Safari Live - Day 269 | National Geographic

38m read

·Nov 11, 2024

This program features live coverage of an African safari and may include animal kills and carcasses. Viewer discretion is advised.

Hello, hello and good afternoon and welcome to the sunset Safari where I've got some very exciting news and I will tell you about it in just a little bit. My name is Jaime and this afternoon a Craig is on camera with me and we're coming to you 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 that means you can send through your questions on hashtag Safari live on Twitter alternatively in the comments section of the YouTube chat. Now I had to go through all of that quickly I'll explain a bit more in a moment but have a look at this because this is a very special elephant.

Now I don't think that you'll recognize her but you'll see that she has one very tiny bit for baby. Now the reason that you won't recognize her is because we're more accustomed to talking about the older female in her herd which is the short-ranked elephant. Now we've always suspected that the young female with her was her daughter and look at this she's had her first calf! Well done girl! Not just adorable.

I'll explain a bit more in a little bit for our newer viewers but this is just so special I don't want to take away from one moment because unfortunately I think they're going to go into some quite dense vegetation soon. That's all one with your floppy ears yes that's how your trunk works.

Watch mommy she'll show you! Oh mom we're gonna lead it straight into the pile of sticks gently gently gently for you go oh don't kick a baby in the head! The way it keeps tucking its trunk into its mouth for comfort and smelling. Oh done girl!

Now the short trunked elephant is a very special elephant. She's a very special female. She is missing the tip of her trunk. No it's not this female, it's one of the other females. She's missing the tip of her trunk and she always moved about in a very, very small herd with herself, this female with the scarf and a young son and in a tiny little daughter who's now about three years old.

Now this I know that this is this female's first calf because I know that she was too young three years ago to have had one; look it's still fuzzy first round its legs! Now those of you who've been watching regularly will know short trunk and you'll know which female I'm talking about.

Oh that's a that's a branch! Yes that's it! Oh you're gonna trip yourself up if you don't carefully. Oh dear, what is it? Is it a little girl? Little boy? Just a little boy? No wait hold on! Looks like a little girl! Either way, it's a little blessing but if it's a female it means that short trunk's herd gets even larger.

See there's a silly glare off my monitor. I think it's just dust. No it's a little female! Lady Bird, you say that that is the cutest. I know it's enough to make you forget all about the heat! Apparently it's 30 what's it again? I've forgotten! Lou, I'm so sorry! 37 degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon and 98 degrees Fahrenheit although it's cooled down a little bit with a storm blowing in.

Oh it's one knees! I know why I find baby elephant's knees and elbows so fascinating but I do. I think it's because they're quite flexible. I'm so happy it's a female! I know it's said I said that it was wonderful if it was both ways.

The thing is, I think short trunk when she lost the tip of her trunk actually got separated from the rest of her family and I think she's had to start her herd all on her own which is what makes this so special, is that she's been able to do that.

Now although she's perfectly safe where she is, probably at some point in her earlier life she encountered a snare which is a piece of metal that is set out by people looking to catch antelope and bush meat. There's the little female who belongs to short trunk at the back. She is now that's what she must be two and a half now.

Trying to think when short trunk had her baby. I genuinely can't remember! Here comes the boy! This is the male surely he hasn't gotten that big though. This must be a different male. He can't have gotten that big so soon!

Hello, good day Mister! Yes, you are very intimidating! I'm hugely intimidated! That surely can't be short trunk's son! He can't have gotten that big that quickly could he? I can't remember what you know I've been just as guilty!

I've always paid more attention to short trunk and oaf and her females in the group and not him. I don't think it can be him. No it could be! It must be! He's just... you know when you go away from a place and you expect everything to kind of stay the same, you know all the kids must stay the same age and all of that? That's it's a little bit how it is with animals.

Now I've been away for a year and a half and Hassan has decided to grow! And I know I've been back for a while but it still takes some getting used to all! So happy! I'm so, so chuffed!

I'll show you short trunk a little bit. She's a female standing at the back there. Oh now what's that? I'm just gonna shuffle forward a little! Oh no hold on! I'm gonna shuffle forward just so we can see short trunk.

You want to know how you can tell the gender of an elephant at such a young age? It's actually quite easy if you get a good view of their genitals. So with females if you only see their heads. Let's have a look see if we can have a look at the adult female over there with the baby.

Oh there's your trunk! She's coming along to the left now. Disappear I'll have to show you a picture because it's actually quite a detailed conversation that we could have about the sexing of elephants but essentially the shape of the genitals is what tells you whether it's a male or a female.

During the summer months, it can be very difficult. There she is! Their short trunk can actually be very difficult to see! So it can be something that's quite tricky. Please don't have disappeared off into the cloud somewhere and I have to download you!

I've got a picture for this exact reason! Ah, there we go! There she goes! Your little family! Short trunk! What a good job you have done! So impressed with you!

Now when it's summer it's very difficult to get a look at the genitals because often the bush is quite thick. There's the female that was born around about, I can't remember exactly when short trunk showed up with her, it must have been the end of 2015 so she would be about 3 now. Is that right? Yes! I remember we got to see her and she was just a few weeks old. Just so long ago though now I can barely remember.

It's such a special elephant hood! I think apart from Fang it's definitely one of my favorite. Soph, I'm going to seriously regret not taking a roof!

Alright, so if you ignore the fact that my screen is covered in sunscreen so it's all sort of gloopy, that's what a female, the back of a female elephant looks like. The one on the left is very differently shaped to the sort of the fold the V shape of the male on the right.

Now that is clear from the moment the little elephant is born. The shape of the... that's the penis sheath over there and that's obviously the female part over there. So it's actually quite easy. You can look at the shape of the forehead with two fully developed adult elephants.

I think I might even have a picture actually so that you can have a look! Let me see! I downloaded these a while ago... that's not a very good one! Essentially the females got quite an angular shape to her forehead and the males got quite a smooth round feature to his head.

But again that only works with fully mature adult elephants because sometimes the young males also have a bit of an angle to their forehead. And then, of course, mammary glands. So the females also have well-developed mammary glands.

Unfortunately they've now moved into thick bush which was what I was expecting so I can't show you that but if you look between their front legs you will be left in no doubt whether or not it's a male or female with adult fully mature females.

Right, it's not just myself here this afternoon or are we just limited to South Africa? David is out in the Maasai Mara and I'm sure he's just dying to show you his warthogs!

Hello and a very warm welcome to the Mara triangle and well done Jimmy! I mean I have known Jaime to be an expanse of hider but I think slowly surely she should be having an expert of elephants also!

Now, I do not have elephants... yeah but I got something very different! We got small animals than elephants! Number one we've got that pig that's just trying to uproot any grass roots she can get and any tubers to feed on!

And behind her we got the willies, the wildebeest and zebra. This is in the Mara triangle and my name is David and it betrays Bungay very edited because the rains are sorry to come. It feels forgetting a little bit of spit because we have about 29 degrees Celsius and about 84 degrees Fahrenheit.

That means with the wind that’s going on temperatures will come down and it might be a good afternoon! Remember as Demi might have said this is a very interactive Safari Drive should you have any questions, any comments send them through on Twitter using the hashtag safari live or you can follow us on the YouTube chat stream!

Now the wildebeest are very famous for the migration making a very big highlight in the Maasai Mara and of course in Serengeti in Tanzania. Most if not all of their modes in 95 percent of them are now officially I think back in Serengeti. I'm not very far from the boundary between Kenya and Tanzania or the boundary between the Mara and ingenuity but some feel that are still lagging behind!

And this is what you see on your screen together! A few months ago you'd come and look at that open area, it was all dotted with black like black pants and hundreds of thousands of the grass was about four or five feet tall. They have massively brought it down, cutting it, walking on it and this is what it's left after they have gone.

Now the short range should have come from October last month but one very late to Patel of November clouds about ground engage! Kill you very heavy clouds! We had about one week of good rains almost every other day and then all of a sudden they stopped!

But in the meantime we'll be watching and see and I'm also not me, and Jimmy, we also got another girl in South Africa who would like to say jumbo to all of you!

Good afternoon! I am Lauren and today we are looking currently for Hosanna. He is somewhere in this area so we're gonna drive as we talk and try and see if we can find our favorite leopard. Now it has been an incredibly hot day and the temperatures are still phenomenally hot, so we're seeking out of the areas if we were a leopard where would we go to get some shade and feel the coolest around here.

So he was spotted this morning so fingers crossed we can clock him somewhere and see what our boy is up to. Where are you? So please interact with us and send in your questions and comments using that hashtag Safari light.

I cannot locate him at the minute but we're gonna keep trying! I don't believe he'll have gone too far I think he'll have spent most of the day hiding from the sun! Oh I just looked up! There is actually some cloud cover coming in now! Isn't that wonderful for all of us to get a break from the intense heat that we've experienced today!

So that might bring some cool climate and that would be dewy! Oh oh, thank you, Louise! According to the weather, there is some rain forecasted so yes I think that would be a relief to all around here to be honest!

Alrighty I'm gonna keep looking! James is laughing in the back! I did actually forget to mention my cameraman is Mr. Hendrie himself! What kind of accent do I have Jacqueline? Well I am Scottish! Yes I am from Scotland! A lot of people find that I am Australian, I have actually even been told that I sound South African, but I am from Bonny Scotland! Fabulous question!

Okay this would be the perfect area for a cat to seek out some shade! Another thing that surprised me coming here is how camouflaged these cats actually are! Oh we have an interesting question here! How far can leopards travel in a day?

I'm actually not too sure, but I would guess around maybe 10 kilometers but I'm not entirely sure about that! But in my experience spent around this area he does like to stay in the same place for a long time, especially on hot days! He'll become much more active at nighttime when it definitely gets a little bit cooler and there's more air around for him to breathe!

So there are three pairs of eyes in this vehicle at the minute so surely we can find this boy! So while we're looking we won't give up! Let's go over to Streamy to see what she is looking at!

Well I'm sort of casually moving towards the Incomas and the Manga emails that James found this morning so we'll get there eventually! But it's so warm I'm not gonna rush off in that direction! Especially because I just want to make sure I can see what the storm is doing before I go that far away from home!

Though we're just bumbling! Honestly I would like to go to the hyena den a little bit later today! We went this morning! I had the new guides that we've taken on board! I went with them to the hyena den! Obviously actually I didn't even say anything they chose to go there and I'm sure their choice had nothing to do with my level of favoritism!

There was nice pretty Cubs were both out so as Corky's! Corky was there! I cannot believe how quickly that injury has healed! That lion injury! It's it's quite extraordinary!

Oh I can barely hear my game drive comms! Okay sorry the way that we keep track of where all the animals are is to use a game groups game drive radio and unfortunately Jiggers setup Jiggers the vehicle and I'm on Jiggers setup! It is not working terribly well!

Oh pig no don't run away ah it's a shy pig! You know it's quite exciting! As I heard from another vehicle out here that they saw their first baby warthog! So that means that we're going to be seeing little piglets on Juma shortly! It's an exciting thing for us and it's an exciting thing for the leopards as well!

I love little baby warthogs! I mentioned that it's quite hot I think what we'll do is probably pop past Chitra dam at some point! We'll just go see if there's any Ellie's have a good drink course one!

Oh there's another piggy! She looks pregnant! Does she look pregnant? No, don't you go to! I showered in everything! I shouldn't stop behind the tree! Of course she does look pregnant though! Well that's the best view of a warthog you ever did have isn't it?

I'm gonna have to take my foot off the brake! It's not Prague it's me! I don't know why I've got out of that habit! Usually when we stop immediately, we need to take our foot off the brake so that the car doesn't do exactly what it was doing!

She's creaking forward! But really bad! If it's lately! What else do we have round here since the warthogs are not being cooperative? Is that a tortoise or a rock? The tortoise shell! Is that always there? Is that there this morning?

I don't remember seeing that this morning and I stopped at this water! Oh there it is! It looks very much like a rock! I was hoping it was a leopard tortoise on its way down for a drink but I fear this leopard tortoise had the last drink of his life not so long ago! How very unfortunate!

It's quite a big leopard tortoise as well! Oh dear and this by the way this beautiful beautiful area is called treehouse dam! And over there there is a hammock rope which I think might actually be the first time a Corp I have seen since I've been back on Juma!

Well that's good a sign of things to come! Rain is back! His puddles if not water holes and I have a copper to complete the picture! When I was in the Mara, I think it was the most homocore birds I have ever seen in my entire life! There were so many of them! It was not uncommon to drive past about 40 or so on the side of the road catching frogs and fish in the puddles!

And of course we had those that pair of hammock or building their nest on bridge which they subsequently abandoned! I know only one hammock or nest on Juma! It's on Nala Road North and it's been abandoned ever since I started working here!

You're just gonna sit there? Yes? Yes you're just going to sit there! No, no! We're going into the water! I was hoping that we might see the red chested swallows! They were here this morning collecting mud for their nests I thought that might be quite nice to see but of course because I was hoping for that they're not here!

Ah David! Yes there is actually a belief that hammocks bring bad luck! Although in this case I think all he's really doing or she is keeping the swallows away! So there's a belief apparently that if a hammock flies over your house or perhaps it lands on your house depending upon where you hear the story it will mean that your house is going to be struck by lightning!

Given that there's a storm rapidly approaching us we'd better hope that this hammock or doesn't come flying over the car! They are of course not bad luck but there is that association with them now one of the reasons apparently now I'm really speaking with secondhand information here because obviously didn't grow up in a family that where these stories were common or anything like that but my understanding of it is all the explanation behind where it's bad reputation came from is because they use they make the biggest nest of any individual bird!

So these massive, massive structures those nests are often home to other things! Sometimes Snorks, schnapps books, sometimes Snorks tests in the top of them! Sometimes some could brief what happened there! Reset! Hard reset!

Sometimes a stalk's nest on the top of those nests and you also get other small birds nesting around the side and sometimes you even find that snakes move around their nest! So what it led to was this belief because people would see a hammock fly in and then the entrance to the nest is so well hidden that it's almost impossible for the stalk I mean the hammock up to be seen as it goes in!

So people believe that they were shapeshifters because they'd see a hammock go in and then they would see something else fly away or perhaps a snake crawl out of one of the exit holes or something like that! That apparently is where the story came from that hammocks are bad luck or were associated with bad luck because they can shape shift, which obviously therefore makes them, I don't know, agents of sinister forces!

There are a few birds that that belief is attached apparently! The Emerald spotted woodpecker it’s very bad luck to listen to the whole call! You've got to block your ears if it's calling because it means that one of your family members will die if you listen to the whole call!

Fortunately, it does not seem to be true! Otherwise, we'd all be in very big trouble! Look at the storm that's building above us! It actually looks less impressive now that it's stretching across the sky!

Right, well for our newer viewers you might be forgiven with the speed with which we link to each other that for thinking that we actually are shape shifters ourselves! Off you go to Lauren who is her own person and not a shape shifter at all!

Yes, so we haven't quite located our leopard yet but we do have a lilac breasted roller! One of the first birds I encountered here and it still ranks on my top favorite! It is just a really pretty bird! It's comprised of about seven different beautiful colors actually with unique colors and it is just absolutely gorgeous!

So you can see it's just wobbling a little bit at the top of the tree here and of course these guys are famous for their acrobatics or acrobatic antics in the sky!

I haven't... Oh there was another one flying above! Interesting! There was two but that one's flown off! And I did see one during the acrobatics and the sky the other day! So me awesome!

If we could capture something like that for you! I was like I'm moving in the wind! Isn't that brilliant? Yes, they definitely have to be one of my favorite birds I must say!

Now these parts eat insects so he's obviously perching on the top of the tree to snipe! But they do eat insects! Sorry that was my reading! Just gonna turn that down! What was that Livie? Sorry the game drive radio just went off in our ear! We're just turning it down!

Rico that's interesting! What else are we hoping to show you today? But I would like to visit a waterhole at some point! When we get there!

It's just been such a hot day! I really want to see some water and see what animals like elephants could potentially be drinking there! And there has been a lot of lions sighted around recently! They were spotted this morning as well!

So we're gonna keep our eyes open for tracks and potential lion sighting! So you never know what we are going to see! But we're gonna keep on our journey! We just wanted to show you that really beautiful bird and hopefully we can find these things for you! Because it has been so hot, a lot of animals do shake and that's a little bit trickier to find them!

But let's see what we can do! We drive nice and slowly so while we keep looking, we are going to send you up north to David, who no longer has signal issues thank goodness to see what he has for you!

Well, I'm very sure Lauren is capable of getting a hold of hosanna! And I'll be very excited if she does! Now my plans today is, are to look for the sausages! Sausages is a pride of lions that live around this area and I have a very interesting story to tell because yesterday morning I was around here and they’ve got three cubs for them!

One cub that's about two months and two cubs that's about three months old! I looked for them the whole morning! I looked for them and I never saw them! And so just about to give up, the first thing I saw was the two cubs, not the third one! And from where I saw them as I approached the cubs there was a little pod 15 meters away, like literally 15 yards from those cubs!

And the first thing I saw was the leopard spin! It jumped and it’s took off! Well that worried me a bit because I did not know where the mother swath was and when it came or when he found them others much later after about 10 minutes of searching around they were about 1 mile away!

And I thought something did not look right! Those cubs were too young to be on their own! But this happens if they are going to look for some prey! And that was the best place today! They left the cubs! My guess was they left the cubs, give them instructions "stay here and don't move we'll come back" and the cubs may be exposed themselves!

Now the other thought kept, I'm talking about this a bit young that's two months old, had a brother and the brother disappeared two weeks ago! My guess is or until yesterday we have had or have had so many theories, the possibilities of how that cub would have disappeared and I was thinking predators! Viet Lipper's! Hyenas! Or anything else! Or the lions may be!

But from yesterday morning, I'm trying to mine in task as well! It could have been that particular part because that leopard is very territorial! She leaves along this lager that I want to point out! I want to point it out to you and you notice on my right I got my canvas there because we're talking it is splitting! It is raining! So I have my canvas right there just because from this side the rain is coming this angle!

But the ladder that you see in front of Lüt in front of us, that bush or those trees there. That's why that leopard leaves! It is a female and she was just about 15 meters away from those three! I mean two cubs!

And that worried me a little bit if I will not convince myself what would have happened to that one cub! I'm wanting now to believe it must mean that particular leopard might have eaten that one cub!

Well, the other one looks pretty good! She seems to be doing very well! And the mother did a very good job! The mother is one of the subsidiaries of female that limp a little bit and we call her limping!

Remember, this is a very interpretive Safari! Should you have any questions or any comments please send them through hashtags the front leg on Twitter or you can keep following us on a YouTube chat stream!

So those are my plans today! Possibly if we can get the sausages that's have eluded me this afternoon! But I'm sure they could be hiding somewhere! It is cooled off now with the rains coming, the temperatures go down!

And it's very typical forecast just just touch waking up and moving around! Sometimes we just stop and maybe just pound the camera and see what we can see!

Such people! This area is the plains of Amara! What a Bungay to show us why the Mara is pretty different from Juma! Our Lauren and Jamie are in terms of vegetation! And it's the clouds that we saw earlier are getting thicker and heavier!

Well this officially now could be the beginning of the onset of the short rains! Open grassland! We've got all those dotted trees here and there! Look at that beauty! And most of those trees are the total trees!

And from a distance with pretty good binoculars as you can see even say a lion or an elephant from a long long way! And this as I said it's big difference between the vegetation here and the one in Juma!

Alrighty nothing at the moment in those plains! So we're gonna keep moving on and hopefully these sausages! I'll see them and the two cubs but it's so yesterday hopefully I'm also going to see the third one! But I did not yesterday!

Well, having seen that vegetation, I'm sure Jamie might also want to show you the difference between the vegetation here and in JUMA! Very different vegetation here on Juma to that I mean yes to that of the Mara! Some of very similar animals though! For example, the Impala! We went on at length about the fact that the Impala that much bigger in the Mara than they are here!

Partly just the sheer abundance of food! And I'm being really slowly just in case there's a female here with a baby! But I think this is just a group of young females who were too young to breed!

She's pregnant but she's still not nearly ready to give birth! It's interesting! So as these Impala - desperately away from us which was relatively inevitable! Can't think why! But just everything I try and show you this afternoon seems to want to run away!

Ok at least she's standing still! Now that is a pregnant female but she's not nearly ready to give birth! A lot of people sort of believe that Impala and I remember being taught this as a kid by some guide when I was on a drive many many many many moons ago and I was taught that Impala could delay giving birth due to drought or whatever it happened to be!

They could wait until the first rains! That is not how pregnancy works! When the baby's developed it's developed! When it's time for it to be born, it is born! But what does happen is during the first rutting season, she's quite alert, I suppose it pays to be!

I don't think there's anything specific! She's just checking out every rustling bush. When the first rutting season happens most of the females fall pregnant! But not all, sometimes the mating is unsuccessful, sometimes the female is successful at evading the male's attentions!

And as a result, there is a second rut about a month later where those females that did not fall pregnant during the first rut go into estrus again! And they are the ones who then fall pregnant at a later stage giving birth at a later stage!

Giving birth to what we in South Africa would term a late lamb! You know, the children in a family who were born quite as quite a surprise and quite late! That's a late lucky!

Ok! Nope, fine! Not a single animal wants to be on camera! I'm going to go to Chitra dam where at least the hippos are likely to go sprinting away from me! Fortunately Lauren seems to be having more luck, or at least I hope she is!

May have all the beasts stay where they are from one antelope to another! Yes, I have had a little bit more luck although our little herd of wildebeest here had started moving away from us!

However, we can still see them and we don't often see wildebeest here so that's why we have stopped to take a closer look at them! And they are also dropping babies at the moment! We have spotted lots of young Impala, ah, not Impala, wildebeest! I'm getting my lines mixed with Jamie's now!

Yeah we have spotted some wildebeest around giving birth and having babies so that's really exciting news! Now they are wandering off and there has been a few wildebeest carcasses in the area which has of course brought the Lions so they have been around in order to feed on these!

Gonna be so while they have just moved away from us! Perfect timing! We are gonna continue on our search for something else! So wildebeest obviously do the great migration! They are far more populous in East Africa than they are here! Great numbers of them in the Maasai Mara, for example!

But not such big numbers of them down here! Impala we compete with the East in that aspect to spot them! And see, hello! Oh, interesting question! What is my favorite animal so far? I have to say it as hyenas!

Now I didn't quite get who asked that question! It's very windy here but yes! Yeah you know I can't really explain, it has absolutely stolen my heart! I didn't expect! I think that's the question these hyenas about. So they have stolen my heart!

They are completely and utterly weird and wonderful! They are more socially complex than I ever imagined! And I just think they're great! We have some lovely bird calls at the minute! I'm not sure if you are able to hear them, shall I turn off so we can hear them?

I think I know that call very well by now! Let's see if we can hear it one more time! There we go! You able to hear that? I hope so! Now this sound I hadn't actually heard until a few weeks ago, and now we are hearing it all the time!

So of course you can see it actually making the noise! This is the woodland Kingfisher! From having none around to having so that literally is the sound of summer! They are here! So you can't avoid hearing them now!

They definitely meet themselves heard! And of course woodland kingfishers are a little bit different from the others and they make their nests in the trees! So this is why we always find them around these areas and not necessarily near the water homes like the other kingfishers!

Wow, what a nice! And I think the rain unfortunately got the first one on camera the other day! I think he beat James to the punch which is unfortunate! But yes! Now we're gonna see them all over if Louise just confirmed it was Brian!

I was on the back of the car that day though so maybe I can take some credit for that too! But here we have another one for you all to look at! Oh, James got cross apparently! Ouch!

We went from the silver cluster leaves over to the woodland Kingfisher so I think this is maybe the third one on camera! So it's not bad! It's not the first! But I have to say this is another bird and I'm definitely ranking its way to the top of my list!

However, the pygmy Kingfisher might just stop it! Oh, okay Louie said this is the first one we've had calling! Excellent! Thank you Lou! That makes me feel really good! I can't wait to tell Bryan!

So sometimes it's nice to just stop the car stop the engine and just have a listen around to all the calls that you can hear! But I think this woodland Kingfisher actually turns out all the other calls! It's so loud! Yes Jacqueline is a really pretty sound and beautiful bird!

I completely agree! Although when you hear it quite early in the morning maybe it isn't as beautiful! Yes look at it! You can literally just see it cone! You can see it perch in there! Kingfishers actually have quite weak legs! Their legs are not so strong so they normally just perch on the trees like that! You won't really find them walking on the ground so much!

Wow! It's still calling! Oh I believe we just heard some thunder! So we have a bird calling and we have some thunder rolling! And I wonder what weather will come!

You, Daniel? Yes, they are intra African migrants! I've just got a fly in my eye! Bear with me while I take it out! Yes, so they do arrive here at the start of summer! So since I've been here I've only recently just started to see them arrive of course they come for Nerine!

So if it is a really dry season that we're about to have ahead of us, you may find that they might leave a bit early! So we don't know whether we're gonna get a lot of rain but hopefully we will! Although it's not looking great so far! We've only had one major bite of rain here which came with a lot of thunder, lightning, and power cuts unfortunately!

So I wonder how long they'll stay around for! So while we're gonna drive on and continue our search we were going to throw you right up to the Mara and see what they have over up in the Maasai Mara world!

And Lauren! Yeah, we have certain kingfishers which Russia little migrates! Not that I know of any in Kenya but we'll talk over certain rollers that will migrate especially the Eurasian Brewers! But as yet not sure we have any kingfishers that migrate!

I highly doubt! I haven't heard of any Kingfisher's even in Canada migrating! I read may not keep to find my sausages and I'm trying to imagine this one place I would look for him of the five females one of them is pregnant and we have been thinking she might pop anytime!

Father stop! Good question! Will help us kill lion cubs because their territory offer food out, save for food mainly! Because you'll get in one territory for example in a particular area give it about 20, 30, 50 square miles you might get two different species of cats, you know, in the same area!

But slippers of course between the thing and lions to be doing the thing! So they'll only hunt them as far as I'm concerned for food but when lions will go for leopards that's what are called predator competition! But of course, the flappers think that leopards, I mean lions to be a concern for them in terms of getting food!

They'll have you know not have a problem to bring down the lion cubs! As we are watching some elephants coming up in front! So the dynamics of cats are very interesting so get some territory with leopards same territory with lions!

But once in a while you'll always see them going for each other! What other predators come in? We'll be talking about hyenas, for example! Hard of breathing hard! Here of Elise, there's a very big cow in front! And I was like that's how calf!

I don't know how big this one is compared to what Jaime had before! So the elephants now will be ruling the solana until the world which will come again next year somehow! Elephants and leopards don't get along very well either! They're always too loud!

The wildebeest and eddies do not like that! Very majestic when we look at the elephants here and the elephants in South Africa! I've always thought the ones here are a little bit bigger in size and more rounded!

I want Jamie and Lauren to give me a feedback on the same and tell me what you think! But the colors are ideally the same! Big numbers when we're talking about! I mean Jamie and Lauren about the vegetation! You can see how here from a long way you can see el is just walking and meandering in the savanna!

That you can spot from a long distance! This area a few months ago was all dotted! All we had like so many will look like flowers! All of them are gone! You can see the grass is not as high!

These cows can easily walk through! They keep going and not picking anything! But chances are they're looking for particular huge or smaller plants like they're on it's modular time! And mount salmon months will always have some worlds of gardens below where they are!

And because they'll only eat dead matter! Anything that grows on top of the mound is always very healthy! And this mother and calf must have found themselves something nice to feed on there! The African elephant both males and females having the tasks like the Asian elephant where is only the male's that will get to have the task!

Very clever mom was always making sure their cubs remain either on the side or in the midst of the herd just making sure yeah very safe! Well we'll keep on looking for my favoritest lions here! But in the meantime I think Jamie he got something different!

Like about like on that right there popping in the waves! I can't quite tell! No computer how utterly adorable are they! Spring is most definitely here and with it comes the baby boom of the low felt and our war at least one Egyptian goose pear has had seven little Gosling's and they were utterly adorable!

Craig, I want one! I would never take one away from the parents obviously because that would be horrible! They belong in the wild with mum and dad and mum and dad are such caring and loving parents as we well!

I mean you know! Even the buffers of Egyptian goose parents have done their absolute... we saw how they saved their Gosling's lives from Husana! And basically they have not been very successful! So if it's so windy that the poor Gosling's are surfing!

Look at for longer than bobbing about and they're just so adorable! Absolutely everything wants to eat a Gosling! I mean apart from us of course! Crocodiles, leg oven and all sorts of things! Right?

All most species of birds at the moment are thinking about having babies or caring for babies! Lauren has found another large bird species that might be doing just that! Yes we do! We have found a ground hornbill that is just walking off!

Let's see if we can get a little bit closer and ground hornbills are not so common around here! Of course I see the yellow belt and the red belt all the time! In fact, I see them a lot! The red belt have taken to come into my room and knocking on my glass so loud that I get such a fright!

So I see them regularly! But ground hornbill is something different! Where did you go? It just went over here! Let's see if we can get it for you!

Okay! I'm taking directions from my cameraman bear with me! Every time just waddles off! Let us keep going! Let us keep going! It's like they know when the cameras coming on them! They're like oh we're just gonna hide now and make it really difficult!

It's a beautiful bird however! Are we really gonna show it to you? And of course ground hornbills are actually very endangered! They're on the IUCN endangered list! Have we lost it?

Mmm, let's take a look using the camera and see if we can get that zoom to find it for us! Wouldn't that be cool if we found it? No such luck! I thought I was on a birding roll for a minute here!

But my crying hornbill has defied me! So sorry for that disappointment! We will keep our eyes open for it! We're almost at the dam line so why are we hate there, let's go back to Jimmy!

It happens! Lauren knows threats birds! Birds and live wildlife filming isn't a tricky one! Fortunately for us, our goose, a goose! Our geese are unlikely to go flying away although I mean everything else has run away from me this afternoon!

Ones are they look like they're having a nap now! All tucked up together! Alright, I give up! I give up on this! I'm going home! Meanwhile David has done the amazingly astounding! He has disproved the theory that ostriches pop out of the ground fully grown!

But we do something quite unusual here that's well not unusual! But something about seen for quite some time! We got ostriches! And if you look carefully, we have a female to the right and a male to the left! The female is upright and the male is sitting on something where she is just sitting down there!

But look carefully! There in the grass what do you see? Something moving there! This ostrich chicks that have not seen for quite some time! Anoosh well we still got monitor hatching out there!

And I do not know whether the male is keeping some warm because of the rains that have been going on! But I have counted about three chicks! Boom! I'm going to see! Boom! Getting six! And this is a very interesting to see a male and a female with chicks!

And they always raise the chicks together! Both male and female ostrich! And she not say very far from those chicks as they keep following the mother! This is a very special bird! They're the only birds that you got in Africa that can't fly!

And normally they lay their eggs in such open areas! Any time we drive we're always very careful we don't drive our eggs of the ostriches! Huge, huge eggs! Some like almost two dozen chicken eggs or like the equivalent of 20 chicken eggs with very hard shots!

Lily, great comment! And look at the age! And look at the size! And imagine one day they'll be the same size! To me they look like chicken and I think they're about a thousand times smaller!

Look at that Lily! And then the parents, small, small! They look like little ducks like Jaime like what Jaime had before! But one day they'll grow and get big!

I was saying the ostrich eggs very hard because their laws make sure they don't get presents down by certain same monitor lizards or other bats! That's one way to keep them safe because they're always hearts in open areas!

It's the female there! And unlike many other birds where the sexual dimorphism is quite a challenge, the ostriches are in black and white! Females being grayish brownish in color and the males being black and white in color!

Some could have anything from five to twenty-five chicks! But somehow this particular chick keeps following the mother! And I'm not sure why the male is team laying down there! Whether she'll go to more eggs to hatch!

But what I found out here, this one chick very close there to the male! Don't stay away from mum! From papa! I have found out! When they are incubating the eggs the females will overlay on the eggs to the day and the males at night just because they tend to blend better that way!

And I'm sure we have all heard the proverb you're saying burying your head in the sand to vultures! Ostrich's about six inches high! I'm trying to look and estimate on my arm and I would say they're barely a foot! I would say eight inches to 10 inches tall!

That's in the height! And that's a very good question! Eight to ten inches tall! And they would easily get lost in that grass! Look at them! They're not even about a foot!

So I can see a total of six there! And they said they could get anything from three to five sometimes up to twenty-five chicks! And they always brood them together! A male and a female!

And don't make any mistake to come to these chicks with these ostriches here! Because they will come back to you very fiercely! And either they'll poke you or using the bigs or they'll kick you very badly!

They've got very strong kicks and they defend the chicks aggressively! They might get frigid once in a while by blip odds or lions or the big egos! But the mothers are quite a lot and just either keep scanning the better part of the day!

Instead of even feeding just to make sure these chicks are safe from their would-be predators! You see how she blends in very well in the grass? They are on the ground!

So for them to, you know incubate the eggs during the day makes a lot of sense! Kathy, good question! Also just a little earlier! Not really ostriches! You'll see them moving from one area to the other!

So Kathy, ostriches are not territorial! It's very difficult to see an ostrich in the same spot for long term unless of course like this ones they have eggs and maybe they'll be hatching in that particular area!

There'll be territory of for that period once the hearts out to the chicks are strong and able to move! Let's go look for seeds! Let's go look for grass! Let's go look for small insects and we feed bus!

The mail! He just rose up! And you can see he's like almost completely black color with the till fellas bein no Dottie white! Just because of the rains going on! Maybe she were lots of mad!

He got a little mud on himself! Some ban him down! I did look for some seeds from the grass! There's some cheeks to his left moving! And the cheeks are like you know shuffling between the mother and the father or the male and the female!

Kanta, good question! Do ostriches honk? Yes, they do! I have seen different hands incubating the same clutch of eggs! So I've seen two or three different hands incubating the same clutch!

And not sure if the three each of them had eggs also only one that had eggs! So sometimes you might think maybe one hand of the three could have been the dominant hand and she's the one who had laid!

But they do share nests! And also when it comes to up and bringing the young ones of the chicks you could see two females, three females, a male and another male!

But ideally, this is always the dominant female and the dominant male! Very fast! But, and I'm sure the mothers or the mercy will always train the chicks! Because the fast defense for ostriches is speed!

And the time they feel concerned by any would-be predator they take off! And they fly low dude one! Let's have the same speed like a cheetah! And when you corner them before you call them they might kick backwards!

Because you see the knees don't bend in the direction of think how they'd go forward! But they bend backwards! And if need be they might turn around and they have been known to poke eyes of lions!

Christian, do ostriches mate for life? I do not think so! I am not 100 percent sure! But I would highly doubt! I do not know anybody that has researched on ostriches and followed them closely like people have followed lions and hyenas and cheetahs!

Researching on them! I do not know that that has been done locally here or in Africa! But I would give an answer that I'm not very sure of that they do not mate for life!

You'd get one female in a meeting with different well this time one male! With another female! And I highly doubt they mate for life unlike the Egyptian geese!

Like what we saw you know with Jamie! Or certain it was like a fish ego that we know of! They are very monogamous! This one I highly doubt they do! The chicks are so small they tend even to disappear in the grass!

But either way the males we took advantage of feeding! And the female and the chicks will be learning something from them! Oh fantastic!

I feel very excited having this seen! These are such chicks that are both for I have not seen for quite some time! But think Jimmy got some animals living close or in water!

Animals living in the water! I've got animals living outside of the water! I've got animals flying above the water! It's all go-go-go! And Chitra dam actually it's quite quiet here for a normal afternoon at this time of day!

I don't know where all the animals have gone! That they appear to have vanished! Fortunately there are lots and lots and lots of hippopotamus in this dam! I have been trying to count them!

But of course the difficulty with counting hippos is that it's quite difficult to determine where one begins and the other ends! Or whatever! You know what I mean particularly when they're under water for an extended period of time!

Usually around about 60 seconds! Also up to five minutes! And at a maximum up to 11! So trying to count becomes really very difficult when they keep popping up and disappearing down!

And off and coming out at odd places! No they are around but I can't quite if I had to guess I would say there's probably close on 30 hippos in this dam! Might even be more than that!

I was just saying to Craig it's I've been here when this dam has flooded! When this water hole is flooded over the wall itself! The wall of the water hole!

It's actually hard to imagine at this point three years of dry dry dry weather! When Chitra dam is properly full! The water comes all the way up to where we're sitting! Obviously it's below us! Because we're on the top of the dam wall!

But it's below us down there! It goes all the way up to the side there! And that little island is probably and the tree doesn't even you can't even see the base of the tree that's underwater! And you only see just that little bit of the island!

Oh crocodile! Let's have a look at that! Here we go! It's a baby crocodile! I'm sure is desperately hoping for deer! I think we're getting rained on! I did not expect this one!

At least you know speaking about the dry season! At least we actually are getting a little bit of rain although it's going to play havoc with our plans for the afternoon given that I don't have my rain covers on!

I think we're okay for now! Quantity tell! Apparently Taylor nicknamed this little baby crocodile snappy! Original! It's snappy! It's not be the baby crocodile tail!

I miss you! I need you to cut back and name the little Gosling's as well! Can a meal after the seven dogs or something like that! Happy grumpy sneezy!

I'm sure they must be hoping for rain as well! What if it makes too much of a difference to them? It must do! The less space there is the more competition there is!

Do we have any idea how many baby crocodiles are at Chitwa? I suppose we don't! I suppose we've got absolutely no idea how many baby crocodiles there actually are!

Because for every baby crocodile you see, there could be five that you don't! Apparently there were three! I'm very impressed that we managed to manage to get an accurate number!

I know how many there are remaining! This wind! This weather! Totally unexpected! Could actually see how fast the wind is blowing just by looking at the ripples of Chitra dam!

There's nothing here today! It's very unusual! Usually there's actually there is something that I can show you! Usually this entire area around the dam is full of antelope!

Now we know that it's been dry but have a look at the way in which a waterhole changes the environment! Look at the grass and the desolation around the water hole itself!

Now in summer that would obviously be lush and green and there'd be plenty of grass! But what is summer actually? But because there's been so little water the animals have been forced to constantly move up and down towards the water's edge!

And they often feed around the water's edge! So what you find around all water holes is that there's more not feeding damage exactly but more feeding activity as well as roof traffic!

You know herds of buffalo walking up and down five hundred very large animals will have an effect on the soil! So you end up with during these sort of dry months with an almost barren patch of land next to permanent water sources!

The reasons why they're very carefully placed! Gregg I think we're about to get drenched! It's like being the Marah! I'm trying to decide! I can see there's a lot of rain over there! I can't quite work out how far away that is!

Now think about these summer thunderstorms is that they tend to be quite localized! But the problem is I'm starting to hear thunder as well! And I did see a brief flash of lightning!

I think I'm gonna make tracks! I'm gonna leave to tow it down for now! Start making my way a bit too close! It's a camp just in case the lightning does catch us unawares! Meanwhile it's something that David will be very accustomed to experiencing arch and the plains of the Mara!

Sorry Jimmy but I'll tell you what the rain parts are in Africa the last, what, 10 years or so have been very erratic! We all believe that comes with not a single sign of you know the heavens opening or getting any storm!

And we're out there! And out of the blue is a boom! That has happened to us many attempts! Oh Jaime don't worry you better run because these ostriches are also wondering if it rains what are they going to do with the chicks!

Now from a distance from where you see those ostriches if you pan to the right Bungay you can see a huge wall of rain and I want to let Jamie know she is not alone!

We are also very prepared! Very good! Exactly! Look at that! And you saw at one point I had my flaps down because it was spitting and it was getting bigger!

But that one, the good news is not coming to where we are! We knew our pattern of the rain here! When the clouds build we know why the rain the tool heaters will come from!

So we were in that particular direction! And we had to dodge the rains and maybe counter these ostriches! I haven't left them! I've been hoping they'll come closer to the road so that you could see the chicks!

And you can see the male! Their last that looks a grayish tail should be white in color when he is clean! But if he has been you know incubating the eggs or hobby like you know on the last!

And definitely because of the little dust that you'd get on the ground it makes it look a little dirty or grayish in color like the female! Males and females ostrich are very different!

Now can see two chicks between these ostriches! And Bonnie thinks the many we counted up to six then lost the count! What is the final number you had?

Okay five! Okay Brigade thinks nine! I have six! But I always want to count them for myself! You're going to see if you count!

Alright, well then! Vinay, we have done the best we could! Infrared helps us to see animals and making sure the animals don't see us themselves!

And we do not interfere with them! It was definitely a servo cut! I just saw the eyes! And definitely is out of range! Anyhow to be it! Look to the cassava cut or Jocko!

I got again a little bit close! That you never know! And to be good to see a jackhole or a servo cuts in this darkness!

Alright, you try and see if you're lucky! Okay! I think I still see it on the road there! See how far the infrared can go? Something dark there!

That one there! Is a Jocko or a Saavak cut to the left of your screen here! Because in this approach eyes it's very difficult to spot! Look and we might be lucky because once I have my lights on I can see it very well!

But because the distance! Okay there we are! One more last drop it to the left of the road there! I think shouldn't be able to get it!

No! Alright! Well then! We go here! You see my poor light! Yeah, this is a good time to start seeing cats as I said earlier and it could be anything but here it is!

I can sit in my spotlight but let's give it one more look! Try! There are few! Key see! That one which I saw that time amount! You don't see it! Don't worry! We'll keep going somewhere!

Every Savak and basically disappearing in the crush! But to done Bungay! Yeah that one! Exactly!

Yeah, this is some folk art! They are disappearing! The ground! You can see the shiny eyes! Fantastic! Well done! Even gay!

It's quite a challenge from whities! And I was talking about infrared! It helps us to you know just spoil the animals! And making sure the animals don't see us themselves!

And we do not interfere with them! It was definitely a servo cut! Has disappeared!

No worries! Alright! Okay then! We go here! To see! My light! This is a good time to start seeing cats! As I said earlier! And it could be anything but here it is!

I can sit in my spotlight but let's give it one more look! Try! There are a few! Key see! That one which I saw that time! You don't see it! Don't worry! We'll keep going somewhere!