SAFARI ChEy IS IN THE HOUSE!: Sunrise Safari April 20th

Good Morning everyone!

We have James this morning with David on camera and Sam with Bryan on Camera

We start this morning with an amazing view of large elephants. 6 tons!

Sauntering in to get a cool refreshing drink

This elephant is very smart as he drinks from the pipe where the captured water enters. This water is at its freshest and has not been muddied up by other animals.

I Know! My face is all wet. Feels wonderful!

The elephants have come down to the pond for a refreshing drink.

Ellie is getting a drink at the pan and is smart enough to get it from the pipe which provides water to the pan instead of drinking the water that the buffalo use and hippos use and muddy the water. Smart elephants

I sent in a question to #safarilive and my question was in regard to the pipe and was water being pumped in.??

James replied a bit later in the drive when we were in the same area watching Buffaloes but since I mentioned the pipe in this part of the post, I shall address his answer to me here and now

James replies-

Cheryl? you are interested in why the water is pumped in? yes.You are correct This particular water (with Buffaloes ) is not but you are correct by the dam wall the water is trapped. You quite correctly say do we do that because of drought? and yes we do and the other reason we do this is because the more water you have the more animals you get and there has been a perception around here that all of the private land owners do provide artificial water for animals to come and drink and it is a controversial practice these days because we know what it does. It attracts animals like these buffalo and like elephants , zebra and impala, but the closer the water is together the more it excludes other animals perhaps like sable and roan (antelope) which prefer to be a bit further from water so yes, as it does provide an advantage some animals and it is done not so much for drought but because this is a dry area and therefore, the more water you have, the more likely you are to have one or more animals roaming about the place. It does have its disadvantages

As we see some closer views of the elephants questions arise regarding male elephants being in Musth.

Musth is a condition in the male (Bull) elephants which can at times be characterized by somewhat aggressive behaviour as is accompanied by a large rise in Testosterone (reproductive hormone). Testosterone levels can be up to 60 times the normal level during this time. There is no exact scientific data to confirm that if an Elephant becomes or shows aggression that it is positive proof that it is because he is in Musth.

You can tell by above photos the liquid streaming from beneath its eyes. This also causes swelling in the temporal glands and some studies have suggested that the swelling could cause eye discomfort and be a contributing factor to a lion being agitated.

I think someone splashed me

And what exactly are you staring at?

Now let's pop onto the back of Sam's vehicle and see what he has to show us. Sam has Bryan on camera with him this morning.

And SURPRISE! Sam has an Elephant with him as well.

The Elephant saunters away to munch on some grass

The morning is quite still. Very little breeze.

We have all sent Bryan ( on camera) happy birthday wishes as he has turned the big 30 today!

Sam says it is a chilly morning ( for me in Ontario this temp would be amazing right now)

Beautiful Sunrise this morning

The sun is peeking up from the horizon and we get a short glimpse through the foliage.

And now we are back with James as he shares with us his view of the sunrise and calls the sun an orbit that

comes up over the Eastern horizon to bathe the land with a plethora of life that we enjoy all day long\.

Well said James!

Just a few tidbits to add to the commentary before we move on with more pics

Brent ( guide) is following up with James on the radio and reporting that on the southern boundary there had been some sightings of karula. (Karula is the Queen of Djuma- female leopard)

James considering going to buffleshoak dam to see what is there.

James discussed the well known phrase

Red sky at night sailors delight.

Red sky in morning sailors take warning.

James remembers it as being

Red Sky at night Shepards delight

Red Sky in morning Shepards take warning.

James tells us to be careful with our coffee as the road we are on is quite bumpy. lol

While driving James is talking about the 2 female leopards we most often see on our drives.

Shadow( who is actually Karula's daughter) has 2 cubs on Arathusa The cubs are approximately 5weeks old..

Karula has 2 cubs . we have seen once. they are south to the reserve. 7-8 weeks old.

Shadow has been coming closer to the boundary so it is a good possibility that we will soon be posting pics of her cubs.

James is driving and checking the upper branches of all trees looking for a possible kill that a leopard could have stashed.

He thinks he sees one!

But alas, It is only a knob thorn tree with a branch that James thought might have been a leg from a kill.

Lets move on

We are back with Sam now and he is showing us his " Empathy Map" that he has drawn in his notebook.

Empathy Map drawn by Sam

Sam is explaining the life cycle of a kudo from a viewers question. they can live around 6-8 years for a large male

Sam is searching for a kudu.

Sam has developed a new fondness for the wild dogs and to see their energy was incredible.

He got to see their inner beauty and it was fantastic to get to know them better

I sent in another question to #safarilive and asked him to explain what an empathy map was" and Sam explains it perfectly to us.

You draw the animal instead of writing about it.. so it isn't so linear. He learns as he draws and their relationship to other animals. how does it relate to the plants it eats and to the predator. SAM IS AMAZING! We are learning so much!

During the drives we can send in questions and sometimes we also answer questions that the guides ask us.

You can email at wildsafarilive.com or use twitter #safarilive .

We have popped back over with James now as he has found some leopard tracks on the border of Djuma. These are male leopard tracks.

James sees a herd of elephants heading down to the dam and we are headed there now, and as we are heading to the dam we see some Kudo's.

Kudo


Kudo

Back with Sam and we are staring at what we see and are somewhat puzzled. You take a look below

Can you see it?

Keep looking!!

It is SAM!

He is hiding in the bush pretending to be a kudo.He was attempting to be secretive as a kudo would be.

He was attempting to be like an animal to see how well he blends in with the landscape

Well done Sam! Almost missed you completely.

Sam as lost signal which sometimes happens out in the bush-veld so we are back with James.

James is saying the elephants appear to be not relaxed.. moving more quickly then usual. Brent who is out on tracking has called James with a different herd doing the same thing

Brent has now called James saying a large elephant cow has just chased him and they are headed to the dam so James is reconsidering his idea of going to the dam as it could be dangerous for himself and could be stressful and upsetting for the elephants who are now stressed about something

Check out those Tusks!


Munching away and appear quite calm

James saying all of the elephant bulls appear to be in musth at the same time which is unusual.

As we watch the Elephants feeding . one is pushing dry brush away to get at the guinea grass underneath which is young and fresh

James answers a viewers question about aging an Elephant. You cannot age an elephant by the size of their tusks.

The herd of Elephants we are in number approximately 30.

OH NO! Don't push over the Marulla tree

The Marulla tree is a single stemmed tree with a wide spreading crown. . The tree grows up to 18 m tall.
The fruits are used in the liqueur Amarula.

Giraffes, rhinoceroses and elephants all browse on the marula tree, with elephants in particular being a major consumer. Elephants eat the bark, branches and fruits of the marulla to the trees' detriment; indeed, elephant browsing has been shown to significantly limit the spread of the trees.

The fruits, which ripen between December and March, have a light yellow skin, with white flesh that is rich in vitamin C— containing about eight times the amount found in an orange. They are succulent and tart with a strong and distinctive flavour.

Inside is a walnut-sized, thick-walled stone. These stones, when dry, expose the seeds by shedding 2 (sometimes 3) small circular plugs at one end. The seeds have a delicate nutty flavour and are much sought-after, especially by small rodents who know to gnaw exactly where the plugs are located.

Thanks to wikepedia for above information : to read more follow below link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sclerocarya_birrea

We are back with Sam now and he saw a male warthog but it has now moved deep into the bush so we have no visual yet.

Warthogs like to use old ant eater mounds as their home. They did a hole into it and then sit in it HEAD facing outwards all of the time so it can see predators coming

Sam coming up to watering hole now. Lets see what we see

Elephants come in all shapes and sizes

And not only do we have Elephants! We also have a Hippo!

Lots of Elephants enjoying the cool water

A little one sucking from mom

And here is our Hippo

The Elephants proceed to the watering hole and are not at all bothered by the Hippo residing in the water.

Sam remarking that the "ellies" seem ill at ease. I am wondering if he is aware that James and Brent have noticed the same behaviour this morning in other herds.

Sam carefully counted the Elephants and it looks like we have 45 ellies in this group

Playful or conflict

A couple of the Elephants are pushing each other. Sam wonders if this is just play or is it an act of conflict.

The Elephants have all now moved into the bush and out of sight

This area is called Buffleshoek dam..It was named from the farm owner who used to live on this land

Sam singing buffalo soldier a Bob Marley tune

Bob Marley sings Buffalo Soldier

We are back with James and he thinks Tingana is here close by. he is just looking carefully as Tingana has left a kill in a nearby tree so most likely Tingana is close by.

And We have found TINGANA!

Tingana- The King of Djuma

He is looking quite full.

I am trying to see close up on Tingana where he had an injury from a week or so ago. He went through a rough few days and spent his time under a bush licking his wound. We have no way in knowing how his injury came about. It could have happened when he was mating or it could have been from a fight during a kill

The kill appears to be almost gone. Tingana has devoured most of it.

He can eat approximately 25% of his body weight in one sitting.

(I am making a note to myself saying I should not take Tingana to an all you can eat buffet anytime soon)

Grooming

Tingana was fully yesterday and his belly quickly digests and he will want to eat again

In a couple of hours he wont look as full and will want to hunt again this evening.

Discussing ages of Leopards on an average

leopards in captivity 20 years here in this area they live approx 14 years old

Oldest female 18year old (named safari)

Tingana weighs approximately 200 lbs

While Tingana continues to groom himself, Let's pop over to see what Sam is up to.

Sam has something.... ummmm un usual to tell us

Sam has been spending time talking to shangaan people They explained how to heal a headache using indigenous medicine

#1 light the dung of an elephant and in the smoke.. you inhale into your

lungs.

#2 Inhale in and out 3 times.

By the third time, it will heal your headache

Wisdom from the land

((I am wondering if the dung has willow material in it which has a natural aspirin in its leaves which could medicinally help a headache)) (my thoughts only and not spoken by our guide)

Back to James now as he is still with Tingana

We are sitting with satisfied Tingana about 15 feet away at best.

The view doesn't get any better then this.

If you were on a real safari you would have a few moments with this amazing leopard and then the jeep full of people would move on and your sighting for that day would be over. On safarilive we have such amazing long time visits with so many animals. They just need to figure out a way to add "smell-a-vision" or on second thought. eww . maybe not. lol

Tingana has big feet

I love Tingana's rosettes. She is absolutely breathtaking

Tingana's wound healing well

I was able (Thanks James and Bryan) to take a look at Tingana's wound and it appears to be healing very well. He moves normally now without the stiffness of being uncomfortable.

Back to Sam and he has some waterbucks to show us

2 female Waterbucks

female Waterbucks

Back to James with Tingana

As we watch Tingana resting in the grass, James is imitating bird calls and he does them perfectly. Some birds respond back to him. Hearing the sound of the birds and listening to Tingana's breathing is one of the most relaxing things you can imagine.

Tingana will most likely spend most of his day in this exact position. He will perhaps move into the shade for the afternoon. Leopards hunt mostly at night unless the opportunity arises with something close to him

So We are off for a jaunt with James and will come back to Tingana as night draws near.

If you look closely in this next pic, you will see a teeny weeny head popping up out of the water.
Can you see what it might be?

There he is! A teeny Terrapin

And there we can barely make it out but it is indeed a Terrapin.

Wood sandpiper This makes # 43 of birds that I can now identify YAY ME! Sorry it wasnt a better pic but was zoomed in as much as possible. If you havent started a bird list. Start one today!

And without further ado, let us run back to Sam

As you all know a special day is coming this Friday, April 22nd. It is EARTH DAY

Earth Day in Canada

http://www.earthday.org/earth-day/earth-day-theme/

Sam is talking about Earth day and soil

2 different soil types in the Sabi Sands

sam discussing preserving water during a drought.

and how Jamie (guide) takes buckets into the shower with them to collect their shower water and re uses it on the garden.

Indigenous people used to squeeze the branches of a merula tree to get the moisture out of it to drink

Sam reminding us to compost. Return to the soil in your garden

back to James as Sam has lost his earpiece hehehe

James and Dave are driving quite quickly as the many flies near the buffaloes had invaded their personal space.

OH LOOK!!! Butterflies!