Sunrise Safari- July 01, 2016

Sunrise Safari- July 01, 2016

(Warning- There are some videos that can be disturbing to some viewers- I have labelled them as sensitive.

Taking us on a Safari this morning is Jamie with Bryan who is on camera.
Stefan is out on a vehicle this morning with James being out on foot. (This is a new thing for all of us- Sounds exciting)

Lots of Hyena tracks.
Let's head across to Stefan who is with David on camera. Stefan will be going to Cheetah Plains.

Impala with Stefan.
The Africans Term for an Impala is RedBuk. due to the reddish colour on their backs. They have their fur raised up this time of the day to keep warm. The raised hair traps air which keeps them warmer.

 The male and female Impala are once grouping together as rutting season is over and the male's testosterone levels have once again reduced.  
The first Lambs will be born October-December.

Nice Sunrise with Stefan this morning

 Over to James. He has Hubert out with him as security detail

 We see a Gardenia tree which when it flowers has the most magnificent smell. The blooms only last 3 days or so.

 Underneath  the Gardenia is a burrow from a bushveld Gerbil. And right beside the hole is the remains of a dung beetle ball. Inside the dung ball would have been an egg.

 Sunrise with James

 Over to Jamie who sees tracks on the road from Karula.

 And here are the cubs tracks.

 These tracks do not appear to be really fresh but the wind is blowing which ages the tracks quickly.
The tracks are heading South.

Over to James who has the Buffalo Skull that he showed us during the Tent episodes. Inside the skull is a Gecko egg. The egg is still there.  It is the white spot on the pic.

 James has misplaced his stick. Herbert goes to retrieve it as James left it with the Buffalo Skull.

Herbert Is On Security Detail

 James gives reasons for carrying a stick

Over to Stefan who has located a Glossy Starling. These birds scoot along the ground very quickly

Over to James who has an insect Grub.

 

 Insect Grub With James

Over to Jamie

During our Karula search, Jamie has established that Karula has not moved out of our area. That means Jamie wants to find out where she is. She is considering going for a little stroll.

While Jamie goes for a quick walk we pop over to Stefan
Stefan is driving along looking for animals. He saw birds but they quickly fled the scene.

Back over to James

We see the piece of old leathery skin from an Impala that Karula killed many moons ago and then the Hyena's stole it and dragged it here.

 James locates an old Impala head. He turns it over and gags slightly as it's smell is quite strong.

 James is walking down a natural game path

Over to Stefan for an update. He has walked around the 3 in a row pan (on Cheetah Plains). He saw Female Lion tracks which followed Buffalo Tracks sometime during the night.

Back over to James who has a Crested Locust.

 Herbert found it and showed it to James. It is also known as a Rain Locust.
 Their sounds at night are similar to a Cicada.
Also a spider. James thinks it might be a baby Baboon Spider

James also has a stick insect crawling on his hand which he is very amused by

 Over to Jamie now to see how her walk went.

She ran into a slight obstacle. Buffalo's. The entire spot where she needed to go was full of Buffalo so that ended that walk.

She is going to drive a loop around both Hyena dens and perhaps come back and hopefully the Buffalo will have moved off.

Back over to Stefan

He is on the Northern part of Cheetah Plains and has a Lion update for us. He spoke to Mike from Cheetah Plains who has told Stefan that only moments before he arrived, there was a skinny Male Lion right here but when he saw Mike, he dashed away.

This male Lion is not part of the Birmingham Boys Coalition. And secondly that he is not comfortable with vehicles shows he is a Lion that most likely came in recently from Kruger. Could be a younger Lion who has not yet learned to hunt effectively on it's own yet.

 Stefan also notices that there are Vultures up in a tree. Perhaps the male Lion has a kill and the Vultures are waiting their turn.

Over to Jamie

Jamie has just found some Buffalo and a new baby has just been born and has not stood up yet. It stands on wobbly legs and immediately looks for Mom to suckle.
Mom is exhausted and cannot stand up. She is quite thin with hip bones clearly showing.
The baby makes a mistake and moves in between a Male Buffalo's legs.
The Male immediately shoves his head at the baby to get it out of the way.
I have captured the entire scene on video but I must warn you it is very sensitive

After the video Final Control cuts away to Stefan with Zebras.

 New Born Buffalo - Sensitive Content. WARNING

10 Minutes

Over to Stefan

 We see a Dazzle of Zebras. A group of Zebras are called a "Dazzle".

 Back to Jamie

The Baby is walking well and Mom is up.

 Ok. Correction Time.  What we including Jamie thought was the Buffalo mom turned out not to be the mom. The mom was actually behind the large Bull who initially head butted the baby.
The baby took quite a while and still very wobbly and nervous to move towards mom but once the large Bull moved away, baby moved over to Mom.
Mom still has not gotten up and Jamie could tell that the mom has not completely delivered the Placenta yet.
Jamie is being strong but you can tell she is upset about these events as well.
Life can be harsh in the Wild.

Baby Unsure Who Is Mom And Situation Is Not Resolved Yet

11 Minutes

Jamie will stay with Mom and the baby while we go over to James

James heard a warthog squealing (like Pigs do) and he is walking very slowly to investigate.
Kudu were also alarm calling.
If this Warthog has been killed, it would have been from a Leopard or a Lion.
Herbert has come closer and James told him what he heard. Herbert is moving ahead to look for tracks

Back over to Jamie as this plays out with the Buffalo Mom and her Newborn.
The baby has decided not to waste energy for the moment and has chosen to lie down and rest. Mom is still lying down.

 Poor little baby Jamie says in its first few moments of birth has been tossed into the air by a large Bull Buffalo and been swamped by Ox-peckers which it obviously has no idea what or why they are there. Mom has not got up to suckle the baby yet.

The baby will only last a couple of hours without being cleaned and fed by Mom.  The fact that Mom has not attempted to clean it means it could be preyed upon easily.

As this continues to play out, we head back over to Stefan

Ostriches but cannot get close up pics

Ostriches lay up to 2 eggs at a time. Both Male and Female will look after the eggs.
The eggs are so strong, if a human stood on it, it would not break.

Over to James who is sitting with a pile of Elephant Dung.

 The Elephant has been eating Bush Willow, Sticks, Knob Thorns, Bark, and strychnose leaves.

Back over to Jamie who has no good news as yet.
Another Female has plopped down in front of Mom. Baby still lying down.
The mom in theory should be up and about and caring for her baby by now.

Jamie said it could have been a difficult birth. It is rare but it does happen that the mother doesn't bond with the baby.

Jamie will stay with mom and baby.

Over to Stefan
He is trying to show us a Lilac Breasted Roller but it is so far away it looks like a spec.

Yellow Billed Hornbill  with Stefan

Yellow Billed Hornbill 

Back over to Jamie. She says this is one of the hardest sighting she has had since joining Wildearth.
Jamie said that Mom's breathing has slowed down.
Jamie says a selfish part of her just wants to leave this sighting but she knows she has to stick it out.

Over to Stefan who might us a smile.

Stefan is driving along the Southern Boundary in Cheetah Plains.

Over to James who has now replaced the battery in his back pack.

James is going to go onto the top of a Termite Mound to view some Zebra.
Too windy and camera is shaking so no pics

Back with Jamie now

Not much has changed but Mom is looking a bit perkier.
Perhaps it was a difficult birth and she just needed a bit more time.

Jamie says that this is heartbreaking and not what she expected on her first day back from leave.

Over to James

James is sitting on a Termite Mound and has found a cricket.

James says Goodbye
Over to Stefan who is looking at  a Fig Tree

Stefan was hoping it would have had some figs on it but it does not. This is one of the largest Fig trees Stefan has seen.

As we end this sunrise safari, Jamie says she will come back at 11 a.m and will be checking on this baby Buffalo.
We hope Mom and Baby will be fine.


NOTE: Over the next few days I will be moving all of the full length SUNSET Videos to a separate page on my Blog.