Sunrise Safari- June 21, 2016
James is our guide this morning with Wiam assisting him on camera, and we start a few minutes late and come live when James is in mid sentence.
Brent is also out of drive but is currently changing a tire.
James has tracks of Karula and at least one cub. The light is still not good to accurately confirm the tracks.
James is near Tree House Dam. (Check map page)
With this cold front that has moved in, you can tell the leaves are turning yellow and with the wind, these leaves will soon be gone from the trees and the landscape will look very different in a weeks time.
14C 54F this morning
Over to Brent who has Dave helping him with his amazing camera work. The tire is fixed and he is heading East.
And Brent lost Signal (driving Wendy), so we are back with James.
James sees something on top of the Termite mound and thought it might be Mvula's head. (Make Leopard) but it was only a clump of sand.
James loves being out on drive but he really likes being in the tent as well. He loves all the things to look at in the tent.
Over to Brent who has signal again.
Beautiful Sunrise this morning.
Poor Brent. He has lost signal again
James has found a Leopard!
We look up in the tree and we see Karula's Male Cub.
James calls him George (not officially named yet). no sign of the Female Cub Charlotte yet.
(Not officially named yet)
James radioed in to Taxon who is the Chief Guide of this area to ask him whether we need to leave as there is no sign on mom (Karula) here. Taxon said as long as the cub is not nervous and is up in the tree we can stay.
Male Cub of Karula
Another Glimpse of Karula's 4 Month Old Male Cub
While James re positions as he thinks Karula might be on the other side of the Termite Mound that is ahead, we pop over to get an update from Brent.
Brent sees Lion tracks and is hoping they don't go off of the road.
He says "Oh Dear". Tracks fresh but going off.
But we do see a young male Zebra. Not old enough to have ladies of his own yet.
There were 5 BB(Birmingham Boys) originally. 1 died from a suspected injury from a Buffalo.
4 are remaining and are the dominant coalition of this area.
There is a farm called Birmingham where the BB were born about 50km away.
Back with James
He has found the Female Cub (Charlotte). She is on top of the Termite Mound. No sign of Karula yet.
James says maybe Karula sent both of her cubs to the naughty corner.
James speaking to Lex (guide from Vuyatela) and is an excellent guide. He has been guiding for 30 years.
James is still moving the vehicle so we haven't seen Charlotte yet (Female Cub)
And there she is! Charlotte
Karula's Gorgeous Female Cub
Karula's Male Cub (George) decides to leave the tree
Since the Male Cub is climbing down from the tree we are immediately leaving the sighting. James doesn't want the Male to be separated from his sister by our vehicle and especially since Karula is not here. (Once again James does the right thing)
Over to Brent
Brent discussing the female Lion dynamics.
The Nkahuma Pride is made up of 5 Females whereas the Styx are only 3 in number. The Male Coalition (Birmingham Boys) dominate over both prides.
The Nkahuma Pride could fight with the Styx Pride to protect their own territory.
Both Prides are currently in Torch Wood but in totally different areas. The Styx Pride is well to the East closer to the Kruger Park Boundary.
Mvula and Sindile are both knocking about which is a huge threat to Karula's cubs.
80% of cub mortality is due to other Male Leopards killing them.
(The Leopard I spotted at the Djuma Cam during the night looked like Mvula to me but not confirmed) The video clip is here on my blog in the Djuma cam page.
Dave (cameraman) has turned into the Michelin man according to Brent as he has put layer upon layers of clothing on.
Over to James
James gets out of the vehicle and grabs a branch of Strynose (Black Monkey Orange). These are the bushes that when the vehicles drive through them they make that SQUEEEEK SQUEEEK sound.
oh look! There is a teeny caterpillar on the leaf.
Next video James talks about a tree before the school children join in. (Everyone was feeling fragile)
STRYNOSE VIDEO WITH JAMES
After The Tv Show Rap Party Everyone Was Feeling Slightly Fragile
Young Male Impala
And a Hippo walking into the bush.. That is something you DO NOT want to run into while walking in the bush. They immediately feel threatened and can be very dangerous
Herbert who was out tracking the other day came across a hippo. Herbert was able to stand up quickly and get away because he is highly skilled.
Over to Brent for an update.
Brent has had gremlins.
Brent has now crossed into Arathusa.
We see a nice family of Warthogs but only for a minute or so as an Elephant Bull has arrived on the Red dam wall and the Warthogs quickly moved off.
Warthogs
The young Bull Elephants are not quite happy at the moment as is evidenced by their tails being erect and standing out. They quickly move off without having a drink. Brent thinks it is because there is larger Elephant Bull perhaps causing them a little stress.
We are on our way to a surprise says Brent. It is feline.
Uppity Elephant With Brent
As Brent attempts to move along towards our surprise, more Ellies are creating a roadblock
While Brent moves along, we hop over to James who is sitting with a Hyena. We also welcome a school classroom live on our drive.
Right over to Brent
Ready for our surprise?
It is high up in the tree.
It
Is
MVULA!!!!
And here is Mvula's Food where he has placed carefully in the tree.
Mvula Resting in the Tree
The female Hyena is inside the hole (originally dug out most likely from an Aardvark.
The Hyena is disturbed by the wind so is staying tucked in so James is moving on.
A single Impala who has become separated from his herd which is a dangerous position to be in.
Wiam has found a caterpillar in the vehicle.
We see a large Bull Giraffe
Back to James who has come back to show Charlotte (Karula's Female Leopard Cub) to the school Children who are watching Safarilive from School.
Not a good pic because James is keeping quite a distance away because Karula is not there.
Dwarf Mongoose but they are the size of a rat and moved quickly
James Draws A Caterpillar In The Road
White Crowned Shrike with his feathers ruffled out.
Back to James. James says he wonders where Brent is driving because it sounds like he is in Capetown with all of his signal problems.
We see a tree that Elephants have stripped the bark off. James explains as the drought continues and they still have 4 more months of the dry season to come, this will become more and more common as the Elephants will not have the grasses to eat.
Brent is telling everyone who missed Stefan's last bush walk and how he squeezed moisture out of Elephant Dung and drank it.
Was a great Sunrise Safari. MVULA and George and Charlotte!! AMAZING!
This concludes our Sunrise Safari
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