this program features live coverage of
an African safari and may include animal
kills and caucuses viewer discretion is
advised
good afternoon and welcome to a very
windy very gusty Juma Game Reserve my
name is Tristan Dixon on camera today
I’ve got a VM the Valdez there is VM and
it is a very windy afternoon it’s going
to be an interesting afternoon to see
what the animals get up to in wind like
this also it probably means that there
is a bit of a change in weather on its
way now this is a live interactive
Safari so we love to hear from all of
you
hashtag Safari live on Twitter or
YouTube chat if you want to get involved
now we have this little moth this per
month that is landed on my steering
wheel and I’m going to take my hands
away I’ve been trying to put my hands
there to cup it so that it didn’t get
too much wind because I wanted it to
still be here when we started and it is
the most incredible looking worth you
can see it looks like a little bit of
wood and almost like a little wood
shaving you can see it’s got the bark on
the edge and then that lighter
coloration if this moth was on a piece
of bark that had a little bit of kind of
bark torn off it would be seriously
difficult to see this thing it would be
in camouflage incredibly well and it is
the first time I’ve ever seen a moth
that looks like this I’ve never seen
this before
and Jared our tech genius founders you
can see the perf thing is being blown
about all over the place at the moment
and that’s being quite protected on my
steering wheel it’s much windier if I
had to turn the steering wheel a little
bit but what interests me about this
whole thing is if you look on the front
here close to the the face area you’ll
see there’s these kind of two big bulbs
around the head now they almost look
like false eyes it’s almost as if to
give an impression that this insect has
got much bigger eyes than it actually
yet has the eyes are actually in front
here where the gray sort of section is
just in the top front portion and those
eyes are actually very very small but
these big bulbs here almost give it the
impression that it’s got big eyes and
it’s able to watch what’s going on
really cool to see and it’s not every
day you get to see something as
camouflage and it is perfectly sort of
suited to its environment as this now
unfortunately this poor fella is going
to get blown away at some point
him on my steering wheel so I’m trying
to get him to a situation where and gets
a bit of protection and can have it nice
and easy until the night sets in but
while I try to figure out how I’m going
to get rid of him and where I’m going to
put it let’s send you across to Ellie so
she can say good afternoon to all of you
hello everyone sorry it seems like the
wind is about to blow our cap or roof
and everything else off my name is Ellie
and on camera with me today is Ferg and
we are fighting and braving the African
weather just to be able to go and find
some animals now if you’ve got any
comments or any questions please send
them through using the hashtag spoil AG
or use the YouTube chat we are not too
sure where we’re headed we want to go
perhaps see the last area where the
tracks were in this morning for attack
of wild ducks we perhaps by any miracle
they’ve come back and I think that’s our
plan for the afternoon
other than that perhaps we’ll head later
on to see good old boat in Ghana the
male leopard hopefully well he will be
roughly in the same area where we saw
him this morning and we’ll be able to
share some time with him now I’m hoping
that’ll be the case and other than that
like I said just braving the wind we
were scheduled to do a walk this
afternoon but it is the windy conditions
often make it very dangerous so we’ve
decided against it just because of our
general safety now as you can see the
wind all around us is nice if you look
at all all the grass you can see how
everything’s moving all the trees all
the branches now the weather has been
quite puzzling and we had this massive
storm predicted for today lots and lots
of rain but as a day has gone through we
still haven’t had any drops which is a
good and a bad thing so I wonder if
perhaps later on during this afternoon
we’re gonna get all that rain really
interesting to see although you’re ready
for the rain Ferg and I we’ve got all of
our rain gear so we’re not scared we
will brave the weather as as well as the
Impala I hope they were being paid
clever and we just went past one
breeding herd and they were all tucked
away in the bushes all standing together
trying to seek or find some shelter from
all this all this wind and the possible
gloomy weather ahead now there is a blue
sky to our right so towards the east so
I am hoping that the beautiful blue
skies are gonna carry with us for the
rest of the afternoon and I think we are
actually going to start driving onto the
blue skies that sounds like a wonderful
plan for the
I mean we’ll just pretend and go leave
the dark skies ahead of us behind us so
that way we won’t even see them right
seems like Tristan is looking up at some
track so let’s head back to him and find
out what he’s after I am looking at
tracks I’m looking at tracks of probably
one of the biggest snake tracks that
I’ve seen since I’ve been at Juma this
is seriously large as you can see it
it’s kind of twisting its way I don’t
know what the word would be sort of
going from side to side across the road
you can see the big mounds of sand being
pushed away from the backside and going
so the snake was moving towards us with
the sand being pushed away from us a
little bit and so what I wanted to show
you is just how thick this snake track
actually is it looks about the size of
my forearm so where’s a good clear one
here VM let’s do this side so if I have
to put my forearm inside there there we
go it fits just right so my form would
fit inside of that section right there
which is well there we go that’s House
wide that snake is that gives you an
idea of how thick the snake is and how
big it is now snakes that get this thick
are very few and far between there’s
only probably three candidates that we
could take for this one would be a puff
adder the other one would be a Python of
some size I mean that wouldn’t be the
biggest Python but it would be a Python
or a incredibly large black mamba would
be the other option but given the small
gate of the twist and turn it probably
in all likelihood is a very big puff
adder puff adders gets a wide wide wide
body and that small kind of gate like
that would be a short snake but very
wide but still amazing to see now it’s
gone towards a little section here
behind me that’s fallen over trees and
stumps and these tracks are actually
funny enough on top of our vehicle
tracks where we came down just now which
was not long ago maybe about 45 minutes
ago so I want to just check back here
and see maybe we get lucky and we can
actually find the snake and track it
down probably went in somewhere here
lots of little snake hidey holes here is
a little termite mound then it could
have gone in so Captain Awesome you say
please go look for the snake well I mean
we can’t try and track it down of course
it’s going to go to a certain point and
I think it’s probably going to hide away
if it’s something like a Python then
they go underground quite a lot so
they’ll find a termite mound into the
termite mound and hide out something
like a Mamba is going to be very quick
and move off up into the trees and gonna
be quite tough to find puffer is
probably our best bits in terms of
actually finding the snake we would have
to walk through this grass and look very
very carefully and try and see if I can
spot it somewhere here but they also
will get in under things and get into a
place where they can hide you might find
because of this temperature change that
we getting in this wind that’s blowing
maybe the snake is on the move and just
trying to find a better more sheltered
area in order to spend the day but I’ll
try and follow the track now and just
see where it goes and try and work out
exactly the point that it disappears if
I can follow the track I should be able
to work it out and see if it’s gone into
the ground or something like that if
it’s gone into a mount obviously I’m not
going to be putting my hands down there
or doing anything like that and I don’t
really want to get a surprise from a
member or a puff adder thank you very
much they are not very pleasant snakes
to deal with sometimes so I’m going to
try and just have a little look around
see if I can find it for you and see if
we can get some sort of semblance of
view of the snake the problem with that
is that I’m going to need to track it
Kirsty so I’m not going to be able to do
that while I’m live because I’ll have to
follow it via my feet and that means
that I’m not going to be able to really
talk to you guys or see what you see so
I’ll have to just try and reverse a
little bit first and see what I can see
with the camera ah
so we’ve got no signal with Byron and
Ellie’s got low signal so you’re all
stuck with me so I don’t have to do this
with a vehicle let’s see if I can manage
this with a car and this should be quite
interesting
okay there’s lots of little hidey holes
here VM did you see exactly where that’s
crossed
I’m trying to look if I can see the
snake track on the ground itself we
obviously don’t want a situation so it
came along there and it came straight to
AVM is saying just on my left hand side
I wonder if it didn’t go into this
little termite mound here there’s a
little hole that is straight down let’s
have a little look oh that’s rather deep
there’s a movie a lot warmer than what
it is our chair this cold wind has come
and so for a snake going inside there’s
gonna be like a little oven and keep
them nice and warm and if you’re a
cold-blooded animal warmth is what you
want that keeps you active and able to
then hunt and find food so think that’s
where it’s gone I just want to do a
little loop around the bush on the left
or the southern side and see if I can
see anything obviously also don’t want
to drive over the snake of course the
snake will move it’s not going to say
stole but
but like I say the track is very very
fresh it’s from 45 minutes ago it may be
even later that’s just the kind of
timeframe we’ve got to work with so I
mean if that was a leopard track that
would be as fresh as you could possibly
ask for and you’d bet your bottom dollar
you would find it but a snake is a
completely different story looks like
your you might have some company if it’s
continued all the way through mmm going
to be very tough to find it in this
I don’t think unfortunately we’re gonna
get those rides with that termite mound
there I think it’s gone straight down
inside I mean there’s no sign of its
anywhere where I can see in these trees
when we should be able to spot it quite
quickly if it was like that so
unfortunately we’re going to have to
abandon that search for now and brave
the winds of Jummah tennis in terms of
tracking the hardest things to track I
mean it depends on what we’re talking
about you know you’ve got species like
the big animals which undoubtedly the
hardest big animal to track is leopard
by far it’s why when you do your
tracking assessments leopard is the one
that you follow in order to become the
highest level of tracker that you can be
so you have to find the footprint of the
leopard and follow it and try and find
that animal so in terms of big animals I
would say them in terms of smaller
animals well I mean there’s a lot of
different ones there’s things like wasps
that collect mud or spiders or crickets
scorpions those minut little tracks and
because they don’t really leave big sort
of traces on ground other than them
crossing roads or pathways it’s almost
impossible to follow their tracks so to
find those very tough and what else is a
difficult animal to track things that
move very fast and very far so while
dogs are tough to track hyena is funny
enough or are not easy either and that’s
also because of the amounts of hyenas
arches often criss-crossing of tracks
which makes it very difficult what else
that’s about it the rest of the big
animals elephants buffalo rhinos they
fairly simple in terms of the tracking
process they leave big signs for you and
the nice thing with them is that they
leave
very large areas where they fit so it’s
not only their footprints but it’s also
where they’ve fed and broken branches
pulled up grass and those kind of things
now VM has spotted a little surprise in
the graphs there so it’s very well
camouflaged but there’s a little scrub
here that’s come out quite early enough
probably because the cards are out it’s
a bit dingy already this afternoon and
so a perfect time for a scrub made just
to come out and nibble which you can see
the nocturnal and why they are so
successful at being nocturnal look at
the size of the eyes and the ears in
relation to their body massive massive
massive eyes big ears that allow them to
hear and see what’s going on even in the
dark of night and so they can thrive in
that way they’ve also got a very
sensitive nose that picks up a lot of
scent but this poor animal will probably
be as petrified as it looks it looks
very wide eyed at the moment and that’s
because of all of this wind it’s not
going to be an easy night for any of the
prey animals when it’s windy like this
the the Predators have an absolute field
day and they can get stuck into all of
these prey animals and it makes it much
harder for the prey animals to be sort
of find out where the Predators are wind
swirls noise and those kind of things
but did you see how well of camouflage
is it’s amazing that the camouflage that
these little guys have good little scrub
here stay safe be careful I saw a
martial eagle flying around Jay earlier
so scrub he is in danger from Marshall
Eagles they must be a little careful of
them seems a little quieter today around
it doesn’t seem to be all the eighties
and I’m not surprised
elephants ate wind and so in the wind
kicks up like this then ease into the
thickets as quick as possible just to
get out of the breeze that’s blowing and
they try and kind of stay as sheltered
it’s protected as possible so I’m not
surprised we’re not seeing too many
elephants around in the afternoon we’re
gonna try find tiny VM and I are going
to try and find tiny that’s certainly
going to go into so we’re going to sit
out into the eastern southeast and
beyond and try and see if we can find
this lipid and we’ve been hiding and
while we do that it sounds as though
Byron tardy surrou has
his speedos sorted Artie’s tucked his
shirt in he’s all sorted and is now
ready to finally join us for the
afternoons drive oh that’s not very fair
trust
I am I I do apologize for being late but
good afternoon my name is Byron and on
camera with me is Senzo and what a good
start I found a big bull elephant now
this one looks rather large it’s going
to have a look it’s very very windy
I know Tristan has been telling you
about it but wow it’s amazing how the
weather has changed
and when is actually blowing from that
elephant to us wow this is a big bull
good look at this mail-in see his
reaction to the vehicle
wonderful this is a great stock for me
you all know how much I enjoy spending
time with these big elephant seems very
relaxed I wonder if this isn’t the that
elephant that’s got a hole in his ear
can you see other sins oh no on his
right yeah let’s see sorry the other one
it’s just not turning enough then see a
hole not so it’s not the elephant that
Tyler knows as Darrell but he is a large
male enjoying the fruit at the moment so
many fruit care I’m just gonna sit still
and see if the smell decides to come
over closer to us it could be could be
really entertaining I’m sure I saw this
mail the other day
because it’s got a prominent to hold in
his left ear small little one and he
looks and he looks he looks similar I’m
not sure that there are a lot of
elephant that come through this area
Bobby I’m not sure the largest elephant
I’ve seen I did see one or two really
old bulls on London lazy a few years ago
passing through and and some symbols
there’s one male really really old male
that had these massive tusks they almost
touched the ground when he walked and
that doesn’t magnificent to see so that
once but I’ve definitely seen Bulls a
bit bigger than this okay I’m gonna sit
quietly let’s see what this male does is
he gonna come closer
I’m sure he’s enjoying this cool breeze
at the moment just not showing any signs
of aggression
seems very relaxed all right I must be
honest I really do feel privileged when
we get to sit with with these
magnificent beasts they think this
elephant is probably thirty of maybe
even closer to 40 years old it’s quite a
large male a bitch he’s got some amazing
stories growing up in the greater Kruger
now my plan this afternoon is actually
to go to those lions that in Kakuma
pride I’d like to try to get there
fairly soon because it is quite cool
maybe we’re lucky and they start moving
around
apparently Justin said they would look
quite hungry this morning
who knows
perhaps as lions decide to get up and
move I think we’ll leave this
magnificent bull wonderful start for us
I saw that snake track that Tristan was
looking at that does that was amazing I
wonder wonder where that snake
disappeared to because that was a really
large track ok let’s go I’m gonna go and
look for those lines let’s go to Ellie
who’s heading down to chat when we are
and we’ve taking a bit of a detour we’ve
decided to take the northern boundary
then go down to to catheline just to see
what’s been happening around here
obviously all in the hopes of finding
time but perhaps somewhere to approach
to open a morula tree although chances
of any leopard being on top of a morula
tree today I I would say a little bit
slim just because it is so windy so if
it’s very windy and our vehicle level I
would imagine that on top of a morula
it’s even worse so likely they’re all
gonna be doing the same thing as Dingaan
I was doing today and they’re gonna be
down on the ground probably hidden
tucked away in the bushes while they
stalk something or where they carry on
with their afternoon nap
now we haven’t really seen all that much
up here oh no you couldn’t even pick up
trucks for Tomba so I think he’s
probably stole somewhere in before suck
probably trying his luck he was hunting
yesterday so I’m hoping he managed to
get something perhaps a dike or Seon bug
that would have stint still being a good
meal for him now there’s always the hope
that there all of the leopards are gonna
catch something bigger this afternoon
because it is very windy and it seems
like this type of weather condition is
normally favorable for the Predators to
catch something so we’ll see I think
maybe tomorrow morning or the day after
that’s when we’ll really be able to see
what’s been happening after the night
because that’s when they’re gonna have
the premium advantage all of these
beautiful I think we’re gonna go past
happening you know might be coming down
to the water
and last we went there which was hippos
which was particulars Oh
normal good old friend and the other one
who I don’t know who it is while we get
to both dam though we’re gonna head back
to our or leave is on the lionsearch
I am indeed on the lionsearch let’s see
I think they were around here some way
since I let’s keep our eyes peeled now
again this wither is tricky because they
may have already got up and started
moving which would make it a bit harder
for us to find them so we I’m just gonna
scan very very carefully as you go
through here I think they were around
here this morning have a look obviously
a lot of vehicles have been three
already in the course of the day so it
would be difficult to find fresh tracks
of them hitting the spam
maybe maybe if they’ve started to move
we might find fresh tracks of them
moving this afternoon
I don’t think our birding is going to be
very good this afternoon
generally when it’s very very windy like
us and then the birding is not great
I’m trying to have a look and see if I
can find any sign of his lions anything
yet since I
right
I think Justin mentioned something that
they were near the old hi Nadine which
is which is right like there we go there
we go
fantastic let’s have a quick look see
what the prod is up to us here a few
heads up already
oh this is great well that is wonderful
no yep a couple of heads up and then
some lying down not moving
Oh wonderful
looks like the whole pride is here I can
just see some of them are behind some
trees or anything cool you’ll see them
but this is much better weather for
potential movement compared to yesterday
afternoon when we were sitting with that
sticks pride the other pride of lions
remember how how hot it was yesterday
afternoon and and those lions hardly
moved they moved out of the drainage
line where they were all that dry
riverbed and went and lay on the bank
and just carried on sleeping it was so
hot I think I’d probably only got active
much later now there’s a very cool
breeze and also with it being so windy
these might be good conditions for these
Lions to hunt so possibly if we’re lucky
we’re gonna be patient we’re gonna sit
with these lions maybe we get them
getting up moving around and possibly
trying to hunt a bit later but for now
they are resting so we’re gonna sit
tight let’s go across to Ellie who’s
apparently heading towards the dam
well we are and we have arrived unto
Bufo siq dam and much to our surprise
there’s not one hippo but three of them
now the I’m not too sure which one is
our good old friend that’s normally in
here I am slightly tempted to say that
it’s not the one that is standing on top
of the water just because I can’t seem
to remember that discoloration behind
its ear perhaps I just haven’t noticed
perhaps this is the same one but it’s
quite interesting to see that there are
two more around here what it could be is
perhaps the two young Bulls have come
into this particular waterhole looking
for a place to to conquer a new area
maybe they’ve come all the way from
Chittor Dam maybe they’ve come from one
of the dams and buffers look there are
quite a few dams all around us and it
wouldn’t be surprising if they started
moving in this weather just looking for
new places now there has been a little
bit of display involved the big bowl
that’s in there has been opening his
mouth there’s been a little bit of
defecating and spraying of their dung
which is normally all done on a show of
a type of thing just to advertise that
he is the big one and he is the owner of
this particular area now the little bird
behind it is a little green which
obviously now I decided to try and fly
against the wind which is not working
too well for it and then we’ve got this
three very puzzling I’m hoping that
they’re gonna do something as well they
were a little bit more active a few
moments ago so we’re gonna stand still
and just see if perhaps they get up to
what they were doing earlier on now I
wouldn’t be surprised if these guys only
arrived today because yesterday
afternoon I mean Byron and I were here
and they were definitely only two of
them in there so there’s a newcomer and
perhaps that’s what’s throwing a bit of
a spanner in the works and altering them
first lady yes hippo do mate underwater
and their calves are also able to suckle
underwater which is quite interesting of
in terms of all the things that hippos
can do 108th order but yes they do it
under the water I’m not too sure these
guys are even interested in that and I
think that middle one I want to say that
he’s a new one and he’s a much older
bull in comparison to the other two that
we’re seeing here I’m assuming they are
bulls because they don’t have little
ones attached to them but I don’t know
seems like it seems odd it was like new
things are starting to change with this
wind are you going to tell them who’s
the boss
definitely approaching one of the
youngsters a little bit of tension going
on they’re gone all the way down in the
water okay
there’s a bit of submissive behavior
normally when animals make themselves
either look smaller or where they put
their heads down it’s a way of admitting
almost a defeat in terms of territorial
of hierarchy of dominance as in a way of
saying fine I know you’re the boss let’s
be in peace you’re in command so I think
perhaps that’s weed what we just
witnessed is one to the left a little
bit smaller than the one on the ride
just putting his head down and me like
fine you you are the boss just we’re
fine don’t worry about it now I was
hoping that he was gonna come out and
open his mouth and show his big tusks to
us but it doesn’t seem like he wants to
do it just yet fail I’m not sure if
hippos ever drawn perhaps if they can
even baby big currents if they cannot
get to you to the surface and get air
and I’m pretty sure that would cause
them to drown it’s part of the reason
also why they seem to prefer areas where
the current is very slow and normally if
there’s a pod with babies they either
prefer lakes or a rocky areas but you’ll
never find them in a in a river that’s
flowing also quickly probably because if
they cannot fight the current to try and
get to the surface to get air yes they
could potentially drown
in this particular case I’m pretty sure
that their standing or lying I don’t
think before the dam is that deep I
think it has gotten in the surface
otherwise I wouldn’t be able to have as
much of their body exposed and out and
about
seems like Justin has found a creature
that is perhaps just as pretty as a
hippo so let’s head over and see well I
think it’s a fake contest between the
two of them so hippo versus war talk
whether I feel like I would give hippo a
cuter factor than a wart ogres fish I
suppose maybe baby warthogs aren’t too
bad but these guys these big male
warthogs are not the prettiest things in
the world you can see they’ve got big
big warts on them which is how I know
that they’re both boys as well as well
you can see the male testes underneath
the tail of the one facing away from us
and the one on the far side is a little
skittish the one closest to us is not
too bad it doesn’t worry about us too
much but you can see that one’s keeping
a beady eye on us and is covered in
oxpeckers at the moment both of them and
so these guys I’m sure getting quite a
bit of food and off go the warthogs
trotting away everything’s going to be a
little bit like this I think
everything’s going to be a bit shy a bit
reclusive when the wind is howling the
way that it is this afternoon most of
our prey animals are going to be a
little worried about some predators and
therefore gonna be a lot more shy than
they normally are so we’ll be having a
day like this way we’re gonna get brief
views of our antelope species before
they trot off and try and get away from
where we are sitting in case there is a
predator around now we’ve just driven a
sneaky little routes along the mullah
Watty all the way from just south of the
dam wall and then down towards China pan
just in the hope that we maybe pick up
some sign of tiny moving around in the
moolah Watty maybe she’s kind of moved
back into the section and just keeping a
low profile but nothing there’s not a
single track for a female leopard inside
there that I picked up and we looked
quite nicely and we checked all the
spots that she’s used before with this
cub there’s no sign of her visiting any
of those areas so she’s not this side
she must be further to the east and I
think maybe she’s spending a bit more
time on torchwood then we actually
realized at the moment so I mean I just
kind of checked you out and quickly down
to ten dams and then we’re gonna really
work the eastern side quite heavily for
turn any sign of tummy so we’ll drive
around we’ll try and listen out for some
alarm call
I’m hoping because it’s overcast like
this that if she is around that she’s up
and moving
or maybe she’s hoisted a kill or
something if the conditions from last
night were suitable for hunting I’m
pretty sure Tandy will take an advantage
of it so go and check around there and
just have a little look and see what’s
going on so that’s the idea anyway
hopefully it all work out and we will
find her somewhere in this area with the
little cub it’s been so long since I’ve
seen that little cub I’m pretty sure it
must be about triple the size that it
was previously it’s going to be a bit of
a shock I think when we see it hopefully
it’s doing well and everything is okay
and that it’s managing to avoid this
drama that is the male lipids of the
northern sabi sands at the moment
good talking about sort of drama and
things like that well Byron is sitting
with the Inca Huma pride and I wonder if
there will be any drama this afternoon
with the pride hunting well at the
moment it doesn’t look like it now I’m
trying to make a decision here I think
it might be worth us driving around a
little little bit and then coming back
in about half an hour or so and because
there hasn’t been much movement and
possibly these lines still just trying
to rest
you can see that that wound on that line
s
it’s not looking bad but it’s still
that’s not ideal at pre lioness that’s
you know that don’t know actually don’t
know what caused that we know would I
would assume it was from hunting
something
I’m sure you can hear the wind at the
moment and it’s quite quite strong I
don’t know if it’s going to rain this
afternoon maybe this evening maybe this
brings in the storm often if it is very
windy it could just be very windy and
not rain so I’m not sure but I was
speaking about it earlier in bad weather
like this or when it rains lions and
leopards often do go out and hunt it’s a
little bit easier for them to hide
mosques they smell the sound everything
so they can stalk up really close and
hunt whatever it is they’re looking for
I think you know and I think I’m going
to leave these lines I’m not gonna sit
here now for too long but I will come
back a little bit later I just think
that for the moment they seem quite
relaxed very comfortable I’m possibly
just trying to conserve some more energy
until a little bit later so let’s drive
around a bit little fun I’m gonna check
some clearings you never know you could
get quite a bit of general game in that
area now especially because of all this
wind but let’s see what else we can find
in the meantime I think rather than
sitting here with these sleeping lions
for too long I hope all of you are
having a wonderful weekend wherever you
are in the world
as has been great actually has been
lovely nice and relaxing today
as I said I don’t think our
bird-watching will be very good today
because of this were went oh wow at
least found something really small she
wants to show you we did it’s the
smallest cutest little scrub here now
it’s it’s about the size of the palm of
my hand I would just see you know and I
don’t want to get too close because it
might start running away but I wonder
why it is in the middle of the road you
should go and hide in the bushes I’ve
heard of praise gonna find you there we
go
no you have to carry on running you
didn’t run far enough and you’re still
on the road beautiful little thing now
during the day likely they spend most of
their day they don’t borrow like like
rabbits do but rather they go into very
thick vegetation especially underneath
thorny trees or thorny bushes where it
might be harder for any potential
predator to get to them why this little
one has decided to be in the middle of
the road in such a windy day when pretty
much a lot of things can get it I’m not
too sure perhaps it got flush from where
it was hiding due to something else
walking around but you’re not in the
safe just place look at that fluffy
little white tail running around that
was super cute that was very special
paulla yes that was super tiny that was
very very cute it was about the size of
my hand I would say without the ears
obviously but about something like that
so so cute
wonder where it’s gone off to now now
it’s very thick in this general
direction when where it ran so I would
assume that perhaps it’s gone back to
this bushes back to where the yellow
flowers are that’s a raisin bush so
maybe it’s hiding in there because it’s
quite pushy very complicated to get in
if I wear a little scrub here that’s
probably where I would be hiding that
was a very cool little find it’s amazing
how sometimes the wind confuses them and
it brings out the rest or some
unexpected things unto the road well the
whole big that this will be the day
where we also get a Pangolin and a
caracal but they can all be in the same
sighting I will not complain if they all
are but that was very sweet
now here’s our mostly nocturnal animal
so the fact that we’ve seen it out and
about during the day it’s also a bit of
a strange thing and this little one has
got to be careful if it once do you have
a good chance at making into a tall hook
because it might not be the best thing
to be out in the middle of the road
during the day
joy its mother it’s probably somewhere
else they they developed quite quickly
when they’re little so very lightly its
mother it’s just away doing its own
thing and they don’t spend all their
time with the little ones when they’re
tiny obviously the mother and where
they’re about this big the mothers will
come and suckle them a few times and
then go in forage and so on but I think
this one is probably already on its own
or if not on its own at least it the
mother has gone in a certain direction
and that one has been left behind as it
would normally happen perhaps another is
not too far away hiding somewhere else
and this one was just being probably a
naughty teenager and going out of the
house before it should monster party out
in the wind
now what are these tracks over here
seems like I’m imagining things because
there are no trucks on the road maybe
that was just wishful thinking should
have actually stopped in most of the
tiny little scrubby hair tracks but I
didn’t think of it and talking about
tracks and little things let’s head back
to Tristan who I believe is looking for
leopards I am indeed looking for a
spotted cat somewhere so far no signs or
any tracks that will indicate that there
is a spotted cats around but you can
always live in hope also just looking
for anything else really I just kind of
puttering about and I believe Ellie was
telling me today that she had tracks for
a male line somewhere around for the
ones cut line Rebecca’s area and that
the sticks have a random male lion lying
with them now I’m not sure who the male
line is or what his story is but
apparently the sticks seemed completely
unfazed by this male lions
presence and the other thing about it is
that he apparently has got some really
nasty fresh wounds that have been
created now Ellie told me that when she
saw the tracks this morning that there
was places where there was tracks for
male line and blood drops on the road
and so I wonder if the birmingham’s
didn’t get hold of him last night and
that there’s another male line that’s
still sitting somewhere on Juma so just
kind of wanting to try and see if I can
find those tracks and just see how much
blood was on them I think Ellie said
they were somewhere on Rebecca so I
might have missed him but let’s just see
how he go I’m going down towards tree
house I know she said there was some
tracks that came from Chios here they
are here but they’ve been so driven over
by vehicles gonna be very difficult to
make them out pretty
these are tracks also for the in kuma
pride so it seems as though maybe this
male bumped into another male maybe even
the in kuma pride who knows what’s
happened to him but apparently he’s got
some nasty cuts and scrapes on him now
it’s an interesting situation because I
would have thought if it was a random
male lion that the sticks didn’t know
given that they’ve got Cubs in their
honor water but kill that they would be
less than friendly towards an intruding
male and that they would try and chase
him away as quick as possible but he
seems to be just sitting there and they
not too concerned about it he’s just
kind of sitting off to the side and
everything is ok so for a second thought
I wonder if it’s maybe not one of the
sticks male lions that they used to be
around this area
when was it it was back in I can’t even
remember now
2015 was it 2014 2015 they were the two
young sticks boys that were around and I
wonder if it’s not one of them bears I
think the same male line that was seen
on on Kirkman’s down in the south of the
sabi sands recently I actually have a
photo of him some way I’ll try and find
it a very pretty looking line so I’ll be
a bit sad if he got beaten up because he
looks really quite nice and
unfortunately though this is the trials
of being Archer as a young male lion is
that you’ve got many many many different
coalition’s to deal with and it would be
the first line that’s really come into
this area since the birmingham’s are
taken over and the first one that’s
probably been dealt with that by the
Berman’s properly but if it’s this guy
then it’ll be interesting this is the
one that was seen down on Kirkman’s I’m
not 100% sure if he’s the same one that
was seen with the sticks last night but
maybe some of you out there that have an
idea of who this line could be will give
you another photo of him there is so
there we go that’s the photos of the
guys from Kirkman’s that they sent to us
to try and ask now Karin you say that it
could be the ginger Matilda that could
be with the sticks interesting I I’m not
100% sure well I guess I’ll try and ask
the guys if it’s an older line maybe it
is I’m not sure I know that the the
older male will
ginger member of the of the members has
broken apart from harry bill use been
left in the krueger somewhere and very
badly injured and he’s kind of we’ve
done but this lime is a much younger
individual that was seen and this was
taken three days ago down on southern
Mala Mala and so if that comes straight
north pretty much puts it righteous
wonder if it’s maybe the matumbo or it’s
is this individual but if somebody saw
photos and is the member that’ll be
quite cool to know it’s interesting that
it’s back in this area and surely not a
good sign for that individual because
I’m sure the birmingham’s will try and
get hold of him if he is around you and
like I said he’s got some nasty cuts
apparently on his forearms at all very
fresh and bleeding and then apparently
lots of flies on his back so maybe it is
the Matunga may I know they got into a
fight recently I think it was the end of
last year and just inside the Kruger
with some other males and I think they
both took a bit of a battering in that
so we’re just interesting to see how
this all plays arts and whether or not
that midsummer makes another appearance
on a live drive you is the two of them
were such a big part of safari life when
it first got back up and running in Juma
and the many of you will remember lots
of very fond sightings of those two
massive boys walking around sure they
really were impressive specimens both of
them were incredibly large that the
track size of those two males was much
bigger than what we see from these
birmingham’s at the moment so always
remember those two Fondy and they
certainly did a good job here for a
while but it was just never gonna work
two against five when the Birmingham’s
arrived
now trial stem not really much happening
store hasn’t produced many leopard
sightings the summer it’s interesting
how a winter tree arts and twin dams
were just absolute gold for lipids now
in the summer it just goes to show the
lipids do not use these dams nearly as
much because there’s really so much
water everywhere that there’s no point
for them to come to a big dam and lie
expose I close but in winter and there’s
no water they have to come here and they
become hot spots for lipids so nothing
really much happening at treehouse only
off carry on and see what else we can
find I see there’s the impalas now from
our impalas that tree our sets are
looking a bit petrified to go down to
the water
it seems you across to Byron who’s got
some others that hopefully look a little
common in these ones well it’s very very
windy back what I wanted to show you is
exactly what I thought was gonna happen
we’re gonna get to these clearings and
we’re gonna see loads of animals or just
Impala but animals aren’t in the
clearing look how close all these Impala
are together and a whole herd is staying
very very close to one another because
they know these conditions make it very
difficult to listen out for predators or
smell predators so I’ll stay a lot
closer and be very very aware of what is
going on around them but it makes sense
for them to stay in the clearing I can
keep a lookout for any potential danger
just before that just saw some other
movement there is one or two warthog
moving through day two just to the left
of those Impala and actually moving
through also quite clever
I’m staying close to the Impala palanca
water will be alerted that is predator
around
hearing some Franklin’s calling I’m also
gonna listen out for any alarm calls any
sign of had an eye and parlor alarm call
or anything like that maybe a kudu bark
but interesting behavior this is what I
wanted to show you it’s amazing how all
these animals know but these conditions
they need to stay close together they
need to be very very aware wonderful to
see those tails all swishing around
getting flies off of them number of
little flies at the moment Bush is very
green and especially after all the rain
that we had all very very active now
this is exactly the spot we had those
wild dogs yesterday last night these
wild dogs came and they lay down here
exactly with us Impala it’s amazing how
one day you can have a predator in the
next day prey in exactly the same
position wonder where those dogs went I
think I ran north I think general
consensus was that they ran north across
our boundary into buffers look and I
think even all the way up into Mannie
Leyte which is not that far from you as
a crow flies
so let’s call it you you actually asked
just what I was explaining about the
tails and you’re right it is it is
because of the flies I mean you saw I’m
not sure if you quote this morning’s
Safari but we were on bush walk the
amount of flies net to around us while
we were walking it was quite unpleasant
so I know what does Impala are going
through all right since we shall we
continue let’s see what else these
clearings have in store for us gonna hit
a little bit further down
it’s funny how animals will take a bit
of shelter in weather like us it’s not
very pleasant to be out they know it
they choose to hide rather than move
around too much okay let’s head back
over to Tristan I wonder where he is now
I’m not sure I’m down on Weaver’s nice
barn we picked up the checks for this
mail line going sort of southwards
towards Weaver’s nest and now hitting
South in this direction so I just want
to double-check that there’s no male
line lying somewhere here and it might
be that same one that’s maybe a tree
house damn on little Gary cuz that’s not
too far what you can see is big dark
ominous clouds that are being blown in
at a rate of knots at the moment they
don’t look ominous from a point of view
that they look like a lot of water but
they look like they’re bringing a
massive cold front and the air
temperature is dropping by the sick and
it’s starting to get quite chilly Archer
quite quickly now off on my left-hand
side there is a big bird sitting in a
tree so it looks like a pale form
Wahlberg’s
yes pale form Wahlberg’s so probably the
one that nests close to twin dams and is
being absolutely blown about all over
the place you can see how it’s kind of
leaning into the wind a little bit so
normally the walberg sits a lot more
upright than that but this one is having
to sit quite horizontal and kind of duck
its head a little bit to try and just
balance itself and see how much the tail
is actually moving up and down in order
to keep that bird balanced while it’s
sitting on top of their tree it’s
getting blown about all over the place
and feathers are being a bit winds
ripped and this cold wind that’s coming
in I think is a situation that’s going
to need to a lot of birds of prey being
down on the trees this afternoon there’s
no thermals to be written and in wind
like this they aren’t really going to be
effective in hunting zone and then we’re
gonna find a lot of our birds of prey
sitting on top of trees and taking it
easy now what I want to do is just try
and check in these male line tracks see
where they go and see what they got up
to last night
Dail burrowing birds of jummah other
than all of the birds in FC that burrow
into the sugars and all kinds of other
blankets when it gets cold no there’s no
real burrowing individuals that go
underground and spend a lot of time
underground and then come out so all of
our birds pretty much are either tree
nesters or there are individuals that
will mess on the ground but not
underground so they don’t actually go
into it now there’s some disturbance on
the right I just can’t see nicely the
light is so soft and there’s so much
wind that a lot of these tracks end up
looking quite windswept
so I’m just trying to see what’s going
on yes there’s the male line tracks he’s
here but there’s no blood on this
particular track at all that I can see
I’ll try and just move a little bit so
VM can get it on camera but you can see
what I’m talking about hard difficult
tracking becomes in soft lights now a VM
let me get out for you so I can show you
exactly the track that I’m talking about
in fact I’ve even lost it a little bit
but no there it is I can see it now so
here we go this is the track now must
try not to get around it so there it is
there now you’ve got the toes at the
front yeah like that and then here is
the back pad on that area now that is
one track for this male line and he’s
going up the road and won’t down the
road so I think it must be the same
individual that we had well that is
under little Gauri but let’s just
double-check on the fire break maybe
it’s one of the Birmingham’s that was
tracking this male down it’s interesting
to have a little look but tracks are
really tough to see they’re not easy at
all it almost just looks like a plain
white surface at the moment so we’ll try
and kind of follow these and and see
what we get but I think these might have
crossed south into little Gauri already
so Samar the reason we have less big
male lions than lionesses is because if
you had as many big male lions as you
had lionesses on safari you another
situation where they’d be just complete
chaos all the time the amount of females
that would be around there’d be so much
fighting for those females and to be
able to mate with them then inevitably
males get killed and so that’s why in
this less of them is that the
competition over females is so much more
as opposed to females fighting over
females doesn’t really happen you know
you don’t have a situation where females
fight with each other
and nests it’s two different prides in
which case they normally come together
fights a little bit and break apart
whereas male lions will actively chase
each other will actively try and kill
one another in order to bring those
females back in or to be able to take
over and dominate as well as they’ll
then go in and kill the young male Cubs
and they’ll chase some adult males away
and so that’s why you only tend to see a
lot more lionesses than you do male
lines also lionesses can move around in
a smaller section than what big male
lions can bring male Lions will try and
expand as far as they can and have big
territories whereas a lioness typically
will try and have a much smaller area
and be encompassed by a male that has
multiple sort of females in his
territory so that’s why you see less of
them good while we carry on and see
where these line tracks go that sends
you back across to byron who’s got
something that lions hunt every so often
we do indeed so again lots of antelope
out in the clearings
now there must be one two three four
five six seven eight nine at least nine
no 10 kudu that I can see in this area
all standing very close together see how
they’re all facing different different
directions really interesting behavior
and all to do with the weather and
almost change their normal behavior
depending on on the weather and those
females will be very careful and alert
to protect those
cut and carbs looking little 1 1 if some
flies were biting it I’m just gonna move
forward slowly just to get a better view
of those cooking but they’re all
standing very close together and I
usually usually I mean you’ve seen could
they tend to move around Oh
Justin’s medicine found a find a
chameleon it’s gave a look quick I’m the
winner
whoa we had a bet who could find the
first chameleon and well valdi is
actually the winner he spotted the
communion before me so well he let me
try and go forward a little bit and see
if we can get it a little bit better
than the angle that we’ve got now what a
communion is doing walking around in
weather like this I’m not quite sure
where did it go of him it was right here
somewhere so I’m gonna try and just get
off and look and here it is right at him
so it’s coming out from there it goes so
hello little one how cool is that color
on that chameleon it’s got the most epic
coloration because it’s kind of probably
out on the road I was trying to just
show itself to you this big vehicle that
was coming down so it’s got these Browns
and whites and electric greens and it is
really a very pretty female by the looks
of things it looks like a big female and
actually looks as though she might be
carrying eggs look uh swollen her tummy
is you see how a bulge that tummy is at
the moment and she’s not flaring out to
make herself big and puffy because you
can’t see the orange throats so I think
she might have little eggs inside there
that she maybe might be wanting to lay
but how cool is this little chameleon
is the best thing now I know you get
very excited about this but we haven’t
seen many comedians you see look at how
deep her body is at the moment I wonder
if maybe there is some little ones
inside they’re interesting but the
coloration of this particular chameleon
is absolutely phenomenal it is really
super bright and
the kind of camouflage that it’s trying
to show is very cool where are you off
to you must be careful now a comedian
out in the open like this is in a lot of
danger there’s a number of birds archaea
that go after comedians so particularly
things like the grey headed bush Shrike
they are very dangerous to comedians
they come out and they’ll grab him and
then a number of different snakes – so
Boomslang vine snake numbers cobras
they’ll all go off – a comedian look
it’s just peering at us through the
grass you see that they are the coolest
things and they’ve got these incredible
eyes where they are able to manipulate
each eye individually or from the other
one now Jeff you say that’s a first for
you to see well Jeff I hope you’re
enjoying it because there are super cool
little creatures and like I say not
something we get to see every day so
that’s very cool and I didn’t expect to
see a chameleon at all in conditions
like this this is not really Communion
whether we find them out in warm
evenings but that was super cool so I’m
glad we got to see it and so while we
carry on and see what else we can find
or what other mysteries they are in the
bush that scene you bet across to buy it
and yes could you well that’s awesome
haven’t seen a chameleon in a long time
I’m hoping to spot them at not that we
haven’t seen one so it’s the first one
we’ve seen for ages see they’re hiding
in the long grass I think I’ll watch
these oxpeckers and the kudu cleaning
all the ticks off those years and get
right in there
as I was saying
nice to see all these and these kudu
together I haven’t seen a group this
size for quite some time but all very
very cautious in the wind
wonder what that could ring on there
looked a little little hard you see its
swallowed whatever it was in it at times
because these could whose have these
really long necks you can see when they
regurgitate food again being ruminants
you can’t see that little food ball come
back up and then they start chewing so
let’s let’s actually see if this female
does it get in it do you see that
exactly what I was speaking about yeah
wonderful so she just regurgitate to
that food again
now she reaches it that’s why the the
most there or actually all the Antelope
do it they’re obviously ruminants very
efficient digestive system regurgitate
what they fed on it’s mixed with them
some enzymes and and stomach juices and
then that helps digest it even further
and then eventually they’ll swallow it
again but it’s broken it up enough and
again it was another one another one for
that chicas full of food
mark I’m not sure I would I would guess
at times the oxpeckers don’t actually
get the entire tick off the animal and
maybe leave their head behind for those
of you don’t know when you pull a tick
off you’ve got to be very careful to get
the the head of the tick out because
often that head
digs into your skin and and will sit
then when you pull the ticket brakes off
and that can cause a bit of an infection
now with the oxpeckers I mean they comb
so finely across the skin of these
animals that I’m sure they usually get
the whole tick but at times I think it’s
inevitable that the head breaks off on
the animal and we saw a lot of ticks
this morning on Bush walk I haven’t got
itchy yet but I’m waiting because a lot
of pepper ticks around at the moment –
not very pleasant
no I’m just listening to something I can
hear you see all those kudu watching
actually if we just zoom out a little
bit
you see those could very focused I can’t
you know what there’s the guinea fowl
alarm calling now let’s see if I can
maybe get through there it sounds like
it’s quite fine the block but guinea
fowl definitely alarm calling at
something and all these could who turned
it and face that way immediately I
wonder if there is a gap to get through
here look at all these could be together
it’s amazing
one Impala he’s he’s clever staying
close to the kudu can you follow very
unhappy I’m going to go look in there
quickly let’s go across to Ellie and
find out wishes I’m going to try get in
there and see you if we can find what
these guinea fowl are upset about it
seems like Byron is normally lucky when
guinea fowls are alarming around him so
I’m hoping that there will be something
in that particular area we are on our
way to chatauqua we’ve bumped into a
herd of elephants so it’s always
wonderful to spend some time with them
now the ones that we’re looking at are a
little further away from where we are
but I just want to stand still because
there are some on the bushes very close
to us and they might come out onto the
road in the next few minutes or so so I
think it’ll be worth it were patient and
then they’ll just might pop out in here
now updates front in Ghana it seems that
he’s moved and he’s no longer where we
left him this morning
so I think we’re still gonna try and get
down onto that area see if we can
perhaps figure out where he’s gone and
if not then we’ll just go around chitter
maybe we’ll get lucky now this is the
particular elephant that we were talking
about that’s very close to the road but
I think she’s just taking she him we’ll
see now taking its time coming into the
road there’s a little one
hello almost there weapons are also they
alert and the one they don’t
particularly like it and I would imagine
for them it’s even more annoying because
with such big ears the e of the wind is
probably a bother more than anything
else are you do I need to move the car I
think maybe I am going to move the car
slightly so that we get a bit of a view
because it seems like elephants always
act that they’ve like they’ve got all
the time in the world and well pretty
sure that they do so it’s just I think
that if we go like this perhaps we’ll be
able to get a view of them without
getting the poles of a roof and the way
how’s that for you fern does that work
all right so it’s the mother and the
most recent of spring and it seems like
there’s one at the back as well so the
last two offsprings that she’s had are
you guys eating the grass yes they’re
eating the grass at the bottom of the
tree I thought perhaps they were
interested oh I don’t know if you can
hear that but there was a lot of
rumbling
Jessica officially there are only two
elephant species there’s the African
elephant and the Asian elephant but
there’s a lot of debate going on in the
scientific and conservationist
communities because there’s another
species or subspecies of elephant as
they want to consider it now which is
the forest elephant very similar to this
particular elephant that we’re looking
at very similar to the African elephants
they do live in the forest in Africa
they’re just slightly smaller now
because they are completely separated
from the normal elephants that we see
over the savanna elephant that we see a
lot of people want to classify them as a
completely different species because if
they’re classified as a completely
different species because there are so
few of them then automatically they were
warned a higher conservation protection
so there’s a bit of debate in theory
though we only get this beautiful one
that we’re looking at and then the Asian
one and the Asian ones are slightly
different from the African one the Asian
ones are a little bit more docile and
smaller years and more pigmentation
around their face now we’re going from
giants to tiny ones and it seems like
Justin has got one of the smaller
creatures of the bush I do indeed have
one of the cutest creatures which is now
obviously disappeared because well this
is what happens whenever you want to
show a creature off it disappears but
there’s a special tail sticking inside
there so that is a little tree squirrel
that is kind of hidden inside of that
area now there’s another squirrel that’s
alarm calling just in front that I want
to go and investigate quickly it’s I
suppose weather that you could have
things moving around we’ve just seen a
chameleon obviously moved so maybe a
snake could be around but I just want to
double check that’s why there’s a bird
of prey right yeah so is it a battle-ax
eagle yes it is a better year eagle okay
okay okay
you don’t have to worry it’s a battery a
eagle it’s just it’s not going to hunt
you so the squirrels going crazy because
it’s seen a bird of prey but the reason
why is because it just sees that shape
and it things to itself probably this is
drama when you hear anything as the
eagle flying off so this squirrel is
probably petrified that anything with
wings is going to be some sort of death
that’s going to come towards it so
that’s why it makes all that noise now
that it’s flown away all is quiet okay
you got your point thank you for showing
us that that’s not every day you get to
hear them
[Music]
we needed it once more for us
that’s what we always look for when we
say schools our alarm calling that’s the
sound that we’re actually talking about
and it’s a very cool Sun now I’m sure
there’s different frequencies pitches
and tones depending on whether it’s a
bird or a leopard or a snake but
honestly I don’t know what the
difference is between them I find with
lipids a far more insistent in what kind
of repetitive and a lot quicker and a
lot higher but this is I mean it’s
difficult to say what they actually
looking at so you always have to go try
and investigate it and that’s why we
always follow up on alarm courses you
never know what you’re gonna get from a
squirrel anyway we’re going to send you
back across to those big animals that
Ellie is still with and hopefully they
will come out and have a really nice
view of them well they haven’t now it
seems like they’re going again now
unfortunately they have crossed into a
property that I cannot follow them but
at least for now we’ve got a nice view
of them heading into the bush and you
can see the branches are moving a little
bit so I think that’s why they’re not
all that happy now it sounded like there
were some more elephants behind us so
I’m just gonna go and explore perhaps we
can see a few more elephants coming all
the way from chitra Dam and then we’ll
just delay or search for some Ghana a
little bit maybe he’s actually at the
dam himself I wouldn’t I wouldn’t put it
past him to go back to that spot but
there are a few spaces where I want to
go check for him but if there are more
elephants down down at the dam that
would be very nice to go and view them
if they’re drinking now I’m hoping
they’ll be there lots of wood
now it was funny because when we were
sitting with those elephants earlier on
I don’t know if you guys could hear the
1p mo grumbling and she was quite
aggressive about it and the little ones
instead of coming on to the road where
she did it’s almost like they had to
walk in the bush and then cross where
the rest of the herd had crossed further
ahead it’s almost like she said no you
don’t this is not the road for you to
cross you need to do it further away and
then they went all the way and around
cliff would have been just fine for them
I mean just fine for them to walk around
it but clearly there was something that
was unsettling her and she just felt
that her youngsters have to do the route
that the other ones had done now let’s
see hopefully there will be some
elephants at the end of the road or at
the end of the rainbow if we can find
either the rainbow or the not you sure
perhaps they were calling from far away
because with this wind I wouldn’t be
surprised that noises that are being
carried a little bit further if we are
on the right end of the wind
now I doesn’t see him for now that there
are any elephants down at the dam or
maybe they are contrary see from here
but we’re gonna approach and go down
there anyway see what’s lurking I took
it down this afternoon perhaps some
bigger things perhaps some smaller
things and we’ll see what birds are
braving the weather
infinity gave him some reserves do you
have fences in between them the reserve
that we’re in now it’s part of the
greater Kruger National Park which means
that this reserve has got no fences to
the eastern side with Kruger National
Park now there is a fence on the western
side because that’s the limit of the
natural or the protected area and the
idea for that fences to prevent animals
from going into the local communities
but it’s just the most western boundary
and we are or the sabi sand is that the
southern almost the southern part
central part of the Kruger National Park
and then there’s another massive reserve
more towards the north which is a timber
logical sea area which also formed part
of the greater Kruger National Park and
there is a boundary in between the the
main roads and again the human
settlements but there are no fences in
between all the different smaller
reserves that make up each one of these
individual reserves now further I think
we have found all of the Impala got
excited because there’s a tiny tiny baby
water book right here is that fine okay
sorry I’m still learning my I’m gonna
get my head out of the way because
there’s a tiny tiny baby water book it
seems like today is a day of the little
things you are just the smallest water
book I’ve seen so incredibly cute this
is a brand new one I haven’t seen this
one before
and well this morning was spent a lot of
time with a lot of water buck that were
around here with some youngsters so what
I think has been happening is this one
has been hiding in the long grass the
mother has probably not brought it down
here before and now that it’s a little
bit older than this is why she’s finally
brought it on to this area
surprised there aren’t any other water
bucking just the mail but maybe they’ve
gone somewhere foraging or they’re
somewhere at the end
other end of the open area who you can
see it’s not it doesn’t have its grey
color just yet it’s still of a tawny
color almost looks like a little Impala
yeah
Chris is saying it looks so fuzzy all
the way from MC and I agree with you I
feel like I want a baby water buck as a
pet it would be the best thing although
it would probably kill Justin kids baby
water bugs carry a lot of ticks or just
water bucking yet in general but that is
the sweetest face look at that and just
in terms of heights I would say that’s
what 45 centimeters tall Fergus do you
agree with that maybe a little bit more
50 yeah I think about 50 so very small
probably the size of a medium – yeah
medium size dog I would say oh so cute
and it’s already got its white ring
around its rump a tiny little target
maybe that’s what we should call him we
should call him target just because this
is a little one
very cute
Jenny a mini target but you say I agree
with you that’s that we should call it
mini target it’s very pretty very very
pretty oh I wish there were more because
then we will see what they get up to and
how they play now you see they’re all
surrounded by Impala and like I said
earlier I think we have found all of the
Impala in the service and they’re
probably in this massive open area now I
can’t go both ways sometimes with Impala
they’ll come into this areas because
they can see far away and they are very
protected over here because there is no
predator that’s gonna be able to
approach them without them noticing but
part of the issues also that because
there is a lot of wind the temperature
starts dropping so they’re gonna start
getting cold so they might have to then
retreat back into an area that’s a
little bit more sheltered just to be
able to maintain certain body heat
although they all seem to be eating the
grass I’m sure that’s gonna help them
its allies and just keep a certain
temperature you can hear the wind is
howling
that is that is the cutest little baby
water book and all of the baby impala
they seem to have grown fairly fast I’m
only seeing a few every now and again
that have that that small baby look to
them still most of them seem that
they’ve gone on to the sub-adults face
oh so pretty hi guys
all of you eating
20 Impala gestation period is about six
months normally they mates run about in
May and then they give birth somewhere
around October November it depends on
when they made if it’s a little bit
later than May their egos running then
it’ll it all change but it’s about six
seven months period depending on the
condition sometimes if the conditions
are not good
and they’re going through a way or we’re
going through a very dry winter then it
might just take the features a little
bit longer to develop so my the
gestation period might be prolonged for
a few weeks you almost look like a
little Impala where’s your mom there’s
an Impala going in between mom and the
little one I think there’s a little bit
of panic mode yep running the wrong way
you’re hiding amongst all of the Impala
you can almost pass for an Impala
yourself
seems like someone’s full of energy now
it’s realized that it can chase all of
the Impala it’s almost like little kids
when you take them to the park it and
they start running around chasing all
the birds I almost feel like that’s what
this little one is doing its realized
that it can chase everyone away very
cute
now you’re just being brave aren’t you
terrifying everyone all right do it
again one two three go
or maybe not having a standard with an
Impala
it’s funny how his ears and how alert he
already or it already is just looking
around and when it was a little bit
scared I just stood still yours
all around and then started running and
it’s looking very healthy as well I
think it’s fun has been able to feed
well so clearly she’s producing very
nutritious milk for this little one to
be looking in such good condition very
beautiful coat as well you’re a brand
new one only a few weeks old
mini target that is very cute it’s
smaller than an Impala oh that’s not
gonna be the case for longer if you
manage to make it to adulthood you’ll be
quite big definitely bigger than an
Impala it’s fascinating that the colour
is so similar because as they grow older
then it’s gonna start losing that
coloration and it’s gonna become grave
just like its mom was I don’t know if
its legs are starting to get that color
already if it’s perhaps been in the mud
or in wet soil and that’s why it’s
looking that colour now the male is very
interested in this female he’s picking
up a lot of smells that she’s putting
down every time she stopped to urinate
he’s been smelling her and I don’t think
it’s for mating purposes via her house
because she’s had the little one he’s
just trying to decipher what it is
that’s going on but I don’t think she is
well clearly she’s just had this young
one so she’s not know she won’t be ready
to mate until this one is weaned and
sort of almost ready to settle into
adulthood very beautiful rumps
cool breeze and pollen water bug can eat
the same plants water bug tend to be a
little bit picky about the grass that
they eat so it’s a lot of study suggest
that they prefer grass that’s very high
in protein and they’ve got to be around
water a lot to just be able for the or
they’ve got to drink a lot of water
because of the type of grass that they
eat so they’re often found around this
area’s very close to water now and
follow their they’re very adaptable
creatures so they can feed on on many
different plants and though there are
considered mixed feeders they won’t only
eat the grass but they will also eat the
leaves of the trees and fruits here and
there so I think it’s a case of the
Impala can eat what the water bugs eat
but just the water bug don’t really eat
what the Impala can eat if that make
sense I know it sounds like a riddle but
I promise you it makes a lot of sense
this is nice
seems like chitra Dam has been nice and
sheltered we’re gonna carry on exploring
see who else we can find out here
perhaps another baby but while we do
that let’s head back to byron who’s
rejoined the lions I have I haven’t we
have some heads up at the moment so I’d
followed up on those guinea fowl Elanco
there was a predator around just not one
with rosettes
it was a Warburg’s eagle so those guinea
fowl obviously would be nervous of the
Warburg’s the Warburg’s do to catch and
hunt birds and that’s what it was and as
you got to the Warburg’s flew off but
but it just shows you those guinea fowl
there alarm calls when that a whole
group of them alarm call like that
there’s definitely something there it
could be a bird of prey and it could be
a snake it could also be a leopard so
that’s why we went to go and have a look
but it was a Warburg’s eagle anyway I’m
hoping that now we’ve come back the
temperatures dropped quite a bit it
feels quite chilly at the moment so I’m
hoping these lines decide to get a bit
active and move around
I’m not sure Joan so no the Lions don’t
purr and I don’t think lions are able to
purr the only big cat that can purr and
that purring sound that we would
associate with cats the only big cat
that can do it is is a cheetah cheetah
duper but Lions do not lines do not
their voice box is slightly different
and I don’t think they have the ability
tipper to matter that cartilage and bone
in the throat that allows him to raw
same of leopards leopards also do not
Ali’s got a reptile heading into the
water we do and it’s going back into the
water
Oh almost there almost there sorry Frank
that was my bad who we were trying to
get a view of the crocodile heading back
into the water because just as we saw it
it’s almost turned around and started
heading back and I think it’s getting a
little bit too cold for Vlad as well
since decided to go probably where it’s
warmer rather than stay out here in the
cold breeze that’s starting to come now
we can still see its tail in its head
he’s definitely standing still and I
wonder if it’s per house there’s a hippo
not too far from him the wind is
definitely howling now it’s such a long
tail come on do it again all you have to
do now is get out and then come back in
and then we’ll be very happy about it
it’s amazing this morning we came here
and we couldn’t find traces of em or at
least I couldn’t find it but I wouldn’t
be surprised if he was just on the back
part of the island because we didn’t
check here this morning mm-hmm look at
those teeth so white and clean
it looks quite menacing when the teeth
are exposed like that who wouldn’t
really try and make my way towards any
sort of crocodile and it’s funny because
where I come from we have also I’m
originally from South America and there
we have so many different species of
crocodiles and Caymans and they’re not
as grumpy as a Nile crocodiles that I
should say they’re very the Nile
crocodiles have a reputation of being a
lot more ferocious and and aggressive
than perhaps some of the ones that we
get where I’m from and in those areas
even you can have a dam like this and
get in the water with them and they will
pretty much not do anything to you a
nice word you know if it’s a caiman if
it’s a bigger species they might have a
bit of an issue but you can swim very
close to them and they want to attack
them whereas here in South Africa I
would never ever dreamed of coming close
to any sort of water body where there
are hippos or crocodiles involved but it
was worth checking but no sorry that was
all me
now let’s see who else is around here
lots of hippos I don’t seem to be all
that playful today hello bush buck are
you guys doing today
baby you water buck well they could have
been there they’re about the right
colour
now I think the rest of the water bug
that we saw this morning are actually on
the other side of the of the dam so
we’ve got the water buck on the ride
with the ring around it’s from the bush
buck the ones on the left and then the
birds on the left those are the
blacksmith brothers and then what is the
other one could really tell what it is I
think it’s just out of reach for my
binoculars but it looks like it like a
white-faced Whistling Duck
perhaps so my favorite Ducks are around
now um where should we go I think we’re
gonna see if maybe we can find the
Gosling’s again the the Egyptian geese
Gosling’s but while we do that let’s
head back to Byron and I hope that it’s
not as windy there as it is here yeah
but definitely I don’t think it’s as
windy as it is there I know what took to
a dam is like we’ve got some yawn so
there’s a bit of activity stretching
cleaning grooming one another so we
might be lucky and these lines might
decide to get up I do however hope that
they walk this way I’ll tell you why
it’s because if they go away from us
that bushes so thick we won’t be able to
follow them through there I can tell you
that now and would be extremely
difficult we’ll have to drive around and
wait on the other side and hopefully
they they come through
I was laughing at Ellie saying she’d
love to have was a little water back
yeah young water back but Justin would
get upset for the tics I would imagine
couple goals in the bush finding a pet
that you birth
okay so comfortable
[Laughter]
that’s very difficult to have pizza here
not a good idea
I was just thinking about children chat
with them and I haven’t been there yet
on this I’ve driven past but I haven’t
spent time there it’s maybe tomorrow I’m
going to ask if I may be allowed to go
to Chitra I have a look at this one in
the lift yeah cool breeze I’m the Lions
you know what to be honest I don’t know
how they decide it’s time to go it’s
just when they feel comfortable when
they feel like they’ve rested enough and
they feel like it’s cool enough that
they don’t exert too much energy then
now they’ll get up and move
I just want to try and maneuver off to
the side yeah Christine hold on a second
try get a view of these playful lines
but while I do that I’m Annie seems to
have found those Gosling’s at Chitra
damn it’s go have a look
sorry Byron we were with the Gosling’s
but then something else caught our eye
and it’s this niala that are on the
other side this they were doing their
sideways display and it’s normally a way
for them to resolve any sort of issue
when it comes to hierarchy especially if
there are females that are ready to mate
that are involved in the process now it
seems like the wind is bothering a lot
of the animals as they stand still and
carry on listening and of course now
they’ve stopped doing their display as
they were a few minutes ago I’m hoping
they’re gonna go back to it because it’s
very interesting I think I can hear some
guinea fowl alarming in the distance but
it’s very hard to tell with the wind now
there we go you see that Daniel are
roughly raising their head their hair
they’re called Pilar erection and
although I think the wind is not really
helping them all that much what they do
is they tend to approach one another
sideways and I think this is not as
aggressive as it should have been in
perhaps the wind that’s actually
confusing me but when they do raise
their head like that what they do is
they’ll go and stand next to one another
to try and make themselves look bigger
than what they really are and the whole
idea of raising their heads and doing
this displays almost like when the
elephants go and they open their ears
and raise their heads to make themselves
appear bigger than what they really are
to try and intimidate the opponent and
not having to get into a fight so that
way everybody knows who’s who and you
don’t really have to fight for it it’s
already decided just by looking at each
other now there’s random female in the
middle so I wonder if she’s perhaps the
reason for all of this or all of this
some males being around because
neeyala yes it can be sometimes found in
the close proximity but these are a lot
of males one two three five six males in
the same area then there’s definitely
someone that’s perhaps ready to May
that’s attracted all these males and
that’s while they’re all here you see
they’re all keeping their distance and
it’s funny because they’re they’ve just
left this MIMO in the middle she could
be the one that’s potentially ready to
mate or if not there are quite a few
other females around so I wouldn’t be
surprised if this one just sort of
happened to catch herself in the middle
of all of them beautiful no I think
let’s let’s go back to you the Gosling’s
I think maybe they’re just gonna have to
you start moving now I apologize for the
wind and maybe if the sound is coming a
little bit funny we’ve got four
Gosling’s though I’m happy to report it
doesn’t seem like we’ve lost any of them
in the last few days which is always a
success probably means that husana
hasn’t been around here trying to eat
any one of them but they’re all looking
they’re all looking it and they’re
looking bigger and still they’ve got
that beautiful killer well look to the
back of them now these were the ones
that we were looking at earlier on when
byron link to us and they are all very
fluffy and I think they’re also lying
because to each other because they’re
probably very cold yeah it’s almost like
they were standing on top of one another
very cold little things so to try and
keep warm that’s often what they do a
lot of the birds they just require on
body heat or the warm that it’s
irradiated by each one of them to keep
warm we’ve got the two little ones that
have gone into the water perhaps the
braver ones and then the other two that
seem to be the bigger ones at the back
did you just fall while scratching your
wing I think that’s exactly what
happened yeah I don’t think this would
be the pet that I would want though but
I feel like I’m not in it to have
now all the Impala are running on the
damn wall and I don’t know if it’s just
because of the wind or if it’s because
there’s something else that’s running
behind them earlier on the guinea fowl
alarming but it could have just been
anything else it could be nothing it
could be just the wind spooking them but
they’re all running back into the open
area Paulo some antelope can swim the
water buck are very good at it that’s
part of the reason why they’re called
water buck name they’re always found
close to the water but the impala can
also swim if especially if wild dogs are
behind them I’ve seen them often that
I’ve seen them often go into the middle
of the dam and try to get out of the
reach of the water of the wild dogs
because the wall dogs will not get them
in the water
so different different antelopes are
more adapted to more aquatic environment
the puku for example or the leche in
Botswana are more adapted to this type
of life so that you can oh you can see
them more often than not in the water
but just to go in the water for a swim
and to have fun no the waters more of a
means to an end
you are so cute but you guys are on the
wrong side of the open area everybody’s
on the other side so that’s perhaps
where you should go so that you’re
protected with the rest of your group
one drifting ganas not perhaps somewhere
around here and that’s why they’re all
getting so spooked and running around so
cute you’ve got to run a little bit
faster to keep up with your mom now the
opener is a very good place for them to
be as I said earlier they can see
anything coming from quite a distance
but I think that in this particular time
I don’t think there’s anything specific
that’s lurking in the darkness or in
between the bushes I think it’s just
they can’t hear very well probably a lot
of snails are being taken away and
they’re just have to be a little bit
more on edge just to make sure that they
don’t get caught unaware and then
something pounces on them because
obviously that would be or probably
would be the end of it I think maybe
we’re gonna go and explore in the
direction where the waterbug are facing
let’s see let’s see maybe some of the if
ting ganas around there if there are any
traps for him but while we reposition
and go all the way there let’s head back
to byron as it seems like the liars are
starting to wake up
well this has been a bit of movement and
these lines still cleaning one another
but heads are up so far more movement
than we thought when we found them
earlier on drive but it’s so you know
what the base rates you describe the way
there is it is a bit miserable at the
moment and there’s no other way to
describe it it’s wonderful and cool
which I’m really enjoying the cool
weather from the heat that we had
yesterday
and but but the wind and that does make
it a bit miserable and I think this is
hot chocolate and Safari live weather
maybe maybe I’m going to head back to
camp and then I’ll watch Tristan and
Ellie for the rest of the drive all I
have some hot chocolate
what do you think sensor
Big Boss Man Tristan apparently gave
Costa BD I gave Costa BDR and shook his
head so that’s a no-no what if Justin’s
going to give me a disciplinary after
this a little bit of playfulness on the
left since a look no see these young
lines soon as one gets bitten in there’s
no more playfulness young lions always
really great to watch because they do
get very playful and they look at that
stretching and jump on one another
especially when the pride starts to move
and they get quite active
so quite there are a few birds calling
in the distance cape turtle Dave sounded
like perhaps a scrub Robin so there are
a few birds calling not seemed too many
of them okay holding on tightly in this
wind
probably well-hidden heard some Aramark
babblers earlier too so the birds are
out
I did see that little cab I am but it
was it’s hidden from us at the moment
it’s lying a little bit further to the
left with another lioness through
basically through that tree through the
back there that’s also I don’t think
you’ll see it but it’s in there
somewhere but don’t worry about it since
I will wait and see if or when they
start moving hopefully get to see them
alright well it’s that time where we
need to go back to Tristan and find out
what is actually been doing and where he
is
Oh Byron I’ve been and sitting in f/c
having a hot chocolate I thought you
that’s what we were going to do you told
me you’re gonna come and join me but you
never arrived so I’ve done that’s not
I’m just getting back out again just to
go and see what’s going on what I want
to show you guys I just had a thought
quickly it’s going to take me a little
bit of time to get there you will see me
reversing because I want to go and show
you something very cool but we’ve been
in the meantime while we kind of get
there I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to
really yeah cuz I haven’t been NFC
having hot chocolate even though it
sounds like a fantastic idea Byron I’ve
been driving around looking for Tanya
and so far absolutely no sign no sign of
really anything actually no birds no
sort of insects just wind that’s all
we’ve had so far and it’s been pretty
miserable at the moment you know I
believe there’s lots of rain to the
south of us around you Hannah’s burg
area so wonder if maybe that’s going to
come up this way at some point right you
might be wondering why am i driving here
what is you what am i up to well I’ll
show you fairly shortly just give me two
seconds to get in here quickly and so
that I can show you exactly what I mean
now there we go valdi is that close
enough so I wanted to show you guys what
happens when male lions versus lipids
climb trees and how different it looks
when a male lion goes onto a tree now
normally what we’ll find is when a
leopard goes onto a tree you’ll find
little core marks like these so if you
have a look with my finger is bill deep
there’s little slices like this and this
is probably from where tani dug in and
she took a carcass up a tree we know
that then tenure came along and he went
up this tree and you can see the
difference between his clothes look at
how deep that is etched into the wood
it’s gone right in I can almost put my
pretty much my finger inside there and
so that’s his cause and it gives you an
idea of also just how wide his claws are
here’s the other one over here so it
would be something along that’s sort of
lines
that’s how wide his poor would have been
as he tried to grab and go up and you
can actually see them all the way up as
he fought his way trying to get through
long
deep gouges into this marilla tree now
it’s something that’s you don’t see very
often and if you came across here
somebody would probably think that
Wolverine had been around but it’s not
Wolverine from the x-men this is a
tenure from the Birmingham male
coalition that went all the way out
there to go and fetch those two
different kills that Tandy had in this
tree over a month ago so just pretty
insane to kind of see the depth and the
size of these paws when they on the tree
and you see lipids kind of markings and
they’re always quite small and you can
see it quite clearly but just to see the
width in these it’s just absolutely
phenomenal it’s an amazing thing I can
show you just with my hand these are the
claw marks over here and that’s just the
size of my hand in comparison so his
pores are bigger than my hand basically
which is pretty insane and you can
actually see where he slipped you and
his claws kind of came down and he moved
and he was battled his way up into the
tree as we know he almost fell a few
times so thought it would be just a cool
thing we were right share we might as
well have gone into it and had a little
look and showing you all what it looks
like when Lions climb marula trees the
perm ruler – he suffers a little bit but
the lion himself did quite well I think
tenure did a sterling efforts to get up
into that tree to see that right now I’m
gonna try and find an animal of sorts
and maybe even the very lipid s that had
the kill in the tree and while I do that
17 Ellie has spotted something so it’s
quickly go across to her we have spotted
a good old friend Tristan this is indeed
10 Ghana now he is not too far away from
cheated and funny enough and I think
he’s being very clever there are so many
Impala around here this is probably the
best spot for him to start hunting this
afternoon now I wouldn’t be surprised if
he’s done this on purpose he’s walked a
certain distance from where he was he
was probably the top part of the meloa
near the cheetah property now he’s gone
pretty much towards the end so I don’t
know I would say maybe about 1 K 2 KS
and Max but he’s now found another
comfortable bush were to sleep in and it
is
very cold so I’m sure he’s chosen that
spot for shelter and as the Sun starts
to go down or as it gets darker because
it’s already quite dark he might try and
head in the direction of all the Impala
and the water back and Egyptian geese
and all the different creatures that are
at the moment seeking shelter in the
open area very clever of you ting honor
you know exactly where to go and he’s
probably still a little bit weak it’s
probably the reason why he’s been
hanging around a certain area and hasn’t
covered much of his territory I’m sure
he’s just waiting to you gain force
again or recuperate a little bit from
his illness so that he can then try and
start moving around he seems to be
underlined and I mean he stomach seems
to be a little bit fuller than the last
time I saw him which was a few days ago
he seems to be doing a little bit better
he’s still a bit on the skinny side but
it seems he’s on the man which I’m very
excited about kids I’ve come to really
enjoy taganas company all the way from
last-minute leopard to you being the boy
that features in the most so I’m hoping
that he’s going to do well tonight
they’re the stars are almost aligning
for him with big storm approaching lots
of when so he all he has to do is just
be very careful of how he approaches all
the different creatures are out and he
might get lucky
infinity gaming you’re wondering how we
can identify which Leopard it is well
normally there are a few ways of trying
to identify the Leopard
you can look at their spot whisker
pattern so the spots on top or whether
they’re just on top of their whiskers
and that they’re different for every
Leopard so they’ll have maybe four on
one side five on the other side and if
you can see the whole face and you can
just get an idea of the side profile now
in this particular case we know that
it’s him because it’s not too far from
where we saw him in the morning but also
we saw him get up and then move around
and then go back into the bushes so the
more we tend to spend time with some of
the leopards the easier it becomes to
identify some of them you can almost
tell straight away and psychic a I think
it’s this one and if there’s any doubt
then you can always use their spot
pattern to be 100% sure which individual
you’re looking at in this particular
case I think more than by looking at
whiskers or anything else we’ve gone by
location where he was a morning where he
is now
and when he got up he’s got this this
look he’s got a face so it’s easy to
recognize if you I don’t know how to
explain it but if you imagine a lot of
people you won’t be able to tell their
faces apart at first if they all look
roughly the same but the more you look
at them the easier you it becomes for
you to start memorizing their features
hey boy
looking a little bit tired aren’t you
well he’s got a good spot underneath
this Bush willow seems like a bush Widow
to me and he is lying and fools in a
very leopard spreaded way like you know
he’s butter on a toast or something
that’s the way he’s spread and it would
be very hard to see him coming from the
other way we just wanted that we came
unto this edge because we just wanted to
check there was a possibility of him
moving not too far and we just got lucky
in the fact that he was here which is
Vega and because we’re very happy cuz
now we can see him and enjoy him for the
afternoon which is more than what we had
plan on was I thought he might have
stayed in the area where he was in this
morning but when I heard he had moved
the possibilities of places where he
could have been were pretty endless so I
think log has been on her side a little
bit and there’s always that wonderful
gut feeling that sometimes tells you to
turn in there I direction I think that’s
partly what led fergan Isle unto this
particular spot today I think that was
it wasn’t it now he’s sleeping and you
can see the wind is still howling
beautiful now it seems like Byron is so
with the Lions and I’m hoping they’re a
little bit more active than the leopard
well there’s a bit of movement Elizabeth
I’m glad you got to sitting on again so
I’m assuming is in the same place he was
this morning and but you know these
lines this every now and then one of
them will stand up and move around and
then lay down and then another one will
be the same so I’m not a lot of movement
but but they’re definitely more active
than the pride we saw yesterday I’m so
Holland Holland since let me try this
quick here sorry
tell you why because the the little cab
is hiding in here but there seems to be
a lot of activity from them just through
here maybe we can get a view if I go yes
can you get them through there let’s see
let’s see maybe we can show you a little
bit of the activity from yet some the
sub-adults but the the little cub is is
in there just to the left it’s hiding
there is that it yeah that’s it very
cute
earlier one of these sub-adults walked
up to the cabin they were having a bit
of a standoff
Steve so there are animals that
obviously carry diseases out in the in
the wild not like madcap up at sea maybe
this youngster climbs into the tree and
this dead tree sometimes they do do that
they get a bit curious and active and
Steve so these Lions last year they had
a disease called white muscle disease
and they got that from a food deficiency
they weren’t getting I don’t think they
were getting enough fat and the
nutrients that they need from their food
so it causes the muscles to stiffen up
and and can cause the lines to die but
they managed to get through it okay and
then they can sometimes get mange
so mange can occur in some of these
animals also with draught Annette what
else wild dogs get canine distemper if
they sometimes pick up from we don’t
really know how they pick it up at times
occasionally well the most plausible
cause is getting in contact with feral
dogs
but yeah I think what else the Buffalo
the Cape Buffalo that you have in this
area they get a bovine tuberculosis at
times but that’s also from being in
contact with with local cattle and that
so that can spread quite easily but but
you know generally the animals are
healthy and those diseases can kind of
come and go or only affects them when
they get and get much older and they’re
all weak then the chances are probably
higher that that disease is gonna affect
him and they’re going to die from it but
generally the animals are healthy
there’s a little cub playing with wool
the things being picked on he or she’s
been picked on at the moment
this is very peaceful sitting watching
the lines well I’m still going to sit
and wait I think it might be worth our
while I’m hoping so but let’s go back to
Le with that male Lippitt and see what
ting gone is up to has not moved all
that much if at all whatsoever but we’re
gonna keep guard here just in case he
does decide to get up and start moving
it’ll be nice to see him approach all of
this area and I’ll be quite curious to
see if he is going to try the open area
and all the different prey species that
are lurking in there if he perhaps is
gonna try go somewhere else and try his
luck in an area that’s a little bit more
sure til sheltered where he can bump
into you perhaps something smaller like
a tiger or steam book or perhaps a
lonely Impala that’s looking for some
warmth out in the out in the bush you
had a very deep sleep and I don’t blame
you in a Sunday like today Jessica
leopards are considered mostly solitary
creatures so unless you see a mother and
a cub or perhaps young siblings together
it’s very rare to see more than one
leper together so it’s very pointy
details and during their lifetime when
they will actually spend some time with
some other leopards they don’t hunt
together they have seen and funny enough
gdh was and sent me a video yesterday so
haven’t been able to see of two young
male leopards sharing a kill when they
were still old enough not to you have to
share a kill they didn’t hunt it
together but there was a little bit
apparently of violence in between the
two of them but because they were
siblings and they almost forcibly shared
the kill now this particular meal that
we’re seeing he seems to be quite
sociable with his offspring as well and
not too long ago we had a case where he
was allowing two of his son
that are not directly related to one
another allowing them to to share I kill
with him this where husana and Thumba
now it doesn’t happen all that often but
I find it interesting that it depends
when you talk about animals it depends
of what area you’re talking about
because now a lot of the leopards have
been studied in different parts
different reserves perhaps here’s where
there isn’t a high such as high density
as there is here in the Savi sand which
is considered one of the areas with the
most leopard density in the world so in
this particular spot perhaps because
there are too many of them they seem to
be more sociable or be more tolerant of
other leopards than perhaps leopards in
other areas as always proves that
there’s a an exception to every rule and
you’ve got to take a lot of factors into
consideration and every time you know do
you think there’s a rule there might be
someone that just shows you that you’re
entirely wrong but in general terms no
leopards do not hunt together and they
do not share kill unless it’s a mother
and a young one or let’s in some sort of
situation where it’s leopards that are
somehow related but that that would be
as far as I would stretch it I’ve never
seen let’s hunt together the same way as
lions do you for example you are
completely asleep so you are well aware
that there’s a lot going on his ears are
not that alert so I think he’s just
trying to block the wind out and it
almost seemed when he got and laid down
in this but but he was trying to get
underneath all that foliage and just
trying to get and squeeze in as much as
possible but I think perhaps the
branches are too low for him to try and
do that the spot where he was in in the
morning was a lot better for that well I
seem as I the other cats who funny
enough also have some spots are kind of
playing so let’s head over to them yeah
we’ve got a little bit of a bit of
activity here little cub isn’t that cute
picking up little sticks
cool breeze I don’t I don’t think
animals experience boredom like we do
you know no I do say this often I think
we need to be very very careful of of
anthropomorphizing animals too much
giving them human emotions like boredom
I mean that that I think would be very
unfair to to assume that they get bored
I don’t think so animals animals do what
they need to Lions they rest during the
day that’s general lion behavior I don’t
think it’s because of boredom or
anything even the playfulness that you
are seeing now from them waking up and
you can just see that little cap it’s a
bit tricky all in Reverse little hope
maybe know as I say that cap decides
it’s had enough maybe it’s going to go
and bother someone else
oh then I’ll move forward now so I don’t
think it’s that’s definite actually I
don’t it’s not I don’t think it’s
definitely not boredom definitely not
boredom wow this one to the left was
stretching and clawing away at the bark
of the tree
what is the thing that’s really
interesting jumped into that tree
if it saw something you just reverse a
little bit and if it saw something go
into their tree I don’t think so
doesn’t look like it I haven’t seen any
movement they’re gonna very quickly no I
think it’s just being a boisterous
youngster
sounds like ting ganas on the move so
let’s go across to Le and see where that
male Lippert is going well we thought
that he was gonna get and go but he’s
just gone a few steps ahead and he’s
laid down again so we can just oh right
it’s not going into you here sorry
somebody’s
there you go
all right there we go yeah sorry my
radio doesn’t copy everything you guys
say I’m on the eastern side just come
towards the south and then you’ll see me
there
the bottom side close to the lodge side
so if you come completely towards room
11 then you’ll see me there I’m on the
open area side all right so it’s a
little bit tricky sometimes to try and
direct people into certain areas but
because there are obviously other
vehicles and other guests that would
like to see a leopard and perhaps this
is their only chance ever to see a
leopard then we like to sort of help
them or direct them into this particular
spot now it’s in Ghana like we said
earlier he walked about two steps and
then he sat down and that was about it
we did think that he maybe was gonna try
and hide in another bush and sleep in
there but perhaps he feels like the
grass is long enough to keep him
sheltered there he’s looking a little
bit tired and I must say it’s a little
bit sad seeing him like this because
he’s not looking with a lot of energy
but maybe it’s just because he’s tired
right it seems like the Lions are full
of energy so let’s head back to them
they are they’ve been some of these
youngsters jumping on one another and
clawing at the trees let’s see there’s
two youngsters at the back just keep an
eye on them let’s just wait and watch
because have been bouncing up and down
there a little bit now all that clawing
and trees scraping would be would
probably be just to clean the claws and
stretch them out a little bit first lady
dude Lion claws grow back if they break
them I don’t think so no I don’t think
they do I think if they lose a claw I
think it’s it’s gone but I stand here
correction if see I’ve never seen a lion
with a missing claw before seen him with
missing teeth broken teeth and then and
those teeth don’t grow back
so I don’t think that closed you but
like I said never seen a line with a
broken claw it’s difficult to see
because they retractable so and this the
claws are out we’re not going to know if
there’s a broken claw nut watch you’re
gonna get to what playful behavior
that’s what we wanted that’s what we
wanted to see I’m jumping on each other
starting to wake up see and all this
playful behaviors constantly
strengthening the bonds between the
pride look did you notice and deadlines
s look how my ears open back now that is
what we refer to not that one sorry the
that one that was walking there she
pinned her ears right back when she was
growling at the others that is that
agnostic behavior aggressive behavior if
you were walking near to bump into a
line that’s the look you’re going to get
you’re going to get the ears pinned back
and and then and the line probably
growling at you if you had to bump into
them when they fight they do the same
sure will be very far from ting gana
your ting ganas on chitwa chitwa so it’s
about 20 minute drive I would say from
here maybe less maybe if we just had to
drive straight away about 15 15 minute
drive to eight in Ghana is I would say
maybe
ten or so kilometers maybe a bit more
about ten kilometers so what is that six
miles maybe at least I would say
somewhere on there sure killing a bit
chilly Archer
see also eating grass we saw hookah
Murray that male leopard that we found
the other day we saw him eating grass
too and it’s not because the Lions are
becoming herbivores they doing it to
help with digestion and help clean the
stomach sometimes causes them to
regurgitate maybe a hairball or
something like that but it does help
with digestion okay well let’s go across
to Tristan and he’s apparently got a
duck they did like to show you I do I’ve
got the most prehistoric looking duck
that we gets out there with that big
shape on its horseshoe shape sting on
its beak and so it is a knob bill duck
the male we saw a female this morning
and they don’t have that big shape on
the beak and sailfin so really very cool
to see it it looks so strange when you
see it it’s amazing kind of thing to
have and what it’s for no one really
knows too much it’s probably a
resonating organ that helps with their
calling and attracting females as well
as showing their stature to a female but
it’s not really got any other purpose
than that but amazing isn’t it it’s an
incredible growth that they’ve got
coming off of their beacon like I say a
beautiful duck there they’ve got this
white plumage with these kind of Gray’s
and in blues all over the wings blues
and greens very very pretty and VM and I
were just talking about how you know
it’s windy win a mud wallow the size of
your bathtub
it’s got waves on it because that’s area
there’s being blown all over the place
and that’s poor little duck has also
been bopped around and it’s like I say a
waterhole that is tiny so very very
strange that has been burnt around but
our duck will probably sit there there’s
lots of them around at the moment and
they love these small little pan areas
like this they love to food to feed lots
of small little Wohlers and so wouldn’t
be surprised he stays there lots of
females about at the moment as well that
are kind of moving around looking for
mates and so I wouldn’t be surprised we
see a lot of young
ducks fairly soon as well very
cool-looking bird though isn’t it but
weird-looking anyway
well we carry on and try and see what
else we can find still no luck with
Tandy let’s send you back across to
byron who’s well-fed far better than we
have this afternoon
yep I think we have and now these line
lines are starting to get up and move
but in the wrong direction not the
direction we wanted them to go but we’ll
see where they where they decide to move
they could possibly move a few meters to
the other side of this this is where the
old Heine den was could possibly move a
few meters down this little track and
then decide to lie down again
but we will try stay with them for as
long as possible
Jacek and you know what if one line is
old or sick the rest of the the the
prides they just watch this playfulness
look at that that it’s amazing
Jessica the the rest of the pride has to
continue with with living their life
they can’t I can’t stop and stay in one
area if there’s no food or water they
need to carry on it is survival of the
fittest art if a line is a line is old
can’t keep up with a prior to a sick or
injured four can’t keep up there is the
proud will still hunt and they will
allow it to obviously feed so they’ll
still provide food for it but if it
can’t keep up they’re not going to just
hang around and wait because that could
be that could potentially be to the
detriment of the pride so they need to
look after themselves first they won’t
necessarily change their behavior purely
because one line is is sick let’s see
where they’re going to try move three a
quickie lot of these youngsters chasing
each other there’s a little cub it’s at
the back end I don’t want to startle it
it’s just right ours looks beautiful
hold on
look at that whole line of lions walking
through the bush
that is lovely I’m just trying to think
where these liens are going to go
see that it could potentially I don’t
know I don’t know them but that is a
beautiful view look at that magnificent
now I would think maybe maybe even
though it’s cool they might head towards
some water the nearest water to where we
are now is Gallagher pan but they’re
heading more in a directly almost
directly east slightly southeast so I’m
not sure
but says we thought with the day getting
a bit while it’s been cool for a while
but now I live obviously rested enough
in deciding it’s time to start moving
and potentially potentially look for
something to hunt perfect conditions
very windy and and it will help the
Lions it will definitely aid the Lions
and I think this pride is due for some
food because they do look hungry they do
look very hungry so hopefully they will
be lucky this evening
Grateful Dead the Lions you know what I
actually think I’ve spotted something
just judging by the behavior
and just see because this line this is
circling around back this way look at
that that’s different
so Grateful Dead I think they may they
may head into the wind too so they can
hear and smile a bit better but but the
wind is kind of swirling a little bit so
as long as it stays really windy
that’s interesting behavior the rest of
the pride of going that way and she’s
definitely circling around now I have
seen lines do this before one or two may
head around if they see potential prey
they’ll loop around and actually try and
chase whatever prey it is that they’ve
seen towards the other Lions Lions have
been known to do that makes perfect
sense
a lot of the pride the rest of the pride
to lie in ambush and then go around and
and potentially try chase whatever it is
towards them but I don’t know what
they’ve seen if they’ve seen anything
I’m trying to have a look at youngsters
that one’s curious as to where the other
lion went to go forward a little bit
let’s see if we can have a look if whoa
they’ve spotted something in the bush
these thick areas could be ideal for
kudu or niala could also be the odd
impala 3 huh I don’t know
sorry stump yet yeah I’m not gonna go
further I want to chase the the
youngsters stress scanners through the
bush a little bit and just see if I can
see any movement you see that’s a thing
the Lions eyesight is so good also did
they perhaps smell something so don’t
know if they smelled something or if
they did see some movement but the
others are moving off in the opposite
direction are to where the slide the the
lioness walked past us
little Cubs doll left behind probably
start following soon I don’t think it’ll
stay away from the rest of the pride
obviously knows maybe they’re hunting so
isn’t your honor that running past us
and Aston Bock the Lions are going just
as I thought
in the åland running three and I think
that other line is drove them straight
towards these lines but I think the in
the are lead dogs are off in the wrong
direction but how’s that if obviously
picked up on they sent to the smile this
little cap I think knew it has to stay
here it has to wait for the lines to
come back and there it goes
that was really unfortunate we had to in
Yola come rushing past and a Steinbach
that was exciting strategy that’s
exactly what we thought was gonna happen
that one walked around and obviously saw
these means in y’all and chased them
towards the rest of the pride but
unfortunately they didn’t get lucky but
we’ll see if we can try see them again
let’s go back across to le and ting
Ghana well not much has changed here
seems like ting Ghana is still busy
sleeping definitely has not even moved
now we know he’s roughly alert of what’s
been going on because there’s a odd
twitch of the ear probably because of
the direction where he’s sleeping little
things are flying into his ear we cannot
see actually any flies which is a relief
because this morning they were in full
force and just flying everywhere
perhaps there are little pieces of grass
that are going into his ear that we
cannot see other than that not much has
changed here so it’s quite interesting
to see the difference in behavior in the
same conditions of two cats in roughly
the same environment now the lion seemed
to have taken the opportunity to get up
and move seems well you guys Chris was
updating us and letting us know that
apparently the rain is coming down
already over there lucky for us here it
is looking darker in certain areas but
the rain is still not falling down now I
think that has helped to keep ting Ghana
in the physician than he’s in and that’s
perhaps the reason why he hasn’t moved
yet he doesn’t really have to other than
it being the certain level of cold that
it’s been since we found him he doesn’t
he’s not bothered by anything falling
from the sky so as long as it doesn’t
rain I think he’ll be quite happy here
and quite settled until a little bit
later on when he’s likely gonna get up
and try to move around and hopefully go
for one of the Impala or any other not
the baby water bucket in Ghana you are
not allowed to get the baby water book I
don’t think I could handle that
no that is unfortunately also part of
the things that we have to see in nature
is it’s the constant fight and for one
thing to survive unfortunately something
else has to perish and not always pretty
but it is part of our understanding of
how the natural system work in
seeing that everything has a reason
seems like there are a lot of elephants
in the distance that are trumpeting but
they are quite far from us and I wonder
if they’re not just being angry because
of the wind
we saw the ones earlier that female that
was running after youngsters and didn’t
want them to cross the road for whatever
reason it was where we were she just
wanted them to cross the road further
ahead
so could could be maybe the elephants no
Ferg is going to show us the clouds and
how quickly they’re moving you’re going
at a certain speed because obviously the
Wendish is pushing them but what’s
puzzling to us is that right at the back
almost you know behind this very thick
layer of clouds you can see a blue sky
but if we gaze towards other areas and
it’s looking very very dark and you can
still see that the cloud cover is very
thick so I’m not too sure what to expect
anymore maybe we’ll get some rain here
maybe we want but you see down there at
the bottom is looking quite dark and
gloomy so I think we might get a drizzle
a little bit later I mean it would help
us feel better that it drained once we
put their roofs on top of the car
because we had quite a long debate about
it this afternoon where Ferg and I were
convinced that it wasn’t going to rain
and as soon as we decided to get out
then we felt that maybe we should have
gone back and actually put a roof on
because it was looking quite gloomy but
you see now there’s there’s a strange
scenery of a lot of blue and then a lot
of darkness so who knows maybe chincana
knows maybe he knows that there’s no
reason to move and that’s why he’s still
here why would you decide to go into
another spot now the spot where he’s in
also funny enough it’s a bit of a clay
soil so it’s muddy soil and I think
maybe he’s there because it’s perhaps
it’s softer and less annoying than the
sandy patches right seems like Justin
has found some elephants so let’s head
back to him and figure out if his are
also making a noise
well we do have an elephant elephant
that is being blown about all over the
place and as well it doesn’t seem to be
too fazed by it so slowly kind of eating
as it goes and picking up grasses
funnily enough it’s not eating
marilla’s can you believe it it’s
amazing but it is feeding off a lot of
the grasses that have grown and so lots
of nice seeds that are on the grasses
and that’s perfect nutrition for a young
bull elephant there you go you can see
all of the grass being pulled up by the
trunk and it’ll find that it’ll eat just
the tops of the grass and then drop the
rest they’re not actually really
interested in the the stork element they
just want those seeded areas they may
see the storks dropping so they’re not
interested in eating stalks of grass at
the moment it’s all about eating just
the seeded areas and making sure that
they get that nutrition and don’t waste
space on stalks they want to keep as
much space for fruit and seeds as they
can but there really is a serious storm
but by the looks of things that’s
starting to blow in it’s all around us
these big dark black grey kind of clouds
that are coming in so that’s the the
nice side of things that’s where
everything looks ok but what’s coming in
from the south is what’s really a sort
of problem so we need to go out onto in
pilot planes I’m hoping our Elli will
come out on turn pilot planes as well we
right yes and is a little open clearing
right you’ll be so pretty if this
elephant comes out onto the open section
with these storm clouds but to our south
is where the problem north and south is
our problem so we’ve cut really big
black ominous clouds to the north and
very big black ominous clouds to the
south which means and at some point we
are going to get caught in all of this
so we’ll have a look here this is going
to be probably our best spot just to
have a little sort of view of what we
are in for this evening I’m pretty sure
we are going to get rain but you can see
on this side over here is all big dark
sort of blue-black clouds that are that
side and they look quite ominous which
is on the northern side of us and it
seems to be kind of horseshoeing around
us which is wonderful because we’re not
getting wet just yet which is great
and then it kind of lightens up towards
the western side and towards the
Drakensberg mountains and where there
should be the Drakensberg mountains and
the sunset and then as we start bending
off towards the left you can see those
dark clouds pick up again and it gets
quite ominous you can actually see
there’s quite a bit of rain falling down
to the southwest at the moment actually
you can see there’s the rain then the
edge of the sabi sands which is those
hills right there those three hills are
the western side of the sabi sands Steve
rain is fantastic just not when you are
in an open vehicle with a whole bunch of
camera equipment on it doesn’t really go
very well when you have all of the stuff
on here it causes a little bit of a
problem and we can obviously damage a
lot of equipment without having proper
rain covers on and when it gets really
stormy it’s quite difficult for all of
that plus lightning is a bit of a worry
I mean you’ve got antennas up in the air
and all kinds of other things but for
the environment rain is very good it’s
only problem with the rain that we have
is that we have a situation where it
makes game viewing incredibly difficult
so tracking off things like lipid and
and those kind of things becomes much
harder and so will probably go through a
bit of a lull in a lot of our sightings
over the course of the next sort of few
weeks of rain and then it picks up again
as it starts to dry out and things start
making their way towards water but
pretty epic skies if you ask me even
though they are the promise of rain is
there it’s still really cool just to see
them and it’s amazing how fast the cards
are moving at the moment of cards are
kind of ripping through the sky and
because of this heavy wind that’s coming
through now our bull elephant hasn’t
made it onto the open area I was hoping
that he would he’s kind of stuck in
those crosses and I wouldn’t be
surprised he stays in there given the
wind that’s blowing on this open section
it’s not really the best place for an
elephant to be but a few parlors that
have made their way out and onto the
open area and I’m sure they’re going to
spend some time around here there they
are just on the fringes
they’ll be livin finding themselves a
big open section to spend the evening
and they going to need it because I’m
pretty sure all of the Predators are
going to be very active this afternoon
already see me in corners starting to
chase it and animals and so I’m pretty
sure leopards will be along the same
lines good we’re going to carry on a
thing our bull alias he is just
disappearing deep into the thickets
behind us so he’s going kind of
northwards and not towards this open
section which I was hoping for and we
can see that the rain is kind of
skirting along on the western fringes of
the sabi sands now so well kind of
slowly but surely starts heading a
little bit closer to home because we
don’t want a situation where we get
caught up like I said we don’t have a
roof and the equipment is obviously
something we need to be aware of so
start slowly kind of moving back closer
towards home in case it does start to
rain while we do that let’s send you
back across to Ellie and Dingaan and I
wonder if he’s going to be on the prowl
this evening hopefully later on he’ll be
on the prowl it doesn’t seem like he’s
still gonna kind of proud anywhere I
think he’s still gonna sleep for a
little while longer and you sorry he
almost got caught there barri half I
think the camera decided to move by
itself but no even then kangana didn’t
move I think you wouldn’t perceive that
now Frederick and I have started to
layer up try and put some more things on
top of ourselves cuz it is getting quite
cold the wind is very cold and I’m
surprised he’s decided to sleep out here
in the open
I do you think that it’s gonna be a
little bit warmer where he is but I
don’t think that much warmer so he had a
better spot earlier on I think this
morning he had the winnings but I don’t
know if he got tired of it perhaps too
many cars because it was right next to a
main road so that could be the reason
why he decided to leave that spot other
than of course looking for water and
food but the second spot where he was in
I felt like that could have been a good
one he would have been quite happy in
there a little bit of shelter but
clearly not
the spot that his heart desired and as I
was saying earlier I don’t know if he
perhaps chose to come a little bit more
into this area because it seems like
it’s a muddy soil so perhaps that’s why
he’s here because the ground is a little
bit softer Jonathan not too many animals
like the rain in my experience I think
elephants might be some of the few that
thoroughly enjoy playing with the rain
and with the puddles but it also depends
of the rain if it’s a thunderstorm with
a lot of electrical activity then most
of the animals don’t like it and they
get very nervous but you’ll see after
the rain a lot of animals are happy the
birds are happy and they find mudbath
everywhere hippos can move a lot easier
rhinos Buffalo also like it because they
have so many more places where they can
go and just chill during the day but the
cats in general being true cats they
don’t seem to enjoy the water or that
much Oh frogs of course that those are
animals that are very happy and funny
enough torches as well we’ve seen so
many tortoises today on the road but
just crossing the road I think it could
have been at least 10 Heyford 10 of them
or so yeah yeah they were all over
Terrapins as well moving around frogs we
haven’t seen them yet but they would
probably be the happiest ones in the
rain because then they can go from
puddle to puddle and then that’s when we
started seeing them mmm I can’t think of
anybody else it would be quite a happy
in the rain well I think that’s probably
it what catfish barbels yes they would
probably be very happy and all the fish
than my deal in the dam too but I don’t
know who else that’s that that would be
my guess cats definitely not Kangana
would probably look very miserable
underneath the rain and the lions also
don’t particularly enjoy it
can you near the hippos calling in the
distance going with their lives
hello it’s one of my favorite sounds
just because I find it one of the most
hilarious noises that an animal could
possibly make it’s almost like they’re
laughing they don’t really talk they
laugh at each other all the time
commenting Ghana we just want to see
which way you’re gonna go see if you’re
gonna try a hunt Impala perhaps a baby
water buck perhaps go somewhere else and
start all over
seems like Byron is trying to find the
lion so let’s hop on his vehicle and
wish him good luck well I’m trying to I
don’t know where they’ve gone
obviously we does we missed it or not
must be lost him moving through that
very thick block I’ve driven right
around trying to get back from the
opposite side to see maybe we’ve got
some luck from around here but I just
don’t know which direction they went
they could have changed direction and
it’s it’s so thick I mean there’s no way
of getting getting through here so I’m
not sure I’m not sure just come into an
area that I think there might shop
trying to see if I can’t hear anything
maybe we get an alarm call it if they’re
walking through here I don’t know the
general as I said their general
direction was east but they could they
could very easily head through that
block sir they were basically coming
from that direction over there I would
say that’s where we were
maybe a little bit yeah that’s very very
close to where we were just having a
look at that map quickly exactly almost
exactly in that direction where since I
was now pointing the camera through
there a little bit further north so that
we’re heading east
I was thinking remember I said the
nearest water hole is Galago pan but
they could head east and they could just
go all the way through keep going and
come out at via tiller Dam
or they could come through and turn and
head north in that direction so I don’t
know I don’t know but we’ll have a look
here for a while and see if they come
through and then we’ll go past the pass
the dams and just check if they’ve come
through there let’s go across to Tristan
musical spotlight out
I do indeed it’s getting dark very
quickly now so we do have our spotlights
arts and there’s some beautiful kudu and
impalas just on my right-hand side under
a rather gloomy sky so we are going to
go into infrared because otherwise the
camera just won’t be able to pick these
guys up at all so there is reduce the
sitting under the tree and so they all
just kind of patiently moving towards at
least a bit more open sections and you
can actually see some of them are lying
down in the background even and I think
they just trying to find somewhere to
shelter from not only the wind but the
cold that is around as well and I think
there might be a few young animals that
don’t make it through the night and the
reason why I say young animals is
because they are often very susceptible
to changes in temperature particularly
quick changes in temperature like we’ve
had today so this morning we were doing
a cleanup of all of our vehicles and of
the the areas where the vehicles park
and it was seriously humid and hot and
everyone was kind of sweating but then
you you know you came out this afternoon
it’s a very different temperature it’s
gonna be a cold night tonight so a lot
of the younger animals they haven’t
quite built up you know the body fat yet
and the resistance to changes in
butcher and so wouldn’t be surprised if
we find a few young impalas or something
like that that maybe have died through
exposure and fortunately they’ll I know
we see very few Stanwyck on camera but I
can promise you that they are not a few
of them they are everywhere here the
problem is is that they are so shy and
flighty that to get one on cameras near
impossible I mean we try often and they
just run and so it’s it’s a very
difficult animal to get on camera but
there are hundreds of them here they
literally are everywhere and you know
the amounts have seen what we see in a
drive versus the amount that we can
actually get on camera is probably I
would say maybe if we get 5% of the
Steinbach we see on camera it’s a lot so
we just battle with that because of how
shy and skittish they can be they kind
of just see the vehicle as soon as you
stop their bolting off
same with duikers odds we’ve got very
little in the terms of kind of catalogs
footage of dark and stream of because of
how shy they are whereas if you think of
something like all the other animals
that we see you know he’s sent to be
able to watch them a lot long and they
don’t sit still like these could you do
unless you very lucky and you get a
relaxed pay or relaxed individual which
is few and far between aren’t you I’m
afraid so that’s why it’s not that
they’re not sure they lots of them it’s
just very difficult animal tips you keep
on a camera for any extended length of
time unless you currently live at that
very moment and you know that Steinbach
runs out in front often by the time the
link has come across that steelbook has
moved off and gone somewhere else anyway
let’s carry on let’s see what else we
can find
our crews are being like little statues
and seem as though they fairy children I
don’t want to stress them out of lights
or anything like that so we’re going to
carry on going forward and see what else
we can find
Joan yes there are a lot of cases of
rabies in South Africa not in humans so
much but obviously a lot in domestic
dogs particularly in rural communities
where access to veterinary services is
very few and far between and also just
you know access to the knowledge of what
rabies actually is is not really around
so lots and lots of rabid dogs on the
fringes of these game reserves that’s
why a lot of these reserves and Kruger
themselves have really kind of gone in a
mission to try and strengthen the
boundaries put in a lot more measures to
try and stop rabid dogs getting in and
the problem with rabid dogs is that once
they’re in they get fed on by all kinds
of predators so Leopard jackals
lions all kinds of things will go off to
a rabid dog and eat it and then also
what they do is they can miss they can’t
spread it to other animals so some of
the biggest vectors for rabies in the
studies that have been done particularly
in the sabi sands have actually been
animals that you would never guess or
vectors for rabies and one in particular
is kudu so could you are carriers of
rabies and can move it around all over
the place and then you know an animal
feeds off it and can pick it up
so kudu are big threats in terms of
carrying rabies in these areas they
generally die from it but they even get
scavenged by things like jackals and the
jackals then pick it up from there and
it’s why we’ve got very few jackals in
this area other ones are Mongoose so
lots of the Mongoose species carry
rabies quite regularly and they also
then like didn’t get scavenged by
various predators which then pick it up
so it is a major concern and something
that is being looked at by not only the
government but all of these in private
reserves they do a lot of efforts to try
and get veterinary services art into the
community so that the communities can at
least get access to it and they can get
sterilized and sorted out and treated
and make sure that they you know the
rabid dogs are being kept under control
and not getting into these wildlife
areas and will say just form a point of
view of human safety it’s good to try
and read Artes rabid dogs so that people
are not being bitten and
Contracting rabies themselves so you
know it’s a big thing and there’s a lot
big project that’s happening at the
moment we are like I said it’s come out
every eye links every two to three
months and they come in dot and and
vaccinate and do all kinds of things and
you know exterminate any rabid animals
that could be on the fringes of these
areas so Lots gets done on that regard
and and it’s it’s a good thing they need
to do it and hopefully that will keep
things kind of art
so Fabiola you’re saying and you always
thought rabies was spread by bites only
well not necessarily so if an animal
that has rabies is fit upon and there’s
a cut in the mouth or anything like that
then that animal can get its now just
want to turn off my lights as we go
through this big herd of Impala and so
you know it’s not only by being bitten
by that rabid animal you can pick it up
from some of the animals actually
feeding off a another infected
individual all right off we go and so
that’s why if you remember there was a
leopard in this area called Cindy lip
and Cindy lay well
tried to kill a dog which was then
tested once it was exterminated and was
found positive for rabies and that’s why
Cindy Leah had to go through a whole
treatment to try and stop him from
contracting rabies and it was a whole
drawn-out process but and that was only
because he you know he tried to feed on
that animal and he and he killed it and
punctured the skin and blood got on to
his mouth and had he had he you know not
grabbed the animal then it would have
been fine but he unfortunately tried to
it and the animal didn’t bite him so it
wasn’t that he was bitten it was more
that he fed on it and contracted it from
them a lot of actual myths about rabies
a lot of people you know will always
think that that’s being the ones that
carry the most rabies now bats can have
rabies but they’re not as rabid as
everybody thinks they are they don’t
actually carry it as much as what some
of the other animals Archer do so it’s
pretty interesting thing
Darla’s I’m not a hundred percent sure
about this and it’s something that’s I
have are somebody and they said to me
they weren’t sure so somebody that’s
studied and did a whole thing on rabies
and a whole project on it and it’s
whether or not birds can contract rabies
and he wasn’t sure the guy that did it
and to be honest I wanted two great
researchers and I forgot about it and
sometimes that happens is you’re kind of
by the time you finish a conversation
and you end up going somewhere else you
forget about these things but I’m not
sure to be honest I don’t know I’ve
never heard of it and you would think
things like vultures would carry rabies
because they scavenge of kills and I’ve
never heard of vultures sort of
transmitting it to you to other animals
maybe it’s because birds are not fed on
nearly as much that they can’t carry it
but we just don’t notice it so I’m not
sure what vultures do carry a lot of his
anthrax though that’s something that
they can spread quite quickly and so you
find it’s very very dangerous if
vultures are around generally you should
actually be trying to burn carcasses of
animals that you find that taste
positive for heme track so that vultures
don’t get into it because they’ll
transmit it to any water within the area
and then causes a big problem and
talking about vultures actually it’s
such as it’s a very sad day for vultures
in general in South Africa there was a
well not in South Africa actually in
southern Africa so there was a poisoned
carcass that was found in Mozambique
just near the Kruger National Park
border quite far north of us and it was
poison and it’s led to a hundred and
four vultures being poisoned and I think
of the hundred and 489 or something like
that have we did when they got there and
they managed to treat 14 of them I think
or something like that and they still
looking though they haven’t checked the
entire area and I’m pretty sure there’ll
be more vultures that will probably turn
up dead in that area which is very very
sad it’s a big big problem in these
sections is that what happens is
sometimes the guys will poison a big
carcass like an elephant and then they
get things like lions as well as hyenas
and vultures and particularly vultures
and they can get hundreds of alters in
one time which is very very sad I
believe the guy was arrested
whoever was responsible for it was found
and arrested and will be interesting to
see what sort of Justice is given handed
down to him or what sentences handed
down to him for the killing of all of
those endangered birds all of them are
on the endangered species list and I
believe of the hundred and four birds it
was I think it was 80 were white back
vultures that were dead and seven more
nine I think it was hooded vultures that
were also killed very sad and it’s never
nice when you think about those things
so there’s a lot of the problems that
face right so well let’s try and steer
away from the morbid and let’s send you
back across to ally with well a
beautiful spotted cat that will chair
anybody up after thinking about those
things we are barely with the spotted
cat Tristan no chingada has not moved
and I think we’re gonna give him about
another ten minutes or so before we
decide to leave him because I don’t
think he’s gonna be active anytime soon
it almost seems like it’s getting it’s
taking him a little bit longer to get up
and decide to move and by the look he
gave us earlier that split second where
he moved from the other spot where he
was to here doesn’t seem like he’s that
interesting and moving about too much so
maybe he’s recovering from his walk and
he’s just going to start moving later on
I mean he’s shown no signs of actually
wanting to get up anytime soon hasn’t
been head up hasn’t been opening his
eyes all that much there’s been no
grooming going on so I think perhaps
it’s going to be a very lazy Sunday
evening for him much like for the rest
of the animals all around I should say
now the elephants that we heard earlier
no idea why they were screaming I wonder
if perhaps it wasn’t another leopard
somewhere around but had that been the
case I reckon Dingaan I would have
probably gotten up now I know he looks
very in defensive in the area where he
is he’s chosen quite an open spot but he
knows oh he’s very clever so in lying in
this open spot it’ll be very hard for
anything to try and approach him without
him noticing and without giving him the
possibility of actually running away and
trying to get away from
any potential threats oh he’s also being
clever in that regard in the Bayon spot
where he’s sleeping so he’s got a few
tricks up his sleeve and I think he he’d
he hasn’t failed to surprise us yet our
Larimore one of the things that the cats
do to maintain their clothes sharp and
clean is scratching them on top of the
trees I believe Tristan earlier on was
showing you the claw marks of a leopard
end of the lion on the same tree so that
is the one way that it seems like they
maintain their closed screens just by
scratching on a tree or just any other
surface that might just sharpen them up
a little now it also helps that they
they don’t unsharpened they’re not on
sharpens probably not the word but
they’re not blunt like the ones of a
cheetah and because they’re retractable
close so when they’re not being used
they’re being tucked safely tucked away
back into you they’re casing and that
way they don’t get blunt and they are
just kept in a better condition for
longer I think this guy is probably 2
inches that and that’s part of the
reason why we never see the claws of a
lion or a leopard when they’re walking
because the clothes are always inside
and they only seem to use them whenever
they’re hunting or well of course
climbing trees because then they need
the extra grip whenever they’re going
places now they’ve got there for their
for clothes on their fingers and then
they’ve got the one on the top the Juke
low that that’s the one that can inflict
them over at danger now pyrin is looking
at a tree and I wonder what he spotted
in there so let’s help get over to him
and find out can you hold it all right
well I think I’m holding our spotlight
seems to be giving us a bit of trouble
here
scorpion hold on I’m just gonna jump out
a second
so there’s lions unfortunately we lost
them they disappeared I think they’re
going to come through a little bit later
but that block is quite big where they
were let’s see if I can show you the
scorpion though
I wish to spot him where is he there is
it see it’s very windy
these scene offenses they come come on
come on tres it’s amazing all these
scorpions are able to fit in in these
tiny holes this one I don’t think it
wants to come out now we saw the pincers
but they were they were right out and
and he was basically just hanging his
his pincers out and then as we drove
past I caught a glimpse of him in with
the lights they don’t like the light
very much and he put those pincers
together and basically went in like this
that’s why I was hiding in there or how
he got in there but it’s amazing that it
could fit really incredible I wonder how
big that scorpion is perfect little hole
to wait for some insect but I think he’s
too clever for us he realized we weren’t
an insect but you did see the pincers
come out a little bit thank you censor
it’s giving this is a spotlight on Wendy
I think this is a vehicle I’m on Wendy
it’s giving us a bit of trouble Oh cold
and Wendy not very pleasant
it’s difficult to find animals
especially nocturnal animals in this
type of weather and when I reform and
when I say nocturnal animals I mean like
animals like porcupine or
Bush baby eel little chameleons hiding
on trees this weather it’s very very
difficult market
I think the Predators will probably be
moving around a lot in yeah in this type
of weather like there’s lions wherever
they went
I mean they disappeared quite quickly
but there was a big block that they
walked through so they possibly just
take it walking through there and
they’ll they’ll pop out somewhere I’m
sure they’ll pop out somewhere
put it
gee I haven’t sorry I haven’t heard any
questions because I’m not plugged in
thanks very much sorry I wasn’t ignoring
you they kissed Travelocity for any
skunks in South Africa well technically
not let me just show you something
did my memo book out so there are part
of the skank family and we do have a
striped polecat which is not a cat at
all it’s probably more closely related
to the – well honey badger believe it or
not there’s an African striped weasel
over there I’ve never seen one of these
that kind of looks like a skank but
that’s part of the weasel family and
then let me show you quickly this is the
striped polecat that looks like a skunk
doesn’t it but it’s not a skunk it’s a
polecat sorry
[Music]
striped polecat I’ve only ever seen two
of these in the wild
now they do secrete a chemical defense
similar to that of the skunk not as
pungent but they do secrete a chemical
defense if they feel threatened I want
to see if they say anything about it
[Music]
okay so here we go if if threatened it
adopts threat posture with ramp towards
aggressor sometimes wonder how that is a
threatening posture anyway back arched
and tail held erect
if threat persists it squirts
foul-smelling liquid and fluid at
aggressor so exactly like a skunk but
this is not as bad as a skunk for my
understanding and
surprisingly you know what else does
that is is the honey badger
now honey badgers do also secrete a
liquid like a very musty smell and scent
if they are threatened really badly I’ve
seen it with wild dogs before they do
stand in they secrete and very strong
odor and which also deters predators
that’s why these honey badgers striped
weasel and and the stripe polecat are
all part of the most elite a family as
well as the Otters they are also part of
that family Mustelidae
all right so no skanks as such but
animals that are very very similar to
skunks okay let’s go across I didn’t
know who we are going to that sounds
like someone’s got an elephant yes I do
have an elephant Byron and so we are
sitting and there is an elephant’s
feeding and sustaining its gluttony via
a whole bunch of marilla’s on the floor
which is fairly typical for what we’ve
been seeing over the past little bits
and so there’s a li he’s just kind of
doing his thing and I’m surprised he’s
Arts in the open it’s so windy up here
on quarantine I would have thought that
this elephant would have gone into the
thickets and would have been able to try
and kind of get into some semblance of
shelter rather than being rights out in
the open but it’s a young bull so maybe
the fact that there’s no big males
around it’s taking its opportunity to
feed on these nutrient-rich resources
before the big Bulls maybe push it off
and it doesn’t have that ability to do
so so you’ll find young males will come
out and feed when the big bulls are away
I mean the big guys are on and these
guys unfortunately get pushed off a
little bit and kind of get moved on to
somewhere else they’re crossing the road
and ambling off into the night and
probably on to the next marilla tree at
some point it’s starting to get part of
the sort of way of that particular
marula tree right now byron whoo
propose that we all look for a certain
animal has found one as well and that is
very cool because we’ve been looking for
them the last few days and he’s managed
to find one and that’s the second one
for this afternoon yep finally managed
to find a little chameleon at night but
I can see why it has been difficult this
one blends in so well in the cart oddly
it’s holding on there look at that I
mean you can see it now because the
spotlights on it but it blends in so
well looks like one of the leaves well
I’m very happy managed to find a flap
neck flap Nick chameleon looks like
there’s something in its mouth but it’s
not it’s actually a little bit part of
the Brawn branch that it’s on it’s just
in front of its head it hasn’t got
anything in its mouth I just don’t have
thought to not would be the worst night
to try and find a chameleon clifford now
as far as I know the chameleons are not
on the endangered species list but
people still try to catch them and keep
them as pets and and that’s not ideal
you should leave the chameleons in the
wild but there are loads of chameleons
around and and a few different species
this is the only species we get in this
area though the flap necked chameleons
because of that flap behind the neck
really beautiful little creatures
fascinating little creatures but it’s
holding on for dear life over there I’m
not going to
Vincente well chameleons deter predators
so I’m gonna take the spotlight off of
it for them for now I think we’ve had a
nice view of it I don’t want to disturb
it too much
and Vincent chameleons deter predators
in a few different ways but obviously
the main one is camouflage and well it’s
to protect themselves not deter
predators but to protect themselves they
use their camouflage to hide the one
thing they do which kind of is to deter
predators is their adoration to my dog
hell is all black in pods blotches of
black and they puff themselves up
slightly and they hiss actually make a
hissing sound and that usually might
help stop a predator from going for it
and no that’s actually the the only
thing it does to deter predators no I
heard something very grumpy up ahead
Steve here’s how the whole did I find
that bit of practice working in the bush
and and looking for these animals
knowing what to look for it does take a
bit of practice but they they’ve got a
slightly different shape to the to the
leaves usually and also a slightly
lighter coloration which you can
occasionally pick up with with the
spotlight their eyes do not reflect like
other animals do so it’s literally just
the shape and maybe a slight color
variation in the leaf or compared to the
leaf there’s someone or something that
sounded very grumpy here and I think I
found it yeah it’s an elephant I’m gonna
turn my lights off
just going to sneak past this elephant
don’t want to upset I’m sitting it seems
very very relaxed I just heard him
trumpet and this is another elephant
Archer somewhere
all right well what a wonderful
afternoon despite the way that we still
got to see Lyons you’ve got to see them
being a bit playful Ellie good to spend
time with ting gana Tristan got to drive
around we’ll see you all tomorrow again
and we’ll see what we can find but thank
you to Justin Thank You Ellie and
obviously kirstine final control and all
of you for your questions and comments
have a great Sunday and we’ll see you
tomorrow morning and said Safari and
hopefully hopefully those lions make it
kill this evening good night and goodbye
you
an African safari and may include animal
kills and caucuses viewer discretion is
advised
good afternoon and welcome to a very
windy very gusty Juma Game Reserve my
name is Tristan Dixon on camera today
I’ve got a VM the Valdez there is VM and
it is a very windy afternoon it’s going
to be an interesting afternoon to see
what the animals get up to in wind like
this also it probably means that there
is a bit of a change in weather on its
way now this is a live interactive
Safari so we love to hear from all of
you
hashtag Safari live on Twitter or
YouTube chat if you want to get involved
now we have this little moth this per
month that is landed on my steering
wheel and I’m going to take my hands
away I’ve been trying to put my hands
there to cup it so that it didn’t get
too much wind because I wanted it to
still be here when we started and it is
the most incredible looking worth you
can see it looks like a little bit of
wood and almost like a little wood
shaving you can see it’s got the bark on
the edge and then that lighter
coloration if this moth was on a piece
of bark that had a little bit of kind of
bark torn off it would be seriously
difficult to see this thing it would be
in camouflage incredibly well and it is
the first time I’ve ever seen a moth
that looks like this I’ve never seen
this before
and Jared our tech genius founders you
can see the perf thing is being blown
about all over the place at the moment
and that’s being quite protected on my
steering wheel it’s much windier if I
had to turn the steering wheel a little
bit but what interests me about this
whole thing is if you look on the front
here close to the the face area you’ll
see there’s these kind of two big bulbs
around the head now they almost look
like false eyes it’s almost as if to
give an impression that this insect has
got much bigger eyes than it actually
yet has the eyes are actually in front
here where the gray sort of section is
just in the top front portion and those
eyes are actually very very small but
these big bulbs here almost give it the
impression that it’s got big eyes and
it’s able to watch what’s going on
really cool to see and it’s not every
day you get to see something as
camouflage and it is perfectly sort of
suited to its environment as this now
unfortunately this poor fella is going
to get blown away at some point
him on my steering wheel so I’m trying
to get him to a situation where and gets
a bit of protection and can have it nice
and easy until the night sets in but
while I try to figure out how I’m going
to get rid of him and where I’m going to
put it let’s send you across to Ellie so
she can say good afternoon to all of you
hello everyone sorry it seems like the
wind is about to blow our cap or roof
and everything else off my name is Ellie
and on camera with me today is Ferg and
we are fighting and braving the African
weather just to be able to go and find
some animals now if you’ve got any
comments or any questions please send
them through using the hashtag spoil AG
or use the YouTube chat we are not too
sure where we’re headed we want to go
perhaps see the last area where the
tracks were in this morning for attack
of wild ducks we perhaps by any miracle
they’ve come back and I think that’s our
plan for the afternoon
other than that perhaps we’ll head later
on to see good old boat in Ghana the
male leopard hopefully well he will be
roughly in the same area where we saw
him this morning and we’ll be able to
share some time with him now I’m hoping
that’ll be the case and other than that
like I said just braving the wind we
were scheduled to do a walk this
afternoon but it is the windy conditions
often make it very dangerous so we’ve
decided against it just because of our
general safety now as you can see the
wind all around us is nice if you look
at all all the grass you can see how
everything’s moving all the trees all
the branches now the weather has been
quite puzzling and we had this massive
storm predicted for today lots and lots
of rain but as a day has gone through we
still haven’t had any drops which is a
good and a bad thing so I wonder if
perhaps later on during this afternoon
we’re gonna get all that rain really
interesting to see although you’re ready
for the rain Ferg and I we’ve got all of
our rain gear so we’re not scared we
will brave the weather as as well as the
Impala I hope they were being paid
clever and we just went past one
breeding herd and they were all tucked
away in the bushes all standing together
trying to seek or find some shelter from
all this all this wind and the possible
gloomy weather ahead now there is a blue
sky to our right so towards the east so
I am hoping that the beautiful blue
skies are gonna carry with us for the
rest of the afternoon and I think we are
actually going to start driving onto the
blue skies that sounds like a wonderful
plan for the
I mean we’ll just pretend and go leave
the dark skies ahead of us behind us so
that way we won’t even see them right
seems like Tristan is looking up at some
track so let’s head back to him and find
out what he’s after I am looking at
tracks I’m looking at tracks of probably
one of the biggest snake tracks that
I’ve seen since I’ve been at Juma this
is seriously large as you can see it
it’s kind of twisting its way I don’t
know what the word would be sort of
going from side to side across the road
you can see the big mounds of sand being
pushed away from the backside and going
so the snake was moving towards us with
the sand being pushed away from us a
little bit and so what I wanted to show
you is just how thick this snake track
actually is it looks about the size of
my forearm so where’s a good clear one
here VM let’s do this side so if I have
to put my forearm inside there there we
go it fits just right so my form would
fit inside of that section right there
which is well there we go that’s House
wide that snake is that gives you an
idea of how thick the snake is and how
big it is now snakes that get this thick
are very few and far between there’s
only probably three candidates that we
could take for this one would be a puff
adder the other one would be a Python of
some size I mean that wouldn’t be the
biggest Python but it would be a Python
or a incredibly large black mamba would
be the other option but given the small
gate of the twist and turn it probably
in all likelihood is a very big puff
adder puff adders gets a wide wide wide
body and that small kind of gate like
that would be a short snake but very
wide but still amazing to see now it’s
gone towards a little section here
behind me that’s fallen over trees and
stumps and these tracks are actually
funny enough on top of our vehicle
tracks where we came down just now which
was not long ago maybe about 45 minutes
ago so I want to just check back here
and see maybe we get lucky and we can
actually find the snake and track it
down probably went in somewhere here
lots of little snake hidey holes here is
a little termite mound then it could
have gone in so Captain Awesome you say
please go look for the snake well I mean
we can’t try and track it down of course
it’s going to go to a certain point and
I think it’s probably going to hide away
if it’s something like a Python then
they go underground quite a lot so
they’ll find a termite mound into the
termite mound and hide out something
like a Mamba is going to be very quick
and move off up into the trees and gonna
be quite tough to find puffer is
probably our best bits in terms of
actually finding the snake we would have
to walk through this grass and look very
very carefully and try and see if I can
spot it somewhere here but they also
will get in under things and get into a
place where they can hide you might find
because of this temperature change that
we getting in this wind that’s blowing
maybe the snake is on the move and just
trying to find a better more sheltered
area in order to spend the day but I’ll
try and follow the track now and just
see where it goes and try and work out
exactly the point that it disappears if
I can follow the track I should be able
to work it out and see if it’s gone into
the ground or something like that if
it’s gone into a mount obviously I’m not
going to be putting my hands down there
or doing anything like that and I don’t
really want to get a surprise from a
member or a puff adder thank you very
much they are not very pleasant snakes
to deal with sometimes so I’m going to
try and just have a little look around
see if I can find it for you and see if
we can get some sort of semblance of
view of the snake the problem with that
is that I’m going to need to track it
Kirsty so I’m not going to be able to do
that while I’m live because I’ll have to
follow it via my feet and that means
that I’m not going to be able to really
talk to you guys or see what you see so
I’ll have to just try and reverse a
little bit first and see what I can see
with the camera ah
so we’ve got no signal with Byron and
Ellie’s got low signal so you’re all
stuck with me so I don’t have to do this
with a vehicle let’s see if I can manage
this with a car and this should be quite
interesting
okay there’s lots of little hidey holes
here VM did you see exactly where that’s
crossed
I’m trying to look if I can see the
snake track on the ground itself we
obviously don’t want a situation so it
came along there and it came straight to
AVM is saying just on my left hand side
I wonder if it didn’t go into this
little termite mound here there’s a
little hole that is straight down let’s
have a little look oh that’s rather deep
there’s a movie a lot warmer than what
it is our chair this cold wind has come
and so for a snake going inside there’s
gonna be like a little oven and keep
them nice and warm and if you’re a
cold-blooded animal warmth is what you
want that keeps you active and able to
then hunt and find food so think that’s
where it’s gone I just want to do a
little loop around the bush on the left
or the southern side and see if I can
see anything obviously also don’t want
to drive over the snake of course the
snake will move it’s not going to say
stole but
but like I say the track is very very
fresh it’s from 45 minutes ago it may be
even later that’s just the kind of
timeframe we’ve got to work with so I
mean if that was a leopard track that
would be as fresh as you could possibly
ask for and you’d bet your bottom dollar
you would find it but a snake is a
completely different story looks like
your you might have some company if it’s
continued all the way through mmm going
to be very tough to find it in this
I don’t think unfortunately we’re gonna
get those rides with that termite mound
there I think it’s gone straight down
inside I mean there’s no sign of its
anywhere where I can see in these trees
when we should be able to spot it quite
quickly if it was like that so
unfortunately we’re going to have to
abandon that search for now and brave
the winds of Jummah tennis in terms of
tracking the hardest things to track I
mean it depends on what we’re talking
about you know you’ve got species like
the big animals which undoubtedly the
hardest big animal to track is leopard
by far it’s why when you do your
tracking assessments leopard is the one
that you follow in order to become the
highest level of tracker that you can be
so you have to find the footprint of the
leopard and follow it and try and find
that animal so in terms of big animals I
would say them in terms of smaller
animals well I mean there’s a lot of
different ones there’s things like wasps
that collect mud or spiders or crickets
scorpions those minut little tracks and
because they don’t really leave big sort
of traces on ground other than them
crossing roads or pathways it’s almost
impossible to follow their tracks so to
find those very tough and what else is a
difficult animal to track things that
move very fast and very far so while
dogs are tough to track hyena is funny
enough or are not easy either and that’s
also because of the amounts of hyenas
arches often criss-crossing of tracks
which makes it very difficult what else
that’s about it the rest of the big
animals elephants buffalo rhinos they
fairly simple in terms of the tracking
process they leave big signs for you and
the nice thing with them is that they
leave
very large areas where they fit so it’s
not only their footprints but it’s also
where they’ve fed and broken branches
pulled up grass and those kind of things
now VM has spotted a little surprise in
the graphs there so it’s very well
camouflaged but there’s a little scrub
here that’s come out quite early enough
probably because the cards are out it’s
a bit dingy already this afternoon and
so a perfect time for a scrub made just
to come out and nibble which you can see
the nocturnal and why they are so
successful at being nocturnal look at
the size of the eyes and the ears in
relation to their body massive massive
massive eyes big ears that allow them to
hear and see what’s going on even in the
dark of night and so they can thrive in
that way they’ve also got a very
sensitive nose that picks up a lot of
scent but this poor animal will probably
be as petrified as it looks it looks
very wide eyed at the moment and that’s
because of all of this wind it’s not
going to be an easy night for any of the
prey animals when it’s windy like this
the the Predators have an absolute field
day and they can get stuck into all of
these prey animals and it makes it much
harder for the prey animals to be sort
of find out where the Predators are wind
swirls noise and those kind of things
but did you see how well of camouflage
is it’s amazing that the camouflage that
these little guys have good little scrub
here stay safe be careful I saw a
martial eagle flying around Jay earlier
so scrub he is in danger from Marshall
Eagles they must be a little careful of
them seems a little quieter today around
it doesn’t seem to be all the eighties
and I’m not surprised
elephants ate wind and so in the wind
kicks up like this then ease into the
thickets as quick as possible just to
get out of the breeze that’s blowing and
they try and kind of stay as sheltered
it’s protected as possible so I’m not
surprised we’re not seeing too many
elephants around in the afternoon we’re
gonna try find tiny VM and I are going
to try and find tiny that’s certainly
going to go into so we’re going to sit
out into the eastern southeast and
beyond and try and see if we can find
this lipid and we’ve been hiding and
while we do that it sounds as though
Byron tardy surrou has
his speedos sorted Artie’s tucked his
shirt in he’s all sorted and is now
ready to finally join us for the
afternoons drive oh that’s not very fair
trust
I am I I do apologize for being late but
good afternoon my name is Byron and on
camera with me is Senzo and what a good
start I found a big bull elephant now
this one looks rather large it’s going
to have a look it’s very very windy
I know Tristan has been telling you
about it but wow it’s amazing how the
weather has changed
and when is actually blowing from that
elephant to us wow this is a big bull
good look at this mail-in see his
reaction to the vehicle
wonderful this is a great stock for me
you all know how much I enjoy spending
time with these big elephant seems very
relaxed I wonder if this isn’t the that
elephant that’s got a hole in his ear
can you see other sins oh no on his
right yeah let’s see sorry the other one
it’s just not turning enough then see a
hole not so it’s not the elephant that
Tyler knows as Darrell but he is a large
male enjoying the fruit at the moment so
many fruit care I’m just gonna sit still
and see if the smell decides to come
over closer to us it could be could be
really entertaining I’m sure I saw this
mail the other day
because it’s got a prominent to hold in
his left ear small little one and he
looks and he looks he looks similar I’m
not sure that there are a lot of
elephant that come through this area
Bobby I’m not sure the largest elephant
I’ve seen I did see one or two really
old bulls on London lazy a few years ago
passing through and and some symbols
there’s one male really really old male
that had these massive tusks they almost
touched the ground when he walked and
that doesn’t magnificent to see so that
once but I’ve definitely seen Bulls a
bit bigger than this okay I’m gonna sit
quietly let’s see what this male does is
he gonna come closer
I’m sure he’s enjoying this cool breeze
at the moment just not showing any signs
of aggression
seems very relaxed all right I must be
honest I really do feel privileged when
we get to sit with with these
magnificent beasts they think this
elephant is probably thirty of maybe
even closer to 40 years old it’s quite a
large male a bitch he’s got some amazing
stories growing up in the greater Kruger
now my plan this afternoon is actually
to go to those lions that in Kakuma
pride I’d like to try to get there
fairly soon because it is quite cool
maybe we’re lucky and they start moving
around
apparently Justin said they would look
quite hungry this morning
who knows
perhaps as lions decide to get up and
move I think we’ll leave this
magnificent bull wonderful start for us
I saw that snake track that Tristan was
looking at that does that was amazing I
wonder wonder where that snake
disappeared to because that was a really
large track ok let’s go I’m gonna go and
look for those lines let’s go to Ellie
who’s heading down to chat when we are
and we’ve taking a bit of a detour we’ve
decided to take the northern boundary
then go down to to catheline just to see
what’s been happening around here
obviously all in the hopes of finding
time but perhaps somewhere to approach
to open a morula tree although chances
of any leopard being on top of a morula
tree today I I would say a little bit
slim just because it is so windy so if
it’s very windy and our vehicle level I
would imagine that on top of a morula
it’s even worse so likely they’re all
gonna be doing the same thing as Dingaan
I was doing today and they’re gonna be
down on the ground probably hidden
tucked away in the bushes while they
stalk something or where they carry on
with their afternoon nap
now we haven’t really seen all that much
up here oh no you couldn’t even pick up
trucks for Tomba so I think he’s
probably stole somewhere in before suck
probably trying his luck he was hunting
yesterday so I’m hoping he managed to
get something perhaps a dike or Seon bug
that would have stint still being a good
meal for him now there’s always the hope
that there all of the leopards are gonna
catch something bigger this afternoon
because it is very windy and it seems
like this type of weather condition is
normally favorable for the Predators to
catch something so we’ll see I think
maybe tomorrow morning or the day after
that’s when we’ll really be able to see
what’s been happening after the night
because that’s when they’re gonna have
the premium advantage all of these
beautiful I think we’re gonna go past
happening you know might be coming down
to the water
and last we went there which was hippos
which was particulars Oh
normal good old friend and the other one
who I don’t know who it is while we get
to both dam though we’re gonna head back
to our or leave is on the lionsearch
I am indeed on the lionsearch let’s see
I think they were around here some way
since I let’s keep our eyes peeled now
again this wither is tricky because they
may have already got up and started
moving which would make it a bit harder
for us to find them so we I’m just gonna
scan very very carefully as you go
through here I think they were around
here this morning have a look obviously
a lot of vehicles have been three
already in the course of the day so it
would be difficult to find fresh tracks
of them hitting the spam
maybe maybe if they’ve started to move
we might find fresh tracks of them
moving this afternoon
I don’t think our birding is going to be
very good this afternoon
generally when it’s very very windy like
us and then the birding is not great
I’m trying to have a look and see if I
can find any sign of his lions anything
yet since I
right
I think Justin mentioned something that
they were near the old hi Nadine which
is which is right like there we go there
we go
fantastic let’s have a quick look see
what the prod is up to us here a few
heads up already
oh this is great well that is wonderful
no yep a couple of heads up and then
some lying down not moving
Oh wonderful
looks like the whole pride is here I can
just see some of them are behind some
trees or anything cool you’ll see them
but this is much better weather for
potential movement compared to yesterday
afternoon when we were sitting with that
sticks pride the other pride of lions
remember how how hot it was yesterday
afternoon and and those lions hardly
moved they moved out of the drainage
line where they were all that dry
riverbed and went and lay on the bank
and just carried on sleeping it was so
hot I think I’d probably only got active
much later now there’s a very cool
breeze and also with it being so windy
these might be good conditions for these
Lions to hunt so possibly if we’re lucky
we’re gonna be patient we’re gonna sit
with these lions maybe we get them
getting up moving around and possibly
trying to hunt a bit later but for now
they are resting so we’re gonna sit
tight let’s go across to Ellie who’s
apparently heading towards the dam
well we are and we have arrived unto
Bufo siq dam and much to our surprise
there’s not one hippo but three of them
now the I’m not too sure which one is
our good old friend that’s normally in
here I am slightly tempted to say that
it’s not the one that is standing on top
of the water just because I can’t seem
to remember that discoloration behind
its ear perhaps I just haven’t noticed
perhaps this is the same one but it’s
quite interesting to see that there are
two more around here what it could be is
perhaps the two young Bulls have come
into this particular waterhole looking
for a place to to conquer a new area
maybe they’ve come all the way from
Chittor Dam maybe they’ve come from one
of the dams and buffers look there are
quite a few dams all around us and it
wouldn’t be surprising if they started
moving in this weather just looking for
new places now there has been a little
bit of display involved the big bowl
that’s in there has been opening his
mouth there’s been a little bit of
defecating and spraying of their dung
which is normally all done on a show of
a type of thing just to advertise that
he is the big one and he is the owner of
this particular area now the little bird
behind it is a little green which
obviously now I decided to try and fly
against the wind which is not working
too well for it and then we’ve got this
three very puzzling I’m hoping that
they’re gonna do something as well they
were a little bit more active a few
moments ago so we’re gonna stand still
and just see if perhaps they get up to
what they were doing earlier on now I
wouldn’t be surprised if these guys only
arrived today because yesterday
afternoon I mean Byron and I were here
and they were definitely only two of
them in there so there’s a newcomer and
perhaps that’s what’s throwing a bit of
a spanner in the works and altering them
first lady yes hippo do mate underwater
and their calves are also able to suckle
underwater which is quite interesting of
in terms of all the things that hippos
can do 108th order but yes they do it
under the water I’m not too sure these
guys are even interested in that and I
think that middle one I want to say that
he’s a new one and he’s a much older
bull in comparison to the other two that
we’re seeing here I’m assuming they are
bulls because they don’t have little
ones attached to them but I don’t know
seems like it seems odd it was like new
things are starting to change with this
wind are you going to tell them who’s
the boss
definitely approaching one of the
youngsters a little bit of tension going
on they’re gone all the way down in the
water okay
there’s a bit of submissive behavior
normally when animals make themselves
either look smaller or where they put
their heads down it’s a way of admitting
almost a defeat in terms of territorial
of hierarchy of dominance as in a way of
saying fine I know you’re the boss let’s
be in peace you’re in command so I think
perhaps that’s weed what we just
witnessed is one to the left a little
bit smaller than the one on the ride
just putting his head down and me like
fine you you are the boss just we’re
fine don’t worry about it now I was
hoping that he was gonna come out and
open his mouth and show his big tusks to
us but it doesn’t seem like he wants to
do it just yet fail I’m not sure if
hippos ever drawn perhaps if they can
even baby big currents if they cannot
get to you to the surface and get air
and I’m pretty sure that would cause
them to drown it’s part of the reason
also why they seem to prefer areas where
the current is very slow and normally if
there’s a pod with babies they either
prefer lakes or a rocky areas but you’ll
never find them in a in a river that’s
flowing also quickly probably because if
they cannot fight the current to try and
get to the surface to get air yes they
could potentially drown
in this particular case I’m pretty sure
that their standing or lying I don’t
think before the dam is that deep I
think it has gotten in the surface
otherwise I wouldn’t be able to have as
much of their body exposed and out and
about
seems like Justin has found a creature
that is perhaps just as pretty as a
hippo so let’s head over and see well I
think it’s a fake contest between the
two of them so hippo versus war talk
whether I feel like I would give hippo a
cuter factor than a wart ogres fish I
suppose maybe baby warthogs aren’t too
bad but these guys these big male
warthogs are not the prettiest things in
the world you can see they’ve got big
big warts on them which is how I know
that they’re both boys as well as well
you can see the male testes underneath
the tail of the one facing away from us
and the one on the far side is a little
skittish the one closest to us is not
too bad it doesn’t worry about us too
much but you can see that one’s keeping
a beady eye on us and is covered in
oxpeckers at the moment both of them and
so these guys I’m sure getting quite a
bit of food and off go the warthogs
trotting away everything’s going to be a
little bit like this I think
everything’s going to be a bit shy a bit
reclusive when the wind is howling the
way that it is this afternoon most of
our prey animals are going to be a
little worried about some predators and
therefore gonna be a lot more shy than
they normally are so we’ll be having a
day like this way we’re gonna get brief
views of our antelope species before
they trot off and try and get away from
where we are sitting in case there is a
predator around now we’ve just driven a
sneaky little routes along the mullah
Watty all the way from just south of the
dam wall and then down towards China pan
just in the hope that we maybe pick up
some sign of tiny moving around in the
moolah Watty maybe she’s kind of moved
back into the section and just keeping a
low profile but nothing there’s not a
single track for a female leopard inside
there that I picked up and we looked
quite nicely and we checked all the
spots that she’s used before with this
cub there’s no sign of her visiting any
of those areas so she’s not this side
she must be further to the east and I
think maybe she’s spending a bit more
time on torchwood then we actually
realized at the moment so I mean I just
kind of checked you out and quickly down
to ten dams and then we’re gonna really
work the eastern side quite heavily for
turn any sign of tummy so we’ll drive
around we’ll try and listen out for some
alarm call
I’m hoping because it’s overcast like
this that if she is around that she’s up
and moving
or maybe she’s hoisted a kill or
something if the conditions from last
night were suitable for hunting I’m
pretty sure Tandy will take an advantage
of it so go and check around there and
just have a little look and see what’s
going on so that’s the idea anyway
hopefully it all work out and we will
find her somewhere in this area with the
little cub it’s been so long since I’ve
seen that little cub I’m pretty sure it
must be about triple the size that it
was previously it’s going to be a bit of
a shock I think when we see it hopefully
it’s doing well and everything is okay
and that it’s managing to avoid this
drama that is the male lipids of the
northern sabi sands at the moment
good talking about sort of drama and
things like that well Byron is sitting
with the Inca Huma pride and I wonder if
there will be any drama this afternoon
with the pride hunting well at the
moment it doesn’t look like it now I’m
trying to make a decision here I think
it might be worth us driving around a
little little bit and then coming back
in about half an hour or so and because
there hasn’t been much movement and
possibly these lines still just trying
to rest
you can see that that wound on that line
s
it’s not looking bad but it’s still
that’s not ideal at pre lioness that’s
you know that don’t know actually don’t
know what caused that we know would I
would assume it was from hunting
something
I’m sure you can hear the wind at the
moment and it’s quite quite strong I
don’t know if it’s going to rain this
afternoon maybe this evening maybe this
brings in the storm often if it is very
windy it could just be very windy and
not rain so I’m not sure but I was
speaking about it earlier in bad weather
like this or when it rains lions and
leopards often do go out and hunt it’s a
little bit easier for them to hide
mosques they smell the sound everything
so they can stalk up really close and
hunt whatever it is they’re looking for
I think you know and I think I’m going
to leave these lines I’m not gonna sit
here now for too long but I will come
back a little bit later I just think
that for the moment they seem quite
relaxed very comfortable I’m possibly
just trying to conserve some more energy
until a little bit later so let’s drive
around a bit little fun I’m gonna check
some clearings you never know you could
get quite a bit of general game in that
area now especially because of all this
wind but let’s see what else we can find
in the meantime I think rather than
sitting here with these sleeping lions
for too long I hope all of you are
having a wonderful weekend wherever you
are in the world
as has been great actually has been
lovely nice and relaxing today
as I said I don’t think our
bird-watching will be very good today
because of this were went oh wow at
least found something really small she
wants to show you we did it’s the
smallest cutest little scrub here now
it’s it’s about the size of the palm of
my hand I would just see you know and I
don’t want to get too close because it
might start running away but I wonder
why it is in the middle of the road you
should go and hide in the bushes I’ve
heard of praise gonna find you there we
go
no you have to carry on running you
didn’t run far enough and you’re still
on the road beautiful little thing now
during the day likely they spend most of
their day they don’t borrow like like
rabbits do but rather they go into very
thick vegetation especially underneath
thorny trees or thorny bushes where it
might be harder for any potential
predator to get to them why this little
one has decided to be in the middle of
the road in such a windy day when pretty
much a lot of things can get it I’m not
too sure perhaps it got flush from where
it was hiding due to something else
walking around but you’re not in the
safe just place look at that fluffy
little white tail running around that
was super cute that was very special
paulla yes that was super tiny that was
very very cute it was about the size of
my hand I would say without the ears
obviously but about something like that
so so cute
wonder where it’s gone off to now now
it’s very thick in this general
direction when where it ran so I would
assume that perhaps it’s gone back to
this bushes back to where the yellow
flowers are that’s a raisin bush so
maybe it’s hiding in there because it’s
quite pushy very complicated to get in
if I wear a little scrub here that’s
probably where I would be hiding that
was a very cool little find it’s amazing
how sometimes the wind confuses them and
it brings out the rest or some
unexpected things unto the road well the
whole big that this will be the day
where we also get a Pangolin and a
caracal but they can all be in the same
sighting I will not complain if they all
are but that was very sweet
now here’s our mostly nocturnal animal
so the fact that we’ve seen it out and
about during the day it’s also a bit of
a strange thing and this little one has
got to be careful if it once do you have
a good chance at making into a tall hook
because it might not be the best thing
to be out in the middle of the road
during the day
joy its mother it’s probably somewhere
else they they developed quite quickly
when they’re little so very lightly its
mother it’s just away doing its own
thing and they don’t spend all their
time with the little ones when they’re
tiny obviously the mother and where
they’re about this big the mothers will
come and suckle them a few times and
then go in forage and so on but I think
this one is probably already on its own
or if not on its own at least it the
mother has gone in a certain direction
and that one has been left behind as it
would normally happen perhaps another is
not too far away hiding somewhere else
and this one was just being probably a
naughty teenager and going out of the
house before it should monster party out
in the wind
now what are these tracks over here
seems like I’m imagining things because
there are no trucks on the road maybe
that was just wishful thinking should
have actually stopped in most of the
tiny little scrubby hair tracks but I
didn’t think of it and talking about
tracks and little things let’s head back
to Tristan who I believe is looking for
leopards I am indeed looking for a
spotted cat somewhere so far no signs or
any tracks that will indicate that there
is a spotted cats around but you can
always live in hope also just looking
for anything else really I just kind of
puttering about and I believe Ellie was
telling me today that she had tracks for
a male line somewhere around for the
ones cut line Rebecca’s area and that
the sticks have a random male lion lying
with them now I’m not sure who the male
line is or what his story is but
apparently the sticks seemed completely
unfazed by this male lions
presence and the other thing about it is
that he apparently has got some really
nasty fresh wounds that have been
created now Ellie told me that when she
saw the tracks this morning that there
was places where there was tracks for
male line and blood drops on the road
and so I wonder if the birmingham’s
didn’t get hold of him last night and
that there’s another male line that’s
still sitting somewhere on Juma so just
kind of wanting to try and see if I can
find those tracks and just see how much
blood was on them I think Ellie said
they were somewhere on Rebecca so I
might have missed him but let’s just see
how he go I’m going down towards tree
house I know she said there was some
tracks that came from Chios here they
are here but they’ve been so driven over
by vehicles gonna be very difficult to
make them out pretty
these are tracks also for the in kuma
pride so it seems as though maybe this
male bumped into another male maybe even
the in kuma pride who knows what’s
happened to him but apparently he’s got
some nasty cuts and scrapes on him now
it’s an interesting situation because I
would have thought if it was a random
male lion that the sticks didn’t know
given that they’ve got Cubs in their
honor water but kill that they would be
less than friendly towards an intruding
male and that they would try and chase
him away as quick as possible but he
seems to be just sitting there and they
not too concerned about it he’s just
kind of sitting off to the side and
everything is ok so for a second thought
I wonder if it’s maybe not one of the
sticks male lions that they used to be
around this area
when was it it was back in I can’t even
remember now
2015 was it 2014 2015 they were the two
young sticks boys that were around and I
wonder if it’s not one of them bears I
think the same male line that was seen
on on Kirkman’s down in the south of the
sabi sands recently I actually have a
photo of him some way I’ll try and find
it a very pretty looking line so I’ll be
a bit sad if he got beaten up because he
looks really quite nice and
unfortunately though this is the trials
of being Archer as a young male lion is
that you’ve got many many many different
coalition’s to deal with and it would be
the first line that’s really come into
this area since the birmingham’s are
taken over and the first one that’s
probably been dealt with that by the
Berman’s properly but if it’s this guy
then it’ll be interesting this is the
one that was seen down on Kirkman’s I’m
not 100% sure if he’s the same one that
was seen with the sticks last night but
maybe some of you out there that have an
idea of who this line could be will give
you another photo of him there is so
there we go that’s the photos of the
guys from Kirkman’s that they sent to us
to try and ask now Karin you say that it
could be the ginger Matilda that could
be with the sticks interesting I I’m not
100% sure well I guess I’ll try and ask
the guys if it’s an older line maybe it
is I’m not sure I know that the the
older male will
ginger member of the of the members has
broken apart from harry bill use been
left in the krueger somewhere and very
badly injured and he’s kind of we’ve
done but this lime is a much younger
individual that was seen and this was
taken three days ago down on southern
Mala Mala and so if that comes straight
north pretty much puts it righteous
wonder if it’s maybe the matumbo or it’s
is this individual but if somebody saw
photos and is the member that’ll be
quite cool to know it’s interesting that
it’s back in this area and surely not a
good sign for that individual because
I’m sure the birmingham’s will try and
get hold of him if he is around you and
like I said he’s got some nasty cuts
apparently on his forearms at all very
fresh and bleeding and then apparently
lots of flies on his back so maybe it is
the Matunga may I know they got into a
fight recently I think it was the end of
last year and just inside the Kruger
with some other males and I think they
both took a bit of a battering in that
so we’re just interesting to see how
this all plays arts and whether or not
that midsummer makes another appearance
on a live drive you is the two of them
were such a big part of safari life when
it first got back up and running in Juma
and the many of you will remember lots
of very fond sightings of those two
massive boys walking around sure they
really were impressive specimens both of
them were incredibly large that the
track size of those two males was much
bigger than what we see from these
birmingham’s at the moment so always
remember those two Fondy and they
certainly did a good job here for a
while but it was just never gonna work
two against five when the Birmingham’s
arrived
now trial stem not really much happening
store hasn’t produced many leopard
sightings the summer it’s interesting
how a winter tree arts and twin dams
were just absolute gold for lipids now
in the summer it just goes to show the
lipids do not use these dams nearly as
much because there’s really so much
water everywhere that there’s no point
for them to come to a big dam and lie
expose I close but in winter and there’s
no water they have to come here and they
become hot spots for lipids so nothing
really much happening at treehouse only
off carry on and see what else we can
find I see there’s the impalas now from
our impalas that tree our sets are
looking a bit petrified to go down to
the water
it seems you across to Byron who’s got
some others that hopefully look a little
common in these ones well it’s very very
windy back what I wanted to show you is
exactly what I thought was gonna happen
we’re gonna get to these clearings and
we’re gonna see loads of animals or just
Impala but animals aren’t in the
clearing look how close all these Impala
are together and a whole herd is staying
very very close to one another because
they know these conditions make it very
difficult to listen out for predators or
smell predators so I’ll stay a lot
closer and be very very aware of what is
going on around them but it makes sense
for them to stay in the clearing I can
keep a lookout for any potential danger
just before that just saw some other
movement there is one or two warthog
moving through day two just to the left
of those Impala and actually moving
through also quite clever
I’m staying close to the Impala palanca
water will be alerted that is predator
around
hearing some Franklin’s calling I’m also
gonna listen out for any alarm calls any
sign of had an eye and parlor alarm call
or anything like that maybe a kudu bark
but interesting behavior this is what I
wanted to show you it’s amazing how all
these animals know but these conditions
they need to stay close together they
need to be very very aware wonderful to
see those tails all swishing around
getting flies off of them number of
little flies at the moment Bush is very
green and especially after all the rain
that we had all very very active now
this is exactly the spot we had those
wild dogs yesterday last night these
wild dogs came and they lay down here
exactly with us Impala it’s amazing how
one day you can have a predator in the
next day prey in exactly the same
position wonder where those dogs went I
think I ran north I think general
consensus was that they ran north across
our boundary into buffers look and I
think even all the way up into Mannie
Leyte which is not that far from you as
a crow flies
so let’s call it you you actually asked
just what I was explaining about the
tails and you’re right it is it is
because of the flies I mean you saw I’m
not sure if you quote this morning’s
Safari but we were on bush walk the
amount of flies net to around us while
we were walking it was quite unpleasant
so I know what does Impala are going
through all right since we shall we
continue let’s see what else these
clearings have in store for us gonna hit
a little bit further down
it’s funny how animals will take a bit
of shelter in weather like us it’s not
very pleasant to be out they know it
they choose to hide rather than move
around too much okay let’s head back
over to Tristan I wonder where he is now
I’m not sure I’m down on Weaver’s nice
barn we picked up the checks for this
mail line going sort of southwards
towards Weaver’s nest and now hitting
South in this direction so I just want
to double-check that there’s no male
line lying somewhere here and it might
be that same one that’s maybe a tree
house damn on little Gary cuz that’s not
too far what you can see is big dark
ominous clouds that are being blown in
at a rate of knots at the moment they
don’t look ominous from a point of view
that they look like a lot of water but
they look like they’re bringing a
massive cold front and the air
temperature is dropping by the sick and
it’s starting to get quite chilly Archer
quite quickly now off on my left-hand
side there is a big bird sitting in a
tree so it looks like a pale form
Wahlberg’s
yes pale form Wahlberg’s so probably the
one that nests close to twin dams and is
being absolutely blown about all over
the place you can see how it’s kind of
leaning into the wind a little bit so
normally the walberg sits a lot more
upright than that but this one is having
to sit quite horizontal and kind of duck
its head a little bit to try and just
balance itself and see how much the tail
is actually moving up and down in order
to keep that bird balanced while it’s
sitting on top of their tree it’s
getting blown about all over the place
and feathers are being a bit winds
ripped and this cold wind that’s coming
in I think is a situation that’s going
to need to a lot of birds of prey being
down on the trees this afternoon there’s
no thermals to be written and in wind
like this they aren’t really going to be
effective in hunting zone and then we’re
gonna find a lot of our birds of prey
sitting on top of trees and taking it
easy now what I want to do is just try
and check in these male line tracks see
where they go and see what they got up
to last night
Dail burrowing birds of jummah other
than all of the birds in FC that burrow
into the sugars and all kinds of other
blankets when it gets cold no there’s no
real burrowing individuals that go
underground and spend a lot of time
underground and then come out so all of
our birds pretty much are either tree
nesters or there are individuals that
will mess on the ground but not
underground so they don’t actually go
into it now there’s some disturbance on
the right I just can’t see nicely the
light is so soft and there’s so much
wind that a lot of these tracks end up
looking quite windswept
so I’m just trying to see what’s going
on yes there’s the male line tracks he’s
here but there’s no blood on this
particular track at all that I can see
I’ll try and just move a little bit so
VM can get it on camera but you can see
what I’m talking about hard difficult
tracking becomes in soft lights now a VM
let me get out for you so I can show you
exactly the track that I’m talking about
in fact I’ve even lost it a little bit
but no there it is I can see it now so
here we go this is the track now must
try not to get around it so there it is
there now you’ve got the toes at the
front yeah like that and then here is
the back pad on that area now that is
one track for this male line and he’s
going up the road and won’t down the
road so I think it must be the same
individual that we had well that is
under little Gauri but let’s just
double-check on the fire break maybe
it’s one of the Birmingham’s that was
tracking this male down it’s interesting
to have a little look but tracks are
really tough to see they’re not easy at
all it almost just looks like a plain
white surface at the moment so we’ll try
and kind of follow these and and see
what we get but I think these might have
crossed south into little Gauri already
so Samar the reason we have less big
male lions than lionesses is because if
you had as many big male lions as you
had lionesses on safari you another
situation where they’d be just complete
chaos all the time the amount of females
that would be around there’d be so much
fighting for those females and to be
able to mate with them then inevitably
males get killed and so that’s why in
this less of them is that the
competition over females is so much more
as opposed to females fighting over
females doesn’t really happen you know
you don’t have a situation where females
fight with each other
and nests it’s two different prides in
which case they normally come together
fights a little bit and break apart
whereas male lions will actively chase
each other will actively try and kill
one another in order to bring those
females back in or to be able to take
over and dominate as well as they’ll
then go in and kill the young male Cubs
and they’ll chase some adult males away
and so that’s why you only tend to see a
lot more lionesses than you do male
lines also lionesses can move around in
a smaller section than what big male
lions can bring male Lions will try and
expand as far as they can and have big
territories whereas a lioness typically
will try and have a much smaller area
and be encompassed by a male that has
multiple sort of females in his
territory so that’s why you see less of
them good while we carry on and see
where these line tracks go that sends
you back across to byron who’s got
something that lions hunt every so often
we do indeed so again lots of antelope
out in the clearings
now there must be one two three four
five six seven eight nine at least nine
no 10 kudu that I can see in this area
all standing very close together see how
they’re all facing different different
directions really interesting behavior
and all to do with the weather and
almost change their normal behavior
depending on on the weather and those
females will be very careful and alert
to protect those
cut and carbs looking little 1 1 if some
flies were biting it I’m just gonna move
forward slowly just to get a better view
of those cooking but they’re all
standing very close together and I
usually usually I mean you’ve seen could
they tend to move around Oh
Justin’s medicine found a find a
chameleon it’s gave a look quick I’m the
winner
whoa we had a bet who could find the
first chameleon and well valdi is
actually the winner he spotted the
communion before me so well he let me
try and go forward a little bit and see
if we can get it a little bit better
than the angle that we’ve got now what a
communion is doing walking around in
weather like this I’m not quite sure
where did it go of him it was right here
somewhere so I’m gonna try and just get
off and look and here it is right at him
so it’s coming out from there it goes so
hello little one how cool is that color
on that chameleon it’s got the most epic
coloration because it’s kind of probably
out on the road I was trying to just
show itself to you this big vehicle that
was coming down so it’s got these Browns
and whites and electric greens and it is
really a very pretty female by the looks
of things it looks like a big female and
actually looks as though she might be
carrying eggs look uh swollen her tummy
is you see how a bulge that tummy is at
the moment and she’s not flaring out to
make herself big and puffy because you
can’t see the orange throats so I think
she might have little eggs inside there
that she maybe might be wanting to lay
but how cool is this little chameleon
is the best thing now I know you get
very excited about this but we haven’t
seen many comedians you see look at how
deep her body is at the moment I wonder
if maybe there is some little ones
inside they’re interesting but the
coloration of this particular chameleon
is absolutely phenomenal it is really
super bright and
the kind of camouflage that it’s trying
to show is very cool where are you off
to you must be careful now a comedian
out in the open like this is in a lot of
danger there’s a number of birds archaea
that go after comedians so particularly
things like the grey headed bush Shrike
they are very dangerous to comedians
they come out and they’ll grab him and
then a number of different snakes – so
Boomslang vine snake numbers cobras
they’ll all go off – a comedian look
it’s just peering at us through the
grass you see that they are the coolest
things and they’ve got these incredible
eyes where they are able to manipulate
each eye individually or from the other
one now Jeff you say that’s a first for
you to see well Jeff I hope you’re
enjoying it because there are super cool
little creatures and like I say not
something we get to see every day so
that’s very cool and I didn’t expect to
see a chameleon at all in conditions
like this this is not really Communion
whether we find them out in warm
evenings but that was super cool so I’m
glad we got to see it and so while we
carry on and see what else we can find
or what other mysteries they are in the
bush that scene you bet across to buy it
and yes could you well that’s awesome
haven’t seen a chameleon in a long time
I’m hoping to spot them at not that we
haven’t seen one so it’s the first one
we’ve seen for ages see they’re hiding
in the long grass I think I’ll watch
these oxpeckers and the kudu cleaning
all the ticks off those years and get
right in there
as I was saying
nice to see all these and these kudu
together I haven’t seen a group this
size for quite some time but all very
very cautious in the wind
wonder what that could ring on there
looked a little little hard you see its
swallowed whatever it was in it at times
because these could whose have these
really long necks you can see when they
regurgitate food again being ruminants
you can’t see that little food ball come
back up and then they start chewing so
let’s let’s actually see if this female
does it get in it do you see that
exactly what I was speaking about yeah
wonderful so she just regurgitate to
that food again
now she reaches it that’s why the the
most there or actually all the Antelope
do it they’re obviously ruminants very
efficient digestive system regurgitate
what they fed on it’s mixed with them
some enzymes and and stomach juices and
then that helps digest it even further
and then eventually they’ll swallow it
again but it’s broken it up enough and
again it was another one another one for
that chicas full of food
mark I’m not sure I would I would guess
at times the oxpeckers don’t actually
get the entire tick off the animal and
maybe leave their head behind for those
of you don’t know when you pull a tick
off you’ve got to be very careful to get
the the head of the tick out because
often that head
digs into your skin and and will sit
then when you pull the ticket brakes off
and that can cause a bit of an infection
now with the oxpeckers I mean they comb
so finely across the skin of these
animals that I’m sure they usually get
the whole tick but at times I think it’s
inevitable that the head breaks off on
the animal and we saw a lot of ticks
this morning on Bush walk I haven’t got
itchy yet but I’m waiting because a lot
of pepper ticks around at the moment –
not very pleasant
no I’m just listening to something I can
hear you see all those kudu watching
actually if we just zoom out a little
bit
you see those could very focused I can’t
you know what there’s the guinea fowl
alarm calling now let’s see if I can
maybe get through there it sounds like
it’s quite fine the block but guinea
fowl definitely alarm calling at
something and all these could who turned
it and face that way immediately I
wonder if there is a gap to get through
here look at all these could be together
it’s amazing
one Impala he’s he’s clever staying
close to the kudu can you follow very
unhappy I’m going to go look in there
quickly let’s go across to Ellie and
find out wishes I’m going to try get in
there and see you if we can find what
these guinea fowl are upset about it
seems like Byron is normally lucky when
guinea fowls are alarming around him so
I’m hoping that there will be something
in that particular area we are on our
way to chatauqua we’ve bumped into a
herd of elephants so it’s always
wonderful to spend some time with them
now the ones that we’re looking at are a
little further away from where we are
but I just want to stand still because
there are some on the bushes very close
to us and they might come out onto the
road in the next few minutes or so so I
think it’ll be worth it were patient and
then they’ll just might pop out in here
now updates front in Ghana it seems that
he’s moved and he’s no longer where we
left him this morning
so I think we’re still gonna try and get
down onto that area see if we can
perhaps figure out where he’s gone and
if not then we’ll just go around chitter
maybe we’ll get lucky now this is the
particular elephant that we were talking
about that’s very close to the road but
I think she’s just taking she him we’ll
see now taking its time coming into the
road there’s a little one
hello almost there weapons are also they
alert and the one they don’t
particularly like it and I would imagine
for them it’s even more annoying because
with such big ears the e of the wind is
probably a bother more than anything
else are you do I need to move the car I
think maybe I am going to move the car
slightly so that we get a bit of a view
because it seems like elephants always
act that they’ve like they’ve got all
the time in the world and well pretty
sure that they do so it’s just I think
that if we go like this perhaps we’ll be
able to get a view of them without
getting the poles of a roof and the way
how’s that for you fern does that work
all right so it’s the mother and the
most recent of spring and it seems like
there’s one at the back as well so the
last two offsprings that she’s had are
you guys eating the grass yes they’re
eating the grass at the bottom of the
tree I thought perhaps they were
interested oh I don’t know if you can
hear that but there was a lot of
rumbling
Jessica officially there are only two
elephant species there’s the African
elephant and the Asian elephant but
there’s a lot of debate going on in the
scientific and conservationist
communities because there’s another
species or subspecies of elephant as
they want to consider it now which is
the forest elephant very similar to this
particular elephant that we’re looking
at very similar to the African elephants
they do live in the forest in Africa
they’re just slightly smaller now
because they are completely separated
from the normal elephants that we see
over the savanna elephant that we see a
lot of people want to classify them as a
completely different species because if
they’re classified as a completely
different species because there are so
few of them then automatically they were
warned a higher conservation protection
so there’s a bit of debate in theory
though we only get this beautiful one
that we’re looking at and then the Asian
one and the Asian ones are slightly
different from the African one the Asian
ones are a little bit more docile and
smaller years and more pigmentation
around their face now we’re going from
giants to tiny ones and it seems like
Justin has got one of the smaller
creatures of the bush I do indeed have
one of the cutest creatures which is now
obviously disappeared because well this
is what happens whenever you want to
show a creature off it disappears but
there’s a special tail sticking inside
there so that is a little tree squirrel
that is kind of hidden inside of that
area now there’s another squirrel that’s
alarm calling just in front that I want
to go and investigate quickly it’s I
suppose weather that you could have
things moving around we’ve just seen a
chameleon obviously moved so maybe a
snake could be around but I just want to
double check that’s why there’s a bird
of prey right yeah so is it a battle-ax
eagle yes it is a better year eagle okay
okay okay
you don’t have to worry it’s a battery a
eagle it’s just it’s not going to hunt
you so the squirrels going crazy because
it’s seen a bird of prey but the reason
why is because it just sees that shape
and it things to itself probably this is
drama when you hear anything as the
eagle flying off so this squirrel is
probably petrified that anything with
wings is going to be some sort of death
that’s going to come towards it so
that’s why it makes all that noise now
that it’s flown away all is quiet okay
you got your point thank you for showing
us that that’s not every day you get to
hear them
[Music]
we needed it once more for us
that’s what we always look for when we
say schools our alarm calling that’s the
sound that we’re actually talking about
and it’s a very cool Sun now I’m sure
there’s different frequencies pitches
and tones depending on whether it’s a
bird or a leopard or a snake but
honestly I don’t know what the
difference is between them I find with
lipids a far more insistent in what kind
of repetitive and a lot quicker and a
lot higher but this is I mean it’s
difficult to say what they actually
looking at so you always have to go try
and investigate it and that’s why we
always follow up on alarm courses you
never know what you’re gonna get from a
squirrel anyway we’re going to send you
back across to those big animals that
Ellie is still with and hopefully they
will come out and have a really nice
view of them well they haven’t now it
seems like they’re going again now
unfortunately they have crossed into a
property that I cannot follow them but
at least for now we’ve got a nice view
of them heading into the bush and you
can see the branches are moving a little
bit so I think that’s why they’re not
all that happy now it sounded like there
were some more elephants behind us so
I’m just gonna go and explore perhaps we
can see a few more elephants coming all
the way from chitra Dam and then we’ll
just delay or search for some Ghana a
little bit maybe he’s actually at the
dam himself I wouldn’t I wouldn’t put it
past him to go back to that spot but
there are a few spaces where I want to
go check for him but if there are more
elephants down down at the dam that
would be very nice to go and view them
if they’re drinking now I’m hoping
they’ll be there lots of wood
now it was funny because when we were
sitting with those elephants earlier on
I don’t know if you guys could hear the
1p mo grumbling and she was quite
aggressive about it and the little ones
instead of coming on to the road where
she did it’s almost like they had to
walk in the bush and then cross where
the rest of the herd had crossed further
ahead it’s almost like she said no you
don’t this is not the road for you to
cross you need to do it further away and
then they went all the way and around
cliff would have been just fine for them
I mean just fine for them to walk around
it but clearly there was something that
was unsettling her and she just felt
that her youngsters have to do the route
that the other ones had done now let’s
see hopefully there will be some
elephants at the end of the road or at
the end of the rainbow if we can find
either the rainbow or the not you sure
perhaps they were calling from far away
because with this wind I wouldn’t be
surprised that noises that are being
carried a little bit further if we are
on the right end of the wind
now I doesn’t see him for now that there
are any elephants down at the dam or
maybe they are contrary see from here
but we’re gonna approach and go down
there anyway see what’s lurking I took
it down this afternoon perhaps some
bigger things perhaps some smaller
things and we’ll see what birds are
braving the weather
infinity gave him some reserves do you
have fences in between them the reserve
that we’re in now it’s part of the
greater Kruger National Park which means
that this reserve has got no fences to
the eastern side with Kruger National
Park now there is a fence on the western
side because that’s the limit of the
natural or the protected area and the
idea for that fences to prevent animals
from going into the local communities
but it’s just the most western boundary
and we are or the sabi sand is that the
southern almost the southern part
central part of the Kruger National Park
and then there’s another massive reserve
more towards the north which is a timber
logical sea area which also formed part
of the greater Kruger National Park and
there is a boundary in between the the
main roads and again the human
settlements but there are no fences in
between all the different smaller
reserves that make up each one of these
individual reserves now further I think
we have found all of the Impala got
excited because there’s a tiny tiny baby
water book right here is that fine okay
sorry I’m still learning my I’m gonna
get my head out of the way because
there’s a tiny tiny baby water book it
seems like today is a day of the little
things you are just the smallest water
book I’ve seen so incredibly cute this
is a brand new one I haven’t seen this
one before
and well this morning was spent a lot of
time with a lot of water buck that were
around here with some youngsters so what
I think has been happening is this one
has been hiding in the long grass the
mother has probably not brought it down
here before and now that it’s a little
bit older than this is why she’s finally
brought it on to this area
surprised there aren’t any other water
bucking just the mail but maybe they’ve
gone somewhere foraging or they’re
somewhere at the end
other end of the open area who you can
see it’s not it doesn’t have its grey
color just yet it’s still of a tawny
color almost looks like a little Impala
yeah
Chris is saying it looks so fuzzy all
the way from MC and I agree with you I
feel like I want a baby water buck as a
pet it would be the best thing although
it would probably kill Justin kids baby
water bugs carry a lot of ticks or just
water bucking yet in general but that is
the sweetest face look at that and just
in terms of heights I would say that’s
what 45 centimeters tall Fergus do you
agree with that maybe a little bit more
50 yeah I think about 50 so very small
probably the size of a medium – yeah
medium size dog I would say oh so cute
and it’s already got its white ring
around its rump a tiny little target
maybe that’s what we should call him we
should call him target just because this
is a little one
very cute
Jenny a mini target but you say I agree
with you that’s that we should call it
mini target it’s very pretty very very
pretty oh I wish there were more because
then we will see what they get up to and
how they play now you see they’re all
surrounded by Impala and like I said
earlier I think we have found all of the
Impala in the service and they’re
probably in this massive open area now I
can’t go both ways sometimes with Impala
they’ll come into this areas because
they can see far away and they are very
protected over here because there is no
predator that’s gonna be able to
approach them without them noticing but
part of the issues also that because
there is a lot of wind the temperature
starts dropping so they’re gonna start
getting cold so they might have to then
retreat back into an area that’s a
little bit more sheltered just to be
able to maintain certain body heat
although they all seem to be eating the
grass I’m sure that’s gonna help them
its allies and just keep a certain
temperature you can hear the wind is
howling
that is that is the cutest little baby
water book and all of the baby impala
they seem to have grown fairly fast I’m
only seeing a few every now and again
that have that that small baby look to
them still most of them seem that
they’ve gone on to the sub-adults face
oh so pretty hi guys
all of you eating
20 Impala gestation period is about six
months normally they mates run about in
May and then they give birth somewhere
around October November it depends on
when they made if it’s a little bit
later than May their egos running then
it’ll it all change but it’s about six
seven months period depending on the
condition sometimes if the conditions
are not good
and they’re going through a way or we’re
going through a very dry winter then it
might just take the features a little
bit longer to develop so my the
gestation period might be prolonged for
a few weeks you almost look like a
little Impala where’s your mom there’s
an Impala going in between mom and the
little one I think there’s a little bit
of panic mode yep running the wrong way
you’re hiding amongst all of the Impala
you can almost pass for an Impala
yourself
seems like someone’s full of energy now
it’s realized that it can chase all of
the Impala it’s almost like little kids
when you take them to the park it and
they start running around chasing all
the birds I almost feel like that’s what
this little one is doing its realized
that it can chase everyone away very
cute
now you’re just being brave aren’t you
terrifying everyone all right do it
again one two three go
or maybe not having a standard with an
Impala
it’s funny how his ears and how alert he
already or it already is just looking
around and when it was a little bit
scared I just stood still yours
all around and then started running and
it’s looking very healthy as well I
think it’s fun has been able to feed
well so clearly she’s producing very
nutritious milk for this little one to
be looking in such good condition very
beautiful coat as well you’re a brand
new one only a few weeks old
mini target that is very cute it’s
smaller than an Impala oh that’s not
gonna be the case for longer if you
manage to make it to adulthood you’ll be
quite big definitely bigger than an
Impala it’s fascinating that the colour
is so similar because as they grow older
then it’s gonna start losing that
coloration and it’s gonna become grave
just like its mom was I don’t know if
its legs are starting to get that color
already if it’s perhaps been in the mud
or in wet soil and that’s why it’s
looking that colour now the male is very
interested in this female he’s picking
up a lot of smells that she’s putting
down every time she stopped to urinate
he’s been smelling her and I don’t think
it’s for mating purposes via her house
because she’s had the little one he’s
just trying to decipher what it is
that’s going on but I don’t think she is
well clearly she’s just had this young
one so she’s not know she won’t be ready
to mate until this one is weaned and
sort of almost ready to settle into
adulthood very beautiful rumps
cool breeze and pollen water bug can eat
the same plants water bug tend to be a
little bit picky about the grass that
they eat so it’s a lot of study suggest
that they prefer grass that’s very high
in protein and they’ve got to be around
water a lot to just be able for the or
they’ve got to drink a lot of water
because of the type of grass that they
eat so they’re often found around this
area’s very close to water now and
follow their they’re very adaptable
creatures so they can feed on on many
different plants and though there are
considered mixed feeders they won’t only
eat the grass but they will also eat the
leaves of the trees and fruits here and
there so I think it’s a case of the
Impala can eat what the water bugs eat
but just the water bug don’t really eat
what the Impala can eat if that make
sense I know it sounds like a riddle but
I promise you it makes a lot of sense
this is nice
seems like chitra Dam has been nice and
sheltered we’re gonna carry on exploring
see who else we can find out here
perhaps another baby but while we do
that let’s head back to byron who’s
rejoined the lions I have I haven’t we
have some heads up at the moment so I’d
followed up on those guinea fowl Elanco
there was a predator around just not one
with rosettes
it was a Warburg’s eagle so those guinea
fowl obviously would be nervous of the
Warburg’s the Warburg’s do to catch and
hunt birds and that’s what it was and as
you got to the Warburg’s flew off but
but it just shows you those guinea fowl
there alarm calls when that a whole
group of them alarm call like that
there’s definitely something there it
could be a bird of prey and it could be
a snake it could also be a leopard so
that’s why we went to go and have a look
but it was a Warburg’s eagle anyway I’m
hoping that now we’ve come back the
temperatures dropped quite a bit it
feels quite chilly at the moment so I’m
hoping these lines decide to get a bit
active and move around
I’m not sure Joan so no the Lions don’t
purr and I don’t think lions are able to
purr the only big cat that can purr and
that purring sound that we would
associate with cats the only big cat
that can do it is is a cheetah cheetah
duper but Lions do not lines do not
their voice box is slightly different
and I don’t think they have the ability
tipper to matter that cartilage and bone
in the throat that allows him to raw
same of leopards leopards also do not
Ali’s got a reptile heading into the
water we do and it’s going back into the
water
Oh almost there almost there sorry Frank
that was my bad who we were trying to
get a view of the crocodile heading back
into the water because just as we saw it
it’s almost turned around and started
heading back and I think it’s getting a
little bit too cold for Vlad as well
since decided to go probably where it’s
warmer rather than stay out here in the
cold breeze that’s starting to come now
we can still see its tail in its head
he’s definitely standing still and I
wonder if it’s per house there’s a hippo
not too far from him the wind is
definitely howling now it’s such a long
tail come on do it again all you have to
do now is get out and then come back in
and then we’ll be very happy about it
it’s amazing this morning we came here
and we couldn’t find traces of em or at
least I couldn’t find it but I wouldn’t
be surprised if he was just on the back
part of the island because we didn’t
check here this morning mm-hmm look at
those teeth so white and clean
it looks quite menacing when the teeth
are exposed like that who wouldn’t
really try and make my way towards any
sort of crocodile and it’s funny because
where I come from we have also I’m
originally from South America and there
we have so many different species of
crocodiles and Caymans and they’re not
as grumpy as a Nile crocodiles that I
should say they’re very the Nile
crocodiles have a reputation of being a
lot more ferocious and and aggressive
than perhaps some of the ones that we
get where I’m from and in those areas
even you can have a dam like this and
get in the water with them and they will
pretty much not do anything to you a
nice word you know if it’s a caiman if
it’s a bigger species they might have a
bit of an issue but you can swim very
close to them and they want to attack
them whereas here in South Africa I
would never ever dreamed of coming close
to any sort of water body where there
are hippos or crocodiles involved but it
was worth checking but no sorry that was
all me
now let’s see who else is around here
lots of hippos I don’t seem to be all
that playful today hello bush buck are
you guys doing today
baby you water buck well they could have
been there they’re about the right
colour
now I think the rest of the water bug
that we saw this morning are actually on
the other side of the of the dam so
we’ve got the water buck on the ride
with the ring around it’s from the bush
buck the ones on the left and then the
birds on the left those are the
blacksmith brothers and then what is the
other one could really tell what it is I
think it’s just out of reach for my
binoculars but it looks like it like a
white-faced Whistling Duck
perhaps so my favorite Ducks are around
now um where should we go I think we’re
gonna see if maybe we can find the
Gosling’s again the the Egyptian geese
Gosling’s but while we do that let’s
head back to Byron and I hope that it’s
not as windy there as it is here yeah
but definitely I don’t think it’s as
windy as it is there I know what took to
a dam is like we’ve got some yawn so
there’s a bit of activity stretching
cleaning grooming one another so we
might be lucky and these lines might
decide to get up I do however hope that
they walk this way I’ll tell you why
it’s because if they go away from us
that bushes so thick we won’t be able to
follow them through there I can tell you
that now and would be extremely
difficult we’ll have to drive around and
wait on the other side and hopefully
they they come through
I was laughing at Ellie saying she’d
love to have was a little water back
yeah young water back but Justin would
get upset for the tics I would imagine
couple goals in the bush finding a pet
that you birth
okay so comfortable
[Laughter]
that’s very difficult to have pizza here
not a good idea
I was just thinking about children chat
with them and I haven’t been there yet
on this I’ve driven past but I haven’t
spent time there it’s maybe tomorrow I’m
going to ask if I may be allowed to go
to Chitra I have a look at this one in
the lift yeah cool breeze I’m the Lions
you know what to be honest I don’t know
how they decide it’s time to go it’s
just when they feel comfortable when
they feel like they’ve rested enough and
they feel like it’s cool enough that
they don’t exert too much energy then
now they’ll get up and move
I just want to try and maneuver off to
the side yeah Christine hold on a second
try get a view of these playful lines
but while I do that I’m Annie seems to
have found those Gosling’s at Chitra
damn it’s go have a look
sorry Byron we were with the Gosling’s
but then something else caught our eye
and it’s this niala that are on the
other side this they were doing their
sideways display and it’s normally a way
for them to resolve any sort of issue
when it comes to hierarchy especially if
there are females that are ready to mate
that are involved in the process now it
seems like the wind is bothering a lot
of the animals as they stand still and
carry on listening and of course now
they’ve stopped doing their display as
they were a few minutes ago I’m hoping
they’re gonna go back to it because it’s
very interesting I think I can hear some
guinea fowl alarming in the distance but
it’s very hard to tell with the wind now
there we go you see that Daniel are
roughly raising their head their hair
they’re called Pilar erection and
although I think the wind is not really
helping them all that much what they do
is they tend to approach one another
sideways and I think this is not as
aggressive as it should have been in
perhaps the wind that’s actually
confusing me but when they do raise
their head like that what they do is
they’ll go and stand next to one another
to try and make themselves look bigger
than what they really are and the whole
idea of raising their heads and doing
this displays almost like when the
elephants go and they open their ears
and raise their heads to make themselves
appear bigger than what they really are
to try and intimidate the opponent and
not having to get into a fight so that
way everybody knows who’s who and you
don’t really have to fight for it it’s
already decided just by looking at each
other now there’s random female in the
middle so I wonder if she’s perhaps the
reason for all of this or all of this
some males being around because
neeyala yes it can be sometimes found in
the close proximity but these are a lot
of males one two three five six males in
the same area then there’s definitely
someone that’s perhaps ready to May
that’s attracted all these males and
that’s while they’re all here you see
they’re all keeping their distance and
it’s funny because they’re they’ve just
left this MIMO in the middle she could
be the one that’s potentially ready to
mate or if not there are quite a few
other females around so I wouldn’t be
surprised if this one just sort of
happened to catch herself in the middle
of all of them beautiful no I think
let’s let’s go back to you the Gosling’s
I think maybe they’re just gonna have to
you start moving now I apologize for the
wind and maybe if the sound is coming a
little bit funny we’ve got four
Gosling’s though I’m happy to report it
doesn’t seem like we’ve lost any of them
in the last few days which is always a
success probably means that husana
hasn’t been around here trying to eat
any one of them but they’re all looking
they’re all looking it and they’re
looking bigger and still they’ve got
that beautiful killer well look to the
back of them now these were the ones
that we were looking at earlier on when
byron link to us and they are all very
fluffy and I think they’re also lying
because to each other because they’re
probably very cold yeah it’s almost like
they were standing on top of one another
very cold little things so to try and
keep warm that’s often what they do a
lot of the birds they just require on
body heat or the warm that it’s
irradiated by each one of them to keep
warm we’ve got the two little ones that
have gone into the water perhaps the
braver ones and then the other two that
seem to be the bigger ones at the back
did you just fall while scratching your
wing I think that’s exactly what
happened yeah I don’t think this would
be the pet that I would want though but
I feel like I’m not in it to have
now all the Impala are running on the
damn wall and I don’t know if it’s just
because of the wind or if it’s because
there’s something else that’s running
behind them earlier on the guinea fowl
alarming but it could have just been
anything else it could be nothing it
could be just the wind spooking them but
they’re all running back into the open
area Paulo some antelope can swim the
water buck are very good at it that’s
part of the reason why they’re called
water buck name they’re always found
close to the water but the impala can
also swim if especially if wild dogs are
behind them I’ve seen them often that
I’ve seen them often go into the middle
of the dam and try to get out of the
reach of the water of the wild dogs
because the wall dogs will not get them
in the water
so different different antelopes are
more adapted to more aquatic environment
the puku for example or the leche in
Botswana are more adapted to this type
of life so that you can oh you can see
them more often than not in the water
but just to go in the water for a swim
and to have fun no the waters more of a
means to an end
you are so cute but you guys are on the
wrong side of the open area everybody’s
on the other side so that’s perhaps
where you should go so that you’re
protected with the rest of your group
one drifting ganas not perhaps somewhere
around here and that’s why they’re all
getting so spooked and running around so
cute you’ve got to run a little bit
faster to keep up with your mom now the
opener is a very good place for them to
be as I said earlier they can see
anything coming from quite a distance
but I think that in this particular time
I don’t think there’s anything specific
that’s lurking in the darkness or in
between the bushes I think it’s just
they can’t hear very well probably a lot
of snails are being taken away and
they’re just have to be a little bit
more on edge just to make sure that they
don’t get caught unaware and then
something pounces on them because
obviously that would be or probably
would be the end of it I think maybe
we’re gonna go and explore in the
direction where the waterbug are facing
let’s see let’s see maybe some of the if
ting ganas around there if there are any
traps for him but while we reposition
and go all the way there let’s head back
to byron as it seems like the liars are
starting to wake up
well this has been a bit of movement and
these lines still cleaning one another
but heads are up so far more movement
than we thought when we found them
earlier on drive but it’s so you know
what the base rates you describe the way
there is it is a bit miserable at the
moment and there’s no other way to
describe it it’s wonderful and cool
which I’m really enjoying the cool
weather from the heat that we had
yesterday
and but but the wind and that does make
it a bit miserable and I think this is
hot chocolate and Safari live weather
maybe maybe I’m going to head back to
camp and then I’ll watch Tristan and
Ellie for the rest of the drive all I
have some hot chocolate
what do you think sensor
Big Boss Man Tristan apparently gave
Costa BD I gave Costa BDR and shook his
head so that’s a no-no what if Justin’s
going to give me a disciplinary after
this a little bit of playfulness on the
left since a look no see these young
lines soon as one gets bitten in there’s
no more playfulness young lions always
really great to watch because they do
get very playful and they look at that
stretching and jump on one another
especially when the pride starts to move
and they get quite active
so quite there are a few birds calling
in the distance cape turtle Dave sounded
like perhaps a scrub Robin so there are
a few birds calling not seemed too many
of them okay holding on tightly in this
wind
probably well-hidden heard some Aramark
babblers earlier too so the birds are
out
I did see that little cab I am but it
was it’s hidden from us at the moment
it’s lying a little bit further to the
left with another lioness through
basically through that tree through the
back there that’s also I don’t think
you’ll see it but it’s in there
somewhere but don’t worry about it since
I will wait and see if or when they
start moving hopefully get to see them
alright well it’s that time where we
need to go back to Tristan and find out
what is actually been doing and where he
is
Oh Byron I’ve been and sitting in f/c
having a hot chocolate I thought you
that’s what we were going to do you told
me you’re gonna come and join me but you
never arrived so I’ve done that’s not
I’m just getting back out again just to
go and see what’s going on what I want
to show you guys I just had a thought
quickly it’s going to take me a little
bit of time to get there you will see me
reversing because I want to go and show
you something very cool but we’ve been
in the meantime while we kind of get
there I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to
really yeah cuz I haven’t been NFC
having hot chocolate even though it
sounds like a fantastic idea Byron I’ve
been driving around looking for Tanya
and so far absolutely no sign no sign of
really anything actually no birds no
sort of insects just wind that’s all
we’ve had so far and it’s been pretty
miserable at the moment you know I
believe there’s lots of rain to the
south of us around you Hannah’s burg
area so wonder if maybe that’s going to
come up this way at some point right you
might be wondering why am i driving here
what is you what am i up to well I’ll
show you fairly shortly just give me two
seconds to get in here quickly and so
that I can show you exactly what I mean
now there we go valdi is that close
enough so I wanted to show you guys what
happens when male lions versus lipids
climb trees and how different it looks
when a male lion goes onto a tree now
normally what we’ll find is when a
leopard goes onto a tree you’ll find
little core marks like these so if you
have a look with my finger is bill deep
there’s little slices like this and this
is probably from where tani dug in and
she took a carcass up a tree we know
that then tenure came along and he went
up this tree and you can see the
difference between his clothes look at
how deep that is etched into the wood
it’s gone right in I can almost put my
pretty much my finger inside there and
so that’s his cause and it gives you an
idea of also just how wide his claws are
here’s the other one over here so it
would be something along that’s sort of
lines
that’s how wide his poor would have been
as he tried to grab and go up and you
can actually see them all the way up as
he fought his way trying to get through
long
deep gouges into this marilla tree now
it’s something that’s you don’t see very
often and if you came across here
somebody would probably think that
Wolverine had been around but it’s not
Wolverine from the x-men this is a
tenure from the Birmingham male
coalition that went all the way out
there to go and fetch those two
different kills that Tandy had in this
tree over a month ago so just pretty
insane to kind of see the depth and the
size of these paws when they on the tree
and you see lipids kind of markings and
they’re always quite small and you can
see it quite clearly but just to see the
width in these it’s just absolutely
phenomenal it’s an amazing thing I can
show you just with my hand these are the
claw marks over here and that’s just the
size of my hand in comparison so his
pores are bigger than my hand basically
which is pretty insane and you can
actually see where he slipped you and
his claws kind of came down and he moved
and he was battled his way up into the
tree as we know he almost fell a few
times so thought it would be just a cool
thing we were right share we might as
well have gone into it and had a little
look and showing you all what it looks
like when Lions climb marula trees the
perm ruler – he suffers a little bit but
the lion himself did quite well I think
tenure did a sterling efforts to get up
into that tree to see that right now I’m
gonna try and find an animal of sorts
and maybe even the very lipid s that had
the kill in the tree and while I do that
17 Ellie has spotted something so it’s
quickly go across to her we have spotted
a good old friend Tristan this is indeed
10 Ghana now he is not too far away from
cheated and funny enough and I think
he’s being very clever there are so many
Impala around here this is probably the
best spot for him to start hunting this
afternoon now I wouldn’t be surprised if
he’s done this on purpose he’s walked a
certain distance from where he was he
was probably the top part of the meloa
near the cheetah property now he’s gone
pretty much towards the end so I don’t
know I would say maybe about 1 K 2 KS
and Max but he’s now found another
comfortable bush were to sleep in and it
is
very cold so I’m sure he’s chosen that
spot for shelter and as the Sun starts
to go down or as it gets darker because
it’s already quite dark he might try and
head in the direction of all the Impala
and the water back and Egyptian geese
and all the different creatures that are
at the moment seeking shelter in the
open area very clever of you ting honor
you know exactly where to go and he’s
probably still a little bit weak it’s
probably the reason why he’s been
hanging around a certain area and hasn’t
covered much of his territory I’m sure
he’s just waiting to you gain force
again or recuperate a little bit from
his illness so that he can then try and
start moving around he seems to be
underlined and I mean he stomach seems
to be a little bit fuller than the last
time I saw him which was a few days ago
he seems to be doing a little bit better
he’s still a bit on the skinny side but
it seems he’s on the man which I’m very
excited about kids I’ve come to really
enjoy taganas company all the way from
last-minute leopard to you being the boy
that features in the most so I’m hoping
that he’s going to do well tonight
they’re the stars are almost aligning
for him with big storm approaching lots
of when so he all he has to do is just
be very careful of how he approaches all
the different creatures are out and he
might get lucky
infinity gaming you’re wondering how we
can identify which Leopard it is well
normally there are a few ways of trying
to identify the Leopard
you can look at their spot whisker
pattern so the spots on top or whether
they’re just on top of their whiskers
and that they’re different for every
Leopard so they’ll have maybe four on
one side five on the other side and if
you can see the whole face and you can
just get an idea of the side profile now
in this particular case we know that
it’s him because it’s not too far from
where we saw him in the morning but also
we saw him get up and then move around
and then go back into the bushes so the
more we tend to spend time with some of
the leopards the easier it becomes to
identify some of them you can almost
tell straight away and psychic a I think
it’s this one and if there’s any doubt
then you can always use their spot
pattern to be 100% sure which individual
you’re looking at in this particular
case I think more than by looking at
whiskers or anything else we’ve gone by
location where he was a morning where he
is now
and when he got up he’s got this this
look he’s got a face so it’s easy to
recognize if you I don’t know how to
explain it but if you imagine a lot of
people you won’t be able to tell their
faces apart at first if they all look
roughly the same but the more you look
at them the easier you it becomes for
you to start memorizing their features
hey boy
looking a little bit tired aren’t you
well he’s got a good spot underneath
this Bush willow seems like a bush Widow
to me and he is lying and fools in a
very leopard spreaded way like you know
he’s butter on a toast or something
that’s the way he’s spread and it would
be very hard to see him coming from the
other way we just wanted that we came
unto this edge because we just wanted to
check there was a possibility of him
moving not too far and we just got lucky
in the fact that he was here which is
Vega and because we’re very happy cuz
now we can see him and enjoy him for the
afternoon which is more than what we had
plan on was I thought he might have
stayed in the area where he was in this
morning but when I heard he had moved
the possibilities of places where he
could have been were pretty endless so I
think log has been on her side a little
bit and there’s always that wonderful
gut feeling that sometimes tells you to
turn in there I direction I think that’s
partly what led fergan Isle unto this
particular spot today I think that was
it wasn’t it now he’s sleeping and you
can see the wind is still howling
beautiful now it seems like Byron is so
with the Lions and I’m hoping they’re a
little bit more active than the leopard
well there’s a bit of movement Elizabeth
I’m glad you got to sitting on again so
I’m assuming is in the same place he was
this morning and but you know these
lines this every now and then one of
them will stand up and move around and
then lay down and then another one will
be the same so I’m not a lot of movement
but but they’re definitely more active
than the pride we saw yesterday I’m so
Holland Holland since let me try this
quick here sorry
tell you why because the the little cab
is hiding in here but there seems to be
a lot of activity from them just through
here maybe we can get a view if I go yes
can you get them through there let’s see
let’s see maybe we can show you a little
bit of the activity from yet some the
sub-adults but the the little cub is is
in there just to the left it’s hiding
there is that it yeah that’s it very
cute
earlier one of these sub-adults walked
up to the cabin they were having a bit
of a standoff
Steve so there are animals that
obviously carry diseases out in the in
the wild not like madcap up at sea maybe
this youngster climbs into the tree and
this dead tree sometimes they do do that
they get a bit curious and active and
Steve so these Lions last year they had
a disease called white muscle disease
and they got that from a food deficiency
they weren’t getting I don’t think they
were getting enough fat and the
nutrients that they need from their food
so it causes the muscles to stiffen up
and and can cause the lines to die but
they managed to get through it okay and
then they can sometimes get mange
so mange can occur in some of these
animals also with draught Annette what
else wild dogs get canine distemper if
they sometimes pick up from we don’t
really know how they pick it up at times
occasionally well the most plausible
cause is getting in contact with feral
dogs
but yeah I think what else the Buffalo
the Cape Buffalo that you have in this
area they get a bovine tuberculosis at
times but that’s also from being in
contact with with local cattle and that
so that can spread quite easily but but
you know generally the animals are
healthy and those diseases can kind of
come and go or only affects them when
they get and get much older and they’re
all weak then the chances are probably
higher that that disease is gonna affect
him and they’re going to die from it but
generally the animals are healthy
there’s a little cub playing with wool
the things being picked on he or she’s
been picked on at the moment
this is very peaceful sitting watching
the lines well I’m still going to sit
and wait I think it might be worth our
while I’m hoping so but let’s go back to
Le with that male Lippitt and see what
ting gone is up to has not moved all
that much if at all whatsoever but we’re
gonna keep guard here just in case he
does decide to get up and start moving
it’ll be nice to see him approach all of
this area and I’ll be quite curious to
see if he is going to try the open area
and all the different prey species that
are lurking in there if he perhaps is
gonna try go somewhere else and try his
luck in an area that’s a little bit more
sure til sheltered where he can bump
into you perhaps something smaller like
a tiger or steam book or perhaps a
lonely Impala that’s looking for some
warmth out in the out in the bush you
had a very deep sleep and I don’t blame
you in a Sunday like today Jessica
leopards are considered mostly solitary
creatures so unless you see a mother and
a cub or perhaps young siblings together
it’s very rare to see more than one
leper together so it’s very pointy
details and during their lifetime when
they will actually spend some time with
some other leopards they don’t hunt
together they have seen and funny enough
gdh was and sent me a video yesterday so
haven’t been able to see of two young
male leopards sharing a kill when they
were still old enough not to you have to
share a kill they didn’t hunt it
together but there was a little bit
apparently of violence in between the
two of them but because they were
siblings and they almost forcibly shared
the kill now this particular meal that
we’re seeing he seems to be quite
sociable with his offspring as well and
not too long ago we had a case where he
was allowing two of his son
that are not directly related to one
another allowing them to to share I kill
with him this where husana and Thumba
now it doesn’t happen all that often but
I find it interesting that it depends
when you talk about animals it depends
of what area you’re talking about
because now a lot of the leopards have
been studied in different parts
different reserves perhaps here’s where
there isn’t a high such as high density
as there is here in the Savi sand which
is considered one of the areas with the
most leopard density in the world so in
this particular spot perhaps because
there are too many of them they seem to
be more sociable or be more tolerant of
other leopards than perhaps leopards in
other areas as always proves that
there’s a an exception to every rule and
you’ve got to take a lot of factors into
consideration and every time you know do
you think there’s a rule there might be
someone that just shows you that you’re
entirely wrong but in general terms no
leopards do not hunt together and they
do not share kill unless it’s a mother
and a young one or let’s in some sort of
situation where it’s leopards that are
somehow related but that that would be
as far as I would stretch it I’ve never
seen let’s hunt together the same way as
lions do you for example you are
completely asleep so you are well aware
that there’s a lot going on his ears are
not that alert so I think he’s just
trying to block the wind out and it
almost seemed when he got and laid down
in this but but he was trying to get
underneath all that foliage and just
trying to get and squeeze in as much as
possible but I think perhaps the
branches are too low for him to try and
do that the spot where he was in in the
morning was a lot better for that well I
seem as I the other cats who funny
enough also have some spots are kind of
playing so let’s head over to them yeah
we’ve got a little bit of a bit of
activity here little cub isn’t that cute
picking up little sticks
cool breeze I don’t I don’t think
animals experience boredom like we do
you know no I do say this often I think
we need to be very very careful of of
anthropomorphizing animals too much
giving them human emotions like boredom
I mean that that I think would be very
unfair to to assume that they get bored
I don’t think so animals animals do what
they need to Lions they rest during the
day that’s general lion behavior I don’t
think it’s because of boredom or
anything even the playfulness that you
are seeing now from them waking up and
you can just see that little cap it’s a
bit tricky all in Reverse little hope
maybe know as I say that cap decides
it’s had enough maybe it’s going to go
and bother someone else
oh then I’ll move forward now so I don’t
think it’s that’s definite actually I
don’t it’s not I don’t think it’s
definitely not boredom definitely not
boredom wow this one to the left was
stretching and clawing away at the bark
of the tree
what is the thing that’s really
interesting jumped into that tree
if it saw something you just reverse a
little bit and if it saw something go
into their tree I don’t think so
doesn’t look like it I haven’t seen any
movement they’re gonna very quickly no I
think it’s just being a boisterous
youngster
sounds like ting ganas on the move so
let’s go across to Le and see where that
male Lippert is going well we thought
that he was gonna get and go but he’s
just gone a few steps ahead and he’s
laid down again so we can just oh right
it’s not going into you here sorry
somebody’s
there you go
all right there we go yeah sorry my
radio doesn’t copy everything you guys
say I’m on the eastern side just come
towards the south and then you’ll see me
there
the bottom side close to the lodge side
so if you come completely towards room
11 then you’ll see me there I’m on the
open area side all right so it’s a
little bit tricky sometimes to try and
direct people into certain areas but
because there are obviously other
vehicles and other guests that would
like to see a leopard and perhaps this
is their only chance ever to see a
leopard then we like to sort of help
them or direct them into this particular
spot now it’s in Ghana like we said
earlier he walked about two steps and
then he sat down and that was about it
we did think that he maybe was gonna try
and hide in another bush and sleep in
there but perhaps he feels like the
grass is long enough to keep him
sheltered there he’s looking a little
bit tired and I must say it’s a little
bit sad seeing him like this because
he’s not looking with a lot of energy
but maybe it’s just because he’s tired
right it seems like the Lions are full
of energy so let’s head back to them
they are they’ve been some of these
youngsters jumping on one another and
clawing at the trees let’s see there’s
two youngsters at the back just keep an
eye on them let’s just wait and watch
because have been bouncing up and down
there a little bit now all that clawing
and trees scraping would be would
probably be just to clean the claws and
stretch them out a little bit first lady
dude Lion claws grow back if they break
them I don’t think so no I don’t think
they do I think if they lose a claw I
think it’s it’s gone but I stand here
correction if see I’ve never seen a lion
with a missing claw before seen him with
missing teeth broken teeth and then and
those teeth don’t grow back
so I don’t think that closed you but
like I said never seen a line with a
broken claw it’s difficult to see
because they retractable so and this the
claws are out we’re not going to know if
there’s a broken claw nut watch you’re
gonna get to what playful behavior
that’s what we wanted that’s what we
wanted to see I’m jumping on each other
starting to wake up see and all this
playful behaviors constantly
strengthening the bonds between the
pride look did you notice and deadlines
s look how my ears open back now that is
what we refer to not that one sorry the
that one that was walking there she
pinned her ears right back when she was
growling at the others that is that
agnostic behavior aggressive behavior if
you were walking near to bump into a
line that’s the look you’re going to get
you’re going to get the ears pinned back
and and then and the line probably
growling at you if you had to bump into
them when they fight they do the same
sure will be very far from ting gana
your ting ganas on chitwa chitwa so it’s
about 20 minute drive I would say from
here maybe less maybe if we just had to
drive straight away about 15 15 minute
drive to eight in Ghana is I would say
maybe
ten or so kilometers maybe a bit more
about ten kilometers so what is that six
miles maybe at least I would say
somewhere on there sure killing a bit
chilly Archer
see also eating grass we saw hookah
Murray that male leopard that we found
the other day we saw him eating grass
too and it’s not because the Lions are
becoming herbivores they doing it to
help with digestion and help clean the
stomach sometimes causes them to
regurgitate maybe a hairball or
something like that but it does help
with digestion okay well let’s go across
to Tristan and he’s apparently got a
duck they did like to show you I do I’ve
got the most prehistoric looking duck
that we gets out there with that big
shape on its horseshoe shape sting on
its beak and so it is a knob bill duck
the male we saw a female this morning
and they don’t have that big shape on
the beak and sailfin so really very cool
to see it it looks so strange when you
see it it’s amazing kind of thing to
have and what it’s for no one really
knows too much it’s probably a
resonating organ that helps with their
calling and attracting females as well
as showing their stature to a female but
it’s not really got any other purpose
than that but amazing isn’t it it’s an
incredible growth that they’ve got
coming off of their beacon like I say a
beautiful duck there they’ve got this
white plumage with these kind of Gray’s
and in blues all over the wings blues
and greens very very pretty and VM and I
were just talking about how you know
it’s windy win a mud wallow the size of
your bathtub
it’s got waves on it because that’s area
there’s being blown all over the place
and that’s poor little duck has also
been bopped around and it’s like I say a
waterhole that is tiny so very very
strange that has been burnt around but
our duck will probably sit there there’s
lots of them around at the moment and
they love these small little pan areas
like this they love to food to feed lots
of small little Wohlers and so wouldn’t
be surprised he stays there lots of
females about at the moment as well that
are kind of moving around looking for
mates and so I wouldn’t be surprised we
see a lot of young
ducks fairly soon as well very
cool-looking bird though isn’t it but
weird-looking anyway
well we carry on and try and see what
else we can find still no luck with
Tandy let’s send you back across to
byron who’s well-fed far better than we
have this afternoon
yep I think we have and now these line
lines are starting to get up and move
but in the wrong direction not the
direction we wanted them to go but we’ll
see where they where they decide to move
they could possibly move a few meters to
the other side of this this is where the
old Heine den was could possibly move a
few meters down this little track and
then decide to lie down again
but we will try stay with them for as
long as possible
Jacek and you know what if one line is
old or sick the rest of the the the
prides they just watch this playfulness
look at that that it’s amazing
Jessica the the rest of the pride has to
continue with with living their life
they can’t I can’t stop and stay in one
area if there’s no food or water they
need to carry on it is survival of the
fittest art if a line is a line is old
can’t keep up with a prior to a sick or
injured four can’t keep up there is the
proud will still hunt and they will
allow it to obviously feed so they’ll
still provide food for it but if it
can’t keep up they’re not going to just
hang around and wait because that could
be that could potentially be to the
detriment of the pride so they need to
look after themselves first they won’t
necessarily change their behavior purely
because one line is is sick let’s see
where they’re going to try move three a
quickie lot of these youngsters chasing
each other there’s a little cub it’s at
the back end I don’t want to startle it
it’s just right ours looks beautiful
hold on
look at that whole line of lions walking
through the bush
that is lovely I’m just trying to think
where these liens are going to go
see that it could potentially I don’t
know I don’t know them but that is a
beautiful view look at that magnificent
now I would think maybe maybe even
though it’s cool they might head towards
some water the nearest water to where we
are now is Gallagher pan but they’re
heading more in a directly almost
directly east slightly southeast so I’m
not sure
but says we thought with the day getting
a bit while it’s been cool for a while
but now I live obviously rested enough
in deciding it’s time to start moving
and potentially potentially look for
something to hunt perfect conditions
very windy and and it will help the
Lions it will definitely aid the Lions
and I think this pride is due for some
food because they do look hungry they do
look very hungry so hopefully they will
be lucky this evening
Grateful Dead the Lions you know what I
actually think I’ve spotted something
just judging by the behavior
and just see because this line this is
circling around back this way look at
that that’s different
so Grateful Dead I think they may they
may head into the wind too so they can
hear and smile a bit better but but the
wind is kind of swirling a little bit so
as long as it stays really windy
that’s interesting behavior the rest of
the pride of going that way and she’s
definitely circling around now I have
seen lines do this before one or two may
head around if they see potential prey
they’ll loop around and actually try and
chase whatever prey it is that they’ve
seen towards the other Lions Lions have
been known to do that makes perfect
sense
a lot of the pride the rest of the pride
to lie in ambush and then go around and
and potentially try chase whatever it is
towards them but I don’t know what
they’ve seen if they’ve seen anything
I’m trying to have a look at youngsters
that one’s curious as to where the other
lion went to go forward a little bit
let’s see if we can have a look if whoa
they’ve spotted something in the bush
these thick areas could be ideal for
kudu or niala could also be the odd
impala 3 huh I don’t know
sorry stump yet yeah I’m not gonna go
further I want to chase the the
youngsters stress scanners through the
bush a little bit and just see if I can
see any movement you see that’s a thing
the Lions eyesight is so good also did
they perhaps smell something so don’t
know if they smelled something or if
they did see some movement but the
others are moving off in the opposite
direction are to where the slide the the
lioness walked past us
little Cubs doll left behind probably
start following soon I don’t think it’ll
stay away from the rest of the pride
obviously knows maybe they’re hunting so
isn’t your honor that running past us
and Aston Bock the Lions are going just
as I thought
in the åland running three and I think
that other line is drove them straight
towards these lines but I think the in
the are lead dogs are off in the wrong
direction but how’s that if obviously
picked up on they sent to the smile this
little cap I think knew it has to stay
here it has to wait for the lines to
come back and there it goes
that was really unfortunate we had to in
Yola come rushing past and a Steinbach
that was exciting strategy that’s
exactly what we thought was gonna happen
that one walked around and obviously saw
these means in y’all and chased them
towards the rest of the pride but
unfortunately they didn’t get lucky but
we’ll see if we can try see them again
let’s go back across to le and ting
Ghana well not much has changed here
seems like ting Ghana is still busy
sleeping definitely has not even moved
now we know he’s roughly alert of what’s
been going on because there’s a odd
twitch of the ear probably because of
the direction where he’s sleeping little
things are flying into his ear we cannot
see actually any flies which is a relief
because this morning they were in full
force and just flying everywhere
perhaps there are little pieces of grass
that are going into his ear that we
cannot see other than that not much has
changed here so it’s quite interesting
to see the difference in behavior in the
same conditions of two cats in roughly
the same environment now the lion seemed
to have taken the opportunity to get up
and move seems well you guys Chris was
updating us and letting us know that
apparently the rain is coming down
already over there lucky for us here it
is looking darker in certain areas but
the rain is still not falling down now I
think that has helped to keep ting Ghana
in the physician than he’s in and that’s
perhaps the reason why he hasn’t moved
yet he doesn’t really have to other than
it being the certain level of cold that
it’s been since we found him he doesn’t
he’s not bothered by anything falling
from the sky so as long as it doesn’t
rain I think he’ll be quite happy here
and quite settled until a little bit
later on when he’s likely gonna get up
and try to move around and hopefully go
for one of the Impala or any other not
the baby water bucket in Ghana you are
not allowed to get the baby water book I
don’t think I could handle that
no that is unfortunately also part of
the things that we have to see in nature
is it’s the constant fight and for one
thing to survive unfortunately something
else has to perish and not always pretty
but it is part of our understanding of
how the natural system work in
seeing that everything has a reason
seems like there are a lot of elephants
in the distance that are trumpeting but
they are quite far from us and I wonder
if they’re not just being angry because
of the wind
we saw the ones earlier that female that
was running after youngsters and didn’t
want them to cross the road for whatever
reason it was where we were she just
wanted them to cross the road further
ahead
so could could be maybe the elephants no
Ferg is going to show us the clouds and
how quickly they’re moving you’re going
at a certain speed because obviously the
Wendish is pushing them but what’s
puzzling to us is that right at the back
almost you know behind this very thick
layer of clouds you can see a blue sky
but if we gaze towards other areas and
it’s looking very very dark and you can
still see that the cloud cover is very
thick so I’m not too sure what to expect
anymore maybe we’ll get some rain here
maybe we want but you see down there at
the bottom is looking quite dark and
gloomy so I think we might get a drizzle
a little bit later I mean it would help
us feel better that it drained once we
put their roofs on top of the car
because we had quite a long debate about
it this afternoon where Ferg and I were
convinced that it wasn’t going to rain
and as soon as we decided to get out
then we felt that maybe we should have
gone back and actually put a roof on
because it was looking quite gloomy but
you see now there’s there’s a strange
scenery of a lot of blue and then a lot
of darkness so who knows maybe chincana
knows maybe he knows that there’s no
reason to move and that’s why he’s still
here why would you decide to go into
another spot now the spot where he’s in
also funny enough it’s a bit of a clay
soil so it’s muddy soil and I think
maybe he’s there because it’s perhaps
it’s softer and less annoying than the
sandy patches right seems like Justin
has found some elephants so let’s head
back to him and figure out if his are
also making a noise
well we do have an elephant elephant
that is being blown about all over the
place and as well it doesn’t seem to be
too fazed by it so slowly kind of eating
as it goes and picking up grasses
funnily enough it’s not eating
marilla’s can you believe it it’s
amazing but it is feeding off a lot of
the grasses that have grown and so lots
of nice seeds that are on the grasses
and that’s perfect nutrition for a young
bull elephant there you go you can see
all of the grass being pulled up by the
trunk and it’ll find that it’ll eat just
the tops of the grass and then drop the
rest they’re not actually really
interested in the the stork element they
just want those seeded areas they may
see the storks dropping so they’re not
interested in eating stalks of grass at
the moment it’s all about eating just
the seeded areas and making sure that
they get that nutrition and don’t waste
space on stalks they want to keep as
much space for fruit and seeds as they
can but there really is a serious storm
but by the looks of things that’s
starting to blow in it’s all around us
these big dark black grey kind of clouds
that are coming in so that’s the the
nice side of things that’s where
everything looks ok but what’s coming in
from the south is what’s really a sort
of problem so we need to go out onto in
pilot planes I’m hoping our Elli will
come out on turn pilot planes as well we
right yes and is a little open clearing
right you’ll be so pretty if this
elephant comes out onto the open section
with these storm clouds but to our south
is where the problem north and south is
our problem so we’ve cut really big
black ominous clouds to the north and
very big black ominous clouds to the
south which means and at some point we
are going to get caught in all of this
so we’ll have a look here this is going
to be probably our best spot just to
have a little sort of view of what we
are in for this evening I’m pretty sure
we are going to get rain but you can see
on this side over here is all big dark
sort of blue-black clouds that are that
side and they look quite ominous which
is on the northern side of us and it
seems to be kind of horseshoeing around
us which is wonderful because we’re not
getting wet just yet which is great
and then it kind of lightens up towards
the western side and towards the
Drakensberg mountains and where there
should be the Drakensberg mountains and
the sunset and then as we start bending
off towards the left you can see those
dark clouds pick up again and it gets
quite ominous you can actually see
there’s quite a bit of rain falling down
to the southwest at the moment actually
you can see there’s the rain then the
edge of the sabi sands which is those
hills right there those three hills are
the western side of the sabi sands Steve
rain is fantastic just not when you are
in an open vehicle with a whole bunch of
camera equipment on it doesn’t really go
very well when you have all of the stuff
on here it causes a little bit of a
problem and we can obviously damage a
lot of equipment without having proper
rain covers on and when it gets really
stormy it’s quite difficult for all of
that plus lightning is a bit of a worry
I mean you’ve got antennas up in the air
and all kinds of other things but for
the environment rain is very good it’s
only problem with the rain that we have
is that we have a situation where it
makes game viewing incredibly difficult
so tracking off things like lipid and
and those kind of things becomes much
harder and so will probably go through a
bit of a lull in a lot of our sightings
over the course of the next sort of few
weeks of rain and then it picks up again
as it starts to dry out and things start
making their way towards water but
pretty epic skies if you ask me even
though they are the promise of rain is
there it’s still really cool just to see
them and it’s amazing how fast the cards
are moving at the moment of cards are
kind of ripping through the sky and
because of this heavy wind that’s coming
through now our bull elephant hasn’t
made it onto the open area I was hoping
that he would he’s kind of stuck in
those crosses and I wouldn’t be
surprised he stays in there given the
wind that’s blowing on this open section
it’s not really the best place for an
elephant to be but a few parlors that
have made their way out and onto the
open area and I’m sure they’re going to
spend some time around here there they
are just on the fringes
they’ll be livin finding themselves a
big open section to spend the evening
and they going to need it because I’m
pretty sure all of the Predators are
going to be very active this afternoon
already see me in corners starting to
chase it and animals and so I’m pretty
sure leopards will be along the same
lines good we’re going to carry on a
thing our bull alias he is just
disappearing deep into the thickets
behind us so he’s going kind of
northwards and not towards this open
section which I was hoping for and we
can see that the rain is kind of
skirting along on the western fringes of
the sabi sands now so well kind of
slowly but surely starts heading a
little bit closer to home because we
don’t want a situation where we get
caught up like I said we don’t have a
roof and the equipment is obviously
something we need to be aware of so
start slowly kind of moving back closer
towards home in case it does start to
rain while we do that let’s send you
back across to Ellie and Dingaan and I
wonder if he’s going to be on the prowl
this evening hopefully later on he’ll be
on the prowl it doesn’t seem like he’s
still gonna kind of proud anywhere I
think he’s still gonna sleep for a
little while longer and you sorry he
almost got caught there barri half I
think the camera decided to move by
itself but no even then kangana didn’t
move I think you wouldn’t perceive that
now Frederick and I have started to
layer up try and put some more things on
top of ourselves cuz it is getting quite
cold the wind is very cold and I’m
surprised he’s decided to sleep out here
in the open
I do you think that it’s gonna be a
little bit warmer where he is but I
don’t think that much warmer so he had a
better spot earlier on I think this
morning he had the winnings but I don’t
know if he got tired of it perhaps too
many cars because it was right next to a
main road so that could be the reason
why he decided to leave that spot other
than of course looking for water and
food but the second spot where he was in
I felt like that could have been a good
one he would have been quite happy in
there a little bit of shelter but
clearly not
the spot that his heart desired and as I
was saying earlier I don’t know if he
perhaps chose to come a little bit more
into this area because it seems like
it’s a muddy soil so perhaps that’s why
he’s here because the ground is a little
bit softer Jonathan not too many animals
like the rain in my experience I think
elephants might be some of the few that
thoroughly enjoy playing with the rain
and with the puddles but it also depends
of the rain if it’s a thunderstorm with
a lot of electrical activity then most
of the animals don’t like it and they
get very nervous but you’ll see after
the rain a lot of animals are happy the
birds are happy and they find mudbath
everywhere hippos can move a lot easier
rhinos Buffalo also like it because they
have so many more places where they can
go and just chill during the day but the
cats in general being true cats they
don’t seem to enjoy the water or that
much Oh frogs of course that those are
animals that are very happy and funny
enough torches as well we’ve seen so
many tortoises today on the road but
just crossing the road I think it could
have been at least 10 Heyford 10 of them
or so yeah yeah they were all over
Terrapins as well moving around frogs we
haven’t seen them yet but they would
probably be the happiest ones in the
rain because then they can go from
puddle to puddle and then that’s when we
started seeing them mmm I can’t think of
anybody else it would be quite a happy
in the rain well I think that’s probably
it what catfish barbels yes they would
probably be very happy and all the fish
than my deal in the dam too but I don’t
know who else that’s that that would be
my guess cats definitely not Kangana
would probably look very miserable
underneath the rain and the lions also
don’t particularly enjoy it
can you near the hippos calling in the
distance going with their lives
hello it’s one of my favorite sounds
just because I find it one of the most
hilarious noises that an animal could
possibly make it’s almost like they’re
laughing they don’t really talk they
laugh at each other all the time
commenting Ghana we just want to see
which way you’re gonna go see if you’re
gonna try a hunt Impala perhaps a baby
water buck perhaps go somewhere else and
start all over
seems like Byron is trying to find the
lion so let’s hop on his vehicle and
wish him good luck well I’m trying to I
don’t know where they’ve gone
obviously we does we missed it or not
must be lost him moving through that
very thick block I’ve driven right
around trying to get back from the
opposite side to see maybe we’ve got
some luck from around here but I just
don’t know which direction they went
they could have changed direction and
it’s it’s so thick I mean there’s no way
of getting getting through here so I’m
not sure I’m not sure just come into an
area that I think there might shop
trying to see if I can’t hear anything
maybe we get an alarm call it if they’re
walking through here I don’t know the
general as I said their general
direction was east but they could they
could very easily head through that
block sir they were basically coming
from that direction over there I would
say that’s where we were
maybe a little bit yeah that’s very very
close to where we were just having a
look at that map quickly exactly almost
exactly in that direction where since I
was now pointing the camera through
there a little bit further north so that
we’re heading east
I was thinking remember I said the
nearest water hole is Galago pan but
they could head east and they could just
go all the way through keep going and
come out at via tiller Dam
or they could come through and turn and
head north in that direction so I don’t
know I don’t know but we’ll have a look
here for a while and see if they come
through and then we’ll go past the pass
the dams and just check if they’ve come
through there let’s go across to Tristan
musical spotlight out
I do indeed it’s getting dark very
quickly now so we do have our spotlights
arts and there’s some beautiful kudu and
impalas just on my right-hand side under
a rather gloomy sky so we are going to
go into infrared because otherwise the
camera just won’t be able to pick these
guys up at all so there is reduce the
sitting under the tree and so they all
just kind of patiently moving towards at
least a bit more open sections and you
can actually see some of them are lying
down in the background even and I think
they just trying to find somewhere to
shelter from not only the wind but the
cold that is around as well and I think
there might be a few young animals that
don’t make it through the night and the
reason why I say young animals is
because they are often very susceptible
to changes in temperature particularly
quick changes in temperature like we’ve
had today so this morning we were doing
a cleanup of all of our vehicles and of
the the areas where the vehicles park
and it was seriously humid and hot and
everyone was kind of sweating but then
you you know you came out this afternoon
it’s a very different temperature it’s
gonna be a cold night tonight so a lot
of the younger animals they haven’t
quite built up you know the body fat yet
and the resistance to changes in
butcher and so wouldn’t be surprised if
we find a few young impalas or something
like that that maybe have died through
exposure and fortunately they’ll I know
we see very few Stanwyck on camera but I
can promise you that they are not a few
of them they are everywhere here the
problem is is that they are so shy and
flighty that to get one on cameras near
impossible I mean we try often and they
just run and so it’s it’s a very
difficult animal to get on camera but
there are hundreds of them here they
literally are everywhere and you know
the amounts have seen what we see in a
drive versus the amount that we can
actually get on camera is probably I
would say maybe if we get 5% of the
Steinbach we see on camera it’s a lot so
we just battle with that because of how
shy and skittish they can be they kind
of just see the vehicle as soon as you
stop their bolting off
same with duikers odds we’ve got very
little in the terms of kind of catalogs
footage of dark and stream of because of
how shy they are whereas if you think of
something like all the other animals
that we see you know he’s sent to be
able to watch them a lot long and they
don’t sit still like these could you do
unless you very lucky and you get a
relaxed pay or relaxed individual which
is few and far between aren’t you I’m
afraid so that’s why it’s not that
they’re not sure they lots of them it’s
just very difficult animal tips you keep
on a camera for any extended length of
time unless you currently live at that
very moment and you know that Steinbach
runs out in front often by the time the
link has come across that steelbook has
moved off and gone somewhere else anyway
let’s carry on let’s see what else we
can find
our crews are being like little statues
and seem as though they fairy children I
don’t want to stress them out of lights
or anything like that so we’re going to
carry on going forward and see what else
we can find
Joan yes there are a lot of cases of
rabies in South Africa not in humans so
much but obviously a lot in domestic
dogs particularly in rural communities
where access to veterinary services is
very few and far between and also just
you know access to the knowledge of what
rabies actually is is not really around
so lots and lots of rabid dogs on the
fringes of these game reserves that’s
why a lot of these reserves and Kruger
themselves have really kind of gone in a
mission to try and strengthen the
boundaries put in a lot more measures to
try and stop rabid dogs getting in and
the problem with rabid dogs is that once
they’re in they get fed on by all kinds
of predators so Leopard jackals
lions all kinds of things will go off to
a rabid dog and eat it and then also
what they do is they can miss they can’t
spread it to other animals so some of
the biggest vectors for rabies in the
studies that have been done particularly
in the sabi sands have actually been
animals that you would never guess or
vectors for rabies and one in particular
is kudu so could you are carriers of
rabies and can move it around all over
the place and then you know an animal
feeds off it and can pick it up
so kudu are big threats in terms of
carrying rabies in these areas they
generally die from it but they even get
scavenged by things like jackals and the
jackals then pick it up from there and
it’s why we’ve got very few jackals in
this area other ones are Mongoose so
lots of the Mongoose species carry
rabies quite regularly and they also
then like didn’t get scavenged by
various predators which then pick it up
so it is a major concern and something
that is being looked at by not only the
government but all of these in private
reserves they do a lot of efforts to try
and get veterinary services art into the
community so that the communities can at
least get access to it and they can get
sterilized and sorted out and treated
and make sure that they you know the
rabid dogs are being kept under control
and not getting into these wildlife
areas and will say just form a point of
view of human safety it’s good to try
and read Artes rabid dogs so that people
are not being bitten and
Contracting rabies themselves so you
know it’s a big thing and there’s a lot
big project that’s happening at the
moment we are like I said it’s come out
every eye links every two to three
months and they come in dot and and
vaccinate and do all kinds of things and
you know exterminate any rabid animals
that could be on the fringes of these
areas so Lots gets done on that regard
and and it’s it’s a good thing they need
to do it and hopefully that will keep
things kind of art
so Fabiola you’re saying and you always
thought rabies was spread by bites only
well not necessarily so if an animal
that has rabies is fit upon and there’s
a cut in the mouth or anything like that
then that animal can get its now just
want to turn off my lights as we go
through this big herd of Impala and so
you know it’s not only by being bitten
by that rabid animal you can pick it up
from some of the animals actually
feeding off a another infected
individual all right off we go and so
that’s why if you remember there was a
leopard in this area called Cindy lip
and Cindy lay well
tried to kill a dog which was then
tested once it was exterminated and was
found positive for rabies and that’s why
Cindy Leah had to go through a whole
treatment to try and stop him from
contracting rabies and it was a whole
drawn-out process but and that was only
because he you know he tried to feed on
that animal and he and he killed it and
punctured the skin and blood got on to
his mouth and had he had he you know not
grabbed the animal then it would have
been fine but he unfortunately tried to
it and the animal didn’t bite him so it
wasn’t that he was bitten it was more
that he fed on it and contracted it from
them a lot of actual myths about rabies
a lot of people you know will always
think that that’s being the ones that
carry the most rabies now bats can have
rabies but they’re not as rabid as
everybody thinks they are they don’t
actually carry it as much as what some
of the other animals Archer do so it’s
pretty interesting thing
Darla’s I’m not a hundred percent sure
about this and it’s something that’s I
have are somebody and they said to me
they weren’t sure so somebody that’s
studied and did a whole thing on rabies
and a whole project on it and it’s
whether or not birds can contract rabies
and he wasn’t sure the guy that did it
and to be honest I wanted two great
researchers and I forgot about it and
sometimes that happens is you’re kind of
by the time you finish a conversation
and you end up going somewhere else you
forget about these things but I’m not
sure to be honest I don’t know I’ve
never heard of it and you would think
things like vultures would carry rabies
because they scavenge of kills and I’ve
never heard of vultures sort of
transmitting it to you to other animals
maybe it’s because birds are not fed on
nearly as much that they can’t carry it
but we just don’t notice it so I’m not
sure what vultures do carry a lot of his
anthrax though that’s something that
they can spread quite quickly and so you
find it’s very very dangerous if
vultures are around generally you should
actually be trying to burn carcasses of
animals that you find that taste
positive for heme track so that vultures
don’t get into it because they’ll
transmit it to any water within the area
and then causes a big problem and
talking about vultures actually it’s
such as it’s a very sad day for vultures
in general in South Africa there was a
well not in South Africa actually in
southern Africa so there was a poisoned
carcass that was found in Mozambique
just near the Kruger National Park
border quite far north of us and it was
poison and it’s led to a hundred and
four vultures being poisoned and I think
of the hundred and 489 or something like
that have we did when they got there and
they managed to treat 14 of them I think
or something like that and they still
looking though they haven’t checked the
entire area and I’m pretty sure there’ll
be more vultures that will probably turn
up dead in that area which is very very
sad it’s a big big problem in these
sections is that what happens is
sometimes the guys will poison a big
carcass like an elephant and then they
get things like lions as well as hyenas
and vultures and particularly vultures
and they can get hundreds of alters in
one time which is very very sad I
believe the guy was arrested
whoever was responsible for it was found
and arrested and will be interesting to
see what sort of Justice is given handed
down to him or what sentences handed
down to him for the killing of all of
those endangered birds all of them are
on the endangered species list and I
believe of the hundred and four birds it
was I think it was 80 were white back
vultures that were dead and seven more
nine I think it was hooded vultures that
were also killed very sad and it’s never
nice when you think about those things
so there’s a lot of the problems that
face right so well let’s try and steer
away from the morbid and let’s send you
back across to ally with well a
beautiful spotted cat that will chair
anybody up after thinking about those
things we are barely with the spotted
cat Tristan no chingada has not moved
and I think we’re gonna give him about
another ten minutes or so before we
decide to leave him because I don’t
think he’s gonna be active anytime soon
it almost seems like it’s getting it’s
taking him a little bit longer to get up
and decide to move and by the look he
gave us earlier that split second where
he moved from the other spot where he
was to here doesn’t seem like he’s that
interesting and moving about too much so
maybe he’s recovering from his walk and
he’s just going to start moving later on
I mean he’s shown no signs of actually
wanting to get up anytime soon hasn’t
been head up hasn’t been opening his
eyes all that much there’s been no
grooming going on so I think perhaps
it’s going to be a very lazy Sunday
evening for him much like for the rest
of the animals all around I should say
now the elephants that we heard earlier
no idea why they were screaming I wonder
if perhaps it wasn’t another leopard
somewhere around but had that been the
case I reckon Dingaan I would have
probably gotten up now I know he looks
very in defensive in the area where he
is he’s chosen quite an open spot but he
knows oh he’s very clever so in lying in
this open spot it’ll be very hard for
anything to try and approach him without
him noticing and without giving him the
possibility of actually running away and
trying to get away from
any potential threats oh he’s also being
clever in that regard in the Bayon spot
where he’s sleeping so he’s got a few
tricks up his sleeve and I think he he’d
he hasn’t failed to surprise us yet our
Larimore one of the things that the cats
do to maintain their clothes sharp and
clean is scratching them on top of the
trees I believe Tristan earlier on was
showing you the claw marks of a leopard
end of the lion on the same tree so that
is the one way that it seems like they
maintain their closed screens just by
scratching on a tree or just any other
surface that might just sharpen them up
a little now it also helps that they
they don’t unsharpened they’re not on
sharpens probably not the word but
they’re not blunt like the ones of a
cheetah and because they’re retractable
close so when they’re not being used
they’re being tucked safely tucked away
back into you they’re casing and that
way they don’t get blunt and they are
just kept in a better condition for
longer I think this guy is probably 2
inches that and that’s part of the
reason why we never see the claws of a
lion or a leopard when they’re walking
because the clothes are always inside
and they only seem to use them whenever
they’re hunting or well of course
climbing trees because then they need
the extra grip whenever they’re going
places now they’ve got there for their
for clothes on their fingers and then
they’ve got the one on the top the Juke
low that that’s the one that can inflict
them over at danger now pyrin is looking
at a tree and I wonder what he spotted
in there so let’s help get over to him
and find out can you hold it all right
well I think I’m holding our spotlight
seems to be giving us a bit of trouble
here
scorpion hold on I’m just gonna jump out
a second
so there’s lions unfortunately we lost
them they disappeared I think they’re
going to come through a little bit later
but that block is quite big where they
were let’s see if I can show you the
scorpion though
I wish to spot him where is he there is
it see it’s very windy
these scene offenses they come come on
come on tres it’s amazing all these
scorpions are able to fit in in these
tiny holes this one I don’t think it
wants to come out now we saw the pincers
but they were they were right out and
and he was basically just hanging his
his pincers out and then as we drove
past I caught a glimpse of him in with
the lights they don’t like the light
very much and he put those pincers
together and basically went in like this
that’s why I was hiding in there or how
he got in there but it’s amazing that it
could fit really incredible I wonder how
big that scorpion is perfect little hole
to wait for some insect but I think he’s
too clever for us he realized we weren’t
an insect but you did see the pincers
come out a little bit thank you censor
it’s giving this is a spotlight on Wendy
I think this is a vehicle I’m on Wendy
it’s giving us a bit of trouble Oh cold
and Wendy not very pleasant
it’s difficult to find animals
especially nocturnal animals in this
type of weather and when I reform and
when I say nocturnal animals I mean like
animals like porcupine or
Bush baby eel little chameleons hiding
on trees this weather it’s very very
difficult market
I think the Predators will probably be
moving around a lot in yeah in this type
of weather like there’s lions wherever
they went
I mean they disappeared quite quickly
but there was a big block that they
walked through so they possibly just
take it walking through there and
they’ll they’ll pop out somewhere I’m
sure they’ll pop out somewhere
put it
gee I haven’t sorry I haven’t heard any
questions because I’m not plugged in
thanks very much sorry I wasn’t ignoring
you they kissed Travelocity for any
skunks in South Africa well technically
not let me just show you something
did my memo book out so there are part
of the skank family and we do have a
striped polecat which is not a cat at
all it’s probably more closely related
to the – well honey badger believe it or
not there’s an African striped weasel
over there I’ve never seen one of these
that kind of looks like a skank but
that’s part of the weasel family and
then let me show you quickly this is the
striped polecat that looks like a skunk
doesn’t it but it’s not a skunk it’s a
polecat sorry
[Music]
striped polecat I’ve only ever seen two
of these in the wild
now they do secrete a chemical defense
similar to that of the skunk not as
pungent but they do secrete a chemical
defense if they feel threatened I want
to see if they say anything about it
[Music]
okay so here we go if if threatened it
adopts threat posture with ramp towards
aggressor sometimes wonder how that is a
threatening posture anyway back arched
and tail held erect
if threat persists it squirts
foul-smelling liquid and fluid at
aggressor so exactly like a skunk but
this is not as bad as a skunk for my
understanding and
surprisingly you know what else does
that is is the honey badger
now honey badgers do also secrete a
liquid like a very musty smell and scent
if they are threatened really badly I’ve
seen it with wild dogs before they do
stand in they secrete and very strong
odor and which also deters predators
that’s why these honey badgers striped
weasel and and the stripe polecat are
all part of the most elite a family as
well as the Otters they are also part of
that family Mustelidae
all right so no skanks as such but
animals that are very very similar to
skunks okay let’s go across I didn’t
know who we are going to that sounds
like someone’s got an elephant yes I do
have an elephant Byron and so we are
sitting and there is an elephant’s
feeding and sustaining its gluttony via
a whole bunch of marilla’s on the floor
which is fairly typical for what we’ve
been seeing over the past little bits
and so there’s a li he’s just kind of
doing his thing and I’m surprised he’s
Arts in the open it’s so windy up here
on quarantine I would have thought that
this elephant would have gone into the
thickets and would have been able to try
and kind of get into some semblance of
shelter rather than being rights out in
the open but it’s a young bull so maybe
the fact that there’s no big males
around it’s taking its opportunity to
feed on these nutrient-rich resources
before the big Bulls maybe push it off
and it doesn’t have that ability to do
so so you’ll find young males will come
out and feed when the big bulls are away
I mean the big guys are on and these
guys unfortunately get pushed off a
little bit and kind of get moved on to
somewhere else they’re crossing the road
and ambling off into the night and
probably on to the next marilla tree at
some point it’s starting to get part of
the sort of way of that particular
marula tree right now byron whoo
propose that we all look for a certain
animal has found one as well and that is
very cool because we’ve been looking for
them the last few days and he’s managed
to find one and that’s the second one
for this afternoon yep finally managed
to find a little chameleon at night but
I can see why it has been difficult this
one blends in so well in the cart oddly
it’s holding on there look at that I
mean you can see it now because the
spotlights on it but it blends in so
well looks like one of the leaves well
I’m very happy managed to find a flap
neck flap Nick chameleon looks like
there’s something in its mouth but it’s
not it’s actually a little bit part of
the Brawn branch that it’s on it’s just
in front of its head it hasn’t got
anything in its mouth I just don’t have
thought to not would be the worst night
to try and find a chameleon clifford now
as far as I know the chameleons are not
on the endangered species list but
people still try to catch them and keep
them as pets and and that’s not ideal
you should leave the chameleons in the
wild but there are loads of chameleons
around and and a few different species
this is the only species we get in this
area though the flap necked chameleons
because of that flap behind the neck
really beautiful little creatures
fascinating little creatures but it’s
holding on for dear life over there I’m
not going to
Vincente well chameleons deter predators
so I’m gonna take the spotlight off of
it for them for now I think we’ve had a
nice view of it I don’t want to disturb
it too much
and Vincent chameleons deter predators
in a few different ways but obviously
the main one is camouflage and well it’s
to protect themselves not deter
predators but to protect themselves they
use their camouflage to hide the one
thing they do which kind of is to deter
predators is their adoration to my dog
hell is all black in pods blotches of
black and they puff themselves up
slightly and they hiss actually make a
hissing sound and that usually might
help stop a predator from going for it
and no that’s actually the the only
thing it does to deter predators no I
heard something very grumpy up ahead
Steve here’s how the whole did I find
that bit of practice working in the bush
and and looking for these animals
knowing what to look for it does take a
bit of practice but they they’ve got a
slightly different shape to the to the
leaves usually and also a slightly
lighter coloration which you can
occasionally pick up with with the
spotlight their eyes do not reflect like
other animals do so it’s literally just
the shape and maybe a slight color
variation in the leaf or compared to the
leaf there’s someone or something that
sounded very grumpy here and I think I
found it yeah it’s an elephant I’m gonna
turn my lights off
just going to sneak past this elephant
don’t want to upset I’m sitting it seems
very very relaxed I just heard him
trumpet and this is another elephant
Archer somewhere
all right well what a wonderful
afternoon despite the way that we still
got to see Lyons you’ve got to see them
being a bit playful Ellie good to spend
time with ting gana Tristan got to drive
around we’ll see you all tomorrow again
and we’ll see what we can find but thank
you to Justin Thank You Ellie and
obviously kirstine final control and all
of you for your questions and comments
have a great Sunday and we’ll see you
tomorrow morning and said Safari and
hopefully hopefully those lions make it
kill this evening good night and goodbye
you
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