Safari Live - Day 162 | National Geographic

This program features live coverage of an African safari and may include animal kills and carcasses. Viewer discretion is advised. One minute, please. Always remember to switch the lights off. We're ready for safari! Sorry, everybody, you know sometimes these happen. Hello, everyone! My name is Taylor McCurdy, and well, on camera with me today is David. Welcome to the sunset safari bushwalk! We're gonna walk. Are we ready to find some animals? I am! I promise, I promise I'm ready!

Now, we've had some interesting things today. We've played cricket— that was a lot of fun! I won, just thought I’d let you know. No, I'm just joking. I was terrible! And Geraldine got caught up twice by Amanda Chef. She tried to redeem herself and came back and failed. No, it's not sherry! For those of you who have never joined us on one of these wonderful interactive safaris, we'll hopefully find you some ants. But you can talk to us! You can hashtag a safari live on Twitter, or you can talk to us via the YouTube chat and comment away on Facebook. And hopefully, we'll find them!

Now, looking onto the drainage line just on the other side is Giraffe Pan, where squirrels, monkeys, and Franklin’s have been alarming all day long. I wonder who's looking just on the other side but you'll have to wait to find out! Or if you go to Ralph!

Well, good afternoon, everybody, and welcome aboard another sunset safari! You're watching Safari Live, and we're watching what seems to be maybe an African hawk eagle getting chased by a little Fork-tailed drongo! I think it was that! But we are only looking at the silhouette now. And please don't forget that we are in the Juma Traverse of the Kruger National Park in South Africa. My name is Ralph Kirsten, and on the camera this afternoon we’ve got since I. Has it since I? Please don't forget to join us on the hashtag Safari Live on Twitter and on the YouTube live chat. Send us your questions and your comments, and get involved on the largest game drive in the world!

Now, it is a lovely warm afternoon. A little bit of a breeze started to come through. Seems like that eagle has been chased off by that little Fork-tailed drongo! And well, we're gonna start up again and maybe head down towards the Twin Dams area as well as Treehouse Dam, which is a little bit on the southern side, south-central side of the Juma Traverse. We are on the lookout, as usual, for all the normal usual suspects such as lion and leopard, as since I is sitting there listening intently to me because, well, we're always looking for that! But it's nice and hot now in the afternoon, so it’s normal that they could be just relaxing in the shade, a little bit lying nice and flat.

There's a little bit of potential for them to be up in the trees. We've got some clouds around, so it might cool off quite substantially a little bit later, but for now, nice and warm, as I said we are feeling the humidity a little bit! Well, while we carry on our search, let's head back to Tyler who's got Zazu!

Well, Ralph, you probably know this hornbill! It's one of our friends that live around in camp and I thought, why not introduce you to all the camp characters on this wonderful Sunday afternoon? So this is one of the yellow-billed hornbills that we have not named yet. Wolfy flies, and he's quite relaxed, and he's just trying to feed on all the leaf litter we've got there, picking up something. Well, shall we see how close we can get? The ones that live inside camp are really quite entertaining because, like I said this morning, you literally have to step on their tail feathers for them to fly away.

Maybe this hornbill’s not from here? Perhaps I've just mistaken him for someone else. Hey! Oh, there's the other one! Yes! And actually, I've just said the same thing to David about Esmeralda, the spotted or emerald-spotted wood dove. Remember? We were talking about her! She was at the car park not so long ago, so we're going to see if we can find her. Cause she or he is very relaxed.

Hello, little hornbill! You see? Oh, there's the red-billed hornbill! So we've got most species but no partners today! Normally we see them in pairs. So there's about four to six of them that fly around, and like I said, they go for the disco ball very, very often! Perhaps we'll have to show you the disco ball! That might be a good one!

I find Esmeralda at the fire pit preparing the bonfire for tonight now. They recently just cleared that area! Malaika, we are lucky, and I'm sure you're pretty envious! There is literally just wildlife everywhere! Like I said, hookah Maureen was probably only a couple of meters away from from those rooms that I was—well, it wasn't even my room that I was in! You know, it was Kristin's room! We just hijacked it, but look at this! Hello! I mean, when we're out there, we don’t normally get to get this close to the animals on foot! And they recently just cleared here; I think they’re going to do a bit of work on the fence line, so it's made for a perfect spot.

The soil's nice and soft, so they can dig through all that leaf litter quite easily, and I'm sure from all the workers that were here and well doing their thing, they've obviously turned up a few grubs and beetles! Every may be trying to hide away, so they're very happy! Hello? You're not even closer! Just watching us every now and then!

So you'll see basically what we've got going on over here! This is our general car park. This is a fence that really just tries to keep the elephants and lions, and then I said we can close the gate there! And we have an electric wire on the way around! But it doesn't stop the leopards! They come walking right past you all the time! The dorin mongoose like to play on our chairs too—it's quite fun! He's quite happy just to hop as close as he really wants to! And if you were to just stand, you out would probably just come right at your feet!

Hello? What are you doing? Enjoying an afternoon snack? I'd have to know what they were thinking! We might get the yellow-billed hornbill flying back in again! David, you know what I've just realized? I think we've just stumbled across the greatest sandpaper raisin ever to be in the Sabi Sand! I'm not even joking! Excuse me, birds coming through! Oh my goodness! I'm not even joking!

Hmm. Look, that wasn't a nice one! I'm being unladylike! Let's see! No, either! Terrible! Have you tried them? I'm really disappointed, not because! Every time we see sandpaper raisins, ants in the bush, we're very excited because of the delicious fruit coming in. Mouse, I was trying to describe the taste to you a couple of days ago, and normally they're very juicy! These ones, however, are quick dry—they're not very nice at all—and I'm so disappointed! Maybe we were a bit late? Yeah, no, that's also not nice!

Ah, literally, I've never been so excited in my life for a fruit, but we didn’t win this time around! Well, they're not very nice! Little, which would maybe explain why the birds and things are not eating them! There isn't really any flesh at all on these seeds! Look at that! Completely dry! I don't want to eat that! That's no good!

Now, someone else that's in the area driving about looking for a leopard is Steve! Good afternoon, everybody! Welcome! My name is Tim Falconbridge, joined on camera by Mr. Craig! Is Emmett and we are indeed in the wilderness! We heard monkeys alarm calling about an hour and a half ago just here close to us, sort of northwest of the camp around a small little Gallagher pan! Just had little scratch around in the area, but there's no tracks apparently! Hukum or either the visiting male leopard or the potentially new male leopard of the area was left somewhere sort of north of here this morning, and monkeys do not lie! When their alarm calls, they don't lie!

So it's possible that they saw him, and he's in the drainage line, so we're just gonna keep following a little bit see if anything comes out on the road! Sure, the others have told you, please feel free to send us your questions! Hashtag Safari Live! Let us know what you would like to see and discuss this afternoon! After all, this is an interactive live safari, and we wouldn't do it if it wasn't for the viewers out there! So let us know what you’d like to see, and hopefully, we can cater for it!

It's a beautiful day! 26 degrees Celsius, 80, 82 I think Fahrenheit, so a very nice and relatively cool afternoon! It was overcast this morning with the potential for rain but we never got wet! Never got wet! Rained in certain places for any outside the reserve, but thankfully we didn't get wet! It is a little bit strange to have rain this time of the year, but the vegetation definitely enjoys it!

Linda, you would like to see Tandy and cub! Well, that would be sensational to see them! We are not in the area at the moment! Maybe you're off! We'll go over to that area! I'm going to spend a little bit of time over here! And failing that, decile most definitely go towards the east and see if we can pick up on any more tracks!

I know Taylor had some tracks this morning! I'm not a hundred percent sure where they were! We did walk into that area this morning! And then, with looming rain, we decided to slowly start moving back! So we never on the bush walk found any of those tracks! And had a personal way, but I have an idea! Have an idea!

Hello, Ashley! You would like to see lions! You don't want to know what the chances! Well, there's always a chance! Ashley, you know we are an open reserve, and though fences between us and all the reserves around in the Kruger Park, these animals, they just come and go! You know we can wake up in the morning, and there can be lions there! Generally speaking, the cats move in at night or early morning when it's a little bit cooler!

But only two or three weeks ago, I came out of drive just like this, heard monkeys alarm calling, went down to the dam waterhole just off to our western side now, or southern side now, and installed two of the Birmingham, a big male lion! So these things can happen! There's nothing preventing cats from just walking in and doing their thing! Nothing at all!

Nothing at all! It's not common to see cats moving in the day! But bear in mind, two days ago, I think James was following up on the sticks pride who were just over here! And then they moved about this time! So it happens, you know, it happens! If they're thirsty or if they're moving in response to whatever they could be moving in response to, then that is what happens! So this is live! We cannot predict what will happen next! So there's every possibility of seeing lions! I wouldn't mind showing you a lion or two!

Okay, well, Pink Taylor has got something up her sleeve! Something unpredictable! It's quite unpredictable, right? You're Lee in the courtyard now! Catch Davi! I wasn't a very good throw! This is our bonfire pit! So this is where we normally stand around, we hold hands, and we sing songs with one another! It's really quite nice! Like you all know, camp is really just one big happy family! We don't do any fire-walking or anything like that, so don't worry!

Also, the fire is art, but now this is the prized possession of the Wild Earth Juma camp! It's the disco ball! And how do we make it spin? Suppose you might as well! This is also the water back that lives in camp! I don't never stick, so I'm gonna have to use, uh, to spin it! There you go! Normally, it spins a little bit, but I had to climb all the way up top there!

You may also notice that there's a torch! That is a tough touch too! I had a headlamp that is attached to the tree that goes on, and then at night, you can imagine, it's just so beautiful and sparkly! Lily, you like the paintings on the wall! I think it feels like we're in Mozambique! Sort of when we are around here! That's because we have sand as well! That's quite nice!

So you can see why we have so many animals in camp! The hornbills come down and do what they were doing outside! The dwarf mongooses often playing around here! And then the starlings, like I said, they normally take a perch up one of the other. Yes, sit on the lower branches! Come with me! Cosi says I'm gonna show you where Gregory lives! Are you ready for this?

We're gonna be careful 'cause there's also a Mamba that lives here, a sandbank! You remember the sandbanks from the deluge? Yes! You will remember that very well! Here they are still doing well! This is where Gregory lives! Now, I wish I had a bright enough headlamp, because mine is not working so well! But Gregory goes inside there! Looks like somebody's been walking here! Actually, I think Gregory's come out today!

I can see a track on either side, very gracefully coming through! Yet it was a nice warm day, so it wouldn't surprise me as Arden about just catching up on some feeding! I don't think she likes us anymore because she doesn't come to visit very often! And then little Gregory, who's Robert Jr. went down inside there too! And then, like I said, there's a snake and squirrels and all sorts of things that live around here, so yes! Close this to keep the bushwacker!

Now, apparently, somebody else is also lingering around camp, but it wasn't me! Well, we're getting closer to Twin Dams! I've just passed Triage Dam! Very quiet there! And now heading down towards Twin Dams!

And then I think—because it's this time of the day, it's still quite warm! It's, like I said a little bit earlier, this is a little bit of gusty breeze coming through every now and then! But you know, through all of my experience at this time of day, regularly you get elephants coming down to drink! You can also have the predators coming down too! You have that midday drink!

But it's not generally the real active part of the day! The predators are mean! Elephants can be a perfect time! And in different national parks around Southern Africa, it's always been one of my go-to kinds of things to say to my guests when we arrive at a camp or you know a place in the early morning or towards midday! I always say go down to the waterhole and wait!

I'm pretty sure you're gonna have some elephants come down and drink! And they're always used to think I was the elephant whisperer because, you know, it's just looking at different animals' activity during different seasons and different times of the day as well! And elephants generally do like to go down to waterholes in the midday to go and get their nice big thirst quencher and before heading out into the afternoon and going feeding once again!

Normally quite active in the morning and then that midday, all going down to the water and then sort of calming off in the early part of the afternoon before they start to feed again! Gangs right through into the night as it cools off again! Generally very good time to hit down to the water these times of day all through the year with elephants and obviously with the predators!

Now, as we go into winter, and we do have cooler afternoons, you can have more activity from them during the day. Obviously they do have the most part during the night! But very good chance of spotting predators just coming down for a drink or being active as well! More so in winter! In summer, mostly they do rest up during the heat of the day, especially if it's hot and humid! That combination is quite a killer, not only for humans!

You know, I often think if I feel really sluggish, a lot of the animals with especially higher metabolism generally will feel the same, if not worse! Now, just coming down here towards Twin Dams, it doesn't seem like there is much happening here! So, my next feeling is if I was an animal blocka, I'd always say if you want to catch fish, you need to think like a fish!

So if I was an animal out here in this kind of a day, I think I'd be locked to hanging in the Watty or drainage line or last big trees, with a bit of fruit around! The jackal berries are in fruit at the moment! Also, the brown ivories, the quarry's, and so it's normally a good spot to go into! As I say, there's Twin Dams, very quiet there for the moment! But we just got to put ourselves in the right spots and keep on doing that!

We're gonna get something exciting jumping out at us! A little bit of patience and perseverance! And I'm sure we're gonna have a very good afternoon! Say nothing happening there for now! Now, don't forget to send us any your questions and your comments! And if you want me to focus on any topics in particular, if you've got any kinds of thoughts that you want to share with us on this wonderful day out on safari, then please just send it through and I will do my best to focus on those subjects, or chat about them and see how we can just get the debate going!

See? Also the Russet bush will have fruits, fruiting up! Not my at at the moment, and so our canal search is gonna continue out along here! I've got a very good feeling there's something around the next corner! There were some requests—well the Jim well everybody welcome to the boots and Betty's Jim! It's lovely! It's a makeshift gym, but we can, well, we can add work!

So here we have our mats which we will roll out! What are we gonna do now? Bicycles? Jerry? I don't know! It's all falling apart! Yes, Andrea! Mumba does live in camp! I don't worry about that! And actually, these rings over here! I'll pull the gentlemen! Normally they are a lot higher! Like I'm sure you've all seen the gymnasts doing it! I'm not gonna do it for you! If you ask nicely, Conrad will come out and show you!

This is no—okay well, Conrad's there inside hiding, right? He doesn't want to come out and show! But no, there's something very important that I want to show you! Well, Chad! It's one last thing! And then we're going out into the wilderness—is looking at ponds! This is Tina! You can see she has her name on it! A little pot! Who's this? Something to do with the naming of the plants! If she did that, then I completely understand! They live outside final controls at the moment! Killing them!

So the presenters come on every now and then and we have to look! Actually, you know anybody with a green thumb comes our chair has the water the plants down! Normally we have to do this because they've over watered! Do that anyway! So we're gonna go and see if we can find some elephants out on the open plains! Maybe a giraffe if we're lucky! Someone that will have better luck finding animals is Ralph!

As Pumbaa and the family of little piglets start to disappear off onto the bank of the Milwaukee! And my feeling was quite correct! I'm going to find quite a lot of animals down here in the Milwaukee! I believe nice little drainage line! Lots of cool areas! Lots to feed on as well for herbivores and then that for me is also gonna lead predators down here as well! Look at these little piglets! We are now almost on a level with him! And how many was that? Since I think it was four piglets—let's say nine! One, two, three, four!

You know they've disappeared around the corner a little bit! But nice little family of them! And it seems like cuckoo Marie, the male leopard, oh! And here comes an ass male nyala, a bull! He's a good-looking chap! And they are one of the most elegant of all the antelope! I would say! You see how he's got those lovely white tips to his horns as well? Let's show him that he is into his prime! He is a fully grown matured adult bull nyala! And he's just enjoying his time a little bit with these warthogs!

No, a little bit nervous of them! Sometimes they just trig each other! The pigs run off, and inside the antelope also get a little bit skittish! That's why I've come down here because I do feel that this is the place to be when it's nice and warm! So I'm gonna continue on our little slow ramble along there! I'm watching here! A pill spotted owl is calling! And it’s been wonderful inside the search! I think huskamori was around this morning! I think it was Taylor that found him!

Steve is also looking for him! And I wonder how that’s going? Did he hear that first spotted owl call? I heard it! The search so far for hukamarai has not drawn any conclusions! Nothing on the road kind of found the area where the vehicles that were with him, a little bit turning around and all that sort of thing! But I think he's right in there by the pan in the depression close to the lodge! And I know that there are some guests have just checked in, so going to give them a half-hour now! And our asoto sort of vacate their rooms before I end up getting accused of peeking!

So I'm sure he's probably right in there in the depression! Right next to one of the rooms! And I don’t want someone to think that there’s this guy with binoculars stalking around outside my room! That wouldn’t go down very well, especially if you’re a paying guest! So we’ll just give them a little while to come out of camp! I saw the vehicles arriving just shortly after or while we were leaving to go on Drive! So I think there are some new guests checking in, and I'll just wait for one of the guides to come on the radio! And then I'll know, good!

We can go and have a look! But I am sure hookah would enjoy if there are warthogs that Ralph has showed you! He does enjoy—as you have seen on countless occasions—he enjoys himself a little bit of pig! And I wonder if they are related to the one from the other day! If there were four of them—it’s possible! Two adults, two youngsters! Shame they get over it pretty quickly though!

And in the moment, it’s pretty traumatic! But there seems to sort of just carry on with life the next day! Hello! Bobby on TV show in February! Noel had hookah mori kilowatt again very shortly afterward to kill the Steinbach! He’s stolen a push back from Tingana! He didn’t kill that, but I haven’t personally seen him with any other type of meat! Have you, Craig?

Who's he? A newcomer! Surely he surely is! He’s had in the palor or two, but we just don’t see it! Unit does also spend a lot of time in the West! We don't know what he does that side! But I have no doubt he is a very efficient impala hunter as well!

Talking about hunters and catching fish! Ralph has got someone who’s an expert, and this is a little brown-hooded kingfisher! One of the resident kingfishers that stay here! Some of the other ones that do stay here: the giant kingfisher, as well as the pied, and so he’s always around! But these are predominantly insectivorous kingfishers, as opposed to the pied and the giant who are pretty much piscivores eating mostly, if not only, fish!

And I'm not gonna say that anybody's experience is wrong, but in my experience with brown-hooded kingfishers, I've seen them catching insects next to the water! And I've also seen them bombing into the water but not headfirst! Now actually if you watch them very closely, they bomb their body into the water and not in a fishing mode merely as a bath!

So they just splash themselves! And then they fly up onto the branch and they splashed themselves again! And they flop onto the branch! Mostly down to further maintenance and helping to get rid of some of the dust and the oil from the preen gland! But I have heard other guides saying that they have witnessed them fishing! But through my experience, when I’ve looked at them very closely, I believe that what they’re doing when they’re splashing in the water is literally just that!

Having a nice little splash! And this brown-hooded kingfisher I've found here on numerous occasions! And I think he's probably got a nest, if not just roosting up in one of these trees here! And he’s always here! So it's lovely to come and see him quite regularly! But it's always difficult with birds to watch them!

Monique in London, you say that you love kingfishers! I do too! They’re normally very brightly colored! And well, the brown-hooded kingfisher isn’t as elaborate a coloration as, for instance, the woodland kingfisher or the little tiny pygmy or malachite kingfishers which are really beautiful blues and reds!

But well, this is one of the residents, and he just keeps himself a little bit more of a low profile! I would say he does have a lot of competition when all the migratory kingfishers returned! Now in Britain, I think in London, well, maybe in the canals and so on, I think—and you can correct me if I'm wrong— which kingfishers do you get there? I think you get the malachite, and I think you might even get the pied! But you can correct me! I don’t think you get the giant kingfisher and there might be one or two others!

But I'm pretty sure that you do get the malachite kingfisher in Europe! Along those little canals and so on catching all those little fish! But I'm pretty sure they would migrate, don't they? Not too much about it! So please share with us! Let me know! Send us your comments about the kingfishers in the different parts of the world! Because it’s always interesting to learn about different birds from wherever you are!

And so we’d love to know! And if you’ve got some photos, well send them into the hashtag Safari Log on Twitter! We’d love to see any of those! Because it's normally quite difficult as well to get especially them in flight or catching any fish bombing into the water! It would be lovely to see your photos and showcase your skills!

Right, Mr. insectivorous kingfisher, let's head on! We leave you to it! He did just actually catch... It seemed like a muscle, something that was flying on the ground there! We just missed it! But he's gonna sit on that branch and stay there while we carry on down the low Watty and carry on our search for all sorts! Everything!

And Alice and I think we're not the only one that's doing exactly that! Yes, we are! And probably the worst section of road around! And you've come just in time to experience it with us! It's just a small little piece! Bumpy! Hold on to your hats! We ran up on Easterns tides! But first, boundaries on the other side! Here we've done a big loop around! Hold on, Craig!

Oh, here we go! Thru it! Some of the roads! Surely, for example, this one would be a very very old management road and so wouldn't have been designed with the interest of being driven very regularly or for game drives! So lots of elephant activity allows to find some elephants! There’s been loads of tracks in and out coming up and down!

There is a dam on the other side of the road here, Timbertie dam! It's just north of us! No darts that is where they're going to be drinking as we head back towards Schumer itself! Towards via Teller water and Hall and closed to Gallagher! We’re still looking for some tracks! We switch off every now and again to see if we can hear any alarm calls! But clearly if it was Cameron, he's probably stopped moving! And when a leopard stops moving, he's not spotted by anything!

And they get away with being quite easily concealed! Sure, mama leopards can go through a fence! No fence can stop a leopard, to be honest! National parks, game reserves that I've got fences! The fences do not stop the leopards! They do go through them! They can dig or go under or sometimes even go over! They are very, very versatile cats! So there's nothing really keeping them out of camp apart from fear of man! And Jerry walking back from her little house just the other night!

But we think she’d do the female right there by the vehicles! So and they've had— I think it was Rebecca and Kurt—had husana right next to the room as well! And we have a hyena that comes into camp every single night! So yeah! Leopards do come and go! But they don’t see us as prey, so they're not really looking for us! But they move through! You know they do know that there’s nyala and daker that like to sort of secret themselves in and around the camp!

Because we've got quite a nasty wooded vegetation area or river drainage depression nearby! So there would be some small antelope hiding in the thickets there! And we find cats moving through there quite regularly! Well, whether we see it or not! We often find the tracks of where they're been moving! And we believe hukamaru is in a very similar sort of place!

Okay, are we going to continue on here, see if we can find anything of interest? While we do, Taylor has got something it is mightily interesting! Well, it is quite interesting because we found some termites! And they're rather large termites! You can see that one that’s moving around now! I think it must be a soldier! It is almost double the size of the other termites who are suspected probably workers!

You can see a couple of them now! David, is that...Actually, there's a whole lot of them! I wonder if you can see them! Through? Yeah, I wish I'd actually brought my torch out! Oh silly that I didn’t!

There’s normally, with termites, their bill—well, they start their colonies underground of course! Some of the species will utilize and feed on wood! And that's exactly what's going on over here! They under—I'm not sure what species we've got! I think we're standing on a developing termite mound! Most of it, I think, is underneath the ground! And it seems like an elephant or someone has been rubbing up against this tree and stripped the bark off of it!

Because there’s all sorts of damage here! And there’s a couple of fresh pieces that have been pulled off! Maybe even a wildebeest or a zebra could have come up and had a scratch on this— and it's fairly loose! It's very, very loose! I mean, now just touch that, and you saw how it all shook! So I don't think that they’re living up in here! I think that they might just be trying to more feed on the wood!

That's really, really cool, how big that is! Now, you wouldn't want one of those to bite your finger because those massive mandibles will pack a serious punch! And that's their sort of first defense! There is that if they feel like they're asked threatened or if something comes around like an aardvark and starts digging down into the earth, they’re going to latch onto it from every sort of angle from the ears to the tip of the snout! And hopefully, that will be painful enough for the aardvark to move away or whatever it may be that's feeding on them!

I've had one of them bite me before! It was horrible! It drew blood on my hand, and your hands are fairly tough too! Then they go back inside! So I wonder if those soldiers aren't around! They seemed bothered with us! At one point, I thought they were all gonna run away! But there's a whole lot of them! I mean, here are some more! They’re all working here! But every time the wind blows, a lot of the soil that has been taken up yet small! It starts to drop down too!

So I don't know how long they've been in here for, it seems quite hard! I'm just feeling sort of the soil—it’s cooler! But a very interesting structure! Now I don't think that this is just home to termites! I think that there are lizards and things and possibly some scorpions living here too! I'm sure snakes! We've actually just been trying to find some of those critters! So we'll start looking!

So I want to stick my face anywhere where something's gonna jump out and dry and get me! But there's so many little crevices! And yet even for a squirrel, as an emergency, it could probably hide underneath a piece of bark like this! But I'm trying to think—I don't think I've ever seen a snake in here! I don't think we've ever found a scorpion on here before! There are a couple of trees that we can check where we’ve seen scorpions before that seem to be hotspots!

And we'll try and have a look for some of them today! It's really pretty in here! I'd love to be that small! That I could crawl around on the inside of the bark and into all sorts of little crevices! That's really wonderful! They don't seem to be too active! They're moving around a little bit! But I mean I can't see if they're feeding! They're not collecting anything! Someone walking! Others are just sitting in the sun! The soldiers are just marching about!

Those two in there are very busy! Kind of interesting! Sorry, Davey! And it takes them a very, very long time to start to build the mound! But sometimes what happens if the queen dies of one colony! And eventually the entire colony will disappear with it! And a new colony or a new leader can move on in! So after you've had a lot of rain, then we’ll see the princes and princesses, so the winged termites will fly off! Once they find a mate, they lose their wings, and they go down into the east, and they can continue in all termite mounds!

But some of these bigger ones that we see are probably in excess of 50 years old! Maybe even a little bit more than that! So it all depends on how long the queen will survive for! That's beautiful! Right, it's not someone is taking it easy this afternoon—it's Ralph and he's on a sunset cruise!

Yeah, well, I'm just making my way along them low Wotty, and it's wonderful in this drainage line! And I was about coming through! Yeah! Because it often reminds me of driving in Namibia in those ephemeral rivers! And this is a seasonal river! It's not flowing underground! But there's ephemeral rivers that you get in Namibia very similar to this kind of scene here!

There's another little kingfisher on the branch! You can have a quick look at him if it's the same as the one before! We’re having a country show afternoon! Saying that you don't get the malachite or the Pied Kingfisher! Only the common kingfisher in Western Europe! That’s interesting because I thought that there was a malachite!

But I’ll stand corrected! So well done, thank you for that! The common kingfisher! Does it have elaborate colors? Because I was always under the impression that the malachite—or maybe that common kingfisher is a malachite looking kingfisher as well? Now, this one’s about 500 meters away from the last one that we saw!

You’re saying that you get the sacred kingfisher in New Zealand! And that sounds very interesting! Do you know why it is sacred, Erin? Because we've got the sacred ibis here in South Africa and pretty much right across Africa! Wherever there's quite a lot of water around! Because there are also predominantly around wetland areas, marshy areas! And the reason they're called sacred ibises is a little bit off topic with the kingfishers!

But you're talking about your sacred kingfisher! The sacred ibis is called as such because in Egypt, they had— there were making plantations of all sorts! And I think it was mainly around rice where they had they failed in a couple of seasons with their crops, and they thought it was because the sacred ibis who moved around in those sort of wetland areas where they planted their crops were eating all the seeds!

And as a result, they started to kill all the sacred ibis! Obviously weren't called that at the time! And they killed all of them! But what they found out after that was there was a very big increase in nicer! And that's where they actually realized that the sacred ibis was feeding on freshwater snails, which is the host animal of the virus that gives you both harsher!

So once they worked that out, it was one of the Pharaohs, whoever was in charge, he said to them, "Right, from now on we will be protecting this bird because it's helping us with the sickness of bahasa!"

I don't think that they probably called it that at that time, but that’s a sickness! Anyway, waterborne disease with the house being the freshwater snail! We leave this bird now because he's helping us with this disease, and from now on he will be known as the sacred ibis! And so that nobody would then touch that bird off to that, so that's the reason for the sacred ibis!

But what's the reason for the sacred kingfisher? That's the question, Erin! So send it through if you know! If you don't, if anybody else does, well, let us know—and that little kingfisher, he's obviously bobbing his head up and down and left to right! Do you know why they do that? That's a question for you! While I continue on my drive, why do birds, a lot of hunting birds as well as lizards, why do they bob their heads up and down and side to side?

A little bit of fun! Find some more birds that are exhibiting that behavior! And it's a very interesting reason why they do that! But some other animals that live up in the trees don't pop their heads and seem— the tail is found one of them! Look at this little critter! Not open a tree for a change! We're having luck with squirrels on termite mounds today!

This one apparently was seen by David and James not so long ago! Just the other day! And David said something interesting to me! Do you think they think it lives in this termite mound? It honestly would not surprise me as to where a squirrel would find a home! I think an unoccupied termite mound would be a great spot to sort of sleep in!

Although they do prefer trees, but maybe it just means that this is its day-sleeping area. But if I was a little mammal like that too, anything, I think I'd also be sitting on that little mound enjoying the last of the afternoon sun!

There's a bit of wind picking up, so maybe we're in for a chilly night, so the best to warm up! I'm surprised! We haven't seen more squirrels today! Let's take a little so we just pretend like we're not walking towards the squirrel, and we’ll—it's gone! We'll see!

We're gonna go towards this tree, you see? You can get a little bit closer! Maybe it comes back up! Because there's another hole up in this tree over here! So Bobby, what importance, what ecological importance do squirrels have? Well, I suppose squirrels are firstly the prey species, so a lot of animals rely on them! So, from eagles to, well, snakes and things like that, they're all feast upon squirrels!

Squirrels also, I would imagine, have something—something to do with the dispersal of seeds, or car, far marula nuts end up traveling not even anywhere near where they were found! They'll take them to all sorts of places! So I think they help in dispersing seeds! They don't eat all the nuts in the end! And what else could a squirrel do? Let me think!

I'm sure there's a whole lot of different things! Not sure, but they're very important! Everything out here is exceptionally important! I just want to check this tree to see if this is actually a hole in the tree or if it's just... That's just deceiving! Not—I think it is! So I wonder if the squirrel actually isn’t living up in here as well!

Well, has the second sort of half! It's really big wondering, oh! You see just up there? It's all hollowed out! Looks like there are some termites that have been having a go at this tree too! It’s not very nice! But definitely a nice spot for the squirrel to live in!

Exciting! Some ants crawling around! Anyway, it’s got safety here too! If it needs to climb! I go from the ground and go all the way up to the top, but listen! Yes! There is a candy! I'm not sure what that was, if they're... I don't know why the can is nailed to the tree for the elephants! What does that do to the elephants?

I think they were trying to do some research project on elephants! I'm not really sure! Anyways, perhaps that was their favorite cool drink! Who knows? They were trying to find out what cool drink elephants prefer! Haha! So I've actually seen a couple of other things around, but I'm not really sure! It looks like it’s been mowed!

Yet, don't you think? Looks like somebody has actually come with a big lawn mower! But it hasn’t! No one has been! Eureka's! And most certainly hasn't come around yet! That's all just natural! So this is how quickly the animals can graze down the grass! Anyway, let’s go to Ralph before his bird flies away!

Well, now that we've seen a couple of kingfishers! Now this one is just sitting so perfectly for us in the light that I've just changed to the opposite end! And now we've got him hit first! And so I thought it would be nice just to stop and watch him because he’s quite comfortable there on that branch! And looking like he’s looking for little insects as well!

And do forget the question about the bobbing head if there are any answers! Send him through! Brigid, that's an interesting one! Bobbing the head helps to move the food down the crop! I'm sure that it would! But I'm talking more about when they actually spot something! And then they bob the head up and down and sometime, and also from side to side a little bit!

Sir Right, Mr. Tuvok! You are absolutely correct! They do bob the head up and down and side to side to increase the depth perception of the target that they are looking at! Because of the type of vision that they have! It's all about cones! And I forget the other one that’s inside the eye as well! But you've got a number of cones and it's ossicles! I forget the other part!

But it depends on how many numbers of those that you have! Now the birds generally have very good far distance and extreme distance! But then they can tell very well the depth! So they bob their head up and down and a little bit from side to side! Almost triangulating the target! So that's why they do it! And lizards do it as well!

Obviously, birds have evolved from lizards, and basically flying reptiles! So that's why they both do it! Very good long-distance vision but not a very good judge of depth! And that's why they do it! You will see birds of prey doing it! And you'll also see kingfishers doing it when they're sitting on a branch! And once they see a target, they start bobbing up and down!

And a little bit rough at the left as well! Just working out exactly how far away from them it is because they need to plan their attack! And this one obviously seeming quite relaxed! The one previous was a little bit more actively hunting, and was bobbing his head, and obviously working out the little targets!

Now, if he listened, there's a little pill spotted owl calling! Erin, in New Zealand, you say that the sacred kingfisher is called as such because the Polynesians thought that it controlled the waves! That's very, very interesting indeed! So the sacred kingfisher of New Zealand was thought to control the waves!

I’m sure because it was around the water so regularly, that probably so good in the water as well! We’ll start now for me rusty! We're gonna continue on now! Look for any other birds here in the thickets! Any animals that might pop out as well! But it seems Steve has found you an animal that likes staying in this thickets too!

We have found some animals finally! We have done a loop after loop after loop! And got back into the area of Gallagher pan! I was going to get off and go have a look! And unfortunately, I encountered some guests sitting on the deck! So I decided it was best for us to just leave! So we will maybe go back there after dark, and hopefully get the movement of hukamaru! But at the moment, we’ve got a big male kudu via Taylor waterhole now!

Big male kudu over there with some Impala behind! It’s good to see the depth or the size difference between them! There's still a little bit of rutting behavior going on with some of the male Impala! But isn’t that a magnificent specimen of the kudu? He's got lots and lots of oxpeckers on him! Well-spotted outlet calling in the background! If you can hear it!

And in the dry dock dam itself, we have got herd of zebra feeding on the short! Some of it's short grass growing in the mud, and some of it quite long, juicy grass! Yeah, they are! Betty, the zebras are Archaea and feeding on nice sort of luscious grass that's growing out of the pan itself! You can see it's quite green! All sorts of beautiful things in there! Todd for me to really tell what species! You can hear the owl in the background!

There's even some kudu down here as well in the dried-up dam, feeding on the small forbs that would be growing in and amongst the grasses that you find out! Yeah, there we go! You can see she's ripped up a little creeper of sorts! And as I was saying this morning, kudu are not grazers at all! So if you see them with their head to the ground, they are feeding on small forbs or flowers. They’re not feeding on a grass, beyond dicotyledons, so to lift plants when they come out with the seed!

They've got two leaves as grasses are monocotyledonous, only one! Looking quite healthy, in fact! You can see her rump is very, very good! Julie, you are in luck! Craig is going to pan to the right, and we will see the little zebra foal! Just the top sort of topper of the screen! Craig's going to go into it now! Here it is!

Not feeding like the other zebra, or is it? Oh, there we go! But probably still reliant a lot on milky from mum! Here we go! A little bit excited, jumping up and down! So reliant on milk from mum! So not feeding too much at this time! Wants to play!

Now, come on, mum! Put your head up! Zebra foals can be the cutest little things! And a few months ago, you saw a couple of them behaving very interestingly with us! Jumping up and down, galloping around when you are drinking mum’s milk! You don’t need to feed on the grass! And it’s a never-ending battle for zebra to keep themselves nourished! Constantly feeding, constantly feeding with their heads down!

But like the kudu that can feed our tear in the open and then go and sit in a shady area to ruminate! At the zebra, they discuss the dung of the rhino and hippo this morning! Constantly feeding! Both have their advantages and disadvantages!

Mmm! Baby zebra is very cute! So even though this waterhole is dried up, they still benefit for the animals! Those forbs and grasses that are growing have attracted them! Which means that it's a very another attraction for some of the predators to get down!

Even though it's a dry water, you could still get something coming through to take one of these zippers down! Well, one of the Kudo! But they’re out in the open feeding quite relaxed! There's a whole lot of them! They're all over the place! Tis in the palor! Ayana around the corner as well! So strength in numbers! Someone is paying attention, so you can feed with your head down in safety!

They are the one-year-old male Impalas! And we are going to stay here with these animals for a little while longer and see if anything happens!

And let’s go and see if Taylor's got anything more interesting to tell you about the camp! We do just sitting right at the top of this buffalo thorn that has been beautifully manicured by, I think, the elephants and probably the impala and kudu that hang around here!

And all the way on top of that tree, those birds that are flying, those are all—besides the bright blue one, of course—are southern gray-headed sparrows and a Cape glossy starling that's joining them! I suspect that they've decided to sit all the way up on top of those thorny branches just like that squirrel was doing earlier just to catch the last of the afternoon rays!

I'm sure that's going to warm them up quite nicely! And sunbathing is very important for birds! Did you spend a lot of time doing it? Always in the morning just as the sun has risen, although you see monkeys doing it! Lots of the different creatures will do so!

And then of course, in the afternoons, it doesn’t look like they’re doing much foraging at the moment, and they’re very gregarious! So you often see them in big flocks on the ground looking for seeds! Sometimes they eat a bit of fruit when it's available, and I'm sure that the interval on the odd insect when there's a chance to!

But predominantly feeding on all the grass seeds! So you’ll find them in these open areas! And it’s not uncommon to see them with lots of other birds!

Now, Clifford, you’ve asked, how do animals react to potential natural disasters? So maybe like a big fire or a flood? Well, luckily for birds, they’re gonna have to abandon their nests if they do have any, and they will! There’s absolutely nothing that they can do!

That’s another stunning that’s the virtual starling—they were just flying down into the distance! And they’re going to do just what that starting at! They’re gonna have to fly away! So birds are really lucky! They can escape things like floods and not all of them! I think it’s Jonah on a hand there, Darby! Are you sure? Okay. Well, I tried!

You saw I was trying to be a gentle lady! Anyway, basically they'll just—if you're a chicken, you can't fly! You're gonna probably not make it, but for natural disasters, I don’t think it's the birds that aren't worrying about!

It's often the reptiles and sometimes mammals get trapped too! And so yes, those—it's a huge problem for them! I always feel sorry for tortoises and lizards and things like that! They can't escape fire as quick enough! That aren't as fast! Maybe!

Anyways, I think I can actually hear Steve's voice just down in the distance! I wasn’t even speaking! She must have telepathy!

So here we've just moved a bit further forward! Not sure if you can hear the oxpeckers! They're having a feast on the back of the zebra! The male Impala calling in the background—a very strange gurgling sound!

See, the youngsters decided it had enough! It would like to lie down, and it often happens! They get quite tired! You know, they're not the ones feeding, so they've had their milk nourishment for the day! And they get a bit tired!

They want to lie down! And it’s perfectly normal! You often get mums turning over and watching out! Quite often, in a zebra herd, individuals at a time will lie down while others stand and watch! They have to sleep! Have to physically, like us, put their heads down and nod off for a while! So as to maintain their brain processes minimum!

When zebras are born, the mother generally goes away a little bit from the herd! And then, apparently the mother and the youngster imprint their patterns on each other! So they recognize each other's pattern and then also the smell! So whether it's just the pattern or just the smell, or both! I mean, obviously we can't know for sure! But at least one of those seems to work quite well! Because even when they're returned back to the herd, the youngster can quite easily identify a mum, and vice versa!

So very important for that early stage for them to spend that time together! And then mum is never too far away from the youngster! And there’s a little bit of playing happening now! Very tactile animals live where they love touching! They loved playing!

If any of you've ever played with a horse or know much about horses, you know how much horses like to touch and feel each other! And a zebra herd, for example, you get the stallion, and then the stallion starts off when he's quite young with one female, and then he might, they might have a foal together! And then as he starts getting more mature, he gets a second, a third, and a fourth!

But you generally see a stallion getting between maybe four and ten females in a herd. Obviously it depends on their age, their status! Sometimes a male gets killed! And then his females are all up for grabs! And then a local male can sometimes just adopt them all himself! So he can almost double his numbers in just a day, for example, if a male disappears, because the females need a male!

He helps in protecting them! He helps in fighting off unwanted attention from other males! And they spend a life bond together! So death do us part, you could say! And he releases his youngsters, his females, his juveniles from time to time to other males that are searching!

Obviously, he needs to challenge them a little bit! But it's not a very aggressive challenge! Almost like a father sizing up the prospective husband for their daughter in human society, I suppose! Sometimes it can be more aggressive than others! It really depends!

Ashley, zebra are a bulk grazer, so they can feed on quite sort of bulky, sort of nutrient-poor grasses! But at this time of year, they'll be selecting as juicier grasses! They can zebra able to crop the grass! So they've got two teeth on the top and the bottom of the jaw of the front of the jaw! So they're able to quite easily mow the grass down!

So they will select the juiciest and the best grass as they possibly can at this time of year in line with all the other grazers! And that, but they’re able to chop quite tall grass! We’ve all the best feed on a grass that zebra have chopped down! So the Valley de beers to Germany for facilitated by the feeding of the zebra! So they'll feed on very similar grasses!

But zebra able to feed on longer grass! Up in the Mara, you see it very tall grasses! Every crop it right down and that new growth gets fed upon by the bull, the best!

But all animals will feed on as best nutrient-rich vegetation as they can! But it's all got to do with the size of the mouth! Zebra’s mouth is equivalently the same size of all the best! And maybe even a water back! So water back and the zebra are quite bulky feeders! And of all the best, selectively bulky!

But you get something like a rhino or a hippo that's got an enormous mouth and very difficult for them to select what they feed! So they just gulp it all down! Whereas the zebra be as selective as they possibly can with the tools being their mouth as they can be!

But there are benefits at having teeth in the top of their mouth, so they're able to chop it right down! Hmm, take care! That's an interesting question! Very interesting question! I have no idea! Take you wanted to know why the body stripes are vertical and, oh, yeah, and the leg straps horizontal!

I think it's just the way that they're being painted, you know! It's just the stroke goes from left to right! I have no idea! I think it's just the way that it works! It kind of acts as a blur together, so the leg's not necessarily as a sort of optical illusion-y as the body is!

But when zebras move together, that up and down pattern of the body facilitates a very nice flow and confusion tactic which works very, very well when they're in large numbers! When they're on their own standing, the outfit doesn't work very well! But why the leg straps are like that?! I have absolutely no idea!

There’s a youngster still trying to get some milk! Gary, yes, they will try! They will try to fend their foals against predators, especially the stallion! The stallion will try and protect the entire herd against predators, sometimes at their detriment!

And often when you can actually tell who the stallion is, if you approach a breeding herd or a family harem of like this, of zebra, the stallion will actually get between you and his ladies! So without you even noticing the size difference, you’ll be able to see him quite clearly by the way his behavior! He'll try to get in between you and yes, they will definitely try and defend against their predators!

It really depends on the situation! You know there’s a limit to how you can defend your youngster if it's a pride of lions! It's very difficult to defend! And then it's all for themselves! But one lion or a leopard, most certainly a zebra might turn on one of them! And they've got a very, very powerful bite!

And they can kick very very effectively! So I have seen male zebras chase leopards off, chase hyenas off! I've never seen them chase a lion off, but I'm sure it happened! But like I said it is also quite a risky business trying to defend your youngster and putting yourself in harm's way!

But it is their lineage, it seems to be the boy there, doesn’t it? Clifford, interesting question! Well, the zebra has always been known as the painted horse! They've got a much weaker back than horses! They are completely wild! I know you get wild horses in the world! But are they indigenously wild? I don't know exactly how horses evolved!

Or I think they mainly were in Europe! I think they were a very similar sort of animal a long time ago! But through breeding, through agriculture or domestication, we've harnessed the horses we have today! That are not ponies, they’re bigger!

They’re a lot stronger! And a lot more physical and able to work with what they’re doing! So these guys have got stripes, but they are the same family! They're very, very similarly related! Just continental drift! Many generations! Many, many, many centuries of domestication has led zebras to be what they look like!

Just like cows were probably very similar to buffalo at one point! Or something similar to buffalo! And they've been bred into the vast varieties of cows or cattle that you find these days! This is like Taylor was talking about! That sandpaper raisin fruit only being very slightly fleshy and more seed! That’s the same with certain animals! They’ve been bred to a point where they now look the way they do, just like dogs are related to wolves!

Some dogs you would look at and think, "Are you sure?" But indeed, they are! It's just through selective breeding! We have these very interesting breeds of today! But I think at one stage, zebras and horses would have sort of diverged from a very similar animal species! There’s way too much similar about them!

The digestion, the sort of social structure, the way they fight, the hooves—everything like that! Even appearance, they're very, very similar! I don't actually know too many differences apart from the fact that zebras have never been domesticated! And it's impossible to get them to do what you want to!

When horses are able to be broken in and used for grunt work and for riding! And I think just through many, many, many years of domestication—just like sheep! Sheep got domesticated because those sheep that didn't do well being domesticated left and got eaten! And those who did well being looked after by man, well, they perpetuated!

So we're gonna go from the open clearing of the plains to a tree! And Ralph with another bird! Burn away! Well, I can hear him calling! We had the bearded woodpecker doing a territorial knocking on this dead branch! And as I say that, I can just hear elephants down in the valley with a very characteristic!

The reason we stopped was because there was a bearded woodpecker doing the territorial knocking, which they normally do on a big dead tree like that! Sometimes it’s a lid wood, sometimes it’s a knob thorn! But it must be a nice resonating hollow tree! And there was another one calling from just a little bit further on! And that's actually one of the territorial calls!

But the bearded woodpecker is the only one that does it! And it's a good very sort of typical sound that they make! And that is not them searching for food! And it's actually them calling to other woodpeckers in the area! And as I said, there was another one responding to it! So it was quite interestingly!

Now I know that you said, I think it was to Steve, that you would like to see Tandy and Columba! Well, I've decided to make my way into the area that she likes to hang around, and we're just driving along nice and slowly and seeing if we can pick up any little signs!

Now, Dorian, you are asking if this is really live! And if you can ask questions! Well, you just have! And I'm answering your question! Which is absolutely 100%! We are live! There is nothing staged here! This is the wild! The bush in the greater Kruger National Park of South Africa!

And you can send your questions and your comments on the hashtag Safari Live on Twitter or on the YouTube live chat! So just click on the link and you can send through any questions and comments! And obviously, not all of them get put through to us as we are the guides with a lot of questions coming through!

But the questions that are most pertinent to the subjects that we are looking at will then generally get in through to us! And especially if we are sitting with a lovely subject like an elephant! Or like we had there with the woodpecker! Ask us questions about birds and woodpeckers! Or if we are sitting with an elephant, ask us different questions about that!

But we're not going to answer random questions about random things when we're looking at something in particular! So that's the idea! And we want to get the debate going about different subjects in the wild! Why do things happen? What happens in your part of the world? Etc., etc. So that's the idea!

And well, it's not about just us telling you all the answers! It's about sharing and debating! Dorian, thank you! Brilliant! I say fantastic! And if you're a new viewer and you've just found out about how to join us—well, I'm stoked about that! Because that’s just somebody else that's gonna join us in the mornings and the afternoons! Or you can join us on a Saturday for the Safari Live show!

Which is a catch-up of all the week’s happenings! Especially around the predators and anything very exciting that we've had during the week! And it’s just a two-hour show! And that will then give you a full recap of what we have done during the week! So if you must the shows, you can then catch up on a Saturday! And well, I'm gonna continue on towards Buffelsook waterhole!

But it seems that Taylor is already at one! Well, not one that you would probably find out in the bush, right? And seen as though all the people that live with this house on holiday, might as well just scoop some of the leaves out while we're here!

I said to you earlier that it was getting a little bit windy! And while we better keep the pool clean! So this is why on hot summery days we play there! I don't know even know what it is! I mean, I told that I'm not doing a very good job at cleaning the leaves out of the pool!

So we find all sorts of things in the swimming pool! We find frogs, water monitors! And then once, just behind me, there was a hippo that decided to walk on in! And so that was very, very interesting! I don’t think I'll be able to get all of these and a bit tomorrow! Yeah, when I come through, I'll just be back in here!

But this is the cleanest I’ve seen the pool for a long time! Sometimes you come here and there's all sorts of things living in it! But anyways, we actually came into this wall! This is the other accommodation though! We have had Wild Earth, and there’s a pair of scops owl that live in the garden somewhere! And we've been hearing them calling every night!

And sometimes in the day as we drive past! So I think if we just scan the branches, we'll be lucky enough to find them! But something else that I thought was quite cool, and I talk about them often! It's the round-leaf teak! Except a much bigger one now! The only reason why this one is as tall as what it is is because the elephants can't get in here!

Well, sometimes if you leave the gate open, then, well, then they do come on inside! But it's really, really quite nice! But even the trunk is not nearly as big! And as it can get, it's all quite as small and probably not very old at all! But I have seen some monster around leaf teeth! And I'm sure there are probably a few in here!

There's lots and lots of different trees from sickle Bush to lots of Bush willows! Well, no wonder! Yes, that's exactly the hippo that destroyed the decking! You can see this is actually all-new over here! All these planks that have been redone over here cause they're all—not the elephant—but the hippo actually broke them and fell through! It's not very high!

So any less than a foot! And eventually, Brent managed to learn art! But you can see in winter why lots and lots of animals would want to come here! Please can you say that all again for me? Cause ya didn't quite hear what came through! Oh no! Oh!

Hrən tourists can't stay at this camp because this is where we stand! If you stay here, then we've got to sleep outside! And it's quite nice sleeping in a bed at night! And I love spending all day out with the animals, but I'd prefer not to cuddle with a lion or an elephant! So you can't stay at Juma private game reserve! You can stay in two camps! You can hire art Galago camp, or we attend a lodge! And they're really amazing because they're kind of like something's not quite self-catering—that's the wrong word to use—but you can choose what food, what things you want to eat! And there chefs that prepare them for you! And it's beautiful!

Maybe if a big Steve down at the dam can maybe give you a sneak peek of Rio lodge if you're lucky! So stay tuned! Perhaps you can do that for you! So, oh no! Apparently, Steve has left the dam! But keep watching!

O-ring! We’ll have a little look! And sometimes you get quite lucky and see all sorts of animals! There are lots of spider webs and things around here which is really quite nice! So I'm going to stop looking at the spider webs! And I'm going to start staring up into the trees now to see if I can find, well, a pair of scops owls! I'll say, yeah! I know they’re here!

But I’m going to send you to somebody else who's not looking for owls! Yeah well! We’re always looking for owls! Owls would be nice! We had the pill-spotted and potentially even a barred owl calling earlier, but we were too engrossed in our zebra conversation!

We have left the striped animals, and we are back on our quest! I’ve been in touch with Ralph! He’s headed up towards Buffalo's look at the waterhole, so we’ll go in the other direction! Maybe even if we are not lucky with anything soon, we might make a little mission down towards Chitwa for the sunset! How's that sound, Craig? Some Aramark babblers that are just calling their noise!

Elizabeth, that arrow-shaped mark on the chest! Hello, magnetic behavior! They’re doing the calling, the group bonding, as a move through the vegetation in search of food! Where's a unit? Well, it seems like Ralph has been lucky this afternoon at the Puffles look! It’s because he was surprised he has for you!

Well, look! We’ve just had this little young male elephant who was really telling us and that he was such a big man in charting the odds at us! He was really giving us a little bit of a show— putting his ears out and running at us! And now he’s obviously realized that we’re not going to play that game, and he's now gone off and tried to catch up with the rest of his family!

But there’s another couple of elephants just off of the Rajah up in front of us! And mummy and a very small little calf just down there! Now, I’m not going to go too close to her because it’s a very small little calf, and if she comes my way, well that’ll be great!

I might roll a little bit forward, since I just want to get us onto the ridge of this kill, but I won’t get any closer than that! Because, as I say, she's got a small little calf there! Okay, there she comes!

I'll actually stop now, and you're gonna see the little calf! I don't want to disturb you, and we can see her very clearly here! Is the little one hello? Looks like it’s going for a drink! Still suckling from mum, obviously! And she looks like she wants to catch up with the rest of the herd as well!

As a young male, obviously, and we've had a lot of elephants around recently! That's been very nice! We’re all up! And see if we can get a glimpse of it from behind, before they disappear off into the thicket! Just go nice and slowly! That is always the key with elephants!

Don't surprise them! Don't irritate them! And don't drive up and, you know, close them up in a small space! And it’s generally excellent viewing if you just obey those small rules and give them the chance to allow you into this space!

As I say, mummy with a little calf! We will be a little bit careful because we don’t want to make trouble! But they can also sometimes just move off, because there’s the guy! It looks like they’re probably gonna be catching up with the rest of the herd, which seems to be moving in an almost directly northerly direction!

So that’s them! I’m gonna continue on now, since those ones have disappeared into the bush! We’re not too far from before hook Dam! So I am gonna continue on! There’s a nice waterhole there! Maybe some of them will be coming for a drink, as I said earlier!

So we’re gonna hit! Oh, since I’m more behind, you'll have to turn around that way! So I’m gonna get the next turn, and then we’ll head back towards before! So I think those elephants might have just come from there! So I’m just getting this next little ride, and then we’re gonna hit through!

They’ve probably all just been down for a drink! So we just missed them! I think, but maybe there's some more down there! Very often you have some of the younger males; I'd like to linger around behind the herd! And then very often get left behind!

And you see them then running through the bush as they get told off! Or if they get left behind! And when they realize that they’ve been left behind, then they try and catch up again with the rest of the group through there!

I love watching elephants, especially around the waterholes! It's always fascinating! Giraffe girl, the youngest elephant that I have ever seen! Was it, was probably about 15 minutes old! I didn’t see the birth actually happening!

But I got there when the elephant, the baby, was lying on the ground, and there was still the afterbirth and all of that! And mummy was throwing sand on her own belly! Obviously, it was the pain of having just given birth! There was a lot of blood around and all of that—as you do get when you when you have animals giving birth!

So it was just a few minutes old, and it was beautiful to see! It almost had quite a pinky color! Now since I saying that he can see an elephant! It's walking towards us, okay?

It's walking on the wall! So we've got some elephants in front of us! That's great news! But I can’t rise through the bush, especially with elephants! You've got to always be cautious in your approach! And we're actually approaching the dam from a different side that I've never come from!

This is quite interesting from a new position! There are a couple of hippos that are normally in this little waterhole, just trying to get us through! Very often, I come onto that side to drink! So it’s actually a very nice way to come down and spot them from this side!

Because that is a beautiful sight! Look at that! The hippo just in front! There’s some lipids! Smooth lipids! Elephants moving off to our left as well! And that is beautiful! I thought all! And all the bull walking around at the back lingering! Awesome their egos!

We just caught him at the end! But I'm gonna wait for him to come through on the right! It's just behind those bushes there! He's gonna pop out in a second! Here he comes! Look at the light on him now! Looking!

Yeah, it looks like a bull! And as I said, it's quite regular, quite normal for the bulls to be following up behind a herd! And you can also see the sort of the way that they walk as well! Very relaxed! Some of the best viewing animals when they're not in must! That's the problem!

So we've obviously just missed them coming for a drink! But let's go forward! Yeah! Looks like we've got a couple of hippos still in the waterhole! This is spot them from the side! Let’s see! I'll show themselves! Here we are! Hello, hippos!

And this is one of the spots that Tandy and Salamba do like to walk around! I'm quite happy just sitting here and waiting for a little bit! And we see if she shows herself! Always just got to put yourself out there! And just wait around! But this—it's been quite a long time that I've been coming to Buffalo Dam! From about November!

And each time I come, there's always been one bull in here! And he was always quite a nervous character! And so much so that we called him Scuba Steve! Because he would just come up with his nostrils out and not show anything else! So it seems like he's relaxed a bit with vehicles around!

And he’s also now got himself a little companion! And she was also nervous, almost following his lead by just letting her nostrils come out, taking a breath in, going under the water again, and not showing themselves at all!

But it seems like they've calmed down! Maybe it's a little bit of age! And they've relaxed with vehicles coming through here! I love it how they blow the, yeah, almost like whales with a little bit of a spray of water as well! He looks quite sleepy!

Millennia, you say that hippos are your favorite? Yeah, I definitely do like hippos! And one of the favorite things I do like about them, as I've said many times before, is that they generally go underwater!