Sunrise Safari April 22, 2016

Sunrise Safari April 22, 2016

Hey Everyone! Welcome to our Sunrise Safari deep in the heart of South Africa in the Sabi Sands.

Dam Cam a few moments before going live

 

Today our Amazingly Awesome Guides are Brent and James.

And with them providing the Live as it happens video on camera are Wiam with James and Bryan with Brent.

We begin with James showing us the moon as it is setting to say goodbye for the night.

The moon tucking itself  in for the night

The moon is a subtle sort of ginger colour as it dips down behind the Drakensberg Mountains.

 James is showing us the magnificent sunrise this morning

Brent has found us a ground Hornbill right at the start!  

Ground Hornbill

James is reminding us all to celebrate EARTH DAY

We are off to check the southern boundary and then a 10 minute drive to Cheetah Plains

James tells us Brent heard the Selati boys ( male coalition of lions) calling and the Birmingham Boys (Dominant Male Coalition of lions)

Gremlins (tech issues and off air temporarily)

 

James is mentioning we have lost the musical talent "Prince".  He is listening to Doves which is appropriate because Prince had a major hit called "When Doves Cry".

A viewer wants to know when the last large kill was on Djuma.  Brent imagines the Nkahuma's ( female lion pride) were the most recent about 6 weeks ago. He doesn't remember the Birmingham boys killing anything large as of late.

We are sitting quietly enjoying the dawn and waiting for the sun to peek out.

The sun is rising and it is most breathtaking.

James telling us that the bb boys were very quiet last night.. The moon was hidden for most of the night so perhaps they did kill something near here.

No tracks of Karula   We are on  little Gowrie which is south. He continues to drive on to Leadwood road.

Leadwood tree

The Leadwood tree skeletons can remain standing for hundreds of years.

Starlings have a nest inside a hole in this leadwood tree

Starling with amazing colours

 

 

Over to Brent

Brent is asking everyone to plant indigenous plants  instead of exotics for Earth Day

Blue Commelina

Blue Commelina ( Commelina Modesta)flower 

Sam is out on the tracking team this morning

at Buffleshoek dam and there are bb boy tracks leading away so they did come past during the night

QUICK!! JAMES IS UP A TREE!!

James is climbing up into a tree

James explains about this tree originally having a host tree

James stares in amazement that he cannot find evidence of this trees origin species

And he climbs down

Beautiful Fig Tree that James has climbed

Now we are on Cheetah Plains still with James

Kudo large male

Large Kudo Male

Female Kudo

Kudo female listening intently

We watch the graceful Kudos while listening to the sounds of the Hornbills

Efram (from the Lodge) has called James on the radio of a sighting of a very large Elephant Bull on Triple Pan

James is using his GPS mapping to guide us onto the right road as Cheetah Plains is still new to all of us.

Wrinkled old Soul

 

James is in awe at the size of this male Elephant.

His tusks are huge. Close to 6 feet each.

This massive animal is chilling out munching

left tusk has a well worn notch and he is using the notch to break tree branches

James talks about this Elephant and  his old eyes .. an old soul telling us a story

He is the ultimate king of the wilderness

each tusk weighs 60 - 70 pounds each

This male is in Musth as we see his back of legs shining with moisture

He can and will  still most definitely continue  breed until he dies

James laughing and calling this Elephant a punk Elephant because of the hole in his ear.
 

Many well earned notches in this old fella

Kudos alarm calling and James has called it in

James would like to see what the kudo are shouting about.

Took a quick look and the Kudo are just huffing and puffing after noticing the Elephant 

 Reported sighting recently of Mvula ( Male leopard who is how a dispersal male (meaning without a territory)

Born 2005  but he has remained elusive to our guides today.

Brent continues following Karula's TRACKS!

Brent is making SSsss sounds to attract a mongoose that went into the hole

Termite mound that a mongoose has taken up residence in

no mongoose coming out to visit

Female Warthog though showed up

Female Warthog

Brent discussing a question from a viewer about domesticated animals surviving in the park.

Any domestic animals found in the area are destroyed on sight as they kill everything.

Domesticated house cats are perfect little predators and are too destructive.

Bent says if you own a cat... put a bell on it to warn its predators. 

They also carry distemper which can spread to the wildlife here.

South Africa has a huge problem with bass wiping out indigenous species. trout are also a problem

Brent talking about rabies. the reservoir for rabies is the domestic dog population.

65% came back positive for rabies of domestic dogs that they tested in the area (outside of the reserve)

Jackals can carry rabies.  Brent carries 2 vaccinations at all times in his refrigerator because he is around animals all the time and needs to be prepared.

Brent gets word on the radio that our bb boys have literally walked from one side of the area all the way across and then went a diff direction. went half way and then changed direction and now coming back again.  Brent is laughing at the zig zagging the Birmingham Boys have been doing throughout the night

 Brent has found us an African Green Pigeon

INTERNET dispruption on my end for a few minutes

Now with James and a herd of Buffalos.

 

Herd of Buffalo

Buffalo

 And now we see Giraffes

Giraffes

James addressing why he left the large Elephant Bull sighting.

Being in musth, one must always be diligent and assessing the body language and its comfort level while viewing.  This large Elephant decided that this was close enough and stepped closer. At no time was it agitated but James felt he had was just letting us know that he wanted his personal space back The elephant came close about 10 feet away but was no way being aggressive although both James and Wiams heart rates increased. lol

Lets carry on towards 3 in a row pan before in case a leopard comes out for a drink

James doesn't think we will get any more rain this year.. which means it will be tough for the animals

James is saying how quickly our lives fall apart when the water ceases to flow out of the tap.  They wouldn't be able to broadcast or remain in the camp without water.

BRENT HAS OUR BB BOYS

4 in attendance

5th one is alive and well in Buffleshoek . asleep near the waterhole

Male lions feed 2-3 days depending on the size of the kill

a large buffalo will last them a couple of days

20 lb of meat in a sitting each

digests very quickly

we hear an impala doing the PHSSHH as he sees the lions.  I would imagine he is skulking away quickly

These male lions might have walked this distance over the night due to the Selati coalition being around. The Salati's appear to have left the area. Good going BB boys! you show them who is boss

The Birmingham Males are the dominant male coalition in the area

2 prides of females in their area

Styx - 2 new cubs from separate lioness's in the pride in April of this year

and Nkuhuma of which we know at least one is visably pregnant at this time.

Brent heard the Salati males were  roaring up to the north in the night.. so the fact that the bb boys didn't call means that they were sneaking in to run them off.

The bb boys have battled the Salati males before and have come out victorious to date.

the 5th bb who was quite skinny has eaten 2 buffalos recently and is gaining weight and is looking much better

The bbs boys will most likely stay flat until sunset safari.

 Impala keep popping out from Guarry bushes. The spot the lions.  Pssssh!!! There is a lion. Then they calm down. Then another impala pops out. Pssssh! There is a lion.!  repeated as each impala gets surprised by the sleeping lions

Impala Phhssss ing at seeing the Lions close by

Brent discussing a question from a viewer asking is one of the male lions has mange

Not mange but perhaps a fungal infection which is healing

The one lion does not have sarcoptic mange that a viewer asked about but is most likely a healing fungal infection which is common.

hair coming back in nicely on his belly now

JAMES shows us a wild sesame

Wild Sesame

But then he saw some creepy yellow type of centipede and it literally scared him. He squealed..

it moved fast so I couldn't get a pic but to see James's reaction was EPIC for me!

Back with Brent and he is showing us some grasses and a question about a bush  

Do you know the name of this one?

It is a Bush veld false thorn.

 I got  it wrong. I thought it was a sickle bush.. darn.. must study more

I created this pic below to show that I thought there were some similarities in the leaves

 

We are now at the end of our journey for this Sunrise Safari

Possible good news though. Brent has reports that Karula has moved back onto Djuma so hopefully we will see her on sunset safari.

Bye for now!