Safari Live - Day 23 | National Geographic

49m read

·Nov 11, 2024

Hello everybody! Again, I'm sorry about that. We have got untold troubles, and I'll show you why I think we have untold troubles. Let me just get to this corner over here. I think if you look up, that's where we live—a tan gamma Maura. Unfortunately, not in here—salubrious guest tents that they have there. Well, there are tents, very salubrious, but you can't see above. There is a fairly large storm burgeoning, and I think that that changes the atmospheric pressure. Well, obviously it does, plays havoc with the signal, and it is therefore, you know, I'm guessing that we are struggling to broadcast for you. Sorry! We left those vultures. We had to do that; we didn't know when we'd ever see you again, but here you are back again.

There's also a very large storm which I'm going to show you over here. There it is! An enormous storm coming in from the east, which makes me deeply terrified to the core of my being as I quiver in my small size sevens. It's hit across two Scotch dicen—he'll—the beard like a male lion. See if this time he's able to say hello to you. It isn't working! I would put it down to a cable jiggling, extraterrestrial beings in outer space possibly—those are my thoughts.

My name's Scott Dyson; it's great to have you on board with myself and Manu on camera. We have decided to drive the river road which takes us south from our camp in the hope that we may find Skaar, a big male lion. He likes to lurk a little bit further south from here, quite close to the river. He works both sides of the river; he actually swims across it from time to time.

For those of you who don't know about Skaar or haven't heard about him, he is a massive, massive, really impressive male lion—a beautiful big black mane, and we haven't seen him for a while. There was a request by somebody; I forgot who this morning for us to go and look for him, as well as another request that came through this afternoon from a special friend of mine. So, that is the plan, and we're gonna loop around back to the two young male lions that we had this morning. If we don't have any further luck, hopefully, the storm that we're heading towards—there James, I think also just showed you—is not going to affect us, but we do have a circus-like tent that we can drop down, cover ourselves up, and keep trying for the most entertaining safari sadly. So, let's fingers crossed! Hopefully in to be elsewhere, just not around us. We do need the rain in the general area, just not right where we are.

What's fascinating on that topic is that we've really worked arts and got an understanding of how localized the rain can be. Sometimes up at camp, which is up on the escarpment, the OhLaLa escarpment to our right, just a little bit further behind us up there can be raining, and down here it can be dry and vice versa. Yet the distances can be very, very short between where the rain is falling and where it is not! I've got good news! We are gonna stop very quickly and show you some striped animals before we send you south to Juma to show you a spotted animal. One of the most iconic of Africa, and a very, very beautiful one indeed—over to Byron now.

We are going to go and try and hope one of the other guys has found some leopard tracks, and they look fairly fresh. So, we're gonna try and maybe work in that area and give him a hand. I'm just quickly... because we had a giant eagle owl, but we haven't seen it for quite some time now. I'm not sure if it’s possibly just moved from these trees maybe further down the river and the dry riverbed. This is the Marathi, and we are sitting above at the moment.

I don't know; they tend to move from tree to tree, especially this big jackal berry. These thick trees always nice too for them to roost up there during the day— a lot of cover, a lot of foliage for them to hide in until eventually, they will come out at night, be a bit more active, and try and hunt. Although the other day—I say that—but the other day, Tristan got that giant eagle owl that was feeding on something at court in the morning or in the afternoon. Tristan watched it in the afternoon; it was busy feeding in one of these trees.

I've spotted some vervet monkeys; let's see if we can get a glimpse of them. Can you see it there? Oh! There it is just looking down at us. That's a young one, a little vervet monkey enjoying the afternoon sun in this big jackal berry. The scientific name of the jackal berry, actually... I mean, we change to draw these scientific names into us—you have to know them! It is important so you don't get confused between the trees and different common names. Sometimes common names get confused, but with scientific names, it only has one name. So, it can't be called a number of different things because the jackal berry was also used to be known as the ebony, but the scientific name is Diospyros mespiliformis. Try saying that five times fast! You see these monkeys are enjoying the jackal berry fruit at the moment.

The Jersey lady and Jenny animation, you are very excited and happy that we found some monkeys. This is always fun and entertaining to watch some of the monkeys outside of camp and away from camp. I say that because they can get very cheeky, and they do steal things like food and sugar and coffee and all sorts of... if you leave anything out, the monkeys and the baboons will possibly raid the camp. So, it's nice to see them out of the camp and feeding on natural food like this jackal berry fruit.

I also think with these monkeys being around they would probably irritate the owl and probably chase the owl out of the trees. Now in water, you are asking just something that was on my mind—you were wondering if the eagle owl, the giant eagle owl could feed on one of these monkeys? And to see if there is any sign of them feeding on monkeys? And yes, there is! And, water, they would. So maybe the younger monkeys, not the baboon; baboons are far too big! But the younger smaller monkeys, yes, the Giant Eagle Owl will try and catch them. But I think if these monkeys are around in the trees, then the adults will probably chase the owl away.

It's interesting this; it's interesting. They say that giant eagle owls can even be recorded in catching young piglets—warthog piglets! Well, that's interesting; I wouldn't have guessed that! Od Farming you asked if there are any other primates around here that we see? Yes, and the baboons—the Chacma baboon—probably not. Probably it is the largest primate out here. Other than Tristan; but he's on leave at the moment!

So, I managed hiking Tristan! I managed hiking Tristan, please! Watching! It's a tie-up with different names, made through to James! I'm sure he'd have something to say about this. But let's go and see what he's doing!

A nice drive is gay now, up here, because we want to get a bit of a vantage over the Mara and see what is left. This is Valle de Beer, twice, so we're just going to gaze out towards the river, which is the band of trees in the far distance!

Next to which, I believe, Scott is now taking shelter from the rain, which makes me very nervous indeed! I'll tell you that there is actually a lot of wildebeest action off to the far east and south issues areas—that's good! I can still hear some canoeing and good, knowing the rain is starting to fall; but it's not—certainly not heavy enough yet for us to stop!

So, let us continue, shall we? Pray! And I'll do is just start the car! It's very noisy, this crash! I'm going to start us off! We are on the slope, and then switch off, and we can just roll down the hill together! The dulcet sounds of the 300D turbo diesel.

So, that is a greased—this is not a fan of the diesel engine. I don't think we're gonna go along today! I think we're gonna go all the way down! Yeah, Mr. Cactus! What an appropriate name you have for the question you have asked! You say are there any invasive species of concern in the Mara? Well, other than the human being, I'm going to say not really!

Although I have seen one or two species of cactus, which of course are not indigenous to Africa. There is no indigenous cactus species in Africa! And so— I don't think there are any that are off major concern. No, yes there will be various exotics that come down the rivers when they come down in flood! Any river that runs through a rural village or town—or it doesn't even need to be ruled, that can be urban—he's going to bring with it all sorts of things that aren't necessarily supposed to be in an area like this. And so I'm sure that happens all the time!

But there are no—like in various parts of Africa—for example, the water hyacinth has taken over enormous parts of water systems and blocked them up and made things very difficult. We know that cactus has overrun some places—South Africa's got major problems with something called a coma leaner or trifid weed. Out here, I don't know of any major issues. So that’s quite nice, actually!

It's a tremendously resilient ecosystem this—it is spectacular! I think that it’s, you know, it’s... one hesitates; in fact, one should never use the term “in harmony” where as far as nature goes, because it gives a false sense of a kind of peacefulness that exists. This ecosystem and its occupants, from a human and animal point of view, have been here for much longer than they have in many parts of southern Africa’s ecosystem, for example, with the exception of perhaps Botswana and Namibia, which have hardly any people in them. At all, this ecosystem has been functioning like this probably for close on a hundred thousand years!

And if you food our ancient human ancestors, more than a million years! And I think that's given it a resilience to our effects on it that perhaps many others do not have. Speaking of which, this is going to be the very first time I’ve done this! There’s a beautiful white flower! Look what it is! I don’t know—Judy, it’s your first, your very first flower test of the Maasai Mara! What on earth is that thing? Ugh! I pointed out that when I was showing you something the other day, there was a beautiful here red flower next to it, and she pointed out that I had not mentioned it, and I hadn't even noticed! Dreadful, it was of me!

Anyway, there is the flower for you! Th—and you can try and tell me what it is. I couldn't begin to imagine! Afraid? The rain is now starting to fall, she's a little distressing now! Much we can do about that! Alright, let’s head across to Byron, I believe, who’s looking for number 91 on his bird list.

Byron, of course, said drawing the saga rot, forever! Wow, what is that? Hold on, everyone! I've got an interesting bird! There it is! Can you see it? Floated back again! Sorry, sir, sorry, I said we've got a bird that I definitely... it's not at all—it’s not on the list!

There it goes! Oh, you know what? Hold on, everyone! This is very exciting; this is not a bird we see very often at all! There it goes again! I don't see if we can get it! Are there you guys straight; did you get a step on that? Sorry, dog, there we go! There we go! Quickly, everyone! Get loads of screenshots! Now, I need to look quickly. What is that?

Means I can go work it out—work it out, I think! Is it not an eastern mind? It's not that—yeah, what is that? Is it mother? I’ve hit a complete blank! Lee, is it a bird I’ve got in my mind, and I can’t remember the name for some reason that you don’t see very often and I'm sure some of my friends are shouting at me now because I can’t get it!

So you can give it in! I'm short two still in this tree, some way! I know; was it a cuckoo strike? It was another black cuckoo shrike! Hold on, let me just overlook it and see if I can find it! I think it's a female black cuckoo shrike if I'm not mistaken! It is… yeah, I almost had a moment where I was getting very cross with myself!

It is a female black cuckoo shrike, everyone! That is a wonderful bird to see! Look at that! That is a lovely, lovely bird—the black cuckoo shrike! I'm sorry! There are just some other vehicles coming through! Yeah, I'm gonna just move out of this area.

Don't drive! I think I knew what it was; it’s frustrating sometimes when you’ve got a bird in mind, you just can't remember the name! Thank goodness I did not expect to see a black cuckoo shrike! That is wonderful! There is really, really great! I got so excited I forgot the name—can you believe it?

Well, but that—that is a lovely sighting of one! I'm glad! Now I think some friends of mine—as I said, some friends of mine are probably shouting at me now—Craig and Alistair watching! So, if you guys are watching, I don’t know if you knew what that was! Actually probably not! I’m sure they'll send me messages and see if it’s Sunday, of course! So everybody’s having Sunday lunch and getting together with friends!

See, we have to work on Sundays. It's okay, man! We don't mind! I said, it's not let's not really work! It’s a pity there isn't any water in chili pan, stride up completely! It's a little pan that we're approaching now! Sure, we would have a lot of birds around there!

I really did not expect to see a black cuckoo shrike; that does a great surprise! In order to, haven't seen her for quite some time! About a week, I think, was the last time we saw giraffe. Just wanna have a look around to see if we can’t pick up another bird or two. But in the meantime, let's head across to Scott!

That sun is bright, and apparently he’s got rain covers on; it might be raining there already. This is due to the fact that the green canvas one above us was not made very well and is like a sieve, so we've got this blue tarp on top of that and we kind of semi bunk it down now. What I want to try and do is work some angles. There's some beautiful rays of sun poking up; you're just gonna have to park the car.

I'm hoping this will give Manu enough of a view just to sneak through. Look at that! The sun's coming through the clouds, and it is making a wonderful scene! But there is some— I mean, it's on and off! But as soon as it does start raining, we cannot take any chances! We've got some seriously funky and expensive equipment on these vehicles to make this live broadcast possible, and we would hate for it to get wet!

The good news is, we are redeveloping and redesigning the roof and the canvas structure, and our first new modifications should be in—will be finished soon! I'm hoping within the next week, which will make our lives a lot easier with regards to the rainy weather, so that's something to look forward to!

By the traveling circus, I am happy to hear that! That’s good news, very good news! Actually, we try our best, and that's one of the things with Safari Live is that because we're kind of the only people to really do this kind of a thing— we’ve had to pioneer new roads and new ways to get things done! Sometimes it's not very pretty, but it often does work! And this is an example of that—the amount of tinkering and work that's done to get all the equipment’s on these vehicles and working and linked together is actually quite phenomenal!

And I love watching the tech guys and the cameraman work out the puzzles and mysteries to get everything working! Enough about that! It sounds like you have got some beautiful sunny weather in South Africa, not like the glue rainy weather here in the Maasai Mara! So why don't you go and jump on Byron's car and enjoy the sunshine?

We’re still trying to work on our bird list! Apparently, this—excuse me a second, sir! I'm just listening to the radio! It's a radio! Sorry, I'm just listening to the radio— the guides that are looking for that leopard! So maybe we can help each other find that leopard! Sorry, I'm just listening, everyone! Give me a second!

These guides are updating each other. It sounds like they might have found a leopard or caught a glimpse, caught a glimpse of the leopard! Mike, Mike—For my mic—sorry! I've just been on foot for 20 minutes! And have you still got a visual of an animal?

Okay, copy that! No problems! No, that's fine! Thanks very much, Mike! Copy! No problem! We'll get an update later! Thank you! Oh, that's great news! It sounds like they've found a male leopard, everyone. I'm not sure which male it is yet, but it sounds like they have found a male leopard, and now there are two or three vehicles already in that area looking for him.

So, they found him, but it sounds like he's gone and laid down in the Milwaukee! So that’s okay; that’s good news for us! So, we'll let them overview, and we'll go in a little bit later! I'm sure we'll get some— to be honest, this might even be better for us to go a bit later because possibly we'll get that leopard moving around—that's what I'm hoping for! And maybe better light! Exactly!

So let’s get around, driving around and see what else we can find for now! We’ll give the other guests a view, and then we'll try and get in there a little bit later! I think that’ll work out nicely for us! Let's see; it helps, you chat to one another on the radio! You know, we were fortunate! The other day we found her, and we let the other guides know, and they came and enjoyed the sighting with us!

Vice versa! We all keep in touch, and it’s very important while we are guiding and just making it a little bit easier to look for these animals. Because, of course, we can't be everywhere all the time! But there's always something going on, Archer! So if we try to spread out and cover a larger distance or larger area, then we'll probably find more!

Okay, well, someone who's not going to be concerned about the rain is Steff, who is actually in the control room at the moment—watching the river cams! Good afternoon! And yes, welcome to the River Campus for the first time today! It has been very quiet on these river cameras today, and I think it is because of the increased flow of water.

As you can see from that fantastic shot from my north! My name is Stefan Table, and it is my pleasure to host these River cams for you today! What I do want to do is—wow, before we lose it, I'd love to show you a shot from the mountain cam! Please, can you see that? That is a—oh, that is just such a lucky shot for us! I've been trying to get that for ages!

So this is an auger Buzzard that is part of a pair that come on windy days up into this valley that we live in, and I think hover for a while to silhouette themselves against the sky! So that other organisms can actually see them silhouetted against the dark sky! See if I can get us in a little bit better. There we go! Legs out to create a little bit of drag! We were going; we come back here, bird, and there we go!

Back in T—this is the one! And did wanna stay still today and still in the same place! There we go! And as you can see, there's enough wind speed at the moment to allow this bird without flapping to stay aloft. And they're just fantastic! It's hunting at the moment. He saw a mouse in the bush! Now, I was busy walking in the bush just before I came through, and I saw a mouse now, so they're out enjoying the—this is gonna get the food!

Let me just go a bit wide and use the VM—during breaths, bird-following technique! Isn't that just the most amazing thing? We see this bird on most days here! I believe it's the same bird! Could possibly be! Have you got enough Roshni? You say you really envying us in the Mara right now; Roshni, where are you stuck on this planet today? You can't just say something like that without letting us know where you are and what you are doing!

It is a brilliant day, Archer, in the Mara! I must be honest! It's been overcast and quite cold! A work of cold this morning for the first time since we got here six months ago, and it hasn't really warmed up the whole day! It stayed this sort of gloomy, this gloomy me darkened a little bit—you can see the cloud cover above us! Right, with relatively high up, quite thick clouds hanging over the escarpment here, and it's been rather blustery!

Hasn't rained at all, although that seems like it's going to be changing for Scott! To James! Shame! I've—I feel for them out there on days like this! It is not comfortable in these cars when it rains at all! In fact, that almost be in a city when it rains; anyway, let's go through the cameras a little bit! I want to show you something! If we could go to cul-de-sac crossing, please, Ellis!

I did mention that it was raining last night, as you can see—there's been a lot of rain! The river’s actually come up and subsided again really quickly, which tells us something about what this river and what its drainage line is really like! It's got a really sharp increase with a really sharp drop-off! So there, the water raised up! You can see where it flooded across the sandbank last night, and then it has dropped again throughout the day!

There’s a big crocodile there; it did bring with it another carcass! Now, yesterday for those of you who are watching, we saw three carcasses come down the river! I don't know if this is one of them; I doubt it! I think this is probably a new one—a wildebeest carcass, which is washed up on the sandbank today and which will at some point be devoured by crocodiles either in this pool or further down the stream!

Isn't it just amazing how this river is so temperamental? It is amazing! Kenya is in the grips of a drought at the moment, and from what I'm told from colleagues of mine, that this river is about half the height of what it should be! It should be halfway up that bank; that is the height that it should be at the moment for this time of the year!

Isn't it incredible? Half the water! Now let’s go to dusty crossing! You're free! Good! There is dusty crossing, and at dusty crossing, we've got a crocodile that probably throughout the course of the evening moved into this position that you see right now, and has been lying there for the day—it’s probably been out of the weather for this croc, which is allowed to maintain a pretty decent body temperature, I’m sure, because wind is not going to be... Can excuse the freezing that we're getting from the camera at the moment with all the moisture in the air! Woopsie! Cameras on a rogue mission!

Alright, let's go over to earth main south while dusty gets itself under control again. What happens is we lose signal with these cameras, and from time to time, one goes on a rogue mission, like you see over there now, and doesn't get the signal to turn around or to switch off! So what we can see at Maine South Crossing is a hammock cupboard, which is not all that unusual!

Hammock cupboards are fairly common out here, but you hardly ever get to see them on these cameras! They tend to be pool dwellers where they use their feet and their beak to try and hunt for invertebrates, and I think what's happened with this particular river is as it's come up! It's brought to the whole bunch of insects, and as it's subsided again, those insects have taken refuge in detritus, and the hammock coupe has now come into that detritus to try and glean itself a dinner or a supper!

Right now, just waterproofing its feathers; it's a heron! You can see that fancy feathered headdress that gives it its name—hammer, hammerhead bird! This was—I've also heard it referred to in English as a lightning bird! Hammerhead means hammerhead, and it’s the Dutch, I suppose, Dutch, German, Afrikaans, Flemish description of this particular bird! But at the moment, we just—I'll just hope it's called a lightning bit!

And the reason for that is that the local guys in the Kruger National Park—the local Shangan guys believe that if the sniff those bird builds a nest in the tree above your house, that it's gonna cause lightning to strike there! In any case, why don't we gonna have a look at Scott? She's got a fantastic sunset to show you!

Well, is this not absolutely breathtaking? Manu has worked his magic on this camera, and the sun has worked its magic to break through what is a very, very cloudy and somewhat drizzly afternoon in the Maasai Mara! You can possibly hear the drizzle pattering down on top of our circus tent. We have half opened the tent, and as we did that, it started raining again! But we've positioned ourselves with our bottom towards the wind—well, in the direction the wind’s coming from.

So most of the rain is hitting the closed back half of the vehicle; and the front half of the vehicle, other than my back and this little section here, you can see a few spots of rain have made it into the car! But not many! Just to hear this coming from basically behind us, and it's not ideal because we tried to go in that direction I suggested!

Tomorrow we could possibly reverse all the way there and just give you shots along the way because putting the flaps up and down takes a little bit of time! But it stops, so we can continue! I really do love that bird that you're looking at with Steph; the hammock up there! One of my favorite birds to watch hunting—they’re great hunters!

They use their toes to detect their prey! It sounds like birds are on the menu this afternoon because Byron is also searching for birds! All we need to stop because the sun’s even looking better now! Let's just show you a quick look; there’s our—no, I'm not used to the circus tent! Let me saw a little bit more!

Okay, now Manu should be able to get the majority of that! Array that is really looking quite beautiful; that's bursting through on the left! Magic! Okay, well, let's try that again! I hope Byron doesn't have a bird that's really too flitter away because that would be a great pity if that was the case!

He is on an incredible quest to try and reach one hundred species! I'm sure he’s told you! I'm hoping he does succeed! He's nearly there! Why don't you can see what he's found?

Alright, we are trying to continue our bird-watching! However, our patience has paid off! They found a male leopard earlier! Now we’re going to go and join that sighting! One of the other guides managed to find a male leopard! He’s lying in the Milwaukee! So, I’m hoping we get a nice view of him! I'm not sure who it is yet, but let's go and have a look!

I’m very excited! We're not too far; we’re almost done in the drainage line, so this is going to be quite spectacular! I hope he might be lying down in the thicket! But we'll sit and spend time with him! Maybe we get to see him moving around! The wind again has picked up substantially, and it's actually quite chilly now! It’s not very pleasant!

I'm looking forward to getting down into the strange land! Maybe we'll have a bit of cover! Just need to work out what our best approach is! I know they did—I think he’s down in the drainage land! Summer, what I'm going to do is head downstream in the Milwaukee from this area of the cap!

Alright, well, let me head down here and see if I can get a bit closer to this leopard! And while I do that, let's go across to Steph, who’s watching some elephants!

Elephants that are just crossing the river! Dusty crossing! But unfortunately, the Dusty crossing camera is still a bit errant! We're losing a gaining signal from Dusty crossings camera, and of course, I'll even gain the ability to control it from a couple of miles away!

But it'll be nice, I think I'm just gonna leave this one in shot—have a look at this elephant! He’s obviously feeling with his trunk the bottom of the riverbed to make sure that it doesn’t fall into any holes! But just look at this, completely at home! Using an idea of how deep the river actually is—a big bull elephant like this, we could—there's a nice cool drink! A big bull elephant like this I could probably walk underneath the front of his armpits! That's at all; he is maybe just brushing the top of my head but around about six feet tall underneath his armpits!

You could see the tree in the background there shaking in the wind! There’s a lot of a lot of wind down in this valley at the moment, and Alice tells me that there's a lot of you out there that are enjoying and are excited to see an elephant! He's quite ready to see an elephant in this river! Must be honest with you! It’s not a very common thing at all!

What are you doing, boy? Why are you digging around there with your trunk? Maybe he goes right down in there! I wonder if he’s gonna have a swim! Do you think he’s going in there? There’s a hippo giving a bit of a yawn! And that's just the hippo saying, "This is my patch, please just leave it alone!"

It's just hippo toes! They massively insecure hippos, to be honest with you! Now, Roshini, you 100% dried! Those hippos were never really happy, but they suffer from a big inferiority complex! I think I was show people how angry they are, fresh around, and make a big noise! Wow!

Look at how deep that elephant's gone! How awesome is that? Wow! The river's a lot deeper in that particular point than I gave it credit for, must be honest with you! Come, go for a swim, meelee! Surely you want to have a bit of a swim!

I love YouTube; you've just asked me what a fantastic name! You've just asked me if those hippos would mess with that elephant? No, they wouldn’t! The hippos suffering from their big inferiority complex know that they'd be outmatched with an elephant! And even aggressive things like white rhinoceros I have seen elephant—even youngsters killed!

Elephants have got the advantage of height and with those big tusks and trunk! Basically, just lean on the saddle of anything smaller than them, and they'll break their backs! That was absolutely special to see, don't you think? And from a camera that is busy playing up at the moment, let's see with the silly guys! He's just gonna walk up the bank over there. They give you an idea of how deep he is!

If a fat underneath his armpits—that would probably be where my elbows are if I to lift my elbows above my head! That's how deep the water was! So fairly deep actually at that particular point! As you can see, the elephant’s not worried about it in the absolute least!

Then as the water joins the bank by the rocks, you'll see a white-necked bird—that is a grey heron! Excuse me; I've got hiccups! Wow! Trying to deal with that! And that is a grey heron, other than the black-necked heron, which is common on the grassy plains.

This particular heron quite often hunts the rivers fringes for frogs and for crabs and for other invertebrates! The wind is pumping down this riverbed at the moment! Why don't we gonna have a look at my north just so that we can finish having a look at exactly how much water actually came down?

That is a nice view of the rapid at Maine North! I definitely think that a wildebeest or zebra crossing here now would be washed out! And I'm wondering if it’s gonna change what they perceive as being a possible crossing point or not!

Is rain now falling at cul-de-sac crossing? And it hasn't started to yet! It looks like the—wait! That looks like it might be falling! There were—yep, it is incredible! It’s difficult to actually gauge where these storms are going!

I don't know the exact twists and turns of this river, and the reason for that is that we don't yet have access to walking around this river! It would have been the first thing that I would have done is walk the banks of this river to find out exactly where the twists and turns are! How far the cameras are off from one another, where they're going, what's the river doing with all the little secret places—that’s for sure!

Alright, why don't we have a look at the cul-de-sac crossing? Let's go and see what those hippos are doing! Sometimes there's just too much to choose from over here! I call this a crossing! This is my favorite crossing! Not only is it on the banks of the river as it exits the forest!

So there's a huge forest that is part of the Mara River, and it Peters out right at cul-de-sac crossing! And so I find it quite a—for lack of a better word, I suppose—a romantic crossing! It's just got the forest on one side, it's got a huge big palm tree on the other. It's a lovely crossing! It's quite peaceful!

But it doesn’t speak to the fact that we've seen mass murder at this crossing on a scale that you don't even understand! We've seen drownings—a couple of a dozen will to be 6070 wildebeest drowning! It’s going to see what these are in the tree over there! They look like vultures!

We see thousands upon thousands of animals cross at this crossing! More often crossing here than anywhere else! Yep, those are vultures! Let's see if we can see what types of vultures they just weathering out the storm! Let's see if we can ID these vultures—the most common of the vultures, larger, is the white-backed vulture!

And I think these two on the left are the white-backed vulture, and I think they're all white! By thoughts, I don't know what this one is on the side! But looking very bedraggled! Anyway, Byron has finally found his leopard! And so we are going to be sending you across to him now! Enjoy yourselves!

Alright, now we've just caught a glimpse of this male leopard! And I think it's in Ghana! Hold on! Maybe we can see him through there! So before I move, what do you want me to move a bit further? Is he going down the drainage? Let’s try to move a bit closer, everyone! Hold on! It looks like it's in Ghana!

Beautiful big male! Only the dominant male leopard around! Yeah, there he is! I think we're gonna get a nice view of him shortly! Hold on! Oh, he's Rochester! I'm just gonna stop here because of the light! So as you can see his face, I think!

Well then, there is wonderful! Now this is not the first time this week that we followed this male leopard through this drainage line! He seems to be enjoying this area at the moment! Look at that beautiful big dewlap as he's walking under the neck or throat! Lovely, very, very nice!

It's gonna be tricky for us to follow him; I’m just trying to think! I don't know this drainage line well—where there are little access points! Helps to know the area of it better! And we actually are on the wrong side—well, maybe not! Tolan, you never know!

There we go! Can still get him through this hip! Sorry! Alright, yeah, looks like he might cross through! You know, and I think I can get into the drainage line from here anyway, which is great! So this is a perfect spot for us if he does cross through!

Look at that beautiful golden light, perfect for photography! Mmm, that's an interesting Twitter handle! I'm sure it's not true! No one Likes me! You said that I'm—the leopard looks like he's fed recently! Nice smell! Let's try to see if we can get a better view!

Let's see if we can get another view of him! It's making it a little bit difficult for us at the moment, as usual, as well leopards do! Hold on a second, as an easy little gap for us! This worked out quite nicely! There's a little gap for us to jump through!

Right back down into this drainage line! He's crossing though! I'm sorry! Sip! He's just crossing out of there! You know it said hold on! Sorry! I'm gonna move quickly! Sorry! Sorry! I'm gonna go around, everyone! I'm gonna get him! Try to catch him on the road on the other side! So we don't have to bend in the area!

Something, said that’s always fun! Sorry, little Franklin and Chris at Franklin party! Quickly, we're on this right now! And we should see that male coming out! I hope he doesn’t continue to that drainage line off to the right! That’s why we followed him the other day!

And it was incredibly thick! Very difficult to stay with him! I can see it straight ahead of us, so I’m gonna get a lovely view of him shortly! I think—it was the right side plan for us to come out and view him over here! Also, he said this; actually, hold here!

Are there you guys? Wow, look at that! He does look like he’s fed! He does look like he’s fed! His stomach looks quite full! That's wonderful! Well, fairly full! It's just disappearing there quickly! Hold on a second!

Afternoon, everyone! There we go! That's a nice view of him! See again that golden light, and he's backlit at the moment, so I think photographers would have a wonderful time with this male leopard right now!

I'm smelling the air, looking around! That is a lovely view of this male! I'm trying to think; when losted be sitting on it? It was three—four days ago, three days ago... about three days ago! Just before and I’m since I went to leave, and we found Taka—it's nice to see him again!

Now, Mr. P, you were asking what is that big dewlap for that we can see on his threat! So I'm just gonna reverse a little bit! Does he give any other vehicle a chance to see this leopard? I'm sure that should be fine for them! So, Mr. P, that dewlap is—theory behind the dewlap is—sorry, hold on, thanks!

I'm sorry, Mr. P, that dewlap, the theory is that that thick skin around the neck will hopefully protect that leopard almost in a similar way that a mane protects the male lion! But the dewlap, I think that loose skin, thicker skin around the neck will protect the neck from fights! That's one theory!

Makes it look bigger, stronger, hopefully intimidate the other leopard! But that is a beautiful big droop! On that male leopard! Now he is going into that drainage line we followed in the other day, which was very difficult! We’ll see; maybe we can still get a view!

As you can see, there's some Franklin that he's startled over there! Let's see if we can stick with him! I think we're gonna lose him again, everyone, because this block we drove through, it was almost impenetrable!

Here it is! He's just off through here! Sit down here—I might get a view through this gap! There you guys! There you guys! Now, notice again the tail held up high! These Franklin's alarm calling at him at the moment! Now we spoke about this the other day! Why do lipids do this? Now the theory is that they raise their tail makes themselves more visible, and it's to show that they're not a threat!

If they—I said so that there's no danger to whatever it is that's alarm calling at them! And I've heard that well, I've seen it many times! And it's not just when they're birds alarm calling! Oh wow! Look at that! There’s beautiful Latinum again!

I'm just gonna drop down here quick! Sip, it’s gonna come through here! I think if it's the right, cannot suit yet! Let's just wait, everyone! He's gonna come right past us! I think and I'm sorry, as I was saying; they lift their tail makes themselves more visible!

And that they—they’ve been basically saying they're not a threat! Then they're not hunting, and they just passing through! I'm gonna keep quiet! Listen to more! Passed us! That’s amazing! Looking at nice and close what run in front of us! A beautiful view of him! David, you asked, is that tail raising a learned or a instinctive behavior?

Not, David! I think it's instinctive! I don't think it's learned! Now we might—we might lose the slip! But I wonder—I just don't know if he's going to lie down or if he's going to continue moving through that area! If he does continue moving, we're probably not going to be able to follow him anymore! It is moving around so much in the afternoon!

But I think because it's nice and cool, that is why he’s probably still moving around! I'm going to try to get out of here quickly! While I do, let's go across! Just if we’re still on those dam cams! Sorry, river caps!

[Laughter] Isn't it just wonderful to see Tinga gone again? I haven't seen a leopard in more than half a year! More than half a year! And I haven't been in a winter for an entire year! And I think that that, in itself, is both wonderful and depressing in a way! And it shows you how different these places actually are from one another!

You've gone from a cold winter's afternoon to a very cloudy sort of equatorial dry season sky there from Maine North! And we’ve got some action going on all over these cameras! Let's credit cul-de-sac quickly! We're a group of wire-tailed swallows are just hiding out of the wind!

And they tend to come and then basically just flap away again, so it gives us this nice view of these absolutely beautiful swallows! Just have a look at that! Males and females, and immature swallows at the moment! And one of the fairly common swallows next to the brown Marten, or common Marten that you see! The brownish bird that is—that's just look lovely! And they all come in here just for a bit of a rest out of the wind, and then they take flat again and go and catch some insects that are starting to mess over the Mara River!

It's not close; they are to the camera that doesn't even want to focus on it! There you go! Come on, camera! You can do it! Alright! Now, oh, there's an unanswered question from yesterday! We ran out of lights, and we ran out of camera before I could answer Christie's question yesterday about the breeding season of crocodiles!

So if I could, also we go over to dusty crossing! And what we've got at dusty crossing is two enormous crocodiles! Busy sunning themselves in the last bit of the sun or whatever sun is left right next to a washed-up crocodile carcass!

But what this does allow me to do is talk a little bit about the breeding, which is what Christy asked about yesterday! Christy asked last night when do crocodiles lay eggs? When is their breeding season? I can answer that now that I've read probably about 500 words that I have at my disposal! And crocodiles, on the Nile crocodile at least anyway—mating will happen anywhere from about May through to August, where male crocodiles become territorial to one another!

And then they will vie for the attentions of the females! Females will start ovulating, submit to the males who mate with them, and eggs are laid in November! And after quite a short gestation period, only ninety days— I said earlier, I thought that it was about a year, but only after about 90 days what happens is the eggs will hatch!

The mom sets up a bit of a nursery! She wouldn't move for the three months that she looks after the eggs, basically! She doesn't even eat! She just looks after those eggs, keeping them safe from would-be predators! And then she carries them gently in her mouth down to the nursery area in the river itself!

And there for a couple of days, basically just looks after them, and make sure that they're okay! So only that happens in that time! Andrew, you wanted to know how crocodiles see under the water! That's actually quite a good question! They, Andre, they've got a nictitating membrane which is there to wipe off debris off of the ice!

But what it also does is that like a pair of swimming goggles, it adds a separation between eyeball and the actual water medium! And that separation allows crocodiles to see relatively well underwater! I mean in murky water, they're not gonna be able to see well at all!

And I think that in actual effect that crocodiles use a series of pits on their faces—let me just slow that down. These crocodiles are a bit far away—that’s the maximum zoom I have! But on a crocodile's head, even on the skull, is a series of pits in their scales, which I think are very effective—either electrochemical or chemical or electrical sensors!

That can sense movement underneath the water! And I think they use their muzzle quite often—you see even on the surface, a crocodile will put his top jaw on the surface, let the water rush past, and then very ably pick up movement and go and nuzzle it—just nudge it with his nuzzle. They don't lick it; they just nudge it with their nozzle!

And I think that they can actually... I've never seen a report on that—this is just obviously all my very uneducated observational based stuff based on... you know, six months of looking at this River! Nothing much, really, is what I'm trying to say! But just an observation!

It's got a Maine North, if you don't mind—we've got two hippos having a bit of a clash! There we go! That's a pot of hippos! One of the largest pods of hippos that stay on the river! This is from Maine North; this is the extreme range of the camera at Maine North!

And this pot of hippos don’t like each other! You can see they're a bit of a clash going under! These hippos often I’ll watch these hippos, and they are almost always jumping around at one another, smashing their teeth against one another! You’d never say that they're friends with each other!

That's you—that's the bum reversing out of the water with a tail busy wagging! That is also—and we'd think that these crocodiles do is incredible; anyone picks it up—that's just the form of vegetation! They do alright!

I'm gonna keep my eye on these hippos! Scott is mobile again, and this rain seems to have passed! As a surprise for you, we certainly do have a surprise for you! This is gonna be an epic view! I don't want to get in front, do you? Want to get in front of them, but I also do want to give you an opportunity to see this young male lion stroll past those palm trees!

That's not your usual scene! There's not many palm trees here in the Mara! Beautiful! A young male, who knows if he has any brothers or other coalition members nearby! You can see he's looking quite cautiously ahead, and the reason why he will be cautious is that unless he is one of Scar's sons, this is Scar's territory!

And Scar is a big, big male lion that will not tolerate youngsters, unless they are his own! And you can see this youngster certainly moving quite slowly and cautiously—stopping, listening! Hello, very happy to have found you, beautiful young man!

I'm guessing around maybe three to four years of age. Hello, Denise, woo-hoo! Correct! Good, that we found a lion! And good that the rain stopped, so things are looking promising! We are going to have to reposition those about to disappear behind some vehicles, and I wonder what his movements are gonna be! He may try and cross the Mara River—the Mara River is literally a hundred meters over to our right-hand side! Very close by!

Failing that, he may just go for a drink! Time will tell, and I've got some other wonderful, wonderful news! Our quest to go and find Scar this afternoon could well prove successful because I did get a report that he is somewhere fairly nearby! So, that is some very good news that we can look forward to looking for!

And not far from here we are, as I think, a place called cul-de-sac crossing, where we've got one of our river cameras! And he is going to be further downstream from here somewhere near main crossing! Anyway, in the meantime, while we reposition, which I think is actually going to be right now—yeah. Let's just wait and enjoy this, actually, because he is gonna come straight towards us!

We're gonna get a good low angle, and after this, I'm not sure what our views will be like! We've ducked into a little drainage furrow, so we should get some great views as he parades through this grass! That is, of course, if he continues in the direction he was moving in, which would lead him straight to us!

But he can cease sniffing around quite intently! I wonder what he's looking for! I wonder if he hasn't maybe left a kill nearby! He’s definitely found something that has caught his attention! What is it you're looking for, mister? Hmm... could well be the scent of other lions! If he is Fleming grimaces, which means he'll curl up his lip and grimace, baring his teeth almost like he's smiling!

That would indicate that it's probably other lions that he's smelling. The fact that he's just got his nose to the ground seems to me like he could be on the trail of something to eat! I haven't seen them Fleming grimace when on the trail of something to feed on! I've lost track of them from where I'm sitting in this long, long grass!

What an awesome scene this is! Okay! I'm gonna have to reposition again! Hello, Vegas beauty snob! You would like to know if I think the lions in Mara are more toned and well-built than the lions in the Sabi Sands? And possibly, I would have to put them together to be able to make an educated decision! Yes, certainly some—I mean, the biggest lioness I've ever seen is in the Mara!

And some of the most impressive males I've ever seen are in the Mara! But that's not to say that all of them are necessarily bigger and stronger and more handsome than the Sabi Sands males—well, the South African male lions, I guess you do need to be quite specific!

So, I guess we'll say the Kruger lions! Looks like we may get just one more view of him as he disappears into the thickets! A beautiful, beautiful young male! And it'll be interesting to see what he turns into in the coming years!

He's still got another two or three years before he will be in his prime, I guess! But he certainly is looking like he could become an absolute beaut of a male lion! Wonderful! Sadly, this is where the road ends!

We are not going to be able to follow him any further! And to be honest, I'm not too concerned about that because he is very close to a big male lion called Scar—like I said a little bit earlier, and I would desperately like to show you him!

[Applause] Okay, while we going to look for one of the most impressive big male lions in Africa—and certainly in the Masai Mara—we will be sending you to one of the most impressive animals down south—a leopard!

Now, can you spot the leopard? Anyone? He's moved into a bit of a thicker area, he just moved now, just moved to the left! He was in there! Let's see Martin get a view of him again! Hold on a second! He’s just moved behind that thick area; he's really giving us a bit of a runaround at the moment!

And rocky—aged for an afternoon! Rocky, you are asking—do the leopards ever eat plants? Well, rocky, technically not! Leopards are carnivores! So they eat meat! But I have seen leopards going chew on some grass from time to time! And the reason for that is it helps the digestive system!

But generally speaking, they don’t actually eat plants! Now, feed on meat! And that is what the leopards prefer feeding on, rocky! But just like if you've got pizza at home and a dog or a cat, sometimes they eat grass to help the digestive system a little bit!

I'm saying with leopards! I have seen it before! But generally, it’s mainly meat that they eat! And fish sometimes! We know we’ve seen them catch fish! Just looking—can you still see him?

Let me reposition—hold on a second! And on the second, we'll see if we can get a nice view of him! Sometimes difficult to maneuver around like this, especially with him moving! He’s been moving quite a lot! But maybe he decides!

I've got a view of him! I’ve got a lovely view of him, actually! There we go! Hopefully, he stays here! Look at that! I think—I don’t know if he spotted something in the bushes or if he heard something!

It's been watching that direction quite intently! Now I'm just keeping a bit quiet because it's sometimes nice just to listen! Maybe we hear something in the bushes ahead! It’s also nice to hear some of the birds calling around us!

It was an emerald-spotted wood dove—but it’s a nice peaceful sighting! But look at the beautiful rosettes! I love the pattern on leopard known as rosettes! Our Lara were—you say he is pulling off a sphinx pose! Does almost look like it, doesn’t it? The sphinx in Egypt!

I really do enjoy spending time with a big male leopard like us, dominum Ali! But I’m trying to use my binoculars now just to see if I can see what he has spotted or what has caught his attention! I cannot see anything! It is so thick through there!

Now, what I don't understand is he actually came from that direction—so surely if he walked past, they would have seen whatever it is that's caught his attention now! But watch him! Look at him! What is he spotted? This is very interesting! I wonder what it is!

But you see that? It's almost the stalking pose that he's taken up there now! He's sitting there; he's very curious about what is in front of him! Or in those bushes there! Kevin Yost, if I see a leopard breathing hard, does it mean that he's on the trail of something?

So, not necessarily, Kevin! I think he’s been moving around quite a bit! It's fairly warm! So I think he's just breathing heavily because it's warm and he's been moving around quite a bit!

It sounds like he’s walked quite a distance already this afternoon! Just shows you how opportunistic these animals are! They'll move around during the day regardless of the temperature, at times!

Mr. C, look at the head dropping! Those shoulders raised slightly—it’s definitely a posture that is taken up from time to time when there are intent on pouncing on something!

Now my lipids can move incredibly quickly when they do want to! Moishe, you're asking about what is the bird that we keep hearing in the background!

Why is it that something like that? That's the emerald-spotted wood dove, I think! That's what you can hear! Look at him! Good! Look at it! He's definitely stalking something!

But what is it? What is it? I can't see! That's very interesting! I wonder what it is! But you see that? It’s almost the stalking pose that he’s taken up there now!

He's sitting that; he's very curious about what is in front of him—or in those bushes there! Kevin Yost, if I see a leopard breathing this hard, does it mean that he’s on the trail of something?

So, not necessarily, Kevin! I think he's been moving around quite a bit! It's fairly warm! So I think he’s just breathing heavily because it's warm and he’s been moving around quite a bit!

His sounds like he's walked quite a distance already this afternoon! Just shows you how opportunistic these animals are! They'll move around during the day regardless of the temperature!

Now Mr. C, look at the head dropping! Those shoulders raised slightly—it’s definitely a posture that is taken up from time to time when there are intent on pouncing on something!

Our lipids can move incredibly quickly when they do want to! Moishe, you’re asking about what is the bird that we keep hearing in the background!

Why is it that something like that? That's the emerald-spotted wood dove, I think! That's what you can hear! Look at him! Good! Look at it!

He's definitely stalking something! But what is it? What is it? I can't see! That's very interesting! I wonder what it is! But you see that? It’s almost the stalking pose that he’s taken up there now!

He's sitting that; he's very curious about what is in front of him—or in those bushes there! Kevin Yost, if I see a leopard breathing this hard, does it mean that he’s on the trail of something?

So, not necessarily, Kevin! I think he's been moving around quite a bit! It's fairly warm! So I think he’s just breathing heavily because it's warm and he’s been moving around quite a bit!

It sounds like he's walked quite a distance already this afternoon! Just shows you how opportunistic these animals are! They'll move around during the day regardless of the temperature at times!

Now Mr. C, look at the head dropping! Those shoulders raised slightly—it’s definitely a posture that is taken up from time to time when there are intent on pouncing on something!

Our lipids can move incredibly quickly when they do want to! Moishe, you're asking about what is the bird that we keep hearing in the background!

Why is it that something like that? That's the emerald-spotted wood dove, I think! That's what you can hear! Look at him! Good! Look at it!

He's definitely stalking something! But what is it? What is it? I can't see! That's very interesting! I wonder what it is!

But you see that? It’s almost the stalking pose that he’s taken up there now! He's sitting that; he's very curious about what is in front of him—or in those bushes there!

Kevin Yost, if I see a leopard breathing this hard, does it mean that he's on the trail of something?

So, not necessarily, Kevin! I think he's been moving around quite a bit! It's fairly warm! So I think he's just breathing heavily because it's warm and he's been moving around quite a bit!