SPECIAL 4th Of July Sunset Drive- July 4, 2016

 SPECIAL Sunset Safari- July 4

James starts us off this morning with Bryan and he has a special opening monologue for us 

 James Sings The American National Anthem

James and Jamie will be having a competition to see who can spot the most Mammals as well as the Most Bird Species.

 James starts the competition with a good lead. 5 Mammals- Ellie, Buffalo, Hippo, Waterbuk, and Kudu in super fast time.

Buffalo

Ellies

Burchells Starling

Red Billed Hornbill

Red Billed Ox Peckers On Buffalo

Natal Francolin

James Gets The Challenge Off To A Quick Start

 Over to Jamie who has Dave on Camera

Go Away Bird

Chagra? lol

 

Drongo

Back over to James
The score is 9 for James and 3 for Jamie

Crested Francolin

 Back to Jamie with Mongoose

Mongoose

 

Mongoose Den

Emerald Spotted  Dove

 

Cape Turtle Dove

 
Jamie says her tally is now 7. I must have missed one.

Over to James with a Yellow Billed Hornbill

Jamie found a nice family of Warthogs

 WarthogFamily

Over to James

Tree Squirrel

 Over to Jamie who found another species.

2 Human Workers

 

Crowned Lapwing

Over to James with an Impala

Bateleur

 

Lilac Breasted Roller

Over to Jamie

Nice herd of Elephant
About 20 years old

 Ellies

 With James and a White Crowned Shrike

White Crowned Shrike

 Quick to Jamie  - A Back Headed Oriole

Black Headed Oriole

 Jamie saw a Chin Spotted Battis. Even though we saw it for less then a second  it counts.

 Over to James

Blacksmith Lapwing

James counted approximately 30 elephants.

Over to Jamie with some Vervet Monkeys

Vervet Monkeys

 Over to James who spots a Brown Headed Parrot

Brown Headed Parrot

Over to Jamie with a Waterbuk and a Giraffe

 Waterbuk And Giraffe

 Over to James with a Greater Blue Eared Glossy

Greater Blue Eared Glossy

Rattling Testicular

 Over to Jamie

With an African Fish Eagle

African Fish Eagle

 The drought is taking hold as the Arathusa Sam is almost without any water. It is mostly mud now.

 In the center of the screen pic below is the rounded back of a Hippo.   Quick glimpse of a Guinea Fowl as well.

Guinea Fowl

With James now  with a steenbok

Temmicks Courser

Pippet

Magpie Shrike

Senegal Lapwing

James spots 2 Giraffe with one is lying down (rare to see one lying down)

 James says Where are all the Zebra?

 Over to Jamie who has a surprise sighting for us.

It is a 1 vehicle sighting and Jamie is first on Standby. We will do a loop and then come in. Ryan wants an extra 10 minutes.

So while we wait for our surprise, we go back over to James

Crested Barbet

Wildebeest are indeed Striped.

Wildebeest

 Wildebeest Are Definitely Striped & Close Up

 We are back with Jamie now and guess who we see??

It is Shadow and her 4 month old Female Cub who James calls Zarah

Shadow

Shadow's Cub (Zarah)

Shadow has a Vervet Monkey Kill

Shadow has moved out from the kill to rest while her cub eats.

Shadow

 Shadow With 4 Month Old Female Cub

 Zarah ( Cub Moves the kill and gives Shadow (Mom) a little hiss

Over to James with an adorable cheeky baby Elephant.

The baby gets a little too inquisitive and Mom wants baby back with her.

(Check out this amazing video with close up suckling)

 Baby Ellie Gets Cheeky  & Gets James Into Trouble With Mom
Baby Ellie suckling 

Running out of time as both James and Jamie need to get back for Fireside Chat.

A pair of Jackal with Jamie

FULL VIDEO OF SUNSET DRIVE

 This concludes our Sunset Drive for today.

For results of the Mammal/Bird Challenge between Jamie and James- Take a look for the Post Drive Chat Page to view the Fireside Chat that we all enjoyed after the Sunset Drive.