Jamie is one of our guides this morning with Jeandre assisting her on camera.
Stefan will be doing a bush walk for us and has Hubert as his security and assistant tracker.
Brent is our other guide this morning and has Wiam on camera
Quite a chilly morning as the mist collects in the dips that we will be traveling this morning
Jamie is happy to be back. She says it feels more normal to be back in the bush but she had a great time in the UK.
Over to Brent and Wiam
He is looking for Shadow but he does not see any sign of her.
He is going to move on and come back to this area later and check again
OH LOOK!! Right in the road!
A side striped Jackal. He is in the middle of the road and trotting towards Brent
Click Link Below To View Video
Brent says he thinks that the Jackal can jog faster then James.
Over to Jamie who sees a large bull Giraffe who is hiding himself behind a knob thorn tree in the shadows
Lets go over and see what Stefan is up to this early morning
Gorgeous sunrise with Stefan on his Bush walk
Stefan is standing beside a very active termite mound. The termites are carefully closing their chimneys for the winter to keep the warmth inside so they can continue to create their fungus
Click Link Below To View Video
The Termite Queen lays an egg every 3 seconds. Each egg is pre determined as to the role that the Termite will play in the colony. i.e Worker, Soldier etc.
The Exploration holes for this mound extend approximately 30 yards from the initial mound.
Over to Brent for a few moments. He saw tracks. But it was just a Hornbill track who had given himself a dust bath on the side of the road.
Reports of a male Leopard (perhaps Tingana) crossed around Sydneys Dam, 3 Nkahuma Ladies crossed opposite from Buffleshoek Dam
Over to Stefan
He has an Orb Spider who has caught a fly and is devouring it. The spider has zebra striped legs as a defense mechanism
You can see the sticky glue globules that the Spider has placed throughout each stand of silk
Over to Jamie who has seen male Leopard tracks. (could be mvula or Tingana). large tracks. probably passed beside the lodge area during the night
Jamie saying a quick hello to Efram from Cheetah Plains and getting an update.
Efram thinks the Leopard has already crossed towards Mala Mala.
Over to Stefan. The drainage line is full of surprises.
He has come across and male and female grasshopper
Stefan hears Elephants trumpeting and he is proceeding cautiously. He will use termite mounds as cover if he needs to.
OUCH! Dave (our cameraman) just hooked himself on the vicious hooked thorns of an Acasia.
Back to Stefan while Brent continues his search for big cats.
An Elephant has pushed this entire tree over to get at a top branch
Over to Jamie for a few moments. She has come across female leopard tracks that are perhaps 2 hours old. Perhaps Inkanyeni.
She isnt sure but the tracks are larger then Karula's.
Back to Stefan who has a most gorgeous Butterfly
It appears like it has 2 heads and 2 sets of antenna which acts as a deception to predators.
Stefan says when they go running in the afternoons, the fields are filled with Butterflies.
He is still looking for the elephants. They have stopped trumpeting which makes it more difficult to track. It is possible 2 herds who came together and have now separated themselves.
His number one thing in the bush that he uses the most is his ears. He is standing in a meadow.
No one has found Karula so he and Wiam are checking the southern boundary and will go look again for Shadow. He sees a track that at first glance looks similar to a Leopard track until you see the knuckle part. It is a Baboon track.
We see a sunbathing Squirrel
Brent has the sneezes so lets hop over to Jamie who is with some Wildebeest and some Zebras
Click Link Below To View Video
Click Link Below To View Video
2 very different animals. The Blue Wildebeest right along side the Zebras sharing the same habitat.
Over to Stefan.
He has spotted a Wildebeest and wants to practice his "sneaking up on" skills.
He is going to try to sneak up on it to show us how difficult it is.
Click link Below To View Video
Over to Brent who has found another Side Striped Jackal
Brent is on the Arathusa Air Strip and wants to go along to try and locate the Secretary Birds that we saw on a previous drive.
Brent says that since the airstrip has been tarred, it is highly likely that it will attract lions during the winter months because the tarred surface holds the heat and the lions will like to stretch out on it for warmth the hot tar will provide.
A few Impala and 2 young boys doing a bit of grooming
Over to Stefan Quickly!
Stefan said something has been moving here that has caused the Kudu to alarm greatly. He is looking for tracks.
He is walking towards Philamons Cut line.
The Kudu's were running from his left to his right.
Stefan is expecting perhaps a Leopard due to the loudness of the Kudu Alarms.
He sees a Hyena track.
Stefan hears lots of birds alarm calling. Squirrels, Hornbills, Long Tailed Shrikes and Burchells Starlings are all alarm calling.
He is walking into thick bush.
HUBERT HAS FOUND FRESH FEMALE LEOPARD TRACKS!!!
Stefan thinks the Leopard could be close.
4 part video inserted here. MUST SEE
Click Link Below to View Video
Clink Link Below To View Video
Click Link Below to View Video
Click Link Below To View Video
Over to Brent while Stefan figures it all out
Brent says he is grasping at straws thinking he will find Karula. But he is the eternal optomist.
Over to Jamie who has found a Juvenile African Hawk Eagle
It is definitely an Eagle because it has feathers all the way down its legs which is a key identifier
She sees a Lilac Breasted Roller who has what she thinks is a grasshopper in its mouth. He is beating it against the branch to kill the grasshopper before he swallows it.
Click Link Below To View Video
Over to Stefan and the news isnt good. He says he feels now that the tracks were not that fresh. Said he has been "hoodwinked". He has asked Brent to head over and look because he is the leopard tracking specialist.
Stefan shows us what he calls a "Hippo Sign Post"
Hippos do not have any exocrine glands to use to mark territory as many other animals to. So Hippos choose a spot and defecate and literally spray their dung all over a bush to mark it.
It has a musty grassy smell
Stefan calls it "A message Board From The Hippo"
Stefan shows us a tiny creature which is very lethal.
it is on a Rhus Bush and is a Flea Beetle. He has been working here for a 2 decades and this is the first season he has ever seen Flea Beetles
The beetle larvae are buried a foot deep in the soil Bushmen used to collect the larvae and squeeze its insides onto the tip of an arrow. They would then use the arrow to strike a buffalo for example on the neck or the cheek. The toxins contained in the larvae would kill the Buffalo in approximately 40 minutes.
So Toxic!
We hop over to Brent for a very quick glance at a 20-30 year old youngish Bull Elephant.
Click link Below To View Video
Quick back to Stefan who has a Spider ATTACKING a Grasshopper and injecting its lethal venom over and over and over again. BRUTAL!
Stefan calls it "EPIC"
The spider has stabbed in again and again 3 more times.
You can see droplets of its venom on the Grasshoppers Abdomen
Click Link Below To View Video
And that is it for this Sunrise Safari.
We didn't see any Big Cats but we got to see lots of amazing things and Stefan and Hubert showed us the thrill of stalking a Leopard.
Bye for now Everyone
No comments:
Post a Comment