everyone my name is Scott and I’m teamed
up with the sins of on camera this
afternoon we looking forward to the
prospects that lie ahead our plans are
to search for a female leopard called
shadow and hopefully her young daughter
and I believe Nowell is going to be
searching for Tandy and we had some
reports that Tandy managed to make an
Impala kill I know I’ll had some shaky
signal earlier so I’m not sure how much
it copied about their plans or whether
she even got to tell you about them but
those are some good prospects hopefully
Tandy another leopard who’s actually
shadow sister will be some way at that
kill if not it’ll mean she is at certain
side which is hiding away a tiny little
six week old cub we’re not too sure
where her current the inside says she’s
been moving them around quite a lot
which is a good move because it means
that
and those animals could be a big threat
to that John Cub now happy to have
Nowell back as are we obviously said
that Tristan’s hit it off but he’s only
gone for about a week and it also sounds
like you guys have got off to a good
start to the Safari up in the Mara with
Ralph and Taylor so on and all things
was for you down here in South Africa
we’ll be able to find a lot more animals
for faith who’s directing the show to
choose from
there was a nice cloudy day we had a
cool morning we went sit had a picnic in
the muwah
I’m happy that guide monkey is feeling
lucky they say they are sensing a
leopards I hope you’re right because I
could think of no better way than
spending the afternoon with a leopard
Karuna has not disappeared out of this
territory so much you show exactly where
she likes to hang out but before I left
the sabi sands a year and a half ago I
used to spend a lot of time through this
area but we never had this roads I’m
hoping that maybe she will be lurking
about here good well we’re gonna send
you across to Noelle now and she’s gonna
let you know exactly what her plans are
I’m guessing how her leave wins welcome
I am Noelle and on camera today I have
Ferg
there’s a thumbs up I don’t forget we
are live or interactive hashtag Safari
live on the Twitter or you can ask us
questions on YouTube chats and Scottie D
I have no plans as of now I’m just happy
to be back in the bush and it’s sunny
and it’s a Christmas Eve and so I’m
driving around seeing what’s lurking I
was kind of in the mood for elephants
but I haven’t really found much on them
yet so I’m gonna keep looking and then
maybe just maybe we get lucky and some
leopards pop out like Scott was talking
about it’s also a really good afternoon
for birdie
so we’ll probably do a little bit of
that right now I want to go and check
hello
and everything’s right there and
sometimes you just have to look a little
bit harder so today might be a look a
little bit harder day but it’s a really
lovely afternoon
can the serious that they got a huge
amount of rain there they really really
needed it so I’m glad for them we’ve had
decent rains so far this season but
nothing nothing really to write home
about I’m not worried about the rain
quite yet but it would be nice if we got
sort of a downpour of about a hundred
mils ah
thanks everyone thanks for the welcome
back so I’m happy to be back and thanks
for all your messages while I was on
leave and posted photos of the gym and
the food I was freaking sorry I
so I didn’t do any processing sorry
ooh Alan you’re curious know what we do
in between drives so the PG version of
it is we nap and we study and we get
ready for our next drive the not PG
version of it would be antics and
shenanigans but that usually happens
after evening game drive but yeah I mean
a lot of times we work because you’re up
so early in the morning and it’s really
hot and summertime here in the middle of
the day are where we’re a custom our
schedules are very accustomed to
wildlife schedules so you’re up super
early and you’re active until it’s too
hot and then you’re slightly inactive
when it’s really warm and then you get
active again as it starts to cool down
and so and then sometimes we have other
duties sometimes we have to write
reports and sometimes we have to look at
vehicles and sometimes okay would be it
would depend as well I’m still studying
for a few things so I spent a lot of my
time
possible today some of the guys went out
and had a little brunch and I got back
from the eve and just sort of hung out
in my room and caught up on some things
and listened to bird calls because I
haven’t been amazingly I wasn’t in the
bush this leave as I normally am so just
making sure that my brain still fun
and let’s see what else I can’t really
think of anything else here we go so
I’ve done this tree with you all before
but we’ve got it
flowering really nicely here just on our
left hand side we have a weeping model
or Appel to form on Ficano
it’s one of my favorite flowering trees
it’s a really interesting tree I’m just
gonna unplug a minute because I want to
show you the leaf structure I just
pulled it is back from leaves so of
course that would happen okay so when
you’re talking about leaf structure with
trees you get something that’s called by
pinnately compound and most of the time
when you have those types of leaves it
has to do with acacia trees so the trees
would have thorns for sometimes spines
this one have any thorns or spines so I
hold it out first telling me so by
potata compound basically what you’re
looking at is this whole thing is one
leaf okay
just down here firk do I need to hold it
further back okay this is called the
axillary bud anything that grows off the
side not effectively bud but off the
side there is the leaf so if this
from there this whole thing would be the
leaf or if just one of these came off
from there
then that would just be the leaf so this
whole thing comes off this whole part is
now the leaf these are called leaflets
and then these little ones that actually
look like the leaf are called Pinay okay
either side so by pinnately compound
okay
now this one is very very soft a lot of
people say that they use this for twin
huh and he lives up in the northwest
province and his story that he always
told me about this tree is my favorite
story which is if anyone from your
family passes away and you’re really
stricken with grief or it could be
anyone that you were very close with you
go and you get a branch from this tree
and you bring it to the to the
traditional healer and they make a drink
out of it and then you
out of your system so that’s my favorite
story but now for us within the area
that we’re in is the Schengen area and
the Shang Gon’s believe that this brings
you good luck so this if let’s say you
need good luck driving around or it’s
the holidays and there’s a lot of people
driving around that have been drinking
stick this under your seat and you won’t
get in a car accident and you’ll arrive
safely now I’m busy looking for a mammal
species a Scot has found you a memo a
little cheeky mammal so let’s head on
over to him and see what he has to say
well we have found a usually a very
secretive little antelope called a stand
back but thankfully this one is fairly
relaxed with us as you saw that poke did
set up very quickly after it got enough
food to nibble on and I’m very very
happy that it’s decided to relax now
this is a fully grown male he’s a trophy
specimen he’s in far
Brij adult human being so very very
small antelope and I’m not sure where
his wife could be his wife could be
tending to their youngster they will
have young lambs at the moments we’ve
got a glimpse of a tiny one the other
day but it rocketed off into the bush so
he knows I’m guessing mom’s probably
woof
very good so now this is the perfect
size me
maybe shadows keeping a VDI on her it
certainly happens to me a few times in
my career where you stop and you’re
looking at antelope and all of a sudden
a period it’s it comes exploding out of
the bushes it’s hugely exciting
obviously because it comes as a mess of
surprise and
if that’s relaxed there’s no credit in
here
of
idea they are there until the final
final moments
very good so we finished checking down
that one new road no sign no tracks no
nothing but now we’re going to be
heading towards two water holes it’s
been a kind of a hot afternoon after all
the clouds broke midday and hopefully
we’re gonna find some action as some
elephants or you know some animals come
in to drink like to know if a snake
could catch a stand but and yes most
certainly we have African rock pythons
that live here and it would be easy easy
ly big enough for at least a four or
five meter python negatives about six
meters the big ones would easily be able
to snack on one of these and will also
sometimes feed on baby and parlour which
are just about the same size who have
you detected as that shadow you have
listened to or heard
so yes African rock pythons and at this
time of the year David who knows maybe
we will come across a Python on a baby
and polical I don’t think it’s ever
actually happened on safari life maybe
I’m wrong if any of you have managed to
see a Python with an Impala cool with
any of the other guys let us know but I
don’t think that is the case okay
wonderful stuff are we gonna head on it
seems like all is in order here and I’m
very grateful that this DN work was so
accommodating of us and while we head
back on the trail of hopefully shadow we
will be sending off to Ralph
yes thanks Scott and unfortunately I was
looking at a lovely character here but
he’s gone and lied down in the long
grass and the reason why I wanted to
have a look at him because because I
think of all the animals out here in the
bush and the other gods can give their
view on it but I think if any of them
would look good wearing a father
Christmas hat it would have to be Pumbaa
or a warthog the one they call mr. pig I
think that he would be most well suited
to wearing the Christmas hat and we’ve
got some of the water back also hanging
around nearby and the topi we’re still
on our way towards the Lions but once
more we’ve spotted an opportunity to
stop and watch and just enjoy because I
like to take my time with lions in the
morning obviously I like to rush to them
because it’s that lost opportunity
normally that they’re a bit more active
and and but in the afternoon I like to
try and leave it as light as possible
especially if we know they’ve been
feeding recently so I don’t think
they’re going to be too active that
there’s always a chance but as I say I
think the chances increase and the later
and the day and we’re going to see them
so another
nice scene there and it’s lovely to be
able to sit share with them now Brad
you’re wondering if the water back have
a breeding season in the Mara it seems
that all the animals that generally have
a set time or a general period where
they normally drop the young is a little
bit mixed up in the Mara because it
seems the resources are maintained
throughout the year and the rain also
comes so even the Impala drop the young
a little bit throughout the year there
will be an the normal time when they all
dropping a little bit more in the Mara
but it seems that they drop throughout
the year because of the extension of
resources being available throughout the
year as well so it does seem a little
bit strange up here for me but we are
only 1 degrees south of the Equator and
that makes for very little change in the
seasons as well you hardly get a winter
it’s a little bit cooler than it is in
summer but not much and if you can
imagine we’re only one degree south from
the equator the Sun angle doesn’t really
change that much either because
obviously in winter if you further away
from the equator that angle of the Sun
is what makes the the seasons different
but here in Kenya it’s not really much
different at all which means that the
seasons remain almost the same
olga you’re saying that that animal has
muffles muzzles okay I’m not quite sure
on the word did with muffles maybe
that’s something to do with the ears Oh
muscles sorry I know that sometimes we
can get confused with each other’s
accents but this animal has extreme
muscles they are classified as part of
the sprinters of the bush of the animal
kingdom with the Sasabe being the
fastest of the lot but you can see
they’ve got reasonably strong front
quarters but extremely strong
hindquarters and if you look at a hyena
for instance very much different to them
and the same as a voter biased they hope
and they more of endurance animals so
you’ve got almost the less power in the
back and all the front being whether
with the powerless but it gives them
quite a good light which means that they
can continue the speed on for a long
period whereas with the type II and the
chaser B and the bless Bach and the
hartebeest they all have it’s almost
like a straight back so they’ve got very
strong hind quarters but reasonably
strong front quarters as well but that
makes for very good sprinters and that
was well noticed there with the muscles
cleaning and listening in the sunlight
very fast that’s why I was quite
surprised yesterday that that female was
trying to stalk a topi because she as
far as I’m concerned doesn’t stand a
chance now Josh you’re wondering if the
type P is faster than a cheetah on a
longer distance it probably will be but
if what the cats have is an extreme
burst of bursts of speed and the
acceleration but on the top-end you know
type B would also accelerate but
reasonably quickly but you’d be able to
keep that speed up for quite a long time
and he will progressively get faster and
faster up till about
70 to 80 kilometers an hour so we’re
talking in excess of 50 miles an hour
but the cheetah also needs to get close
to the topi before it starts its chase
if it has any chance of catching it and
that goes with all those sprinters that
I’ve been mentioning they need to get
very close and with the lion they would
have to get in within about 20 meters
and and and get that animal by surprise
with their acceleration already doubling
that of the of the prey but it’s the
prey sees and the type he sees the lion
or the cheetah early enough and they
started a similar time with the space
the acceleration of the cat will close
the space but eventually that type you
will pull away so it’s it all comes down
to the distance that they’re able to
achieve before the chase actually starts
and if that type he sees them early
enough it’s game over that’s why with
the Lions it’s great if they can set a
trap and actually get the type be
running into potentially ambush area
where other lions are waiting that would
be their best chance but for one one
female to take a topi down she’d have to
get very close before she starts a chase
and that’s what happened yesterday she
didn’t get close enough and eventually
the one drifted from the lion towards
the typey and it picked it up that she
was around and then it was game over
because the lion even knew once the type
he had seen her and she wasn’t close
enough she didn’t stay in the charts
so still on our way towards the Lions we
are circling around the marsh area but
we’re also next to the forest so we
might be able to see anything that’s
just on the edge of the thickets
possibly another black rhino maybe some
Leopard
who knows we’ll go along here slowly
just along the edge and we’ll stop for
anything sighting along the way with the
end goal being those lions who I don’t
think are going anyway
oh and it’s lovely to have Noel back
she’s just been on leave
that’s nice welcome back Noel we’ll pass
that message on to you when we get to
hear from her
I wonder why she went on holiday
okay so as I say driving along the
little boundary here between the marsh
and the forest heading towards those
lions I wonder if they’re gonna do
anything this afternoon
but speaking of predators and spotted
cats let’s go over to Scott in South
Africa and see if they’ve been able to
follow up on any of those lipids
mix some news I’m just trying to get
into a good spot yeah basically let me
work on where it is they’re just above
my finger sins there’s a female leopard
track you can see the back pad and then
one two three and four toes so these
tracks are heading down the road in the
same direction we heading down and
what’s interesting is that we drove down
this road this morning and there was no
tracks on it so that we know for a fact
that this leopard was moving down this
road sometime between when did we go for
our picnic we left at about ten o’clock
so sometime between then and now this
female leopard has moved down this road
so I’m hoping it’s shadow and I’m hoping
she’s gonna be up at the waterhole that
we are heading towards is a small chance
maybe that I missed these tracks the
small
yes these are looking good
oh then I guess that’s like saying how
long does it take to go on a road
there’s no set time they can literally
cross the road they can stay on the
roads they do like to use the roads
because they’re a big pathway so just
like us preferring the pathway of least
resistance so do a lot of the animals
but there’s also a lot of small kind of
trails single tracks that the animals
create that the Clippers will move along
as well as just any way zigzagging
through the bush so there’s no set time
no what I want to check here because
this is a lipid with a one-year-old
daughter and I seem to think that for a
second there could be two sets of tracks
hitting down side by side
zig zagging across the road like this
but it does just look like one
individual as far as I can tell which is
just useful to know if both are moving
together it could mean maybe that
they’re hitting back towards a kill
there’s no set rules though she’s quite
a big cab she’s nearly a year of age so
she’ll almost be independence within at
least the next six months maybe sooner
interestingly her mother is renowned for
kicking her cubs out of home at a young
age
this is looking good fresh leopard
tracks heading towards the water hall it
couldn’t get any better than this
the only thing is think she could have a
little bit of distance on us judging by
the clarity of the tracks of the piers
that they’re not extremely piping-hot
Tatars the terminal terminology used
the shisha which means hot on a hot day
like this these hot tracks could lead us
to a limpid upper tree so that’s always
worth bearing in mind while researching
not only to be looking down on the
ground free tracks which they still are
moving down this road but also up in the
trees because they may lie up there to
get a nice cool breeze and get out of
the
be the light I said as a blanket of
grass there’s not much grass around at
the moment and it’s actually not ideal
hard riders at this time of the year
should be a lot more lash at the moment
Mike are you wondering if shadow and her
young daughter who is called nut Barbara
when any of you are joining for the
first time it’s a bizarre name since I
spotted something let’s go back it could
be a monitor lizard I’m guessing poking
its head out of a hole yes it is vault
on the inside well spotted it’s a young
monitor lizard and you’ll just see its
little tongue flickering I visited in I
know it’s just gone back in there and
hit it let me see if I can use the
spotlight to try and help illuminates it
I don’t think it is gonna work it’s gone
back in
how cool is that and I was chatting with
Conrad one of our technical wizards just
the other day telling them about the
monitor lizards and how they like to
live in these little holes in the trees
this is a very small rock monitor it
appears not a very big individual and
they sometimes get very large they’re
cousins of the water monitor lizards
I’ve got a much more bulbous head hello
we can see you
we spotted critter I’ve completely lost
my train of thought but well then to
Senza for spotting that monitor hanger I
guess they’re guards and search for food
and then once their full belly they come
back and just relax and these little
hollows here’s guys like eating just
about anything they can overpower but
birds nests are often it
small reptiles sometimes even a little
snake would be food for a monitor lizard
[Music]
okay well we’re gonna keep following
these leopard tracks down to the water
or sorry it was guide monkey you were
wondering if shadow and her youngster
have been seen recently and know they
well the last time they were seen what
was together was three or four days ago
when we had that sighting of king Ghana
shadow and youngster not Barbara
together so that was our last confirmed
sighting of her and her youngster very
good we are going to be sending you off
to Ralph who has found some hyena up in
Kenya
yes thanks Scott and what bush seen
would be complete with that a hyena in
it and and even more so without hyena
and jackals and we’re getting near to it
those lines are and I’ve also got that
kill I think Tyler said that it’s it was
a young hippo and these are animals here
the hyena and behind him there are a
couple of jackals
let’s see them in a minute they hanging
around waiting and playing the long game
trying to see if these lions are gonna
leave the carcass and maybe they can
move in and and start to feed on it a
little bit and it is really playing the
patient game sitting and waiting waiting
waiting maybe you’ll have a and good
Christmas if he waits long enough it’s
just around the corner
now Mia you’re wondering if this hyena
is all by itself as far as I can see yes
but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s
not some more hyena in the area with
those lions having killed a hippo I
wouldn’t be surprised if there’s lots of
eyes and ears lying up in the grass yeah
there’s a couple of jackals there’s one
hyena that we can see but I wouldn’t be
surprised especially with the smell of
that caucus now probably wafting through
the plains here I’m sure that this
there’s a few of them around just biding
their time waiting for an opportunity to
move in and and get some a little bit of
pieces of what is left there and these
lions obviously protecting that that
kill that they’ve made because they fold
themselves up already but if they if
they hang around and they look after
that that kill they can feed on it for a
good few days so it’s it’s well worth
protecting and I think let’s let’s head
on over here and go and see if we can
now finally get closer
hiren you’re wondering why if the if the
hyena is getting hot in the Sun and why
doesn’t he go and lie in the shade well
I can tell you that it’s actually not
that hot really and I’m sure if it was
hotter he would probably be walking
along the forest line and probably
taking cover but today it’s it’s it’s
very cool it’s it’s not that hot at all
so that’s probably the reason why is
sitting out there it’s got a nice view
over towards where the Lions are with
with the hippo so maybe that’s why I’m
sure if it was hotter you’d probably be
in the shade
now there are a couple of vehicles here
near to a this lion is with the hippo as
you as I’m sure you can understand
everybody wants to have a look as well
now where is the line we did spot him
from a long way off but it seems like
he’s moved in the interim was actually
out of the forest and in the open but
while we’ve been coming in our met
meandering Joyride on the way here
it looks like he’s moved a little bit
but we will find him shortly I’m sure I
think I’ve spotted the the hippo cure
let’s just make away there slowly
hello yes I think I see a billy of a
lime but we’ll just getting a bit closer
and make sure that’s where it is over
there okay I think I can see it’s all
happening can you see everything Archie
just briefly and once we’ve worked out
what’s going on we can always move
position and see what’s happening but it
looks like now there’s some of the
females have come in and they’re also
feeding on the carcass that’s great to
see now females have been allowed the
male’s of obviously eaten if oh I think
it was the kichwa I Quechua males and I
would obviously lie around and protect
that kill until they’ve had enough and I
allowed the females in the females are
allowed in before the scavengers are but
at least they they are allowed in I
wouldn’t have been I wouldn’t be
surprised if these females actually made
the kill the males have chased them off
and now they’ve been allowed back to
come and feed on it now Kate you’re
wondering if it’s at all unusual for
males to share the kill well that’s
that’s what is debatable I’m wondering
if it wasn’t these females that actually
made the kill and the males chased them
off and they’ve been hanging around
waiting for the males to finish and now
they’ve been allowed in to come and eat
therefore it’s a rather large kill and
hippo so it’s nice for lots of lines to
eat their fall and probably have enough
to and be over for the scavengers as
well so the jackals and hyenas even
chilli get quite a good take on this –
and including even the vultures it’s
always worth taking on a big animal like
a hippo
because it’s gonna feed many mouths and
it will last for a few days as well so
well worth the risk
and I’m sure especially with the younger
hippo it would have been rather easy for
them with a older more experienced
female or bull it can be quite dangerous
so not always the best idea but a young
hippo like that I think was probably
reasonably easy to take down so I
haven’t seen the males just yet but
lovely to have seen these females and it
looks like one or two of them have
already had a good guy at that hippo
probably eaten quite nicely but um I
think we’re gonna spend a little bit of
tamir a Mart repositioned in a minute
and just get us a bit of view or a
different view at that there are a
couple of other vehicles that seem to
have a nice view from in front so maybe
we’ll go and enjoy them join them in a
in a minute but for now I just see that
one female moving that caucus around
stole a lot of meat on me so as I say
there could be lots more action
happening here
look at that she’s having a real girl at
a using that corn SEL shear to cut the
meat and she bats into it and that’s
something that predators obviously very
special that they have in order in
enabling them to to slice the meat all
right I’m gonna reposition shortly and
in the meantime let’s send you down to
Noel hello Noel and welcome back from
your leave their cute little baby
wildebeest now I believe that Scott had
counted five the other day with one left
drop in this little herd that’s not far
from where we are based and I’m still
only counting five and I can see I think
one extremely pregnant ville de beast
I’m sort of in front of us in amongst
the herd I just noticed her now she’s a
little bit more to the right there she’s
fat just a little bit – laughs there
there she is well she’s not fat she’s
pregnant sorry there so she looks like
she’s still gonna drop and maybe all of
you the lucky one and get to see a build
abused birth both Tristan and Scott have
done well with that I have yet to see
one the season so I’m definitely hoping
now just in front of us we have one of
the adult females and she is being
followed around by a little waddle
Starling now
a tree where they follow hoofed animals
and then pick up the insects that are
dislodged while the the ungulates are
busy eating now the wild starlings do it
from the ground very similar to a cattle
egret and I just for some reason it’s
something I never get tired of I always
enjoy watching it so this is a form of
symbiosis called a commensalism where
one benefits and the other nothing
happens together so it’s obviously the
Starling that’s benefiting and the ville
de beast isn’t affected either way a
beautiful little waddled Starling now
I’ve been looking for some wild Starling
nests along the way I haven’t seen any
quite yet but if I do find something
I’ll definitely definitely let you know
just now the little baby wildebeest were
running around but it seems as if
they’ve all tired themselves out they’re
reminding me of my friends kids I was so
lucky on leave I got to see some of my
very dear friends and all of the little
Bubba
– hello sweetie and Merry Christmas
tomorrow – and you would like to know do
the Santa come to us using reindeer or
elephants or lions or anything thereof
now Tula and i was having this
conversation with my six-year-old nephew
Luca the other day and also with my
friend Seb’s
little girl Casey the other day and we
were debating is it is it something like
an Impala or elephants or maybe lions
and I think that what Santa does when he
comes to visit our villages here is I
think he uses whatever wildlife animal
happens to be the most accommodating at
the moment so it could possibly be at
villa de beast and we only know to the
end when we see what droppings are left
so you know how when we drive around us
you know Scott was just showing you some
tracks now and sometimes we show you poo
we have to wait until we wake up
tomorrow morning to see what poo is left
and then we know which African animal
Hughes so I will let you know what he’s
left behind tomorrow morning and I’ll
take a little photo for you and then we
will let you know if he used lion or
elephant or giraffe or maybe warthogs
the warthogs are quite big that could be
a good one
usually the droppings I’ve seen left
behind have been kudu so we’ll see what
he uses this year for the reindeer
I think the reindeer will get a bit too
hot here they’re met for the more
temperate climates the colder climates
and also he has to swap over from his
sleigh to a 4×4 vehicle when he comes to
us so we’ll have to wait and see
Jenny interesting question you’re
wondering these a ville de beast are
related to the ville de beast that we
see in the Mara
so Jenny these are the blue veiled abuse
or the brindle canoe and the ones you’re
seeing in the Mara are a white bearded
canoe the white bearded nu is a
subspecies of this one we have here so a
cousin very very good question so in
South Africa we get two distinct species
of ville de beasts we get this one here
the brindled canoe and then we get the
goodness black wildebeest a little bit
of a moment there I’m just going to find
you a photo so that you can see and then
up in Kenya and Tanzania you get the
white bearded Renu and then a very
she’s a villa 2 beast there and I for
the life of me cannot think of the name
or what’s up him later today and see if
he can let me know so here we have our
little book of southern African mammals
and fortunately it’s not my one of
African mammals and this is the black
ville de beast so the horns curl forward
and he’s dark all the way around he has
no Brenda lean and then he’s got a very
very white tail and they don’t occur
naturally in the same areas you will
sometimes see them on the same game
farms in South Africa but that’s like
because people have put them there so
then what you are getting is in sort of
our area you’re getting the blue ville
de beast and then
bein around in there you’ll you’ll get
them you’ll get the black dildo B’s and
then if you go up to south along the
National Park where I’ve done some work
before you get the cook since ville de
B’s which is the subspecies of this blue
veiled beast as well so while we are
busy watching our village abuse and
still searching for Leopard my very good
friend Ralph is having a blast up in the
Mara it seems like so let’s head back up
to him and see what his lions are doing
with their tasty hippo meal thanks but
no and yes I am absolutely loving it up
here in the Mara and it seems that this
is possibly the marsh breakaway pride
with these tiny little cubs that they’ve
got it seems there’s about three of them
possibly four we’ve seen three and they
were suckling on mum who’s also got a
very fat belly having fed on this hippo
which is good news for her and for the
Cubs because with her having fed nicely
like that she keeps up her strength and
she keeps all the nutrition coming for
the youngsters as well because they’ll
be taking a lot out of it with him
suckling from her and it’s nice that we
know that she has she’s fit nicely in
the in the meantime now I’m sure just
while we’re sitting here watching these
lines I’m sure you might have seen a
little bit of white on my face and on my
ears well it is that time of year in
South Africa and in southern Africa and
in Africa in general when we do get very
sunburnt especially us with much larger
complexion and I did see the other day
that Scott also had smeared on the
sunscreen now it’s it’s also that time
of year on the eastern cape region of
South Africa where they go through the
initiation process for the young boys
who when I hit 16 years old they need to
go and live off in the bush for two
weeks and I go through a whole
initiation phase and training
and when they are in this phase they all
paint themselves white and almost being
a disgrace to society within this
two-week period they’re not allowed to
be seen by anybody and they must live
off in the bush by themselves with a
blanket and having been painted white
and they are called the of equality now
if anybody’s familiar with that it’s a
it’s a very AUSA
tradition and it’s the young men and the
rite of passage into into manhood but
now when as what guys paint ourselves or
with this sunscreen all over our faces
and so on
the clothes are people where I’m from
they laugh at me quite hysterically
because they are thinking that I’m
shaming myself like the other created by
painting myself white so constantly need
to explain myself and say that it’s it’s
not that I’m trying to become a man a
million times a year it’s am that I’m
actually just trying not to get
sunburned so and they all think that
it’s hilarious I’m not sure if if Scott
is aware of that but Tesla age seven
you’re saying that those baby lion cubs
are so sweet well I agree with you Tesla
they’re very cute a and they are staying
very close to Mum so that they can drink
milk whenever they like because there
are very hungry chaps and you can see
they normally they normally eat and play
and sleep and very tough laugh and looks
like lots of fun hehe and they like to
tackle each other and jump all over each
other very fun to watch the baby the
baby lions the Cubs and I’ve always lots
of fun full of energy especially if
they’ve had a feed and asleep
I know me full of joy now Tom you’re
wondering how old those Cubs are well
they can’t be much older than than a
couple of months because they do grow
and up quite quickly I would say between
2 and 3 months and because they did get
big quite fast and that’s my guess
but Tyler would probably be able to tell
you a lot closer than that I’m just
guessing by looking at them and that’s
my educated guess but I could be wrong I
would say between 2 and 3 months old so
we’re gonna stay here with these lions
see what else they get up to maybe these
Cubs are gonna start jumping all over
each other and tackling each other but
in the meantime let’s go over to Tyler
and see what she has been able to find
not
anything not one thing has crossed our
path this afternoon well since we left
all the other animals orbit earlier and
the fact that I you know is like the
last thing we saw uh I’m a bit sad
because I was hoping to find their big
pride of lions a troll for sitting with
this morning three what were you the
bird assorted ran out of the long grass
in the middle and then hopped off the
side of the road so we’re trying to find
them I think with the unpleasant wind
that we’ve had around we know what
normally happens with animals they keep
out of it I think that they’ve gone for
a snooze in the forest and I’ve been
bobbing and weaving along with you these
roads and I’m getting as close to the
forest as I can and we haven’t seen
anything just yet but we’re still
looking but there’s nothing here and
your other than us finding those lines
if we’re lucky a leopard I doubt the
leopard though or the black rhino is
another option of something that we
could potentially see around here
there’s no animals there’s no zebra
there’s no wildebeest I haven’t even
seen a buffalo around here or a draft or
anything I was very miserable in this
section it’s amazing how you can just
drive and there’s nothing and then come
around the corner the one thing we have
found those we found the worst words in
the Mara triangle today which is quite
cool very thrilled about driving all of
those but anyways right we’re gonna
carry on bumbling on the world’s
bumpiest roads I’m gonna send you across
to Scott choose down on the sabi sand
and I know that he’ll be searching for
any one of the big cats
welcome back everybody we are still
trying to work out where shadow in all
likelihood the female leopard who we are
tracking has gone just done a big kind
of loop around in the general direction
she was moving in that’s not to say
after she had a drink which I’m sure she
did once he got to the water all she
could have
kind of while we taking you guys on
sapphire it’s difficult for us to
actively track properly because it just
means leaving the vehicle for extended
periods of time so we did a kind of
combination of tracking and then
guessing and driving roads where we hope
that we’ll bump into that all but of
course there could be in the blocks
between the roads and that would require
us to follow the tracks on foot which
would be very boring for you because you
would be left behind
not unless we’re on a bush walk of
course but at the moment we are focusing
on sticking to the vehicles while we a
little bit short-staffed but we will be
doing some more Bush walks
it’s going on here are you wondering if
shadow and tandi’s Cubs both have the
same father yes in all likelihood oh
yeah these are friendly warthogs which
is uncommon this mother is very relaxed
and absolutely awesome
usually the mothers run off yeah if the
piglets come running back maybe stealing
the piglets or spreading out of it and
I’ve noticed this mother a couple of
times and I’m not sure why she is
probably the most relaxed mother warthog
I’ve seen in all my life and that means
in theory we get lots of good visuals
it’s the youngsters that are quite
nervous but as long as mom remains
relaxed that means we’re going to get
some great sightings move forward a
little bit
now let me just finish off my last
question I don’t think I did
chatting about shado and tandi’s cubs we
assume that yes they were both born to
the same father dominant male cult in
Ghana but there’s no guarantees that
that is the case it’s just assumed that
Dingaan is definitely the father of
Tandy’s current cub and also that he is
the father of Shadows but often female
leopards will move off and sneak off
with other men but because shadow Antony
fall right in the heart of ting Ghana’s
territory I’m guessing he is in fact the
father at least he thinks he is that’s
for certain
for views but also in raising them she
probably only gave birth to four that’s
usually kept the kind of maximum that
they’ll give birth to and the fact that
she’s still got all of it
tell-tale characteristics and it’s
awesome when the mother usually does run
off and lead the way she puts her tail
up and then all of the piglets follow in
suit and off they go
following one another’s little antennas
through the long grass wonderful Jen are
you wondering if these warthogs would be
this relaxed if there was a leopard
around if they didn’t know it was here
then yes they would he must have just
joined the Safari Jenny I was chatting
earlier about it being foolish to assume
that there are no predators around
simply because you can
accidental the lion or leopard pounces
so if there’s a leopard 20 meters away
now they’re going to have no idea
neither are we and it also means that
the leopard is still going to have to
get a lot closer before it launches its
attack usually has to be around five
meters away so anything further than
that
Joba Kazan fought on getting quite
attached to these little piglets and I
prefer her to catch something else
having said that though I would be happy
to see shadow wherever she poked her
head out very good well we’re gonna move
on and wish these piggies a wonderful
evening
credits are free and while we do that
we’re gonna send you to Ralph’s I
believe is not
yeah thanks Scott we do still have these
lines and looking at that that’s the
mouth of the hippo so she’s been feeling
on the head you can see that on our
sockets and obviously it would be lovely
rich food to get into the brain and the
eyeballs and I know it’s ghostly to talk
about it but it is a reality that you
know Lions very often eat the brains and
the eyes probably quite tasty as well
see she’s trying to get in there below
the jaw trying to get in between the
skin and the and the bone there’s the
eye socket now yeah you can see the
teeth lots of skin there but not too
much meat around a little bit and you
can often see them licking it as well a
very tough rough tongues that can also
help to get some of the meat off that’s
why you’re very often see them licking
and when you have kills like caracal
smaller predators even even sometimes
leopard especially the win everybody
younger they were very often the symbol
the prey immediately because then they
go for the richer parts like the kidney
and the liver so that if they are chased
off or something realizes that they’re
there they’ve already taken off the best
parts and once they then feed on on that
then they might move on to the rump and
then if they’ve got time or they haven’t
been chased off then they’ll start to
feed on the rest but they always get in
to those rich parts first but now with a
group of lions like this they can pretty
much eat at leisure
now mr. q-tip you’re wondering if this
was a baby hippo it wasn’t a baby but it
definitely was a sub-adult it wasn’t a
fully grown adult so it met a very
unlucky fate and there you can see how
content the Lions are
rolling on their back lying down and
they’ve got fat bellies there’s lots of
panting going on so lots of digested
digesting needing to be done and there’s
still some feeding going on as well so a
very good prize that they have now got
themselves and Christmas dinner is
served and sorry that it’s quite dark
they we are looking straight into the
Sun but it’s it’s pretty much the best
angle that we have here for us to see in
through the trees so it’s just trying to
get the best of it but as you know it’s
not always the best to be looking
straight into the Sun probably be better
here tomorrow morning when we’ve got the
Sun coming from the other side now
youjin you’re wondering why they don’t
get sick or do they get sick from the
from the rotting meat well it’s not
quite rotten all right
it’s obviously started rotting but it’s
not quite rotten yet it’s it’s in a nice
spot in the shade and you know
carnivores they’ve got very strong acid
in their stomach so even when they do
eat something that is quite while it’s
humming and then it’s almost floating in
the air it smells so bad and then the
meat is rotten it doesn’t actually
affect them that badly because of the
very strong acidic stomachs so it gets
rid of it all the same and they are able
to eat rot rotten and rotting flesh
quite easily so it’s not a problem but I
do think that they do appreciate a
fresher taste but if they’re really
hungry as as with even humans or now I
will eat a lot of things that I wouldn’t
normally depending on how hungry I am
and it does taste better the hungrier
you are isn’t it
not so you can see how that one females
panting away and now she’s got swollen
memory glands which is lovely to see
that she’s fed and she’s feeding the
youngsters but from one predator to
another and both on kills
let’s head all the way down south to
South Africa with Noelle who’s also got
a kitty cat on a kill we found you guys
in English I’m sorry I mean a leopard
sorry I was busy speaking on the radio
and so I was speaking a little bit of a
Jean gone so we have found the lovely a
little a ton d and she has a lovely
little morsel for you a baby Impala
super excited right now she’s letting us
sit nice and close and she’s very
relaxed now I was kind of kind of hoping
and crossing fingers and holding thumbs
that her little one might be out cuz I
haven’t seen it yet but I will take her
beautiful face chowing down on this
Impala any day hope you all are as
excited as I am now I’m gonna try and
stay a little bit quiet and see if we
can hear her eating we might be able to
let’s just hold on and see
no I think it’s a little bit too soft
when she’s using her carnations Shearer
is the sort of side of her her molars
and she’s getting the meat off you can
hear this crunching sound but it’s
interesting because there’s lots of bird
noise and and sakata noise and things
around us as well and also a little bit
of wind so it doesn’t necessarily pick
up everyone I’m just I’m glad you’re as
excited as I am now guys sorry I didn’t
give the best update so if you’ll just
excuse me I’m just gonna chat on the
radio just very quickly just so that the
other guys know because we’ve got the
guests from Juma who are also looking
Rexton or are brief or no Ella I’ve got
Tanya Mufasa in busy and Kuja this map
pimping mala on bubu north eastern side
where you forgot that slash law that
gory slasher just from by an onion cones
oh and visuals 5-5 4-1 MOBA three out of
five for second mother okay sorry about
that guys I could just hear them
chattering a little bit and I don’t want
to keep this all to ourselves we must
share with everybody else yeah I first
day back record thank goodness
okay now this looks relatively fresh to
me
Ferg what do you think I’m thinking
because so basically what happened is
earlier Scott was saying he’d heard that
she was around and then Rex in and
Aubrey came into the area and they found
bits and bobs of what was left and then
when we came back just to have another
look we found her and she’s now with
this baby Impala so I think that it’s I
think that she might have been around
and then this is a more fresh kill but I
want to look at the Impala a little bit
more and yes I’m so sorry I did hear
that there was a comment that came
through I didn’t hear who was from maybe
from Renata but it does seem as if her
appetite has increased because of the
cub and that’s definitely because she’s
not just feeding herself she’s also
feeding the little one she has to be
able to produce quite a lot of milk to
be able to to to keep that little one
going and it was Rene
cost us so sorry about that so Rene
Acosta yes you’re correct appetites
definitely increased I know a lot of my
friends that have had children
especially when they’re nursing also
their appetites tend to increase a
little bit and for obviously specific
things when were humans because our diet
is a little bit more varied and then for
tündi what she’s really gonna be loving
right now is things like baby impala
baby ville de beast baby warthogs but
nice and juicy easier to catch and
really high of nutrients and she can
also get it down quite quickly and then
her milks gonna be nice and nutritious
for her little one now I’m as I’m
chatting with you all and we’re watching
this beautiful sight I’m just keeping my
eyes open but from what Rexton and
aubrey saw earlier with the fact that
there was just a little bit of meat
laughs I have a feeling that maybe she
finished off the other kill that we were
having a look for and then went took her
cub back to the den and that has
possibly come back that’s one thought
that I have the other thought is that
she stashed it somewhere around here and
then had this opportunity and then is
just eating maybe we’ll see it later I
we have not quite sure because the
minute that we saw her ferg put her on
camera and then you all were with me so
we’re gonna investigate we’re not gonna
go anywhere anytime soon
John super interesting question you’re
wondering when will attendees little cub
a start eating meat so John if the cub
was here the cub would also be eating a
little bit of meat with her but it’s
still gonna nurse so that cub is now
about three months right around in three
months if I’m remembering correctly just
under just under three months it’s about
two two months in a bit sorry I’m trying
to do math and you all know how rubbish
I am at math and so it will eat a little
bit but will mostly nurse and then as it
starts progressing on an age from here
it’ll start swapping out more meat for
less milk until it’s about six months
the longest I’ve ever seen a leopard a
nurse a young one was seven months but
it’s usually around six months they
stopped nursing and then it’s full meat
but everybody’s different I have
girlfriends that nurse their babies
until eight months and I have
girlfriends that nurse their babies
until three years so again it’s it’s up
to the individual but also with
something like this leopard she doesn’t
want a nurse for too long not not longer
than about seven eight months because
she needs to be able to start moving
farther afield away from her core
territory for better hunting now Andy’s
done something really interesting where
her her birth has correlated has
overlapped with the birthing of a lot of
small prey species so it assists her and
helps her out quite a litte
Monique you’re commenting that toddy is
looking a lot better from her shadow
fight I actually haven’t seen any of
that footage I completely shut off
during leave but I am gonna have to go
back and have a look I’m glad to hear
that she’s looking a lot better
ladies will fight especially when you
have such overlapping territories here
it’s interesting in the stands because
our population densities are so high
with Leopard the boundaries are not as
defined as you’ll find in a lot of other
areas so you do get these funny little
overlaps and it’s interesting because
what I’ve noticed in the short time I’ve
been here is that part of tigey’s core
territory and part of shadows core
territory do have a bit of overlap so
obviously you’re getting scenarios like
what you saw the other day so now you’re
gonna start hearing another vehicle from
behind me and that’s one of the juma
vehicles coming in to come have a look
at Tandy so don’t worry about that and
again we’re not gonna go anywhere
anytime soon we’re gonna enjoy as much
of this as possible this is everyone’s
early holiday gift and whatever holiday
you all celebrate out there will just
count this as one of your prezi’s
I went on to fight overt in Ghana or
over territory that’s a really
interesting question so now yeah I
wasn’t here but from what I know with
past experiences with with female
leopards is there fighting over their
territory areas and utilization and food
resources so as far as I understand this
particular fight it had to do with a
kill that happened within either one of
the others territory or along a boundary
one of the two depending on how you look
at it
female leopards only want may leopards
around when they’re ready to mate
other than that they don’t really want
them around in general especially when
there’s a little cub around because if
10 Ghana for some reason decides that he
doesn’t think he’s the dad of that cub
or even if he does
and shadows not going to necessarily
know that the Tonys cub is tan ganas and
being like hey that’s my man
I want his babies it doesn’t really work
like that but that being said we don’t
know as much about leopards as we should
know because they’re so elusive so again
in law the information I’m giving you is
my own personal experience mixed in with
doing some leopard research and of
course doing quite a bit of reading so
everything I say you know you must take
with a slight grain of salt because we
might find out something in two years or
ten years or twenty years that might
contradict it all right well now while I
am busy watching the Madame tündi
finish off her little Impala kill we are
gonna head back up to the masai mara so
you can watch one of Africa’s other
large cats eating an even larger meal
with Ralph and we’ll keep an eye on her
and we’ll see you all shortly
yes thanks Noel and we’ve had a couple
of the miles just get up and go over to
the kill and that big one there he’s
actually the one seems like the kids are
miles but he’s the one with that pom pom
listened tup to his tail so I’ve seen
him again now and he’s obviously decided
that it’s time to have another snack so
he’s just chased that female off but she
was very quick to get out the way
because I think she probably knows
what’s coming if she doesn’t and he’s
not just thinking about having a little
bit more to eat he also marked right
next to that hippo so he sprayed in the
tree and obviously just marking the spot
and I know it’s saying I’m in charge
here
that’s incredible the size difference
between the male and females and just
that sheer raw muscle on the males it’s
it’s incredible
and a little cup watching from behind a
hey I’m watching in dad’s footsteps I
wonder if it is his dad probably with
the tolerance levels being and such I
would assume that these these three
miles have fathered one of them have
fathered these Cubs lovely spot thus now
lawns are gonna just stay here and keep
feeding at leisure this is the other
male and he’s one of the ones though the
one with the with the lighter colored
Mane so there’s two with very dark
Mane’s and then this one is quite a bit
lighter as I’m quite easy to identify
them now I’ve got him nailed to darker
Mane’s and then one of them without that
pom-pom on the end of his tail so that’s
the key to our boys much nice a lot now
that the Sun has gone behind the clouds
was straight in our faces and so I
wasn’t giving us the best colors but now
we can see nicely there into the forest
unless the q-tip you’re wondering what’s
happened to the end of that Alliance
tail well it’s quite a mystery for us
really we’re wondering if it’s not
similar to what’s happened to the
elephant’s tails and the only thing that
I can see as an average here is the Mara
River with those massive crocodiles
that’s my first thought and unless
somebody pushes me in another direction
that’s the answer that I’m sticking with
for now so I think that this line has
also potentially tried to cross the
river and maybe his tail has touched the
water near to a croc and it’s been
snapped up and obviously the crocodile
would have grabbed on and the lion would
have pulled in other direction and maybe
is pulled it off and probably similar
with the elephants as well I’ve seen a
lot of adult elephants with half tails
and in quite a few youngsters with
little to no tail I’m wondering if those
little ones are the ones that are
getting button as they’re walking you
know the the the tail would be close to
the water and maybe then the adults that
I’m seeing with half tails were button
as babies and now it’s grown that little
bit of extra at the end so very exciting
very nice to sit and watch lions on a
kill especially when they continue
feeding and getting involved I’m sure
sooner or later the vultures and
scavengers are gonna have their go but
we’re gonna stay here with this lion
pride and the hippo but let’s send you
on down south to Noel with the leopard
and I believe still with that kill a
really interesting scenario just here we
had our other vehicle come in and
Tunney’s decided that she’s gonna start
moving away has nothing to do with us
it’s just her what she’s feeling like
now I don’t want to follow directly from
behind her you try not to follow from
behind the leopard as much as possible
you try and follow from the side so FERC
has to do some really interesting camera
work at the moment so I’m trying to
drive as slowly as possible so we can
keep her and focus as much as possible
but here’s gonna be the money shot I
hope
unless you move so let’s just stop here
and you all can have a really nice look
at her carrying this baby Impala how
beautiful is that so that’s shot just
before that was your screenshot for the
day everybody so now notice I’ve parked
it a little bit of an angle so that
she’s choosing where she’s gonna move
along the game path I’m gonna let her
come directly in front of us and then
move on a little bit more and then I’m
gonna back up and again come around from
from the side because I want her to do
what she normally would do which is
exactly what she’s doing now without
feeling like she needs to be doing
anything different and a lot of that has
to do with her ability to see us so now
she’s got that Impala in her mouth so
her vision is going straight forward so
she’s gonna be wanting us to be where
she can just see us at the peripheries
and that will make her comfortable we
also need to leapfrog with the other
game viewer that is here so that
everybody gets a chance to see what we
are doing now I’ve already slipped and
fallen on the road today and I saw that
Tristan had a little issue the other day
and we all know about Taylors mud
incident so I’m not gonna be looking too
much into camera at the moment I don’t
want to hit a stump and either hurt
Wendy or help through the vehicle so if
you all would just excuse my back of my
head as we meander along now she’s
heading into a thicker area and remember
what we were talking about about
possibly her cut being here again she’s
she’s killed it she’s eaten a little bit
she’s put a little bit of sustenance
into her body so it’s possible that
she’s going to wear her little one is
it’s also entirely possible that she is
going to a place where she can treat it
to then either go nurse the cub or to go
and fetch it it’s entirely possible
Nathan James Richard hello and Merry
Christmas tomorrow James I’m not picking
up your full question it has something
to do I think with her meal I’m so sorry
my comms are a little bit scratchy I
don’t know if we want to try and send it
through
James Richard you’re saying you’re so
happy that it’s your favorite leopard on
screen now and then she’s got a meal I
agree now I have ended up in a little
scenario
right and everyone else I just need you
to deal with whatever what’s gonna
happen now hold on it says all right
let’s try this let’s see Wendy’s after
the challenge now it’s too deep it’s way
too deep unfortunately all right
everybody I’m gonna have to get us out
of this little scenario but I think
maybe we can try one last shot with her
I just can’t get over this little steep
Bank it’s just a little bit too deep
where I am she’s going off there so the
other vehicle that’s with me most likely
has gone around and then we’re just
gonna try and do that so I think we’ll
just let her go out the screen there and
then we’ll pick her up again you can see
she’s moving at a pace but it’s not a
crazy pace she’s just determined in her
movements let me see what I can do here
now it’s interesting just Wendy’s a very
well all of our vehicles that we use are
very short bodied Land Rovers so they
can go in a lot of places that the
longer bodies that we all drove with
guests cannot really go and so there’s
there’s places like just now where if it
hadn’t been just that little bit of deep
we would have gone up the other side no
problem and I’m also trying not to hit
further off the back here with a branch
I think we’re gonna try through this way
which looks just at each better
again everybody hold on we call this
bundu bashing but it’s very
term that came out of Australia and we
use it hold on and there we are
we’re up and over okay let’s go madam
Dundee there’s a little Impala that’s
just that’s lookin around like I’m so
glad that’s not me oh sorry it’s a steam
book sorry thanks for you see I’ve been
way too long
there’s a little steam book it’s not me
so while I’m busy trying to find Tandy
again I believe Ralph is still with busy
with our hungry hungry lions and you
know lions are one of my ultimate
favorites but I have to say I wouldn’t
give up this tündi sighting for
anything so let’s head all the way back
up to the Mara to a Ralph and then we’ll
see you all again shortly there she is
folks and there’s been quite a little
bit of action here next to this carcass
the mouse come in he’s had a little bit
of a feed and then the youngsters all
wanted to play with him when I started
marking so his it’s all happening
hostile youngsters really intrigued by
what he’s doing there even though he’s
marking his territory they’re almost
like they just want to play really cute
I was like he doesn’t have time for it
but they like oh come on dad let us play
like he’s got a bit of a lump actually I
wonder if he got that from fighting over
this food or in bringing it down but I
wouldn’t worry too much that weren’t
hold him back that much tall
rat-fuck so that’s probably the lost
from us up here in the Maasai Mara in
Kenya and I would like to wish you from
myself an Archie and everybody up here
in the Maasai Mara a very happy
Christmas we will be seeing you again in
the morning so I wish you once again
tomorrow on Christmas Day but everybody
have a lovely Christmas and we’re gonna
send you on South to Noel with Tandy you
came through our little spot she’s found
a nice marula tree and she’s hoisted her
kill up we didn’t see it we got here
just after she got up it took us a
little while I swear she does those
things on purpose makes this will work
for our sightings now she’s got a bit of
a fat belly and I think that fat belly
has to do the other kill that she had as
well as the kill that she’s eating now
and she’s just busy grooming her sauce
she’s put her kill into his space that
only another leopard can get to a lion
could technically climb up there but
it’s not really any lion activity in the
area at the moment so she’s feeling nice
and safe and leopards are also extremely
fastidious so they’re they like to be
clean even when they’re killing
something even when they’re killing
something like guinea fowl they pluck
all the feathers off before they started
eating it and then especially was larger
Impala they’ll take all the fur off the
this way they start eating there so if
you were to ever find a carcass that
hadn’t been eaten but had hair plucked
off of it like that it’s most likely
going to be from a leopard there’s a
little Starling that’s taking offence to
the tree that tündi has chosen I’m
assuming that there’s probably a
starlings nest
somewhere around and here it’s not
popping sort of at her but it is going
from branch to branch we’ll keep an eye
on it and see if we can show you an in
protest of this leopard that’s climbed
up now we’ve talked about there we go
there they are we’ve talked about it
before where birds make alarm calls as
leopards move through and that has a lot
to do with the fact that leopards will
eat baby Impala they’ll eat adult Impala
the elite warthog we even had that
amazing siding with Jamie several weeks
ago with the male leopard and that big
giraffe but then they’ll also eat things
like baby mice and they’ll eat birds and
they have
very very diet scorpions even so unlike
a lion hooves most likely not going to
eat a bird
the birds are fully aware that these
leopards are capable of catching them
now she’s not going to be able to jump
through these trees and climb through
these trees and and catch these
starlings but they will chase squirrels
around trees and they will also do
things like chase monkeys through cheese
there’s a very famous documentary called
I of the leopard by the Joe bears it’s
one of my favorite documentaries about
lack oedema and there’s a really amazing
couple of sequences where she’s chasing
squirrels and monkeys through the trees
her and her mum as well and catching
them and now Dundee is tired look at
that it’s a lot of effort even I mean
that’s a small Impala but walking she
walked about 500 meters or about five
American soccer ball field lengths and
then climbed up the tree and she’s been
eating she’s super full so now she’s
gonna pant to help process that
they start eating so now because of
where she’s moved and how she’s moved I
don’t think the cub is super close
because she would have started calling
for it by now and or gone to fetch it
that Cubs a little bit too small to move
far distances and when she does call so
I have a feeling that she’s gonna eat a
bit more and then either go back to
whether wherever she stashed it possibly
the den possibly somewhere else and then
nurse from there so I don’t think we’re
gonna see the little Cup tonight but I
do think we will possibly be able to see
that little one in the morning it’s
going to be fantastic the woodland
Kingfisher in the background so now this
is my first real chance of getting to
see tandy stationary and she is a
gorgeous gorgeous cat her eye color is
absolutely fantastic and she’s giving me
a nice glance now sort of the lightest
blue almost green absolutely stunning
and she to me looks a little bit bigger
than shadow or said maybe not bigger but
a little bit thinner shadow to me is a
stock your female leopard I’ve been by
stocky I don’t mean fat I mean just sort
of almost like in voula as a stocky male
leopard with the short little legs
shadows got that that feeling for me
whereas tondee’s a little bit more
elegant and streamlined
coke cider you’re saying that you’re
loving these shots and aren’t these the
most beautiful eyes and of course you
know I definitely agree
yeah undies being very kind and giving
us some amazing screen shots for you all
to do your gifts and memes maybe you can
do a special Merry Christmas or Happy
Holidays or Happy New Year one I like
the one with her carrying the Impala in
her mouth for for the holidays for
tomorrow and later in the week
mr. Cohan I feel like you’re reading my
mind no she’s not blinking she’s very
aware of her surroundings they don’t
predators actually don’t need to blink
as much as we do when they’re hunting
they’ve got this birds of prey of the
same thing they’ve got something called
a nictitating membrane Nick taking and I
see t-80 ing membrane and it covers the
eye and they open their eye completely
and then that nicked a T membrane goes
over to help protect it when they’re
hunting so that things like dirt and
claws and everything else can’t really
get inside and for us we need to blink
as much as we do to help clean out our
eyes they don’t need to do that as much
especially when that Nick tating
membrane is in function shouldn’t be at
the moment you would be able to see it a
little bit sorry I’m just getting
slightly distracted in my explanation
because I can hear monkeys behind us
towards the lodge and I know that Scotty
D was busy tracking a leopard somewhere
not far from us so I’m wondering if
that’s possibly the leopard that Scotty
D was looking for I think he was saying
that possibly Tim gone I was in the area
and as as you all were talking about
earlier shadow and things so does
thinking have to keep our eye out and
I’m sure Nicky will let Scotty Dean off
see Nicky’s also reading my mind
Nicky’s NFC and she’s passed on the
message to Scot so that he can go and
have a look while we’re waiting here
with our arresting leopard yes she’s
panting hard hey shame
no they don’t all look the same but
that’s you know it’s interesting I
talked about this with with my guests
from time to time like we’re gonna talk
about it now with you guys is for me if
I go to a city all the buildings pretty
much look the same but out in the bush
everything looks different but then if
you are used to a city every tree out
here looks the same to you as opposed to
the city that you’re in so I’m around
leopards all the time so I can
definitely see the difference just like
you can see with with people but if it’s
not something that you were constantly
physically focused on so that you know
who you’re dealing with yes they can
sort of blend and now one of the reasons
why guides get so intrigued with who
they’re looking at it’s because of the
personalities specifically with leopards
and it also helps you know
since I’m tündi sometimes can be a bit
grumpy so you just want to make sure
that you give her lots of space until
she allows you to come into her space
which is exactly what we did now I mean
she’s been really good with us every now
and then you’ll get a bit of a twinge or
you do something that’s just they don’t
like and so you just have to keep an eye
on that and the more time you spend with
these leopards and Orla
humans in your life I also like that one
as a screenshot thanks Ferg Ferg’s also
amazing photographer not just an amazing
cameraman so he’s got a nice eye our
light is not good today but there’s some
good contrast there all right well let’s
head on over to Scottie D and see what
he’s up to I’m hoping maybe he follows
up on those of vervet alarm calls or
maybe he’s found something else exciting
for us to see sadly I’m too far away to
follow up on the alarm cause I’m
approaching the cheetah waterhole and
there was like two of them alarm calling
in this area they’ve just stopped and I
was hoping they were gonna lead us
towards hosana
a young male leopard on told spends a
lot of time in and around this area of
course it’s highlighted that it could be
as much as a mile or two away from you
but he does like this general area I
haven’t heard of him being found here
recently but that’s not to say he hasn’t
it’s just that we haven’t been spending
much time here and we’re on a different
radio frequency where where we
ordinarily operate on Juma so even if
things are happening here we often not
necessarily getting updates as we’ve
been getting such good quality stuff
happening across like I say on Juma now
the fact that the squirrels have stopped
alarm calling doesn’t bode well for us
maybe it was a bird of prey that they
had seen and and it’s already flown off
that’s one possibility or maybe a snake
that slithered away but I do not think
there is a lipid here
not entirely sure of our boundaries in
this area just yet–it’s need to do some
homework there and get to the bottom of
that
to be able to capitalize and make the
most of this extra little chunk of land
that we can traverse this is an addition
to what we were able to traverse back in
the day well back in the day I we used
to be able to traverse Arethusa and Juma
then that changed and a few other
properties of being acquired and swapped
and changed but this is the latest one
and I haven’t
and nearly as well as I do on Juma
sounds like you guys are having a
wonderful time with Tandy and no well
some incredible visuals office I’m very
happy that you are getting off to
wonderful Safari and the world’s good
off to a great start back at work
okay
this young Impala well at least we’re
thinking about having a little fight
here they go again come on boys actually
not young they’re bigger I’m just used
to the tanzanian and Kenyan Impala that
are far bigger
now it’s not nearly the rutting season
yet so it’s unlikely that they’ll have a
full-blown fight but there may at least
have a little bit of rough-and-tumble
showing us exactly how they will go
about fighting more seriously in and
around May which is when the umpires do
fight over the ladies it’s very intense
period for the male and policin I guess
the females because it’s one month of
kind of non-stop passion when lots of
mating occurs very good
okay guys well it sounds like we’ve got
a plan to try and tweak a few things on
the broadcast that sounds like it’s not
been working too well and because we no
longer have the Mara involved in the
feed Jared one of our technical wizards
can tweak a few things and hopefully
make the stream that much better so bear
with us we’re gonna say goodbye
hopefully just for a few minutes while
Jared
so you are experiencing it firsthand
with us get your stopwatch is ready
because we’re about to time Jared Jared
are you ready can I give you a countdown
in haven’t got the go-ahead yet in three
two one go Jared
this program features live coverage of
an African safari and may include animal
kill
hello everybody
and well done to Jared I’m not sure how
long that took but I would guess about a
minute minute and a half super quick and
hopefully now the picture will be a
smoother and better and you’ll hear what
we are saying and see what we are trying
to show you very good
so I’m just scanning the perimeter of
the water’s edge here in the hope that
we can find you a baby crocodile oh
there’s a big crocodile if you look just
lying on the stump there seems if you
just zoom in on that you’ll start seeing
crocodile there we go so it looks like
it’s lying on this log no no that we’ve
seen the big one which I’m guessing is
possibly in the mother of a small
hatchling of crocodiles that were think
first seen on that very log I was hoping
we would see some ones youngsters lying
near behind but no joy one how many of
them are still alive how many of them
have been eaten and also what has eaten
them no joy
now there’s a hippo in this corner of
the waterhole as well and usually it
spends time with its a youngster yes I’m
hoping this is her and I’m hoping if we
just spend a little bit of time looking
oh there it goes
that’s what I was hoping for that
youngster to poke its head up and where
we can see the mother’s head now calling
you can hear that loud snorting let’s
actually have a look back there quickly
since if you can swivel around quickly
it seems like it’s a bit of a commotion
going on and hi guys
and you can see there’s a lot of water
moving around there there’s definitely
some kind of action going on with those
hippos sorry I was just greeting some
other guests that pass with their guide
it’s important that we are as friendly
as possible so that hopefully people
like us and then will continue to
support us when they get home a lot of
people have got no idea who we are or
what they do in their first yes it comes
as a bit of a shock
our vehicles very different to all the
other vehicles it seems like these
hippos have not calmed down but we will
keep an eye on them
Tony you very excited to see a baby
crocodile and I’m checking the one other
spot where I’ve only ever seen one
little croc before and it’s not there oh
[Music]
there’s another big croc there at least
swimming towards that little island of
grass their sins Oh at about 8 o’clock
left a bit more left of other left
zoom in on that we go there you can see
another crocodile swimming I love the
way they keep their head so still that’s
just their massive tail swooshing from
side to side that propels them now I
wonder if this is the husband and the
other one we were looking at earlier the
wife of the young crocodiles that I
think Justin was the first to find a
couple of weeks back now I’m told a lot
of you aren’t sending through any
questions which makes me feel very
lonely here don’t want to talk just to
myself this afternoon so please send
through questions or comments or
anything you like really using the
hashtag Safari live on Twitter or by
just popping a message in the box of
YouTube if you’re watching on YouTube
all then sends spotted the baby she’s up
for a breath again or he not sure if
it’s a boy or a girl yet but it won’t
necessarily be able to stand where its
mother can obviously its legs are a lot
shorter so usually has to kind of latch
on to mom to keep up or wrist its chin
on her back its plopped under again
should be interesting to calculate how
much time it actually spends underwater
on an average day because it’s
definitely more down than Apple maybe
that’s just because we around it’s a
little bit nervous
hello cosider you’d like to know if we
could fish here yes I guess we could
fish here it is private land we’re not
in the greater Kruger National Park and
a lot of the lodges will offer fishing
to their guests whether or not we would
actually be allowed to fish here I’m not
too sure but in theory yes there would
be no trouble with fishing and I have
done a lot of fishing in the sabi sands
not only in water halls like this but
also in the Sand River we actually get
some small tiger fish interestingly
enough
as well as tilapia but it’s mainly
catfish that you catch especially in the
dams like this
you can’t catch some really big ones
which is good fun and they’re really
easy to catch
so fishing is an option but not for
everyone it kind of depends on the
individual landowners preferences and
rules P Hotch you wondering what would
eat a baby crocodile well the adult
crocodiles that are not the parents of
it would eat one Birds snakes monitor
lizards what am I missing fish Eagles
fish Eagles a bird I guess a lot of
birds will eat them basically a lot of
the herons fish Eagles regular Eagles a
big fish in some areas would definitely
be a whoa let’s have a quick look there
well done what is happening here giving
you guys a great idea of our quickly
these animals can actually move and look
at those massive waves that have been
caused by the displacement of water from
about two to three tons of mass just
plundering into the water I wonder why
that huge one was chasing the much
smaller one didn’t seem like a very
equal match did it well they’re still
going for one another there I can see a
bit more splashing off to the left since
it seems like there could be having a
fight there I think that maybe the big
ones caught up with the small and let’s
see what’s going on well maybe it’s just
some other hippos that are getting
worked up and excited hello Eugene you’d
like to know how long do hippo spin out
of the water and it basically they
nocturnal but in the summer months when
there’s more food around they’d spend
less time out of the water because they
obviously don’t have to go as far and
why to search for food so you tend to
find that in summer they’re only hit out
after it’s actually got dark what’s
going on there’s definitely some chaos
amongst
this raft of Hippo I can’t tell what’s
trying what’s going on you if there’s
some possible mating that’s going on
more bulls fighting over this this
territory definitely some excitements
now I completely forgot I was what I was
talking about and if I finished off the
question that I was busy answering so
forgive me for that and so yes in the
winter months they will head out
probably just before sunsets and come
back possibly after sunrise where it’s
summer it’s usually you don’t see them
afterwards at least that’s in the sabi
sands I know up in Kenya they can be
seen out of the water quiet lots it’s
quite cool up there so a lot will depend
on the individual area but all in all
they’ll spend against 12 12 to 14 hours
out of the water
every evening oh this is so epic okay
and can you see the two birds above the
hippo on the little peninsular there
okay there’s a tiny little crocodile
right in front of that bird in the water
you can just see its head how epic is
this I saw this thick knee run up to the
water’s edge and hold up its wings I
thought what is going on you’re what
you’re trying to chase away and that’s
this tiny baby crocodile how cool you
clever bird you chase that predator away
or make yourself look as big as possible
without that bird to help us it would
have been near impossible to spot that
small croc
so I think that birds also too big for
that crocodile to chew on but if that
birds got chicks or eggs nearby they
will do their best to chase it off so
there we go Tony I think you wanted to
see to see a baby crocodile and your
wish has come true
marvelous okay now that this crocodile
is headed off it looks like the hippos
also ducked under the water we will send
you back to Noelle for an update on
Tandy and how she’s getting along with
her kill Scotty D tau D is still
sleeping and twitching a little bit but
you are sounding like you’re having some
epic epic sightings over at with
them I am NOT Jaz jealous as I could be
I’m sitting with a leopard with a kill
but that hippo action sounds absolutely
amazing and that little crocodile with
the with the sick knees as well with the
dick whoops now we’ve talked a lot today
just sort of about populations and
densities and things like that so I just
want to back the the ecological train on
up and just start from the beginning so
when we talk about populations we’re
talking you have individuals you have
populations and then you have
communities so tündi is one individual
in the population of leopards in the
sabi sands which is in the community of
leopards in the greater Kruger area
alright and the the size of the area
that is populated or the the densities
of the population with an area are very
much dependent upon suitable habitat for
whatever organism it is so for this
leopard for tündi she would have to
have suitable habitat so things like
this marula tree and although leopards
are quite variable but let’s stick with
this area for now and not only is it the
habitat where she’s walking around and
climbing up and putting her cub but also
the food that is within that habitat so
what you see with a lot of the larger
organisms like tandy like this leopard
is that they tend to have lower
population densities over larger areas
because of the food they need to eat but
now that statement
contradicts a lot of what we were
talking about with large population
densities in this area so the low Feld
has per hectare so one hectare is 2.2
acres for anyone that’s in the states
per hectare has the largest carrying
capacity of any area else in South
Africa there she’s gonna move for us
please jump with my girl no really
you’re gonna show us your back end and
have a little scratch so basically the
reason why our population densities of
leopard in this area are higher than
anywhere else in South Africa is because
the prey species densities are higher
because of the type of vegetation we
have because of the type of soil we have
because the Drakensberg mountains that
are to our west so traditionally you
would have lower densities of lion
leopard elephant impala wildebeest in a
given area except that our areas sort of
not breaking the rules but it more of an
exception to the rule and then the other
things that sort of determine the size
of the population but also the
distribution of a population population
like leopards would be environmental
conditions and variability so the
species like tandy has to be able to be
variable for the population to survive
and they are we talked about earlier
with how they eat scorpions and how they
eat baby mice and how they eat birds as
well as this baby Impala that we’re
seeing here so that’s another reason why
in this area leopards do so well and why
the population densities are so much
higher is because there’s an abundance
of not just the larger pride but also of
the smaller prey and that’s again
because of how nutritious our soil is
and the the types of vegetation that we
get here it’s it’s interesting though
because you would think that ok well
it’s so nutritious you must have a lot
of different types of vegetation and we
do but we don’t have as many different
types of vegetation as say you would
find there she goes she’s doing such
wonderful leopard movements for you now
look how agile she is
she’s literally just finding another
branch to lie on and also having a look
around look at that fat belly so some of
that is fat because what she’s eating
but if you look there just before she
laid down it looked quite dark towards
the back that’s that’s where her where
she lactates from that’s where the baby
nurse is from where her nipples are so
that’s getting a little bit wet so again
she’s might have been away from the
little one for a little bit so she’s
starting to produce a little bit more
milk and then also the food that she’s
eating there so if we were to go towards
the sort of Western Cape or Carew area
it is not as nutritious there and so you
have to have more species in an area
specifically plant species because they
have to carve out a little niche so
basically there is more diversity in
areas like that and less species
richness whereas here we have lower
species diversity and higher species
species richness so we have impala and
we have kudu and then for things like
trees we’ve got marilla’s and we have
jackal berries and then we have many of
those same thing as opposed to having
you know 50 different types of
succulents super interesting
christine you’re curious to know if
Tandy has an uncomfortable belly cuz
it’s full of food or cuz the sore teats
I’m Christine I don’t think she’s
uncomfortable with her belly I think
she’s just uncomfortable in general in
that other branch that she was on and I
think she’s just repositioning but I
don’t think that the full belly with the
sore teats is helping the matter I do
think that she’s trying to find a spot
that’s accommodating both but you can
see when especially when she’s lying in
the way that she’s lying now
she’s just alternating her weight so
that it alleviates and then also keeping
her balance at the same time now that
tongue that she’s using a groom herself
there is very rough like sandpaper and
it’s really taking out the dead hair
Sinatra very good question this is a
marula tree a very interesting question
about what type of tree obviously you
were listening to talk about all the
different types of population densities
this marula tree has what you can see a
lot of 90-degree or somewhat 90-degree
angle branches which makes it easier for
her to lie on so in this type of area
this is a type of tree that you would
find a leopard in often you sausage
trees are also a good tree for leopards
and jackal berries but that being said
I’ve also seen leopards and trees that
you would never think that they would be
in all scraggly bushes but most of those
I’ve seen in completely different areas
so one of the places I used to work in
the northwest province is a lot more
arid and has a lot of Shepherd’s trees
and the Shepherd’s trees are very very
cool inside the thick branches and put
very scraggly and that’s where we found
a lot of our leopards
well now we’re busy waiting to see what
else Madame tündi will do let’s head
back over to Scott who has some sort of
antelope species and doing some sort of
antic yes the impala are or at least
were running about quite wildly playing
around with one another chasing each
other and I guess just stretching their
legs doing a bit of exercise they’ve got
a very tall tail run that they do either
when they’re playing or when they’re
being chased
to by wild dogs of well not necessarily
if wild dogs on their heel but if wild
dogs are in the area and a kind of 100
meters or so away from the impala knee
and paula do the strange kind of
see-sawing Pronk with straight legs and
it’s a great display of how athletic and
impala may be and I guess that’s exactly
why they do it when wild dogs around is
to try and prove to them and extend
really Express that hey look at me I’m
fit and strong pick somebody else to
chase well kind of talking to one
another – I’m not sure if you can hear
that sounds like the old bear thing it
will try and pump up the ambient mic for
a little bit so you can hear so I’m just
gonna try to keep quiet
okay now I’m gonna ask to send you guys
away quickly because there is a guide
coming down the road behind us and I can
ask him for some directions as to where
exactly I am and where some possible
sightings for us are there’s no need for
you guys to be around for that
okay so we’ll send you back to Taylor
while we chat to this guy who’s just
arrived behind us toodaloo so Dundee
groomed herself and now of course she’s
asleep again this is what everyone will
be doing tomorrow after you all hat well
whoever had celebrates Christmas after
you have your Christmas lunch Ferg are
we having Christmas lunch now we’re not
having it’s too hot here to have
Christmas lunch Ferg says they had
Mexican Christmas last night and
everyone’s bellies are I like it alright
but this is what would totally happen
after Christmas lunch
[Music]
hello joy I love your question why I
love everyone’s questions but joy you’re
right on the same track with me today
yeah so species richness joy is the
number of the species in the area and
species diversity or weight let’s all
right let me back this up so in an area
joy you get certain species the amount
of those species in the area is the
richness of the species richness of the
area the species diversity is the actual
different numbers of different species
if that makes sense if that doesn’t make
sense I can try and reword it so just
let me know you can let FC know so
species diversity the number of
completely different species and species
richness is the actual number of those
then designated organisms I hope I hope
I said that correctly if it doesn’t make
sense please let me know so joy
basically what I’m what I’m doing is I’m
practicing okay thanks so much for your
comments about the additional
information and you’re learning
something new I do hope you are learning
something new so join carry what I’m
doing I’m using you all as my guinea
pigs so I have a practical examination
that’s coming up in January on some very
specific stuff now it’s things that I
find super interesting in general and I
do like to share it with you all but
then there’s some certain key points
that I have to hit on and so sometimes
in Drive it’s just I feel like saying
whatever and then sometimes I get these
really great opportunities like now with
this leopard to go a little bit further
into the studies and to start talking
with you all about it and then sometimes
it’s new information that I haven’t used
with guests before or haven’t used with
you all before that I’m trying out a bit
and it seems as if it’s working if it’s
not working you must let me all know and
I’ll find another way to put it to where
we talk about something something
different but I find it the farther in
depth we can go regarding the bush the
more understanding we get of individual
traits with lion with leopard with wild
dog and then also I mean as you all know
we had our whole wild dog saga before I
went on leave and sometimes it’s really
hard to understand the choices that the
ecologist of the sands or anywhere else
to make but when we start really going
in-depth about ecology and things like
species diversity and species richness
and population densities and and how
distribution of populations is so
important it helps the understanding as
to why they make those decisions and
then a lot of the the people that are
making these conservation decisions have
studied for three for eight years really
in-depth into a lot of stuff we get we
get to talk about so thank you everybody
I’m glad you’re I’m glad you’re enjoying
it she is super super lazy Adriene thank
you so much for your kind words I’m also
happy to be back and happy that you all
are happy to have me back and then
Adrienne you’re curious to know why what
what’s not why see Adrienne you can tell
I was on leave because I can’t speak
English today at all you’re wondering
what is the largest prey species a
leopard can pull up a tree so Adrienne
that’s all dependent upon individual and
who whom the individual hunts what prey
species they hunt because you know that
they’re quite selective and then also
the size of the individual so for
instance Jamie had that huge male
leopard that pulled up that that small
giraffe and into a tree so you can have
that I think the biggest thing I’ve ever
personally seen was a female just a
little bit bigger than tündi and I
would guesstimate tündi to be at about
fifty kilograms so about 110 pounds
roughly right around in there and this
female was probably just a few kilograms
few pounds heavier than that and she
killed an 80 kilogram male warthog so
that’s about a hundred and eighty pounds
worth and pulled it about nine meters
straight up a tree so whatever 9 times 3
is so nine yards let’s say nine yards up
tree and that was pretty hectic because
that was a big warthog and it took her
forever to to get it down it was a big
struggle but then something like that
sort of 95 kilogram male leopard that
Jamie had pulling up that let’s say
one hundred hundred and ten kilogram
draw if it’s not bigger it would
probably be one of the biggest things
I’ve heard about I haven’t heard of
anything like baby elephant but it
wouldn’t surprise me a baby elephant
comes out about 120 kilograms from the
mom 100 220 so if a male leopard can
pull up a similar-sized or weighted draw
that I would assume they would be able
to do that although I have not
personally seen a leopard kill a baby
elephant it would be within their
jurisdiction if they were able to do
that she’s giving you all some beautiful
views now she’s listening me talk to
about what she’s killing I’m not making
fun of the size of your kill tündi it’s
perfect yeah it’s interesting look I
mean obviously the animals don’t speak
English but every now and then you’ll be
discussing something like we are now and
they give you this look and sometimes
you wonder if they’re going really
really that’s what you’re talking about
our crazy wildlife curious to know if
I’ve ever seen a leopard fall out of a
tree while sleeping and that’s a big
negative they’re very agile they know
their body well they know where to lie
well I’ve seen little leopard cubs
playing around in smaller tree branches
and sort of catching a wobble but that’s
because they’re busy learning how to use
their their muscles and on how to
function with their bodies but no I’ve
never seen a leopard follow tree I’d be
very surprised to see a leopard fall out
of tree I have a friend who watched a
leopard jump out of a tree onto a herd
of Impala and killer than kill an Impala
but that was strategic it wasn’t it
wasn’t an accident
she’s definitely keeping her eye on
something and I’m wondering if it’s
related to those vervet monkeys that we
heard earlier I haven’t heard them since
we talked about them but it’s entirely
possible Yujin you would like to know
are there different species of leopard
in this area so Yujin in sub-saharan
Africa and I believe I’m correct in
saying and on the whole continent even
in northern Africa we just have the one
species of leopard which is panthera
pardus and as far as I know as well the
only subspecies that I know of in
sub-saharan Africa is the the cape
leopard and I’m actually not sure if
they’ve decided whether or not it’s a
full subspecies the other leopard
species that you will find worldwide
would be in Asian countries so the Amur
leopard Snow Leopard things things like
that good good question though
cuz we do I mean we were talking about
all the different species and subspecies
of bilder beasts but yeah we just have
the one species of leopards except for
the cape leopard and whenever they
decide on that and the one species of
lion in sub-saharan Africa you will get
I would love to go see the Asiatic lions
there’s only about sixty of them left
that would be super incredible I do know
there’s someone that watches safari live
who went and saw them recently because I
saw them hashtagging
photos so if you were watching I’m sorry
I can’t remember who it was that would
be spectacular to know about and I had
guests here she comes here we go
everybody let’s watch her come down
[Music]
fantastic how fantastic was that I had a
guest who traveled all over the world to
find and look at big cats of the world
now Tony you’re curious to know where
does the clouded leopard live Tony I’m
going to assume the clouded leopard is
somewhere in Asia but I really honestly
don’t know I don’t know if someone else
that is walking oh sorry for the tree
branch has happened – no oh furgus
saying in Borneo there we go
thanks Ferg sorry would you say I forgot
Nix Bergen Nix both said in Borneo
thanks guys I appreciate that that’s
beautiful there yeah Ferguson that he’s
also not 100% sure but that’s that’s
kind of roundabouts where he’s thinking
it is you want me to back up a little
bit more
[Music]
Wildflower you’re curious no will any
other animals go up the tree with a
leopard in it I’ve seen other leopards
grow up in a tree wildflower with a with
a different individual in there I have
seen lions go up and chase leopards off
the hills I have seen tree squirrels run
up and start chattering away I’ve seen
monkeys jump from the top of one tree to
another tree and start chattering away
but then quickly move off but no I mean
in general and when prey species know
that the leopards around they they’re
not going to be so silly as to as to try
and get up it’s just gonna have to it
has to do more with with is it another
predator or possibly wanting to steal
the kill that’s gonna be really
beautiful they’re gorgeous Thank You
tündi now time do you bring us to your
cub I don’t think I’m asking too much we
would all like to see your little cub
clouded leopards in the Himalayas
interesting okay so I wasn’t far off
with Asia and then you guys said Borneo
there we go
yeah that works she’s so gorgeous look
at her so now she obviously hasn’t
finished that kill as we know she’s
leaving a little bit there so she could
be doing one of two things she maybe
wants to go somewhere else and lay down
maybe under a bush or she might want to
go for a drink or I’m holding thumbs
that she wants to go to her cub and then
she wants to snuggle with her cub and
then pick it up that’s what I want
be truthful you’re curious know who
there she sent marks be truthful you
want to know does it look like she’s
calling the cub no definitely not be
truthful it be truthful oh she starts
calling the cub you’re gonna hear me get
all excited and girly listen listen
listen and then going quiet and her call
I can imitate lion calling cows I’m not
good at imitating leopard calling Cubs
Ferg can you do it yeah Furcal so can’t
do it so if she does start calling which
because the cub is so little she’ll only
do when she gets nice and close unless
it’s still in the den and then sometimes
they don’t even call when they’re nice
and close because they want to make sure
that nothing else is around
so what we’re gonna do is we’re just
gonna stick with her as much as I
possibly can and kind of see what she
gets up to and we might just get lucky
the general direction she’s heading is
towards the dam so we’ll see a lady
starfire if she does go there I’ll
definitely follow her there
I’m not going to we are a little bit far
from where the den site is so I don’t
know if we’ll catch it in time but if I
can see that she’s heading straight for
the den what I will try and do is see if
we can just add on some extra time the
only thing I cannot do is spotlight the
den but now as I’m saying that out loud
I’m just remembering that we have those
infrared camera so we’ll see what we can
do and I will just let Nikki and SD know
if I think we have something amazing
about to happen it’s also one of those
things where you also don’t want to
follow her in when it’s too dark because
she also needs time just to be with her
cub and so there’s always the
possibility that she might go and fetch
it and then we see it tomorrow morning
but we have 20 or 30 minutes left so
let’s just let’s see what happens let’s
take it easy we’re in Africa
we’re on African time everything happens
when it happens okay so let’s head on
down she’s definitely heading towards of
the dam I’m just going to loop around
here and again sorry for the back of my
head we all
why that’s happening what with the
stumps and the falling out recently and
I fell already today and all of that but
while we’re doing this just so you don’t
have to stare too much at the back of my
head let’s head on over to Scott and see
what he’s up to I’m hoping that he gets
his last-minute leopard with tune Ghana
and then we’ve got two leopards on the
show today so let’s head on over to
Scott you go you go afternoon everyone
we’ve just got very lucky and we passing
Prince brother he’s called us in to the
signing hello dill master sue yes and
forth
Xena and we have just caught up with
King Ghana a beautiful big male leopard
now he’s often that thick bush I’m just
gonna try and loop ahead of him he’s on
a bit of a game trail he’s off there and
exciting stuff not just Tandy but also
her Lovett in Ghana and we’re gonna be
able to loop a hedge here I’m just gonna
pick a nice little spot with it’s not
too many bushes there it is half gap and
this way we should be able to get you
guys some great views of him as he paces
towards us we’re you boys exciting oh
this is a new area for me so I’ve never
off roediger copy thanks very much to
pop around sometime anytime you like
okay copy when he get back then
so sorry I was just chatting with Prince
brother there we were actually at school
together in the same year and we’re in
luck I think ting Ghana’s gonna pop up
onto a termite mound yeah so we just
need to get ourselves into position
please come up it for us buddy this is
gonna be epic on kissing what looks like
he may just slink past at this time
around they very often climb up up to
them to get a good vantage points are we
in luck he may have just stopped or he
may pocus it up now he’s just coming
straight along the side of it
he is an absolute brute look at that
massive julep below his neck flipping
from side to side as he struts his stuff
and we’ve just been left all alone with
this beautiful big male leopard so I
think it’s Noelle that’s doing her best
to keep up with Tandy now all alone and
now us with this beautiful big male it
couldn’t get any better
really and absolutely awesome awesome
stuff now he’s looking like he could do
with a meal so that’s one thing that
bodes well first another thing that
bodes well for him is he’s absolutely no
longer Lincoln we need to rush you off
to Tandy okay so she was just walking
like we were talking about and heading
towards the dam and there was a little
steam book that was just up here that’s
caught her attention so it’s entirely
possible that she uh I say that and now
she’s scratching herself so she watched
the steam buck for maybe a minute or two
and then it bounded off the steam box
dude so she was half interested but not
fully interested obviously she’s quite
full now what I’m gonna do is we are
gonna keep following her but the path
that she’s taking is gonna go past the
other Juma vehicle that’s with us in the
siding and I want to let them be able to
have a photo without us in it so don’t
go anywhere for me you can stick with me
I’m just going to loop slightly
differently as I say that I’m lying to
you because she can see the steam book
again
let’s see if we can there we go um you
see her little tail that little bit of
white that we always talking about long
track you see how it’s twitching like
that means something’s caught her
interest it must mean that the steamed
books moved and then stopped and then
now it’s moved again and she’s just
decided it’s not something she wants so
I’m just going to loop around we’re
gonna let those guests get a quick photo
of the Magnificent tündi and then you
know don’t go anywhere we’re gonna get
her in Oh 15 seconds maybe maybe a
little bit longer depending on how my
driving is today which as I say that of
course I go over a big log I just need
to get back in the swing of things I’m
also a girl that’s a joke ladies okay so
we’re not really gonna get a sunset
tonight it’s a bit too cloudy I do you
think it’s gonna rain would be nice
maybe we’ll get a nice beautiful sunset
tomorrow now something else is
interesting is if she’s looking at that
steam book the way that she is even with
her full belly I wonder if there’s
anything that’s gonna be down at the dam
that might also catch her attention
because the wind is really good it’s in
our favor
her favorite should say and she’s
definitely gonna go down and drink the
dams just here to our right and we are
just going to meander around and get a
nice little view on the dam wall for
everybody so any of you that also have
the dam cam up you’re gonna start seeing
tündi soon on the dam cam and the birds
are already giving her away let us get
down and see if we can get a low angle
oh let’s go to Scott Scott I think Scott
said something about some Ghana go to
him quickly well we’ve just gotten
coming straight towards us
magic views and what’s caught his
attention there this is looking good
he’s looking excited by something can
you hear something oh the fact that he’s
moved his head from one side right
across to the other without looking
makes me think that he heard something
now he seems to be heading towards
whatever it was that first caught his
attention interesting stuff and you can
see that he’s changed his body language
he’s certainly looking a little bit more
sneaky than he was before and there’s an
intercept so you can match it to watch
this guy moving through this oh he can
use some Impala
it’s no Saxum Impala possibly playing
behind us and he knows full well that
when Impala are playing they may have
leopards not quite at the top of their
mind as they do and they’re not playing
where have you smart have you found some
picture Roland perfectly friend with
that leaf no joy are you wondering what
that beautiful big jewel at that flap of
skin below his neck as for I guess it
may assist you know a bit of extra saggy
skin when fighting with other big male
leopards will assist them let me just
reposition the vehicle quickly may
assist them you know a bit of extra skin
will have a bit of slack when other
males are lashing out and fighting with
one another not quite the same as a
lion’s mane but a similar kind of thing
but I think it’s just the fact that they
get very big and that’s just an excess
bit of flap of skin you also find it on
some large antelope like Eiland so it’s
not just the big cats that have jewel
absolutely I have found some poop and
you eating it yeah
now leopards will do this tup from time
to time to get certain minerals that
they don’t acquire from meat
and I think it would make far more sense
for you guys to go and watch ton D
having a drink or other than tan Ghana
eating a poop so off you go yes Scott
got my nemesis leopard I’m so excited
and we still have ton D so there’s your
two leopards for the drive and excellent
stuff and she’s just making it down to
Jim Adam to have a beautiful little
drink and the light is a really
interesting soft light at the moment so
her pattern mixed in with this dark
black on soil is really popping up
nicely there we go Terry you’re curious
to know how far how far sorry I’m I’m
really sorry I really can’t speak today
how long will she stay away from her cub
before she needs to nurse look Terry she
technically could nurse now you can I
conceived from her teats but she can
stay away from her cub for three four or
five days depending on what she’s had to
eat so just now after she stops drinking
is when we will be able to know I’m if
she’s gonna head back to nurse or head
back and finish off her kill I can hear
the monkeys going and then of course the
lapwings are also going
the monkeys are closer to juma lodge I’m
not sure if we’re gonna be able to hear
them unfortunately there’s our little
tail going because of the the lapwings
flying pass and also because of the
monkeys crawling so she’s basically come
down and earlier in the show we were
looking at some abilities with the
babies they’re not far from us here so
those Vil to be so the babies are
definitely gonna know that something’s
up so even if she wanted to hunt
anything sort of close by here the birds
and the monkeys I’ve given her away
there’s some wonderful screenshots again
for everybody here especially when she
twitches her tail at a nice little angle
it’s absolutely fantastic and they’re
rippling in the water with her drinking
I’m itching for my camera at the moment
it’s she itchy fingers
now notice how look today was a warm day
but it wasn’t super hot and leopards
don’t have to drink a lot of water but
notice how the opportunity she’s taking
now she’s really going to drink as much
as she can fit in there and leopards get
a lot of the moisture that they need
from the the food that they eat from the
liquids that are in there but this will
help her digest her food more quickly
and I also have a feeling that when
she’s nursing like this just like with
humans because you know also mammals
they probably get slightly more
dehydrated so I’m actually curious I
would be curious to know I should say if
anyone’s done any research are found in
their leopard research that females tend
to drink more water when they are
nursing as a side thought bunny you
would like to know how long can the
leopard cubs live without mums milk well
bunny she tries to be there as much as
she can but again as we talked about she
can go through four or five days without
being there so they can survive pretty
much that amount of time if they if
there were to be a little bit more
longer than that it would depend on the
strength of the cub and the age of the
cub as to whether it survived and again
I can give you statistics and I can give
you numbers but everything is very
individual base and how it also has to
do with how much stress the Cubs under
so if there’s been anything that’s
happened to the Cobo mums away like say
hyenas came to sniffing around or
another leopard came sniffing around
Reliance then obviously their
Adrenaline’s gonna kick in and then
their metabolisms gonna increase and
then they would you burn off more fat
and then would need more food so there’s
a whole bunch of factors that play in so
let’s say you know sort of after five
days you’re really starting to push it
we’ll go with that for now but you know
again there’s there’s more parameters
parameters and that’s a really beautiful
shot as well
I’m obsessing over this sighting right
now everybody I hope you’re obsessing
over this sighting as well mark you’re
curious to know if a leopard would take
the cub up a tree when they’re being
chased by lions and Mark most definitely
I mean that leopard cub knows exactly
what it needs to be doing to keep away
from from those predators so depending
on the size of the cub when they’re
really really tiny and needs to be
carted around a lot by mom or when
they’re still blind that you know after
their first couple of weeks of being
born they’re gonna be stuck inside those
den sites inside the the termite
mountain type things that we’ve seen but
let’s say she was out with this little
cub in a lion came around I mean that
Cubs already going to be somewhere like
say up that tree which is gonna be
harder for a lion now if the lion got
into the tree which they can do then the
cub would just move farther up with with
mum into the taller branches that are
harder for the for the lion to get in
because they’re heavier and that Cubs
smaller now I’ve never personally seen a
mum trying to get higher up in the tree
and by putting the cub in the mouth but
I have seen the cub go up first and then
the mum sort of standing towards towards
a lower branch and hissing and growling
at an in that particular case was
another leopard that was around
so there the mum will also be protective
to allow the cub to to carry on and and
be in a space that is a better space for
it well thank you darling Tandy that was
lovely
now please come up onto the dam wall and
then stop in the middle of the dam wall
and face us
maybe groom yourself for half a second
and then take us to your cub I know I’m
dictating a lot to tawny today but I’m
desperate to see this little one
choice you’re curious to know what is
the average distance that sawing can be
heard so Joyce a male lions roar and
good conditions can do 16 kilometres a
male leopard in good conditions the
farthest that I know it can do is maybe
6 kilometers but on average it’s going
to be shorter it’s gonna be sort of 2 or
3 kilometers and then with a female lion
it’s much shorter than the male and
interesting with the female leopard it’s
actually just as as far as the male
maybe a little bit less so but they
liked they call the males into their
territory when they’re ready to mate and
a male have sort of three four five
females within his territory so their
calls have to go a little bit longer ten
do you have five minutes to go to your
cub and but you have to walk down the
road you’re not allowed to walk through
the through the drainage links I can’t
follow you in there yes she’s absolutely
stunning but everybody I have a feeling
that what she’s gonna do is to go oh I
could be wrong if she goes down into the
drainage system I’m really not gonna be
able to follow her but we’re lucky
because I believe 10 Ghana is on a kill
so we’re not gonna lose leopards in in
your last minutes
[Laughter]
Sammy Jane you’ve just tuned in she has
eaten half of a baby Impala
but she was eating something before that
I’m not quite sure what it was I think
Ruxin said that it was a warthogs when
Rex went to go look with Aubree and they
didn’t find her they just found what was
left of the kill and then when we went
to just go triple check everything I
actually just wanted to show you the
kill itself and then we were gonna talk
about leopards but when we went to go
look she was there and she had a em she
had a baby Impala kill which is super
fun well I think it’s super fun there
might be some of you out there who think
oh poor Impala but as we all know she’s
feeding a cub and unfortunately and
that’s what some of the baby impalas are
meant to be this time of year is food
for mommy leopards and and ting ganas
and all of that so she is definitely
heading down to the Strand line I am
just going to try and meander in as best
as I can to get us a few more glances
before she goes where we can’t see her
buddy wait a minute what are you doing
down there no you were just smelling I
got super if FERC knew exactly why I
said I was hoping that that’s where
she’d stashed her a little baby and then
she was gonna bring it out but I really
honestly think that she’s put the little
one in the den sites that Tristan found
that you will I mean that a lot of the
other guys found and then Tristan showed
you the cub for the first time and so
you know sadly she’s gonna meander where
we can’t view her and carry on into the
night but we’ve had such a wonderful
afternoon with her if she sticks closer
to the road we’ll be able to follow if
she goes more into the drainage line
we’re not going able to follow I also
have to share this sighting with other
vehicles as well so we’re gonna try our
best
Oh shame Scott doesn’t have ten Ghana
anymore but I’m glad that we did get it
short a visual of 10 Ghana I’m gonna see
if we can get a another glimpse or two
of tündi before we have to say goodbye
now the reason why I’m saying we’re not
gonna stick with her to the den is
because for where she is and where she’s
walking it’s actually gonna take her
about another half hour 45 minutes maybe
even longer to get to the den so I think
tomorrow morning it’s gonna possibly be
our best chance to see that that little
baby if I thought she would be to the
den within the next five or ten minutes
we would definitely hold hold the show a
little bit longer but it is gonna take
her a while and she might run into Oh
anything along the way and then it would
take her a little bit more time thanks
everyone for wishing us a very Merry
Christmas we do appreciate that I’m not
gonna let you look at my crazy face
while we do this but I think maybe we
must look at our beautiful tündi for
our last little bit hello girl are you
gonna come say hello to everybody yes
well it’s been an amazing Drive back
everybody I really enjoyed being home
and being a back on camera with all of
you and we’ve had an epic day of course
we are going to watch her carry on in to
the bush she’s actually now changed
completely her direction and is heading
a little bit Matt back towards her kill
but again maybe she’s trying to give us
the slip so that she can quietly go to
her cub without us noticing but we will
have to check in tomorrow and see what
has happened
I’m always in awe of leopard I always
find myself getting very absorbed and
how they move and how they function and
how well they blend into their
environment I mean you can see how clear
her her pattern was when we when we had
her drinking and now as she’s marrying
into the dark name Bush just how well
she really blends into her surroundings
and her habitat they have created such
amazing little niches
up with the sins of on camera this
afternoon we looking forward to the
prospects that lie ahead our plans are
to search for a female leopard called
shadow and hopefully her young daughter
and I believe Nowell is going to be
searching for Tandy and we had some
reports that Tandy managed to make an
Impala kill I know I’ll had some shaky
signal earlier so I’m not sure how much
it copied about their plans or whether
she even got to tell you about them but
those are some good prospects hopefully
Tandy another leopard who’s actually
shadow sister will be some way at that
kill if not it’ll mean she is at certain
side which is hiding away a tiny little
six week old cub we’re not too sure
where her current the inside says she’s
been moving them around quite a lot
which is a good move because it means
that
and those animals could be a big threat
to that John Cub now happy to have
Nowell back as are we obviously said
that Tristan’s hit it off but he’s only
gone for about a week and it also sounds
like you guys have got off to a good
start to the Safari up in the Mara with
Ralph and Taylor so on and all things
was for you down here in South Africa
we’ll be able to find a lot more animals
for faith who’s directing the show to
choose from
there was a nice cloudy day we had a
cool morning we went sit had a picnic in
the muwah
I’m happy that guide monkey is feeling
lucky they say they are sensing a
leopards I hope you’re right because I
could think of no better way than
spending the afternoon with a leopard
Karuna has not disappeared out of this
territory so much you show exactly where
she likes to hang out but before I left
the sabi sands a year and a half ago I
used to spend a lot of time through this
area but we never had this roads I’m
hoping that maybe she will be lurking
about here good well we’re gonna send
you across to Noelle now and she’s gonna
let you know exactly what her plans are
I’m guessing how her leave wins welcome
I am Noelle and on camera today I have
Ferg
there’s a thumbs up I don’t forget we
are live or interactive hashtag Safari
live on the Twitter or you can ask us
questions on YouTube chats and Scottie D
I have no plans as of now I’m just happy
to be back in the bush and it’s sunny
and it’s a Christmas Eve and so I’m
driving around seeing what’s lurking I
was kind of in the mood for elephants
but I haven’t really found much on them
yet so I’m gonna keep looking and then
maybe just maybe we get lucky and some
leopards pop out like Scott was talking
about it’s also a really good afternoon
for birdie
so we’ll probably do a little bit of
that right now I want to go and check
hello
and everything’s right there and
sometimes you just have to look a little
bit harder so today might be a look a
little bit harder day but it’s a really
lovely afternoon
can the serious that they got a huge
amount of rain there they really really
needed it so I’m glad for them we’ve had
decent rains so far this season but
nothing nothing really to write home
about I’m not worried about the rain
quite yet but it would be nice if we got
sort of a downpour of about a hundred
mils ah
thanks everyone thanks for the welcome
back so I’m happy to be back and thanks
for all your messages while I was on
leave and posted photos of the gym and
the food I was freaking sorry I
so I didn’t do any processing sorry
ooh Alan you’re curious know what we do
in between drives so the PG version of
it is we nap and we study and we get
ready for our next drive the not PG
version of it would be antics and
shenanigans but that usually happens
after evening game drive but yeah I mean
a lot of times we work because you’re up
so early in the morning and it’s really
hot and summertime here in the middle of
the day are where we’re a custom our
schedules are very accustomed to
wildlife schedules so you’re up super
early and you’re active until it’s too
hot and then you’re slightly inactive
when it’s really warm and then you get
active again as it starts to cool down
and so and then sometimes we have other
duties sometimes we have to write
reports and sometimes we have to look at
vehicles and sometimes okay would be it
would depend as well I’m still studying
for a few things so I spent a lot of my
time
possible today some of the guys went out
and had a little brunch and I got back
from the eve and just sort of hung out
in my room and caught up on some things
and listened to bird calls because I
haven’t been amazingly I wasn’t in the
bush this leave as I normally am so just
making sure that my brain still fun
and let’s see what else I can’t really
think of anything else here we go so
I’ve done this tree with you all before
but we’ve got it
flowering really nicely here just on our
left hand side we have a weeping model
or Appel to form on Ficano
it’s one of my favorite flowering trees
it’s a really interesting tree I’m just
gonna unplug a minute because I want to
show you the leaf structure I just
pulled it is back from leaves so of
course that would happen okay so when
you’re talking about leaf structure with
trees you get something that’s called by
pinnately compound and most of the time
when you have those types of leaves it
has to do with acacia trees so the trees
would have thorns for sometimes spines
this one have any thorns or spines so I
hold it out first telling me so by
potata compound basically what you’re
looking at is this whole thing is one
leaf okay
just down here firk do I need to hold it
further back okay this is called the
axillary bud anything that grows off the
side not effectively bud but off the
side there is the leaf so if this
from there this whole thing would be the
leaf or if just one of these came off
from there
then that would just be the leaf so this
whole thing comes off this whole part is
now the leaf these are called leaflets
and then these little ones that actually
look like the leaf are called Pinay okay
either side so by pinnately compound
okay
now this one is very very soft a lot of
people say that they use this for twin
huh and he lives up in the northwest
province and his story that he always
told me about this tree is my favorite
story which is if anyone from your
family passes away and you’re really
stricken with grief or it could be
anyone that you were very close with you
go and you get a branch from this tree
and you bring it to the to the
traditional healer and they make a drink
out of it and then you
out of your system so that’s my favorite
story but now for us within the area
that we’re in is the Schengen area and
the Shang Gon’s believe that this brings
you good luck so this if let’s say you
need good luck driving around or it’s
the holidays and there’s a lot of people
driving around that have been drinking
stick this under your seat and you won’t
get in a car accident and you’ll arrive
safely now I’m busy looking for a mammal
species a Scot has found you a memo a
little cheeky mammal so let’s head on
over to him and see what he has to say
well we have found a usually a very
secretive little antelope called a stand
back but thankfully this one is fairly
relaxed with us as you saw that poke did
set up very quickly after it got enough
food to nibble on and I’m very very
happy that it’s decided to relax now
this is a fully grown male he’s a trophy
specimen he’s in far
Brij adult human being so very very
small antelope and I’m not sure where
his wife could be his wife could be
tending to their youngster they will
have young lambs at the moments we’ve
got a glimpse of a tiny one the other
day but it rocketed off into the bush so
he knows I’m guessing mom’s probably
woof
very good so now this is the perfect
size me
maybe shadows keeping a VDI on her it
certainly happens to me a few times in
my career where you stop and you’re
looking at antelope and all of a sudden
a period it’s it comes exploding out of
the bushes it’s hugely exciting
obviously because it comes as a mess of
surprise and
if that’s relaxed there’s no credit in
here
of
idea they are there until the final
final moments
very good so we finished checking down
that one new road no sign no tracks no
nothing but now we’re going to be
heading towards two water holes it’s
been a kind of a hot afternoon after all
the clouds broke midday and hopefully
we’re gonna find some action as some
elephants or you know some animals come
in to drink like to know if a snake
could catch a stand but and yes most
certainly we have African rock pythons
that live here and it would be easy easy
ly big enough for at least a four or
five meter python negatives about six
meters the big ones would easily be able
to snack on one of these and will also
sometimes feed on baby and parlour which
are just about the same size who have
you detected as that shadow you have
listened to or heard
so yes African rock pythons and at this
time of the year David who knows maybe
we will come across a Python on a baby
and polical I don’t think it’s ever
actually happened on safari life maybe
I’m wrong if any of you have managed to
see a Python with an Impala cool with
any of the other guys let us know but I
don’t think that is the case okay
wonderful stuff are we gonna head on it
seems like all is in order here and I’m
very grateful that this DN work was so
accommodating of us and while we head
back on the trail of hopefully shadow we
will be sending off to Ralph
yes thanks Scott and unfortunately I was
looking at a lovely character here but
he’s gone and lied down in the long
grass and the reason why I wanted to
have a look at him because because I
think of all the animals out here in the
bush and the other gods can give their
view on it but I think if any of them
would look good wearing a father
Christmas hat it would have to be Pumbaa
or a warthog the one they call mr. pig I
think that he would be most well suited
to wearing the Christmas hat and we’ve
got some of the water back also hanging
around nearby and the topi we’re still
on our way towards the Lions but once
more we’ve spotted an opportunity to
stop and watch and just enjoy because I
like to take my time with lions in the
morning obviously I like to rush to them
because it’s that lost opportunity
normally that they’re a bit more active
and and but in the afternoon I like to
try and leave it as light as possible
especially if we know they’ve been
feeding recently so I don’t think
they’re going to be too active that
there’s always a chance but as I say I
think the chances increase and the later
and the day and we’re going to see them
so another
nice scene there and it’s lovely to be
able to sit share with them now Brad
you’re wondering if the water back have
a breeding season in the Mara it seems
that all the animals that generally have
a set time or a general period where
they normally drop the young is a little
bit mixed up in the Mara because it
seems the resources are maintained
throughout the year and the rain also
comes so even the Impala drop the young
a little bit throughout the year there
will be an the normal time when they all
dropping a little bit more in the Mara
but it seems that they drop throughout
the year because of the extension of
resources being available throughout the
year as well so it does seem a little
bit strange up here for me but we are
only 1 degrees south of the Equator and
that makes for very little change in the
seasons as well you hardly get a winter
it’s a little bit cooler than it is in
summer but not much and if you can
imagine we’re only one degree south from
the equator the Sun angle doesn’t really
change that much either because
obviously in winter if you further away
from the equator that angle of the Sun
is what makes the the seasons different
but here in Kenya it’s not really much
different at all which means that the
seasons remain almost the same
olga you’re saying that that animal has
muffles muzzles okay I’m not quite sure
on the word did with muffles maybe
that’s something to do with the ears Oh
muscles sorry I know that sometimes we
can get confused with each other’s
accents but this animal has extreme
muscles they are classified as part of
the sprinters of the bush of the animal
kingdom with the Sasabe being the
fastest of the lot but you can see
they’ve got reasonably strong front
quarters but extremely strong
hindquarters and if you look at a hyena
for instance very much different to them
and the same as a voter biased they hope
and they more of endurance animals so
you’ve got almost the less power in the
back and all the front being whether
with the powerless but it gives them
quite a good light which means that they
can continue the speed on for a long
period whereas with the type II and the
chaser B and the bless Bach and the
hartebeest they all have it’s almost
like a straight back so they’ve got very
strong hind quarters but reasonably
strong front quarters as well but that
makes for very good sprinters and that
was well noticed there with the muscles
cleaning and listening in the sunlight
very fast that’s why I was quite
surprised yesterday that that female was
trying to stalk a topi because she as
far as I’m concerned doesn’t stand a
chance now Josh you’re wondering if the
type P is faster than a cheetah on a
longer distance it probably will be but
if what the cats have is an extreme
burst of bursts of speed and the
acceleration but on the top-end you know
type B would also accelerate but
reasonably quickly but you’d be able to
keep that speed up for quite a long time
and he will progressively get faster and
faster up till about
70 to 80 kilometers an hour so we’re
talking in excess of 50 miles an hour
but the cheetah also needs to get close
to the topi before it starts its chase
if it has any chance of catching it and
that goes with all those sprinters that
I’ve been mentioning they need to get
very close and with the lion they would
have to get in within about 20 meters
and and and get that animal by surprise
with their acceleration already doubling
that of the of the prey but it’s the
prey sees and the type he sees the lion
or the cheetah early enough and they
started a similar time with the space
the acceleration of the cat will close
the space but eventually that type you
will pull away so it’s it all comes down
to the distance that they’re able to
achieve before the chase actually starts
and if that type he sees them early
enough it’s game over that’s why with
the Lions it’s great if they can set a
trap and actually get the type be
running into potentially ambush area
where other lions are waiting that would
be their best chance but for one one
female to take a topi down she’d have to
get very close before she starts a chase
and that’s what happened yesterday she
didn’t get close enough and eventually
the one drifted from the lion towards
the typey and it picked it up that she
was around and then it was game over
because the lion even knew once the type
he had seen her and she wasn’t close
enough she didn’t stay in the charts
so still on our way towards the Lions we
are circling around the marsh area but
we’re also next to the forest so we
might be able to see anything that’s
just on the edge of the thickets
possibly another black rhino maybe some
Leopard
who knows we’ll go along here slowly
just along the edge and we’ll stop for
anything sighting along the way with the
end goal being those lions who I don’t
think are going anyway
oh and it’s lovely to have Noel back
she’s just been on leave
that’s nice welcome back Noel we’ll pass
that message on to you when we get to
hear from her
I wonder why she went on holiday
okay so as I say driving along the
little boundary here between the marsh
and the forest heading towards those
lions I wonder if they’re gonna do
anything this afternoon
but speaking of predators and spotted
cats let’s go over to Scott in South
Africa and see if they’ve been able to
follow up on any of those lipids
mix some news I’m just trying to get
into a good spot yeah basically let me
work on where it is they’re just above
my finger sins there’s a female leopard
track you can see the back pad and then
one two three and four toes so these
tracks are heading down the road in the
same direction we heading down and
what’s interesting is that we drove down
this road this morning and there was no
tracks on it so that we know for a fact
that this leopard was moving down this
road sometime between when did we go for
our picnic we left at about ten o’clock
so sometime between then and now this
female leopard has moved down this road
so I’m hoping it’s shadow and I’m hoping
she’s gonna be up at the waterhole that
we are heading towards is a small chance
maybe that I missed these tracks the
small
yes these are looking good
oh then I guess that’s like saying how
long does it take to go on a road
there’s no set time they can literally
cross the road they can stay on the
roads they do like to use the roads
because they’re a big pathway so just
like us preferring the pathway of least
resistance so do a lot of the animals
but there’s also a lot of small kind of
trails single tracks that the animals
create that the Clippers will move along
as well as just any way zigzagging
through the bush so there’s no set time
no what I want to check here because
this is a lipid with a one-year-old
daughter and I seem to think that for a
second there could be two sets of tracks
hitting down side by side
zig zagging across the road like this
but it does just look like one
individual as far as I can tell which is
just useful to know if both are moving
together it could mean maybe that
they’re hitting back towards a kill
there’s no set rules though she’s quite
a big cab she’s nearly a year of age so
she’ll almost be independence within at
least the next six months maybe sooner
interestingly her mother is renowned for
kicking her cubs out of home at a young
age
this is looking good fresh leopard
tracks heading towards the water hall it
couldn’t get any better than this
the only thing is think she could have a
little bit of distance on us judging by
the clarity of the tracks of the piers
that they’re not extremely piping-hot
Tatars the terminal terminology used
the shisha which means hot on a hot day
like this these hot tracks could lead us
to a limpid upper tree so that’s always
worth bearing in mind while researching
not only to be looking down on the
ground free tracks which they still are
moving down this road but also up in the
trees because they may lie up there to
get a nice cool breeze and get out of
the
be the light I said as a blanket of
grass there’s not much grass around at
the moment and it’s actually not ideal
hard riders at this time of the year
should be a lot more lash at the moment
Mike are you wondering if shadow and her
young daughter who is called nut Barbara
when any of you are joining for the
first time it’s a bizarre name since I
spotted something let’s go back it could
be a monitor lizard I’m guessing poking
its head out of a hole yes it is vault
on the inside well spotted it’s a young
monitor lizard and you’ll just see its
little tongue flickering I visited in I
know it’s just gone back in there and
hit it let me see if I can use the
spotlight to try and help illuminates it
I don’t think it is gonna work it’s gone
back in
how cool is that and I was chatting with
Conrad one of our technical wizards just
the other day telling them about the
monitor lizards and how they like to
live in these little holes in the trees
this is a very small rock monitor it
appears not a very big individual and
they sometimes get very large they’re
cousins of the water monitor lizards
I’ve got a much more bulbous head hello
we can see you
we spotted critter I’ve completely lost
my train of thought but well then to
Senza for spotting that monitor hanger I
guess they’re guards and search for food
and then once their full belly they come
back and just relax and these little
hollows here’s guys like eating just
about anything they can overpower but
birds nests are often it
small reptiles sometimes even a little
snake would be food for a monitor lizard
[Music]
okay well we’re gonna keep following
these leopard tracks down to the water
or sorry it was guide monkey you were
wondering if shadow and her youngster
have been seen recently and know they
well the last time they were seen what
was together was three or four days ago
when we had that sighting of king Ghana
shadow and youngster not Barbara
together so that was our last confirmed
sighting of her and her youngster very
good we are going to be sending you off
to Ralph who has found some hyena up in
Kenya
yes thanks Scott and what bush seen
would be complete with that a hyena in
it and and even more so without hyena
and jackals and we’re getting near to it
those lines are and I’ve also got that
kill I think Tyler said that it’s it was
a young hippo and these are animals here
the hyena and behind him there are a
couple of jackals
let’s see them in a minute they hanging
around waiting and playing the long game
trying to see if these lions are gonna
leave the carcass and maybe they can
move in and and start to feed on it a
little bit and it is really playing the
patient game sitting and waiting waiting
waiting maybe you’ll have a and good
Christmas if he waits long enough it’s
just around the corner
now Mia you’re wondering if this hyena
is all by itself as far as I can see yes
but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s
not some more hyena in the area with
those lions having killed a hippo I
wouldn’t be surprised if there’s lots of
eyes and ears lying up in the grass yeah
there’s a couple of jackals there’s one
hyena that we can see but I wouldn’t be
surprised especially with the smell of
that caucus now probably wafting through
the plains here I’m sure that this
there’s a few of them around just biding
their time waiting for an opportunity to
move in and and get some a little bit of
pieces of what is left there and these
lions obviously protecting that that
kill that they’ve made because they fold
themselves up already but if they if
they hang around and they look after
that that kill they can feed on it for a
good few days so it’s it’s well worth
protecting and I think let’s let’s head
on over here and go and see if we can
now finally get closer
hiren you’re wondering why if the if the
hyena is getting hot in the Sun and why
doesn’t he go and lie in the shade well
I can tell you that it’s actually not
that hot really and I’m sure if it was
hotter he would probably be walking
along the forest line and probably
taking cover but today it’s it’s it’s
very cool it’s it’s not that hot at all
so that’s probably the reason why is
sitting out there it’s got a nice view
over towards where the Lions are with
with the hippo so maybe that’s why I’m
sure if it was hotter you’d probably be
in the shade
now there are a couple of vehicles here
near to a this lion is with the hippo as
you as I’m sure you can understand
everybody wants to have a look as well
now where is the line we did spot him
from a long way off but it seems like
he’s moved in the interim was actually
out of the forest and in the open but
while we’ve been coming in our met
meandering Joyride on the way here
it looks like he’s moved a little bit
but we will find him shortly I’m sure I
think I’ve spotted the the hippo cure
let’s just make away there slowly
hello yes I think I see a billy of a
lime but we’ll just getting a bit closer
and make sure that’s where it is over
there okay I think I can see it’s all
happening can you see everything Archie
just briefly and once we’ve worked out
what’s going on we can always move
position and see what’s happening but it
looks like now there’s some of the
females have come in and they’re also
feeding on the carcass that’s great to
see now females have been allowed the
male’s of obviously eaten if oh I think
it was the kichwa I Quechua males and I
would obviously lie around and protect
that kill until they’ve had enough and I
allowed the females in the females are
allowed in before the scavengers are but
at least they they are allowed in I
wouldn’t have been I wouldn’t be
surprised if these females actually made
the kill the males have chased them off
and now they’ve been allowed back to
come and feed on it now Kate you’re
wondering if it’s at all unusual for
males to share the kill well that’s
that’s what is debatable I’m wondering
if it wasn’t these females that actually
made the kill and the males chased them
off and they’ve been hanging around
waiting for the males to finish and now
they’ve been allowed in to come and eat
therefore it’s a rather large kill and
hippo so it’s nice for lots of lines to
eat their fall and probably have enough
to and be over for the scavengers as
well so the jackals and hyenas even
chilli get quite a good take on this –
and including even the vultures it’s
always worth taking on a big animal like
a hippo
because it’s gonna feed many mouths and
it will last for a few days as well so
well worth the risk
and I’m sure especially with the younger
hippo it would have been rather easy for
them with a older more experienced
female or bull it can be quite dangerous
so not always the best idea but a young
hippo like that I think was probably
reasonably easy to take down so I
haven’t seen the males just yet but
lovely to have seen these females and it
looks like one or two of them have
already had a good guy at that hippo
probably eaten quite nicely but um I
think we’re gonna spend a little bit of
tamir a Mart repositioned in a minute
and just get us a bit of view or a
different view at that there are a
couple of other vehicles that seem to
have a nice view from in front so maybe
we’ll go and enjoy them join them in a
in a minute but for now I just see that
one female moving that caucus around
stole a lot of meat on me so as I say
there could be lots more action
happening here
look at that she’s having a real girl at
a using that corn SEL shear to cut the
meat and she bats into it and that’s
something that predators obviously very
special that they have in order in
enabling them to to slice the meat all
right I’m gonna reposition shortly and
in the meantime let’s send you down to
Noel hello Noel and welcome back from
your leave their cute little baby
wildebeest now I believe that Scott had
counted five the other day with one left
drop in this little herd that’s not far
from where we are based and I’m still
only counting five and I can see I think
one extremely pregnant ville de beast
I’m sort of in front of us in amongst
the herd I just noticed her now she’s a
little bit more to the right there she’s
fat just a little bit – laughs there
there she is well she’s not fat she’s
pregnant sorry there so she looks like
she’s still gonna drop and maybe all of
you the lucky one and get to see a build
abused birth both Tristan and Scott have
done well with that I have yet to see
one the season so I’m definitely hoping
now just in front of us we have one of
the adult females and she is being
followed around by a little waddle
Starling now
a tree where they follow hoofed animals
and then pick up the insects that are
dislodged while the the ungulates are
busy eating now the wild starlings do it
from the ground very similar to a cattle
egret and I just for some reason it’s
something I never get tired of I always
enjoy watching it so this is a form of
symbiosis called a commensalism where
one benefits and the other nothing
happens together so it’s obviously the
Starling that’s benefiting and the ville
de beast isn’t affected either way a
beautiful little waddled Starling now
I’ve been looking for some wild Starling
nests along the way I haven’t seen any
quite yet but if I do find something
I’ll definitely definitely let you know
just now the little baby wildebeest were
running around but it seems as if
they’ve all tired themselves out they’re
reminding me of my friends kids I was so
lucky on leave I got to see some of my
very dear friends and all of the little
Bubba
– hello sweetie and Merry Christmas
tomorrow – and you would like to know do
the Santa come to us using reindeer or
elephants or lions or anything thereof
now Tula and i was having this
conversation with my six-year-old nephew
Luca the other day and also with my
friend Seb’s
little girl Casey the other day and we
were debating is it is it something like
an Impala or elephants or maybe lions
and I think that what Santa does when he
comes to visit our villages here is I
think he uses whatever wildlife animal
happens to be the most accommodating at
the moment so it could possibly be at
villa de beast and we only know to the
end when we see what droppings are left
so you know how when we drive around us
you know Scott was just showing you some
tracks now and sometimes we show you poo
we have to wait until we wake up
tomorrow morning to see what poo is left
and then we know which African animal
Hughes so I will let you know what he’s
left behind tomorrow morning and I’ll
take a little photo for you and then we
will let you know if he used lion or
elephant or giraffe or maybe warthogs
the warthogs are quite big that could be
a good one
usually the droppings I’ve seen left
behind have been kudu so we’ll see what
he uses this year for the reindeer
I think the reindeer will get a bit too
hot here they’re met for the more
temperate climates the colder climates
and also he has to swap over from his
sleigh to a 4×4 vehicle when he comes to
us so we’ll have to wait and see
Jenny interesting question you’re
wondering these a ville de beast are
related to the ville de beast that we
see in the Mara
so Jenny these are the blue veiled abuse
or the brindle canoe and the ones you’re
seeing in the Mara are a white bearded
canoe the white bearded nu is a
subspecies of this one we have here so a
cousin very very good question so in
South Africa we get two distinct species
of ville de beasts we get this one here
the brindled canoe and then we get the
goodness black wildebeest a little bit
of a moment there I’m just going to find
you a photo so that you can see and then
up in Kenya and Tanzania you get the
white bearded Renu and then a very
she’s a villa 2 beast there and I for
the life of me cannot think of the name
or what’s up him later today and see if
he can let me know so here we have our
little book of southern African mammals
and fortunately it’s not my one of
African mammals and this is the black
ville de beast so the horns curl forward
and he’s dark all the way around he has
no Brenda lean and then he’s got a very
very white tail and they don’t occur
naturally in the same areas you will
sometimes see them on the same game
farms in South Africa but that’s like
because people have put them there so
then what you are getting is in sort of
our area you’re getting the blue ville
de beast and then
bein around in there you’ll you’ll get
them you’ll get the black dildo B’s and
then if you go up to south along the
National Park where I’ve done some work
before you get the cook since ville de
B’s which is the subspecies of this blue
veiled beast as well so while we are
busy watching our village abuse and
still searching for Leopard my very good
friend Ralph is having a blast up in the
Mara it seems like so let’s head back up
to him and see what his lions are doing
with their tasty hippo meal thanks but
no and yes I am absolutely loving it up
here in the Mara and it seems that this
is possibly the marsh breakaway pride
with these tiny little cubs that they’ve
got it seems there’s about three of them
possibly four we’ve seen three and they
were suckling on mum who’s also got a
very fat belly having fed on this hippo
which is good news for her and for the
Cubs because with her having fed nicely
like that she keeps up her strength and
she keeps all the nutrition coming for
the youngsters as well because they’ll
be taking a lot out of it with him
suckling from her and it’s nice that we
know that she has she’s fit nicely in
the in the meantime now I’m sure just
while we’re sitting here watching these
lines I’m sure you might have seen a
little bit of white on my face and on my
ears well it is that time of year in
South Africa and in southern Africa and
in Africa in general when we do get very
sunburnt especially us with much larger
complexion and I did see the other day
that Scott also had smeared on the
sunscreen now it’s it’s also that time
of year on the eastern cape region of
South Africa where they go through the
initiation process for the young boys
who when I hit 16 years old they need to
go and live off in the bush for two
weeks and I go through a whole
initiation phase and training
and when they are in this phase they all
paint themselves white and almost being
a disgrace to society within this
two-week period they’re not allowed to
be seen by anybody and they must live
off in the bush by themselves with a
blanket and having been painted white
and they are called the of equality now
if anybody’s familiar with that it’s a
it’s a very AUSA
tradition and it’s the young men and the
rite of passage into into manhood but
now when as what guys paint ourselves or
with this sunscreen all over our faces
and so on
the clothes are people where I’m from
they laugh at me quite hysterically
because they are thinking that I’m
shaming myself like the other created by
painting myself white so constantly need
to explain myself and say that it’s it’s
not that I’m trying to become a man a
million times a year it’s am that I’m
actually just trying not to get
sunburned so and they all think that
it’s hilarious I’m not sure if if Scott
is aware of that but Tesla age seven
you’re saying that those baby lion cubs
are so sweet well I agree with you Tesla
they’re very cute a and they are staying
very close to Mum so that they can drink
milk whenever they like because there
are very hungry chaps and you can see
they normally they normally eat and play
and sleep and very tough laugh and looks
like lots of fun hehe and they like to
tackle each other and jump all over each
other very fun to watch the baby the
baby lions the Cubs and I’ve always lots
of fun full of energy especially if
they’ve had a feed and asleep
I know me full of joy now Tom you’re
wondering how old those Cubs are well
they can’t be much older than than a
couple of months because they do grow
and up quite quickly I would say between
2 and 3 months and because they did get
big quite fast and that’s my guess
but Tyler would probably be able to tell
you a lot closer than that I’m just
guessing by looking at them and that’s
my educated guess but I could be wrong I
would say between 2 and 3 months old so
we’re gonna stay here with these lions
see what else they get up to maybe these
Cubs are gonna start jumping all over
each other and tackling each other but
in the meantime let’s go over to Tyler
and see what she has been able to find
not
anything not one thing has crossed our
path this afternoon well since we left
all the other animals orbit earlier and
the fact that I you know is like the
last thing we saw uh I’m a bit sad
because I was hoping to find their big
pride of lions a troll for sitting with
this morning three what were you the
bird assorted ran out of the long grass
in the middle and then hopped off the
side of the road so we’re trying to find
them I think with the unpleasant wind
that we’ve had around we know what
normally happens with animals they keep
out of it I think that they’ve gone for
a snooze in the forest and I’ve been
bobbing and weaving along with you these
roads and I’m getting as close to the
forest as I can and we haven’t seen
anything just yet but we’re still
looking but there’s nothing here and
your other than us finding those lines
if we’re lucky a leopard I doubt the
leopard though or the black rhino is
another option of something that we
could potentially see around here
there’s no animals there’s no zebra
there’s no wildebeest I haven’t even
seen a buffalo around here or a draft or
anything I was very miserable in this
section it’s amazing how you can just
drive and there’s nothing and then come
around the corner the one thing we have
found those we found the worst words in
the Mara triangle today which is quite
cool very thrilled about driving all of
those but anyways right we’re gonna
carry on bumbling on the world’s
bumpiest roads I’m gonna send you across
to Scott choose down on the sabi sand
and I know that he’ll be searching for
any one of the big cats
welcome back everybody we are still
trying to work out where shadow in all
likelihood the female leopard who we are
tracking has gone just done a big kind
of loop around in the general direction
she was moving in that’s not to say
after she had a drink which I’m sure she
did once he got to the water all she
could have
kind of while we taking you guys on
sapphire it’s difficult for us to
actively track properly because it just
means leaving the vehicle for extended
periods of time so we did a kind of
combination of tracking and then
guessing and driving roads where we hope
that we’ll bump into that all but of
course there could be in the blocks
between the roads and that would require
us to follow the tracks on foot which
would be very boring for you because you
would be left behind
not unless we’re on a bush walk of
course but at the moment we are focusing
on sticking to the vehicles while we a
little bit short-staffed but we will be
doing some more Bush walks
it’s going on here are you wondering if
shadow and tandi’s Cubs both have the
same father yes in all likelihood oh
yeah these are friendly warthogs which
is uncommon this mother is very relaxed
and absolutely awesome
usually the mothers run off yeah if the
piglets come running back maybe stealing
the piglets or spreading out of it and
I’ve noticed this mother a couple of
times and I’m not sure why she is
probably the most relaxed mother warthog
I’ve seen in all my life and that means
in theory we get lots of good visuals
it’s the youngsters that are quite
nervous but as long as mom remains
relaxed that means we’re going to get
some great sightings move forward a
little bit
now let me just finish off my last
question I don’t think I did
chatting about shado and tandi’s cubs we
assume that yes they were both born to
the same father dominant male cult in
Ghana but there’s no guarantees that
that is the case it’s just assumed that
Dingaan is definitely the father of
Tandy’s current cub and also that he is
the father of Shadows but often female
leopards will move off and sneak off
with other men but because shadow Antony
fall right in the heart of ting Ghana’s
territory I’m guessing he is in fact the
father at least he thinks he is that’s
for certain
for views but also in raising them she
probably only gave birth to four that’s
usually kept the kind of maximum that
they’ll give birth to and the fact that
she’s still got all of it
tell-tale characteristics and it’s
awesome when the mother usually does run
off and lead the way she puts her tail
up and then all of the piglets follow in
suit and off they go
following one another’s little antennas
through the long grass wonderful Jen are
you wondering if these warthogs would be
this relaxed if there was a leopard
around if they didn’t know it was here
then yes they would he must have just
joined the Safari Jenny I was chatting
earlier about it being foolish to assume
that there are no predators around
simply because you can
accidental the lion or leopard pounces
so if there’s a leopard 20 meters away
now they’re going to have no idea
neither are we and it also means that
the leopard is still going to have to
get a lot closer before it launches its
attack usually has to be around five
meters away so anything further than
that
Joba Kazan fought on getting quite
attached to these little piglets and I
prefer her to catch something else
having said that though I would be happy
to see shadow wherever she poked her
head out very good well we’re gonna move
on and wish these piggies a wonderful
evening
credits are free and while we do that
we’re gonna send you to Ralph’s I
believe is not
yeah thanks Scott we do still have these
lines and looking at that that’s the
mouth of the hippo so she’s been feeling
on the head you can see that on our
sockets and obviously it would be lovely
rich food to get into the brain and the
eyeballs and I know it’s ghostly to talk
about it but it is a reality that you
know Lions very often eat the brains and
the eyes probably quite tasty as well
see she’s trying to get in there below
the jaw trying to get in between the
skin and the and the bone there’s the
eye socket now yeah you can see the
teeth lots of skin there but not too
much meat around a little bit and you
can often see them licking it as well a
very tough rough tongues that can also
help to get some of the meat off that’s
why you’re very often see them licking
and when you have kills like caracal
smaller predators even even sometimes
leopard especially the win everybody
younger they were very often the symbol
the prey immediately because then they
go for the richer parts like the kidney
and the liver so that if they are chased
off or something realizes that they’re
there they’ve already taken off the best
parts and once they then feed on on that
then they might move on to the rump and
then if they’ve got time or they haven’t
been chased off then they’ll start to
feed on the rest but they always get in
to those rich parts first but now with a
group of lions like this they can pretty
much eat at leisure
now mr. q-tip you’re wondering if this
was a baby hippo it wasn’t a baby but it
definitely was a sub-adult it wasn’t a
fully grown adult so it met a very
unlucky fate and there you can see how
content the Lions are
rolling on their back lying down and
they’ve got fat bellies there’s lots of
panting going on so lots of digested
digesting needing to be done and there’s
still some feeding going on as well so a
very good prize that they have now got
themselves and Christmas dinner is
served and sorry that it’s quite dark
they we are looking straight into the
Sun but it’s it’s pretty much the best
angle that we have here for us to see in
through the trees so it’s just trying to
get the best of it but as you know it’s
not always the best to be looking
straight into the Sun probably be better
here tomorrow morning when we’ve got the
Sun coming from the other side now
youjin you’re wondering why they don’t
get sick or do they get sick from the
from the rotting meat well it’s not
quite rotten all right
it’s obviously started rotting but it’s
not quite rotten yet it’s it’s in a nice
spot in the shade and you know
carnivores they’ve got very strong acid
in their stomach so even when they do
eat something that is quite while it’s
humming and then it’s almost floating in
the air it smells so bad and then the
meat is rotten it doesn’t actually
affect them that badly because of the
very strong acidic stomachs so it gets
rid of it all the same and they are able
to eat rot rotten and rotting flesh
quite easily so it’s not a problem but I
do think that they do appreciate a
fresher taste but if they’re really
hungry as as with even humans or now I
will eat a lot of things that I wouldn’t
normally depending on how hungry I am
and it does taste better the hungrier
you are isn’t it
not so you can see how that one females
panting away and now she’s got swollen
memory glands which is lovely to see
that she’s fed and she’s feeding the
youngsters but from one predator to
another and both on kills
let’s head all the way down south to
South Africa with Noelle who’s also got
a kitty cat on a kill we found you guys
in English I’m sorry I mean a leopard
sorry I was busy speaking on the radio
and so I was speaking a little bit of a
Jean gone so we have found the lovely a
little a ton d and she has a lovely
little morsel for you a baby Impala
super excited right now she’s letting us
sit nice and close and she’s very
relaxed now I was kind of kind of hoping
and crossing fingers and holding thumbs
that her little one might be out cuz I
haven’t seen it yet but I will take her
beautiful face chowing down on this
Impala any day hope you all are as
excited as I am now I’m gonna try and
stay a little bit quiet and see if we
can hear her eating we might be able to
let’s just hold on and see
no I think it’s a little bit too soft
when she’s using her carnations Shearer
is the sort of side of her her molars
and she’s getting the meat off you can
hear this crunching sound but it’s
interesting because there’s lots of bird
noise and and sakata noise and things
around us as well and also a little bit
of wind so it doesn’t necessarily pick
up everyone I’m just I’m glad you’re as
excited as I am now guys sorry I didn’t
give the best update so if you’ll just
excuse me I’m just gonna chat on the
radio just very quickly just so that the
other guys know because we’ve got the
guests from Juma who are also looking
Rexton or are brief or no Ella I’ve got
Tanya Mufasa in busy and Kuja this map
pimping mala on bubu north eastern side
where you forgot that slash law that
gory slasher just from by an onion cones
oh and visuals 5-5 4-1 MOBA three out of
five for second mother okay sorry about
that guys I could just hear them
chattering a little bit and I don’t want
to keep this all to ourselves we must
share with everybody else yeah I first
day back record thank goodness
okay now this looks relatively fresh to
me
Ferg what do you think I’m thinking
because so basically what happened is
earlier Scott was saying he’d heard that
she was around and then Rex in and
Aubrey came into the area and they found
bits and bobs of what was left and then
when we came back just to have another
look we found her and she’s now with
this baby Impala so I think that it’s I
think that she might have been around
and then this is a more fresh kill but I
want to look at the Impala a little bit
more and yes I’m so sorry I did hear
that there was a comment that came
through I didn’t hear who was from maybe
from Renata but it does seem as if her
appetite has increased because of the
cub and that’s definitely because she’s
not just feeding herself she’s also
feeding the little one she has to be
able to produce quite a lot of milk to
be able to to to keep that little one
going and it was Rene
cost us so sorry about that so Rene
Acosta yes you’re correct appetites
definitely increased I know a lot of my
friends that have had children
especially when they’re nursing also
their appetites tend to increase a
little bit and for obviously specific
things when were humans because our diet
is a little bit more varied and then for
tündi what she’s really gonna be loving
right now is things like baby impala
baby ville de beast baby warthogs but
nice and juicy easier to catch and
really high of nutrients and she can
also get it down quite quickly and then
her milks gonna be nice and nutritious
for her little one now I’m as I’m
chatting with you all and we’re watching
this beautiful sight I’m just keeping my
eyes open but from what Rexton and
aubrey saw earlier with the fact that
there was just a little bit of meat
laughs I have a feeling that maybe she
finished off the other kill that we were
having a look for and then went took her
cub back to the den and that has
possibly come back that’s one thought
that I have the other thought is that
she stashed it somewhere around here and
then had this opportunity and then is
just eating maybe we’ll see it later I
we have not quite sure because the
minute that we saw her ferg put her on
camera and then you all were with me so
we’re gonna investigate we’re not gonna
go anywhere anytime soon
John super interesting question you’re
wondering when will attendees little cub
a start eating meat so John if the cub
was here the cub would also be eating a
little bit of meat with her but it’s
still gonna nurse so that cub is now
about three months right around in three
months if I’m remembering correctly just
under just under three months it’s about
two two months in a bit sorry I’m trying
to do math and you all know how rubbish
I am at math and so it will eat a little
bit but will mostly nurse and then as it
starts progressing on an age from here
it’ll start swapping out more meat for
less milk until it’s about six months
the longest I’ve ever seen a leopard a
nurse a young one was seven months but
it’s usually around six months they
stopped nursing and then it’s full meat
but everybody’s different I have
girlfriends that nurse their babies
until eight months and I have
girlfriends that nurse their babies
until three years so again it’s it’s up
to the individual but also with
something like this leopard she doesn’t
want a nurse for too long not not longer
than about seven eight months because
she needs to be able to start moving
farther afield away from her core
territory for better hunting now Andy’s
done something really interesting where
her her birth has correlated has
overlapped with the birthing of a lot of
small prey species so it assists her and
helps her out quite a litte
Monique you’re commenting that toddy is
looking a lot better from her shadow
fight I actually haven’t seen any of
that footage I completely shut off
during leave but I am gonna have to go
back and have a look I’m glad to hear
that she’s looking a lot better
ladies will fight especially when you
have such overlapping territories here
it’s interesting in the stands because
our population densities are so high
with Leopard the boundaries are not as
defined as you’ll find in a lot of other
areas so you do get these funny little
overlaps and it’s interesting because
what I’ve noticed in the short time I’ve
been here is that part of tigey’s core
territory and part of shadows core
territory do have a bit of overlap so
obviously you’re getting scenarios like
what you saw the other day so now you’re
gonna start hearing another vehicle from
behind me and that’s one of the juma
vehicles coming in to come have a look
at Tandy so don’t worry about that and
again we’re not gonna go anywhere
anytime soon we’re gonna enjoy as much
of this as possible this is everyone’s
early holiday gift and whatever holiday
you all celebrate out there will just
count this as one of your prezi’s
I went on to fight overt in Ghana or
over territory that’s a really
interesting question so now yeah I
wasn’t here but from what I know with
past experiences with with female
leopards is there fighting over their
territory areas and utilization and food
resources so as far as I understand this
particular fight it had to do with a
kill that happened within either one of
the others territory or along a boundary
one of the two depending on how you look
at it
female leopards only want may leopards
around when they’re ready to mate
other than that they don’t really want
them around in general especially when
there’s a little cub around because if
10 Ghana for some reason decides that he
doesn’t think he’s the dad of that cub
or even if he does
and shadows not going to necessarily
know that the Tonys cub is tan ganas and
being like hey that’s my man
I want his babies it doesn’t really work
like that but that being said we don’t
know as much about leopards as we should
know because they’re so elusive so again
in law the information I’m giving you is
my own personal experience mixed in with
doing some leopard research and of
course doing quite a bit of reading so
everything I say you know you must take
with a slight grain of salt because we
might find out something in two years or
ten years or twenty years that might
contradict it all right well now while I
am busy watching the Madame tündi
finish off her little Impala kill we are
gonna head back up to the masai mara so
you can watch one of Africa’s other
large cats eating an even larger meal
with Ralph and we’ll keep an eye on her
and we’ll see you all shortly
yes thanks Noel and we’ve had a couple
of the miles just get up and go over to
the kill and that big one there he’s
actually the one seems like the kids are
miles but he’s the one with that pom pom
listened tup to his tail so I’ve seen
him again now and he’s obviously decided
that it’s time to have another snack so
he’s just chased that female off but she
was very quick to get out the way
because I think she probably knows
what’s coming if she doesn’t and he’s
not just thinking about having a little
bit more to eat he also marked right
next to that hippo so he sprayed in the
tree and obviously just marking the spot
and I know it’s saying I’m in charge
here
that’s incredible the size difference
between the male and females and just
that sheer raw muscle on the males it’s
it’s incredible
and a little cup watching from behind a
hey I’m watching in dad’s footsteps I
wonder if it is his dad probably with
the tolerance levels being and such I
would assume that these these three
miles have fathered one of them have
fathered these Cubs lovely spot thus now
lawns are gonna just stay here and keep
feeding at leisure this is the other
male and he’s one of the ones though the
one with the with the lighter colored
Mane so there’s two with very dark
Mane’s and then this one is quite a bit
lighter as I’m quite easy to identify
them now I’ve got him nailed to darker
Mane’s and then one of them without that
pom-pom on the end of his tail so that’s
the key to our boys much nice a lot now
that the Sun has gone behind the clouds
was straight in our faces and so I
wasn’t giving us the best colors but now
we can see nicely there into the forest
unless the q-tip you’re wondering what’s
happened to the end of that Alliance
tail well it’s quite a mystery for us
really we’re wondering if it’s not
similar to what’s happened to the
elephant’s tails and the only thing that
I can see as an average here is the Mara
River with those massive crocodiles
that’s my first thought and unless
somebody pushes me in another direction
that’s the answer that I’m sticking with
for now so I think that this line has
also potentially tried to cross the
river and maybe his tail has touched the
water near to a croc and it’s been
snapped up and obviously the crocodile
would have grabbed on and the lion would
have pulled in other direction and maybe
is pulled it off and probably similar
with the elephants as well I’ve seen a
lot of adult elephants with half tails
and in quite a few youngsters with
little to no tail I’m wondering if those
little ones are the ones that are
getting button as they’re walking you
know the the the tail would be close to
the water and maybe then the adults that
I’m seeing with half tails were button
as babies and now it’s grown that little
bit of extra at the end so very exciting
very nice to sit and watch lions on a
kill especially when they continue
feeding and getting involved I’m sure
sooner or later the vultures and
scavengers are gonna have their go but
we’re gonna stay here with this lion
pride and the hippo but let’s send you
on down south to Noel with the leopard
and I believe still with that kill a
really interesting scenario just here we
had our other vehicle come in and
Tunney’s decided that she’s gonna start
moving away has nothing to do with us
it’s just her what she’s feeling like
now I don’t want to follow directly from
behind her you try not to follow from
behind the leopard as much as possible
you try and follow from the side so FERC
has to do some really interesting camera
work at the moment so I’m trying to
drive as slowly as possible so we can
keep her and focus as much as possible
but here’s gonna be the money shot I
hope
unless you move so let’s just stop here
and you all can have a really nice look
at her carrying this baby Impala how
beautiful is that so that’s shot just
before that was your screenshot for the
day everybody so now notice I’ve parked
it a little bit of an angle so that
she’s choosing where she’s gonna move
along the game path I’m gonna let her
come directly in front of us and then
move on a little bit more and then I’m
gonna back up and again come around from
from the side because I want her to do
what she normally would do which is
exactly what she’s doing now without
feeling like she needs to be doing
anything different and a lot of that has
to do with her ability to see us so now
she’s got that Impala in her mouth so
her vision is going straight forward so
she’s gonna be wanting us to be where
she can just see us at the peripheries
and that will make her comfortable we
also need to leapfrog with the other
game viewer that is here so that
everybody gets a chance to see what we
are doing now I’ve already slipped and
fallen on the road today and I saw that
Tristan had a little issue the other day
and we all know about Taylors mud
incident so I’m not gonna be looking too
much into camera at the moment I don’t
want to hit a stump and either hurt
Wendy or help through the vehicle so if
you all would just excuse my back of my
head as we meander along now she’s
heading into a thicker area and remember
what we were talking about about
possibly her cut being here again she’s
she’s killed it she’s eaten a little bit
she’s put a little bit of sustenance
into her body so it’s possible that
she’s going to wear her little one is
it’s also entirely possible that she is
going to a place where she can treat it
to then either go nurse the cub or to go
and fetch it it’s entirely possible
Nathan James Richard hello and Merry
Christmas tomorrow James I’m not picking
up your full question it has something
to do I think with her meal I’m so sorry
my comms are a little bit scratchy I
don’t know if we want to try and send it
through
James Richard you’re saying you’re so
happy that it’s your favorite leopard on
screen now and then she’s got a meal I
agree now I have ended up in a little
scenario
right and everyone else I just need you
to deal with whatever what’s gonna
happen now hold on it says all right
let’s try this let’s see Wendy’s after
the challenge now it’s too deep it’s way
too deep unfortunately all right
everybody I’m gonna have to get us out
of this little scenario but I think
maybe we can try one last shot with her
I just can’t get over this little steep
Bank it’s just a little bit too deep
where I am she’s going off there so the
other vehicle that’s with me most likely
has gone around and then we’re just
gonna try and do that so I think we’ll
just let her go out the screen there and
then we’ll pick her up again you can see
she’s moving at a pace but it’s not a
crazy pace she’s just determined in her
movements let me see what I can do here
now it’s interesting just Wendy’s a very
well all of our vehicles that we use are
very short bodied Land Rovers so they
can go in a lot of places that the
longer bodies that we all drove with
guests cannot really go and so there’s
there’s places like just now where if it
hadn’t been just that little bit of deep
we would have gone up the other side no
problem and I’m also trying not to hit
further off the back here with a branch
I think we’re gonna try through this way
which looks just at each better
again everybody hold on we call this
bundu bashing but it’s very
term that came out of Australia and we
use it hold on and there we are
we’re up and over okay let’s go madam
Dundee there’s a little Impala that’s
just that’s lookin around like I’m so
glad that’s not me oh sorry it’s a steam
book sorry thanks for you see I’ve been
way too long
there’s a little steam book it’s not me
so while I’m busy trying to find Tandy
again I believe Ralph is still with busy
with our hungry hungry lions and you
know lions are one of my ultimate
favorites but I have to say I wouldn’t
give up this tündi sighting for
anything so let’s head all the way back
up to the Mara to a Ralph and then we’ll
see you all again shortly there she is
folks and there’s been quite a little
bit of action here next to this carcass
the mouse come in he’s had a little bit
of a feed and then the youngsters all
wanted to play with him when I started
marking so his it’s all happening
hostile youngsters really intrigued by
what he’s doing there even though he’s
marking his territory they’re almost
like they just want to play really cute
I was like he doesn’t have time for it
but they like oh come on dad let us play
like he’s got a bit of a lump actually I
wonder if he got that from fighting over
this food or in bringing it down but I
wouldn’t worry too much that weren’t
hold him back that much tall
rat-fuck so that’s probably the lost
from us up here in the Maasai Mara in
Kenya and I would like to wish you from
myself an Archie and everybody up here
in the Maasai Mara a very happy
Christmas we will be seeing you again in
the morning so I wish you once again
tomorrow on Christmas Day but everybody
have a lovely Christmas and we’re gonna
send you on South to Noel with Tandy you
came through our little spot she’s found
a nice marula tree and she’s hoisted her
kill up we didn’t see it we got here
just after she got up it took us a
little while I swear she does those
things on purpose makes this will work
for our sightings now she’s got a bit of
a fat belly and I think that fat belly
has to do the other kill that she had as
well as the kill that she’s eating now
and she’s just busy grooming her sauce
she’s put her kill into his space that
only another leopard can get to a lion
could technically climb up there but
it’s not really any lion activity in the
area at the moment so she’s feeling nice
and safe and leopards are also extremely
fastidious so they’re they like to be
clean even when they’re killing
something even when they’re killing
something like guinea fowl they pluck
all the feathers off before they started
eating it and then especially was larger
Impala they’ll take all the fur off the
this way they start eating there so if
you were to ever find a carcass that
hadn’t been eaten but had hair plucked
off of it like that it’s most likely
going to be from a leopard there’s a
little Starling that’s taking offence to
the tree that tündi has chosen I’m
assuming that there’s probably a
starlings nest
somewhere around and here it’s not
popping sort of at her but it is going
from branch to branch we’ll keep an eye
on it and see if we can show you an in
protest of this leopard that’s climbed
up now we’ve talked about there we go
there they are we’ve talked about it
before where birds make alarm calls as
leopards move through and that has a lot
to do with the fact that leopards will
eat baby Impala they’ll eat adult Impala
the elite warthog we even had that
amazing siding with Jamie several weeks
ago with the male leopard and that big
giraffe but then they’ll also eat things
like baby mice and they’ll eat birds and
they have
very very diet scorpions even so unlike
a lion hooves most likely not going to
eat a bird
the birds are fully aware that these
leopards are capable of catching them
now she’s not going to be able to jump
through these trees and climb through
these trees and and catch these
starlings but they will chase squirrels
around trees and they will also do
things like chase monkeys through cheese
there’s a very famous documentary called
I of the leopard by the Joe bears it’s
one of my favorite documentaries about
lack oedema and there’s a really amazing
couple of sequences where she’s chasing
squirrels and monkeys through the trees
her and her mum as well and catching
them and now Dundee is tired look at
that it’s a lot of effort even I mean
that’s a small Impala but walking she
walked about 500 meters or about five
American soccer ball field lengths and
then climbed up the tree and she’s been
eating she’s super full so now she’s
gonna pant to help process that
they start eating so now because of
where she’s moved and how she’s moved I
don’t think the cub is super close
because she would have started calling
for it by now and or gone to fetch it
that Cubs a little bit too small to move
far distances and when she does call so
I have a feeling that she’s gonna eat a
bit more and then either go back to
whether wherever she stashed it possibly
the den possibly somewhere else and then
nurse from there so I don’t think we’re
gonna see the little Cup tonight but I
do think we will possibly be able to see
that little one in the morning it’s
going to be fantastic the woodland
Kingfisher in the background so now this
is my first real chance of getting to
see tandy stationary and she is a
gorgeous gorgeous cat her eye color is
absolutely fantastic and she’s giving me
a nice glance now sort of the lightest
blue almost green absolutely stunning
and she to me looks a little bit bigger
than shadow or said maybe not bigger but
a little bit thinner shadow to me is a
stock your female leopard I’ve been by
stocky I don’t mean fat I mean just sort
of almost like in voula as a stocky male
leopard with the short little legs
shadows got that that feeling for me
whereas tondee’s a little bit more
elegant and streamlined
coke cider you’re saying that you’re
loving these shots and aren’t these the
most beautiful eyes and of course you
know I definitely agree
yeah undies being very kind and giving
us some amazing screen shots for you all
to do your gifts and memes maybe you can
do a special Merry Christmas or Happy
Holidays or Happy New Year one I like
the one with her carrying the Impala in
her mouth for for the holidays for
tomorrow and later in the week
mr. Cohan I feel like you’re reading my
mind no she’s not blinking she’s very
aware of her surroundings they don’t
predators actually don’t need to blink
as much as we do when they’re hunting
they’ve got this birds of prey of the
same thing they’ve got something called
a nictitating membrane Nick taking and I
see t-80 ing membrane and it covers the
eye and they open their eye completely
and then that nicked a T membrane goes
over to help protect it when they’re
hunting so that things like dirt and
claws and everything else can’t really
get inside and for us we need to blink
as much as we do to help clean out our
eyes they don’t need to do that as much
especially when that Nick tating
membrane is in function shouldn’t be at
the moment you would be able to see it a
little bit sorry I’m just getting
slightly distracted in my explanation
because I can hear monkeys behind us
towards the lodge and I know that Scotty
D was busy tracking a leopard somewhere
not far from us so I’m wondering if
that’s possibly the leopard that Scotty
D was looking for I think he was saying
that possibly Tim gone I was in the area
and as as you all were talking about
earlier shadow and things so does
thinking have to keep our eye out and
I’m sure Nicky will let Scotty Dean off
see Nicky’s also reading my mind
Nicky’s NFC and she’s passed on the
message to Scot so that he can go and
have a look while we’re waiting here
with our arresting leopard yes she’s
panting hard hey shame
no they don’t all look the same but
that’s you know it’s interesting I
talked about this with with my guests
from time to time like we’re gonna talk
about it now with you guys is for me if
I go to a city all the buildings pretty
much look the same but out in the bush
everything looks different but then if
you are used to a city every tree out
here looks the same to you as opposed to
the city that you’re in so I’m around
leopards all the time so I can
definitely see the difference just like
you can see with with people but if it’s
not something that you were constantly
physically focused on so that you know
who you’re dealing with yes they can
sort of blend and now one of the reasons
why guides get so intrigued with who
they’re looking at it’s because of the
personalities specifically with leopards
and it also helps you know
since I’m tündi sometimes can be a bit
grumpy so you just want to make sure
that you give her lots of space until
she allows you to come into her space
which is exactly what we did now I mean
she’s been really good with us every now
and then you’ll get a bit of a twinge or
you do something that’s just they don’t
like and so you just have to keep an eye
on that and the more time you spend with
these leopards and Orla
humans in your life I also like that one
as a screenshot thanks Ferg Ferg’s also
amazing photographer not just an amazing
cameraman so he’s got a nice eye our
light is not good today but there’s some
good contrast there all right well let’s
head on over to Scottie D and see what
he’s up to I’m hoping maybe he follows
up on those of vervet alarm calls or
maybe he’s found something else exciting
for us to see sadly I’m too far away to
follow up on the alarm cause I’m
approaching the cheetah waterhole and
there was like two of them alarm calling
in this area they’ve just stopped and I
was hoping they were gonna lead us
towards hosana
a young male leopard on told spends a
lot of time in and around this area of
course it’s highlighted that it could be
as much as a mile or two away from you
but he does like this general area I
haven’t heard of him being found here
recently but that’s not to say he hasn’t
it’s just that we haven’t been spending
much time here and we’re on a different
radio frequency where where we
ordinarily operate on Juma so even if
things are happening here we often not
necessarily getting updates as we’ve
been getting such good quality stuff
happening across like I say on Juma now
the fact that the squirrels have stopped
alarm calling doesn’t bode well for us
maybe it was a bird of prey that they
had seen and and it’s already flown off
that’s one possibility or maybe a snake
that slithered away but I do not think
there is a lipid here
not entirely sure of our boundaries in
this area just yet–it’s need to do some
homework there and get to the bottom of
that
to be able to capitalize and make the
most of this extra little chunk of land
that we can traverse this is an addition
to what we were able to traverse back in
the day well back in the day I we used
to be able to traverse Arethusa and Juma
then that changed and a few other
properties of being acquired and swapped
and changed but this is the latest one
and I haven’t
and nearly as well as I do on Juma
sounds like you guys are having a
wonderful time with Tandy and no well
some incredible visuals office I’m very
happy that you are getting off to
wonderful Safari and the world’s good
off to a great start back at work
okay
this young Impala well at least we’re
thinking about having a little fight
here they go again come on boys actually
not young they’re bigger I’m just used
to the tanzanian and Kenyan Impala that
are far bigger
now it’s not nearly the rutting season
yet so it’s unlikely that they’ll have a
full-blown fight but there may at least
have a little bit of rough-and-tumble
showing us exactly how they will go
about fighting more seriously in and
around May which is when the umpires do
fight over the ladies it’s very intense
period for the male and policin I guess
the females because it’s one month of
kind of non-stop passion when lots of
mating occurs very good
okay guys well it sounds like we’ve got
a plan to try and tweak a few things on
the broadcast that sounds like it’s not
been working too well and because we no
longer have the Mara involved in the
feed Jared one of our technical wizards
can tweak a few things and hopefully
make the stream that much better so bear
with us we’re gonna say goodbye
hopefully just for a few minutes while
Jared
so you are experiencing it firsthand
with us get your stopwatch is ready
because we’re about to time Jared Jared
are you ready can I give you a countdown
in haven’t got the go-ahead yet in three
two one go Jared
this program features live coverage of
an African safari and may include animal
kill
hello everybody
and well done to Jared I’m not sure how
long that took but I would guess about a
minute minute and a half super quick and
hopefully now the picture will be a
smoother and better and you’ll hear what
we are saying and see what we are trying
to show you very good
so I’m just scanning the perimeter of
the water’s edge here in the hope that
we can find you a baby crocodile oh
there’s a big crocodile if you look just
lying on the stump there seems if you
just zoom in on that you’ll start seeing
crocodile there we go so it looks like
it’s lying on this log no no that we’ve
seen the big one which I’m guessing is
possibly in the mother of a small
hatchling of crocodiles that were think
first seen on that very log I was hoping
we would see some ones youngsters lying
near behind but no joy one how many of
them are still alive how many of them
have been eaten and also what has eaten
them no joy
now there’s a hippo in this corner of
the waterhole as well and usually it
spends time with its a youngster yes I’m
hoping this is her and I’m hoping if we
just spend a little bit of time looking
oh there it goes
that’s what I was hoping for that
youngster to poke its head up and where
we can see the mother’s head now calling
you can hear that loud snorting let’s
actually have a look back there quickly
since if you can swivel around quickly
it seems like it’s a bit of a commotion
going on and hi guys
and you can see there’s a lot of water
moving around there there’s definitely
some kind of action going on with those
hippos sorry I was just greeting some
other guests that pass with their guide
it’s important that we are as friendly
as possible so that hopefully people
like us and then will continue to
support us when they get home a lot of
people have got no idea who we are or
what they do in their first yes it comes
as a bit of a shock
our vehicles very different to all the
other vehicles it seems like these
hippos have not calmed down but we will
keep an eye on them
Tony you very excited to see a baby
crocodile and I’m checking the one other
spot where I’ve only ever seen one
little croc before and it’s not there oh
[Music]
there’s another big croc there at least
swimming towards that little island of
grass their sins Oh at about 8 o’clock
left a bit more left of other left
zoom in on that we go there you can see
another crocodile swimming I love the
way they keep their head so still that’s
just their massive tail swooshing from
side to side that propels them now I
wonder if this is the husband and the
other one we were looking at earlier the
wife of the young crocodiles that I
think Justin was the first to find a
couple of weeks back now I’m told a lot
of you aren’t sending through any
questions which makes me feel very
lonely here don’t want to talk just to
myself this afternoon so please send
through questions or comments or
anything you like really using the
hashtag Safari live on Twitter or by
just popping a message in the box of
YouTube if you’re watching on YouTube
all then sends spotted the baby she’s up
for a breath again or he not sure if
it’s a boy or a girl yet but it won’t
necessarily be able to stand where its
mother can obviously its legs are a lot
shorter so usually has to kind of latch
on to mom to keep up or wrist its chin
on her back its plopped under again
should be interesting to calculate how
much time it actually spends underwater
on an average day because it’s
definitely more down than Apple maybe
that’s just because we around it’s a
little bit nervous
hello cosider you’d like to know if we
could fish here yes I guess we could
fish here it is private land we’re not
in the greater Kruger National Park and
a lot of the lodges will offer fishing
to their guests whether or not we would
actually be allowed to fish here I’m not
too sure but in theory yes there would
be no trouble with fishing and I have
done a lot of fishing in the sabi sands
not only in water halls like this but
also in the Sand River we actually get
some small tiger fish interestingly
enough
as well as tilapia but it’s mainly
catfish that you catch especially in the
dams like this
you can’t catch some really big ones
which is good fun and they’re really
easy to catch
so fishing is an option but not for
everyone it kind of depends on the
individual landowners preferences and
rules P Hotch you wondering what would
eat a baby crocodile well the adult
crocodiles that are not the parents of
it would eat one Birds snakes monitor
lizards what am I missing fish Eagles
fish Eagles a bird I guess a lot of
birds will eat them basically a lot of
the herons fish Eagles regular Eagles a
big fish in some areas would definitely
be a whoa let’s have a quick look there
well done what is happening here giving
you guys a great idea of our quickly
these animals can actually move and look
at those massive waves that have been
caused by the displacement of water from
about two to three tons of mass just
plundering into the water I wonder why
that huge one was chasing the much
smaller one didn’t seem like a very
equal match did it well they’re still
going for one another there I can see a
bit more splashing off to the left since
it seems like there could be having a
fight there I think that maybe the big
ones caught up with the small and let’s
see what’s going on well maybe it’s just
some other hippos that are getting
worked up and excited hello Eugene you’d
like to know how long do hippo spin out
of the water and it basically they
nocturnal but in the summer months when
there’s more food around they’d spend
less time out of the water because they
obviously don’t have to go as far and
why to search for food so you tend to
find that in summer they’re only hit out
after it’s actually got dark what’s
going on there’s definitely some chaos
amongst
this raft of Hippo I can’t tell what’s
trying what’s going on you if there’s
some possible mating that’s going on
more bulls fighting over this this
territory definitely some excitements
now I completely forgot I was what I was
talking about and if I finished off the
question that I was busy answering so
forgive me for that and so yes in the
winter months they will head out
probably just before sunsets and come
back possibly after sunrise where it’s
summer it’s usually you don’t see them
afterwards at least that’s in the sabi
sands I know up in Kenya they can be
seen out of the water quiet lots it’s
quite cool up there so a lot will depend
on the individual area but all in all
they’ll spend against 12 12 to 14 hours
out of the water
every evening oh this is so epic okay
and can you see the two birds above the
hippo on the little peninsular there
okay there’s a tiny little crocodile
right in front of that bird in the water
you can just see its head how epic is
this I saw this thick knee run up to the
water’s edge and hold up its wings I
thought what is going on you’re what
you’re trying to chase away and that’s
this tiny baby crocodile how cool you
clever bird you chase that predator away
or make yourself look as big as possible
without that bird to help us it would
have been near impossible to spot that
small croc
so I think that birds also too big for
that crocodile to chew on but if that
birds got chicks or eggs nearby they
will do their best to chase it off so
there we go Tony I think you wanted to
see to see a baby crocodile and your
wish has come true
marvelous okay now that this crocodile
is headed off it looks like the hippos
also ducked under the water we will send
you back to Noelle for an update on
Tandy and how she’s getting along with
her kill Scotty D tau D is still
sleeping and twitching a little bit but
you are sounding like you’re having some
epic epic sightings over at with
them I am NOT Jaz jealous as I could be
I’m sitting with a leopard with a kill
but that hippo action sounds absolutely
amazing and that little crocodile with
the with the sick knees as well with the
dick whoops now we’ve talked a lot today
just sort of about populations and
densities and things like that so I just
want to back the the ecological train on
up and just start from the beginning so
when we talk about populations we’re
talking you have individuals you have
populations and then you have
communities so tündi is one individual
in the population of leopards in the
sabi sands which is in the community of
leopards in the greater Kruger area
alright and the the size of the area
that is populated or the the densities
of the population with an area are very
much dependent upon suitable habitat for
whatever organism it is so for this
leopard for tündi she would have to
have suitable habitat so things like
this marula tree and although leopards
are quite variable but let’s stick with
this area for now and not only is it the
habitat where she’s walking around and
climbing up and putting her cub but also
the food that is within that habitat so
what you see with a lot of the larger
organisms like tandy like this leopard
is that they tend to have lower
population densities over larger areas
because of the food they need to eat but
now that statement
contradicts a lot of what we were
talking about with large population
densities in this area so the low Feld
has per hectare so one hectare is 2.2
acres for anyone that’s in the states
per hectare has the largest carrying
capacity of any area else in South
Africa there she’s gonna move for us
please jump with my girl no really
you’re gonna show us your back end and
have a little scratch so basically the
reason why our population densities of
leopard in this area are higher than
anywhere else in South Africa is because
the prey species densities are higher
because of the type of vegetation we
have because of the type of soil we have
because the Drakensberg mountains that
are to our west so traditionally you
would have lower densities of lion
leopard elephant impala wildebeest in a
given area except that our areas sort of
not breaking the rules but it more of an
exception to the rule and then the other
things that sort of determine the size
of the population but also the
distribution of a population population
like leopards would be environmental
conditions and variability so the
species like tandy has to be able to be
variable for the population to survive
and they are we talked about earlier
with how they eat scorpions and how they
eat baby mice and how they eat birds as
well as this baby Impala that we’re
seeing here so that’s another reason why
in this area leopards do so well and why
the population densities are so much
higher is because there’s an abundance
of not just the larger pride but also of
the smaller prey and that’s again
because of how nutritious our soil is
and the the types of vegetation that we
get here it’s it’s interesting though
because you would think that ok well
it’s so nutritious you must have a lot
of different types of vegetation and we
do but we don’t have as many different
types of vegetation as say you would
find there she goes she’s doing such
wonderful leopard movements for you now
look how agile she is
she’s literally just finding another
branch to lie on and also having a look
around look at that fat belly so some of
that is fat because what she’s eating
but if you look there just before she
laid down it looked quite dark towards
the back that’s that’s where her where
she lactates from that’s where the baby
nurse is from where her nipples are so
that’s getting a little bit wet so again
she’s might have been away from the
little one for a little bit so she’s
starting to produce a little bit more
milk and then also the food that she’s
eating there so if we were to go towards
the sort of Western Cape or Carew area
it is not as nutritious there and so you
have to have more species in an area
specifically plant species because they
have to carve out a little niche so
basically there is more diversity in
areas like that and less species
richness whereas here we have lower
species diversity and higher species
species richness so we have impala and
we have kudu and then for things like
trees we’ve got marilla’s and we have
jackal berries and then we have many of
those same thing as opposed to having
you know 50 different types of
succulents super interesting
christine you’re curious to know if
Tandy has an uncomfortable belly cuz
it’s full of food or cuz the sore teats
I’m Christine I don’t think she’s
uncomfortable with her belly I think
she’s just uncomfortable in general in
that other branch that she was on and I
think she’s just repositioning but I
don’t think that the full belly with the
sore teats is helping the matter I do
think that she’s trying to find a spot
that’s accommodating both but you can
see when especially when she’s lying in
the way that she’s lying now
she’s just alternating her weight so
that it alleviates and then also keeping
her balance at the same time now that
tongue that she’s using a groom herself
there is very rough like sandpaper and
it’s really taking out the dead hair
Sinatra very good question this is a
marula tree a very interesting question
about what type of tree obviously you
were listening to talk about all the
different types of population densities
this marula tree has what you can see a
lot of 90-degree or somewhat 90-degree
angle branches which makes it easier for
her to lie on so in this type of area
this is a type of tree that you would
find a leopard in often you sausage
trees are also a good tree for leopards
and jackal berries but that being said
I’ve also seen leopards and trees that
you would never think that they would be
in all scraggly bushes but most of those
I’ve seen in completely different areas
so one of the places I used to work in
the northwest province is a lot more
arid and has a lot of Shepherd’s trees
and the Shepherd’s trees are very very
cool inside the thick branches and put
very scraggly and that’s where we found
a lot of our leopards
well now we’re busy waiting to see what
else Madame tündi will do let’s head
back over to Scott who has some sort of
antelope species and doing some sort of
antic yes the impala are or at least
were running about quite wildly playing
around with one another chasing each
other and I guess just stretching their
legs doing a bit of exercise they’ve got
a very tall tail run that they do either
when they’re playing or when they’re
being chased
to by wild dogs of well not necessarily
if wild dogs on their heel but if wild
dogs are in the area and a kind of 100
meters or so away from the impala knee
and paula do the strange kind of
see-sawing Pronk with straight legs and
it’s a great display of how athletic and
impala may be and I guess that’s exactly
why they do it when wild dogs around is
to try and prove to them and extend
really Express that hey look at me I’m
fit and strong pick somebody else to
chase well kind of talking to one
another – I’m not sure if you can hear
that sounds like the old bear thing it
will try and pump up the ambient mic for
a little bit so you can hear so I’m just
gonna try to keep quiet
okay now I’m gonna ask to send you guys
away quickly because there is a guide
coming down the road behind us and I can
ask him for some directions as to where
exactly I am and where some possible
sightings for us are there’s no need for
you guys to be around for that
okay so we’ll send you back to Taylor
while we chat to this guy who’s just
arrived behind us toodaloo so Dundee
groomed herself and now of course she’s
asleep again this is what everyone will
be doing tomorrow after you all hat well
whoever had celebrates Christmas after
you have your Christmas lunch Ferg are
we having Christmas lunch now we’re not
having it’s too hot here to have
Christmas lunch Ferg says they had
Mexican Christmas last night and
everyone’s bellies are I like it alright
but this is what would totally happen
after Christmas lunch
[Music]
hello joy I love your question why I
love everyone’s questions but joy you’re
right on the same track with me today
yeah so species richness joy is the
number of the species in the area and
species diversity or weight let’s all
right let me back this up so in an area
joy you get certain species the amount
of those species in the area is the
richness of the species richness of the
area the species diversity is the actual
different numbers of different species
if that makes sense if that doesn’t make
sense I can try and reword it so just
let me know you can let FC know so
species diversity the number of
completely different species and species
richness is the actual number of those
then designated organisms I hope I hope
I said that correctly if it doesn’t make
sense please let me know so joy
basically what I’m what I’m doing is I’m
practicing okay thanks so much for your
comments about the additional
information and you’re learning
something new I do hope you are learning
something new so join carry what I’m
doing I’m using you all as my guinea
pigs so I have a practical examination
that’s coming up in January on some very
specific stuff now it’s things that I
find super interesting in general and I
do like to share it with you all but
then there’s some certain key points
that I have to hit on and so sometimes
in Drive it’s just I feel like saying
whatever and then sometimes I get these
really great opportunities like now with
this leopard to go a little bit further
into the studies and to start talking
with you all about it and then sometimes
it’s new information that I haven’t used
with guests before or haven’t used with
you all before that I’m trying out a bit
and it seems as if it’s working if it’s
not working you must let me all know and
I’ll find another way to put it to where
we talk about something something
different but I find it the farther in
depth we can go regarding the bush the
more understanding we get of individual
traits with lion with leopard with wild
dog and then also I mean as you all know
we had our whole wild dog saga before I
went on leave and sometimes it’s really
hard to understand the choices that the
ecologist of the sands or anywhere else
to make but when we start really going
in-depth about ecology and things like
species diversity and species richness
and population densities and and how
distribution of populations is so
important it helps the understanding as
to why they make those decisions and
then a lot of the the people that are
making these conservation decisions have
studied for three for eight years really
in-depth into a lot of stuff we get we
get to talk about so thank you everybody
I’m glad you’re I’m glad you’re enjoying
it she is super super lazy Adriene thank
you so much for your kind words I’m also
happy to be back and happy that you all
are happy to have me back and then
Adrienne you’re curious to know why what
what’s not why see Adrienne you can tell
I was on leave because I can’t speak
English today at all you’re wondering
what is the largest prey species a
leopard can pull up a tree so Adrienne
that’s all dependent upon individual and
who whom the individual hunts what prey
species they hunt because you know that
they’re quite selective and then also
the size of the individual so for
instance Jamie had that huge male
leopard that pulled up that that small
giraffe and into a tree so you can have
that I think the biggest thing I’ve ever
personally seen was a female just a
little bit bigger than tündi and I
would guesstimate tündi to be at about
fifty kilograms so about 110 pounds
roughly right around in there and this
female was probably just a few kilograms
few pounds heavier than that and she
killed an 80 kilogram male warthog so
that’s about a hundred and eighty pounds
worth and pulled it about nine meters
straight up a tree so whatever 9 times 3
is so nine yards let’s say nine yards up
tree and that was pretty hectic because
that was a big warthog and it took her
forever to to get it down it was a big
struggle but then something like that
sort of 95 kilogram male leopard that
Jamie had pulling up that let’s say
one hundred hundred and ten kilogram
draw if it’s not bigger it would
probably be one of the biggest things
I’ve heard about I haven’t heard of
anything like baby elephant but it
wouldn’t surprise me a baby elephant
comes out about 120 kilograms from the
mom 100 220 so if a male leopard can
pull up a similar-sized or weighted draw
that I would assume they would be able
to do that although I have not
personally seen a leopard kill a baby
elephant it would be within their
jurisdiction if they were able to do
that she’s giving you all some beautiful
views now she’s listening me talk to
about what she’s killing I’m not making
fun of the size of your kill tündi it’s
perfect yeah it’s interesting look I
mean obviously the animals don’t speak
English but every now and then you’ll be
discussing something like we are now and
they give you this look and sometimes
you wonder if they’re going really
really that’s what you’re talking about
our crazy wildlife curious to know if
I’ve ever seen a leopard fall out of a
tree while sleeping and that’s a big
negative they’re very agile they know
their body well they know where to lie
well I’ve seen little leopard cubs
playing around in smaller tree branches
and sort of catching a wobble but that’s
because they’re busy learning how to use
their their muscles and on how to
function with their bodies but no I’ve
never seen a leopard follow tree I’d be
very surprised to see a leopard fall out
of tree I have a friend who watched a
leopard jump out of a tree onto a herd
of Impala and killer than kill an Impala
but that was strategic it wasn’t it
wasn’t an accident
she’s definitely keeping her eye on
something and I’m wondering if it’s
related to those vervet monkeys that we
heard earlier I haven’t heard them since
we talked about them but it’s entirely
possible Yujin you would like to know
are there different species of leopard
in this area so Yujin in sub-saharan
Africa and I believe I’m correct in
saying and on the whole continent even
in northern Africa we just have the one
species of leopard which is panthera
pardus and as far as I know as well the
only subspecies that I know of in
sub-saharan Africa is the the cape
leopard and I’m actually not sure if
they’ve decided whether or not it’s a
full subspecies the other leopard
species that you will find worldwide
would be in Asian countries so the Amur
leopard Snow Leopard things things like
that good good question though
cuz we do I mean we were talking about
all the different species and subspecies
of bilder beasts but yeah we just have
the one species of leopards except for
the cape leopard and whenever they
decide on that and the one species of
lion in sub-saharan Africa you will get
I would love to go see the Asiatic lions
there’s only about sixty of them left
that would be super incredible I do know
there’s someone that watches safari live
who went and saw them recently because I
saw them hashtagging
photos so if you were watching I’m sorry
I can’t remember who it was that would
be spectacular to know about and I had
guests here she comes here we go
everybody let’s watch her come down
[Music]
fantastic how fantastic was that I had a
guest who traveled all over the world to
find and look at big cats of the world
now Tony you’re curious to know where
does the clouded leopard live Tony I’m
going to assume the clouded leopard is
somewhere in Asia but I really honestly
don’t know I don’t know if someone else
that is walking oh sorry for the tree
branch has happened – no oh furgus
saying in Borneo there we go
thanks Ferg sorry would you say I forgot
Nix Bergen Nix both said in Borneo
thanks guys I appreciate that that’s
beautiful there yeah Ferguson that he’s
also not 100% sure but that’s that’s
kind of roundabouts where he’s thinking
it is you want me to back up a little
bit more
[Music]
Wildflower you’re curious no will any
other animals go up the tree with a
leopard in it I’ve seen other leopards
grow up in a tree wildflower with a with
a different individual in there I have
seen lions go up and chase leopards off
the hills I have seen tree squirrels run
up and start chattering away I’ve seen
monkeys jump from the top of one tree to
another tree and start chattering away
but then quickly move off but no I mean
in general and when prey species know
that the leopards around they they’re
not going to be so silly as to as to try
and get up it’s just gonna have to it
has to do more with with is it another
predator or possibly wanting to steal
the kill that’s gonna be really
beautiful they’re gorgeous Thank You
tündi now time do you bring us to your
cub I don’t think I’m asking too much we
would all like to see your little cub
clouded leopards in the Himalayas
interesting okay so I wasn’t far off
with Asia and then you guys said Borneo
there we go
yeah that works she’s so gorgeous look
at her so now she obviously hasn’t
finished that kill as we know she’s
leaving a little bit there so she could
be doing one of two things she maybe
wants to go somewhere else and lay down
maybe under a bush or she might want to
go for a drink or I’m holding thumbs
that she wants to go to her cub and then
she wants to snuggle with her cub and
then pick it up that’s what I want
be truthful you’re curious know who
there she sent marks be truthful you
want to know does it look like she’s
calling the cub no definitely not be
truthful it be truthful oh she starts
calling the cub you’re gonna hear me get
all excited and girly listen listen
listen and then going quiet and her call
I can imitate lion calling cows I’m not
good at imitating leopard calling Cubs
Ferg can you do it yeah Furcal so can’t
do it so if she does start calling which
because the cub is so little she’ll only
do when she gets nice and close unless
it’s still in the den and then sometimes
they don’t even call when they’re nice
and close because they want to make sure
that nothing else is around
so what we’re gonna do is we’re just
gonna stick with her as much as I
possibly can and kind of see what she
gets up to and we might just get lucky
the general direction she’s heading is
towards the dam so we’ll see a lady
starfire if she does go there I’ll
definitely follow her there
I’m not going to we are a little bit far
from where the den site is so I don’t
know if we’ll catch it in time but if I
can see that she’s heading straight for
the den what I will try and do is see if
we can just add on some extra time the
only thing I cannot do is spotlight the
den but now as I’m saying that out loud
I’m just remembering that we have those
infrared camera so we’ll see what we can
do and I will just let Nikki and SD know
if I think we have something amazing
about to happen it’s also one of those
things where you also don’t want to
follow her in when it’s too dark because
she also needs time just to be with her
cub and so there’s always the
possibility that she might go and fetch
it and then we see it tomorrow morning
but we have 20 or 30 minutes left so
let’s just let’s see what happens let’s
take it easy we’re in Africa
we’re on African time everything happens
when it happens okay so let’s head on
down she’s definitely heading towards of
the dam I’m just going to loop around
here and again sorry for the back of my
head we all
why that’s happening what with the
stumps and the falling out recently and
I fell already today and all of that but
while we’re doing this just so you don’t
have to stare too much at the back of my
head let’s head on over to Scott and see
what he’s up to I’m hoping that he gets
his last-minute leopard with tune Ghana
and then we’ve got two leopards on the
show today so let’s head on over to
Scott you go you go afternoon everyone
we’ve just got very lucky and we passing
Prince brother he’s called us in to the
signing hello dill master sue yes and
forth
Xena and we have just caught up with
King Ghana a beautiful big male leopard
now he’s often that thick bush I’m just
gonna try and loop ahead of him he’s on
a bit of a game trail he’s off there and
exciting stuff not just Tandy but also
her Lovett in Ghana and we’re gonna be
able to loop a hedge here I’m just gonna
pick a nice little spot with it’s not
too many bushes there it is half gap and
this way we should be able to get you
guys some great views of him as he paces
towards us we’re you boys exciting oh
this is a new area for me so I’ve never
off roediger copy thanks very much to
pop around sometime anytime you like
okay copy when he get back then
so sorry I was just chatting with Prince
brother there we were actually at school
together in the same year and we’re in
luck I think ting Ghana’s gonna pop up
onto a termite mound yeah so we just
need to get ourselves into position
please come up it for us buddy this is
gonna be epic on kissing what looks like
he may just slink past at this time
around they very often climb up up to
them to get a good vantage points are we
in luck he may have just stopped or he
may pocus it up now he’s just coming
straight along the side of it
he is an absolute brute look at that
massive julep below his neck flipping
from side to side as he struts his stuff
and we’ve just been left all alone with
this beautiful big male leopard so I
think it’s Noelle that’s doing her best
to keep up with Tandy now all alone and
now us with this beautiful big male it
couldn’t get any better
really and absolutely awesome awesome
stuff now he’s looking like he could do
with a meal so that’s one thing that
bodes well first another thing that
bodes well for him is he’s absolutely no
longer Lincoln we need to rush you off
to Tandy okay so she was just walking
like we were talking about and heading
towards the dam and there was a little
steam book that was just up here that’s
caught her attention so it’s entirely
possible that she uh I say that and now
she’s scratching herself so she watched
the steam buck for maybe a minute or two
and then it bounded off the steam box
dude so she was half interested but not
fully interested obviously she’s quite
full now what I’m gonna do is we are
gonna keep following her but the path
that she’s taking is gonna go past the
other Juma vehicle that’s with us in the
siding and I want to let them be able to
have a photo without us in it so don’t
go anywhere for me you can stick with me
I’m just going to loop slightly
differently as I say that I’m lying to
you because she can see the steam book
again
let’s see if we can there we go um you
see her little tail that little bit of
white that we always talking about long
track you see how it’s twitching like
that means something’s caught her
interest it must mean that the steamed
books moved and then stopped and then
now it’s moved again and she’s just
decided it’s not something she wants so
I’m just going to loop around we’re
gonna let those guests get a quick photo
of the Magnificent tündi and then you
know don’t go anywhere we’re gonna get
her in Oh 15 seconds maybe maybe a
little bit longer depending on how my
driving is today which as I say that of
course I go over a big log I just need
to get back in the swing of things I’m
also a girl that’s a joke ladies okay so
we’re not really gonna get a sunset
tonight it’s a bit too cloudy I do you
think it’s gonna rain would be nice
maybe we’ll get a nice beautiful sunset
tomorrow now something else is
interesting is if she’s looking at that
steam book the way that she is even with
her full belly I wonder if there’s
anything that’s gonna be down at the dam
that might also catch her attention
because the wind is really good it’s in
our favor
her favorite should say and she’s
definitely gonna go down and drink the
dams just here to our right and we are
just going to meander around and get a
nice little view on the dam wall for
everybody so any of you that also have
the dam cam up you’re gonna start seeing
tündi soon on the dam cam and the birds
are already giving her away let us get
down and see if we can get a low angle
oh let’s go to Scott Scott I think Scott
said something about some Ghana go to
him quickly well we’ve just gotten
coming straight towards us
magic views and what’s caught his
attention there this is looking good
he’s looking excited by something can
you hear something oh the fact that he’s
moved his head from one side right
across to the other without looking
makes me think that he heard something
now he seems to be heading towards
whatever it was that first caught his
attention interesting stuff and you can
see that he’s changed his body language
he’s certainly looking a little bit more
sneaky than he was before and there’s an
intercept so you can match it to watch
this guy moving through this oh he can
use some Impala
it’s no Saxum Impala possibly playing
behind us and he knows full well that
when Impala are playing they may have
leopards not quite at the top of their
mind as they do and they’re not playing
where have you smart have you found some
picture Roland perfectly friend with
that leaf no joy are you wondering what
that beautiful big jewel at that flap of
skin below his neck as for I guess it
may assist you know a bit of extra saggy
skin when fighting with other big male
leopards will assist them let me just
reposition the vehicle quickly may
assist them you know a bit of extra skin
will have a bit of slack when other
males are lashing out and fighting with
one another not quite the same as a
lion’s mane but a similar kind of thing
but I think it’s just the fact that they
get very big and that’s just an excess
bit of flap of skin you also find it on
some large antelope like Eiland so it’s
not just the big cats that have jewel
absolutely I have found some poop and
you eating it yeah
now leopards will do this tup from time
to time to get certain minerals that
they don’t acquire from meat
and I think it would make far more sense
for you guys to go and watch ton D
having a drink or other than tan Ghana
eating a poop so off you go yes Scott
got my nemesis leopard I’m so excited
and we still have ton D so there’s your
two leopards for the drive and excellent
stuff and she’s just making it down to
Jim Adam to have a beautiful little
drink and the light is a really
interesting soft light at the moment so
her pattern mixed in with this dark
black on soil is really popping up
nicely there we go Terry you’re curious
to know how far how far sorry I’m I’m
really sorry I really can’t speak today
how long will she stay away from her cub
before she needs to nurse look Terry she
technically could nurse now you can I
conceived from her teats but she can
stay away from her cub for three four or
five days depending on what she’s had to
eat so just now after she stops drinking
is when we will be able to know I’m if
she’s gonna head back to nurse or head
back and finish off her kill I can hear
the monkeys going and then of course the
lapwings are also going
the monkeys are closer to juma lodge I’m
not sure if we’re gonna be able to hear
them unfortunately there’s our little
tail going because of the the lapwings
flying pass and also because of the
monkeys crawling so she’s basically come
down and earlier in the show we were
looking at some abilities with the
babies they’re not far from us here so
those Vil to be so the babies are
definitely gonna know that something’s
up so even if she wanted to hunt
anything sort of close by here the birds
and the monkeys I’ve given her away
there’s some wonderful screenshots again
for everybody here especially when she
twitches her tail at a nice little angle
it’s absolutely fantastic and they’re
rippling in the water with her drinking
I’m itching for my camera at the moment
it’s she itchy fingers
now notice how look today was a warm day
but it wasn’t super hot and leopards
don’t have to drink a lot of water but
notice how the opportunity she’s taking
now she’s really going to drink as much
as she can fit in there and leopards get
a lot of the moisture that they need
from the the food that they eat from the
liquids that are in there but this will
help her digest her food more quickly
and I also have a feeling that when
she’s nursing like this just like with
humans because you know also mammals
they probably get slightly more
dehydrated so I’m actually curious I
would be curious to know I should say if
anyone’s done any research are found in
their leopard research that females tend
to drink more water when they are
nursing as a side thought bunny you
would like to know how long can the
leopard cubs live without mums milk well
bunny she tries to be there as much as
she can but again as we talked about she
can go through four or five days without
being there so they can survive pretty
much that amount of time if they if
there were to be a little bit more
longer than that it would depend on the
strength of the cub and the age of the
cub as to whether it survived and again
I can give you statistics and I can give
you numbers but everything is very
individual base and how it also has to
do with how much stress the Cubs under
so if there’s been anything that’s
happened to the Cobo mums away like say
hyenas came to sniffing around or
another leopard came sniffing around
Reliance then obviously their
Adrenaline’s gonna kick in and then
their metabolisms gonna increase and
then they would you burn off more fat
and then would need more food so there’s
a whole bunch of factors that play in so
let’s say you know sort of after five
days you’re really starting to push it
we’ll go with that for now but you know
again there’s there’s more parameters
parameters and that’s a really beautiful
shot as well
I’m obsessing over this sighting right
now everybody I hope you’re obsessing
over this sighting as well mark you’re
curious to know if a leopard would take
the cub up a tree when they’re being
chased by lions and Mark most definitely
I mean that leopard cub knows exactly
what it needs to be doing to keep away
from from those predators so depending
on the size of the cub when they’re
really really tiny and needs to be
carted around a lot by mom or when
they’re still blind that you know after
their first couple of weeks of being
born they’re gonna be stuck inside those
den sites inside the the termite
mountain type things that we’ve seen but
let’s say she was out with this little
cub in a lion came around I mean that
Cubs already going to be somewhere like
say up that tree which is gonna be
harder for a lion now if the lion got
into the tree which they can do then the
cub would just move farther up with with
mum into the taller branches that are
harder for the for the lion to get in
because they’re heavier and that Cubs
smaller now I’ve never personally seen a
mum trying to get higher up in the tree
and by putting the cub in the mouth but
I have seen the cub go up first and then
the mum sort of standing towards towards
a lower branch and hissing and growling
at an in that particular case was
another leopard that was around
so there the mum will also be protective
to allow the cub to to carry on and and
be in a space that is a better space for
it well thank you darling Tandy that was
lovely
now please come up onto the dam wall and
then stop in the middle of the dam wall
and face us
maybe groom yourself for half a second
and then take us to your cub I know I’m
dictating a lot to tawny today but I’m
desperate to see this little one
choice you’re curious to know what is
the average distance that sawing can be
heard so Joyce a male lions roar and
good conditions can do 16 kilometres a
male leopard in good conditions the
farthest that I know it can do is maybe
6 kilometers but on average it’s going
to be shorter it’s gonna be sort of 2 or
3 kilometers and then with a female lion
it’s much shorter than the male and
interesting with the female leopard it’s
actually just as as far as the male
maybe a little bit less so but they
liked they call the males into their
territory when they’re ready to mate and
a male have sort of three four five
females within his territory so their
calls have to go a little bit longer ten
do you have five minutes to go to your
cub and but you have to walk down the
road you’re not allowed to walk through
the through the drainage links I can’t
follow you in there yes she’s absolutely
stunning but everybody I have a feeling
that what she’s gonna do is to go oh I
could be wrong if she goes down into the
drainage system I’m really not gonna be
able to follow her but we’re lucky
because I believe 10 Ghana is on a kill
so we’re not gonna lose leopards in in
your last minutes
[Laughter]
Sammy Jane you’ve just tuned in she has
eaten half of a baby Impala
but she was eating something before that
I’m not quite sure what it was I think
Ruxin said that it was a warthogs when
Rex went to go look with Aubree and they
didn’t find her they just found what was
left of the kill and then when we went
to just go triple check everything I
actually just wanted to show you the
kill itself and then we were gonna talk
about leopards but when we went to go
look she was there and she had a em she
had a baby Impala kill which is super
fun well I think it’s super fun there
might be some of you out there who think
oh poor Impala but as we all know she’s
feeding a cub and unfortunately and
that’s what some of the baby impalas are
meant to be this time of year is food
for mommy leopards and and ting ganas
and all of that so she is definitely
heading down to the Strand line I am
just going to try and meander in as best
as I can to get us a few more glances
before she goes where we can’t see her
buddy wait a minute what are you doing
down there no you were just smelling I
got super if FERC knew exactly why I
said I was hoping that that’s where
she’d stashed her a little baby and then
she was gonna bring it out but I really
honestly think that she’s put the little
one in the den sites that Tristan found
that you will I mean that a lot of the
other guys found and then Tristan showed
you the cub for the first time and so
you know sadly she’s gonna meander where
we can’t view her and carry on into the
night but we’ve had such a wonderful
afternoon with her if she sticks closer
to the road we’ll be able to follow if
she goes more into the drainage line
we’re not going able to follow I also
have to share this sighting with other
vehicles as well so we’re gonna try our
best
Oh shame Scott doesn’t have ten Ghana
anymore but I’m glad that we did get it
short a visual of 10 Ghana I’m gonna see
if we can get a another glimpse or two
of tündi before we have to say goodbye
now the reason why I’m saying we’re not
gonna stick with her to the den is
because for where she is and where she’s
walking it’s actually gonna take her
about another half hour 45 minutes maybe
even longer to get to the den so I think
tomorrow morning it’s gonna possibly be
our best chance to see that that little
baby if I thought she would be to the
den within the next five or ten minutes
we would definitely hold hold the show a
little bit longer but it is gonna take
her a while and she might run into Oh
anything along the way and then it would
take her a little bit more time thanks
everyone for wishing us a very Merry
Christmas we do appreciate that I’m not
gonna let you look at my crazy face
while we do this but I think maybe we
must look at our beautiful tündi for
our last little bit hello girl are you
gonna come say hello to everybody yes
well it’s been an amazing Drive back
everybody I really enjoyed being home
and being a back on camera with all of
you and we’ve had an epic day of course
we are going to watch her carry on in to
the bush she’s actually now changed
completely her direction and is heading
a little bit Matt back towards her kill
but again maybe she’s trying to give us
the slip so that she can quietly go to
her cub without us noticing but we will
have to check in tomorrow and see what
has happened
I’m always in awe of leopard I always
find myself getting very absorbed and
how they move and how they function and
how well they blend into their
environment I mean you can see how clear
her her pattern was when we when we had
her drinking and now as she’s marrying
into the dark name Bush just how well
she really blends into her surroundings
and her habitat they have created such
amazing little niches
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