Sunrise Safari - June 8, 2016

Sunrise Safari- June 8, 2016

James is extremely flexible this morning as he climbed up a very large tree to greet us.
He has Bryan on camera

James plan this morning is to go and look for Sindile.  His tracking collar has placed him on the Arathusa Airstrip last night.

James Is So Flexible

Stefan is out for a bush walk with Wiam on camera.
James will be the only person on a vehicle this morning.

Over to Stefan who has found a Day Time Orb Spider.

 Over to James who shows us a termite mound that once was Sindile's favourite spot and James said he once caught a mongoose on that termite mound but didn't kill it.

 James has a millipede.

Over to Stefan

he has Poison Apple seeds.

 Something made a hole in it and has eaten the inside.

And a Potatoe Bush with tiny flowers on it that smells like fresh potatoes just before you make French Fries with them.

Over to James

The sun is lighting up the dust and looks so pretty

James is just entering Arathusa.
James is trying to get an update on the game channel.
You can hear cross Elephants

Elephants Shouting

They have pushed this tree over

Over to Stefan who has not one but TWO butterflies

He isn't sure what type of butterflies are but he is sure Brent will know.

Pretty Butterflies

 Over to James who sees the Elephants in the brush.
He now knows why they were trumpeting. The large Elephant Bull is in heavy musth.

For the duration of the drought, they will not be off roading for Elephants.
No updates on the game channel about Sindile.

James talks about Sindile and how it is similar to moving into a new school

Sindile Starting At A New School

Sindile was released in the Sabi Sands, spent some time at Londolozi and then Mala Mala before coming into Arathusa.

Here is the GPS maps showing Sindiles Travels since being released

Elephant in the bush in the sunshine

Elephant toenails

Normally 5 on the front and 4 on the back. They lose them easily.

Young Female (Cow) Ellie

Over to Stefan

Sees a Roller but it flew too fast.

Stefan shows us an amazing Web that has used its strength in its silk to actually bend the grass stem to a shape that he/she wants. The spider is inside the web but extremely difficult to see.

Respecting Spiders

 Over to James

Lions in the drainage Line

James sees 1 Lioness

He said The Tail less Lion

A whole Pride!

2 Lioness's . TheTsalala Pride!

 And a young male.

James was asked to back up because someone else couldn't see properly.

.

And now we have the Technical Difficulties screen

We are back

Tsalala Pride

  

The one Lioness gets a little scrappy with the other Lioness and they exchange slaps.

Let's Share

 This next video needs NO explanation. AMAZING! CRAZY EXCITING!

 One Angry Elephant And Tsalala Pride

James has now left the sighting as there are many others that wish to view these amazing Lions.

 The lions lick the skin to remove the hair and also provides roughage and to get the last bit of sinew from it. Lions have very rough tongues.

This young male is about 2-3 years old  and then we have the Birmingham Boys which are about 5-6 years old and the Matimbas are 10-11 years old. The manes continue to grow and get darker as they age.

Stefan has signal again so we hop over to him.

WAIT! back with James

We are with the same Elephant that causes the noise with the lions. He came towards James slightly while off camera but now appears calmer.

 James says Please don't push this tree down. I will need to SHOUT!

Please Don't Push The Tree Down

Over to Stefan

 He knows what happened to Karula's Impala kill that the Hyena's stole from her.

We Know What Happened To Karula's Impala Kill

 Back to James.

No signs of Sindile

But we have Giraffe feet!

 Pretty Crowned Lapwing

Crowned Lapwing With A Beautiful Voice

Also a pippit

 Much better view of a Giraffe

A giraffe can move its head at 180 degrees.

Over to Stefan

A grasshopper that is the exact colour of the plant it is resting on.

Stefan Points A Stick Where The Grasshoppers Head is

Stefan Points With A Stick To show Us The Grasshoppers Leg

 Over to James. He made it to the bottom of the airstrip but no signs of any Leopard.

Back over to Stefan who has a cockroach

Nocturnal. Will eat dead vegetation and fungus. Soft Bodied

And yes, If you step on a cockroach an egg will get squished out.

Stefan did  not step on this one.

Cockroach

 Over to James with an Elephant that does not look to be in very good condition.

Floppy ear

Scapula clearly showing

But appear to be eating well

 How Much Does An Elephant Eat

Over to Stefan.

We see a branch that has been totally stripped

Celulose eating Termites

Stefan shows us a termite mound (different type of Termite)

And explains that people dig out the termite mounds (mine them) and make bricks and then return the now formed bricks to the inside of the Termite mound and use it as a kiln

The kiln can not only be used as an oven to bake food but also to bake construction materials.

Over to James

Back into Djuma now. No signs of Sindile.

James sees Leopard tracks.

Female 

These tracks are from last night.

His brain is saying they are from a Female but Karula and Shadow are not this big.

Leopard Tracks

 Buffalo Bull and a Red Billed Oxpecker

Over to Stefan

A bird got impaled by a Thorn and that is how it met it's death

And to End this Sunrise Safari I thought a little funny was in order.

 James Is An Alien

And this concludes our Sunrise Safari for this morning

IMPORTANT NOTE:  On Thursday 9th June we will be starting our sunrise safari two hours earlier than normal. The start time will be 4.30amCAT, 10.30pm EST and 2.30am GMT.