Safari Live - Day 292 | National Geographic

This program welcomes you to this afternoon's sunset Safari, where we have just caught up with their little chief himself who seems to be after something. No, it's just after a different shady spot.

A very good afternoon to you! My name is Jamie, and this afternoon Craig is on camera with me, and we're live from Juma Private Game Reserve, which is in the Greater Kruger National Park area of South Africa. Now, because this is a live Safari, first of all, when we start our safaris, the animals do this to us as a part of Colles law. But also, at the same time, you can send through your questions, and you can do that on hashtag Safari Live on Twitter. Alternatively, you can send them through in the comments section of YouTube.

Right, great. Well, we're going to have to move, are we not, little boy? What is it doing? What are you doing? Bit of an odd mood this afternoon. Now, it is quite warm, as I'm sure you're going to be told repeatedly by all three of us who are out this afternoon. It is - Kirsten told me three times what it is - it's 37 and that she's seven and ninety something, something like that. It's hot! It's hot and it's sweaty. 98, I'm sorry, Kirsten. Oh, you did tell me three times, but I forgot it.

I don't know why he's chosen to lie there, but I think it's because the ground is nice and wet. So I said that it's hot. Husana, this morning, for those of you who missed it, had some water, I suppose, rotten in Pilot caucus that he was nibbling on, and he took a little bit of it down here into the drainage line behind the down wall. It's the perfect spot to come on a hot afternoon, but it does mean that there's no breeze.

So it's all fine and well being down here in the shade, but there's actually nothing to keep you cool or to keep the flies away, and I think that's why Husana has gone to lie where he has. I think his patch, where he was initially, has got quite warm, and he's decided upon our arrival. I think we just provided the final layer of motivation necessary to get up, move, and then to curl up down there underneath that pile of logs and make our lives very difficult.

It is hotter down here, Husana. I don't know whether you realize this, but it's definitely hotter down here than it is up there. There's no breeze at all. But because this is an overflow or a drainage line, we're actually in a riverbed. Yeah, there's still quite a lot of dampness to the soil; that's probably why he is where he is. I'm almost tempted to go join him. Obviously not right there.

Now this morning we found him on foot; unfortunately, due to an attack of the gremlins, we didn't manage to get him live on foot. But we went down hoping he was busy looking at the monkeys, and I was trying to tell him that Husana was right at his feet, basically looking at us. So we did find him on foot this morning; it's very nice. I always enjoy spending time with a special leopard on foot because he is so relaxed with us.

"Hey, my boy." A beautifully framed child of the universe wants to know why Husana doesn't go take a dip in the water. It's an interesting one. I could tell you straight up that lions and leopards don't particularly like to wallow in water. They don't like having wet fur; they've got quite thick fur.

"What's up, boy?" Something odd about him today. Normally he'd have passed out already. Maybe he is just so, I died so hot he can't. I could tell you that lions and leopards don't like it; he could find himself a puddle to wallow in, but you never see leopards doing that. Having said you never see leopards doing that, all lions, I know that Scotty in the Masai Mara a few months ago had this amazing sighting of lions wallowing, which you never get to hear about or read about or even really see pictures of.

And there's no reason why they shouldn't at some point be a lift order that doesn't read the books that decides it actually likes water. But generally speaking, even on the hottest of the hot days, leopards will not go and lie in water. Oh, obviously, we're right next to the dam; there is no way that Husana would go in line there, and there's a very good reason for that. It is because there are crocodiles, quite frankly, and quite simply, it's too big of a risk.

I'm not the only person out on this gloriously hot afternoon sweating our way through it, and Sydney is Artemis. Go and see how he feels about the seat.

"Good afternoon, and most of all, welcome to the beginning of the afternoon game drive. This is Sydney, a former enemy cozy, and I'm travelling with Sansa, who is my camera operator this afternoon. Hopefully, we are going to get you to see quite a lot of interesting animals. I don't have a specific target this afternoon; I will be looking for a general game, hopefully, we are going to see a lot.

So the weather is so hot at the moment; I'm sure this kind of weather will be restricting quite a lot of movement on this animus this afternoon. Hello, hello! And, in case if you would like to talk to us, you can follow us on Twitter hashtag Safari Live. You can also follow us on the YouTube chat stream. How the grass is growing very quickly here after the heavy rains! I can see that the predators can easily get camouflage; it's green everywhere. This bush looks very impressive; it's beautiful here. I have been away for just about a couple of days, but now I am seeing quite a lot of changes at the moment.

So now, let's cross over to Tristan, who's got the beautiful hippopotamus. Indeed we are out and about as well, and you can see that we are sitting with the animals that have the exact right idea in the afternoon heat as we put this off. It's not as bad as yesterday, but it's still quite warm, and so you'll find these guys are going to position themselves just inside before suck dam and enjoy a spot of bathing.

Of course, it's scuba Steve and snorkel Sarah, and that's what we are talking about. Prince gets very angry because we call them scuba Steve and snorkel Sarah, and we don't actually check if it's the same hippos. But anyway, he's not here anymore, so he can't shout at us. My name is Kristen on camera, but Sebastian this afternoon, and it is a very warm welcome to all of you. Hopefully, we'll enjoy having us out and about with you during the course of today.

And the kind of plan for this afternoon for us is to head towards Tortured. We had Tinga Ghana and Colombo there this morning, and so we're going to try and see if we couldn't find them again. Unfortunately, both of them were quite mobile, and Colombo got a fright when she saw Tinga from afar and ran. So it's going to be a bit tricky to find them, but hopefully, they'll be on one of them, will be on a man somewhere with a bit of shade, and we'll get lucky. So that's the kind of plan for the afternoon.

And we also didn't have wild dogs this morning; for those either think, "Well, wondering why they weren't on the show", well, through arts on the tracking team, and we were just trying to find some stuff, and we found obviously the dogs, and they'd run into Chitwa before the show. We could get Juma back online, and then I was sitting on in Colombo. We found him, I think it was about two minutes to go in the show, and they were quite far to the east; it's going to be a bit tricky with signal and the likes, but we try our best to see if we can find him on that side of the world.

But you can see these hippos are very, very sleepy. Scuba Steve, you tired boy? Must be a happy hippo, though, now that his damage got water once again and that he is able to kind of sit and take it very, very easy and enjoy a bit of water. And you'll see there's a little oxpecker that's on the back; that's quite hot. You can see how it's got its mouth open, and he's basically practicing law flutter, which is equivalent of a cat or a dog panting.

Marcelle, how long do hippos live for? Well, generally, in the wild, you'll find that hippos will live to about 30 years; they can go a little bit older than that, but, you know, in the wild, given that they fight with one another, these predators, those kind of things, generally the lifespan is a little bit shorter. But look at that; I expect you see arts opening one of the wounds on the hippo's back because that's why it's trying to cause a bit of bleeding to start, so that it actually drinks the blood and gets that. So it's not actually looking for any parasite; it's trying to actually get some blood flow going in that little wound that is on the back.

But it doesn't seem like any blood is actually coming out at this stage. So if back to the kind of age thing is that these guys, obviously in the wild, there's a lot of different factors, whereas in captivity, they would be able to be fed, they'd have its care; they would, you know, have no worries about predation, and so they can go to about thirty-five in captivity. But thirty, generally, in the wild would be quite an old hippo. I mean, they are one or two you probably get to 35, but not that often.

I'm sure this hippo wants to go in the water completely to stop the oxpecker picking at any wounds, but hasn't quite rolled over just yet. You can see the one next to it is kind of cantered to the side. So sometimes when they get a little bit kind of dry on one spot, they'll just canter left or right, and that will allow them to keep their body nice and covered and really kind of cool down and then stop too much dehydration.

But quite cool little oxpecker right between his head. Best of friends really at this stage. Oh, he's just too lazy to care about the oxpecker! You can see a little flick of the ears; so that'll be just to get water out of the ears itself. Often when they go underwater, there's a little bit of extra moisture that collects. Once that is turned and sealed, and then they just flick that out to make sure that the water doesn't go in and cause any issues inside there. So quite a little care system when you find oxpecker.

Sometimes we'll try and kind of go towards the ears to try to look for parasites, and then they flick them to just to try and stop it. It's this speaker. It's really going to tell nothing; these hippos hide, unfortunately. They're getting rather hammered. You see that oxpecker must be so hot, the fact that it's got its mouth open like that after every kind of pick you an idea of how warm it is.

I mean, we're close to a hundred degrees Fahrenheit again today, and so in that sun like that, it's going to be very, very hot. This time you say that oxpecker looks like it's actually laughing about it. Well, I suppose, say yes, you'd imagine it having that sinister, evil laugh as it picks and breaks open the skin. Maybe that's how it's laughing. I don't know. It'd have to kind of think of a laughing oxy picker; would it be deep and sinister? Would it be high-pitched and squeaky? That would make it quite funny. I'm not quite sure as to which kind of laugh an oxpecker would have. I reckon if they're picking her away, it's cause - and so Casey reckons it should be ha ha ha.

So that's little kind of laugh. I reckon you've probably quite spot on because they, I mean, they don't exactly have a high-pitched call at the best of times. You know, I reckon that's probably about right.

Good, we are getting absolutely baked in the sun, so you're going to try to carry on and get a bit of airflow before we catch a heat stroke. It's very, very hot, and unlike the hippos, we are not wallowing in water.

And so we're going to just try and kind of move and see if we can find some semblance of shade. Scuba Steve, you have a good day there, buddy! Enjoy your nap; hopefully, we'll see you out and about a little bit later. Good, we're going to keep heading off towards Torchwood in the meantime, though that sends you up to the Masai Mara.

So that's from India, Mr. Injury can say good afternoon. Now this is very interesting. Everybody, good afternoon. Before I give you all the greeting in the housekeeping, look at that - there is an elephant, and there's an Egret standing on its back! I've never seen that before!

Now often we're asked why it is that oxpeckers don't sit on elephants. And, well sometimes we say they just don't tolerate them. We know that elephants, of course, have very thick skin, and so they probably don't have anything like a number of external parasites, something like an impala or buffalo or rhino might have. But the answer that elephants just don't tolerate birds is very clearly shown to be false.

Yeah, isn't that interesting? Good afternoon, and welcome to the Masai Mara. My name is James Henry; it's marvelous to have you with us here for the next two hours on our Sunday afternoon Drive. I don't know what I like to say, "Soon the afternoon like that," but I do, and say our child pleasing the hashtags of fire live on Twitter and the YouTube chat stream.

We are in the territory of the Sausage Tree pride. We did see them lying under a tree about, hmm, twenty minutes ago. Now we came to look and see if we could find the males and whatever else was going on around here. And if we get very lucky, we might find the males, but we'll probably go back to the sausages very shortly. So that is the state of play down south here with the Sausage Tree pride and the elephants.

Of course, we have our TV show a little bit later; if you'd like to watch us, you can join us on SABC 3 if you're in South Africa. Otherwise, you might be able to catch it on YouTube. Lots of beautiful egrets.

Alright, should we drive along? I must, of course, tell you that the inimitable Peter Bungay is on camera; he has got all five fingers attached to his left hand! It has continued. Oops! Quran and have another look at these elephants because the lions weren't far from here earlier.

And there is a fire to the left. We were told yesterday that perhaps people were harvesting bees. Well, not harvesting bees; harvesting honey! I'm not sure that that's what's going on there, though. Maybe there might be?

I'll have another look; we'll get a little bit closer. I just want to go and check at the buffalo carcass from yesterday as well. Before we go back to the pride, the males might just be lounging there. It's not far from where we are now. Lovely picture of those elephants and those egrets.

So we'll just try and get a little bit closer to them, I think. Ah, I see now where that other vehicle disappeared. Two chaps; it went around to where we had the buffalo and the sausage tree prior yesterday driving on through here.

It is a beautiful, beautiful afternoon out; we've got about, I'm gonna say an hour and a half left of light which is just delightful, soft Mara light and Mara colors. It has been quite a nice hot day, which means that if there are lions about, you can almost be guaranteed that they'll be lying under one of the, shall we say, thinly dispersed trees.

Let's have a look at the elephants and the mountain and the honey harvesters. I can imagine by my saying that there are honey harvesters, there are probably people at home thinking to themselves, "How could they don't they know that bees are endangered? How could they treat them like that?"

I think you’ll probably find the bezel go back to their original spot. There, I also think you'll find the amount of bee harvesting that goes on here, or honey harvesting that goes on, probably affects the bee population from very little indeed, much less, for example, than perhaps even the farming of avocados.

Devi, we dealt with wildfires in Africa in the following manner, and we have a traditional fire dance. Once we've completed the dance, we run away screaming like this, "Deaf!" You should put the camera on me; I'll show you, okay? Like this! Run really fast in that time to help us to get away from the wildfires here in Africa.

Obviously, that's not really true; we deal with them in much the same way as you do anywhere else in the world, with helicopters dropping water on them with back burns. So at a place like Juma or in an area like this, what you'll do is set a back burn. In other words, you'll start to burn a piece of ground towards the fire against the wind, because obviously, fire moves with the wind.

And you have to do that very carefully with a big team of people. It's quite a skilled job, and it's quite a scary job because the fire can jump behind you, and then you can get yourself into real trouble. That's generally how we do it.

Often you can just let them burn out their oats, you know, because they need three things: they need fuel, they need dry atmosphere, and they need heat, so they've got to have those three things in order to burn effectively. You'll find that as night falls in a lot of these grassland areas, the fires will die down and actually quite easy to put out once the temperature drops, and if there isn't too much wind.

It is very different, however, in areas where you have aromatic or oily trees, if you know what I mean, and so a wildfire rushing through the Mara is nothing like a wildfire rushing through California, through the trees. Or through some of those Australian gum trees. Those are far more dangerous than any fires that we have here because the trees, you know, obviously explode into fire. I'm gonna continue with my fire discussion once we've looked at these elephants.

The one behind does not look particularly happy; I don't know why that should be the case. I mean, we're a long way from beautiful with all the egrets. Isn't it lovely? So we're not gonna get any closer; we're just gonna let her be. Not sure why she's marching her crew closer to us; that seems a bit odd while you're getting comms there.

Boom game, what is she saying? I'm getting nothing; you just get bit. Anyway, while the elephants have calmed down, there are some parts of South Africa where we obviously do have much more dangerous wildfires, and in fact, down in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape of South Africa, there are currently tremendously dangerous wildfires.

My uncle nearly lost his home yesterday to wildfires in the Hermanus region, and that burns in the FANBOSS area. So those are very oily plants that sort of exploded to fire and carry fire much like the trees in a place like California or in Australia would.

So in an area like this, yes, we do get wildfires; we deal with them either by letting them burn out or putting in back burns. Alright, so that's my fire discussion. Let's go back across to South Africa, where Jamie Patterson is with the star.

It sounds like a stunning sighting with James in the Mara. Nothing like spending time with elephants across that side. As for this crazy cat, I don't know what his deal is. He was sitting curled up quite comfortably behind the logs. Then he decided to come and lie down right in front of our vehicle. We're not even the camera could actually see him, so then I moved back a little bit just to put some space between myself and him because I can't see what he's doing down there, and obviously, we can't spend our afternoon talking about the front part of my vehicle.

So I moved back, and I stopped, and I switched off. And then, you know what the silly, silly creature did? He got up and he walked to us and he laid down in front, right in front of the vehicle. I mean, basically lying up against it, and I don't know why because surely it's hot. I mean the vehicle's been running for not very long but still enough to produce heat.

I can feel the heat coming up through the bottom of the car, the base of the car. So why on earth did he decide that that was where he wanted to be? Silly cat! I thought maybe it was because I'd accidentally missed his meat here and I'd missed it.

Oh, maybe I did! No, he's not; he just wants to be where I was parked. I think maybe our vehicle tires flattened the grass there or something. I don't know, you weirdo boy, you absolute weirdo! Maybe it's just the best spot.

So Reed a lot, a very warm welcome. Sir Reed a lot as a name I have not heard before, which means that we are greeting, as far as we know, a new viewer. And also, Reed a lot wants to know am I not scared of being this close to a big cat?

Every single animal that we see out here is wild and should be treated as such. That means a degree of respect. Constantly reading their behavior. That's why we do what we do, is because we've spent many years doing so. Having said that, these cats are perfectly relaxed with the presence of Safari vehicles. They've grown up with Safari vehicles.

This particular young leopard, who if you continue to watch, which you will because you're going to become addicted, this particular cat we've watched grow up since he was a few hours old, which is really very special, so he's had Safari vehicles as part of his environment since he was little and it has allowed us a totally unparalleled insight into his life.

So he does not see us as food; we don't look like food. There are a lot of people who will tell you that animals cannot identify individual people. We're now in a vehicle! I'm not convinced by that.

I think that they know that we're here; obviously, we're talking; they can see us! I mean, if they can pick out an individual impala, they can pick out a person sitting on a car. But they don't associate us as a threat, and they do not associate us with food. So that combination means that as long as they are not afraid of us, we are perfectly safe where we are.

But we always treat the animals carefully, and we make sure that we're constantly watching their behavior. This is exciting news; something that wants to stay well away from Husana, but that I've been looking forward to seeing this time of year. Tristan's found one; go have a look.

Indeed, I likely show should stay well away from Husana because we know Husana grabbed one of these last week. But it's not that we are worried about; you can see that's a big adult Kudu female that is not pregnant in any way.

And so Husana wouldn't target that in particular, but it's a tiny little baby moving around in amongst those two adults. Tricky to see, but it's behind that one. I think let's see if it'll move. I can see a bit of movement behind that one. It's so small that it's completely hidden by these adults and seems to be a little bit shy of us at this stage.

I don't know why; obviously, well, I actually do know why. I mean, it's supposed to be a big object; it's a bit kind of nervous as to what we are and what we do. And so it will be trying to stay close to mommy. I see the little head, a little one.

Look at its ears; it's so much bigger than the rest of its head, and that is a very new baby, probably within, I would say, the last few days. You can see it looks like it's smelling us and trying to listen to us. It's probably thinking to itself, "Mom, what is this? It's so big! I don't know, is it something that I must run away from, or must I stay still?" But of course, if mom is staying still and then kind of just watching us, then it will be okay.

But it is absolutely tiny! You can see it doesn't even go past mom's tail yet. So I believe a lot of you are moving and eyeing its cuteness, this little baby Kudu. They are really cute! I like baby Kudu because everything just looks too big for their head. You know, their ears are ridiculous in comparison to the size of their head.

And then on top of that, they have long legs that they kind of bound around with. Gina, you say it's little lips are so cute! Kudu have that little white marking on their lips. And say it can be quite cute, particularly in the little babies. You'll often kind of see this little cute kind of face looking at you, and I love how the little nostril is flaring as well, trying to just work out what exactly we are and whether or not she needs to be worried.

I don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet actually to be honest. We just kind of have seen this little tiny head popping up in your mom, but so cool to see. The baby animals are very cute things; there's no doubt about it. Most animals that you see when they're young are very, very cute.

Of course, it does need to be careful that took one because we see our chairs and lots of predators that will be around, and like Jamie rightly said, Husana would be very eager to grab that little one. So would wild dogs, so it can eat, and Ghana, pretty much anything really that's a predator; even hyenas would like to go after a small kudu like that.

And they do target them quite often, and we find a lot of young kudu of that size being eaten, particularly by wild dogs. They tend to grab them quite regularly; they can kind of quiz panic and get hold of these little ones. But you can see it's staying close to mom while we are here, just to make sure everything's okay.

You might go for a little drink of milk. There we go! Are you wanting to suckle that one? No, we're too interesting; we need to see investigate us a little bit more. Isn't that cute? Shame!

You can see mom in the background how much she's behaving because she must be incredibly warm at the moment. You can see it's a Collette rocking back and forth motion; that's all just much like any of the other animals trying to cool down. Her rate of breathing is much faster now.

Giraffe, how long will a little kudu like this nurse for? Well, you normally see them kind of nursing like this for about the first three months, and then they start to really kind of concentrate more on vegetation. Some of them will be quite cheeky, and I'll try a little bit longer.

Look at sniffing little tail! Hello, mom! No, I don't! Just follow along right next to it. You can see the size difference there; it can even fit underneath its mother completely.

So you can see it's standing between mom's legs at the moment, which is very, very cute. And so, know, me, about three months, and then they start to kind of go more on to grass. Some of them will be a bit cheeky, and they'll try to bully their moms into suckling more, but just theoretically they should be going onto leaves already at around sort of even earlier than that.

Some of them, it's sort of a two months, can I really start feeding on a bit of vegetation? But they will try and suckle and try and get as much milk out of mom for as long as possible in any baby animal radius like that.

Now, where are you off to? Are you gonna go exploring? Let's be very careful about doing this. So that's one thing about little baby kudu; if they separate like that from their mother, this is where a leopard would really want to be around because it would be able to get to that kudu before mom could protect it, and that would be dangerous.

Now, it's going to go in. It almost looks like it wants to investigate in male impala that's across the road.

So Skyy, who's eight years old, is a nice size comparison between the little baby kudu and the impala male. Why do they have stripes on their body? Well, the simple reason for that, Scar, is because most of their time is spent in thick, dense areas.

Now, if you look where it's standing there, do you see that there's a bit of shade and then there's a bit of light on the leaves? And so when a kudu is behind a few trees, that white marking that you see there helps to break the outline of this kudu. So what that means is it basically makes it very difficult to see the exact shape of the kudu in those little sort of areas with light and dark, and it helps the critter to camouflage more, which means it hides away better from predators and makes it easier for these guys to then kind of be able to fool predators into thinking that they're not there.

So that's basically why they've got it; it's all just part of camouflage and to help them stay as hidden as possible. You can see it's on the edge of the road now, quite cool actually to see. I think it's quite curious about this impala male.

"Is the umbilical cord still attached?" Kiss; that's quite cool work. It's very difficult on these little monitors to see much, but yes, there it is; it's drying up a little bit.

So like I say, only a few days old, I would imagine this little one, and the umbilical cord is starting to dry, and also should be. It's sniffing around. Imagine what it must be like for this little one; everything smells, everything is new! It's just all about investigating and trying to figure out its world.

Now mom looks very impressed with her; she's kind of quite proud of her little one at this stage. I'm just kind of standing over it and having a look. And there's the kind of size difference between the two, and you can see how much bigger the females are and why it was such an impressive kill that Husana made.

I mean that kudu, there's probably, I would say, two to two-and-a-half times the size of what Husana is, and so for him to bring that down, plus a fetus that was inside that female is quite something. But anyway, we're going to kind of carry on and see what else we can find.

And something that is also got some in strength, like Hosana, is a little insect that Sydney has.

"Something is every year, the dung beetles are so fascinating! I've been here for the past few minutes, and a lot of things are happening. I just want to get over here so that we can have a nice discussion about these majestic and beautiful insects.

Look! This is a very big fight taking place here! Look how many! About four of them are involved in a fight! Look at this here! So we have seen quite a lot of bosses already, which have been checking out different ones - big ones! So there's quite a lot of competition going on. Look!

Another one is now about to leave; they did they damn pile. So listen to that! You can hear them when they are fighting. When they are pushing each other, you can hear some rattling sounds. This is amazing! Look at this! One, two, three, four! There's quite a lot of big balls still here.

But I want to first see which droppings are these from. So I can see that here on the ground, there's evidence such as this. This is the marula fruit. It's clear that this is the other end dropping. So, but this I don't think is fair enough to call them droppings at this stage because these insects are feeding here.

So now it's food; this is food! It's food for the dung beetles; it's no longer droppings! Later, they become droppings when they are not ended. Now, when other animals are feeding, this is food. So let me smell this food, the dung beetle, because they don't smell bad. So it's just like the normal elephant drooping smell.

So here these dung beetles are assisting a lot. If you can check, there's quite a lot of flies here. You can see, look at this; there are too much flies here! Does this fly is, some of them are laying some eggs here at the moment. And when they're laying, it's done bitters; at the same time, they are rolling the balls and destroying the eggs at the same time.

So they are helping us in order to control the population of flies naturally. Dung beetles are there in order to control the balance when it comes to the population of flies. So this is very much interesting. After this, some of them are going deep this side; some are going down on this road, so they are going to find a nice port and bury these kind of balls.

So dung beetles, when talking in terms of strength, the dung beetles, they are very much strong. Yes, the strongest animal in the whole world is the elephant, but when talking in terms of the strength-to-weight ratio, the dung beetle is the best. So they are all looking very much dirty, and oh, there's even a kernel here!

Look at this; we might see a fighter there because I can see it's three! You see, it's going back again! Look at that! Look at that! This is amazing! When you see that, it's three, you must know that what is lost is what is running away now with the drugs right now.

They are fighting for nothing! Look at that! So the other one is trying to escape, and they still fight! This one is still looking for that one with a ball; you can see. So let's see; maybe he's gonna manage to find this one with a ball here, then we might see another.

Look, it's coming towards that direction! Look at that! The fight is going to carry on! Something interesting! So this one is driving over his wife now because the one which is holding. So it's okay now; only wants to get the ball and the wife away; Tim is rolling; drive over the wife.

This does discourage! So look at! Oh now, he's fighting that one! Look at that! This is amazing! Now he's driving the ball much more aside! Maybe there was just a little bit of disagreements between the husband and wife because the husband is the one who normally pushes; the wife is having a lift!

So after this, you will see the little ones inside; they're going to be able to eat because when they are hiding, when the eggs hatch, dung beetles have got a complete lifecycle. So when they hatch, the eggs little ones, they have to be able to lava, must be able to eat by the fresh path of these droppings.

And this novice, when they're still going through the lava stage, they also experience problems because some of the animals, such as the honey badgers, they like to dig. They like to dig these dung balls and collect them in order to eat the larvae. So that is something which is also controls the population of dung beetles.

So you can see now this sort of big balls coming out again! Look at that! I can see another one is coming out now. It's taken through that side! So that is quite a very big ball! Well, they can't be able to hate each other. I have seen some of the dung beetles; they have got short limbs. Some of them have got broken legs here because of involving themselves in this kind of thighs.

And apart from this, there are some also other animals who predate the dung beetles. These bears who eat them have a very strong chitinous cover which is very hard. Some of them, they learned on their back when they come to these droppings. So their skin is very much hard.

So you can see the elephants, the reason why they look. Another one is landing! Oh, we just landed! No, Colonel! From what I have seen here today, I have noticed that there is a difference, because all these climbing, they are very much clean, and the ones who are pushing are looking very dirty all the time.

If you can check here, the females are not doing anything. So the easiest way for me to distinguish between the male and female is to check the one who's got dirty wings; the male I'm seeing here. And the females, their bodies are looking very shiny.

So the female's body are shining, and the male's bodies, they're looking much more dirty and much more brown. And this is one of the best sightings. So the elephants are the ones who are giving this dung beetles quite a lot of nutritious food at the moment.

So let's pick clickers over to James and see if those elephants are not excreting food for the dung beetles! Right, everybody, we've been spending a very interesting time here while you've been having a very interesting time with the boring beauties of dung.

And what's interesting here is that an elephant died yesterday around here. We met some Rangers who told us that we came back into this area to see what was going to happen, if perhaps it would be surrounded by a fight between the border pride and the sausage tree pride as they decided who was going to have the spoils. Instead, what we came across was a big pile of soil!

So the Rangers buried the elephant that died here yesterday. We don't know why yet. I'll phone David and try and find out. I suspect that probably they were worried that it may have died of some disease, and instead of risking, you know, the prey art here, they just thought, "Let's put it in the ground just to be safe." Now it is entirely possible, and by the way, definitely wasn't a poached elephant, so to die of natural causes.

But I think they were probably maybe worried that it has a disease. What's interesting here is that the elephant that you're looking at there with the long tusks, she's got a shorter tusks on the left-hand side, has been very unhappy with us.

Initially, she was the one that you initially saw her lifting her head at us towards us and displaying displeasure at our presence, despite the fact that we have never been closer than a hundred meters to her. So, you know, we really haven't been pushing her. It's not like she's cornered in any way; she just took exception to our presence.

And we moved back a bit, and she got a little bit more irritated, and so we moved back further. And then she calmed down, and then one or two others of the herd shook their heads at us.

And we think maybe that the bond not far from here is perhaps a relative of these ones and that these elephants, not to put too fine a point on it, have basically been at a funeral.

Now, I know that that might sound ridiculous to many of you. Many of you will go, "Oh yes, of course, that's obvious. We know elephants mourn." And some of you may say, "Well, there's no real evidence of that, Hardy. Prove that an elephant mourns."

Well, the answer is, you can't really. I don't think I've seen or heard about an experiment that you can prove that has shown without doubt that has shown that elephants mourn. But anybody who's ever owned a dog knows when that dog is sad or when that dog is happiest! You know, there's no question that those dogs can't feel emotion.

We know that elephants are hugely intelligent; we know that they have a very high brain-to-body mass ratio or brain volume to body mass ratio. We know that they're highly social, and there's a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that they really do get very upset when some of their own died.

So maybe it's perhaps the old matriarch of this herd that died here yesterday, and they're all just a bit tense and upset and sad by the whole thing. That was our guest here on the vehicle. Isaac is on the vehicle, too, so we were having a long chat about it.

Oh no! Blue monkey pig! That couldn't be why that herd was running the way yesterday morning! I remember that. No, that was miles away! That was up north! We were way down south, near the Tanzanian border at the moment, in the Sausage Tree pride and the sausage Republic as David likes to call it.

Yesterday's event took place right near the Oliver gate, the completely other end of the reserve! So no, it definitely didn't have anything to do with what's going on here. You are not gonna push these elephants any further. I mean, not that we have pushed them; we're gonna veer away from them now and head down towards the sausages once we've finished with the sighting.

I just love the egrets that are flying in amongst the grass. Great clouds of white egrets. There's a cattle egret, and they're obviously just looking for insects and that sort of thing. Now, apparently, the great epic wall of the dung beetles is ongoing, so I think we're going to send you back there.

I am still here witnessing this very great war at the moment, and I'm gonna go back there again and see what is happening at the moment. I can promise you this; dung beetles are very much skillful because if you check the elephant droppings, they have got quite a lot of things such as this material, but these kind of beetles are able to seek separate this kind of strong and hard material and choose the soft.

Elephants can be able to eat about 400 kilograms of food a day, and after that, they're only going to digest only 48 percent. That is why in here there’s still quite a lot of nutrients available. There's even quite a lot of water I can see here. So there's too much water here.

You can see now that my stick is showing that this elephant defecated here and urinated as well somewhere in here. So I can see that here the droppings are having quite a lot of moisture. So here I can see this defined the constructions, and they fight. So this is amazing!

Now, this is too much flies here at the moment, as we saw them earlier, so these elephants are now starting to concentrate on quite a lot of... they are concentrating on quite a lot of Amarula. I can see that maybe some of these Amarulas are now getting a lot of water. They might be now preparing to arrive, as normally the Amarulas by February is when we are starting to drink the Amarula.

So you can see that they're trying to push where these kind of a very big ball from the ground is just. Let's just see how they are going to manage to get out that kind of big ball, and they are doing it while fighting at the same time. You can hear the Cape Turtledove is also calling somewhere here nearby, saying, "Work hard! Work hard! Work hard!”

So dung beetles are so very encouraged by the Cape Turtledove here! You can see they are coming out! Wait, wait, wait! So dung beetles, they do carry diseases as well! Look at that taking place!

So these different types of dung beetles, and the most interesting one is the one which is called the klepto-corporate. Klepto is just a term which means if they are those who are waiting for the ones who are rolling the balls to come and steal the ball and go away with the ball. They don't want to construct anything; all they want is to take over! Look at that!

Can see we are listening to each other, and they're shoving each other up there! The head is like a spade! So now, let's go to Tristan, see some bears!

Well, on Torchwood at the moment, and we have a beautiful, beautiful bird. In fact, it's one of the prettiest summer birds we get! It's a violet-backed starling! You can see they're bright yellow calling and in that plum-colored color that shimmers in the light and a white chase style!

That's the male you're seeing there; he's very, very pretty. And the females will surround some way in that area. There she is! She doesn't look like the same bird at all! You can see she's got a streaky little chest and is all brown and drab in coloration in comparison to the male. But they really are nice birds to see.

As if you Cape Turtledoves and also sitting on top. You know, yes, they look all right now! I'm sure Jamie's going to give me trouble about Cape Turtledoves because this morning when said my self and Jamie were driving back from Inga's off to the morning shift, we went past a tree and it looked like a wallet at first - looked like a sparrowhawk's house! Is that a sparrowhawk? And it turned out to be a Cape Turtledove!

And then Jamie said she's gonna make fun of me. So if you hear about it, that's what happened! I'm somewhat ashamed, and one of those things are just the angle that we were at, but it looked like that!

But anyway, Sim, do you think you can get that wild by crawling in the background there? Because it's Becky’s got the kind of lights on it, so it's to the back right of where they were! So straight through there, to the right a little bit, but right, right! No, not on that; she's back quite far back!

So like somewhere there in the background or I think it might have flown. And unfortunately, sorry buddy, that's okay! No worries! It was just so was catching the light quite nicely, so I thought it would be good! But it was somewhere in that area, unfortunately, has flown away now!

The good news is where we are at the moment; we’ve found tracks for both Tinga and what looks like Tandi! It looks like slightly big four to elaborate difficult now with the two of them! They both have a similar sized track, but moving basically a pipeline road, and where we found them this morning is on the other side of this drainage!

So I think these tracks that we've got are potentially Tinga's tracks from this morning before he crossed over, but I think the ones from Tandi, they look like they're on top of his, and so maybe she's come back to all the lumber was and is going to try and see if she can pick her up.

So I'm hoping if he loops around, we'll be able to get to the tracks for both of them, and hopefully find both of them, which would be quite nice! And hopefully, Tinga will! Siriano be really good! You have a family! P them once again; it's kind of the best way!

Imagine, let's say bond the back! You never know; these things happen when the same is on the back!

So I'm gonna back our luck and hope for the best and see if we get this right! So I'm sure we can eventually! But they are tracks, so just on the left-hand side! Yeah, I think you’ll see them in the sand.

Now that looks like Tandi’s track that we've got! Yeah, at the moment! It might be Tinga's! Just need to see the size, roughly! Let’s have a look!

Could very well be Tinga's track that we've got there! It looks like two strikes maybe. There you can just see it up front, and in this one that's close to the car as well, over there!

So that looks like Tinga’s! Maybe a little bit big for Tandi, that particular one! So this is kind of roughly where they've been hanging around! But it's good news fast! Anytime there's signs of these guys moving around, it's always good!

Hopefully, it's going to be I've been going to find them, and there'll be some way in this area! The heat, you say, leopard was spread; do your thing! Yes, well, I don't know if I'm going to be doing too much whispering to there; unfortunately, I'm not feeling very good!

That's all; I'm feeling rather nauseous, and I have a serious headache, so Sabi's gonna have to do all the whispering today! Hopefully, I'll skip myself sorted during the course of the afternoon, and by later, we'll get it right! But it's not feeling great, so you'll have to try to fade a little bit hot, babe!

In the meantime, let's send you back across to Jamie, who's still sitting with the little chief! Oh, shame! Poor Tristan! He apparently is not feeling well at all, but I hope he feels better! I hope it's just the heat and nothing else!

It is very, very warm and very sweaty out here! It's quite easy to dehydrate if you're out on Safari because you said something else to me when you were linking to me, but I was distracted because I was talking on the game drive radio at the same time! If it was urgent, please let me know!

If not, for the rest of you, I will tell you that you can continue to send through your questions! Oh, good! Okay! Because it wasn't that important; I sincerely apologize. I was having two conversations and worrying slightly about trust! I hope he's okay!

No, we have one very sleepy Husana! Those of you who've been watching since yesterday's sunset Safari! Oh, I see! Yes! If anyone can whisper leopards out of thin air, Tristan can!

Oh, those of you watching, although that Husana is injured, he has a nasty wound on his left side, on his left sort of leg, there at the join between the leg and the belly. The fine... the belly! That is a very popular place for injuries on big cats.

It seems to be the place that I often see... I'm just thinking of when I look back on injuries I've seen. Backs of legs and hips and that area that join! We've discussed it at length what we think happened to him.

I agree with Tristan; I think it was most likely a warthog! It could also have been the hoof or a horn of an animal that he tried to grab! But neither of us think that it was a cat! I don't think he had a take! What's the word?

Well, brain fried! I don't think he had an altercation with Hookah Moor or with his dad! I think it was more likely to be something that he was trying to catch! Maybe he got a little overconfident!

It could, of course, be a hyena as well. He's oh! But I don't think it's anything to be concerned about! It is something that, so I'm sure it's hurting him!

It cannot be comfortable; it is deep! But it doesn't go down! It doesn't look to me like it's damaged any muscle layers! So it's deep down into the skin, and it's exposed the muscle! But it doesn't look as though it's injured in there!

Ali, the resilience of animals, as you know, always takes us by surprise! Anyone's know how long I think that wound will take to heal?

It depends on infection and depends of course upon whether or not he ends up with a problem like we saw with the Birmingham male years ago, where the maggots actually infested that wound! And although they kept it clean, they also stopped it from healing for quite an extended period of time!

If the same thing happens to Husana, it could actually take a month or two or possibly even more to heal! If it doesn't, you saw how Corky healed up from her lion attack wound, the hyena. She was better in three weeks, and I think that Husana will probably be the same!

I think that's the most likely outcome; I think in three weeks' time you'll barely be able to see it! There is also a possibility he had a run-in with a lion, but again I don't think so! I think we would have seen bites puncture wounds; I don't think the injury looks like that!

We'll never know, though, exactly what it is that happened to him! Now Gabrielle wants to know why we do not give him medical help! Gabrielle, it's a big question and one that we often get asked!

First of all, it's not our decision to make; it is not within our power to make that call! It's something that is decided by the overall management of the area that we're in, called the Sabi Sand!

Now, their policy is one of non-interference unless the injury has been caused by human beings! Now, there are very, very solid reasons for this! It sounds very cold, and a lot of people respond to that by saying, "Well, you know, we've destroyed these animals' habitat so much, why is it that we can't give them a helping hand in order to keep them, you know, to help them out given how much we've damaged their population?"

And it's a fair enough point, and there's a lot of room for compassion within conservation! But nature does things best! So nature knows her balance; nature knows what is needed! And nature has her way of not weeding out necessarily the weak, but certainly there are...

It's a very difficult line to draw! A natural injury like us is going to heal! I don't think Husana needs medical intervention! If he was seen with a snare, a metal piece of wire, the Titans that set out by bushmeat poachers, we would immediately step in! We would immediately call the authorities, and they would come in to help us!

But by and large, what the approach is here is to let nature run its course, and it has proved itself time and again! A hundred years ago we decided as human beings, not we personally because we weren't around a hundred years ago, but it was decided that the best way of conserving the animals in this area was to shoot all the predators because they were eating the antelope! And that meant that was the conservation norm!

That was how people thought they were protecting this area by interfering to that point! Wild dogs, leopards, and lions, they all had to go because they were damaging the population of game! Bizarre to us now! Now, as times have moved on, we've moved more in the direction of allowing nature to take her course!

Because interfering causes all sorts of problems; it also costs an immense amount of money, which is obviously well spent in situations where it is human-caused! But otherwise, it is justified more being spent conserving this area as a whole and protecting not one leopard but every single animal in this entire area!

So it is a difficult one, and it's one that a concept that a lot of people struggle with! And I understand it's human to do so; we want to help! But that level of interference, certainly here, is not necessary!

I'll give you another example because I think I suspect that you're new to this debate! I'll give you another example; with the Cubs with mange, the sticks Cubs had mange; the Inkomas Cubs had mange! There was a lot of distress that was caused to a lot of people watching the Cubs really suffer, and they did suffer!

And eventually, all eight sticks Cubs died! The Inkomas, on the other hand, didn't! Now, there is a natural degree of resilience! There obviously their genetics somehow helped them out a little bit along the way; it also helped that it did start to rain, of course, as well!

But in the now, what we've seen is they're Inkomas; their lions have been constantly exposed to mange by the Maghani males who’ve been spending time with them! And all of those Cubs who survived have been... have not even been affected badly by the mange at all! They’ve competed; it’s totally passed them by!

Now if they had been treated, they would not have built up that resilience and immunity! And to make that decision is very, very difficult! Where for me, personally, where I start to struggle is not in situations like this; I'm comfortable with letting Husana heal on his own!

"Hey, my boy!" Yes, I am! It doesn't mean I love you any less! It really doesn't! I do love you! But I love you as a wild animal and as you should be! A newbie should be free! Where I start to struggle is where an animal is clearly at the point of suffering and they're going to die!

And I struggle with not being able to step in to end that suffering! Then again, there have been cases where I've watched an animal suffering, convinced that it's going to die, and it's recovered on its own! So, you know, it's a very, very difficult line to draw!

And no one can shout anyone down for not having or for having that compassion! But it's a question of really thinking about it a little bit more clearly and with a bit of a healthy dose of reality, I guess!

Unfortunately, and I say that without being cruel, the truth is nature does things better! It's extraordinary also how people... and I find it particularly with hyenas, how people often step in when they see an injured leopard or a lion!

And they go, "We must treat it!" and then that's something like a hyena walks past with two broken back legs and continues on without the same outcry! Human beings by nature, myself included, can be very hypocritical here!

We find... I'm not worried; we'll keep a close eye on it; we'll watch for signs of infection! Flies doll sitting on it, which I think is why so restless lie on it, my boy! Lone had put it down in the cold dirt that will help!

So, well, Husana lies down in his preferred spot for the moment. Let's go to lying lions in the Maasai Mara!

Writing here we have found, you can see, an astonishing lion sighting here! Now what these lions are doing is lying in ambush waiting for the elephants! They’re almost certainly going to kill one of the elephants and have it for supper!

So you can see their strategy is perfect; the elephants are coming slowly closer towards them and to flatten themselves into the grass in order to create the ambush situation. There's a little one there that's flicking its tail up and down! It's sort of trying to attract the curiosity of the elephant so they'll come here a little bit faster!

I’m obviously talking utter garbage; this is the Sausage Tree pride. It is not all of them! We think it's three cubs and three adult lionesses! In fact, that's definitely what it is! And so we’re missing two lionesses, which is very exciting!

Probably not far from here in the stream or brook that we have sort of running past this area and possibly with new, tiny little baby cubbies! Are we gonna hang around here?

Because this is obviously the most bankable sighting for our TV show later on today, and hopefully, these cats will get up and do something other than what they're doing now, especially that they have their little ones with them!

I don't think the elephants know that the lions are here at all! I think that the lions may be forced to move as a result of the elephants! I'll be quite grateful to the elephants if that is the case!

Very little sound, just a very upset I think - it's probably cicadas species going back in the background now!

"Scenic" a big male lion could never kill an elephant unless the elephant was on its very last legs. A big male elephant, of course, weighs five tons; a big male lion weighs two hundred kilograms. And so these highest differences is, well, it's phenomenal, really.

What is it? It's fires 25 times the size! A big male lion might be able to ride on the back of an elephant, but you certainly couldn't kill it! You do hear stories of elephants being killed by lions, often in drought conditions in places like Savuti in Botswana!

But it is very uncommon! Well, it's not that uncommon, I suppose, in the dry season with young elephants, but it's very uncommon! As would they ever be an adult elephant? Once an elephant gets passed over ten years old, really, unless it's very sick, it's going to be tough for a pride of lions or enormous clan of hyenas to take it down!

Now, the little cubs are watching enjoying this game-viewing experience in the Mara! Their neighbors, I'm sure, will fill them with a sense of curiosity and also not a little fear! That's so sweet!

No, wonderful! It's a lovely picture; you can see the adults are not vaguely concerned! Haven't even bother to lift their heads! Over there comes a head; I predict it'll go strapped down again!

Mm-hmm! But of course, little weapons who haven't seen too many elephants in their short time here on planet Earth! This is all very exciting! As is chewing the bush in front of you!

Alrighty, I'm gonna wait and see what happens here! We're gonna go back across to Husana now, I believe, he's at the thirsty! Alright, well James, that sees what happens there!

We are sitting with the lovely Husana, who's decided to quench his thirst! I suspect, judging from his behavior today, I think that that wound is very sore today! I think that it's quite sore; I think it's making hot! I think it might be a little bit infected!

I haven't seen a property to really confirm that, though, because it took me a while to get around to where he is at the moment drinking from a truly fetid-looking water source!

If I'm quiet, you can just hear him laughing! I think maybe over the sounds of the birds, maybe not! Arrey thirsty boy! Well, as long as he keeps eating, keeps drinking, you can walk! He's not limping; it's not limping too badly!

So I think it won't affect his ability to hunt; it's very beautiful down here! It really is! And although summer has made our lives more difficult in terms of binding animals, certainly spotting them in the thick vegetation or even just trying to track them, it does mean that everything is that much more beautiful to look at!

The goal of a leopard contrasting about the verdant against the verdant green, to use James's word, is truly spectacular! A scoop says that Husana is hunting tadpoles right now! Here's the little source of protein!

Maybe just a little pick-me-up! Imagine how scary it must be for the tadpoles because they do like to hang about the edges of these pools; it's not my relatively shadow where they can look up there, especially in dirty water where they can perhaps see whatever they're after - mosquito, a lobby or whatever it happens to be!

I'm sure there was one tadpole that went swimming away and they all went dashing off! Lilly says that he is very thirsty! He is! I can't blame him! I have to say I'm very thirsty too, and I've just realized I've finished my entire bottle of water. And it's only - sure, what time is it? It's only just after five, which means you still got another two and a half hours to go!

I'm going to need to start carrying five-liter water bottles! It is! It's a thirsty kind of a day! It's definitely a lot of humidity in the air! There's another storm building up over the mountains that isn't going to get to us!

I've given up thinking it's going to rain for now! So yes, he's thirsty! I think he's very restless; honestly, I think he saw it must be very painful that injury! There is constantly moving, or in the area that he's constantly moving will also mean that its rate of healing is going to be slightly slower!

It's not as though an animal can go and rest! A wild animal like this, he can't be put to bed with the thermometer in his mouth and a bandage around his wounds! I was lying in the watery mud now trying to cool down! Those of you who've experienced high temperatures as in terms of internal body temperature when you've had a fever, you'll know what this feels like!

When you've got a fever and it's hot outside, it's just the absolute worst! Which was why I was eternally grateful when I had malaria that we had aircon in the bedroom! It just made such a difference to my recovery!

And made me think of all those poor people who get malaria regularly in Africa who don't! Don't have access to the medication or a fan or anything to help to keep them cool! It's horrible being ill, and it's been boiling hot outside! Lots of flies about down here!

Husana, it's much cooler out of the strange line, I have to tell you! It really is! There's a breeze! You're not going to take my advice because he doesn't understand! Remember a year ago when Husana does it? It was about a year ago! It was when he fell out of a tree!

And he developed a limp, and we were all terribly comfortable with vaguely concerned about him! Not to worry, just a little bit!

Okay, while we search to make sure the little chief doesn't vanish on us before the TV show, let's go across to James, who has found himself some elephants! I thought there may be a little bit of a roar there; that's why I was silent for a second!

You know, it was just a yawn! As you could see, the inexorable hunt is underway! The elephants are walking into the ambush, and the lions have perked up slightly!

Yeah, I think I can hear Kirsten talking! Malone, you talking to us? No, general comms? Okay, sorry about that, everybody! We've got two radios on the car! I thought maybe that my idea had malfunctioned!

Why hasn't now? If you look to the right there, I think that elephant, the little one on the left of the right-hand herd, lifted its trunk up and maybe spotted the lions!

Kermie, yes, elephants would kill lion cubs if lion cubs didn't move out of the way! They wouldn't go out of their way to kill them in the same way that a buffalo would!

But certainly, the elephants would be a danger to their... more to the adults but also to the cubs! Are we getting a little bit of play behavior which is nice? And it's a bit of cuddling going on to the left of that too!

One game! There we go; fun lion cuddling! They do like to cuddle, do lions! Just like my mother's cat, they also adore when they do that!

And who will ever forget the sighting of Jamie Patterson and Amber Eyes and one of Amber Eyes' nephews or nieces and Amber Eyes hugging it? Yes, JW! I am absolutely being completely sarcastic about this ambush! This is not an ambush; this is just a coincidental meeting of two species! The elephants happen to be grazing up the hill!

The lions, on a hot day, were lying under the only tree that was convenient to them, and now they're going to have a meeting which will consist of the lions getting up and loping off for somewhere else and the elephants walking past!

Now you can see all right; so they're probably about 70 meters away or so, and the lions on the right have now perked up; they're quite interested!

"I mean, to scratch my head!" Then, to be brutally honest, I was to pick my hat or charger! I could have a sip of tea! I thought, I can't lie to you! We know each other well enough now for me to tell you that I'm having some tea!

What does wonderful sighting; what a way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Elephants, the Alalolo Scotland in the background, smell of a wood fire! Which I hope will go out fairly soon!

Sun about to sit; a sausage tree pride and their cubs having a bit of a cuddle! And I kept a Kenyan tea in my hand for, and they call this work!

I'm going to be very careful not to slip my tea because Kirsten finds it very unpleasant! Michelle, I normally agree that coffee is better, but at this time of the afternoon, tea is what you want! Ideally with a cream scone!

We don't have cream scones; we do have some superbly roasted nuts! And so I've had a couple of nuts, and my Christmas cake would also be wonderful! Actually, something's also tremendously comforting about the smell of a wood fire, even if it is one that seems to be slightly wild upon the murder!

You have your Earl Grey! I'm having normal tea grown here in Kenya! Salonty! I suppose you'd call it! I do like a bit of Earl Grey! This is just... I mean it's just gonna slowly get bitter and bitter!

I'm sure many of you are sitting there thinking jealously of my position here! Yeah, I was saying this yesterday, and I really do believe it that... oh, she's got a collar on! Let me see that; sorry about that! She's obviously being monitored quite carefully!

It doesn't particularly comfortable, does it? Say I'm sure she's used to it by now! I was saying yesterday that I must constantly be aware that, you know, you obviously, whatever job you do, you get tired from time to time!

But this particular job, I do need to constantly remind myself of how unspeakably lucky I am to call what I'm doing right now work! I think back to my days as a guitar teacher back in Johannesburg and what I used to do on Sunday afternoons there!

And it's the growing grade for the week starts to build! I don't feel that at all anymore! Just very special indeed! Biologically, there's not a huge amount of interesting thing or stuff going on here!

These elephants will probably spot the lions eventually! Their eyes are not fantastic; I don't think they're as bad as a lot of people will head! You will have you believe! If the elephants become aware of the lions, one or two might take a few steps towards them!

If they stay at this distance and kind of graze around, I suspect that we're actually inadvertently protecting the lions from the elephants, because we're parked directly behind them! I don't think that's going to affect the outcome tremendously!

Except that it might allow the lions to lie here for a bit longer! Does the elephant's going to avoid walking straight at us? But other than that, everything is very calm and peaceful here!

And in fact, you can see the lions settling in again! They won't be particularly worried about the situation because, of course, they know they are much faster than elephants!

And I suspect also they realize that, despite the fact that I don't, an outright sprint and that an elephant could probably outrun one of these cubs! They know that the elephants probably wouldn't push home and attack if they back off fast enough!

There's the same probably wouldn't be said for her to Buffalo coming this way! So just starting now to make their evening calls down on the brook! Bellows and the thick trees!

I'm Carl! Sorry, I missed that! How far can elephants feed in a day? In an area like this, I don't think they move tremendously far, but it's probably a good five or six kilometers, I suppose?

How far can they see? Well, there we go, that elephant now spotted a lot! There we go, and that's at a distance of about 50 meters! Look at them! She's told all the rest! She's infrasonic! Li told all the others that they were proud of that!

There's a pride of lions! Yeah, they're now all completely alert! Look at that! Only one elephant saw these cats, and they all reacted straight away! The elephants did, and they're moving away!

That's really very interesting! I've seen elephants do exactly the opposite of this and chase the lions away! But maybe because we're here, they've decided not to do that!

So, um, I don't know; I mean, look, I don't know what distance they're able to see accurately at, but, you know, I think it depends on what sort of terrain they're in!

So could they see me walking across an open plain at a hundred meters? Yes, definitely they could! Absolutely! That's at 330 feet! Could they see me or could I successfully walk through some thick bush in front of them at 100 meters? If I didn't make a noise, yes, I probably could!

They probably wouldn't pick me up then; they do apparently also have a blind spot! And if you approach them straight side on and they're feeding, they won't see you!

I've never tried that myself; I've read about it from a very reliable source! I wouldn't try that! Now they're running! I mean, that bunch is totally taking off!

That's why I think that what frightened those elephants yesterday morning. Remember, we had that long line of elephants running with the matriarch standing at the back, shimmying them along!

I think that they must have seen a predator! Now they’ve stopped! Look, they will stop! At the same time, someone's told them to stop! Somebody said, "Hang on, wait!"

Now probably all start moving as one again! Go all of that is being communicated most likely with infrasound! Brings up two questions here! The first one is why is it that they should be afraid of these lions?

There is no real reason for them to be afraid! Yes, they are trying to protect their youngsters! And in theory, I suppose three lionesses; they don't know how many lionesses there are here could take down a very small one!

But they should know by now that they're not going to try and take down a small one in amongst a group of big adults! And it must have something to do with their ancient past!

There's something in their biology or something in prehistory that has made them this reactive to predators! And I can only think it must have been an experience or, you know, a millennia of experience with big saber-toothed cats, much bigger predators than in these lions, who posed a genuine threat to elephants and their babies who were able to spook the herd, make them run, and then take one up because they reacted much as I might.

Wild dogs even! And there's no way the wild dogs are ever gonna take down an elephant! Stunning little sighting that really! Lovely, and the light is now coming out! My tea is finished in case you were wondering!

Valkyr dog, you say that was incredible to watch! Yes, it was marvelous to watch! Most official now, one gauge, you want some light on these lines or do you want them backlit?

Um, okay, let's move just slightly forward, and then we'll get a better look at the lines! Please with that! I'll drive gently, so the mats don't go all over the place! In fact, while I do that, we're going to go across to Sydney for a small update!

I have just left the dung beetles not a long time ago, and now I am heading much more towards the Chitwa Chitwa to go and see if we cannot find any of the interesting animals that side!

So there's just elephant tracks everywhere! So those are the tracks I have seen here, see! Okay, our game reserves, and this elephants that affects are editing much more towards the very same direction!

Maybe we might be lucky much smaller side, and see the biggest animal! So this area here we are; this is the fire break is the area we saw they attack while being in the bush! I haven't been attacked, but I have been charged!

I've been charged! Not once, not twice! Something very important about working in the bush is that you must always expect the unexpected because animals can easily hide behind the bushes! And before you see them, they see you!

So which means I can be walking now trying to approach an animal which is there while not seeing another animal which is somewhere much closer! So those kinds of challenges they do happen while we are doing some operations here in the wild!

So I just want to show you; the area we have been seeing a lot earlier by the end of last year! This was the fire break, the fire brick which was open! Now look at the recovery!

This bush is recovering; there's only a little bit of a bare pages at the moment! You can see that the grasses are coming back heavily, and when the grasses are starting to get excited like this, it gives us a scone, the fist, a big sign that this year possibilities of having heavy fires in different areas are high!

Because too much red grasses and too much grasses then becomes a lot of fuel, which will then facilitate a lot of fires during the fire season! So it's good to have rain, but rains at the same time they do bring us a lot of grasses! And fires can only get excited by the heavy fuel!

So it means in order to predict the amount of oil you're going to have by next year! Now when the rain is still growing and the recovery is happening is when you can tell! So the bush it does go through different kinds of assessments!

These animals, when you are seeing them here feeding every day, is something which is called failed condition