the snake as I
explained to you what exactly is going
on here now we were driving along
peacefully it’s a cool cloudy afternoon
and hoping to find something interesting
when we’ve heard some birds alarm
calling it was mainly the starlings that
clearly were letting us know that there
weren’t happy about something so he
drove into this area and looks like the
snakes trying to move and I just want it
it’s quite tricky there’s an other
predator on the scene let’s show you the
the slender mongoose quickly david’s
just that kind of nine o’clock there and
this was the first predator we actually
saw this tiny little slender mongoose
and i thought oh well as per normal
there’s no sign of any snakes but just
two slender mongoose but then we spotted
something else a dead scrub here and it
looked quite fresh to us but I wasn’t
too sure exactly what was going on it
looks like the slender Mongoose was one
she wanting to steal it from the snake
can you actually believe what’s
happening here so this tiny little
scrubby would have been caught by the
snake and this Mongoose is not trying to
steal it now we need to keep a close eye
on quite a few moving parts now I’m
trying to work out where the snake has
gone it started slithering down the tree
and with snakes we we’ve learned that
they can disappear so quickly there’s no
sign of it in the tree any more that I
can see and who knows will this Black
Mamba put up the fight against the
slender Mongoose which is definitely far
smaller than its I’m guessing that black
mamba was about three meters in length
but the Mongoose is showing an
incredible display of its strength as it
drags what will be an absolute bargain
of a meal for it it’s gonna keep this
mongoose fed for days now because we see
snakes so Solva million because that
mongoose isn’t gonna be able to move too
quickly I’m gonna try and just get us
into a spot where we can work out where
this snake is gone let’s hope it doesn’t
slither
into the vehicle like I said this is one
of the most venomous snakes that we do
get Archer in Africa it’s got a highly
highly cytotoxic sorry neurotoxic venom
that against that essentially that will
essentially just shut down your organs
causing you to die but I don’t think
we’re gonna get ourselves into any
trouble just yet now I can’t for the
life of me see where the snake has gone
but let’s just top stuff and see if we
can’t have a scan in these bushes it
could well have disappeared into any
kind of cavities or holes ad you’ve just
mentioned that you’ve been hoping to see
a black mamba for many a safari and this
is the first one you’ve managed to see
with us I’m glad we managed to work that
one out for you where could it have gone
hmm it’s incredible how such a big snake
can disappear so quickly and there’s not
really that much undergrowth for it to
hide in let’s keep driving around this
kind of falling down tree and see if we
can’t get a view of its
my heart is absolutely racing as I’m
sure a lot of yours are as well so much
excitements out of the blue and that is
the joy of being on a live Safari I
didn’t have time to mention where we are
and what’s going on we are in South
Africa in the sabi sands reserve at the
moments and this is a live Safari if you
have not gathered that already know no
immediate sign of this slithering
serpents it could just be kind of curled
up in a ball somewhere I’m hoping we get
some more views of it but the snake is a
territorial snake so it’ll know this
area well and I’m guessing it would have
worked out and remembered a good place
to slither off to and I’m guessing it’s
somewhere at the base of this tree it
looks like there could be a few hiding
places a few holes in and around that
root system there sure know where has
the Mongoose dragged the scrub air to I
can see the little Mongoose I think we
may have disturbed it ever so slightly
but seeing as though it has just stolen
this meal from the snake I’m not too
concerned for the time being and it will
come back immediately to where the
scrubber is I’m guessing it’s somewhere
just in front of us over here so what we
should do is get into a good spot and
kind of just sits and patiently wait to
see if we can’t get any more views of
the snake as well as the slender
mongoose starting to snap down on the
scrub here hoo-wee absolutely awesome
awesome stuff and seeing as though
things seem to have calmed down for the
time being I’m thinking of saying
goodbye to everyone who has just
temporarily joined us and if you would
like to continue
joining on this afternoon Safari you can
just google Safari live and find us
quite easily that way thanks very much
we’ll see you all next time
welcome back everyone whoo that was
absolutely crazy and such a good example
of how you just never know what is going
to happen our chair I can’t believe the
snake gave us the slip I was really
hoping we were gonna be able to get some
more views of it but I think if we
positioned the vehicle in their ice
spots and just sits in wait patiently we
could well see the snake coming out to
investigate what has happened to its
hard-earned meal wins what I do know is
that these creatures can just move so so
quickly that sometimes they give us the
slip with relative ease but I’m sure a
lot of you are ecstatic that we finally
got a decent snake sighting in we see
them so seldom ly and I’m very very
happy that finally our luck has turned
cool yeah thanks dove yes butter there
dad was just letting me know where the
little scrub is we’ve got a view of that
we’re gonna just get into a good spot
where we can wait and watch the Mongoose
come back and start doing its thing and
all hopefully see what the snake is
getting up to so while we do that we are
going to send you off to one of the
others and–but they feeling jealous
about our wonderful sighting
unbelievable Scottie I can’t believe you
saw what you saw
first of all seeing a member second of
all seeing a slender Mongoose and third
of all I’m gonna see that footage when I
get back because that’s just ridiculous
I don’t have as much action as you guys
did there but we are down at one of the
major crossings I would ascertain on the
Mara River by the fact that the slopes
are very very gentle and there are 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 but 9 or 10 of the biggest
crocodiles you’ll ever come across just
susume on the bank they are enormous
those are all really really big
crocodiles you can see a baboon at the
back there I think they call olive
baboons they walking past and are coming
too close there’s some youngsters on top
they’re having a little look down you
would wouldn’t you
that’s what we’re doing right now
yeah we’re just peering but we know we
know now inside ourselves that going any
closer is just silly I remember being on
a walk once up in Mackay Lake in puffery
and I was leading and about 30 meters in
front of me a crocodile stood up on the
bank like it is now it was in front of
us stood up and sort of walked kind of
towards us but it wasn’t really towards
us it was kind of trying to turn around
to go back into the water and just that
moment of it moving that scent terrors
through my soul everything about that
animal moving and towards you and
looking at you is frightening I don’t
think we need to be taught that I think
we know that instinctively our body just
knows I mean look at that that is prime
evil they have been around for so
so long that any ancestor of ours knows
very well with the crocodiles capable of
beautiful really really big ones these I
mean the biggest recorded crocodile was
five and a half meters so what’s that
that’s work the doubt try to work that
out I’m apologize it’s very long five
and a half meters in in in feet is Tom’s
three I think you know fifteen sixteen
feet make it 18 feet that is HUGE yes
crocodiles Wow and you know they feed on
fish as I said before but you know they
are reptiles so they spend their time in
the Sun and they don’t need metabolic
energy like we do so they don’t need to
eat all the time
even if if they just had of all the best
every couple of months you know they
could probably go for an entire year
with one meal a proper meal and they
wouldn’t have to eat again they don’t
need the energy that we use to expend to
run around and do our thing they just
have to lie there in that the Sun do all
the work for them and when they’re
really hungry I want to be active then
they get up and go in the water and
catch some fish or just wait yeah as is
going to happen and it’s probably
happened for for however many years
they’ve all the Bears have been crossing
these exact places and so why go
anywhere beautiful mara river
scarlet asks why do they have their
mouths open and they’re cooling down
they are reptiles so they rely on the
ambient temperatures to heat them up and
when they get a little bit hot then just
like the birds do they open their mouth
and let the wind push over their there
their mouth and then it cools them down
it doesn’t require any effort for them
to open their mouth that actually
requires muscle to close the mouth so
they’re having the mouth open like that
is actually the the relaxed relaxed sort
of stage but they are enjoying
themselves on the bank there we didn’t
want to be able to be astir trying to
cross this little pond
Katie asks a question ah is a true
crocodiles of to a tortoise I don’t know
honestly actually don’t know that
question I don’t know the answer to that
question there’s a lot about the
internal organs of a crocodile I don’t
know about but I’ll definitely look that
up what I’m not sure you’d have to have
two hearts to have two a tortoise
wouldn’t you yes no Katie I’m sorry I’m
not sure you are sir I reckon you’re
five and a half meters it’s close to
about 18 feet 18 feet and a thousand
kilograms so that is close to 2,000
pounds can you imagine trying to swim in
the river here with his extremely large
animals that don’t need to eat but will
their prehistoric I remember my tracker
telling me the only animal he’s afraid
of as a crocodile because he does I’ve
got no instinct it’s good there’s no
rationale with him most trackers are
Fred oh honey badgers as I’ve said but
they are afraid of crocodiles but we’re
going to move on from our probably our
last view of the Mauri over this
afternoon we’re gonna go over to Jamie
who I believe is with all our Lalo’s the
Ola laws are starting to lift their
heads up they are showing signs that
they are going to get up and perhaps
start moving about maybe even have a
drink from this rather I guess I’d call
it fitted puddle that’s in front of them
it doesn’t look particularly appetizing
to drink from but Lions won’t be too
fussy about where they drink obviously
like all animals they will prefer fresh
water but elephants of course are the
ones who are famous for really enjoying
and actually actively searching for
fresh water over stagnant water but in
this case I don’t think it will stop
them well we go another one strolled
over sitting up blinking in the harsh
sunset that’s very peculiar back how
very odd
thank you money apparently my voice
disappeared briefly apologies for that
but we’re back again no idea how that
happened
David quite possibly yes but you’d have
to go back quite far away so far back in
what’s biting you far back down the line
so David’s question is are the and the
older law laws related to the sausages
there is often a possibility with with
lion prides that at some point way back
in history they might actually have been
related to each other and that they sort
of came through came about through a
split in a larger pride it’s impossible
for us to know that for certain
yes the sausages are the immediate
neighbours to the older law laws but
territories for lion prides do shift
around a little bit the females are sort
of the generational guardians of an area
so a pride might shift around a little
bit you know a couple of miles here a
couple of miles there down the
generations they might be under pressure
from other males but a lot of the time
they’ll actually stay in quite a similar
area for a few generations at least
which means that there is a possibility
what has got you what what is biting you
did you sit in an ant nest by any chance
little man it’s just something’s biting
there – nope I just can’t get
comfortable really quite officers too
frustrating for words
now it’s brought it over to the other
the older cub so we see some sort of fly
but a bite potentially biting fly or
perhaps a stinging insect of some
description
I now look what you’ve done no no
there’s more looks like flies to me
roadblock no roadblock is a perhaps new
to to these live safaris and wondering
well where are the male lions are they
not with the females the truth is that
male lions are not part of a pride and
it’s something that I think is a very
very powerful misconception that males
must be part of a lion pride and that
they’re always with the females think of
it this way a male lion or a group of
male lions known as a coalition they
have a big territory and that territory
can encompass the territories of several
different groups of females now those
males have an important job to do they
have to patrol that territory they have
to keep other males out and while there
may be the fathers of these Cubs there
they have to make sure that they are
protected from strange males entering
their territory that means they’re often
off on their own
often they split up even if they do
belong to a coalition they’ll wonder
about they’ll mark their territory and
then now come and visit the females and
they’ll often visit the females when
there’s food involved male lions are
more capable of hunting at their own
dinner or breakfast or lunch or whatever
it happens to be whatever time of the
day but they are not adverse to allowing
the females to do the work for them and
then going and joining in often taking
what’s known as the lion’s share of the
milk and will also help with that if
they can if they come upon the females
while they’re hunting so they’ll go to
mate to eat occasionally just for the
company but they are not always with the
females often they’re with different
prides and there’s no there’s no nest
there’s no reason why they might choose
to be here with the females there’s
plenty of other things for them to be
doing and actually you’ll probably find
that they prefer to be away while these
just gonna sit here because as you can
see Cubs don’t necessarily have a sense
of personal space lines of bed with
personal space as it is but Cubs love to
go and flop on each other might be a
little bit irritating to the males but
look out that’s a male that’s a young
male cub
please forgive if I’ve got the name
wrong and think faith said Aaron but it
might have been that parent parent a cow
wasn’t sure Paran now Paran is ten years
old and it’s lovely to hear that you are
watching the live Safari parent now here
we go we’ve got the subject of the
question from parent can lions swim
Paran yes they can
most of the mammal species out here can
swim some better than others obviously
and some like it more than others
elephants love swimming for example and
that’s partly because I don’t think they
knew they don’t have to really worry
about things like crocodiles they’re too
big to be threatened by them so lions do
swim they can swim they often swim
across that Mara River Steve was at the
Mara River earlier he was showing you
the various animals around there the
Lions often swim across the Mara River
if they need to they don’t like doing it
though there’s no real indication that
lions particularly like it and that’s
probably actually mainly because they’re
scared of being eaten by a crocodile and
crocodiles don’t distinguish between a
lion or an antelope or a zebra whatever
else they would be looking for to make
their next meal lovely to hear from you
parent Peron
I’m excited to hear what question you
come up with next
come on Lions there’s a tree right there
I’ve been told so many things about your
fantastic tree climbing ability you know
you want to it’s right there
now squat scarlet I have been in the
position where I’ve been able to touch
the Lions fur both adults and Cubs
that’s something that I’ve spoken about
in the past about the problem with cub
pitting but Scarlet of course is wanting
to know about the softness of a lion
cubs fur my name’s fur is surprisingly
course except around the base of the
ears you know the soft paths on our
house cats around the base of the ears
around underneath the arms of the arms
the legs the front legs around the
armpits it’s calling that that’s where
the softest fur is on a line but Lions
fur is very coarse it’s very functional
it needs to be it’s there for a reason
and obviously if it was too soft and
fine it would cause all sorts of
problems that could become matted and
uncomfortable and full of parasites that
would be entangled in it now there is
quite course as for young lion cubs well
I’ve never touched a very young lion cub
before and I am ashamed to say that in
the past before I knew better I did
touch an older colour got to play with
an older cub before I realised that I
was very young but before I realized the
full detriment of what I was doing and
how absolutely unnecessary it is and how
unfortunate the future of those Cubs
that are raised for for people to pet
actually truly is I can tell you that it
isn’t not it’s not as soft as a kittens
fur we’re going to sit patiently with
our lines and see if they decide to get
up to some tree climbing exploits but
while they sleep let’s jump back on
board and join Noel in the back of I
think she’s on windy so we set up this
really nice view of a vulture and then
also and we could hear kudu barking so
we’ve just come into the block a little
bit and we found our kudu but we they’re
relaxed now so the wind is coming
strongly and then circling around so I’m
wondering if they’re smelling something
that they just can’t quite see so I
think you know we’ll stick with our kudu
for a little while we’re not far from
the last area where we were seeing tündi
and we haven’t seen her in a couple of
days and it’s very good weather for
leopards to one be hunting
and to just moving because it’s much
cooler than it has been
now this CUDA is a really interesting
mark on her back there her stripes are
very different look all stripy and
patterns are unique but that’s a little
abnormal sort of loop it’s made there
very cool
and of course of Resident oxpecker to
help the kudu with any possible
sightings of predators as well as to
pick her on the bum area as you can see
and take off ticks and parasites now
something that those oxpeckers will do
other than consuming the ticks and the
the blood as we talked about earlier
there you can hear it a little maybe
sorry the winds just picked up they were
alarmed calling just a little bit there
but if there is something like say us on
foot or a predator of some kind walking
around those oxpeckers will fly up an
alarm call and it warns the kudu or
Impala or a rhino or buffalo that they
happen were draught that they happen to
be on that something’s amiss it’s also a
sound that we as walking guides need to
really keep track of because if you
don’t you could possibly end up in a
scenario that you don’t want to be in
you always listen out for oxpeckers red
and yellow build we get both in the area
now kudos are meant for it camouflage so
that stripe being even just the odd
pattern we saw before but the striping
pattern on the side is – it’s called a
disruptive marking it’s to break up the
body shade a bit of body shape of the
animal so when they get nervous with
something they’ll sort of freeze behind
a bush and that’s supposed to help and
then also when they run off they’ve got
this white under the tail that they’ll
lift the tail up and run and jump and
it’s supposed to be one of two things
one it’s supposed to be a follow me
signal for other kudu and then to the
thought behind that is that they’ll run
and the predator will focus on that and
then I’m turn around a corner and then
drop their tail and then the predator
doesn’t have anything to focus on now
Aloise I believe you are asking do we
have different rain season patterns like
tomorrow like tomorrow it’s got big
rains and
rains here in Juma or do we just have
one rainy season I think that’s the
question I heard if I heard it properly
now we have one rainy si
okay we’re Ferg oh sorry I believe Scots
mumbos doing something interesting let’s
go to him and we’ll finish this later
yes the member has come back art we can
just see it slithering very slowly
through the grass there and it is
approaching the slender mongoose with
its scrub hair kill early upon it hold
its head up about 30 centimeters off the
ground peering towards the scrub vehicle
let’s just show everyone the scrub hair
killed quickly we can just see a little
white tech little white spot there that
is the scrub his tail and I think the
slender Mongoose is still there I can’t
be certain the snakes about the snakes
about the snakes there the snakes
they’re fighting with the the Mongoose
let’s just stay tight like that Dhabi
and all the mongoose is going for the
snake oh it’s just so thick and I don’t
want to try and reposition any closer
whew there we can go we can see the
snake there again now only just we can
see the snake slithering through the
undergrowth and has the Mongoose given
in absolutely epic epic stuff Lara am
going to try to reposition us a little
bit closer I think we can get into
slightly better spots I’m just gonna
move very slowly how absolutely awesome
is this I’m gonna stop here and just see
if that doesn’t help for the time being
it’s not ideal but I really don’t want
to impact on what’s going on you have to
go to the rights a little bit more Davi
I think the snakes more to the right
there is its tail and
welcome back to everyone who has just
joined us on this unscheduled broadcast
we’ve got a fascinating scene unfolding
in front of us there is a black mamba
you can see there its tail is slithering
through the undergrowth
it’s a highly venomous snake probably
the most venomous in Africa and it’s had
one of its killed stolen by a much
smaller predator slender mongoose and it
seems to be there’s the kill there to
scrub air that it managed to catch and
kill and it seems to be trying to
reclaim this from the mongoose the
mongoose is still here somewhere
it’s just so thick and we really don’t
want to impact on what’s going on yeah
but I am going to try and squeeze us a
few meters further forward we are coming
to you live from the sabi sands in South
Africa my name’s Scott and it’s great to
have you on board with us absolutely
incredible stuff we spend hours and
hours out in this wilderness daily but
seldom do we get to see fascinating
scenes like this I’m just gonna stop
here and see if we can’t snipe a little
gap through there it looks like if you
keep goo zooming in but there’s the
slender mongoose so the slender mongoose
is playing with fire here because if the
snake does land or just one bites onto a
small mammal like this it will be only a
matter of seconds before it dies serve
an incredible jewel between a kind of
David and Goliath scenario here this
mongoose is far smaller than the snake
and of course the snake is highly highly
venomous like I’ve said it doesn’t seem
too concerned I just grooming its back
in between this jewel between the snake
the scrub hair and this black mamba
there are you suggesting that kennis
mongoose not kill the snake in yes I
mean it could kill the snake but it
would be an almighty feat for it to be
able to kill it because it is a very
large and dangerous predator so earlier
on we saw the Mongoose nipped the snake
on the tail and chase it up a small bush
and it’ll continue to try and piss to
the snake but the snake is also backing
itself that’s
has come back onto the scene here the
Mongoose is incredibly agile and it’s
using that speed and agility to avoid
any strikes from the Mamba let’s see if
I can move forward a little bit more and
get us a slightly better view as to
what’s going on
okay the mambas got its head up having a
look at us now and it’s called a black
mamba not because of the coloration of
its skin as you can see it’s quite a
greyish color but more importantly
because it’s got a peek
strikes its is pitch pitch black there
you can see it now biting onto the scrub
here and you may see a little bit of
kind of meat and blood there that’s from
where the slender mongoose had started
to feed on the scrub a absolutely
incredible views of this highly highly
successful and venomous snake now what
is interesting is that the scrub here is
large so for the snake to swallow the
scrub it I think it just got a back from
the scrub a did you see how its bodies
moving like that I think as it starts to
start swallowing the the hair and it
needs to swallow it head first it’s
caught it by the head there the Mongoose
sneaks in and gives it a bite how
absolutely awesome is this everyone and
the fact that we are coming to you live
makes it that much sweeter please send
through your thoughts and your comments
I would love to hear how you guys are
feeling I am feeling absolutely ecstatic
because to see something like this is
incredibly incredibly fortunate
Fiona you would like to know if there
are any animals that are possibly immune
to
to animals like mainly the honey badger
which is renowned for being incredibly
Hardy and tenacious and I have seen a
documentary where a puff adder also a
highly venomous snake attacked a badger
as the bunny badger was trying to attack
it and it did manage to biotin and a
honey badger just curled up and went to
sleep for a few hours woke up shook its
head as if it had a small hangover and
then continued to eat the puff adder
that it had killed so possibly honey
badgers other than that there are not
too many animals including a mammal our
size an adult human being will be in
deep trouble if they are bitten by this
snake it does attack your nervous system
and neurotoxic venom and slowly all your
organs will shut down Chris you’ve
mentioned that this is unbelievable and
I’m very happy to have you on board with
us I’m just gonna try and creep forward
a meter not even just to try and get a
bit of view of the snake’s head as it
continues to try and swallow the hare
here we go that’s better and like I’ve
said it’s got its work cut out for it
because it is an absolutely large prey
or much larger than I would’ve thought
possible for the snake to swallow but
they can unhinge their top and bottom
jaw and allow their very stretchy skin
to accommodate a very often large prey
and unlike a lot of other predators
snakes I guess and crocodiles don’t have
the joy of being able to rip off
portions of their kill but in fact have
to swallow their prey whole
not so much crocodiles crocodiles can do
the spinning role where they all break
off pieces but they can’t really chew
off bits they need to stretch them off
there’s no further sign of the slender
mongoose which is interesting it may
have had a small snack and thought well
that’s enough I don’t want to risk any
more
Mumba ha well Katie you’ve got a very
interesting theory you’re wondering if
this black mamba is not waiting for
oh sorry if the slender Mongoose is not
waiting for the black mamba to finish
the scrub here and then consume them
both to be honest I don’t think that the
slender monk who sees a black mamba as
its prey I think it was just in the area
when this Mamba made the kill and
opportunistically try to steal it from
its v and nature is quite common
interestingly enough and a lot of the
Predators will compete with one another
and steal kills look at how its
stretching now absolutely awesome stuff
madellaine you are 100% correct this is
a once-in-a-lifetime sighting and yes
the snake will certainly swallow it
whole that’s its only option really if
it gets halfway and gets stuck it’ll
have to regurgitate the the you know the
initial parts that it has swallowed
because they only have one option it is
all or nothing it doesn’t have the
necessary teeth to chew off a chunk of
this scrub here
I wonder how the whole kill went down
if the snake followed the scent of this
scrub air and snuck up on it and just
gave it one well-positioned bites and it
would have been
I’m guessing within a minutes the scrub
air would have died because it’s so
small that the venom would have raced
through its body and cause death quite
quickly I’m gonna try and sneak a Ford a
little bit more Sarah you’d like to know
how long can a black mamba get and three
meters it is really big for one and but
possibly slightly bigger than that not
much though how’s that looking there
Dave so looks like it’s battling to get
over the skull but it’s about to Carly
you’d like to know how can the snake
breathe whilst it’s got its mouthful of
scrub a and you’ll notice there’s one
tiny nostril that we can see there and
it will be breathing through those
nostrils look all the ticks are fleeing
there’s tiny little insects you can see
on the scrub here are small parasites
and fairly certain called ticks and
they’ve obviously realized that their
host has died and on our thinking about
another plan MA has the snake decided
that the kill is too large I think it
has it’s off it goes Davey it’s still
doing away there well then so
too big for the snake and how unlucky is
it but it’s hard one meal I’m gonna try
and stay with it get you a few more
views
because we see them so infrequently the
tricky thing is they move so quickly
through this undergrowth and even though
there’s not much cover I cannot believe
how quickly it can disappear it also
took us by surprise when it popped back
out very close to that cool we were
sitting waiting patiently and had no
idea where it came from
no I fear that even though we did move
quite quickly into the spot that we may
not get any more views of the black
mamba but if you would like to see if we
do you got a scanner google sapphire
light to continue following on this live
Safari it’s been an absolute pleasure
having you for this incredibly
incredibly rare sighting of a slender
Mongoose and a black mamba we’ll see you
all next time
welcome back everybody well I wasn’t
that absolutely awesome champ or snake
the scrub air that had decided to kill
was a little bit too big it appears and
you could see it was really just having
trouble getting that skull into its
mouth but I’m very very happy that we
got to share that fascinating scene with
all of you guys
apparently Ralph has now got a trick or
two up his sleeve why don’t you go and
see what he has in store for you thanks
Scott and well everybody this is very
exciting
exciting for us and exciting for the
predator that has taken this little
giraffe up the tree now we don’t have
the best of visuals but there we are
there is a lipid that has killed a
little baby giraffe and dragged it up
the tree we don’t have a very clear view
on him or her Tyler seems to think that
it might be the Shepherd’s tree mail but
not sure it’s just because she’s seen
him do this before so maybe a little
specialist in baby giraffe well he’s
obviously better than those female lions
that we’ve been watching disappointedly
messing the warthogs on this guy’s
obviously or her has obviously been very
successful in the hunt and yeah shine
there we can see the leopard but in the
background through the trees I don’t
know if we’ll be able to see it but
mummy giraffe is still hanging around so
that’s quite sad for her she’s there
behind the trees there somewhere we did
have a view on a minute ago she was
walking around there I think she’s just
behind the trees there somewhere
chime sure but she’s obviously pining
for her little youngster but very nice
for the leopard because now he’s got a
little cachet of food for the
next few days unless there’s a wily old
lion that could get up the tree there
now cat here saying that this is amazing
there’s a little bit of movement up in
the tree there I wonder if the leopards
making to move or if he’s just getting a
little bit more comfortable there looks
like its head yes and it’s panting we
can see its nose just through the brush
now cat yes what a what an apt name
because this is such a beautiful cat
yeah and this is an immoral triangle so
this is my third leopard oh and we’ve
got a beautiful face shot there just
through the brush
now we’re not allowed to drive off-road
here so that’s why I’m not going any
closer and it’s probably a good thing
because there are a few excited vehicles
with people around so I’m sure if we
were allowed off ride this this leopard
would be a little bit harassed
so with that rule it’s a little bit
worse for us but better for the leopard
which I’m quite happy about everybody
got to keep the distance here
Pisces Bobby you’re saying that this
must be heartbreaking for mommy giraffe
absolutely I mean you know all that
energy and everything put into having
this little baby but it does happen
quite a lot to the little baby giraffe
especially in the first year because
they’re quite silly really in their
curiosity and you often find mommy
giraffe having to corral a little baby
away from all sorts of predators and
even vehicles they sort of just go
walking up to them not really knowing
the danger and obviously they wouldn’t
because they’ve just been born and they
don’t understand that things can kill
them and but mummies are kept very busy
trying to keep the little babies out of
danger well this one obviously didn’t
make it that that does mean that the
leopard feeds and lives on for another
few days until it needs to find itself
something else so well done to the
leopard and unlucky to the giraffe I
wouldn’t say that it’s going to have an
impact on the pair on the population of
giraffe now cat you’re asking is a baby
giraffe a big prey for a leopard cat
absolutely it is a very big prey for a
leopard it’s a massive prey for a lipid
so it’s very important to remember that
we don’t often get to see this it’s a
it’s a wonderful encounter and as we
just zoom out there that was a wonderful
fleeting little experience that we’ve
had unfortunately it is our time to go
and head up the the escarpment and we’re
not having the best visuals but what a
wonderful into the drive I would say
that was absolutely fantastic and I
think I’m going to be coming back here
tomorrow morning first thing to see if
we can catch up and see if the slip it
is still yeah maybe there’ll be a lion
that’s gone up the tree and pulled it
out who’ll know who knows but yeah we’re
going to have to start
and start making our way up the
escarpment so well that was the last
minute leopard for me so everyone as I
leave this leopard and head up the
escarpment please join us tomorrow
morning again because I’m coming
straight back here but as I go on my way
I’m gonna hit you on back down to South
Africa and the beautiful no well hi
everyone I’ve got a treat for you I have
a bird of prey that I cannot ID so
there’s no feathers all the way down the
legs the legs are yellow it has a yellow
seer that hard across the top with a
black tip and a very distinctive eye on
markings underneath and around to the
side of the gate there it calls there
and when it opens its wings and it flies
it’s really windy right now whose very
distinctive markings on underneath the
closest I’ve gotten is a juvenile
African hawk eagle yeah I think that’s
what I decided on let me just I’m gonna
find it in the book for you but if we
have any serious birders out there that
are watching please any thoughts you
have would be greatly greatly
appreciated finding what the one and
then I was also possibly thinking I just
want to find these photos for you so you
can see why I’m thinking it’s the way
that I’m thinking
but this is super exciting it’s also
sitting on this tree here with a white
back to vulture and we’ve been seeing a
lot of vultures so Ferg and I have been
checking out the the drainage lines here
where tündi was sort of last seen so
here’s that African hawk eagle this one
here so this is the adult yeah on the
Left okay now this is the juvenile here
and then over on the side there we go
well guys well I’m trying to discuss
this bird with you I’m just going to say
goodbye to all of you who have been
watching with us on the specialized
platforms and we hope you enjoyed and
don’t forget to a google safari live so
that you can keep following