comments insults even sometimes we get
and we’ll do our best to address all of
those today on camera Ronde rain there
is his thumb and Richard playing Ranger
in the back of the car with us Richard
is there of course because we will be
out after dark and so he’s here just to
look after us make sure we don’t
misbehave and make sure nothing else
misbehaves in our general vicinity it’s
also anton drive jamie Patterson Brent
has managed to break his car not sure
how so he is struggling to get any sort
of signal out towards us at the moment
so we may or may not hear from him today
a three feet drive from the Mara or two
feet at the moment we’re just going to
have a quick look at how the atmosphere
here has turned quite well I don’t know
if it’s dusty or sort of cloudy but
certainly there is some weather blowing
in and I shall also tell you of course
that Alice aka Surrey is directing today
and she’s being able assisted and by
faith who begins and I don’t mean that
in the spiritual sense I mean there’s a
human being called faith who is going to
start her hmm
directing next week she’s very nervous
she’s terrified probably a good thing
right then over there we have some
elephants walking through the forest
shall I just reverse slightly Jean dree
were you happy there he’s not speaking
anymore so I’m just going to say he
entered he shouts at me and tells me to
move and I find watching these elephants
walking through these woodlands well I
just think it’s a rather peaceful thing
to look at this and baboons in there as
well the olive baboon and olive baboon
rather than the olive baboon and we’ve
got water buck here defesa water buck
the grants zebra as I told you and some
glorious light after a day that has been
well I think I can safely say why tell
it it has been very blindingly bright
but it’s starting to change now Jamie
Patterson is putting me to shame already
which is
distressing to my person so I’m going to
hand you across to her with something
that doesn’t have stripes but it has got
spots and it is so very fast James must
absolutely not be distressed he didn’t
have to suffer through this morning’s
events here Fergus and I started off on
an absolute roll and then couldn’t find
the cheetah the entire afternoon but I
mean the entire morning Bassett is the
afternoon and we have found them all
five of the Musketeers wandering
straight towards us what a fantastic way
to start off at the sunset safari before
they get too much closer quick
introduction my name is Jamie and this
afternoon Fergus is on camera with me
and we’re very very excited because
we’ve been really looking forward to
finding these cheetah and we didn’t
succeed this morning as I said but we’ve
got them so don’t forget to send through
your questions on hashtag safari live on
twitter this is only the second time
that I’ve actually spent a long period
of time with these five boys so I’m very
excited and we will definitely be
staying with them once it gets dark my
only concern is the sheer horribleness
of the weather this afternoon I don’t
know what James is experienced across
experiencing across the river I can tell
you that it is a thoroughly unpleasant
here the wind is howling although I
think it’s better than the wind howls
and at least it’s going to blow the rain
away from us here we go here comes
number three a coalition of five male
cheetah for our new viewers this is very
unusual yes male cheetah do form
coalition’s they do there are social
cats
although the females are solitary unless
they have Cubs but to see a group of
them of five strong is very very unusual
and one thing that I’ve been thinking
about because these boys have really
established themselves in this area one
thing I’ve been thinking about is very
soon they are going to come across a
female and I’m just wondering I would I
would really love to be in their
vicinity when they do because I really
want to see how that situation plays out
I don’t think these boys are fully
get out their dynamics yet and nothing
breaks up a brotherhood faster than the
attentions of a woman we’ve got to go to
hope that we’re around when that happens
Christine welcome sending through the
first cheetah themed question of the
afternoon that cheats have a slightly
bloody face or am i imagining it I think
they’ve eaten today they do seem and not
all of them are full they do seem to
have managed to catch themselves
something so apparently this morning
they were quite hungry and Christine
that King cheetah is a type of basically
it’s a it’s a genetic aberration it’s a
recessive gene and it says it’s a normal
cheetah but it’s a sort of a a type of
gene that passes on very very dark
coloring so the spots almost becomes
stripes they’re slightly larger this
cheetah is walking right at us this is
so wonderful hello you you’re gorgeous
creature king cheetah are very unusual
because it is a recessive gene it’s not
a common gene if you have a recessive
gene obviously you need two parents to
carry it so it’s not something that you
see much of in the wild a lot of centers
breed King cheetahs as a way of keeping
that gene within the population which is
you know the there’s debate about
whether or not that’s actually necessary
walking right up to us and floppy that’s
really special he’s chosen to walk right
past us you can see he’s flopped down on
top of the tire marks near the road and
here come the rest of them a Marion
welcome to the sunset Safari you want to
know what aged cheetah cubs will leave
their mothers you’re looking at a
roundabout between depending on the mud
whether they are male or female you’re
looking at around about two years old
and they take quite a while to reach
sexual maturity much like letters
actually these five boys will be over
two and a half years old actually think
they’re closer to three or four years
old I’m not sure of their exact history
but remember Malaya is in this area
she’s got two young boys who are about a
year and a half if I remember correctly
I’m just just under a year and a half
which is going to be interesting know so
that sort of brings us to our next
question Jeff no I don’t think so
I could easily stand corrected but I
don’t think so I don’t think these five
have been dominant in this area for long
enough for them to be the fathers of
Malaya cos boys I don’t think they’re
old enough either
I think they’ve only just started to
really come into their own and I don’t
think that happened hey boys
I don’t think that happened over a year
ago this is so awesome right next to us
when they walk next to you at this sort
of level you realize just how small they
are
here comes d’Artagnan at the back with
his collar just to let you know that is
a collar put there by researchers
obviously to help to keep track of their
movements the most important way that
that research is used is in human
wildlife conflict hello gents
obviously you will see that there are
other vehicles in the sighting as you
know of course there are tourists here
look at those feet you can see the
non-retractable claws here interestingly
enough I read a very fascinating article
on that exact subject not too long ago
they were walking straight towards a
herd of all the beasts I mean it is it
is the middle of the day but you never
know the way that these guys hunt they
take advantage of the Valle de beast
panic I’m just gonna wait for the fifth
one to get a little bit further and then
we’re going to do the safari shuffle and
duck around some vehicles I really very
interesting ask about that so the
question is about whether or not cheetah
will stay away from lions stay far away
from Lions territories the answer is
they actually caught there’s there’s not
enough space for cheetah to have
exclusive territories and lie instead of
exclusive territories cheetah have to
have territories within territories
lines it’s just the way that they have
to do it
and so there is actually a lot of
research done into the way that cheaters
move within Alliance territory and the
conclusion is that they don’t actively
avoid they risk or they don’t respond in
a what’s when you try and anticipate a
problem and avoid it and participate
oh for goodness sake they respond in a
reactionary manner rather than trying to
predict where the lines are going to be
and avoiding the areas that the Lions
like they run away when they see the
Lions or they move when they hear the
Lions roar and close to them but they
don’t actively avoid them
a duck rides up ahead
just to let you know that this afternoon
brent is having problems with his
vehicle he has been trying to sort it
out but he’s having problems of the
broadcast equipment on this on his car
so he might not be joining us this
afternoon I don’t know how that’s going
to play out
as I said you will notice there are the
vehicles with us as well
but Fergus doing an amazing job here as
d’Artagnan
even ash that’s a really lovely idea I
have to say I really like that as an
idea
so even Ash’s wondering if cheetah will
race each other to show dominance and no
they won’t they will fight in order to
establish dominance and they can fight
quite seriously when a female is
involved it is odd for me having spent
so much time with lions recently it is
peculiar to me to hear the sounds that
they make while they fight because they
sort of squeak at each other but no they
fight if they want to show dominance
they fight I’ve never seen cheetah mock
mounting which is another way of she’s
sort of quite gently playing or showing
that they are dominant but I can imagine
that they do do it scent marking there’s
so much that’s happening in their way in
their language and the way that they’re
speaking to each other visually and
vocally as well but mostly visual
communication one of them is definitely
larger than the other than the others
one of them definitely had a meal arrest
them are hungry
it’s the one thing that we are so very
fortunate to be able to experience our
tear down again
James as we know with these boys two of
them are slightly I think slightly older
than the others but yes I think all four
or five of them art and age where they
are sexually mature and could meet as to
how it would play out it’s quite
fascinating to see one that’s so full
compared to the rest and wonder if he
killed alone or if he was just the first
to arrive and the first to have a chance
to feed they’re quite peaceful about the
way that they go about feeding
oh yes they’re all at an age where they
could mate and it’s going to be very
very interesting and I hope they don’t
split because of it I hope that the
conflict doesn’t cause a separation in
the coalition Francis in Israel I have
absolutely no idea but I’ll try and find
out for you because somebody here will
know obviously these Cheeta have
probably had company throughout the day
from various Safari vehicles so I think
somebody will know at first because
Brent told me when he saw them that they
were thin and at first I actually was
quite surprised because then I saw that
one was fat it could be itami it could
be something that they lost to a hyenas
I’m not entirely sure well there you go
see James we haven’t put you to shame at
all James has found another spotted
creature more patchy than spotty I think
but I’m most jealous of this cheetah
Musketeers excuse me one second well we
have a giraffe and we have another draft
and in fact three or four of them
feeding in amongst the bushes here on
the southern side of the strange line
and I wish I could tell you what they
were eating but I’m afraid I cannot
let’s just have a look see you maybe I
maybe I can get close I’ve certainly
seen them eating this bush before looks
like a flew here but isn’t
if it isn’t some kind of a shot ear or
Scotia
I don’t know if you get Scotia’s here
I’ll have a look-see perhaps but
definitely much less thorny than the
fair on offer right now Jumma where of
course the knob forms are all blooming
and that is a favorite spring food of
the southern giraffe as opposed to the
Masai giraffe which were looking at now
Tim you’re wondering what season it is
in the Mara 10 we’re just south of the
equator so the season is pretty much the
same as it is in South Africa it’s much
hotter than it was a month ago we’re
going towards I suppose what they’d call
summer here I think you’ll find it gets
pretty hot but it doesn’t get freezing
here and so the variation in the seasons
will be much less than it is at a place
like Juma and of also of course we’re
very high up here roughly 1,600 meters
or so where he’s sitting now maybe a
little bit lower than that but that’s a
mile higher for those of you working in
the imperial system so we’re as high as
Denver Colorado over here and then up at
Camp were another 300 meters a thousand
feet taller than that which is very high
up indeed okay that was our giraffe
sighting let’s move along I didn’t even
tell you my plan for the afternoon my
plan for the afternoon see I’m telling
you now is to go along the River Road
towards where Scott has two young male
lions earlier today I’m hoping that they
are going to get hungry and go on the
move and perhaps try and hunt some
things they don’t we’re gonna come back
around towards the escarpment see if I
can find well I’m pretty much sure that
they are my nemesis pride really the
sausages I keep trying to find them and
failing and we might just pick up as
well that a female cheetah and the two
very young cubs since brynne found him
we haven’t managed to see them again
alright leech probably just behind
little the bisque and so Jamie wants to
tell you about them
now our getting closer to the Valle de
beast they’re about to use a Croton
thicket to hide them away oh we taught
him to hold on hold on everyone
okay he’s just going across the road and
we just wait for this last guy to come
wandering through in front and then
we’ll move across the last cheetah boy
not nearly as full as the other one I’m
not doing too badly though at least we
know they have had one meal okay we’re
gonna go we’re gonna go loop around
towards where the Valle de beast are
we’re gonna give these boys plenty of
space so that they’ve got plenty of
space to maneuver
duck out of everybody’s way
Debbi the way that we ID individual
cheetah is to look at their spot
patterns so it’s apically the way that
researchers do it is to look at a
profile relief profile at a right
profile of the whole cheetah and the way
that I find works best for me in terms
of becoming familiar that’s quite nice
becoming familiar with the different
cheetah that we see is to look for
really obvious spots so it’s a look at
spots that form a face or a shape or
something like that so once we get a put
get to the point where we can actually
closely observe these cheetah boys we
get once they’re flat we can start
looking for some of the characteristic
markers obviously d’Artagnan is got a
collar and that makes life much easier
but that’s what we will be doing these
boys are gonna go into this thicket it’s
clever they’re gonna walk towards this
thicket and they’re going to go and
ambush the bull the beast on the other
side and what we’re going to do instead
of stag on their tail
is we’re going to go around to where the
Valda beasts are going around the other
side of the Croton thicket we’re going
to settle ourselves they’re marching off
okay
Oh Marian not all of them are fall
actually but yes they will eat once
again if they’re happy that depends on
the time of day and it depends on the
situation but if there are not full
which most of them are not in it will
that will determine whether or not they
decide to hunt again
and I think the fact that three of them
are not nearly as full as the other two
suggests that they might they might not
do it immediately which is why I’m I’m a
little bit here’s attend to duck them
just yet hmm it’s just let me just wait
one second and just see I mean they move
then they stop and they move then they
stop then they move and they stop yeah
let’s go around let’s go around
and also of course during the migration
all of the rules guard of the window
and all predators will hunt if the
opportunity presents itself whether
they’re hungry or full it’s their level
of determination is determined by how
hungry they are
Weyland
ricci cheetah can run cheetah can run at
well over 100 kilometres an hour which
is what is that in miles I’m terrible
with my upon versions 60 60 odd miles an
hour I seem to be angling back in this
direction I’m gonna cut through
and I cut through the center of this
thicket obviously five cheetah boys it’s
a very popular popular sighting and I
always try to skim the edges and stay
quite far away if possible
Rivaldo beasts have stopped on the other
side of this proton thicket
I’m going to do the same and we’ll just
wait we’ll wait patiently for them
so while we wait for them to pop out
which they are going to do its have a
peruse of what options are on this side
for them and we’ve got the wildebeest
we’ve got to the Thomson’s gazelle let’s
have a look and see there the world of
East some Tommy’s there as well the
Volta peace saw them earlier so they’re
on alert and there’s very very little
cover with these boys but there’s five
of them which is something that they
have taken full advantage of in the way
that they hunt the way that they move
through an area they cause panic they
don’t they very seldom reach their top
speeds remember that when a cheetah is
running at top speed or haven’t actually
really fully finished that that question
when a cheetah is running at top speed
there is a limit to how far they can run
and that is simply because they built
for those bursts of energy and it is
hugely hugely demanding on their bodies
and their muscles their muscle structure
is completely and the way that they they
sort of deal with the build-up of lactic
acid and all of that it’s completely
different to a human being that’s why
human beings can run long distance
marathons after training whereas cheetah
have to sprint and then stop they cannot
continue for a long period of time but
these boys they’re clever in the way
that they hunt they’ve also got the
advantage of numbers they cause panic
and then they split up
and because the wildebeest are running
in every direction because they’ve split
up one of them is bound to get close
enough to be able to catch something
whether or not they manage is a
different story but that’s what they’re
going to be after that’s the way that
they’re going to be the situation is
going to be playing out
Melissa I think life would be very tough
for a cheetah that has lost a part of
its tail because then it brings us back
to the conversation we were having about
their top speeds and the way that they
run the tail actually acts as a
balancing counterweight so when they run
and when they change direction and when
they duck and dive that tail is actually
they’re stretched out or contracting
whatever it has to do in order to
balance them and to help them not tip
over at the speeds that they’re going at
so if a cheetah were to lose part of its
tail I actually think it would be quite
it would be quite disadvantaged you
robably still be able to catch food and
we just have to hope that the food ran
in a straight line and didn’t duck off
to the left or the right – rapidly it
probably struggle with that but I think
it would still be able to function it’s
not as though the tail is an absolute
essential do you think a leg it probably
wouldn’t make it but losing a tail I
think it could survive I think that
these cheetah have probably gone to lie
down briefly Fitz wait and see though
sorry forgot was that they didn’t move
up this way everybody seems to be
sitting down that side as well though it
could easily have just walked and then
sat down for a rest I think we’re going
to be doing that a lot this afternoon
let’s just go investigate around
as I search for where my spotty Jeeter
have disappeared into the Croton
thickets James is having a spotty day
indeed with some hyena there we have got
some high oil a Heiner a spotted hyena
with it’s dinner it’s Sunday dinner are
not convinced that its taste is anything
like the sunday roast lamb that I my
father probably produced today
I think it’s an Impala how it died I
don’t know because I’m suspect this
female hyena did not catch it herself
I say female hyena because if you look
carefully there we are you can see
although males and females share
genitalia they do not share teats for
babies now I wonder with its smallness
and cuteness I’m obviously talking
rubbish because I don’t think there’s
any real need to a whisper but you know
sometimes you get into the rhythm of
things and you can’t stop it looks to me
like she’s got cubs
in other words I think she’s lactating
you might also be able to hear the
metallic scratching sound of layers
parrots flying overhead you might also
be able to hear the thudding as I hit my
head
trying to get rid of the Flies it’s very
irritating she’s looking down towards
the little culvert here I wonder
salivating as she is she doesn’t have a
little one there that has been
frightened back into the culvert by our
arrival straw head standing name yes
straw head do you say such menacing
teeth well they are but you know there
are no more menacing in fact I think
this so than the teeth of a lion for
example Oh Macey of canines which make
me shudder every time I look at them and
it’s not so much the teeth the teeth in
a on a hyena or blunter than there would
be on a lion and that’s of course
because they are used to crush bones so
they’re thicker and blunt a slightly
more robust and it’s the jaws that are
the really terrifying thing on an animal
like this hyena seemed to be
particularly enamored by the meals she
has there that salivation is really very
distasteful starting to feel got
nauseous
it’s gonna give a a few minutes to see
if a cab doesn’t emerge that is the
definition quintessential of eating
something with long teeth I feel now
look what you can see from those teeth
is of course if she turns her head again
come on you can see how robust those
molars are the collar seals which of the
back teeth much more robust and much
less sharp than you’d find on a lion or
a leopard
she is lactating heavily she has
definitely got a cub somewhere on the
place
yeah now Francis from Israel an
interesting question who said any
charges she could be taking this carcass
back to the den I mean said no and I’ll
tell you why I didn’t think so
for two reasons firstly if she was
taking it back to the den she’d be
taking it back to the den this is not a
big carcass she’s an extremely powerful
animal wouldn’t be much trouble further
just pick it up and walk with it so I
don’t think that’s one of the reasons
the other reason is that I think that
these culverts are extensively used
especially by lower ranking females and
it is entirely possible that oh you know
what it is it’s a baby topi it’s a very
newborn topi the chances are that if
this is a low-ranking female she’s used
this culvert as a little birthing site
for her for her cubs and what we know
about hyenas and about low-ranking
hyenas especially Francis is that
they’re don’t tend to take food back to
the den they’d rather eat and then go
back to the din and suckle their
youngsters because if they go back to a
den site where there are other hyenas
especially as low ranking females
chances are they will have their food
stolen by higher ranking members whereas
higher ranking females who will not have
their food stolen do sometimes take food
back to the dens okay I’m afraid we’re
going to have to move we have managed to
park somebody in here so we’re going to
carry on down the road
I’m sorry my dear right oh that’s quite
a nice shot actually hello you can see
this hapless little topi frame you can
see she picks it up with absolutely no
trouble at all I feel a bit bad now with
the reason she’s moving anyway she was
not in a vacant position okay let’s go
back to Jamie she’s managed to refined
her spotted guitars well it wasn’t too
hard to refine them I just had to go
back around the croton thicket and and
there they are
all five of them spread-eagled and I
would actually say pretty fat and happy
I don’t know what it was that they fed
on but they’ve enjoyed a meal now
probably what I’m going to do is I’m
going to leave these boys for now I
think that the chase I think it was a
recent kill and I think that the chase
would have exhausted them but I don’t
think that they’re going to move very
far from the spot and this is peak
viewing hours so there’s lots and lots
of people around here so I’m gonna make
space for for the people going and
adventure around a little bit go find
some elephants or something like that or
who knows maybe a leopard because as you
can see there’s lots of cars moving
through the sighting and we’ll come back
when we have the Mara to ourselves NYX
it’s fascinating isn’t it the way that
cheetah sleep so different to the way
that we’re accustomed to seeing lipids
and lions oh cool by the way look at the
bottom of the foot it’s a really nice
way to get an idea of the bottom of the
pad and the way that they attract looks
and the elongated three lobes very very
different Oh beautiful thank you teaser
how cool is that
sorry next give you one sec just struck
me that we had such a fantastic view of
it so the way that the cheetah is
structured and the fact that they’re not
the apex predator out here means that
they are they’re prone to sleeping look
they do sleep with their heads flatter
as you can see but they are prone to
sleeping with their heads up like this
and when they see per their heads up
like this it usually means at some point
you got to see movement from them but
when they actually properly bed down for
the night then they drop their heads
right down in the way that d’Artagnan is
doing but it the way that they’re
structured and the weight of their head
obviously allows their bodies and the
strength in their neck allows their
bodies to sit quite comfortably like
that I imagine it would give us terrible
neck ache if we were to do it and I
don’t act like you don’t really see
lions or leopards doing that Lori yes it
is one of the reasons that cheetah are
structured in the way that they are so
Laurie is wondering about their small
heads and yes that plays a role into
their aerodynamics it also helps to
reduce the weight that they have to
carry obviously the heavier there are
the harder it would be in the more
muscle they’d need to run and then you
know it’s it’s counterproductive so that
is they’re not adapted to crunching bone
it’s one of the ways that they differ
from things like those hyenas that you
saw with James they’re not adapted to
break into carcasses and crunch through
heavy bone they don’t need that by force
pressure the only thing they need to be
able to do is to be able to suffocate
their prey and they do that by the
stranglehold but otherwise they don’t
eat the excessively powerful jaw of
something like a howl you know or even a
lion and that means they don’t need the
same muscle attachment points and
they’re structured in a way that is
completely different and remember that
although they are part of the same
family of although they are part of the
Phelan family felidae family they are
not closely related to lions or leopards
they’re a very very different cat
something completely unique semi
semi-retractable claws basically almost
non-retractable claws very different leg
structure the ability to purr the
inability to raw which is something we
were talking about with lions we were
chatting about whether or not Lions can
purr and they can’t not in the troop not
by the true definition of
but cheetah can cheetah can produced
that vibration that makes a purr when
they’re contented only other big cat
that can purr in a way they can is a
Snow Leopard apparently
granny it’s the way that they’ve evolved
to the structure and the way that
they’ve evolved so granny’s question is
why is it that liquid stone form
coalition’s in the same way cheetah do
one thing that you’ll notice with
leopards is that and I wouldn’t I’m not
sure what came first the chicken or the
egg so to speak but if you look at
leopards the sexual dimorphism the
difference in size the difference in
size between the males and the females
is very very clear the male’s almost
double the size of the females whereas
it’s not as distinctive in cheetah yes
the males are bigger but not nearly as
as big and there’s obviously a way that
nature during the you know during the
evolution of the cheetah versus the
leopard obviously there were certain
advantages that worked well for leopards
in terms of being solitary and cheat are
interesting because of course it’s only
the male’s that form coalition’s for
territories obviously it was worth the
trade-off of not potentially having the
opportunity to mate
whereas for lipids it wasn’t but it’s a
good question because I don’t know
exactly why but it’s interesting to note
just the difference in size
Melissa yes mail cheater in particular
do get territorial
they mark their territories that’s what
we so frequently see them doing when
they spray urine up against the tree so
yes they do get territorial the females
are although it is possible to for
females to encounter to each other and
to fight the females are less
territorial in the males and they’re
almost nomadic because they don’t really
stay in one place they often move and
cover great distances in their lifetimes
but the males do stay in one place they
have regular territorial power patrols
that they go on and boundaries that they
mark and if they were to encounter other
males there would be a good chance there
would be a fight he’s got a little bit
of a gummy eye nothing too serious
though
nice clustering about I think these
cheetah killed recently
whatever affected the weather might be
having on this situation one has to say
that the the skies are truly dramatic
and really quite stunning and James has
got a few that he would love to share
well yes it’s not a view of my mug and
we basically had to go back to my mug
because I managed to well lock the
steering and we had a problem but now
you may look at the view of the rain
pounding the southern reaches of the
Maasai Mara and I’m hoping fervently
that I will not get caught in that rain
not so much because I’m afraid of
getting wet
much more so because I’m afraid of being
stuck in a small tent with genre just a
fate that I have nightmares about every
evening then there also two rather
magnificent male Impala wandering away
from the scene just been passed by a
vehicle which means when you see me next
I will be filthy dirty from the dust
but there certainly is Thunder and there
certainly is a bit of rain starting to
fall now so I’m hoping we’re going to
escape some of it but I’m not sure too
far from where Scott saw the Lions this
morning but I can see how that taupe eye
in the area which means even either
those taupe eye are about to be devoured
all the Lions have moved on you might be
able to hear the soft pitter-patter of
moisture falling now on the roof
makes you say where do we sleep when we
still stay out all night and it happens
to rain will you sleep in the tent
basically so this car turns into a
canvas tent
pretty much and then you just sleep
around here and if you happen to be my
size then it’s actually not too bad we
use these mattresses and then put them
on the vehicle and if you’re my size
well then you’re okay if your laundry
size then you’re in for an uncomfortable
time of it Scott’s is very cleverly
designed this particular vehicle so that
you can sleep on the roof which is going
to be something that I’m looking forward
to experiencing I haven’t managed to do
that dear I’ve only slept on the car but
as I say if you’re 5 feet and 8 inches
tall it’s not too uncomfortable but if
you’re 6 feet and 4 inches tall John
dree okay we’re gonna go back to you
Jaime the other side of the river with
the cheetah I don’t know if they’re
hunting the county there’s a bit of a
Top Gear show on the way well we did
have a bit of a Top Gear show and I’m
Fergus and I were using the camera to
try and work out exactly what it was
that attracted the attention so let me
show you what what James is referring to
when he said Top Gear show something
happened over there and I think that
fergus’s might have hit upon what
happened and that something might have
stolen the kill of those cheetah but
something has obviously taken all the
vehicles that were with us and taken
them over there and I for one am quite
happy with that I can’t go down there we
won’t have any signal so we can’t go and
investigate what it is there’s some
vultures that were hanging around anyway
that’s what we meant by the Top Gear
show bye bye we’ll stay with the cheetah
now we’ve got them all almost all to
ourselves
which means that we can just do a little
shift around
I’m not gonna go too close
there we go hello boys Oh somebody
rolled into somebody else oh okay yeah I
think you’re right I think they have
been chased a little bit nervy it could
be I can’t quite work out exactly where
I am compared to where I was this
morning but I think for the mast I think
we’re quite close to where I had those
young male lions and I think it’s a
possibility that those young males came
in and stole from these cheetah Aidan
who is six years old Aidan you want to
know if I ever get lost Aidan I get lost
all the time regularly especially in the
dark and especially when it’s cloudy so
I can’t tell I can’t look at the stars
to tell me which direction I’m driving
in and there’s no phone signal out here
and I haven’t got around sorting out a
map system so so yes I get lost
regularly not who lost lost though it’s
not like I don’t know where I am I have
a rough idea I know where the main
cities are I know I’ve got a couple of
landmarks that I can use to help to find
my way lights help as well so no we’re
never completely lost but yes sometimes
I’m lost sometimes it’s like driving
around on Mars
it really is at night you could be
anywhere you you drive around following
these animals especially in the middle
of the night and I guess it was
especially bad when we first started
here because obviously this was
unfamiliar territory my goodness do you
think we could we didn’t we didn’t
really know Prince Brent’s got a
fantastic sense of direction he always
seems to know exactly where he’s going I
don’t know my direct sense of direction
isn’t bad but I do mix up one Valley to
the next especially if it’s got not much
to recommend it you know if it’s pretty
average looking by my standards which I
had but are pretty high
ginger no I’m never afraid that the
cheetah will jump in the vehicle
especially not cheetah and that’s simply
because that would be very very unusual
behavior and you mean obviously in terms
of attacking me cheetah in particular
are probably the least aggressive and
least dangerous of the big cats in fact
they’re definitely the least dangerous
of the big cats out here they’re not a
threat to human beings and they never
have been and the the number of recorded
cases of cheetah deaths but cheetah
human deaths are so so small and usually
that involves children children are a
different matter but adults the cheetah
does not see as potential prey even at
night what does worry me is them jumping
onto the car to use me as a termite
mound and fortunately that behavior has
been stopped over recent years but it
became the done thing to put yourself
near the cheetahs path so that they
would come up and use you as either a
barrier between them and the prey so
that they could hide away all so that
they could use you as a vantage point
because cheetah habituated people very
very quickly and they would jump on the
bonnet that’s all the hood
I believe it’s known as that’s very
dangerous and it’s it’s highly highly
and its behavior that should not be
encouraged because first of all it’s
interfering with the natural behavior of
the animal which yes of course happens
with many Safari vehicles wandering
about but shouldn’t be done to excess
absolutely secondly it runs the risk of
the cheetah losing its fear completely
of people responding to movement if
there’s a child or something in the next
vehicle that comes along responding to
movement and having to be destroyed
because it’s learned to that that human
beings are a fun thing to jump into the
vehicle and attack it’s a terrible
terrible thing to do it also read it
runs the risk of spreading disease so it
really should practice that shouldn’t be
encouraged so while I’m not frightened
of it I am aware of the risk and so far
none of the Cheetahs have tried to jump
into the car with us or on to the car
with us Ferg you haven’t had any no I
don’t think any of us have
that behaviors being phased out his
speaking on moving on to more amusing
topics but to do with the proximity of
the animals I didn’t do it yes some of
the animals have sent marked our
vehicles before it has happened in the
past particularly with lions if I
remember correctly James came very very
close to being sent marked once by the
Birmingham boys we were all sitting
watching it’s in in final control for
some reason it’s usually just so happens
that you happen to park yourself next to
the tree or the bush that they want to
send mark on and they spray on it and
then you you find yourself caught in the
crossfire but never I’ve never had got
it I had a line rub its cheek up against
the side of my car once lipids would be
okay because leash you smell like
popcorn cheetah lions no not so much
hyena definitely not
Rhonda apparently I’ve been told Malaika
is very very close to or was yesterday
very close to where we are with these
boys
so there are female cheater around of
course merci Eric aim across to the
triangle Kenya’s down south where
unfortunately we don’t get signal
Kenya’s daughters also although we
suspect one of them is the mother of
those young cubs Armani we’ve got our
Marni’s daughters we just haven’t been
up that side it was my plan to go there
tomorrow morning to look for our
mannie’s daughters
pass through double crushing cross
crossing and towards the marsh so that’s
one of the things that I have on my
to-do list I haven’t seen many female
cheetah but there are around remember
what we talked about in terms of the the
territories of the animals and the
territories of the cheetah the fact that
in essence there are the males are
easier to find in the females because
the females cover an enormous distance
and they don’t patrol regular routes so
whilst they’re yeah they’re just
somewhat harder to find breeds actually
found one yesterday raised by cats good
point very very good pointer yes to a
degree they’re less aggressive than the
other big cats so the question is really
based around the lack of scarring on
these cheetah or we’re getting hot now I
think there might be
fat-bellied and warm the lack of
scarring on cheetah compared to
something like a lion or a leopard yes
they don’t fight as often amongst
themselves and usually a tutor coalition
once it’s established itself has one
dominant male whereas the male
competition between the the Lions and
the claws of their size means that
they’re aggressive fights often result
in quite serious looking injuries
speaking of male lions of course let us
go across to the Mara triangle – James –
male lions this morning has a caller I
didn’t think he does one behind there so
there are two males that we’ve seen in
this area quite regularly
I had thought for a while that they
perhaps have moved on with the migration
herds because we know these nomads do
follow the migration Hertz for a certain
amount of little certain amount of
distance I suppose I should say
now we’ll review seem to be very excited
and impressed than the Lions managed to
take down such an enormous prey item I
think it is really impressive you know I
don’t know how I have so little
experience of Hilla that I don’t know
how agile and good defending themselves
they are you know but buffalo bulls
they’re smaller than the event he’s a
phenomenal enemy into a lion I mean can
do some serious damage to alive but I’m
not sure the same goes for something
like an ear that I mean I imagine they
must have some defensive mechanism but
for two lions to have taken out of 750
kilograms that is quite something and
they did not do this a long time ago I
would say well I would say two hours ago
in front just feeding the intestines
through the teeth Kathy you want an
hour-long via Dundas from tip to tail I
mean I can guess until you I think he’s
probably got tuna off meters long and
then I can take a book out and give you
an actual actual estimate of his length
I think those folks got links in them
and you wanted to known feet Kathy
well Kathy two and a half meters in feet
is about eight feet it’s about eight
feet an eland size height estimated do
you know what that means
shoulder height HB means I think it’s
length
hit hit the backside yup yup exactly two
and a half for a male up to 3.2 meters
which Cathy 3.2 meters times you can
multiply that by three point two five if
you like and you’ll get there so
somewhere around about 910 feet 10 or 11
feet Plus Ones so it is a big animal
mass as I was saying female up to 500
kilograms male up to 900 kilograms 900
kilograms 100 kilograms shy of a ton and
niland kilograms and pounds for those of
you still operating in imperial is
that’s much easier to work out it’s
about 3,000 to 2,000 pounds that’s
multiplied about 2.2
yes Andrea that do you said.you lions
always eat the heart of their prey yes
and what makes them brave and that’s why
they eat the heart of the prey if they
didn’t eat the heart of their prey
Andrea they wouldn’t be as brave as they
are it’s why the expression brave and
brave as a lion has come into the
English lexicon I’m of course talking
garbage and really they will quite often
eat their eat the heart and the reason
they eat the heart is of course because
it’s very nutritious and it’s easy to
get to so once I’ve opened up the belly
and they’ve pulled out the slightly less
tasty intestines well then they will
often eat the liver the kidneys the
lungs and the heart you know I’m not
sure if they actually select for it
I suspect they probably do because it’s
soft and easy to get out it’s a muscle
it’s very nutritious now you might be
able to hear what sounds like a crowd of
football hooligans just behind us it
isn’t in fact a crowd of football
hooligans it is just a very excited
family on holiday
chatting very and immediately to each
other them quite young as well as
piercing boys instead of stiff Sun what
a meal they have these guys they will be
so happy with their efforts on a Sunday
well Joe yes they are almost inevitably
aligned that is four years old will be
as you suggest trespassing on another
Lions territory this is the territory of
a pride called the maguro pride which is
most likely just very similar if not the
same pride very closely allied to the
Paradise pride and likely also the
sarena north pride but basically the
MacGraw pride and so to find them here
wouldn’t be that unusual if they’d been
born into that pride but they’re also at
four years old they’re in the territory
of course of the four musketeer brothers
not the cheater of course the lion
Musketeers whenever there’s a group of
males everyone calls them Musketeers for
some reason I just have to smile at you
while my strap was in and
this ferret in is terrible when you find
yourself so amusing in the territory of
the Four Musketeers which of course
includes the famous Scarface posturing
our TV show but certainly over the three
months that we were here
no Jared’s buddy you saw they call it
because they’re nomads no they call it
because they you know when they were
call it I’m not sure exactly what
research project has been designed for
that color but it’s not necessarily
because they’re nomads they could easily
be it’s because I’m shorts because
they’re young males and probably are
trying to find out you know their
movements so I guess you probably could
say because they’re nomads because
they’re young males they are inevitably
nomadic although these chaps have been
in this area for some time now
inevitably however nomadic so maybe that
collar is doing that kind of research
I’m not sure whose collar it is or who’s
getting pings from it or who’s doing the
research on those particular lives many
many research groups and in the Samantha
data being produced by researchers in
the Maasai Mara very good question about
that : whether or not it has a battery
in it that needs to be replaced and the
answer is yes it does have a better unit
and it does need to be replaced but I’m
going to desperately now try and find
there’s a wonderful message I got from
somebody whose name I have to my eternal
discredit have forgotten but they sent
me a wonderful wonderful message about
who makes these collars and it was
because of I made a flippant comment
about the fact that this lion has a
collar on it that looks so big and I
said why on earth surely by now they
should be able to make em collars that
aren’t so big and ugly and I’m Alice if
you don’t mind I’m gonna finish my
conversation is that okay then we can go
to unless something is going on there
all right so basically there’s a bunch
of people in South Africa who make these
collars and they make just about all of
them they put them on fish they put them
on as I said the other day and I know
is going to be difficult too difficult
to believe but they’ve actually put them
also on B’s and they designed these
collars especially for research of
various animals and I will try and find
the message while I’m waiting
Jamie but basically they do have a
battery and the reason they so big is
that that battery doesn’t last forever
and it doesn’t even operate all the time
it sends a ping art every sort of you
know so time to pings say 6 o’clock in
the morning every day it’ll send a ping
and they’ll give a position as to where
the animal is but because of its it has
to last so long it has limited use from
a time perspective whoopsie daisies and
all so that’s why it so big ok while I
try and find my message let’s head
across back to Jamie for cheetah which I
think are doing much the same as his
lines now this morning we had a long
conversation about how he became guides
and I went into my initial experiences
and a on a reserve called swallow which
is in the green Kalahari it’s a very
beautiful place and just talking about
colors with James one of the things that
I got to assist with was the
implantation of a transmitter in the
abdomen of a cheetah rather than trying
to put a collar around its neck as a way
of trying to be well essentially to try
and have less impact on the animal’s
life so although it had an operation
the transmitter had very long lasting
batteries that then were capable of
transmitting for an entire 3 years I
think it’s something that’s been largely
put by the wayside in favour of collars
it was something that the vets were
testing as a way of tracking the animals
right without having an impact on them
but it was I think it was decided to be
too invasive but I did actually get to
participate in that and it was an
amazing experience because first of all
we had to get the cheetah and then it
was an ephah ties and I had a
opportunity to
watch the operation can’t do it with
females I couldn’t do it with any female
cheeto actually any female animals
because of the risk of the transmitter
being great no close to the uterus and
the ovaries whereas with the males
obviously slightly different layout of
everything they were they had space in
their abdomen to fit it I don’t know
whatever became of that situation but I
don’t think it’s a it’s not a popular
method of a tracking down cheetah but it
is one of the alternatives to putting a
collar on them the speed that that
cheetah came out of its anaesthetic and
moved away from us was quite astounding
it’s also one of the few places where a
person has actually been attacked by a
cheetah while in a vehicle funnily
enough not in any way connected this was
a long time before that the vets the
vets tried out that transmitting
technique there’s a cheetah that walked
up to the door completely unexpected as
relaxed as these animals are and grabbed
the guides arm totally totally
unexpected the go the vehicles don’t
have doors there the cheetah were
perfectly obituaries xpect to that then
to this day don’t quite understand why
so it just goes to show you never get
blase about wild animals because they
can do unexpected things
speaking of unexpected things and
speaking of doing unexpected things I’m
gonna leave it in your hands how’s about
that I don’t think these cheater are
going to move from where they are until
it gets dark I am however more than
happy to sit and we can chat about them
and look at them they’re beautiful to
look at so I’m really not too fussed
would you prefer to stay with these five
cheetah boys or would you prefer to move
on and come back I’m really either way
I’m happy you can send through your vote
on hashtag Safari live on Twitter stay
with them that for the duration of the
sunset Safari will even come back I
don’t mind
oh there you go isn’t that lovely
they are our pot of gold Ferg five pots
of gold with black spots spots of gold
here we go
who needs real gold when you’ve got
cheetah looking really lovely is a
double it’s very difficult to actually
see but I from my perspective I can see
two rainbows one is obviously much much
fainter than the other
beautiful our whole spectrum of light
we’re back to our pot of gold pots of
gold pollen you say you would stay with
cheaters for your entire life fair
enough apparently most of you are saying
they’d stay I’m more than happy to stay
here obviously it’s just James and
myself out this afternoon bridge has had
to begin his long journey back towards
the camp so that they can get the
problem sorted out so I’m more than
happy to go with that vote I really am
I’m not going to complain about a moment
spent with cheetah
I think we’re thoroughly spoiled to have
access to these five males we really are
now some people are wanting to go and
see the Black Rock pride I don’t have a
map in the car with me but let me try
and try and give you a sense of scale so
now do a little sort of this will sort
of help us
okay to try and give you a sense of
scale on a map do you think you’ll be
able to see this burg I know my screen
is terribly dusty and dirty the screen
protector seems to pick up additional
can you see it or is it too bright kind
of get it okay so obviously we are the
blue dot that is telic where we’re
living
that is kike rock and black rock is over
there to give you a sense of scale as to
how long that’s going to take for me to
get to the Black Rock pride as much as I
would love to it would probably take me
the next two and a half hours to get
there so we could but it would take me
through
bad signal areas it would take me to
through an area with no comms James
would have to do most of the sunset
Safari and I’d probably reappear right
at the end and we have only got two
hours left so unfortunately the Black
Rock prior to give you a sense of scale
I’m sorry I would love to but it took me
most of the morning to get here from
where we were it would take me most of
the afternoon to get back it the sense
of scale and the sense of distance here
is hard to explain that the Black Rock
pride is probably about 50 no that’s a
bit much 40 Kay’s away and the roads
obviously don’t always go directly there
the roads aren’t fantastic through dips
and valleys
unfortunately not not even if I could
fly there would be lovely though almost
as far away from them as James is not
quite but almost so on an average night
you know and we’re after all night
storms gonna take a super water on an
average night when we are out with the
animals if usually takes us minimum of
an hour to get home in terms of dropping
our ranges off who are with us and then
heading back towards camp that’s the
sort of usual minimum time it’s often
more than that it does it’s one of the
wondrous things about being out here in
the mar’ied really is in that we’ve got
this vast sense of space and freedom to
go where we want to go but it is
something that sort of adds to I
wouldn’t say the stress of being out
here but it does add to the complexity
and the planning of where exactly it is
we’re going to go it’s why when you pick
when you pick a sort of an idea in your
head okay I want to go and find the five
cheetah brothers you do know that you’re
dedicating yourself to them because
chances are you’re not going to be able
to get to another cheetah sighting for
example unless malaika happens to turn
up in the vicinity and yes there’s lots
of lions scattered scattered about but
you’ve got to sort of make a plan that
you can journey through the the dips the
highs and the lows in terms of signal
and coms and still get out the other
side in time to not leave just one
person left in the sunset or the sunrise
Safari so you sort of you get my gist
the planning involved is is more complex
than we often mentioned and when we’re
planning out our TV shows and when we’re
planning out our all-nighters and where
we’re going to be a lot of thought goes
into exactly which way we’re going to go
let’s be sure you can’t find what you’re
looking for oh goodness so many options
available to us I’m going to think about
what it is we’re going to do and find
out exactly what all of you want we’ll
give you another five minutes to decide
while you think about it later on back
across to James who’s lift his lions for
now we don’t have anything like the same
number of options as Jamie does although
not sure what her options are we are
going down towards Maine north crossing
where there was a huge number of animals
gathering earlier and we thought that
they might do a migration style crossing
earlier today Taylor came Haring out of
the final control room she said there’s
going to be a crossing I said Taylor
calm yourself put a cold towel on your
head we have seen crossings before those
animals have been there all day she said
no there are hundreds of millions of
them now millions
it’ll cost pounded this buffalo is even
by the assertion that there could be
hundreds of millions of animals about to
cross the river anyway I’m gonna go and
see where there’s hundreds of millions
are they certainly were a lot of them
that wasn’t obviously har Taylor speak
I just can’t speak like Taylor killed it
dead now
you know for those of you’ve got here a
fly sitting on top of it you don’t feel
it but when you have no hair here and it
comes and sits and crawls it’s very
uncomfortable J disconcerting I just
thought I’d tell you that in case we’re
wondering why I was killing flies that
was a buffalo we saw earlier I don’t
think I announce that fact it’s amazing
that Jamie has managed to come up with a
decision I’m very excited to find out
what it is and I’m sure that you are too
I decided and I assume that from Alice’s
side as she she’s comfortable that that
is this is the majority of you I think
the decision is to leave the cheetah but
not for very long
so we’ll do a small loop we’ll find some
elephants or something like that and
then we’ll return to them towards I
would actually you know what I’ve just
looked at the time it’s quarter to six
mm-hmm
I’ve changed my mind we’re staying we’re
staying we’re going to sit it out we’re
going to outpatients that unless Alice
you you have to tell me about the the
majority rule there because I did offer
it up as a vote if you’re comfortable
that that is the Democratic conclusion
then I think that’s what we should do I
didn’t realize that it got so late so
quickly we can have a look at a superb
styling or not or it could it’s there
it’s in that funny-looking two-pronged
fork over there
come on superb styling if you look yes
there it’s on the left hand fork it’s
there
come on arch come focus just made a
noise like a pirate
forgive me I didn’t quite catch the name
there Alice I think it was bits but I
might be wrong gates with the G Allison
I was trying to help me out there but
she she got tongue-tied herself sorry
gates apologies for mangling your name
totally unintentional cheetah cubs
especially will hunt things like birds
or rodents when they’re on the ground
and one thing that we have seen is
cheetahs chasing things like Mongoose
which are quite small and really it’s
more for the fun of the chase than it is
for the food I mean it’s it’s that
natural cat black responds to movement
so yes potentially less so then
something like a leopard and leopard
wall will specifically stalk and try and
hunt a bird on the ground but a Franklin
or a guinea fowl could fall foul haha
could fall foul of the cheetah if it
happened to be unaware they’re not
really geared for that kind of hunting
though they don’t have the same sort of
reflexes and speed and agility that
something like neglected has they built
for speed obviously but not those
rapid-fire poor movements that leopards
are capable of producing my tears it is
possible
hey Tucker Tucker is five years old
Tucker thank you for watching and thank
you for sending through your question
now taco you want to know if cheetah are
taller than lions they are not a lion is
quite a lot taller than a cheetah so
Tucker if we have a look here if Ferg
will show you next to my vehicle and
unfortunately I’ve got the wrong
earpiece so turning around is a tricky
thing but I’m gonna try and show you so
Tucker if we look at where lion walks
past the car when a lion walks right
past the car big male lion his shoulder
is probably here could you sort of see
that Ferg okay so his shoulders sort of
there and when a cheetah walks past the
car his shoulders probably somewhere
down there so the cheetah are much much
shorter than a lion and they actually
turn around this way so that I can face
you more comfortably they actually are
much smaller than lions in a lot of ways
I remember that these trees are probably
only way somewhere in the region of em
maybe 50 kilograms maybe a little bit
more which is over 110 pounds or around
about 110 pounds and lion a big line a
big male lion can weigh up to around
about a hundred and eighty kilograms
sometimes even more up to 200 which is
over 400 pounds so they much much bigger
cats and that’s why she to run away from
lions when they see them they run as
fast as they can’t because they’re
scared of the Lions a lion is much more
dangerous than a cheetah much much
bigger even a lioness is taller than a
male cheetah now I lettered a female
leopard is shorter better cheetah but
she’s just as stocky and just as heavy
and probably stronger a female leopard
would probably be stronger than one of
these males a female leopard though
would not pick a fight with five of them
never seen that with the hyenas as well
hyenas tend to when they’re on their own
be exceptionally reticent to approach
these cheetah boys
Starling Starling well spotted Fergus
well spotted the superb styling made an
appearance and then flew away again
almost immediately but very well spotted
Thank You Ferg nice one for some of you
I think for your bird lists we added a
hoof ooh this morning which I have not
yet seen in the Mara I added a oh that’s
another thing I saw today while we wait
for these cheetah to decide what they’re
going to do with their lives oh gosh
hold on I’ve got to find it quickly
there this is what I found this is what
we found feeding in the tree
a beautiful Starling feeding in the tree
above our vehicles it’s very very pretty
son bird sorry I’ve got Starling in my
head thanks for a beautiful son bird
it’s literally called a beautiful son
bird I mean it’s definitely not a
Starling and there is a Starling now
right enough of this I’m getting
confused as it is let’s find out to
where the James has managed to keep hold
of his train of thought better than I
have I managed to keep to my plan which
was to come to this crossing to see what
was going on and nothing is going on at
all there’s some hippo there and the
great messing of animals that was here
earlier has absconded where they’ve gone
I couldn’t begin to tell you I don’t
think they’re cross because I’m pretty
sure Taylor was watching them
so I don’t know where they went maybe
the paradise pride chased them away in
fact John dree if you go across and all
the way basically as far as you can see
those hills are covered in wildebeest
covered
that’s astounding
that is really interesting
now whether these chaps have come north
from the sand river up to this area or
if they’ve come south out of the
conservancies I don’t know but that is a
vast number of wildebeest way in the
distance that’s very interesting well
Jamie’s not too far and actually know
where those cheetah brothers are I
suspect that they are pretty much over
the top of my head down that way but
they will be very interested to know
that there is that much there for them
to eat you can see Jamie has got no
trouble with the rain at this stage
which is very nice for her alright we’re
now going to stick to our original plan
cut back towards the escarpment see if
we can find the sausage tree pride and
perhaps I don’t know maybe that female
cheetah and her little baby puppies who
knows maybe
let’s do a quick turn here I don’t see
anything else going on in this vicinity
so I’m gonna cut back there now rather
than do too much searching around here
well we are unable to go off-road
we will now be driving into the storm
which is a mercifully moving off towards
the escarpment I think so that’s very
pleasant indeed it’s got a bit of a
Sunday feel about it out here I must say
all right Jaime apparently is not gone
looking for elephants she’s with her
cheetah again I haven’t I didn’t realize
how late it was getting I should have
made the decision sooner but it’s a bit
late to make it now so we’re going to do
we’re going to settle with them and
we’re going to stick with them while it
gets dark and of course once we reach
around about half past 6:00 or so we
actually have them entirely to ourselves
which I feel is us being hugely spoiled
oh you know the one on the right just
gave us such a sweet roll over hmm hey
you they can be very cute when they want
to those white bellies showing it’s
interesting to hear that the Valda
beasts are massing at the crossing last
time I was in this area they were herds
of ten thousand odd – maybe a little bit
more and they’ve all really moved to the
west and back in the direction of where
James is at the moment so it’s clear
they are around the crossings are they
going what do you think everyone do you
think thinking to come back into the
triangle I’m starting to think they
might we did speak about it and the fact
that it was one of the earliest that
they’d ever left the triangle in terms
of recorded history how’s the weather on
James aside because from where I’m
sitting it looks terrible
it really doesn’t look pleasant I think
we’ve we’ve actually largely escaped it
where we are but hold on I’m gonna just
reposition to show you Oh
d’Artagnan is looking as well what do
you that say say dot do you think James
is going to get rained on I don’t think
it looks like your kid shall I show
everyone what the raid looks like since
we kitty cats are sleeping for now
the James is somewhere in the direction
of that I gotta say I’m going to suggest
that James is going to find himself
soused for once the side of the river
it’s not us I was I was secretly
obviously I would really like it to rain
here to keep the grass green and the
animals happy but I was rather hoping it
didn’t happen tonight because this is
where I got stuck somewhere yeah
I’m not entirely sure where but
somewhere here is where I got stuck
in the middle of the night with money ah
fergus’s the focus has raised a very
valid point Fergus tells me that Jeb’s
always blames him for the rain well Oh
Fergus think that all evidence speaks to
the contrary now I think it’s pretty
clear that it’s not you at all it’s
James I’m not sure that counts as legal
advice but but we’ll go with it here we
go
it’s pelting down over there I’m very
glad I’m not there I’m very glad I’m
here although I shouldn’t speak too soon
because you never know what might come
our way there’s some ominous clouds okay
so James James has said to tell Ferg
that the the rain is heading towards the
escarpment Berg is that have a specific
meaning because it always heads there oh
I see I see right
it’s very pretty though those trees and
the horizon
yes many a time those storms have taken
me by surprise I don’t think that’s
possible to predict where they’re going
quite frankly and then you’ll be halfway
through one and another one will hit you
from the other side and we usually try
and park the vehicle so that we can
shelter ourselves properly and then
you’ve put sort of all of your
reinforcements on the side that the
storms come in on and then all of a
sudden it batters you from the opposite
end
not my problem tonight Oh hold on we’ve
got one up oh that’s very pretty
Lloyd you want to know why we’re talking
about the weather
noid you want to know how hot it is over
here it was very hot earlier I say very
hot not bi-lo fault standards oh god no
that’s very pretty but we’ve got a
cheater on I’ve got a cheater up I’m
sorry I’m sorry I would sheet it out
again never mind
cheated out again you can stay you could
stay looking at the beautiful sky Lloyd
I would say it probably went over 30
today which is about as hot as it gets
out here the Sun is very warm the Sun is
very strong here because we’ve quite a
lot closer to the equator but it never
gets as hot as it does in the low felt
where it reaches temperatures often in
some of over 40 degrees centigrade here
on average it is much much much cooler
and we’re at a much higher altitude so
it’s actually a really Pleasant climate
it’s not at nights get a bit chilly but
they don’t really go below about 15 or
14 degrees centigrade
it’s very chilly when you’re damp when
you’ve been caught in the rain which is
why I feel for James across on his side
but it’s a really very nice climate hey
cheetah are you going to sleep like this
it’s okay we’ve made the right call
we’re going to stay with them
Colly yes most of the thermoregulation
done by the the various cat species is
through panting and of course they do
build up huge amounts of heat when they
race off they also lose heat through the
soles of their feet and one of the
reasons why they have white bellies is
so that they can present their bellies
to the Sun and reflect the light off it
and bounce light off it because
obviously they were dark in color it
would be much much hotter I love it I
love it when they stretch their feet out
like that because it’s doglike don’t you
rob I must sing there are dogs but it’s
a very doglike way of stretching their
paws it looks totally different to the
way in which late lions and leopards
move their feet
there’s a massive back feet bolt of
attraction
aidan who is six years old speaking of
the animals panting Aidan that’s a very
good question and well done for spotting
that it was very observant of you so
Aidan spotted that the cheetah are
panting and he wants to know why why is
their breathing so hard Aidan it’s for
two reasons one yes they are quite warm
possibly still recovering from the chase
of earlier so they definitely killed
something earlier
so chasing down their prey I think has
made them quite tired but also they’ve
eaten meat and when cheetah or Lions or
lepers or hyenas eat meat they eat as
much as they can as quickly as they can
and they get very full bellies and while
their belly is their digestive system so
their stomach and their intestines
breaking down the meat it actually
releases lots of heat internally so
Aidan I don’t know if you if you ever
drink hot chocolate or something like
that and you feel warm inside
that’s what’s basically happening to the
cheetah while they’re digesting their
meat and that’s why they’re panting
because it’s to help to cool themselves
down it’s also all of that food in their
belly is pressing up against their
diaphragm as well so it’s it’s making
their lungs feel a bit small and they’re
taking smaller breaths because they’re
so low for they’re not that fuller
they’re still gonna keep us moving
tonight
Milana I think we’ve it’s lovely to hear
you back again on the sunset Safari
Ilana I think we’ve seen them pretty
much hunt the the largest prey that they
could possibly take down which would be
an adult wildebeest I don’t think that
they could get much bigger than that
maybe maybe and adults ever but I think
it would be a serious fight but an adult
wildebeest adult topi loser ooh that’s
gonna be the limit of what they could
catch I don’t think they would ever take
on Buffalo
although Never Say Never maybe a buffalo
calf but I just don’t think it’s within
their nature they definitely would hunt
ostrich and definitely could hunt
ostrich but I think an young a lunch but
again I think we’ve seen them look at
them walk past the lodge but never
really try it I think we’ve seen them
tackled pretty much as large an animal
as they could possibly manage I was
actually quite astounded when one of
them on their own took down a topi a
fully grown adult topi I was quite taken
aback the rest of them came in to help
afterwards but the entire process from
knocking the topes legs out from under
it to getting a stranglehold was one boy
alone quite amazing whereas females they
tend to go for things more Tommy sized
hmm yes Paula probably they would
because the opportunity would be an
artificial situation so Paula’s question
is if given the opportunity would
cheetah cubs play with lion cubs and I
don’t think at that point the the
natural instincts of competition has
really fully registered with with the
little ones so in a situation yes where
you’ve got Cubs of two different species
together and it would be artificial
because it wouldn’t really happen in the
wild then yes they probably would play
together I think they would play
together and I’m sure if you googled
hard enough you would find a video of
cheetah and lion cubs playing together
it’s just one of those things so it
would it would be an artificial
situation would it happen in the wild
let’s say in a very strange hypothetical
scenario mommy cheetah goes off and and
the lioness goes off and neither of them
realize that they’ve left their cubs in
the new personality of each other I just
don’t think they play with each other
two pins on the ages as well an older
lion cub
now we I’m talking about lion cubs
Blackrock pride age tiny lion pride tiny
lion cubs five year old or five month
old lion cubs and tiny newborn cheetahs
I think would be a different story I
think they’d be killed so there you go
I’m not sure I think it would be it
would be a once-in-a-lifetime sighting
if it if it did happen in the wild and
speaking of a once-in-a-lifetime
sightings I’m sure that James has got
one to show you right now
we’re friendly enough now that’s been a
once in an afternoon time sighting since
the end of the long rains at the end
middle of July
that we’ve had a storm like that every
single day during the dry season which
has been very special if you happen to
like storms if you are in a leaky
vehicle however the end of the long
rains which brought on the exceptionally
long rains has been somewhat frustrating
anyway
gorgeous storm over there and in front
of the storm we have got some Thompson’s
ghazals Jean dry rather like Veeam and
giraffe is refusing to show me because
he said to me and I quote there a bit
standard didn’t you John uhrin you rely
he’s denying it now fortunately for him
I have got the coffee and the sandwiches
in front here so he won’t be having
anything
sorry about that John Day let’s go back
to the Thompsons cuz it would be so kind
some Cokie Franklin’s calling in the
background and yet again I find myself
astounded by the silence of this place
you see I told you it was quite can just
hear one or two Franklin’s yelling here
and there the olds roll of thunder but
otherwise very quiet
ah Larry are you want to know if
Thompson’s gazelles are related to the
South African national and M anthem
animal the spring book and the answer is
a resounding yes they are
Springbok the only gazelle found in
southern Africa and their gazelle is an
antelope it’s just a slightly different
or shooter different family and gazelles
in sabah
in the world Iowa at least in Africa I
will tell you there are I was quickly
under read you this the Gaza line
antelopes so long-legged long-necked
antelopes with light colored coat large
sensitive eyes and ears a small mouth
and in some species pre-orbital glands
both to alert to both sound and movement
I think that means the entire animal I
don’t think the pre-orbital glands
necessarily anyway we got 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 can you believe
it 16 different species of gazelle in
Africa and two of them out here we have
the grants and the Thompsons David who
is going out to some ladies to tell them
what he’s been doing on this Sunday so
that they might go oh really
Parlin I have a very sarcastic
human-beings I mean to answer your
question sarcastically first which will
prepare you for it and then I will try
and do it not so not so sarcastically
you say who was the Thomson’s gazelle
named after to which my heart would be
someone called Thompson apparently but
question is obviously who on earth was
Thompson and I don’t know who he was but
rather like Wahlberg and virtual I
suspect he was some kind of naturalist
that did a lot of exploring around
Africa and he has lent his name to the
Thompson’s gazelle now what I just want
to quickly do while Jean dree has very
kindly put the camera onto me and I’m
just very difficult for him to do that
there’s this phone book and you can see
they look very similar indeed anti
Dorcas marsupial assistants latin name i
don’t know how i remember that it’s just
because it’s a ridiculous anti Dorcas
marsupials and this big mental of white
fur helps it to cope with the desert
conditions and it turns that mental of
white fur to the Sun and it reflects the
Sun so doesn’t get too hot and bothered
and let’s just go up to the next
antelope which is found in the Horn of
Africa simply because it has a name that
I’ve never seen before
did the tag it’s known as a in dipper
tag
amazing that name mo-mo daucus marquis i
the tip attack wonderful vaccine if
attack one day not from why prepared
together to Eritrea to do it let’s have
one loss these Thomson’s gazelles UO
Dorcas Tom Sony I and then we’ll press
on I believe that as the wind starts to
howl onto my face and the rain threatens
to assail us it’s certainly filling my
nostrils now the Sun where Jamie
Patterson is has burst through the
clouds and shining down upon her and
smiling I’ve gotten the wrister words it
was a very good reference and I dropped
the ball I’m sorry James I’m sorry but
it is a really it is a really stunning
view that we have unfortunately it’s not
shining directly down on us which would
be very pleasant and help to chase the
chill of the wind away especially
because I forgot that I was going to
stay out late tonight and I’ve only got
shorts but anyway that’s not a big deal
it is really very very pretty so pretty
in fact that I think it is almost
deserving of a photograph it is
definitely deserving of a photograph so
I think what you should all do is take
some screenshots it’s a perfect
opportunity in fact it almost looks as
though the lights should be shining on
James you know maybe not quite he’s a
bit further away than that James looks
like a tree if James were that tree that
like be shining upon him
beautiful is a really stunning evening
especially when the rain is over there
makes it even more beautiful
watch it swirl round and hit us Ferg
because we’ve been commenting on it
it’ll somehow come from the West will be
one time the rain comes hauling across
the river to the west
it’s very Lion King yes isn’t it
that beam of light I suppose we’re in
we’re close enough banking was set in
Tanzania wasn’t it now I know is it
cartoonland but I mean in theory he in
theory it was sort of Tanzania SH and
handsomest
I’ll try to sit quietly I will try to
sit quietly and we can see what sounds
we can hear it the wind is blowing but
it’s not too bad I don’t know if cars
are signing from your side oh there we
go
let’s find out how it’s sounding from
your side I think if I just be wind wind
and fans that’s not a good combination
the fans obviously sit in our vehicle to
help to keep our equipment cool
otherwise we burst into flames far too
regularly for our liking
still sometimes happens
not often there
[Music]
okay it was a nice idea
it was a nice thought
okay good I’m glad you could hear some
of the bird is in the background perhaps
at some point we’ll be hearing the
Cheetahs which sound very similar to
birds chirping some don’t
that’s terrible there’s a terrible
impression whoa lightning and all ooh I
don’t envy James
I hope he’s found himself a safe spot
that doesn’t look like a storm that can
be outrun maybe it looks worse from this
angle and just like that we’re all alone
partyi not a single vehicle everybody’s
heading home for the safety of dinner
all right now I know it is hard to
believe that color of the sky is real
isn’t it it looks like something that
somebody created or or painted
Ferg’s been splashing on colors across
the front of the lens I don’t know it’s
just very pretty I was my favorite thing
about sunsets is the transition from the
the Reds and the oranges to the purples
actually no no tornadoes here in the
morrow we do get dust what we call dust
devils I’m not sure what their official
name is which is of course a sort of
tiny tiny tiny tornado where the wind
whips around and pulls up goes into a
spiral and pulls up the dust and you do
occasionally get buffeted by them as you
drive along if you don’t move quickly
enough so that that’s about as close as
we get I imagine that floods happen
regularly here when the water does come
down in the rainy season but that’s to
be expected
it’s a very high rainfall rainfall area
fires would also be very scary here in
times of drought when the grass is long
and dry and big storms I really think
we’re going to experience rain like
we’ve never experienced before and wind
I think the wind is going to be
something to behold
especially at the top of that mountain
where our campsites
hmm
don’t forget for people that have just
discovered to this livestream you’re
watching this live from the Maasai Mara
which means of course that you can send
through your questions i’m hashtag
safari live on twitter chad you want to
know how often we spend the night out in
the tent i never in a tent
although i suppose you could call our
vehicle a tent when we put the sides
down oh we live in tents we do we do you
write folk we live in tents our camps
our campsite rooms are really really
nice safari tents very good point so
basically every night we camp out in our
tents when we’re not out of the field we
switch around in terms of the schedule
we try and play it by ear and try and do
it with a little bit of common sense
because obviously too many late nights
makes for an exhausted crew but it’s
usually i would say in terms of how
often we’re out sleeping on the vehicle
up until recently it was at least three
nights a week that we were spending out
in the field all night yeah all night
and then late nights would be another
three nights and then we’d go shift on
to a normal schedule for three days
well normal normal is all relative that
was kind of how we worked it when it was
just taylor myself and and brent
obviously James is back now Scott’s back
now Taylor’s on leave
so we’ve shifted up the the schedule a
little bit but I I’m not sure exactly
how we’re gonna work it now the
migrations come back so it could we
could end up spending quite a few nights
out in the field we’ve got our
mattresses mining concern is I forgot
about food for this evening I’m not sure
what Ferg and I are going to eat if we
do stay out maybe the cheetah will share
I don’t know what we’re gonna eat we
have to go to tonic and find something I
completely forgot
just sort of food
we’ve got digestive biscuits they’re all
one-hour speaking of camping out in the
tent apparently that is what well James
has planned for his night on the vehicle
now I most certainly do not I am NOT
spending the night out yet until around
9:00 or 10:00 I guess depending on what
we can find what happens but then I
think I’ll probably make my way back to
camp I’m going to stop here and
unfortunately my animal finding skills
very poor at the moment so what I’ll
show you is another magnificent sky and
then we’ll look at the escarpment Ellis
is it raining back home where you are
now Alice says it is not raining
negative not yet this is good to know
there are also some elephants very very
far away Andre hold the camera steady
they’re at a nine o’clock
and the wind still blowing and the call
of the cookie Franklin from here I’m
gonna start driving at a much faster
speed in order to get onto the
escarpment and see if we can’t find the
sausage and before the end of the drive
before the end of the light basically
are you ready Andre
come drive too fast on these roads there
because well this is a little check
rather than a road it’s bumpy
Steffie you want to know there’s a speed
limit in the morrow there is actually
the speed limit on the main roads is 50
kilometres per hour which is about 15
miles an hour also on the very main
roads and then on these roads basically
if you were to try and drive faster than
I’m doing now you’d lose everyone out
the back of the car and your car would
probably fall apart so they need to set
them on here the main roads are very
smooth and the very well-maintained here
in the morrow Triangle and so there is
definitely a speed limit and well you
know the vehicles we drive are unable to
sort of get up to that speed limit so
we’re in no danger at all of being fined
for overzealous speeding and as I’ve
said to you of course that the as I’ve
said to you before I didn’t think that
I’d ever find the day where I was going
to miss Wendy jigger and rusty and well
that day has arrived we’re going to go
back to Jamie now I’m going to try and
find something so that the next segment
I do is longer than three minutes we’ll
see you shortly
our jobs I’m sorry it’s not intentional
we just we have such a glorious sunset
and Alice seems to be enjoying it so
much it really is quite beautiful in
fact even the dust trail of the vehicle
is quite beautiful as it races off
towards home a little bit delayed a
little bit late oh my eyes of God all
spotty now I’ve got little little Suns
popping up everywhere Oh she’d probably
not have stared at it for as long as I
did it looks really pretty
watching the cars drive home when the
dust is shining in the sunset like this
beautiful golden color and back to the
sunset Fergus seems to share Alice’s I’m
not quite sure I’d call it an obsession
with it but it’s close its close hmm
laughing doves are calling cape turtle
doves are calling a cheetah by the way
are still completely flat they are
passed out fast asleep
I really wonder what they have planned
for me and this evening
and Fergus are we going to be sitting
here watching them sleep for the next
three hours well it’s I think we’ll have
a look back at our cheetah and answer to
this question
you wanting to know about the cheetah
population compared to the lion
population did I hear that correctly
else and the answer to that is
essentially the cheetah population is
much much lower than that of a lion
population and they are more endangered
than the lions are in Africa largest
native population of cheetah in the in
Africa is in the Kruger National Park so
that is where there’s one of the largest
populations of course the Mara has a
very healthy population of cheetah as
well and a population that is increasing
so it is on the rise I’m just gonna pop
by jacket on it’s good oh sorry
I wasn’t watching where the current was
sorry
there’s my jackets now it’s on it’s okay
we don’t run that risk again yeah it is
they are an animal that needs that need
a degree of awareness raised the
bathroom and the fact that they they are
it is very very sensitive animal in
terms of the numbers in the wild
speaking of very sensitive animals James
is across the river and he’s deeply
devastated that he hasn’t had much
screen time
I am very devastated and I’m also very
deeply sensitive I’m going to coffin hi
everybody and the reason I am deeply
devastated
well yes I failed to find anything but
I’m very sensitive you know I very
sensitive human being and and so I don’t
like it when I feel like I’m not
contributing enough to the drive-on in
finding interesting things anyway so
there we have some elephants beautiful
elephants and they’re dotted about here
two very large numbers of men to sneak
wood slightly after we showed you that
magnificent sky come on now yeah
just get a little bit closer and their
little herds dotted all around us
clearing obviously some good stuff for
them to eat
and this little herd consisting of what
looks like two cows and a very small
baby
just get the other side for the light
Cheryl you want to know about lightning
and if there have ever been animals in
the Mara struck by lightning I’m 99%
sure that yes I’m sure there have been
animals get struck from time to time
there is often quite a lot to fairly
severe lightning in this area so yes I’m
sure they have I have never seen an
animal struck by lightning not here not
anywhere else but I know that it does
happen in various parts of the world
certainly it happens in the kruger from
time to time it happens on the high felt
from time to time the high field of
South Africa I mean and yes little one
joining so the two mummies and their
little babies but imagine however that
it is very infrequent I mean your
chances have been struck by lightning or
really very small indeed oh hey also
tired need to have a little sunday lie
down that is very sweet hook straight up
to mums foot and lay straight down I
suppose also probably trying to get out
of the wind I think and little elephant
like that must get pretty cold
just shaking off the dirt from the roots
and enjoying the grass and as we’ve said
before I mean it’s inevitable that with
all of these animals were going to
compare them to their brethren down in
the sabi sand and the Kruger the
elephants here to me markedly different
in terms of their size they are wouldn’t
understand
but they’re certainly less bulky I think
and their tusks definitely longer and
thinner than the ones we find in the
greater Kruger National Park why there
should be the case
remember all elephants tusks are
supposed the elephant assassins that you
see anywhere in the world are influenced
heavily by the amount of well shall we
say yeah what’s the word that I want to
use the almost Holocaust I suppose of
destruction wrought upon them by the
settlers that came in with their guns in
the 18th and 19th centuries and so they
shot animals or elephants for their size
of their tusks and so the size of tusks
here it’s very difficult to you know
till say why they should be the lengths
that they are and to give some kind of
evolutionary reason when we are pretty
sure that they are much shorter and much
smaller probably much less heavy than
they were in the days before the
settlers arrived that I would love to
see account I’ve never seen a total
can’t I’m sure one has been done though
the amount or the number of elephants
that were obliterated before their teeth
over the course of those two centuries
to the earlier parts of the 20th century
as well of course you read the accounts
of the old hunters I read a book once by
uh called al Adolf della goerge who has
been given who gave his name to the
d’Elegance pigeon amongst other things
feeling conspicuous bird found in South
Africa and the I always feel I should
freeze when the straps in intellicus
pigeon very inconspicuous creature found
various spots South Africa and he has
been given you know his his name has
been honored by being bestowed on a
pigeon and he read the accounts the
number of animals he obliterated blasted
shot from life and then just left lying
to rot because he take the tusks all
they decide the tusks weren’t big enough
or they decide if we don’t want to track
these things again so we’ll just shoot
them all now it really is quite horrific
stuff anyway on to probably slightly
friendlier fellow was Joseph Thompson
Joseph Thompson was the man who gave his
name to the Thompson’s gazelle he was as
expected a British explorer but I see
also that he had quite a lot to do with
the Scramble for Africa which if you
happen to be an African he’s not going
to be something that you’re going to
celebrate hugely and so I suspect he was
there well much round about the same
time as della Gore was blasting
elephants up from existence and I
suspect that Thompson was knocking about
sticking Union Jack’s in the ground and
claiming he Africa for he LD England and
Queen Vic
anyway it’s him who gave his name to the
Thomson’s gazelle just beautiful season
spy keeps changing it really is
magnificent Paul we get asked this quite
a lot as well you said to the elephants
and the Mara live longer than the ones
at Zuma remember just before I answer
this question just remember the Juma
he’s a thousand two hundred hectares so
it’s about three thousand acres or so it
is a very small section of the greater
Kruger National Park which is roughly
the same size as the Mara Serengeti
ecosystem so when I say an animal that
Juma I mean of the Kruger basically it’s
all joined together there you want to
know the animals of the Kruger lives
slightly less long or slightly shorter
periods than these ones here we asked us
the other day
you must remember the reason Paul’s
asking this question for those of you
don’t know is that an elephant dies when
its teeth wear art
it then eventually starves to death and
the thing is though Paul that the and I
think this is pretty much genetically
determined the last set of molars
last set of teeth come in when they’re
about 55 years old when that last set
eventually disintegrates always worn
down then the animal will starve to
death so while yes that last set might
last longer in a place like Kamara where
the food is slightly softer I don’t
think it’s gonna last that much more so
the effect of the softer food is not
going to be cumulative over the animals
life you know what I mean I don’t I
think from my understanding that those
teeth come through regardless of whether
the predecessor is worn down or not okay
one last look at the elephants perhaps
Andre and then we shall move along
marvelous there we go there we go now
jazz buddy quite us amazingly in quite
contrary to what your question has asked
you say do they shrink when they get
older they don’t they actually grow
pretty much till the day they die so
they might get a little bit skinnier as
they approach death they don’t shrink
they’re like human beings my father who
is now 17 who he is going to be 17 he’s
just turned 74 my father is moaning the
fact that he thinks he’s not nearly as
tall as he once was and he’s taught much
taller than me still but he’s not he
he’s boning the fact that the human
being unfortunately does not keep
growing until they die I’m quite pleased
about that because the cumulative
effects would mean that I’d probably be
maybe I’d be six foot knowledge Andre
would be eight foot and that make things
extremely uncomfortable in this tent
work start start raining
it’s not even smiling definitely not
giving him his sandwich and coffee
I still haven’t managed to get across to
the escarpment that’s okay
Alice says speaking of old age
John has a question and that is what is
the most frightening experience I’ve
ever had I’m not convinced those two
things are joined Alice how those two
things joined you can tell me that after
I’ve asked John’s question and answered
John’s question John the most terrifying
experience I’ve ever had was with an
ex-girlfriend who no I’m not going to
tell you that story the most terrifying
experience I’ve ever had one I’ve shared
very often it’s of when a leopard ended
up landing on the bonnet of the car
jumped up just chased by some wild dogs
towards us and I thought he was going to
come into the car and Maul the guests
and that was definitely the most
terrifying experience I’ve ever had in
the bush I’m generally quite cautious
out here I don’t like to take too many
chances so I haven’t had a huge number
of animals
try and hose their woes on me some of
the more frightening ones I kind of put
out of my mind the other frightening
thing for me or the most disconcerting
thing for me was when I was taking
walking safaris and you’d bump into
lions or we seen you bump into elephants
and Buffalo and all sorts of other
things but you never knew how your
guests were going to react and for me
that was one of the most disconcerting
things because although I became
relatively good at predicting animal
behavior trying to predict human
behavior that’s not nearly as easy and
the humans that you take on a walk and
whose lives are in your hands
well they tend to be a little bit less
predictable than the animals you might
see and I found that very disconcerting
over a long period okay that’s my that’s
my story John it’s the reason I don’t
have any hair anymore and why but a lot
of it’s gray I’m not sure why Alice was
talking about old age perhaps because
she thinks I’m so old I must have lots
of good stories
I suppose you better put some lights on
the skin even doc not very powerful
lights of course being a Landrover John
rearview we do have the view Prodi we
did put it on later
now let’s say you’re still there you’re
just not talking to me anymore I think
Alice is possibly all you’re wondering
speaking of danger whether we get
animals in camp we do from time to time
we have Buffalo and camp every so often
we have their brain camp almost every
night they have been they remarkably
well mannered I think there’s every they
move out of the way they don’t let you
get too close they tend to warn you by
tripping over themselves every so often
now we’ve had one leopard calling I
haven’t that you haven’t heard him call
again a huge laundry yeah no Harvard one
level calling quite close to campus
they’re not not again the John Doe is
just saying if I ever seen Rin in the
camp and I have not seen I ena in this
camp
so Buffalo and zebra are the residence
but and Buffalo obviously the ones you
got to be careful of but very few
Buffalo not not often so I’d say that
this camp because we so far up on high
it’s probably less frequented by animals
than the campus at Juma which is right
down on the ground and we often have
hyena encamped there it is fenced so a
buffalo don’t come in but they’re all
around outside elephants
all right I believe that
Jamie has decided the gordy golden color
of her cheetah was a little overwhelming
and so now she’s got the view in black
and white it was all a little bit too
bright for us wasn’t it that sunset and
the cheetah thought our eyes needed a
break that’s and the fact that the sun’s
disappeared means that we are switching
to infrared I’m going to be switching to
infrared and of course for the duration
of the drive we will be in infrared as a
diurnal fall from what we’ve seen not so
much but as an essentially diurnal
animal and really you don’t really sit
with with spotlights or lights on at all
cheetah anyway at night and of course
having us infrared for us has been a
really special thing because it allows
us to actually sit with them and follow
them without in any way disrupting their
day-to-day process they do have eyes
that are structured in a way similar to
leopards or Lions so the light doesn’t
bother them in the same way that it does
something like a Valle de beast when an
antelope but either way we don’t need to
we can sit here with the infrared and
watch them as they start to stir there
were a few yarns and a couple of Pollux
which then was completely misrepresents
representing the situation because they
demonstrate back sleep so I’m not quite
sure whether or not they’re planning on
getting up yet or if they’re planning on
getting up at all typically in the
studies that have been done into cheetah
hunting at night up until recently
typically they do their most moving
around about the week of full moon so
the days preceding and the days
following the full moon now tonight
there will not be a full moon but what
we’ve learnt from cheetah and from
following these particular males at
night it doesn’t matter whether there is
a moon or not they March regardless and
they’re covering normos distances
I’m not sure what these boys have
planned if they’re still hungry they’ve
eaten a little bit they’re not
completely full though I’m not sure what
they have planned for their night they
might also just get up and walk which is
what they have been doing while we’ve
been following them for hours and then
they just have done and go sleep they
obviously have a destination in mind who
decides where to go and why I do not
know territorial routes perhaps a lot
like rain it smells a lot like grain
what’s coming up behind us nothing I
think we’re okay
Maryann no I don’t think that you two
are going to stay here for the night
that that much I can tell you I I could
of course be proved wrong animals have a
way of doing that to us all the time
they certainly look relaxed for now but
no I don’t think that they’re going to
stay here the entire night I think
they’re going to get up and move as I
said they’ve often when we followed them
they have often marched us miles through
this area I don’t know exactly where
they’re going to go I’m not sure that
they’re going to hunt there are some
Valda beasts but not nearly as many as
back from we’re back where we came from
which is towards sylars lookout hill and
of course on the other side where James
heard about the bull de beast messing at
the crossings but there are still
scattered herd of herds of wildebeest
about I’m not sure exactly what it is
they have planned for us or where
they’re going to take us but I don’t
think they’re going to spend the whole
night here
Paul I think there’s advantages to both
supports question is whether we prefer
the daytime or the nighttime out here in
the Mara I definitely think that there’s
advantages to both I think we’ve seen
things that very few people ever get to
see by being out at night it’s really is
an agreed on take for granted and I have
really enjoyed learning about the way
that the animals behave having said that
my favorite I’m a human and I mean well
some people really really have enjoyed
being out at night and I have as well
don’t get me wrong the day times for me
are still my favorite I love the moment
of sunrise at the moment just before Sun
rises and starting to get light I love
the colors of the Mara during the day so
I think if I had to choose I would say
daytime is my favorite but of course
nighttime is where we get to see the
most extraordinary things so it’s
difficult to choose okay
just the Mar is just such an incredibly
picturesque place that I don’t think we
get the sort of the full impression of
it at night but that’s not why we’re out
but I enjoy the day times what about you
folk daytime folks Izzie’s daytime as
well
yeah you can’t beat the light of the Sun
in the mornings and the evenings of
goodness hello and you’ve been gone for
a while but you’re back now with a
vengeance now I really I really really
in do I really really do enjoy both of
aspects here we go off we go we’re up
we’ve learned so much about the cheaters
behavior at night us not that I would
ever complain ok off we go
I think it was sorry now that I’ve
started the engine I just need to turn
Alice up a little bit but I think it was
busy who was asking about whether or not
I’ve ever interacted with wild animals I
think that that is
zippy zippy zippy
okay apologies right so I think we
interact with the animals pretty much
every day have I have very interacted on
her hands huh my hands on basis yes I’ve
told the story before
what is this tutor doing sniffing the
sniffing the tree there I have mentioned
this story before so it’s not a secret
that’s not a cheater no that’s not a
cheater that’s a branch I think our boys
have gone there they go there they go I
have actually held a lion cub before and
played the lion cubs not something that
I’m proud of I didn’t realize at the
time I was very young and now of course
we talk a great deal about the fact that
you absolutely should never hand will
wild animals and certainly not lion cubs
because of course those Cubs are
destined for canned hunting a canned
hunting end to their lives so I didn’t
know that at the time I loved animals I
love lion cubs I thought it was the most
amazing opportunity in the world but yes
I have
and I wish I’d know different but I
didn’t and I’m glad that I’m able to
share that experience and that knowledge
with all of you so that hopefully we can
raise an awareness of just how
unnecessary a practice it is because I
think tourists are lied to all the time
about cut pitting know these lines we’re
helping them we’re going to breed them
so that we can hop the wildlands and
they’re gonna be released well they’re
gonna live out their days in a sanctuary
I’ve heard it all
utter nonsense yes I have interact with
a wild animal a lot of the interactions
I’ve had with wild animals have been
during darting of wild animals though so
for various reasons whether they need
vet treatment whether it’s because they
need they need some sort of help in some
way or to be relocated a lot of my work
has been in that area rhino elephant
cheetah lions sable draft gemsbok Brown
hyena spotted I you know I’ve been
present it at the darting of all of
those animals quite a few more than once
to help out with the vets work okay
let’s catch up but you’d have to go
around these Croton thickets I think
I’m sorry use my life just to see where
they’ve gone
Jason gets so that’s one of the reasons
why we spend a lot of time out here at
night yes that is when the majority of
predators do most of their hunting
mainly at dusk and at dawn are the main
hunting times but throughout the night
we found that there’s sort of twelve
there they go
we found that the sort of twelve o’clock
point is usually unless the migrations
in town is usually the cutoff point you
don’t get much movement from the animals
from there I just want to go around the
corner ahead of them because I want to
just double check and see if the
wildebeest are around
come back
no they’ve left
they’ve left alright we’re gonna catch
up with our cheetah I need to get my
thermal up and running let’s go across
to James who’s got one of the smallest
scavengers of the night well we did have
it’s just in front of us I’m just trying
to catch up with it I don’t think it
likes us very much it’s just scavenging
along it’s a little black bag jackal
please excuse the jerkiness of the shot
that has got nothing to do with John
dree it’s entirely my fault but in order
to see it we have to zoom in and do it
while we’re driving what amazes me about
these things is that they don’t get
killed by lions more often they are very
brave
they’re very slight and I I think there
must be a lot faster than they look
because they are not afraid to leap into
a kill situation with Lions grab a piece
and run away our lion is very fast a
lion is not slow lion is it’s really is
of all the animals out here over a
straight-line distance it’s probably
second only to the cheetah maybe to the
leopard but I mean they catch leopards
I’ve never seen them catch one of these
and I’ve never seen footage of them
catching one of these so I think these
little fellas are really very good at
getting out of the way
very fast still in front of us on the
road that is the black-backed jackal now
we had a question I think from someone
called Luca was it Luca Alice
Schmitz Luka age 14 you want tips as to
how to get a job in the bush
well Schmitt Luka I guess the first
thing for me to ask you is where are you
in the world and which bush do you mean
if you want to get into a job working in
the bush art here in Africa what really
does depend what you want to do do you
want to be a researcher do you want to
be a guide do you want to do something
like I’m doing now which is the sort of
progression of being a guide to
presenting do you want to be a ranger
would you like to be part of a
conservation team that looks after say
the the veterinary needs of animals and
small reserves or the burning regime and
an enormous reserve like this and the
overall conservation picture it really
does depend what you want to do if you
want to be a guide and the tips that I
can give you are I need to just read as
much as possible and you know reading as
much as possible about the animals that
you that you are likely to see well
that’s the best way to learn there as a
conservationist however you’re gonna
have to probably get a degree I’ll
continue this answer once we’ve gone
back to Jamie’s cheetah who are not
hunting but they’re climbing
well they were unfortunately it’s just
one of those things they one of the
tutor was right up at the top of this
tree and then as James sent you a
crosshair it was all the way up there as
James sent you across and jumped down
again it’s some sorry I’m busy ripping
Gaffa tape at the same time while I prep
everything quickie it’s it is not it’s
not common to see that you two right up
in the tops of trees they’re not good
tree climbers they can climb trees and
obviously they do sometimes you get
cheetah right up in the top of certain
trees and obviously certain individuals
are more inclined to do it than others
there was just such a lovely lovely shot
of the cheetah the tree now st. marking
spraying and it’s fascinating watching
these five as they go about their st.
marking business because of course each
one takes their turn and I know that
it’s something we’ve commented on a lot
but the sheer amount of urine that a
male cheetah is capable of producing is
actually quite astronomical where’s
number four
we’ve lost number four I’ve got two
there and I’ve got two in front of me
there we go spraying on the tree
and now they’ve all come to lie down
links to us just look so quite special
is that dart over there yeah okay so
it’s not him that’s missing from the
group usually when there’s a lag it is
him
he’s going to go and join the rest of
his buddies and they’re going to light
right here next to us Daniel
Cheeta actually hunted more frequently I
would say them than most of the other
predators here and that’s not because
they’re not successful they’ve got a
very high success rate compared to a
lion or a leopard but it’s because they
lose their kills so often two hyenas it
means that they have to hunt to keep
themselves to have to keep themselves
well-fed essentially so they hunt just
checking to see behind me they hunt
often
I mean we’ve watched them attempt hunts
about three or four in a night before
they’ve been successful and they’ve got
to sleep this number five on its way yes
here comes number five
Lisa usually what I found with with
cheetah Oh playtime sometimes they they
play and they get quite cross with each
other yeah what I found is that a
cheetah needs to rest at least an hour
after they’ve chased when they’ve gone
into a proper full-on chase and they’ve
missed their kill it takes them about an
hour to recover so it’s quite a long
period of time that they need for there
to get their breath back and for their
muscles to go back into a normal state a
normal resting state you had a large
portion of that meal mister judging by
that sway of the belly there’s always
one leg now obviously deliberately made
a beeline for that tree and then have
now changed direction as it gets dark
the wildebeest sound carries a bit
further I’m trying to listen to hear if
I can pick up on any of the herds around
us but the wind is making it a bit
difficult there’s one more still – has
he gone up yet yeah there he goes
there’s one more here goes here we go
okay let me swing around so that food
can actually get a shot that doesn’t
involve a portion of our vehicle and
let’s find out where these boys are
planning on taking us
so the instrument that sits over my
right shoulder is our thermal to help us
fault follow them
now I completely interrupted James in
the middle of describing to one of our
viewers how to go about working in the
bush I want him to finish up with that
so let’s send you back over to him
I don’t think it was unreasonable at all
to interrupt me of cheating climbing
trees alright so she’s Whittaker you got
back to us you said you want to be very
specific on sir you said you want to be
a guide in the Serengeti in Tanzania to
guide an arranger well Ranger died two
very different things Ranger is not
somebody who looks after just a ranger
somebody who looks after the land and
the animals so to be a guide you don’t
need any formal qualifications if you
want to work in Tanzania obviously have
to get a work bird and you’ll have to
get a good lap to get a turns alien
guiding license which it will not be
easy as a foreigner that could be quite
difficult but it can be done your
problems spent a few years there before
you were able to get a guiding classes
there as a foreigner is that a lion no
it’s a stick and then there’s a range if
you want to be arranging a
conservationist that I would suggest
that you do do some kind of formal
qualification formal degree because
while a degree is by no means that be
all and end all of education or just
about anything it is very useful
teachers your way of thinking that is
very useful if your conservation is
putting together plans
burning you need to you know to be able
to engage with the academic literature
around that sort of thing well then it’s
very useful to have a degree and it’s
very interesting to do up but to be a
guide you don’t need a degree I would
suggest however that you set your cell
your sights on not not not limiting
yourself to the Serengeti I would
suggest that you find out which parts of
Africa will accept foreign guides start
with because of course if you are I know
South Africa has a lot of English guys
British guys I don’t know of any in
Kenya or Tanzania it’s very difficult to
become a guide here if you’re not a
Kenyan or attend Sounion there is
something up ahead with shining eyes
don’t worry I think it is an antelope of
some sort I said Walter terrified to
death by driving it up to it in this
pantechnicon it is an antelope that’s a
wonderful pictures in the genre it’s got
a baby sucking in parlor and it’s baby
Impala if are aware I can’t tell quite
the sausage tree pride just yet
staring blankly at us saying to its
child I run you run Z into the grass
quick as you can
the youngster totally oblivious to any
danger fire scary old I’m not sure what
it is looks like it might be read that
girl
it is so read back in a youngster so
while I don’t want to be discouraging
Schmidt okay spread my needs a lot wider
if I were you and just find out where
would be possible as a British citizen
right we’re going to take our next road
up towards this car I’ve been saying
that all Drive have a nine
she is managed to keep up with MJ me
fast
luckily for Patterson they’ve been going
into relatively sedate rate so far we
recently were taught a little bit by the
cameraman as to which of us drive the
fastest and which of us don’t I’m not
going to give the list away I think you
can probably guess who the speediest of
the various guides happen to be I’ll
leave it to you to guess what the what
the conclusion was meantime our cheetah
have found themselves at the next
gardenia stopping to sniff and have a
look
scent mark here again are they going to
do any climbing I don’t think so it
doesn’t look like a very comfortable
climbing tree does it
this is the cheetah equivalent of
updating a social media status checking
to see who else is passed by and left
their scent mark on this tree and then
adding their own to it cheetah would be
what have you seen let me just check to
the right what what social media do you
think cheetah would favor Ferg Instagram
I know they make chirping noises which
would suggest Twitter but mm-hmm I’m
going Instagram I’m going Instagram
server would be snapchat oh I don’t
really understand what snapchat is I’ve
got no real idea Lions Facebook lots of
broadcasting happening
leopards Twitter I don’t know
I’m talking answer nonsense now
a beautiful tree really is very very
pretty
unfortunately they are continuing in the
direction of the next Valley which is a
pity for us because it will mean that we
could lose signal as we follow them but
we’re fine for now we still up on the
ridge it depends it all depends on which
way they go from here be careful with
footing there there we go
adding a stream topping up their scent
marks it’s very it hasn’t rained here or
at least it doesn’t seem to have rained
here for the last few days but they’ll
actually start to a lot of a lot of the
animals the territorial animals will
actually go out and resent mark after
the rain so a lot of you are saying
snapchat for cheetah
I will have to agree with you because
I’ve got no idea I missed the whole
snapchat deal I’ve don’t really know how
it works so I’ll go I’ll take your word
for it I’ll have to agree with you
because I don’t know any better I’m
gonna go around them because they’ve now
all moved
of course as I do that hold on as I do
that they are gonna move out from this
tree I’m sure are we gonna go boys can I
move yes no gamma it chances
it’s one nice thing about driving around
here Oh No here we going which way are
we going boys this way yes this way one
nice thing about driving on this area
you’re unlikely to encounter an
unexpected hole it might happen but it’s
a lot easier to see because the grass is
that much shorter
huge general direction they’re moving in
crowd cat mama you want to know what
similarities a cheetah share with
domestic cats less than something like a
lion or a leopard actually in my opinion
because they don’t have the retractable
claws the this structure of their legs
is very different their body language is
similar they hiss they can purr which
lions and leopards cannot do they don’t
draw which of course house cats can’t
dude lions and leopards can
[Music]
so I guess that would be those would be
some of the similarities
okay alright these cheats are moving
down in this direction there are lots
and lots of little Tommy’s all sleeping
up in the direction that they’re heading
in
I can see their little shapes now what
are they looking at they’re actually
looking in different directions
potentially planning out a hunt
Thomson’s gazelle they tend to they do
tend to hunt okay are we actually moving
a bit further oh okay all righty then
fair enough it is very open here and
it’s still no it’s not light anymore
it’s picking which Tommy they’re going
to go for is the trick which is one of
the reasons why I also enjoy being out
during the day I move forward slightly
is the ability to actually see what’s
ahead of you which of course is why
we’ve got the flare but to be able to
see what’s ahead of you and predict
their movements it becomes a lot easier
have they gone hey they come they’re
dashing straight towards the cheetah
hold on one moment just beyond the reach
of our infrared I think they’re gonna
miss the cheetah no they’re running away
they’re running away they’re not running
at the cheetah anymore TSN yes the only
time I’ve ever been scared properly was
when we were caught in the valle de Bie
stampede that I found very scary because
it was and out of relatively out of
control situation it’s something that
was most definitely a learning curve for
all of us and it was I think just simply
because it was in the dark
the wildebeest were panicking they were
a good couple of hundred no there was
about a hundred thousand of them and
they were swirling around us and was
very difficult to extract ourselves from
the situation because everywhere we went
there was another crazed herd of all the
beasts running in our direction
so I would say that’s the only time I’ve
been scared out here I’ve had a few jump
frights if that makes any sense and
amazing how quietly a lion can sneak up
on you and there’s nothing like all of a
sudden hearing the sound of their
breathing and their footsteps right next
to you in the dark when we’re sitting
with all of our lights off and when it’s
when it’s moonless it really is
pitch-black out here so I’ve had a few
jump frights haven’t really been
frightened but I’ve sort of startled and
one or two occasions levitated slightly
it’s one of a sudden there’s this male
lions head next to yours
can be quite the surprise when you’re
watching the rest of the pride and you
haven’t realized there’s one walking up
behind you and I think we also we’ve we
cautious we’re cautious and we’re aware
of the risks out here we know that lions
and leopards of different animals at
night and we treat them as such
especially because they’re not
accustomed to vehicles moving around
them or seeing vehicles at night
Wow okay
that was a burst of activity
Dunkleman no cheetahs are but far from
the top of the food chain out here top
of the food chain is most definitely the
Lions they are the apex predator here
then below them will sit to the spotted
hyenas we don’t really see many wild
dogs here although they do occasionally
wander through but below them will be
the spotted hyenas below that in terms
of hierarchy will be the leopards and
then you’ll get the cheetah as well this
is a slightly different situation
because you’ve got five males all
together so when it comes to leopards a
female leopard wouldn’t challenge these
boys a male leopard would and would
chase them I would expect
well no numbers have an intimidation
factor that cannot be disregarded but no
cheetahs are most definitely not top of
the food chain here they actually in
terms of the big predators they sit near
the bottom
they sit at the bottom as it happens
though I mean these boys are I haven’t
let that stop them they chase hyenas and
they’re very successful hunters I mean
be really fascinating to follow their
future I wonder what the next few years
holds for them everybody’s talked about
a split happening within this coalition
I don’t know I’m not sure while we sit
with our cheater in the pitch black
let’s go back across to James to find
out whether he’s had any luck searching
in the inky black absolutely
except to say we have made it up on
towards the escarpment sitting here we
are now looking for the sausages male
may not appear as we drive the great
vastness of the escarpment in front of
us is rising up like a great black wave
of the ocean luckily it’s not going to
come crashing down on my head like a
great black wave of the ocean now
unfortunately if you don’t start the
evening drive with your cats
Natalie what a nice question you say
which extinct animal which are would I
like to have come across I think there
are so many mammoths I would love to see
a mammoth to have seen any of the
saber-tooth cats and there were many I
mean I know we only kind of talk about
the saber-tooth Tiger but there are many
saber-tooth cats massive animals are
much bigger than today’s Tigers I would
love to have seen one of those I mean
can you imagine doing a Jurassic Park
walking through the Jurassic period
watching dinosaurs roaming I think that
must have been absolutely astonishing to
see and for hundreds of millions of
years of course they lived all over the
earth and you know various sweets of
species were around and then they all
died out then do Jay others came about
so you know I would love to have seen a
brontosaurus where a Tyrannosaurus even
up really far away but more recently I
suppose of haha South African animal
which is well it’s a subspecies of a
zebra which like seven is fantastic as I
was talking about it was shot out some
time back so they would have been
fascinating to me what else what I’d
like to have seen fantastic big what
else a mermaid
John I would like to see in a moment as
well
going to talk to him again
yes I guess those will be the top ones
that I have loved to see I feel like
this one I’m leaving out that I’ve often
thought I’d love to have seen it’s not a
dojo the saber-tooth cats for me would
have been really the big one oh dear I’m
so sorry James has disappeared off your
screen while he was in the middle of
telling you what I’m sure was a
thrilling tale of which creature he
would bring back if he could which
extinct creature he would see Fergus
also said woolly mammoth interestingly
enough which I have to agree with I
think it has manian Tiger something
along those lines saber-toothed cat see
a sloth there I’d love to see a slide –
all alive going back in time into
dinosaur well that wouldn’t really work
with it being live and all but you get
the idea
imagine we did our job but with
dinosaurs might be slightly more
terrifying in fact would definitely be
terrifying we’d have to change our set
up I think and if Jurassic Park has
taught me anything it’s that dinosaurs
find a way now Christine you’re
wondering about local folklore stories
if there’s any scary stories of monsters
out here that make us nervous at night I
must find out for you if there’s any
stories specifically around this area
because I have no doubt that there are
I’m sure there are
and probably based around things like
man-eating lions I would say man-eating
leopards would probably feature quite
heavily I don’t know of any yet I’ll
have to try and find some time to chat
to someone I feel like Shetty could tell
a good story no mechanic shadrach but I
will find out for you I know of a few in
South Africa I once
I know this is ridiculous I once saw a
Tokoloshe I don’t believe in two
collages I don’t believe in them at all
I don’t know what I saw it was a trick
of the light it was something but let me
tell you the story I used to live in an
old farmhouse about 50 years old and the
the people that worked with us often who
were who were locally based they would
often mention that they they knew that a
Tokoloshe lived around there but it was
many many months later that I was
walking down the passageway to the
bathroom and to pass to the bathroom you
had to look down a corridor that led
into the main room big open main room
and as I walked across something walked
across on the other side with me at
exactly the same time something quite
short but bent double with long arms and
I still have the picture very clearly in
my head obviously I was half asleep it
was dark I must have seen a shadow of
something I don’t know but I confess to
to making the return trip at double the
speed anyway the next day one of the
ladies came out screaming and told me
not to go around the corner because
she’d seen a Tokoloshe I hadn’t
mentioned anything about it I hadn’t
said anything because obviously I
scoffed at myself once it was light
again who knows I’ve also had very I’ve
done a few sleep baths and I think it’s
more an instinct of wild animals than it
is anything else
slipped out in the bush we obviously
everybody keeps watch and I’ve had only
once ever did I experience a complete
sigh I drifted off because somebody else
is one of the other guys was on watch
and I drifted off and I woke up ice-cold
with the hairs on the back of my neck
standing up on end and the feeling just
would not go away and I walked around
with the torch and I checked and
everybody else was fast asleep and we
didn’t we didn’t see anything I never
found anything and I have no idea what
that was about
I suspect I heard something or
registered something on a subconscious
instinctive level may be a leopard
walked past us or something like that
listen I mean I watched the stranger
things in my tent the other night and
the power kept flickering on and off and
I got freaked out so maybe I’m not a
good gauge for these sorts of things
Hey I had to shut the ten to turn the
lights on let’s never wooden stay on and
it was terrifying everyone else was on
Drive but no typic typically we tend not
to be I know a dark is a different thing
and we’ve got this this human instinct
to be home and wrapped up safely but
typically I don’t find myself afraid of
monsters in the dark I probably will
when I go and research all the scary
stories though
how about you fig the where cameraman is
that at full moon he becomes a cameraman
where’s he gone he gone he’s left it
somewhere cameraman full moon suddenly
has a desire to pick up a camera that
describes half of the Instagram
generations
okay well while we sit and now
contemplate whether or not there any
monsters out here let’s go across to
James who is braving driving about in
the dark I am and it’s blustery and cold
and there could be monsters anywhere
just look behind me now and I realize
monsters are closer than you think
I was chatting to you about mammoths and
the ethics of the remaking it and how
maybe I was chatting about it if you got
that far so of course we went black
screen we were talking about the extinct
creatures and then I said well of course
they are rumors that people are trying
to recreate mammoths from their DNA and
by trying to make it embryo
splicing that’s exactly how they did
basically that implant II created embryo
inside elephant and then see if amethyst
and it’ll be quite interesting now he
would be fascinating with the ethics of
doubles are interesting should we be
doing that sort of thing
or should we not now I’ve no doubt that
there we can very easily cut that debate
halfway fifty percent say never
sacrilegious those who are perhaps not
quite as religiously event might say you
know what it doesn’t matter it’s it’s
all in the name of science others who
are not necessarily religious but feel
that nature should be that take its
course mighty people you say they didn’t
think it was a good idea or an
acceptable thing to be doing to be doing
things like cloning human beings trying
to recreate members anyway I don’t think
there’s all of those people no matter
which side of the fence you sit I bit
worthy were there to be a documentary on
the creation of a new mammoth I
guarantee you lots and lots of people
would certainly watch it and try and see
what a mammoth the living mammoth was
looking like
did look like so what do see one of
course that’s a debate to life by that
wonderful film Jurassic Park and it
started this sequence
had no luck associate reprieve the stage
interesting question of dump shock uses
if I can go back to a time with those
people with recklessly shooting animals
what would I tell them well that’s a
really difficult one and it’s it’s an
interesting one because if I went back
and I met Adolphe della gorg and I said
to me nobody although you there are so
many thousands or I come from the future
that I can think you wouldn’t believe it
but in a hundred and twenty or two
hundred years time they’re gonna be so
few of these things left that you really
don’t want to be doing this and I think
you’ll find that if I could convince him
of what the world looks like today he
would go oh my goodness I don’t believe
what I’m doing I think they were just so
ignorant of what the future would look
like as we all are and in fact we behave
many of us behave in exactly the same
way as those original hunters did going
and shooting willy-nilly which are we
put down the toaster boil a kettle get
in our cars turn the engines on we’re
doing the same thing to the environment
it’s just not as obvious and because
we’re ignorant of the effects that it’s
going to have on us we we just keep
doing it we don’t think about it we
don’t know what carbon what emissions
are going to make the human race through
blackboard gonna make the planet look
like we don’t know what large-scale
large-scale agriculture is going to do
to the world we don’t know what the
feedlot farming of cattle and the amount
of gas they produce and the amount of
land required to you know to house them
is going to do we just carry on doing it
regardless of any kind of warnings that
we have so it’s all very well going back
and saying you know add off my boy you
are making a dreadful mistake by
shooting all these elephants because
I’ve seen what it’s going to do we are
doing exactly the same thing
the last thoughts I’m going to leave you
with before I hand you back to the
slightly more cheerful Jamie Patterson
and of course
perché Shep thanks for joining us
bye-bye I’m coming in complete agreement
with James on a on a more serious note
on a more flippant note I remembered the
quotes I was thinking of that I was
trying to get James to say which was
your scientists was so preoccupied with
whether they could they didn’t stop to
think if they should which actually
applies to the more serious no to that
James was chatting about as well are we
going to be with these Cheeta for a
little while longer something’s caught
their attention so I’m going to follow
them for a little while this evening to
see where they go and whether or not
they have any success so do stay tuned
and do keep an eye on the Facebook live
groups and if we do see anything
exciting we will go live and we will
share it with all of you but that brings
us to the end of our scheduled sunset
Safari and of course that is time for us
to say our farewell and our thank yous
I’m going to try not to pull my earpiece
out in the way that I did this morning
and instead get everything on pad so a
big thank you to the Safari live team of
cross both in South Africa and here in
the Masai Mara to Alice in director
share most importantly the biggest thank
you to all of you join us tomorrow for
the sunrise Safari
[Music]
and we’ll do our best to address all of
those today on camera Ronde rain there
is his thumb and Richard playing Ranger
in the back of the car with us Richard
is there of course because we will be
out after dark and so he’s here just to
look after us make sure we don’t
misbehave and make sure nothing else
misbehaves in our general vicinity it’s
also anton drive jamie Patterson Brent
has managed to break his car not sure
how so he is struggling to get any sort
of signal out towards us at the moment
so we may or may not hear from him today
a three feet drive from the Mara or two
feet at the moment we’re just going to
have a quick look at how the atmosphere
here has turned quite well I don’t know
if it’s dusty or sort of cloudy but
certainly there is some weather blowing
in and I shall also tell you of course
that Alice aka Surrey is directing today
and she’s being able assisted and by
faith who begins and I don’t mean that
in the spiritual sense I mean there’s a
human being called faith who is going to
start her hmm
directing next week she’s very nervous
she’s terrified probably a good thing
right then over there we have some
elephants walking through the forest
shall I just reverse slightly Jean dree
were you happy there he’s not speaking
anymore so I’m just going to say he
entered he shouts at me and tells me to
move and I find watching these elephants
walking through these woodlands well I
just think it’s a rather peaceful thing
to look at this and baboons in there as
well the olive baboon and olive baboon
rather than the olive baboon and we’ve
got water buck here defesa water buck
the grants zebra as I told you and some
glorious light after a day that has been
well I think I can safely say why tell
it it has been very blindingly bright
but it’s starting to change now Jamie
Patterson is putting me to shame already
which is
distressing to my person so I’m going to
hand you across to her with something
that doesn’t have stripes but it has got
spots and it is so very fast James must
absolutely not be distressed he didn’t
have to suffer through this morning’s
events here Fergus and I started off on
an absolute roll and then couldn’t find
the cheetah the entire afternoon but I
mean the entire morning Bassett is the
afternoon and we have found them all
five of the Musketeers wandering
straight towards us what a fantastic way
to start off at the sunset safari before
they get too much closer quick
introduction my name is Jamie and this
afternoon Fergus is on camera with me
and we’re very very excited because
we’ve been really looking forward to
finding these cheetah and we didn’t
succeed this morning as I said but we’ve
got them so don’t forget to send through
your questions on hashtag safari live on
twitter this is only the second time
that I’ve actually spent a long period
of time with these five boys so I’m very
excited and we will definitely be
staying with them once it gets dark my
only concern is the sheer horribleness
of the weather this afternoon I don’t
know what James is experienced across
experiencing across the river I can tell
you that it is a thoroughly unpleasant
here the wind is howling although I
think it’s better than the wind howls
and at least it’s going to blow the rain
away from us here we go here comes
number three a coalition of five male
cheetah for our new viewers this is very
unusual yes male cheetah do form
coalition’s they do there are social
cats
although the females are solitary unless
they have Cubs but to see a group of
them of five strong is very very unusual
and one thing that I’ve been thinking
about because these boys have really
established themselves in this area one
thing I’ve been thinking about is very
soon they are going to come across a
female and I’m just wondering I would I
would really love to be in their
vicinity when they do because I really
want to see how that situation plays out
I don’t think these boys are fully
get out their dynamics yet and nothing
breaks up a brotherhood faster than the
attentions of a woman we’ve got to go to
hope that we’re around when that happens
Christine welcome sending through the
first cheetah themed question of the
afternoon that cheats have a slightly
bloody face or am i imagining it I think
they’ve eaten today they do seem and not
all of them are full they do seem to
have managed to catch themselves
something so apparently this morning
they were quite hungry and Christine
that King cheetah is a type of basically
it’s a it’s a genetic aberration it’s a
recessive gene and it says it’s a normal
cheetah but it’s a sort of a a type of
gene that passes on very very dark
coloring so the spots almost becomes
stripes they’re slightly larger this
cheetah is walking right at us this is
so wonderful hello you you’re gorgeous
creature king cheetah are very unusual
because it is a recessive gene it’s not
a common gene if you have a recessive
gene obviously you need two parents to
carry it so it’s not something that you
see much of in the wild a lot of centers
breed King cheetahs as a way of keeping
that gene within the population which is
you know the there’s debate about
whether or not that’s actually necessary
walking right up to us and floppy that’s
really special he’s chosen to walk right
past us you can see he’s flopped down on
top of the tire marks near the road and
here come the rest of them a Marion
welcome to the sunset Safari you want to
know what aged cheetah cubs will leave
their mothers you’re looking at a
roundabout between depending on the mud
whether they are male or female you’re
looking at around about two years old
and they take quite a while to reach
sexual maturity much like letters
actually these five boys will be over
two and a half years old actually think
they’re closer to three or four years
old I’m not sure of their exact history
but remember Malaya is in this area
she’s got two young boys who are about a
year and a half if I remember correctly
I’m just just under a year and a half
which is going to be interesting know so
that sort of brings us to our next
question Jeff no I don’t think so
I could easily stand corrected but I
don’t think so I don’t think these five
have been dominant in this area for long
enough for them to be the fathers of
Malaya cos boys I don’t think they’re
old enough either
I think they’ve only just started to
really come into their own and I don’t
think that happened hey boys
I don’t think that happened over a year
ago this is so awesome right next to us
when they walk next to you at this sort
of level you realize just how small they
are
here comes d’Artagnan at the back with
his collar just to let you know that is
a collar put there by researchers
obviously to help to keep track of their
movements the most important way that
that research is used is in human
wildlife conflict hello gents
obviously you will see that there are
other vehicles in the sighting as you
know of course there are tourists here
look at those feet you can see the
non-retractable claws here interestingly
enough I read a very fascinating article
on that exact subject not too long ago
they were walking straight towards a
herd of all the beasts I mean it is it
is the middle of the day but you never
know the way that these guys hunt they
take advantage of the Valle de beast
panic I’m just gonna wait for the fifth
one to get a little bit further and then
we’re going to do the safari shuffle and
duck around some vehicles I really very
interesting ask about that so the
question is about whether or not cheetah
will stay away from lions stay far away
from Lions territories the answer is
they actually caught there’s there’s not
enough space for cheetah to have
exclusive territories and lie instead of
exclusive territories cheetah have to
have territories within territories
lines it’s just the way that they have
to do it
and so there is actually a lot of
research done into the way that cheaters
move within Alliance territory and the
conclusion is that they don’t actively
avoid they risk or they don’t respond in
a what’s when you try and anticipate a
problem and avoid it and participate
oh for goodness sake they respond in a
reactionary manner rather than trying to
predict where the lines are going to be
and avoiding the areas that the Lions
like they run away when they see the
Lions or they move when they hear the
Lions roar and close to them but they
don’t actively avoid them
a duck rides up ahead
just to let you know that this afternoon
brent is having problems with his
vehicle he has been trying to sort it
out but he’s having problems of the
broadcast equipment on this on his car
so he might not be joining us this
afternoon I don’t know how that’s going
to play out
as I said you will notice there are the
vehicles with us as well
but Fergus doing an amazing job here as
d’Artagnan
even ash that’s a really lovely idea I
have to say I really like that as an
idea
so even Ash’s wondering if cheetah will
race each other to show dominance and no
they won’t they will fight in order to
establish dominance and they can fight
quite seriously when a female is
involved it is odd for me having spent
so much time with lions recently it is
peculiar to me to hear the sounds that
they make while they fight because they
sort of squeak at each other but no they
fight if they want to show dominance
they fight I’ve never seen cheetah mock
mounting which is another way of she’s
sort of quite gently playing or showing
that they are dominant but I can imagine
that they do do it scent marking there’s
so much that’s happening in their way in
their language and the way that they’re
speaking to each other visually and
vocally as well but mostly visual
communication one of them is definitely
larger than the other than the others
one of them definitely had a meal arrest
them are hungry
it’s the one thing that we are so very
fortunate to be able to experience our
tear down again
James as we know with these boys two of
them are slightly I think slightly older
than the others but yes I think all four
or five of them art and age where they
are sexually mature and could meet as to
how it would play out it’s quite
fascinating to see one that’s so full
compared to the rest and wonder if he
killed alone or if he was just the first
to arrive and the first to have a chance
to feed they’re quite peaceful about the
way that they go about feeding
oh yes they’re all at an age where they
could mate and it’s going to be very
very interesting and I hope they don’t
split because of it I hope that the
conflict doesn’t cause a separation in
the coalition Francis in Israel I have
absolutely no idea but I’ll try and find
out for you because somebody here will
know obviously these Cheeta have
probably had company throughout the day
from various Safari vehicles so I think
somebody will know at first because
Brent told me when he saw them that they
were thin and at first I actually was
quite surprised because then I saw that
one was fat it could be itami it could
be something that they lost to a hyenas
I’m not entirely sure well there you go
see James we haven’t put you to shame at
all James has found another spotted
creature more patchy than spotty I think
but I’m most jealous of this cheetah
Musketeers excuse me one second well we
have a giraffe and we have another draft
and in fact three or four of them
feeding in amongst the bushes here on
the southern side of the strange line
and I wish I could tell you what they
were eating but I’m afraid I cannot
let’s just have a look see you maybe I
maybe I can get close I’ve certainly
seen them eating this bush before looks
like a flew here but isn’t
if it isn’t some kind of a shot ear or
Scotia
I don’t know if you get Scotia’s here
I’ll have a look-see perhaps but
definitely much less thorny than the
fair on offer right now Jumma where of
course the knob forms are all blooming
and that is a favorite spring food of
the southern giraffe as opposed to the
Masai giraffe which were looking at now
Tim you’re wondering what season it is
in the Mara 10 we’re just south of the
equator so the season is pretty much the
same as it is in South Africa it’s much
hotter than it was a month ago we’re
going towards I suppose what they’d call
summer here I think you’ll find it gets
pretty hot but it doesn’t get freezing
here and so the variation in the seasons
will be much less than it is at a place
like Juma and of also of course we’re
very high up here roughly 1,600 meters
or so where he’s sitting now maybe a
little bit lower than that but that’s a
mile higher for those of you working in
the imperial system so we’re as high as
Denver Colorado over here and then up at
Camp were another 300 meters a thousand
feet taller than that which is very high
up indeed okay that was our giraffe
sighting let’s move along I didn’t even
tell you my plan for the afternoon my
plan for the afternoon see I’m telling
you now is to go along the River Road
towards where Scott has two young male
lions earlier today I’m hoping that they
are going to get hungry and go on the
move and perhaps try and hunt some
things they don’t we’re gonna come back
around towards the escarpment see if I
can find well I’m pretty much sure that
they are my nemesis pride really the
sausages I keep trying to find them and
failing and we might just pick up as
well that a female cheetah and the two
very young cubs since brynne found him
we haven’t managed to see them again
alright leech probably just behind
little the bisque and so Jamie wants to
tell you about them
now our getting closer to the Valle de
beast they’re about to use a Croton
thicket to hide them away oh we taught
him to hold on hold on everyone
okay he’s just going across the road and
we just wait for this last guy to come
wandering through in front and then
we’ll move across the last cheetah boy
not nearly as full as the other one I’m
not doing too badly though at least we
know they have had one meal okay we’re
gonna go we’re gonna go loop around
towards where the Valle de beast are
we’re gonna give these boys plenty of
space so that they’ve got plenty of
space to maneuver
duck out of everybody’s way
Debbi the way that we ID individual
cheetah is to look at their spot
patterns so it’s apically the way that
researchers do it is to look at a
profile relief profile at a right
profile of the whole cheetah and the way
that I find works best for me in terms
of becoming familiar that’s quite nice
becoming familiar with the different
cheetah that we see is to look for
really obvious spots so it’s a look at
spots that form a face or a shape or
something like that so once we get a put
get to the point where we can actually
closely observe these cheetah boys we
get once they’re flat we can start
looking for some of the characteristic
markers obviously d’Artagnan is got a
collar and that makes life much easier
but that’s what we will be doing these
boys are gonna go into this thicket it’s
clever they’re gonna walk towards this
thicket and they’re going to go and
ambush the bull the beast on the other
side and what we’re going to do instead
of stag on their tail
is we’re going to go around to where the
Valda beasts are going around the other
side of the Croton thicket we’re going
to settle ourselves they’re marching off
okay
Oh Marian not all of them are fall
actually but yes they will eat once
again if they’re happy that depends on
the time of day and it depends on the
situation but if there are not full
which most of them are not in it will
that will determine whether or not they
decide to hunt again
and I think the fact that three of them
are not nearly as full as the other two
suggests that they might they might not
do it immediately which is why I’m I’m a
little bit here’s attend to duck them
just yet hmm it’s just let me just wait
one second and just see I mean they move
then they stop and they move then they
stop then they move and they stop yeah
let’s go around let’s go around
and also of course during the migration
all of the rules guard of the window
and all predators will hunt if the
opportunity presents itself whether
they’re hungry or full it’s their level
of determination is determined by how
hungry they are
Weyland
ricci cheetah can run cheetah can run at
well over 100 kilometres an hour which
is what is that in miles I’m terrible
with my upon versions 60 60 odd miles an
hour I seem to be angling back in this
direction I’m gonna cut through
and I cut through the center of this
thicket obviously five cheetah boys it’s
a very popular popular sighting and I
always try to skim the edges and stay
quite far away if possible
Rivaldo beasts have stopped on the other
side of this proton thicket
I’m going to do the same and we’ll just
wait we’ll wait patiently for them
so while we wait for them to pop out
which they are going to do its have a
peruse of what options are on this side
for them and we’ve got the wildebeest
we’ve got to the Thomson’s gazelle let’s
have a look and see there the world of
East some Tommy’s there as well the
Volta peace saw them earlier so they’re
on alert and there’s very very little
cover with these boys but there’s five
of them which is something that they
have taken full advantage of in the way
that they hunt the way that they move
through an area they cause panic they
don’t they very seldom reach their top
speeds remember that when a cheetah is
running at top speed or haven’t actually
really fully finished that that question
when a cheetah is running at top speed
there is a limit to how far they can run
and that is simply because they built
for those bursts of energy and it is
hugely hugely demanding on their bodies
and their muscles their muscle structure
is completely and the way that they they
sort of deal with the build-up of lactic
acid and all of that it’s completely
different to a human being that’s why
human beings can run long distance
marathons after training whereas cheetah
have to sprint and then stop they cannot
continue for a long period of time but
these boys they’re clever in the way
that they hunt they’ve also got the
advantage of numbers they cause panic
and then they split up
and because the wildebeest are running
in every direction because they’ve split
up one of them is bound to get close
enough to be able to catch something
whether or not they manage is a
different story but that’s what they’re
going to be after that’s the way that
they’re going to be the situation is
going to be playing out
Melissa I think life would be very tough
for a cheetah that has lost a part of
its tail because then it brings us back
to the conversation we were having about
their top speeds and the way that they
run the tail actually acts as a
balancing counterweight so when they run
and when they change direction and when
they duck and dive that tail is actually
they’re stretched out or contracting
whatever it has to do in order to
balance them and to help them not tip
over at the speeds that they’re going at
so if a cheetah were to lose part of its
tail I actually think it would be quite
it would be quite disadvantaged you
robably still be able to catch food and
we just have to hope that the food ran
in a straight line and didn’t duck off
to the left or the right – rapidly it
probably struggle with that but I think
it would still be able to function it’s
not as though the tail is an absolute
essential do you think a leg it probably
wouldn’t make it but losing a tail I
think it could survive I think that
these cheetah have probably gone to lie
down briefly Fitz wait and see though
sorry forgot was that they didn’t move
up this way everybody seems to be
sitting down that side as well though it
could easily have just walked and then
sat down for a rest I think we’re going
to be doing that a lot this afternoon
let’s just go investigate around
as I search for where my spotty Jeeter
have disappeared into the Croton
thickets James is having a spotty day
indeed with some hyena there we have got
some high oil a Heiner a spotted hyena
with it’s dinner it’s Sunday dinner are
not convinced that its taste is anything
like the sunday roast lamb that I my
father probably produced today
I think it’s an Impala how it died I
don’t know because I’m suspect this
female hyena did not catch it herself
I say female hyena because if you look
carefully there we are you can see
although males and females share
genitalia they do not share teats for
babies now I wonder with its smallness
and cuteness I’m obviously talking
rubbish because I don’t think there’s
any real need to a whisper but you know
sometimes you get into the rhythm of
things and you can’t stop it looks to me
like she’s got cubs
in other words I think she’s lactating
you might also be able to hear the
metallic scratching sound of layers
parrots flying overhead you might also
be able to hear the thudding as I hit my
head
trying to get rid of the Flies it’s very
irritating she’s looking down towards
the little culvert here I wonder
salivating as she is she doesn’t have a
little one there that has been
frightened back into the culvert by our
arrival straw head standing name yes
straw head do you say such menacing
teeth well they are but you know there
are no more menacing in fact I think
this so than the teeth of a lion for
example Oh Macey of canines which make
me shudder every time I look at them and
it’s not so much the teeth the teeth in
a on a hyena or blunter than there would
be on a lion and that’s of course
because they are used to crush bones so
they’re thicker and blunt a slightly
more robust and it’s the jaws that are
the really terrifying thing on an animal
like this hyena seemed to be
particularly enamored by the meals she
has there that salivation is really very
distasteful starting to feel got
nauseous
it’s gonna give a a few minutes to see
if a cab doesn’t emerge that is the
definition quintessential of eating
something with long teeth I feel now
look what you can see from those teeth
is of course if she turns her head again
come on you can see how robust those
molars are the collar seals which of the
back teeth much more robust and much
less sharp than you’d find on a lion or
a leopard
she is lactating heavily she has
definitely got a cub somewhere on the
place
yeah now Francis from Israel an
interesting question who said any
charges she could be taking this carcass
back to the den I mean said no and I’ll
tell you why I didn’t think so
for two reasons firstly if she was
taking it back to the den she’d be
taking it back to the den this is not a
big carcass she’s an extremely powerful
animal wouldn’t be much trouble further
just pick it up and walk with it so I
don’t think that’s one of the reasons
the other reason is that I think that
these culverts are extensively used
especially by lower ranking females and
it is entirely possible that oh you know
what it is it’s a baby topi it’s a very
newborn topi the chances are that if
this is a low-ranking female she’s used
this culvert as a little birthing site
for her for her cubs and what we know
about hyenas and about low-ranking
hyenas especially Francis is that
they’re don’t tend to take food back to
the den they’d rather eat and then go
back to the din and suckle their
youngsters because if they go back to a
den site where there are other hyenas
especially as low ranking females
chances are they will have their food
stolen by higher ranking members whereas
higher ranking females who will not have
their food stolen do sometimes take food
back to the dens okay I’m afraid we’re
going to have to move we have managed to
park somebody in here so we’re going to
carry on down the road
I’m sorry my dear right oh that’s quite
a nice shot actually hello you can see
this hapless little topi frame you can
see she picks it up with absolutely no
trouble at all I feel a bit bad now with
the reason she’s moving anyway she was
not in a vacant position okay let’s go
back to Jamie she’s managed to refined
her spotted guitars well it wasn’t too
hard to refine them I just had to go
back around the croton thicket and and
there they are
all five of them spread-eagled and I
would actually say pretty fat and happy
I don’t know what it was that they fed
on but they’ve enjoyed a meal now
probably what I’m going to do is I’m
going to leave these boys for now I
think that the chase I think it was a
recent kill and I think that the chase
would have exhausted them but I don’t
think that they’re going to move very
far from the spot and this is peak
viewing hours so there’s lots and lots
of people around here so I’m gonna make
space for for the people going and
adventure around a little bit go find
some elephants or something like that or
who knows maybe a leopard because as you
can see there’s lots of cars moving
through the sighting and we’ll come back
when we have the Mara to ourselves NYX
it’s fascinating isn’t it the way that
cheetah sleep so different to the way
that we’re accustomed to seeing lipids
and lions oh cool by the way look at the
bottom of the foot it’s a really nice
way to get an idea of the bottom of the
pad and the way that they attract looks
and the elongated three lobes very very
different Oh beautiful thank you teaser
how cool is that
sorry next give you one sec just struck
me that we had such a fantastic view of
it so the way that the cheetah is
structured and the fact that they’re not
the apex predator out here means that
they are they’re prone to sleeping look
they do sleep with their heads flatter
as you can see but they are prone to
sleeping with their heads up like this
and when they see per their heads up
like this it usually means at some point
you got to see movement from them but
when they actually properly bed down for
the night then they drop their heads
right down in the way that d’Artagnan is
doing but it the way that they’re
structured and the weight of their head
obviously allows their bodies and the
strength in their neck allows their
bodies to sit quite comfortably like
that I imagine it would give us terrible
neck ache if we were to do it and I
don’t act like you don’t really see
lions or leopards doing that Lori yes it
is one of the reasons that cheetah are
structured in the way that they are so
Laurie is wondering about their small
heads and yes that plays a role into
their aerodynamics it also helps to
reduce the weight that they have to
carry obviously the heavier there are
the harder it would be in the more
muscle they’d need to run and then you
know it’s it’s counterproductive so that
is they’re not adapted to crunching bone
it’s one of the ways that they differ
from things like those hyenas that you
saw with James they’re not adapted to
break into carcasses and crunch through
heavy bone they don’t need that by force
pressure the only thing they need to be
able to do is to be able to suffocate
their prey and they do that by the
stranglehold but otherwise they don’t
eat the excessively powerful jaw of
something like a howl you know or even a
lion and that means they don’t need the
same muscle attachment points and
they’re structured in a way that is
completely different and remember that
although they are part of the same
family of although they are part of the
Phelan family felidae family they are
not closely related to lions or leopards
they’re a very very different cat
something completely unique semi
semi-retractable claws basically almost
non-retractable claws very different leg
structure the ability to purr the
inability to raw which is something we
were talking about with lions we were
chatting about whether or not Lions can
purr and they can’t not in the troop not
by the true definition of
but cheetah can cheetah can produced
that vibration that makes a purr when
they’re contented only other big cat
that can purr in a way they can is a
Snow Leopard apparently
granny it’s the way that they’ve evolved
to the structure and the way that
they’ve evolved so granny’s question is
why is it that liquid stone form
coalition’s in the same way cheetah do
one thing that you’ll notice with
leopards is that and I wouldn’t I’m not
sure what came first the chicken or the
egg so to speak but if you look at
leopards the sexual dimorphism the
difference in size the difference in
size between the males and the females
is very very clear the male’s almost
double the size of the females whereas
it’s not as distinctive in cheetah yes
the males are bigger but not nearly as
as big and there’s obviously a way that
nature during the you know during the
evolution of the cheetah versus the
leopard obviously there were certain
advantages that worked well for leopards
in terms of being solitary and cheat are
interesting because of course it’s only
the male’s that form coalition’s for
territories obviously it was worth the
trade-off of not potentially having the
opportunity to mate
whereas for lipids it wasn’t but it’s a
good question because I don’t know
exactly why but it’s interesting to note
just the difference in size
Melissa yes mail cheater in particular
do get territorial
they mark their territories that’s what
we so frequently see them doing when
they spray urine up against the tree so
yes they do get territorial the females
are although it is possible to for
females to encounter to each other and
to fight the females are less
territorial in the males and they’re
almost nomadic because they don’t really
stay in one place they often move and
cover great distances in their lifetimes
but the males do stay in one place they
have regular territorial power patrols
that they go on and boundaries that they
mark and if they were to encounter other
males there would be a good chance there
would be a fight he’s got a little bit
of a gummy eye nothing too serious
though
nice clustering about I think these
cheetah killed recently
whatever affected the weather might be
having on this situation one has to say
that the the skies are truly dramatic
and really quite stunning and James has
got a few that he would love to share
well yes it’s not a view of my mug and
we basically had to go back to my mug
because I managed to well lock the
steering and we had a problem but now
you may look at the view of the rain
pounding the southern reaches of the
Maasai Mara and I’m hoping fervently
that I will not get caught in that rain
not so much because I’m afraid of
getting wet
much more so because I’m afraid of being
stuck in a small tent with genre just a
fate that I have nightmares about every
evening then there also two rather
magnificent male Impala wandering away
from the scene just been passed by a
vehicle which means when you see me next
I will be filthy dirty from the dust
but there certainly is Thunder and there
certainly is a bit of rain starting to
fall now so I’m hoping we’re going to
escape some of it but I’m not sure too
far from where Scott saw the Lions this
morning but I can see how that taupe eye
in the area which means even either
those taupe eye are about to be devoured
all the Lions have moved on you might be
able to hear the soft pitter-patter of
moisture falling now on the roof
makes you say where do we sleep when we
still stay out all night and it happens
to rain will you sleep in the tent
basically so this car turns into a
canvas tent
pretty much and then you just sleep
around here and if you happen to be my
size then it’s actually not too bad we
use these mattresses and then put them
on the vehicle and if you’re my size
well then you’re okay if your laundry
size then you’re in for an uncomfortable
time of it Scott’s is very cleverly
designed this particular vehicle so that
you can sleep on the roof which is going
to be something that I’m looking forward
to experiencing I haven’t managed to do
that dear I’ve only slept on the car but
as I say if you’re 5 feet and 8 inches
tall it’s not too uncomfortable but if
you’re 6 feet and 4 inches tall John
dree okay we’re gonna go back to you
Jaime the other side of the river with
the cheetah I don’t know if they’re
hunting the county there’s a bit of a
Top Gear show on the way well we did
have a bit of a Top Gear show and I’m
Fergus and I were using the camera to
try and work out exactly what it was
that attracted the attention so let me
show you what what James is referring to
when he said Top Gear show something
happened over there and I think that
fergus’s might have hit upon what
happened and that something might have
stolen the kill of those cheetah but
something has obviously taken all the
vehicles that were with us and taken
them over there and I for one am quite
happy with that I can’t go down there we
won’t have any signal so we can’t go and
investigate what it is there’s some
vultures that were hanging around anyway
that’s what we meant by the Top Gear
show bye bye we’ll stay with the cheetah
now we’ve got them all almost all to
ourselves
which means that we can just do a little
shift around
I’m not gonna go too close
there we go hello boys Oh somebody
rolled into somebody else oh okay yeah I
think you’re right I think they have
been chased a little bit nervy it could
be I can’t quite work out exactly where
I am compared to where I was this
morning but I think for the mast I think
we’re quite close to where I had those
young male lions and I think it’s a
possibility that those young males came
in and stole from these cheetah Aidan
who is six years old Aidan you want to
know if I ever get lost Aidan I get lost
all the time regularly especially in the
dark and especially when it’s cloudy so
I can’t tell I can’t look at the stars
to tell me which direction I’m driving
in and there’s no phone signal out here
and I haven’t got around sorting out a
map system so so yes I get lost
regularly not who lost lost though it’s
not like I don’t know where I am I have
a rough idea I know where the main
cities are I know I’ve got a couple of
landmarks that I can use to help to find
my way lights help as well so no we’re
never completely lost but yes sometimes
I’m lost sometimes it’s like driving
around on Mars
it really is at night you could be
anywhere you you drive around following
these animals especially in the middle
of the night and I guess it was
especially bad when we first started
here because obviously this was
unfamiliar territory my goodness do you
think we could we didn’t we didn’t
really know Prince Brent’s got a
fantastic sense of direction he always
seems to know exactly where he’s going I
don’t know my direct sense of direction
isn’t bad but I do mix up one Valley to
the next especially if it’s got not much
to recommend it you know if it’s pretty
average looking by my standards which I
had but are pretty high
ginger no I’m never afraid that the
cheetah will jump in the vehicle
especially not cheetah and that’s simply
because that would be very very unusual
behavior and you mean obviously in terms
of attacking me cheetah in particular
are probably the least aggressive and
least dangerous of the big cats in fact
they’re definitely the least dangerous
of the big cats out here they’re not a
threat to human beings and they never
have been and the the number of recorded
cases of cheetah deaths but cheetah
human deaths are so so small and usually
that involves children children are a
different matter but adults the cheetah
does not see as potential prey even at
night what does worry me is them jumping
onto the car to use me as a termite
mound and fortunately that behavior has
been stopped over recent years but it
became the done thing to put yourself
near the cheetahs path so that they
would come up and use you as either a
barrier between them and the prey so
that they could hide away all so that
they could use you as a vantage point
because cheetah habituated people very
very quickly and they would jump on the
bonnet that’s all the hood
I believe it’s known as that’s very
dangerous and it’s it’s highly highly
and its behavior that should not be
encouraged because first of all it’s
interfering with the natural behavior of
the animal which yes of course happens
with many Safari vehicles wandering
about but shouldn’t be done to excess
absolutely secondly it runs the risk of
the cheetah losing its fear completely
of people responding to movement if
there’s a child or something in the next
vehicle that comes along responding to
movement and having to be destroyed
because it’s learned to that that human
beings are a fun thing to jump into the
vehicle and attack it’s a terrible
terrible thing to do it also read it
runs the risk of spreading disease so it
really should practice that shouldn’t be
encouraged so while I’m not frightened
of it I am aware of the risk and so far
none of the Cheetahs have tried to jump
into the car with us or on to the car
with us Ferg you haven’t had any no I
don’t think any of us have
that behaviors being phased out his
speaking on moving on to more amusing
topics but to do with the proximity of
the animals I didn’t do it yes some of
the animals have sent marked our
vehicles before it has happened in the
past particularly with lions if I
remember correctly James came very very
close to being sent marked once by the
Birmingham boys we were all sitting
watching it’s in in final control for
some reason it’s usually just so happens
that you happen to park yourself next to
the tree or the bush that they want to
send mark on and they spray on it and
then you you find yourself caught in the
crossfire but never I’ve never had got
it I had a line rub its cheek up against
the side of my car once lipids would be
okay because leash you smell like
popcorn cheetah lions no not so much
hyena definitely not
Rhonda apparently I’ve been told Malaika
is very very close to or was yesterday
very close to where we are with these
boys
so there are female cheater around of
course merci Eric aim across to the
triangle Kenya’s down south where
unfortunately we don’t get signal
Kenya’s daughters also although we
suspect one of them is the mother of
those young cubs Armani we’ve got our
Marni’s daughters we just haven’t been
up that side it was my plan to go there
tomorrow morning to look for our
mannie’s daughters
pass through double crushing cross
crossing and towards the marsh so that’s
one of the things that I have on my
to-do list I haven’t seen many female
cheetah but there are around remember
what we talked about in terms of the the
territories of the animals and the
territories of the cheetah the fact that
in essence there are the males are
easier to find in the females because
the females cover an enormous distance
and they don’t patrol regular routes so
whilst they’re yeah they’re just
somewhat harder to find breeds actually
found one yesterday raised by cats good
point very very good pointer yes to a
degree they’re less aggressive than the
other big cats so the question is really
based around the lack of scarring on
these cheetah or we’re getting hot now I
think there might be
fat-bellied and warm the lack of
scarring on cheetah compared to
something like a lion or a leopard yes
they don’t fight as often amongst
themselves and usually a tutor coalition
once it’s established itself has one
dominant male whereas the male
competition between the the Lions and
the claws of their size means that
they’re aggressive fights often result
in quite serious looking injuries
speaking of male lions of course let us
go across to the Mara triangle – James –
male lions this morning has a caller I
didn’t think he does one behind there so
there are two males that we’ve seen in
this area quite regularly
I had thought for a while that they
perhaps have moved on with the migration
herds because we know these nomads do
follow the migration Hertz for a certain
amount of little certain amount of
distance I suppose I should say
now we’ll review seem to be very excited
and impressed than the Lions managed to
take down such an enormous prey item I
think it is really impressive you know I
don’t know how I have so little
experience of Hilla that I don’t know
how agile and good defending themselves
they are you know but buffalo bulls
they’re smaller than the event he’s a
phenomenal enemy into a lion I mean can
do some serious damage to alive but I’m
not sure the same goes for something
like an ear that I mean I imagine they
must have some defensive mechanism but
for two lions to have taken out of 750
kilograms that is quite something and
they did not do this a long time ago I
would say well I would say two hours ago
in front just feeding the intestines
through the teeth Kathy you want an
hour-long via Dundas from tip to tail I
mean I can guess until you I think he’s
probably got tuna off meters long and
then I can take a book out and give you
an actual actual estimate of his length
I think those folks got links in them
and you wanted to known feet Kathy
well Kathy two and a half meters in feet
is about eight feet it’s about eight
feet an eland size height estimated do
you know what that means
shoulder height HB means I think it’s
length
hit hit the backside yup yup exactly two
and a half for a male up to 3.2 meters
which Cathy 3.2 meters times you can
multiply that by three point two five if
you like and you’ll get there so
somewhere around about 910 feet 10 or 11
feet Plus Ones so it is a big animal
mass as I was saying female up to 500
kilograms male up to 900 kilograms 900
kilograms 100 kilograms shy of a ton and
niland kilograms and pounds for those of
you still operating in imperial is
that’s much easier to work out it’s
about 3,000 to 2,000 pounds that’s
multiplied about 2.2
yes Andrea that do you said.you lions
always eat the heart of their prey yes
and what makes them brave and that’s why
they eat the heart of the prey if they
didn’t eat the heart of their prey
Andrea they wouldn’t be as brave as they
are it’s why the expression brave and
brave as a lion has come into the
English lexicon I’m of course talking
garbage and really they will quite often
eat their eat the heart and the reason
they eat the heart is of course because
it’s very nutritious and it’s easy to
get to so once I’ve opened up the belly
and they’ve pulled out the slightly less
tasty intestines well then they will
often eat the liver the kidneys the
lungs and the heart you know I’m not
sure if they actually select for it
I suspect they probably do because it’s
soft and easy to get out it’s a muscle
it’s very nutritious now you might be
able to hear what sounds like a crowd of
football hooligans just behind us it
isn’t in fact a crowd of football
hooligans it is just a very excited
family on holiday
chatting very and immediately to each
other them quite young as well as
piercing boys instead of stiff Sun what
a meal they have these guys they will be
so happy with their efforts on a Sunday
well Joe yes they are almost inevitably
aligned that is four years old will be
as you suggest trespassing on another
Lions territory this is the territory of
a pride called the maguro pride which is
most likely just very similar if not the
same pride very closely allied to the
Paradise pride and likely also the
sarena north pride but basically the
MacGraw pride and so to find them here
wouldn’t be that unusual if they’d been
born into that pride but they’re also at
four years old they’re in the territory
of course of the four musketeer brothers
not the cheater of course the lion
Musketeers whenever there’s a group of
males everyone calls them Musketeers for
some reason I just have to smile at you
while my strap was in and
this ferret in is terrible when you find
yourself so amusing in the territory of
the Four Musketeers which of course
includes the famous Scarface posturing
our TV show but certainly over the three
months that we were here
no Jared’s buddy you saw they call it
because they’re nomads no they call it
because they you know when they were
call it I’m not sure exactly what
research project has been designed for
that color but it’s not necessarily
because they’re nomads they could easily
be it’s because I’m shorts because
they’re young males and probably are
trying to find out you know their
movements so I guess you probably could
say because they’re nomads because
they’re young males they are inevitably
nomadic although these chaps have been
in this area for some time now
inevitably however nomadic so maybe that
collar is doing that kind of research
I’m not sure whose collar it is or who’s
getting pings from it or who’s doing the
research on those particular lives many
many research groups and in the Samantha
data being produced by researchers in
the Maasai Mara very good question about
that : whether or not it has a battery
in it that needs to be replaced and the
answer is yes it does have a better unit
and it does need to be replaced but I’m
going to desperately now try and find
there’s a wonderful message I got from
somebody whose name I have to my eternal
discredit have forgotten but they sent
me a wonderful wonderful message about
who makes these collars and it was
because of I made a flippant comment
about the fact that this lion has a
collar on it that looks so big and I
said why on earth surely by now they
should be able to make em collars that
aren’t so big and ugly and I’m Alice if
you don’t mind I’m gonna finish my
conversation is that okay then we can go
to unless something is going on there
all right so basically there’s a bunch
of people in South Africa who make these
collars and they make just about all of
them they put them on fish they put them
on as I said the other day and I know
is going to be difficult too difficult
to believe but they’ve actually put them
also on B’s and they designed these
collars especially for research of
various animals and I will try and find
the message while I’m waiting
Jamie but basically they do have a
battery and the reason they so big is
that that battery doesn’t last forever
and it doesn’t even operate all the time
it sends a ping art every sort of you
know so time to pings say 6 o’clock in
the morning every day it’ll send a ping
and they’ll give a position as to where
the animal is but because of its it has
to last so long it has limited use from
a time perspective whoopsie daisies and
all so that’s why it so big ok while I
try and find my message let’s head
across back to Jamie for cheetah which I
think are doing much the same as his
lines now this morning we had a long
conversation about how he became guides
and I went into my initial experiences
and a on a reserve called swallow which
is in the green Kalahari it’s a very
beautiful place and just talking about
colors with James one of the things that
I got to assist with was the
implantation of a transmitter in the
abdomen of a cheetah rather than trying
to put a collar around its neck as a way
of trying to be well essentially to try
and have less impact on the animal’s
life so although it had an operation
the transmitter had very long lasting
batteries that then were capable of
transmitting for an entire 3 years I
think it’s something that’s been largely
put by the wayside in favour of collars
it was something that the vets were
testing as a way of tracking the animals
right without having an impact on them
but it was I think it was decided to be
too invasive but I did actually get to
participate in that and it was an
amazing experience because first of all
we had to get the cheetah and then it
was an ephah ties and I had a
opportunity to
watch the operation can’t do it with
females I couldn’t do it with any female
cheeto actually any female animals
because of the risk of the transmitter
being great no close to the uterus and
the ovaries whereas with the males
obviously slightly different layout of
everything they were they had space in
their abdomen to fit it I don’t know
whatever became of that situation but I
don’t think it’s a it’s not a popular
method of a tracking down cheetah but it
is one of the alternatives to putting a
collar on them the speed that that
cheetah came out of its anaesthetic and
moved away from us was quite astounding
it’s also one of the few places where a
person has actually been attacked by a
cheetah while in a vehicle funnily
enough not in any way connected this was
a long time before that the vets the
vets tried out that transmitting
technique there’s a cheetah that walked
up to the door completely unexpected as
relaxed as these animals are and grabbed
the guides arm totally totally
unexpected the go the vehicles don’t
have doors there the cheetah were
perfectly obituaries xpect to that then
to this day don’t quite understand why
so it just goes to show you never get
blase about wild animals because they
can do unexpected things
speaking of unexpected things and
speaking of doing unexpected things I’m
gonna leave it in your hands how’s about
that I don’t think these cheater are
going to move from where they are until
it gets dark I am however more than
happy to sit and we can chat about them
and look at them they’re beautiful to
look at so I’m really not too fussed
would you prefer to stay with these five
cheetah boys or would you prefer to move
on and come back I’m really either way
I’m happy you can send through your vote
on hashtag Safari live on Twitter stay
with them that for the duration of the
sunset Safari will even come back I
don’t mind
oh there you go isn’t that lovely
they are our pot of gold Ferg five pots
of gold with black spots spots of gold
here we go
who needs real gold when you’ve got
cheetah looking really lovely is a
double it’s very difficult to actually
see but I from my perspective I can see
two rainbows one is obviously much much
fainter than the other
beautiful our whole spectrum of light
we’re back to our pot of gold pots of
gold pollen you say you would stay with
cheaters for your entire life fair
enough apparently most of you are saying
they’d stay I’m more than happy to stay
here obviously it’s just James and
myself out this afternoon bridge has had
to begin his long journey back towards
the camp so that they can get the
problem sorted out so I’m more than
happy to go with that vote I really am
I’m not going to complain about a moment
spent with cheetah
I think we’re thoroughly spoiled to have
access to these five males we really are
now some people are wanting to go and
see the Black Rock pride I don’t have a
map in the car with me but let me try
and try and give you a sense of scale so
now do a little sort of this will sort
of help us
okay to try and give you a sense of
scale on a map do you think you’ll be
able to see this burg I know my screen
is terribly dusty and dirty the screen
protector seems to pick up additional
can you see it or is it too bright kind
of get it okay so obviously we are the
blue dot that is telic where we’re
living
that is kike rock and black rock is over
there to give you a sense of scale as to
how long that’s going to take for me to
get to the Black Rock pride as much as I
would love to it would probably take me
the next two and a half hours to get
there so we could but it would take me
through
bad signal areas it would take me to
through an area with no comms James
would have to do most of the sunset
Safari and I’d probably reappear right
at the end and we have only got two
hours left so unfortunately the Black
Rock prior to give you a sense of scale
I’m sorry I would love to but it took me
most of the morning to get here from
where we were it would take me most of
the afternoon to get back it the sense
of scale and the sense of distance here
is hard to explain that the Black Rock
pride is probably about 50 no that’s a
bit much 40 Kay’s away and the roads
obviously don’t always go directly there
the roads aren’t fantastic through dips
and valleys
unfortunately not not even if I could
fly there would be lovely though almost
as far away from them as James is not
quite but almost so on an average night
you know and we’re after all night
storms gonna take a super water on an
average night when we are out with the
animals if usually takes us minimum of
an hour to get home in terms of dropping
our ranges off who are with us and then
heading back towards camp that’s the
sort of usual minimum time it’s often
more than that it does it’s one of the
wondrous things about being out here in
the mar’ied really is in that we’ve got
this vast sense of space and freedom to
go where we want to go but it is
something that sort of adds to I
wouldn’t say the stress of being out
here but it does add to the complexity
and the planning of where exactly it is
we’re going to go it’s why when you pick
when you pick a sort of an idea in your
head okay I want to go and find the five
cheetah brothers you do know that you’re
dedicating yourself to them because
chances are you’re not going to be able
to get to another cheetah sighting for
example unless malaika happens to turn
up in the vicinity and yes there’s lots
of lions scattered scattered about but
you’ve got to sort of make a plan that
you can journey through the the dips the
highs and the lows in terms of signal
and coms and still get out the other
side in time to not leave just one
person left in the sunset or the sunrise
Safari so you sort of you get my gist
the planning involved is is more complex
than we often mentioned and when we’re
planning out our TV shows and when we’re
planning out our all-nighters and where
we’re going to be a lot of thought goes
into exactly which way we’re going to go
let’s be sure you can’t find what you’re
looking for oh goodness so many options
available to us I’m going to think about
what it is we’re going to do and find
out exactly what all of you want we’ll
give you another five minutes to decide
while you think about it later on back
across to James who’s lift his lions for
now we don’t have anything like the same
number of options as Jamie does although
not sure what her options are we are
going down towards Maine north crossing
where there was a huge number of animals
gathering earlier and we thought that
they might do a migration style crossing
earlier today Taylor came Haring out of
the final control room she said there’s
going to be a crossing I said Taylor
calm yourself put a cold towel on your
head we have seen crossings before those
animals have been there all day she said
no there are hundreds of millions of
them now millions
it’ll cost pounded this buffalo is even
by the assertion that there could be
hundreds of millions of animals about to
cross the river anyway I’m gonna go and
see where there’s hundreds of millions
are they certainly were a lot of them
that wasn’t obviously har Taylor speak
I just can’t speak like Taylor killed it
dead now
you know for those of you’ve got here a
fly sitting on top of it you don’t feel
it but when you have no hair here and it
comes and sits and crawls it’s very
uncomfortable J disconcerting I just
thought I’d tell you that in case we’re
wondering why I was killing flies that
was a buffalo we saw earlier I don’t
think I announce that fact it’s amazing
that Jamie has managed to come up with a
decision I’m very excited to find out
what it is and I’m sure that you are too
I decided and I assume that from Alice’s
side as she she’s comfortable that that
is this is the majority of you I think
the decision is to leave the cheetah but
not for very long
so we’ll do a small loop we’ll find some
elephants or something like that and
then we’ll return to them towards I
would actually you know what I’ve just
looked at the time it’s quarter to six
mm-hmm
I’ve changed my mind we’re staying we’re
staying we’re going to sit it out we’re
going to outpatients that unless Alice
you you have to tell me about the the
majority rule there because I did offer
it up as a vote if you’re comfortable
that that is the Democratic conclusion
then I think that’s what we should do I
didn’t realize that it got so late so
quickly we can have a look at a superb
styling or not or it could it’s there
it’s in that funny-looking two-pronged
fork over there
come on superb styling if you look yes
there it’s on the left hand fork it’s
there
come on arch come focus just made a
noise like a pirate
forgive me I didn’t quite catch the name
there Alice I think it was bits but I
might be wrong gates with the G Allison
I was trying to help me out there but
she she got tongue-tied herself sorry
gates apologies for mangling your name
totally unintentional cheetah cubs
especially will hunt things like birds
or rodents when they’re on the ground
and one thing that we have seen is
cheetahs chasing things like Mongoose
which are quite small and really it’s
more for the fun of the chase than it is
for the food I mean it’s it’s that
natural cat black responds to movement
so yes potentially less so then
something like a leopard and leopard
wall will specifically stalk and try and
hunt a bird on the ground but a Franklin
or a guinea fowl could fall foul haha
could fall foul of the cheetah if it
happened to be unaware they’re not
really geared for that kind of hunting
though they don’t have the same sort of
reflexes and speed and agility that
something like neglected has they built
for speed obviously but not those
rapid-fire poor movements that leopards
are capable of producing my tears it is
possible
hey Tucker Tucker is five years old
Tucker thank you for watching and thank
you for sending through your question
now taco you want to know if cheetah are
taller than lions they are not a lion is
quite a lot taller than a cheetah so
Tucker if we have a look here if Ferg
will show you next to my vehicle and
unfortunately I’ve got the wrong
earpiece so turning around is a tricky
thing but I’m gonna try and show you so
Tucker if we look at where lion walks
past the car when a lion walks right
past the car big male lion his shoulder
is probably here could you sort of see
that Ferg okay so his shoulders sort of
there and when a cheetah walks past the
car his shoulders probably somewhere
down there so the cheetah are much much
shorter than a lion and they actually
turn around this way so that I can face
you more comfortably they actually are
much smaller than lions in a lot of ways
I remember that these trees are probably
only way somewhere in the region of em
maybe 50 kilograms maybe a little bit
more which is over 110 pounds or around
about 110 pounds and lion a big line a
big male lion can weigh up to around
about a hundred and eighty kilograms
sometimes even more up to 200 which is
over 400 pounds so they much much bigger
cats and that’s why she to run away from
lions when they see them they run as
fast as they can’t because they’re
scared of the Lions a lion is much more
dangerous than a cheetah much much
bigger even a lioness is taller than a
male cheetah now I lettered a female
leopard is shorter better cheetah but
she’s just as stocky and just as heavy
and probably stronger a female leopard
would probably be stronger than one of
these males a female leopard though
would not pick a fight with five of them
never seen that with the hyenas as well
hyenas tend to when they’re on their own
be exceptionally reticent to approach
these cheetah boys
Starling Starling well spotted Fergus
well spotted the superb styling made an
appearance and then flew away again
almost immediately but very well spotted
Thank You Ferg nice one for some of you
I think for your bird lists we added a
hoof ooh this morning which I have not
yet seen in the Mara I added a oh that’s
another thing I saw today while we wait
for these cheetah to decide what they’re
going to do with their lives oh gosh
hold on I’ve got to find it quickly
there this is what I found this is what
we found feeding in the tree
a beautiful Starling feeding in the tree
above our vehicles it’s very very pretty
son bird sorry I’ve got Starling in my
head thanks for a beautiful son bird
it’s literally called a beautiful son
bird I mean it’s definitely not a
Starling and there is a Starling now
right enough of this I’m getting
confused as it is let’s find out to
where the James has managed to keep hold
of his train of thought better than I
have I managed to keep to my plan which
was to come to this crossing to see what
was going on and nothing is going on at
all there’s some hippo there and the
great messing of animals that was here
earlier has absconded where they’ve gone
I couldn’t begin to tell you I don’t
think they’re cross because I’m pretty
sure Taylor was watching them
so I don’t know where they went maybe
the paradise pride chased them away in
fact John dree if you go across and all
the way basically as far as you can see
those hills are covered in wildebeest
covered
that’s astounding
that is really interesting
now whether these chaps have come north
from the sand river up to this area or
if they’ve come south out of the
conservancies I don’t know but that is a
vast number of wildebeest way in the
distance that’s very interesting well
Jamie’s not too far and actually know
where those cheetah brothers are I
suspect that they are pretty much over
the top of my head down that way but
they will be very interested to know
that there is that much there for them
to eat you can see Jamie has got no
trouble with the rain at this stage
which is very nice for her alright we’re
now going to stick to our original plan
cut back towards the escarpment see if
we can find the sausage tree pride and
perhaps I don’t know maybe that female
cheetah and her little baby puppies who
knows maybe
let’s do a quick turn here I don’t see
anything else going on in this vicinity
so I’m gonna cut back there now rather
than do too much searching around here
well we are unable to go off-road
we will now be driving into the storm
which is a mercifully moving off towards
the escarpment I think so that’s very
pleasant indeed it’s got a bit of a
Sunday feel about it out here I must say
all right Jaime apparently is not gone
looking for elephants she’s with her
cheetah again I haven’t I didn’t realize
how late it was getting I should have
made the decision sooner but it’s a bit
late to make it now so we’re going to do
we’re going to settle with them and
we’re going to stick with them while it
gets dark and of course once we reach
around about half past 6:00 or so we
actually have them entirely to ourselves
which I feel is us being hugely spoiled
oh you know the one on the right just
gave us such a sweet roll over hmm hey
you they can be very cute when they want
to those white bellies showing it’s
interesting to hear that the Valda
beasts are massing at the crossing last
time I was in this area they were herds
of ten thousand odd – maybe a little bit
more and they’ve all really moved to the
west and back in the direction of where
James is at the moment so it’s clear
they are around the crossings are they
going what do you think everyone do you
think thinking to come back into the
triangle I’m starting to think they
might we did speak about it and the fact
that it was one of the earliest that
they’d ever left the triangle in terms
of recorded history how’s the weather on
James aside because from where I’m
sitting it looks terrible
it really doesn’t look pleasant I think
we’ve we’ve actually largely escaped it
where we are but hold on I’m gonna just
reposition to show you Oh
d’Artagnan is looking as well what do
you that say say dot do you think James
is going to get rained on I don’t think
it looks like your kid shall I show
everyone what the raid looks like since
we kitty cats are sleeping for now
the James is somewhere in the direction
of that I gotta say I’m going to suggest
that James is going to find himself
soused for once the side of the river
it’s not us I was I was secretly
obviously I would really like it to rain
here to keep the grass green and the
animals happy but I was rather hoping it
didn’t happen tonight because this is
where I got stuck somewhere yeah
I’m not entirely sure where but
somewhere here is where I got stuck
in the middle of the night with money ah
fergus’s the focus has raised a very
valid point Fergus tells me that Jeb’s
always blames him for the rain well Oh
Fergus think that all evidence speaks to
the contrary now I think it’s pretty
clear that it’s not you at all it’s
James I’m not sure that counts as legal
advice but but we’ll go with it here we
go
it’s pelting down over there I’m very
glad I’m not there I’m very glad I’m
here although I shouldn’t speak too soon
because you never know what might come
our way there’s some ominous clouds okay
so James James has said to tell Ferg
that the the rain is heading towards the
escarpment Berg is that have a specific
meaning because it always heads there oh
I see I see right
it’s very pretty though those trees and
the horizon
yes many a time those storms have taken
me by surprise I don’t think that’s
possible to predict where they’re going
quite frankly and then you’ll be halfway
through one and another one will hit you
from the other side and we usually try
and park the vehicle so that we can
shelter ourselves properly and then
you’ve put sort of all of your
reinforcements on the side that the
storms come in on and then all of a
sudden it batters you from the opposite
end
not my problem tonight Oh hold on we’ve
got one up oh that’s very pretty
Lloyd you want to know why we’re talking
about the weather
noid you want to know how hot it is over
here it was very hot earlier I say very
hot not bi-lo fault standards oh god no
that’s very pretty but we’ve got a
cheater on I’ve got a cheater up I’m
sorry I’m sorry I would sheet it out
again never mind
cheated out again you can stay you could
stay looking at the beautiful sky Lloyd
I would say it probably went over 30
today which is about as hot as it gets
out here the Sun is very warm the Sun is
very strong here because we’ve quite a
lot closer to the equator but it never
gets as hot as it does in the low felt
where it reaches temperatures often in
some of over 40 degrees centigrade here
on average it is much much much cooler
and we’re at a much higher altitude so
it’s actually a really Pleasant climate
it’s not at nights get a bit chilly but
they don’t really go below about 15 or
14 degrees centigrade
it’s very chilly when you’re damp when
you’ve been caught in the rain which is
why I feel for James across on his side
but it’s a really very nice climate hey
cheetah are you going to sleep like this
it’s okay we’ve made the right call
we’re going to stay with them
Colly yes most of the thermoregulation
done by the the various cat species is
through panting and of course they do
build up huge amounts of heat when they
race off they also lose heat through the
soles of their feet and one of the
reasons why they have white bellies is
so that they can present their bellies
to the Sun and reflect the light off it
and bounce light off it because
obviously they were dark in color it
would be much much hotter I love it I
love it when they stretch their feet out
like that because it’s doglike don’t you
rob I must sing there are dogs but it’s
a very doglike way of stretching their
paws it looks totally different to the
way in which late lions and leopards
move their feet
there’s a massive back feet bolt of
attraction
aidan who is six years old speaking of
the animals panting Aidan that’s a very
good question and well done for spotting
that it was very observant of you so
Aidan spotted that the cheetah are
panting and he wants to know why why is
their breathing so hard Aidan it’s for
two reasons one yes they are quite warm
possibly still recovering from the chase
of earlier so they definitely killed
something earlier
so chasing down their prey I think has
made them quite tired but also they’ve
eaten meat and when cheetah or Lions or
lepers or hyenas eat meat they eat as
much as they can as quickly as they can
and they get very full bellies and while
their belly is their digestive system so
their stomach and their intestines
breaking down the meat it actually
releases lots of heat internally so
Aidan I don’t know if you if you ever
drink hot chocolate or something like
that and you feel warm inside
that’s what’s basically happening to the
cheetah while they’re digesting their
meat and that’s why they’re panting
because it’s to help to cool themselves
down it’s also all of that food in their
belly is pressing up against their
diaphragm as well so it’s it’s making
their lungs feel a bit small and they’re
taking smaller breaths because they’re
so low for they’re not that fuller
they’re still gonna keep us moving
tonight
Milana I think we’ve it’s lovely to hear
you back again on the sunset Safari
Ilana I think we’ve seen them pretty
much hunt the the largest prey that they
could possibly take down which would be
an adult wildebeest I don’t think that
they could get much bigger than that
maybe maybe and adults ever but I think
it would be a serious fight but an adult
wildebeest adult topi loser ooh that’s
gonna be the limit of what they could
catch I don’t think they would ever take
on Buffalo
although Never Say Never maybe a buffalo
calf but I just don’t think it’s within
their nature they definitely would hunt
ostrich and definitely could hunt
ostrich but I think an young a lunch but
again I think we’ve seen them look at
them walk past the lodge but never
really try it I think we’ve seen them
tackled pretty much as large an animal
as they could possibly manage I was
actually quite astounded when one of
them on their own took down a topi a
fully grown adult topi I was quite taken
aback the rest of them came in to help
afterwards but the entire process from
knocking the topes legs out from under
it to getting a stranglehold was one boy
alone quite amazing whereas females they
tend to go for things more Tommy sized
hmm yes Paula probably they would
because the opportunity would be an
artificial situation so Paula’s question
is if given the opportunity would
cheetah cubs play with lion cubs and I
don’t think at that point the the
natural instincts of competition has
really fully registered with with the
little ones so in a situation yes where
you’ve got Cubs of two different species
together and it would be artificial
because it wouldn’t really happen in the
wild then yes they probably would play
together I think they would play
together and I’m sure if you googled
hard enough you would find a video of
cheetah and lion cubs playing together
it’s just one of those things so it
would it would be an artificial
situation would it happen in the wild
let’s say in a very strange hypothetical
scenario mommy cheetah goes off and and
the lioness goes off and neither of them
realize that they’ve left their cubs in
the new personality of each other I just
don’t think they play with each other
two pins on the ages as well an older
lion cub
now we I’m talking about lion cubs
Blackrock pride age tiny lion pride tiny
lion cubs five year old or five month
old lion cubs and tiny newborn cheetahs
I think would be a different story I
think they’d be killed so there you go
I’m not sure I think it would be it
would be a once-in-a-lifetime sighting
if it if it did happen in the wild and
speaking of a once-in-a-lifetime
sightings I’m sure that James has got
one to show you right now
we’re friendly enough now that’s been a
once in an afternoon time sighting since
the end of the long rains at the end
middle of July
that we’ve had a storm like that every
single day during the dry season which
has been very special if you happen to
like storms if you are in a leaky
vehicle however the end of the long
rains which brought on the exceptionally
long rains has been somewhat frustrating
anyway
gorgeous storm over there and in front
of the storm we have got some Thompson’s
ghazals Jean dry rather like Veeam and
giraffe is refusing to show me because
he said to me and I quote there a bit
standard didn’t you John uhrin you rely
he’s denying it now fortunately for him
I have got the coffee and the sandwiches
in front here so he won’t be having
anything
sorry about that John Day let’s go back
to the Thompsons cuz it would be so kind
some Cokie Franklin’s calling in the
background and yet again I find myself
astounded by the silence of this place
you see I told you it was quite can just
hear one or two Franklin’s yelling here
and there the olds roll of thunder but
otherwise very quiet
ah Larry are you want to know if
Thompson’s gazelles are related to the
South African national and M anthem
animal the spring book and the answer is
a resounding yes they are
Springbok the only gazelle found in
southern Africa and their gazelle is an
antelope it’s just a slightly different
or shooter different family and gazelles
in sabah
in the world Iowa at least in Africa I
will tell you there are I was quickly
under read you this the Gaza line
antelopes so long-legged long-necked
antelopes with light colored coat large
sensitive eyes and ears a small mouth
and in some species pre-orbital glands
both to alert to both sound and movement
I think that means the entire animal I
don’t think the pre-orbital glands
necessarily anyway we got 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 can you believe
it 16 different species of gazelle in
Africa and two of them out here we have
the grants and the Thompsons David who
is going out to some ladies to tell them
what he’s been doing on this Sunday so
that they might go oh really
Parlin I have a very sarcastic
human-beings I mean to answer your
question sarcastically first which will
prepare you for it and then I will try
and do it not so not so sarcastically
you say who was the Thomson’s gazelle
named after to which my heart would be
someone called Thompson apparently but
question is obviously who on earth was
Thompson and I don’t know who he was but
rather like Wahlberg and virtual I
suspect he was some kind of naturalist
that did a lot of exploring around
Africa and he has lent his name to the
Thompson’s gazelle now what I just want
to quickly do while Jean dree has very
kindly put the camera onto me and I’m
just very difficult for him to do that
there’s this phone book and you can see
they look very similar indeed anti
Dorcas marsupial assistants latin name i
don’t know how i remember that it’s just
because it’s a ridiculous anti Dorcas
marsupials and this big mental of white
fur helps it to cope with the desert
conditions and it turns that mental of
white fur to the Sun and it reflects the
Sun so doesn’t get too hot and bothered
and let’s just go up to the next
antelope which is found in the Horn of
Africa simply because it has a name that
I’ve never seen before
did the tag it’s known as a in dipper
tag
amazing that name mo-mo daucus marquis i
the tip attack wonderful vaccine if
attack one day not from why prepared
together to Eritrea to do it let’s have
one loss these Thomson’s gazelles UO
Dorcas Tom Sony I and then we’ll press
on I believe that as the wind starts to
howl onto my face and the rain threatens
to assail us it’s certainly filling my
nostrils now the Sun where Jamie
Patterson is has burst through the
clouds and shining down upon her and
smiling I’ve gotten the wrister words it
was a very good reference and I dropped
the ball I’m sorry James I’m sorry but
it is a really it is a really stunning
view that we have unfortunately it’s not
shining directly down on us which would
be very pleasant and help to chase the
chill of the wind away especially
because I forgot that I was going to
stay out late tonight and I’ve only got
shorts but anyway that’s not a big deal
it is really very very pretty so pretty
in fact that I think it is almost
deserving of a photograph it is
definitely deserving of a photograph so
I think what you should all do is take
some screenshots it’s a perfect
opportunity in fact it almost looks as
though the lights should be shining on
James you know maybe not quite he’s a
bit further away than that James looks
like a tree if James were that tree that
like be shining upon him
beautiful is a really stunning evening
especially when the rain is over there
makes it even more beautiful
watch it swirl round and hit us Ferg
because we’ve been commenting on it
it’ll somehow come from the West will be
one time the rain comes hauling across
the river to the west
it’s very Lion King yes isn’t it
that beam of light I suppose we’re in
we’re close enough banking was set in
Tanzania wasn’t it now I know is it
cartoonland but I mean in theory he in
theory it was sort of Tanzania SH and
handsomest
I’ll try to sit quietly I will try to
sit quietly and we can see what sounds
we can hear it the wind is blowing but
it’s not too bad I don’t know if cars
are signing from your side oh there we
go
let’s find out how it’s sounding from
your side I think if I just be wind wind
and fans that’s not a good combination
the fans obviously sit in our vehicle to
help to keep our equipment cool
otherwise we burst into flames far too
regularly for our liking
still sometimes happens
not often there
[Music]
okay it was a nice idea
it was a nice thought
okay good I’m glad you could hear some
of the bird is in the background perhaps
at some point we’ll be hearing the
Cheetahs which sound very similar to
birds chirping some don’t
that’s terrible there’s a terrible
impression whoa lightning and all ooh I
don’t envy James
I hope he’s found himself a safe spot
that doesn’t look like a storm that can
be outrun maybe it looks worse from this
angle and just like that we’re all alone
partyi not a single vehicle everybody’s
heading home for the safety of dinner
all right now I know it is hard to
believe that color of the sky is real
isn’t it it looks like something that
somebody created or or painted
Ferg’s been splashing on colors across
the front of the lens I don’t know it’s
just very pretty I was my favorite thing
about sunsets is the transition from the
the Reds and the oranges to the purples
actually no no tornadoes here in the
morrow we do get dust what we call dust
devils I’m not sure what their official
name is which is of course a sort of
tiny tiny tiny tornado where the wind
whips around and pulls up goes into a
spiral and pulls up the dust and you do
occasionally get buffeted by them as you
drive along if you don’t move quickly
enough so that that’s about as close as
we get I imagine that floods happen
regularly here when the water does come
down in the rainy season but that’s to
be expected
it’s a very high rainfall rainfall area
fires would also be very scary here in
times of drought when the grass is long
and dry and big storms I really think
we’re going to experience rain like
we’ve never experienced before and wind
I think the wind is going to be
something to behold
especially at the top of that mountain
where our campsites
hmm
don’t forget for people that have just
discovered to this livestream you’re
watching this live from the Maasai Mara
which means of course that you can send
through your questions i’m hashtag
safari live on twitter chad you want to
know how often we spend the night out in
the tent i never in a tent
although i suppose you could call our
vehicle a tent when we put the sides
down oh we live in tents we do we do you
write folk we live in tents our camps
our campsite rooms are really really
nice safari tents very good point so
basically every night we camp out in our
tents when we’re not out of the field we
switch around in terms of the schedule
we try and play it by ear and try and do
it with a little bit of common sense
because obviously too many late nights
makes for an exhausted crew but it’s
usually i would say in terms of how
often we’re out sleeping on the vehicle
up until recently it was at least three
nights a week that we were spending out
in the field all night yeah all night
and then late nights would be another
three nights and then we’d go shift on
to a normal schedule for three days
well normal normal is all relative that
was kind of how we worked it when it was
just taylor myself and and brent
obviously James is back now Scott’s back
now Taylor’s on leave
so we’ve shifted up the the schedule a
little bit but I I’m not sure exactly
how we’re gonna work it now the
migrations come back so it could we
could end up spending quite a few nights
out in the field we’ve got our
mattresses mining concern is I forgot
about food for this evening I’m not sure
what Ferg and I are going to eat if we
do stay out maybe the cheetah will share
I don’t know what we’re gonna eat we
have to go to tonic and find something I
completely forgot
just sort of food
we’ve got digestive biscuits they’re all
one-hour speaking of camping out in the
tent apparently that is what well James
has planned for his night on the vehicle
now I most certainly do not I am NOT
spending the night out yet until around
9:00 or 10:00 I guess depending on what
we can find what happens but then I
think I’ll probably make my way back to
camp I’m going to stop here and
unfortunately my animal finding skills
very poor at the moment so what I’ll
show you is another magnificent sky and
then we’ll look at the escarpment Ellis
is it raining back home where you are
now Alice says it is not raining
negative not yet this is good to know
there are also some elephants very very
far away Andre hold the camera steady
they’re at a nine o’clock
and the wind still blowing and the call
of the cookie Franklin from here I’m
gonna start driving at a much faster
speed in order to get onto the
escarpment and see if we can’t find the
sausage and before the end of the drive
before the end of the light basically
are you ready Andre
come drive too fast on these roads there
because well this is a little check
rather than a road it’s bumpy
Steffie you want to know there’s a speed
limit in the morrow there is actually
the speed limit on the main roads is 50
kilometres per hour which is about 15
miles an hour also on the very main
roads and then on these roads basically
if you were to try and drive faster than
I’m doing now you’d lose everyone out
the back of the car and your car would
probably fall apart so they need to set
them on here the main roads are very
smooth and the very well-maintained here
in the morrow Triangle and so there is
definitely a speed limit and well you
know the vehicles we drive are unable to
sort of get up to that speed limit so
we’re in no danger at all of being fined
for overzealous speeding and as I’ve
said to you of course that the as I’ve
said to you before I didn’t think that
I’d ever find the day where I was going
to miss Wendy jigger and rusty and well
that day has arrived we’re going to go
back to Jamie now I’m going to try and
find something so that the next segment
I do is longer than three minutes we’ll
see you shortly
our jobs I’m sorry it’s not intentional
we just we have such a glorious sunset
and Alice seems to be enjoying it so
much it really is quite beautiful in
fact even the dust trail of the vehicle
is quite beautiful as it races off
towards home a little bit delayed a
little bit late oh my eyes of God all
spotty now I’ve got little little Suns
popping up everywhere Oh she’d probably
not have stared at it for as long as I
did it looks really pretty
watching the cars drive home when the
dust is shining in the sunset like this
beautiful golden color and back to the
sunset Fergus seems to share Alice’s I’m
not quite sure I’d call it an obsession
with it but it’s close its close hmm
laughing doves are calling cape turtle
doves are calling a cheetah by the way
are still completely flat they are
passed out fast asleep
I really wonder what they have planned
for me and this evening
and Fergus are we going to be sitting
here watching them sleep for the next
three hours well it’s I think we’ll have
a look back at our cheetah and answer to
this question
you wanting to know about the cheetah
population compared to the lion
population did I hear that correctly
else and the answer to that is
essentially the cheetah population is
much much lower than that of a lion
population and they are more endangered
than the lions are in Africa largest
native population of cheetah in the in
Africa is in the Kruger National Park so
that is where there’s one of the largest
populations of course the Mara has a
very healthy population of cheetah as
well and a population that is increasing
so it is on the rise I’m just gonna pop
by jacket on it’s good oh sorry
I wasn’t watching where the current was
sorry
there’s my jackets now it’s on it’s okay
we don’t run that risk again yeah it is
they are an animal that needs that need
a degree of awareness raised the
bathroom and the fact that they they are
it is very very sensitive animal in
terms of the numbers in the wild
speaking of very sensitive animals James
is across the river and he’s deeply
devastated that he hasn’t had much
screen time
I am very devastated and I’m also very
deeply sensitive I’m going to coffin hi
everybody and the reason I am deeply
devastated
well yes I failed to find anything but
I’m very sensitive you know I very
sensitive human being and and so I don’t
like it when I feel like I’m not
contributing enough to the drive-on in
finding interesting things anyway so
there we have some elephants beautiful
elephants and they’re dotted about here
two very large numbers of men to sneak
wood slightly after we showed you that
magnificent sky come on now yeah
just get a little bit closer and their
little herds dotted all around us
clearing obviously some good stuff for
them to eat
and this little herd consisting of what
looks like two cows and a very small
baby
just get the other side for the light
Cheryl you want to know about lightning
and if there have ever been animals in
the Mara struck by lightning I’m 99%
sure that yes I’m sure there have been
animals get struck from time to time
there is often quite a lot to fairly
severe lightning in this area so yes I’m
sure they have I have never seen an
animal struck by lightning not here not
anywhere else but I know that it does
happen in various parts of the world
certainly it happens in the kruger from
time to time it happens on the high felt
from time to time the high field of
South Africa I mean and yes little one
joining so the two mummies and their
little babies but imagine however that
it is very infrequent I mean your
chances have been struck by lightning or
really very small indeed oh hey also
tired need to have a little sunday lie
down that is very sweet hook straight up
to mums foot and lay straight down I
suppose also probably trying to get out
of the wind I think and little elephant
like that must get pretty cold
just shaking off the dirt from the roots
and enjoying the grass and as we’ve said
before I mean it’s inevitable that with
all of these animals were going to
compare them to their brethren down in
the sabi sand and the Kruger the
elephants here to me markedly different
in terms of their size they are wouldn’t
understand
but they’re certainly less bulky I think
and their tusks definitely longer and
thinner than the ones we find in the
greater Kruger National Park why there
should be the case
remember all elephants tusks are
supposed the elephant assassins that you
see anywhere in the world are influenced
heavily by the amount of well shall we
say yeah what’s the word that I want to
use the almost Holocaust I suppose of
destruction wrought upon them by the
settlers that came in with their guns in
the 18th and 19th centuries and so they
shot animals or elephants for their size
of their tusks and so the size of tusks
here it’s very difficult to you know
till say why they should be the lengths
that they are and to give some kind of
evolutionary reason when we are pretty
sure that they are much shorter and much
smaller probably much less heavy than
they were in the days before the
settlers arrived that I would love to
see account I’ve never seen a total
can’t I’m sure one has been done though
the amount or the number of elephants
that were obliterated before their teeth
over the course of those two centuries
to the earlier parts of the 20th century
as well of course you read the accounts
of the old hunters I read a book once by
uh called al Adolf della goerge who has
been given who gave his name to the
d’Elegance pigeon amongst other things
feeling conspicuous bird found in South
Africa and the I always feel I should
freeze when the straps in intellicus
pigeon very inconspicuous creature found
various spots South Africa and he has
been given you know his his name has
been honored by being bestowed on a
pigeon and he read the accounts the
number of animals he obliterated blasted
shot from life and then just left lying
to rot because he take the tusks all
they decide the tusks weren’t big enough
or they decide if we don’t want to track
these things again so we’ll just shoot
them all now it really is quite horrific
stuff anyway on to probably slightly
friendlier fellow was Joseph Thompson
Joseph Thompson was the man who gave his
name to the Thompson’s gazelle he was as
expected a British explorer but I see
also that he had quite a lot to do with
the Scramble for Africa which if you
happen to be an African he’s not going
to be something that you’re going to
celebrate hugely and so I suspect he was
there well much round about the same
time as della Gore was blasting
elephants up from existence and I
suspect that Thompson was knocking about
sticking Union Jack’s in the ground and
claiming he Africa for he LD England and
Queen Vic
anyway it’s him who gave his name to the
Thomson’s gazelle just beautiful season
spy keeps changing it really is
magnificent Paul we get asked this quite
a lot as well you said to the elephants
and the Mara live longer than the ones
at Zuma remember just before I answer
this question just remember the Juma
he’s a thousand two hundred hectares so
it’s about three thousand acres or so it
is a very small section of the greater
Kruger National Park which is roughly
the same size as the Mara Serengeti
ecosystem so when I say an animal that
Juma I mean of the Kruger basically it’s
all joined together there you want to
know the animals of the Kruger lives
slightly less long or slightly shorter
periods than these ones here we asked us
the other day
you must remember the reason Paul’s
asking this question for those of you
don’t know is that an elephant dies when
its teeth wear art
it then eventually starves to death and
the thing is though Paul that the and I
think this is pretty much genetically
determined the last set of molars
last set of teeth come in when they’re
about 55 years old when that last set
eventually disintegrates always worn
down then the animal will starve to
death so while yes that last set might
last longer in a place like Kamara where
the food is slightly softer I don’t
think it’s gonna last that much more so
the effect of the softer food is not
going to be cumulative over the animals
life you know what I mean I don’t I
think from my understanding that those
teeth come through regardless of whether
the predecessor is worn down or not okay
one last look at the elephants perhaps
Andre and then we shall move along
marvelous there we go there we go now
jazz buddy quite us amazingly in quite
contrary to what your question has asked
you say do they shrink when they get
older they don’t they actually grow
pretty much till the day they die so
they might get a little bit skinnier as
they approach death they don’t shrink
they’re like human beings my father who
is now 17 who he is going to be 17 he’s
just turned 74 my father is moaning the
fact that he thinks he’s not nearly as
tall as he once was and he’s taught much
taller than me still but he’s not he
he’s boning the fact that the human
being unfortunately does not keep
growing until they die I’m quite pleased
about that because the cumulative
effects would mean that I’d probably be
maybe I’d be six foot knowledge Andre
would be eight foot and that make things
extremely uncomfortable in this tent
work start start raining
it’s not even smiling definitely not
giving him his sandwich and coffee
I still haven’t managed to get across to
the escarpment that’s okay
Alice says speaking of old age
John has a question and that is what is
the most frightening experience I’ve
ever had I’m not convinced those two
things are joined Alice how those two
things joined you can tell me that after
I’ve asked John’s question and answered
John’s question John the most terrifying
experience I’ve ever had was with an
ex-girlfriend who no I’m not going to
tell you that story the most terrifying
experience I’ve ever had one I’ve shared
very often it’s of when a leopard ended
up landing on the bonnet of the car
jumped up just chased by some wild dogs
towards us and I thought he was going to
come into the car and Maul the guests
and that was definitely the most
terrifying experience I’ve ever had in
the bush I’m generally quite cautious
out here I don’t like to take too many
chances so I haven’t had a huge number
of animals
try and hose their woes on me some of
the more frightening ones I kind of put
out of my mind the other frightening
thing for me or the most disconcerting
thing for me was when I was taking
walking safaris and you’d bump into
lions or we seen you bump into elephants
and Buffalo and all sorts of other
things but you never knew how your
guests were going to react and for me
that was one of the most disconcerting
things because although I became
relatively good at predicting animal
behavior trying to predict human
behavior that’s not nearly as easy and
the humans that you take on a walk and
whose lives are in your hands
well they tend to be a little bit less
predictable than the animals you might
see and I found that very disconcerting
over a long period okay that’s my that’s
my story John it’s the reason I don’t
have any hair anymore and why but a lot
of it’s gray I’m not sure why Alice was
talking about old age perhaps because
she thinks I’m so old I must have lots
of good stories
I suppose you better put some lights on
the skin even doc not very powerful
lights of course being a Landrover John
rearview we do have the view Prodi we
did put it on later
now let’s say you’re still there you’re
just not talking to me anymore I think
Alice is possibly all you’re wondering
speaking of danger whether we get
animals in camp we do from time to time
we have Buffalo and camp every so often
we have their brain camp almost every
night they have been they remarkably
well mannered I think there’s every they
move out of the way they don’t let you
get too close they tend to warn you by
tripping over themselves every so often
now we’ve had one leopard calling I
haven’t that you haven’t heard him call
again a huge laundry yeah no Harvard one
level calling quite close to campus
they’re not not again the John Doe is
just saying if I ever seen Rin in the
camp and I have not seen I ena in this
camp
so Buffalo and zebra are the residence
but and Buffalo obviously the ones you
got to be careful of but very few
Buffalo not not often so I’d say that
this camp because we so far up on high
it’s probably less frequented by animals
than the campus at Juma which is right
down on the ground and we often have
hyena encamped there it is fenced so a
buffalo don’t come in but they’re all
around outside elephants
all right I believe that
Jamie has decided the gordy golden color
of her cheetah was a little overwhelming
and so now she’s got the view in black
and white it was all a little bit too
bright for us wasn’t it that sunset and
the cheetah thought our eyes needed a
break that’s and the fact that the sun’s
disappeared means that we are switching
to infrared I’m going to be switching to
infrared and of course for the duration
of the drive we will be in infrared as a
diurnal fall from what we’ve seen not so
much but as an essentially diurnal
animal and really you don’t really sit
with with spotlights or lights on at all
cheetah anyway at night and of course
having us infrared for us has been a
really special thing because it allows
us to actually sit with them and follow
them without in any way disrupting their
day-to-day process they do have eyes
that are structured in a way similar to
leopards or Lions so the light doesn’t
bother them in the same way that it does
something like a Valle de beast when an
antelope but either way we don’t need to
we can sit here with the infrared and
watch them as they start to stir there
were a few yarns and a couple of Pollux
which then was completely misrepresents
representing the situation because they
demonstrate back sleep so I’m not quite
sure whether or not they’re planning on
getting up yet or if they’re planning on
getting up at all typically in the
studies that have been done into cheetah
hunting at night up until recently
typically they do their most moving
around about the week of full moon so
the days preceding and the days
following the full moon now tonight
there will not be a full moon but what
we’ve learnt from cheetah and from
following these particular males at
night it doesn’t matter whether there is
a moon or not they March regardless and
they’re covering normos distances
I’m not sure what these boys have
planned if they’re still hungry they’ve
eaten a little bit they’re not
completely full though I’m not sure what
they have planned for their night they
might also just get up and walk which is
what they have been doing while we’ve
been following them for hours and then
they just have done and go sleep they
obviously have a destination in mind who
decides where to go and why I do not
know territorial routes perhaps a lot
like rain it smells a lot like grain
what’s coming up behind us nothing I
think we’re okay
Maryann no I don’t think that you two
are going to stay here for the night
that that much I can tell you I I could
of course be proved wrong animals have a
way of doing that to us all the time
they certainly look relaxed for now but
no I don’t think that they’re going to
stay here the entire night I think
they’re going to get up and move as I
said they’ve often when we followed them
they have often marched us miles through
this area I don’t know exactly where
they’re going to go I’m not sure that
they’re going to hunt there are some
Valda beasts but not nearly as many as
back from we’re back where we came from
which is towards sylars lookout hill and
of course on the other side where James
heard about the bull de beast messing at
the crossings but there are still
scattered herd of herds of wildebeest
about I’m not sure exactly what it is
they have planned for us or where
they’re going to take us but I don’t
think they’re going to spend the whole
night here
Paul I think there’s advantages to both
supports question is whether we prefer
the daytime or the nighttime out here in
the Mara I definitely think that there’s
advantages to both I think we’ve seen
things that very few people ever get to
see by being out at night it’s really is
an agreed on take for granted and I have
really enjoyed learning about the way
that the animals behave having said that
my favorite I’m a human and I mean well
some people really really have enjoyed
being out at night and I have as well
don’t get me wrong the day times for me
are still my favorite I love the moment
of sunrise at the moment just before Sun
rises and starting to get light I love
the colors of the Mara during the day so
I think if I had to choose I would say
daytime is my favorite but of course
nighttime is where we get to see the
most extraordinary things so it’s
difficult to choose okay
just the Mar is just such an incredibly
picturesque place that I don’t think we
get the sort of the full impression of
it at night but that’s not why we’re out
but I enjoy the day times what about you
folk daytime folks Izzie’s daytime as
well
yeah you can’t beat the light of the Sun
in the mornings and the evenings of
goodness hello and you’ve been gone for
a while but you’re back now with a
vengeance now I really I really really
in do I really really do enjoy both of
aspects here we go off we go we’re up
we’ve learned so much about the cheaters
behavior at night us not that I would
ever complain ok off we go
I think it was sorry now that I’ve
started the engine I just need to turn
Alice up a little bit but I think it was
busy who was asking about whether or not
I’ve ever interacted with wild animals I
think that that is
zippy zippy zippy
okay apologies right so I think we
interact with the animals pretty much
every day have I have very interacted on
her hands huh my hands on basis yes I’ve
told the story before
what is this tutor doing sniffing the
sniffing the tree there I have mentioned
this story before so it’s not a secret
that’s not a cheater no that’s not a
cheater that’s a branch I think our boys
have gone there they go there they go I
have actually held a lion cub before and
played the lion cubs not something that
I’m proud of I didn’t realize at the
time I was very young and now of course
we talk a great deal about the fact that
you absolutely should never hand will
wild animals and certainly not lion cubs
because of course those Cubs are
destined for canned hunting a canned
hunting end to their lives so I didn’t
know that at the time I loved animals I
love lion cubs I thought it was the most
amazing opportunity in the world but yes
I have
and I wish I’d know different but I
didn’t and I’m glad that I’m able to
share that experience and that knowledge
with all of you so that hopefully we can
raise an awareness of just how
unnecessary a practice it is because I
think tourists are lied to all the time
about cut pitting know these lines we’re
helping them we’re going to breed them
so that we can hop the wildlands and
they’re gonna be released well they’re
gonna live out their days in a sanctuary
I’ve heard it all
utter nonsense yes I have interact with
a wild animal a lot of the interactions
I’ve had with wild animals have been
during darting of wild animals though so
for various reasons whether they need
vet treatment whether it’s because they
need they need some sort of help in some
way or to be relocated a lot of my work
has been in that area rhino elephant
cheetah lions sable draft gemsbok Brown
hyena spotted I you know I’ve been
present it at the darting of all of
those animals quite a few more than once
to help out with the vets work okay
let’s catch up but you’d have to go
around these Croton thickets I think
I’m sorry use my life just to see where
they’ve gone
Jason gets so that’s one of the reasons
why we spend a lot of time out here at
night yes that is when the majority of
predators do most of their hunting
mainly at dusk and at dawn are the main
hunting times but throughout the night
we found that there’s sort of twelve
there they go
we found that the sort of twelve o’clock
point is usually unless the migrations
in town is usually the cutoff point you
don’t get much movement from the animals
from there I just want to go around the
corner ahead of them because I want to
just double check and see if the
wildebeest are around
come back
no they’ve left
they’ve left alright we’re gonna catch
up with our cheetah I need to get my
thermal up and running let’s go across
to James who’s got one of the smallest
scavengers of the night well we did have
it’s just in front of us I’m just trying
to catch up with it I don’t think it
likes us very much it’s just scavenging
along it’s a little black bag jackal
please excuse the jerkiness of the shot
that has got nothing to do with John
dree it’s entirely my fault but in order
to see it we have to zoom in and do it
while we’re driving what amazes me about
these things is that they don’t get
killed by lions more often they are very
brave
they’re very slight and I I think there
must be a lot faster than they look
because they are not afraid to leap into
a kill situation with Lions grab a piece
and run away our lion is very fast a
lion is not slow lion is it’s really is
of all the animals out here over a
straight-line distance it’s probably
second only to the cheetah maybe to the
leopard but I mean they catch leopards
I’ve never seen them catch one of these
and I’ve never seen footage of them
catching one of these so I think these
little fellas are really very good at
getting out of the way
very fast still in front of us on the
road that is the black-backed jackal now
we had a question I think from someone
called Luca was it Luca Alice
Schmitz Luka age 14 you want tips as to
how to get a job in the bush
well Schmitt Luka I guess the first
thing for me to ask you is where are you
in the world and which bush do you mean
if you want to get into a job working in
the bush art here in Africa what really
does depend what you want to do do you
want to be a researcher do you want to
be a guide do you want to do something
like I’m doing now which is the sort of
progression of being a guide to
presenting do you want to be a ranger
would you like to be part of a
conservation team that looks after say
the the veterinary needs of animals and
small reserves or the burning regime and
an enormous reserve like this and the
overall conservation picture it really
does depend what you want to do if you
want to be a guide and the tips that I
can give you are I need to just read as
much as possible and you know reading as
much as possible about the animals that
you that you are likely to see well
that’s the best way to learn there as a
conservationist however you’re gonna
have to probably get a degree I’ll
continue this answer once we’ve gone
back to Jamie’s cheetah who are not
hunting but they’re climbing
well they were unfortunately it’s just
one of those things they one of the
tutor was right up at the top of this
tree and then as James sent you a
crosshair it was all the way up there as
James sent you across and jumped down
again it’s some sorry I’m busy ripping
Gaffa tape at the same time while I prep
everything quickie it’s it is not it’s
not common to see that you two right up
in the tops of trees they’re not good
tree climbers they can climb trees and
obviously they do sometimes you get
cheetah right up in the top of certain
trees and obviously certain individuals
are more inclined to do it than others
there was just such a lovely lovely shot
of the cheetah the tree now st. marking
spraying and it’s fascinating watching
these five as they go about their st.
marking business because of course each
one takes their turn and I know that
it’s something we’ve commented on a lot
but the sheer amount of urine that a
male cheetah is capable of producing is
actually quite astronomical where’s
number four
we’ve lost number four I’ve got two
there and I’ve got two in front of me
there we go spraying on the tree
and now they’ve all come to lie down
links to us just look so quite special
is that dart over there yeah okay so
it’s not him that’s missing from the
group usually when there’s a lag it is
him
he’s going to go and join the rest of
his buddies and they’re going to light
right here next to us Daniel
Cheeta actually hunted more frequently I
would say them than most of the other
predators here and that’s not because
they’re not successful they’ve got a
very high success rate compared to a
lion or a leopard but it’s because they
lose their kills so often two hyenas it
means that they have to hunt to keep
themselves to have to keep themselves
well-fed essentially so they hunt just
checking to see behind me they hunt
often
I mean we’ve watched them attempt hunts
about three or four in a night before
they’ve been successful and they’ve got
to sleep this number five on its way yes
here comes number five
Lisa usually what I found with with
cheetah Oh playtime sometimes they they
play and they get quite cross with each
other yeah what I found is that a
cheetah needs to rest at least an hour
after they’ve chased when they’ve gone
into a proper full-on chase and they’ve
missed their kill it takes them about an
hour to recover so it’s quite a long
period of time that they need for there
to get their breath back and for their
muscles to go back into a normal state a
normal resting state you had a large
portion of that meal mister judging by
that sway of the belly there’s always
one leg now obviously deliberately made
a beeline for that tree and then have
now changed direction as it gets dark
the wildebeest sound carries a bit
further I’m trying to listen to hear if
I can pick up on any of the herds around
us but the wind is making it a bit
difficult there’s one more still – has
he gone up yet yeah there he goes
there’s one more here goes here we go
okay let me swing around so that food
can actually get a shot that doesn’t
involve a portion of our vehicle and
let’s find out where these boys are
planning on taking us
so the instrument that sits over my
right shoulder is our thermal to help us
fault follow them
now I completely interrupted James in
the middle of describing to one of our
viewers how to go about working in the
bush I want him to finish up with that
so let’s send you back over to him
I don’t think it was unreasonable at all
to interrupt me of cheating climbing
trees alright so she’s Whittaker you got
back to us you said you want to be very
specific on sir you said you want to be
a guide in the Serengeti in Tanzania to
guide an arranger well Ranger died two
very different things Ranger is not
somebody who looks after just a ranger
somebody who looks after the land and
the animals so to be a guide you don’t
need any formal qualifications if you
want to work in Tanzania obviously have
to get a work bird and you’ll have to
get a good lap to get a turns alien
guiding license which it will not be
easy as a foreigner that could be quite
difficult but it can be done your
problems spent a few years there before
you were able to get a guiding classes
there as a foreigner is that a lion no
it’s a stick and then there’s a range if
you want to be arranging a
conservationist that I would suggest
that you do do some kind of formal
qualification formal degree because
while a degree is by no means that be
all and end all of education or just
about anything it is very useful
teachers your way of thinking that is
very useful if your conservation is
putting together plans
burning you need to you know to be able
to engage with the academic literature
around that sort of thing well then it’s
very useful to have a degree and it’s
very interesting to do up but to be a
guide you don’t need a degree I would
suggest however that you set your cell
your sights on not not not limiting
yourself to the Serengeti I would
suggest that you find out which parts of
Africa will accept foreign guides start
with because of course if you are I know
South Africa has a lot of English guys
British guys I don’t know of any in
Kenya or Tanzania it’s very difficult to
become a guide here if you’re not a
Kenyan or attend Sounion there is
something up ahead with shining eyes
don’t worry I think it is an antelope of
some sort I said Walter terrified to
death by driving it up to it in this
pantechnicon it is an antelope that’s a
wonderful pictures in the genre it’s got
a baby sucking in parlor and it’s baby
Impala if are aware I can’t tell quite
the sausage tree pride just yet
staring blankly at us saying to its
child I run you run Z into the grass
quick as you can
the youngster totally oblivious to any
danger fire scary old I’m not sure what
it is looks like it might be read that
girl
it is so read back in a youngster so
while I don’t want to be discouraging
Schmidt okay spread my needs a lot wider
if I were you and just find out where
would be possible as a British citizen
right we’re going to take our next road
up towards this car I’ve been saying
that all Drive have a nine
she is managed to keep up with MJ me
fast
luckily for Patterson they’ve been going
into relatively sedate rate so far we
recently were taught a little bit by the
cameraman as to which of us drive the
fastest and which of us don’t I’m not
going to give the list away I think you
can probably guess who the speediest of
the various guides happen to be I’ll
leave it to you to guess what the what
the conclusion was meantime our cheetah
have found themselves at the next
gardenia stopping to sniff and have a
look
scent mark here again are they going to
do any climbing I don’t think so it
doesn’t look like a very comfortable
climbing tree does it
this is the cheetah equivalent of
updating a social media status checking
to see who else is passed by and left
their scent mark on this tree and then
adding their own to it cheetah would be
what have you seen let me just check to
the right what what social media do you
think cheetah would favor Ferg Instagram
I know they make chirping noises which
would suggest Twitter but mm-hmm I’m
going Instagram I’m going Instagram
server would be snapchat oh I don’t
really understand what snapchat is I’ve
got no real idea Lions Facebook lots of
broadcasting happening
leopards Twitter I don’t know
I’m talking answer nonsense now
a beautiful tree really is very very
pretty
unfortunately they are continuing in the
direction of the next Valley which is a
pity for us because it will mean that we
could lose signal as we follow them but
we’re fine for now we still up on the
ridge it depends it all depends on which
way they go from here be careful with
footing there there we go
adding a stream topping up their scent
marks it’s very it hasn’t rained here or
at least it doesn’t seem to have rained
here for the last few days but they’ll
actually start to a lot of a lot of the
animals the territorial animals will
actually go out and resent mark after
the rain so a lot of you are saying
snapchat for cheetah
I will have to agree with you because
I’ve got no idea I missed the whole
snapchat deal I’ve don’t really know how
it works so I’ll go I’ll take your word
for it I’ll have to agree with you
because I don’t know any better I’m
gonna go around them because they’ve now
all moved
of course as I do that hold on as I do
that they are gonna move out from this
tree I’m sure are we gonna go boys can I
move yes no gamma it chances
it’s one nice thing about driving around
here Oh No here we going which way are
we going boys this way yes this way one
nice thing about driving on this area
you’re unlikely to encounter an
unexpected hole it might happen but it’s
a lot easier to see because the grass is
that much shorter
huge general direction they’re moving in
crowd cat mama you want to know what
similarities a cheetah share with
domestic cats less than something like a
lion or a leopard actually in my opinion
because they don’t have the retractable
claws the this structure of their legs
is very different their body language is
similar they hiss they can purr which
lions and leopards cannot do they don’t
draw which of course house cats can’t
dude lions and leopards can
[Music]
so I guess that would be those would be
some of the similarities
okay alright these cheats are moving
down in this direction there are lots
and lots of little Tommy’s all sleeping
up in the direction that they’re heading
in
I can see their little shapes now what
are they looking at they’re actually
looking in different directions
potentially planning out a hunt
Thomson’s gazelle they tend to they do
tend to hunt okay are we actually moving
a bit further oh okay all righty then
fair enough it is very open here and
it’s still no it’s not light anymore
it’s picking which Tommy they’re going
to go for is the trick which is one of
the reasons why I also enjoy being out
during the day I move forward slightly
is the ability to actually see what’s
ahead of you which of course is why
we’ve got the flare but to be able to
see what’s ahead of you and predict
their movements it becomes a lot easier
have they gone hey they come they’re
dashing straight towards the cheetah
hold on one moment just beyond the reach
of our infrared I think they’re gonna
miss the cheetah no they’re running away
they’re running away they’re not running
at the cheetah anymore TSN yes the only
time I’ve ever been scared properly was
when we were caught in the valle de Bie
stampede that I found very scary because
it was and out of relatively out of
control situation it’s something that
was most definitely a learning curve for
all of us and it was I think just simply
because it was in the dark
the wildebeest were panicking they were
a good couple of hundred no there was
about a hundred thousand of them and
they were swirling around us and was
very difficult to extract ourselves from
the situation because everywhere we went
there was another crazed herd of all the
beasts running in our direction
so I would say that’s the only time I’ve
been scared out here I’ve had a few jump
frights if that makes any sense and
amazing how quietly a lion can sneak up
on you and there’s nothing like all of a
sudden hearing the sound of their
breathing and their footsteps right next
to you in the dark when we’re sitting
with all of our lights off and when it’s
when it’s moonless it really is
pitch-black out here so I’ve had a few
jump frights haven’t really been
frightened but I’ve sort of startled and
one or two occasions levitated slightly
it’s one of a sudden there’s this male
lions head next to yours
can be quite the surprise when you’re
watching the rest of the pride and you
haven’t realized there’s one walking up
behind you and I think we also we’ve we
cautious we’re cautious and we’re aware
of the risks out here we know that lions
and leopards of different animals at
night and we treat them as such
especially because they’re not
accustomed to vehicles moving around
them or seeing vehicles at night
Wow okay
that was a burst of activity
Dunkleman no cheetahs are but far from
the top of the food chain out here top
of the food chain is most definitely the
Lions they are the apex predator here
then below them will sit to the spotted
hyenas we don’t really see many wild
dogs here although they do occasionally
wander through but below them will be
the spotted hyenas below that in terms
of hierarchy will be the leopards and
then you’ll get the cheetah as well this
is a slightly different situation
because you’ve got five males all
together so when it comes to leopards a
female leopard wouldn’t challenge these
boys a male leopard would and would
chase them I would expect
well no numbers have an intimidation
factor that cannot be disregarded but no
cheetahs are most definitely not top of
the food chain here they actually in
terms of the big predators they sit near
the bottom
they sit at the bottom as it happens
though I mean these boys are I haven’t
let that stop them they chase hyenas and
they’re very successful hunters I mean
be really fascinating to follow their
future I wonder what the next few years
holds for them everybody’s talked about
a split happening within this coalition
I don’t know I’m not sure while we sit
with our cheater in the pitch black
let’s go back across to James to find
out whether he’s had any luck searching
in the inky black absolutely
except to say we have made it up on
towards the escarpment sitting here we
are now looking for the sausages male
may not appear as we drive the great
vastness of the escarpment in front of
us is rising up like a great black wave
of the ocean luckily it’s not going to
come crashing down on my head like a
great black wave of the ocean now
unfortunately if you don’t start the
evening drive with your cats
Natalie what a nice question you say
which extinct animal which are would I
like to have come across I think there
are so many mammoths I would love to see
a mammoth to have seen any of the
saber-tooth cats and there were many I
mean I know we only kind of talk about
the saber-tooth Tiger but there are many
saber-tooth cats massive animals are
much bigger than today’s Tigers I would
love to have seen one of those I mean
can you imagine doing a Jurassic Park
walking through the Jurassic period
watching dinosaurs roaming I think that
must have been absolutely astonishing to
see and for hundreds of millions of
years of course they lived all over the
earth and you know various sweets of
species were around and then they all
died out then do Jay others came about
so you know I would love to have seen a
brontosaurus where a Tyrannosaurus even
up really far away but more recently I
suppose of haha South African animal
which is well it’s a subspecies of a
zebra which like seven is fantastic as I
was talking about it was shot out some
time back so they would have been
fascinating to me what else what I’d
like to have seen fantastic big what
else a mermaid
John I would like to see in a moment as
well
going to talk to him again
yes I guess those will be the top ones
that I have loved to see I feel like
this one I’m leaving out that I’ve often
thought I’d love to have seen it’s not a
dojo the saber-tooth cats for me would
have been really the big one oh dear I’m
so sorry James has disappeared off your
screen while he was in the middle of
telling you what I’m sure was a
thrilling tale of which creature he
would bring back if he could which
extinct creature he would see Fergus
also said woolly mammoth interestingly
enough which I have to agree with I
think it has manian Tiger something
along those lines saber-toothed cat see
a sloth there I’d love to see a slide –
all alive going back in time into
dinosaur well that wouldn’t really work
with it being live and all but you get
the idea
imagine we did our job but with
dinosaurs might be slightly more
terrifying in fact would definitely be
terrifying we’d have to change our set
up I think and if Jurassic Park has
taught me anything it’s that dinosaurs
find a way now Christine you’re
wondering about local folklore stories
if there’s any scary stories of monsters
out here that make us nervous at night I
must find out for you if there’s any
stories specifically around this area
because I have no doubt that there are
I’m sure there are
and probably based around things like
man-eating lions I would say man-eating
leopards would probably feature quite
heavily I don’t know of any yet I’ll
have to try and find some time to chat
to someone I feel like Shetty could tell
a good story no mechanic shadrach but I
will find out for you I know of a few in
South Africa I once
I know this is ridiculous I once saw a
Tokoloshe I don’t believe in two
collages I don’t believe in them at all
I don’t know what I saw it was a trick
of the light it was something but let me
tell you the story I used to live in an
old farmhouse about 50 years old and the
the people that worked with us often who
were who were locally based they would
often mention that they they knew that a
Tokoloshe lived around there but it was
many many months later that I was
walking down the passageway to the
bathroom and to pass to the bathroom you
had to look down a corridor that led
into the main room big open main room
and as I walked across something walked
across on the other side with me at
exactly the same time something quite
short but bent double with long arms and
I still have the picture very clearly in
my head obviously I was half asleep it
was dark I must have seen a shadow of
something I don’t know but I confess to
to making the return trip at double the
speed anyway the next day one of the
ladies came out screaming and told me
not to go around the corner because
she’d seen a Tokoloshe I hadn’t
mentioned anything about it I hadn’t
said anything because obviously I
scoffed at myself once it was light
again who knows I’ve also had very I’ve
done a few sleep baths and I think it’s
more an instinct of wild animals than it
is anything else
slipped out in the bush we obviously
everybody keeps watch and I’ve had only
once ever did I experience a complete
sigh I drifted off because somebody else
is one of the other guys was on watch
and I drifted off and I woke up ice-cold
with the hairs on the back of my neck
standing up on end and the feeling just
would not go away and I walked around
with the torch and I checked and
everybody else was fast asleep and we
didn’t we didn’t see anything I never
found anything and I have no idea what
that was about
I suspect I heard something or
registered something on a subconscious
instinctive level may be a leopard
walked past us or something like that
listen I mean I watched the stranger
things in my tent the other night and
the power kept flickering on and off and
I got freaked out so maybe I’m not a
good gauge for these sorts of things
Hey I had to shut the ten to turn the
lights on let’s never wooden stay on and
it was terrifying everyone else was on
Drive but no typic typically we tend not
to be I know a dark is a different thing
and we’ve got this this human instinct
to be home and wrapped up safely but
typically I don’t find myself afraid of
monsters in the dark I probably will
when I go and research all the scary
stories though
how about you fig the where cameraman is
that at full moon he becomes a cameraman
where’s he gone he gone he’s left it
somewhere cameraman full moon suddenly
has a desire to pick up a camera that
describes half of the Instagram
generations
okay well while we sit and now
contemplate whether or not there any
monsters out here let’s go across to
James who is braving driving about in
the dark I am and it’s blustery and cold
and there could be monsters anywhere
just look behind me now and I realize
monsters are closer than you think
I was chatting to you about mammoths and
the ethics of the remaking it and how
maybe I was chatting about it if you got
that far so of course we went black
screen we were talking about the extinct
creatures and then I said well of course
they are rumors that people are trying
to recreate mammoths from their DNA and
by trying to make it embryo
splicing that’s exactly how they did
basically that implant II created embryo
inside elephant and then see if amethyst
and it’ll be quite interesting now he
would be fascinating with the ethics of
doubles are interesting should we be
doing that sort of thing
or should we not now I’ve no doubt that
there we can very easily cut that debate
halfway fifty percent say never
sacrilegious those who are perhaps not
quite as religiously event might say you
know what it doesn’t matter it’s it’s
all in the name of science others who
are not necessarily religious but feel
that nature should be that take its
course mighty people you say they didn’t
think it was a good idea or an
acceptable thing to be doing to be doing
things like cloning human beings trying
to recreate members anyway I don’t think
there’s all of those people no matter
which side of the fence you sit I bit
worthy were there to be a documentary on
the creation of a new mammoth I
guarantee you lots and lots of people
would certainly watch it and try and see
what a mammoth the living mammoth was
looking like
did look like so what do see one of
course that’s a debate to life by that
wonderful film Jurassic Park and it
started this sequence
had no luck associate reprieve the stage
interesting question of dump shock uses
if I can go back to a time with those
people with recklessly shooting animals
what would I tell them well that’s a
really difficult one and it’s it’s an
interesting one because if I went back
and I met Adolphe della gorg and I said
to me nobody although you there are so
many thousands or I come from the future
that I can think you wouldn’t believe it
but in a hundred and twenty or two
hundred years time they’re gonna be so
few of these things left that you really
don’t want to be doing this and I think
you’ll find that if I could convince him
of what the world looks like today he
would go oh my goodness I don’t believe
what I’m doing I think they were just so
ignorant of what the future would look
like as we all are and in fact we behave
many of us behave in exactly the same
way as those original hunters did going
and shooting willy-nilly which are we
put down the toaster boil a kettle get
in our cars turn the engines on we’re
doing the same thing to the environment
it’s just not as obvious and because
we’re ignorant of the effects that it’s
going to have on us we we just keep
doing it we don’t think about it we
don’t know what carbon what emissions
are going to make the human race through
blackboard gonna make the planet look
like we don’t know what large-scale
large-scale agriculture is going to do
to the world we don’t know what the
feedlot farming of cattle and the amount
of gas they produce and the amount of
land required to you know to house them
is going to do we just carry on doing it
regardless of any kind of warnings that
we have so it’s all very well going back
and saying you know add off my boy you
are making a dreadful mistake by
shooting all these elephants because
I’ve seen what it’s going to do we are
doing exactly the same thing
the last thoughts I’m going to leave you
with before I hand you back to the
slightly more cheerful Jamie Patterson
and of course
perché Shep thanks for joining us
bye-bye I’m coming in complete agreement
with James on a on a more serious note
on a more flippant note I remembered the
quotes I was thinking of that I was
trying to get James to say which was
your scientists was so preoccupied with
whether they could they didn’t stop to
think if they should which actually
applies to the more serious no to that
James was chatting about as well are we
going to be with these Cheeta for a
little while longer something’s caught
their attention so I’m going to follow
them for a little while this evening to
see where they go and whether or not
they have any success so do stay tuned
and do keep an eye on the Facebook live
groups and if we do see anything
exciting we will go live and we will
share it with all of you but that brings
us to the end of our scheduled sunset
Safari and of course that is time for us
to say our farewell and our thank yous
I’m going to try not to pull my earpiece
out in the way that I did this morning
and instead get everything on pad so a
big thank you to the Safari live team of
cross both in South Africa and here in
the Masai Mara to Alice in director
share most importantly the biggest thank
you to all of you join us tomorrow for
the sunrise Safari
[Music]
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