Safari Live - Day 214 | National Geographic

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

Hello, hello, and welcome to your live Safari experience that happens every day, twice a day, except for this morning, where we had a morning off, and we thank you for your patience in that. My name is Jaime, and this afternoon Archie is on camera with me. We are live from the Masai Mara in Kenya. We will also be joined by our South African crew once they manage to change a tire and get out on foot a little bit later.

Oh, it is a blisteringly hot afternoon, and they say that filming live wildlife is something of a gamble. I have to tell you that these elephants have not rolled the dice in my favor. I don't know if you could say that they did; that's a bit of a weird mixed metaphor. But they decided to walk away to the other side of the road and have now moved really far away, so you will just have to join me as we trend along.

But for our new viewers who have just discovered this live stream, it gives me an opportunity to tell you that not only is this live, but you can ask questions just to prove it's live. So if you don't believe me, you can ask a question on the YouTube comments or on hashtag Safari Live on Twitter if you feel so inclined.

I better remove that bright bottle of suntan lotion away; what's my mistake? Sorry. So that is how you can get hold of us. Obviously, you don't just have to ask us questions if you don't believe we're live; you can also ask us questions about what we are seeing, and in fact, that is your greatest chance of having your questions sent through and said out live.

Now, it's a blisteringly hot day. Initially, the weather station seemed to suggest it was 22 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 72-ish. It's not; it's about 28, which for the Mara is warm. 28 equates to 82 Fahrenheit. It is still far hotter now in South Africa, but it's plenty warm. Oh, windy for the Maasai Mara; the weather has gone back to its usual style of storming in the afternoons.

Carol, you want to know if there's any news on Waffles today. Now, I was going to do an entire drive dedicated to the migration, which is well and truly arrived over there. I'll still do most of that, but Carol wants to know about Waffles. I want to know about Waffles because I haven't gone to see the little Waffles since yesterday morning's end of the Gauntlet series, so I'm deeply concerned about the little Waffles. Carol, six. Carol, six? Am I getting that right? Carol six sticks? I don't know if I've suddenly lost my ability to hear names!

Drivers fast asleep, gifts of or taking photos of the eighties, and he is fast asleep from this front seat. Oh sweet, look at these ILI's over here! You block up the entire road quickly, always ins well, especially in high season, having a little push backwards and forwards, and the little one would like to join in as well, please. Thank you very much.

I will go and see the little Waffles today, and if for new viewers, that means little spotted hyenas. Waffles is the name of a hyena. This is wonderful, the bull, and what actually looks like a cow mitt! Really, not that must be a bull. No, it was two balls and a youngster who just got involved in the whole process.

The light is so blindingly bright right now at this time of the afternoon; it's almost hard to tell. Just really, I mean, the shape of that phorid looks like a cow. No, it is, it's a cow; she's just had him! She's just urinated, and maybe she has a bit of an infliction as well.

There's a car! Interesting; she was saying hello to the big bull that tried to intimidate us earlier. Didn't work, but I let him save face. Now, I'm going to go and find you a couple of wildebeest, and by a couple, I mean a couple of wildebeest. However, Sydney has beaten me to it. I have put a head of dwelt abased here, and where I am, I can see that the wind is blowing too much, which is very much difficult for me to hear what is happening.

A very, very good afternoon, and welcome to the beginning of our guide network! I am Sydney, and I'm not traveling alone this afternoon; I am with my camera operator, Dave, and we are going to try by all means to give you the best experience ever. For questions and comments, you can follow us on Twitter, hashtag Safari Live. You can also follow us on the YouTube chat stream.

Look at this world of beast, very nicely relaxed; the weather condition is about 33 degrees. It's quite very hot at the moment here where I am, and it's punctuated with quite a lot of wind. This world is now might be enjoying some rumination as well. The beasts are part of those animals which are ruminants. Rubens, I'm talking about the animals which normally go out for feeding purposes, and when the Sun is very hot like this, it's when they are going to have a chance to lie under trees and bring back food to the mouth and chew some cud, which is a very interesting adaptation because it does help them in order to prevent loss of water from the body, because they don't have to feed all day long.

I just got together a lot of food early in the mornings. When it's hot, it's time to eat the very same food again! Thank you very, very much for a hot welcome back; yes indeed, I enjoyed my live. It was too short, but I really enjoyed the live, and when I'm back now, I found that the weather is completely different. Now it's getting very hot. I’ve got to prepare now and have some of the clothes that will help me during this kind of weather conditions.

So let’s just move a little bit further and see if we can have a better visual of this wildebeest. Now, while I'm moving, while I'm moving much closer, let’s see if James is also out on a game drive at the moment. Maybe James does have something interesting at the moment?

One does hurt that I will have something interesting. I'm gonna stop shouting at you! Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you happen to be in the world, different times of the day, of course! My name is James Henry, and we are approaching a spot where Hasana, the male leopard—there is Dingaan, the male leopard, right in front of us!

Note in Ghana! There he is. He stole a meal from his son, Hasana, yesterday, and we're just going to see if we can't get a few of both of them once. Very nice! Okay, that's a good start! Now we have something of an embarrassment of riches today because there were wild dogs as well on the reserve. There were lions on Chitra, which is another reserve we're allowed to go to, so I thought we'd start with the lion or the leopards and then sort of decide from there where we might like to go.

Can you see the other leopard anywhere? I did see this one having a bit of a growl, making me think that perhaps the sun was around. I'm just going to maneuver through here as I tell you, of course, I would love to hear from you on this Sunday afternoon.

You can use the hashtag Safari Live; you can use the chat stream on YouTube, and I think those are the only two ways you can talk to us. I used to make the hilarious joke that sending us a written letter by post would be a waste of time because the South African postal service is so terribly poor, and that has not changed. Please also do not send a fax; we do not deal with faxes. Ease up here; we are quite close to him, so I just need to be quite sensitive to how close we get and how much noise we make around him and, of course, make sure that we don't nearly run over or Hasana somewhere.

Punch, crunch, crunch! Tell me when you've got a look at his face! Focus! Should have now? Yes! Now, once we've had a look at in Ghana, I'm pretty sure that Hasana is around here somewhere. The reason I chose to come here first was because it's, well, it's going to be in the shade. Really just gonna ease forward a little. There we go; there's his face! It's in the shade!

And it was fairly guaranteed because up in the tree to the left of us, we can see the carcass. Bonnie identifying different leopards can be difficult. And this, you know the area quite well; we know this area very well! We know that the leopards here are territorial, of course they are territorial everywhere, and so if we find a male leopard in this area, well, then we're pretty sure as to who it is.

You can quickly gauge the age, but also, it's just like you can recognize your own pet! We see them so often that when we saw this leopard immediately, it was obvious it was Ting Ghana. He's got a big fat head; he's got a dewlap, which is the loose bit of skin that hangs beneath his throat, and it was just obviously him.

And what he did was he stole that Nyala kill from his son yesterday. I'm pretty sure his son will be here somewhere, and I said just listen to some rustling in the bushes. I said that he looked like he might be growling when we got up here, and I wondered if Hasana, his son, wasn't trying to get towards the tree to have a small Sunday afternoon snack. I don't see him anywhere at this stage, but it’s very hot out here, and so it's not very surprising.

Alrighty, we'll have a look around for Hasana. While we do that, let's get back to Sydney and his wildebeests.

I am still enjoying a very lovely sighting of the wildebeest here. The whole head is just standing there looking at us. Filling them so when looking at them, I can easily distinguish between the male and females. If we can look at this one, one in front of the screen now is a female. The females have got a brown forehead, and the one on the right, if you look at the forehead nicely, you will see that it does have a black forehead.

So that is how we can easily distinguish between the male and the female. The one which is moving the head now is the male, and the one standing on the left is a female, so you can see the stripes clearly. That is why this animal is called a Bendrick; no brindle is just a term meaning the stripes. It's like a striped goo! It's so very interesting to see that the wildebeests here, at their own normally, this kind of animals you see them working together with other animals. Mostly, their best friend is the zebras.

Today, they don't have zebras, and one of the reasons why they join other animals is their poor eyesight. So I don't know how they are figuring it out today as they are working as a family without any other species involved, but to me, it seems like they have a good side because they are giving some of the warning calls, looking in the direction where I come from.

Now, we can see if in Mara the Blue Valley beasts are doing the same as the wildebeests.

So, we see your wildebeest tumor, and we raise you a couple of hundred thousand or so! I think it's safe to say that the migration, late as it is, has well and truly arrived in the Mara triangle. Now, it's not fair to compare, of course, because this is what the Masai Mara; one of the things that the Masai Mara is famous for at this time of year is the mass movement of around about one and a half million wildebeests moving from Tanzania into the Masai Mara itself.

You will notice if you are new to these viewings that there is a subtle difference between the wildebeests that Sydney has been creeping up to and the Volta beast that we see here, and that is because these are subspecies. They have white beards—impressive little difference! There are still blue wildebeests, but they have little white beards, which I think is a very attractive thing on a Bolivian, personally.

This was just to give you a taster; this is just a little hint as to what I'm going to take you to. What you will notice is that they are seriously clustered around the burn, and that's because now it doesn't look so good. Hmm, looks a little bit thin to me—a bit limpy! Well, it has just had to cross the Mara River.

Joe, you want to know what the difference is between a new and a Valle de beast? They are the same thing! The new is literally the name given to a wildebeest, and it's based off the sound they make. So what we'll do is we'll try and get away from this ever-present Mara wind; I'm not in any way irritated by it, and Paul, we're going to get away from the ever-present Mara wind!

I'm going to pop you right in the middle of the herd, and then you can see where the name comes from! No, no, no, now pretty much continuously non-stop! So, that's what I'm aiming to do—these guys, they're a little bit far! Although I can see them, really, it's amazing how fast it all arrives, how it all happens.

I just want to get you into the main body of the hood, and then we'll find a lion and then we'll go see some hyenas. I think that sounds like a plan!

Stop blowing! I should be used to it by now, my goodness gracious! So while we are searching for large numbers of wildebeests, James's leopard sighting has increased by one!

Yes, we've got the other one! Now here is Hasana! The male leopard is even more active than his father, and as you can see, he has inherited his father's superb ability to sleep! There he is! He did make for a kill after all. His belly is not looking as full as it was yesterday, and so I don't think he's had anything to eat for about 24 hours now, I'd say. Poor fellow!

Tristan was just saying yesterday how it was so amazing to watch how Ting Ghana waited for 20 minutes, sniffing into the wind, picking something up, not sure! And once he picked up on it, where he thought this thing was, he walked straight here from about two kilometers away—just over a mile! And after that, well, there really was nothing poor Hasana could do about it.

Now you're asking how he could tell the difference between the two. I mean, if you just saw this leopard lying here and you saw the other one lying where you saw him, you would really struggle to know the difference unless you knew them. The easiest way to do it in this case would be to look at the face, and just above the whisker line there, you would see a different spot pattern.

Now you can see he's got three spots just above the whisker line there; he's got three on the other side as well, and his father has five and five! So that's a good way of telling. Oh my goodness, this is very impressive!

We're going to go to the nest cam now with Tristan.

Indeed we are, James, and we are with animals that I'm sure Hasana is dreaming about as he sleeps away the heat of the day. You can see a little herd of impalas that have come in and decided to have a little bit of a drink and quench their thirst. It is a warm afternoon, quite windy, but it's still very, very warm, and it's a perfect time of the day for impalas to come down to drink.

And I'd imagine that they would have had a bit of a torrid morning because from what I gather there were wild dogs all over around this area, making lots and lots of noise! And so most of the impalas, I'm sure, only heard that and were thoroughly petrified by what was going on around them. No impala, I think, likes wild dogs!

But if you look at the impala in the middle of the frame, there's a massive impala there! Look at the size of his horns! He really is quite an impressive individual! He’s on the left-hand side now, and I believe that today is world dog day, is that right? It’s world dog day! So that would be quite apt to have wild dogs running around on world dog day! Hopefully, we'll get lucky, and we'll be able to see them maybe coming down to the pan for a drink.

If they're around, then it's a good place for them to come, and they'll maybe come down and drink; that would be quite nice. Now you see, there's also little baby Nyala in amongst all the impalas, drifting off. They go trotting away; it's too much commotion for Nyala! They like a quieter day and quieter drinking points than with all the hustle and bustle of male impalas scattered around everywhere.

But what a beautiful view it is when you see all these animals coming down to drink! May I help you to be busy, Austin, at the nest now while I sit sure and wait for other things to come down? It seems you are back across to Hasan and see if James agrees that he might be daydreaming about these guys!

Well, he is that or Nyala! Unfortunately, he lost a Nyala to his daddy that maybe is thinking about impalas and Nyala! I think he's thinking about a great deal right now! We are going to spend very long here because these kitties are flat; we are going to go off and see if we can't find the wild dogs!

I'm told that today is world dog day! I don't know if that means world dog in general, the entire family will domestic dog, wolf, and wild dog—I'm not sure! Anyway, I think it would be appropriate for us to go and see if we can find the wild dogs from earlier this morning!

That is simply because these cats are flat, and we can come back here as it cools down because I'm sure there will be a little bit of conflict over the kill. A very not-world dog! There’s national dog day in the United States. Well still, it's a good excuse to go and see some wild dogs!

You can see what Dingaan at least, what Hasana thinks about national dog day in the United States—not very much! He’s not a fan of dogs, nor is his father; they don't like dogs at all. Schmidty, yes, I think they probably would survive! Indeed, they are extremely adaptable leopards, and you know they'll eat anything!

From, like I say quite often, termites, all the way up to young wildebeest. And I think that as long as they weren't killed by the hyenas and lions of the Mara, they would survive very well. An example is the introduction of tigers to the Karoo! The Karoo is a semi-desert region in the central parts of South Africa, and there have been various attempts to breed tigers in those areas without feeding them.

And tigers are pretty good at killing local antelope here, or gazelles; they kill springbok quite successfully—hearts to bursts! And various other things! And they adapt to hunting in savannah ecosystems very easily, and I imagine that with the leopard being the most adaptable of the big cats, they would struggle not at all moving into the Mara if you introduced one there.

And of course, people do introduce leopards from time to time. Let's say a leopard is found somewhere in an urban setting, where it might be perceived to be a danger to human beings! Well then, they might well take the leopard, dart it, and introduce it to a wildlife area!

We're, you know, a long way from where it was born and quite easily could survive! So yes, I think that they would survive! I don't think it's a good idea to take Tingana and Hasana to the Mara; I think that would be risking them rather! I think they're quite comfortable here! You can see that! Well, Hasana doesn’t look like he needs any more of a holiday!

My goodness, he's looked up! Hang on a second, this is unbelievable! Oh! And he's having a stretch! Fixed his claws out! No, maybe let’s just wait here; let’s see if he doesn't think about trying to get into the tree for a snack!

His father is sitting right below it; there'll be a bit of hissing and spitting should he try and go towards the tree and get into it! Yes, you would like up the Sunday rest, wouldn't you? Hmm, but I'm not sure I'd like it as much as I'd like another few minutes! Oh well, if Dingle is not going up there, he's doing a little bit of a chuff towards his father.

The chuffing noise is the exhalation of air—quite fast, friendly, and submissive exhalation of air! So what it sounds like. Total Tingana is just around the corner through this little sort of gully! Let’s just let this play out for a second; I'm not sure what he's gonna do.

I'm sure you say, "Go Hasana, go!" Yes, I kind of feel the same. I feel like he needs a good meal! He sent me a Thanh for a long time yesterday! I mean, he had a good, he had a good twelve hours at it—or twenty-four hours at it, on his own actually!

He was arrested by some hyenas, but I think they've given up! Are you hungry, fella? Weighing up the heat versus it. Oh, here we go! I'm going to move now, just because I want to be in position if he gets near the tree!

Naturally, there are bushes placed strategically by the elephants to make it as difficult as possible. This is where we were yesterday for the TV show. There's the cat; he's moving in towards the kill! The kill is just over the gully to the left here, and there's the tree with the kill in it.

I just want to get into a position so that if Tingana does decide to launch himself, as his son, we will see it! Alright, I think that will do us from there! How's that food? Is that okay?

I see the Tim! There’s been some here! We go to dad, not happy! That's very unkind! I wonder how long this has been going on! There's also now waiting! Sorry about the aerial! Difficult to place ourselves in a position where both cats are in perfect picture! I was just saying it; there's been quite a lot of gardening around here since we lived this today!

If it now, I can't smell the kill, there's no question that Tingana can smell it—yesterday, though, it hasn't had its head long enough to start rotting. But I can't smell it; the wind's blowing from this... I'm not sure why! I've normally got a very sensitive nose! Can you smell it, figures? Nope!

So Hasana is not obviously not giving up on this, but I think you’ll be lucky to get a look in here! I’m just gonna shift forward slightly! Sorry—food! I mean, shift forward, Linda—can you have a look at Inga?

An apology? So when you'll get him in a gap through here, yeah, back a bit; that's fun! Now, I guess many people must be thinking that's very nasty, that's not very kind! Well, kindness ain't a big thing out here in the wilderness, and the sole boy hasn't got to twelve years old as a dominant male leopard of a prime piece of the Sabi Sands without knowing the rules of the wild and applying them to himself to the greatest possible advantage!

And that's what he did—there, he killed it! I don't care; you are my son! I don't care! This food is for me; that's what I care about! I can get it, and so I will eat it! You can go and find something else to eat!

It is a harsh attitude to take to your son! One that we, as human beings, probably find a little repugnant, but it's how it works out here, and therefore how it works best for leopards! You can see how much Wazzle his face is! How many more conflicts he's experienced! How many more thorn bushes his ears have gone through?

Anyone feeling very sympathetic towards Hasana? I understand that! But he's okay! Like I say, he did feed on it for at least 24 hours! Quite interesting also—I mean, I think Justin's saying yesterday that he thought more sign probably 20 kilograms lighter than his son here! I'm not sure as much as that, but he is smaller definitely than Tingana. That's Hasana!

And I think that the amount of experience the older cat has really does make a big difference to his ability to dominate these interactions! He knows how to posture; he feels confident because this is his domain—this is his territory! Alrighty, let's wait and see what happens out here!

We'll go across to the Maasai Mara now, where Jaime Patterson seems to be in the thick of the thundering hooves of the migration herds! What a phenomenal way to start off our sunless set safari with those two leopards coming together.

I guess would be the best description! We have arrived at one of the main bodies of the herd, and I promised I would let you listen, so here you go! Have a listen to exactly what it is that the wildebeests are saying, and tell me what you think!

[Music]

This goes on! So what are they saying to each other? Yeah, yeah, Marco Polo! Some giant enormous game of Marco Polo between wildebeests!

It's essentially largely the males that make these calls, and it's cursed agrees—Kirstie thinks that it is Marco Polo, one giant wildebeest game of Marco Polo! Instead of in the pool, this in the long grass of the Mara Plains with a very dangerous added extra in that, while you might be participating in a game of Marco Polo, you might also be attracting a lion!

I find I'm afraid to say, all the beasts intrinsically comic except when they're throwing themselves off the banks of the Mara River and breaking their limbs and getting dashed on the rocks and drowning and eaten by crocodiles! Apart from those somewhat tragic times, I find wildebeests furious! I can't help but feel any other ways, especially Kathy! Actually, you probably got a closer call there, Kathy, saying they all say like pedestrians bottlenecking around some roadworks in a busy city!

I know we've all stopped! Why? Why we've all walked in a long line? In fact, we're all still walking in a long line to come and join this group! Why? Where are you going? What? I know that it's the rains, and I know that it's how this whole process works!

And I know I've been here before, so please someone explain to me how they decide where they're going to go! I know they follow the grass and all of that, that rains, and then they go there and they eat small graphs! How do they decide from one part of their day to the next?

Actually, you know what, we're gonna go from that ridge to that ridge, or that ridge from that ridge, with no real discernible reason! It's fascinating to watch them, to say make decisions would be a stretch!

Somebody's thirsty! Actually, there's been lots of rain! No, just check for crocodiles! No! I think you're gonna be okay there! But the Beast? That is a really small puddle! It's gone into the water! It's gonna go across to the other side! Will it survive the gauntlet? I'm sorry, I mean the puddle!

I think it's okay! I think it lived quite pretty! When you look at them, I wanted to find you a male because the big males, when they start running around chasing other males, it's also hilarious! And then I get distracted by a female that apparently smells more attractive than the rest!

And then they desperately try and leap onto her back—her unsuspecting back—and she just kind of walks away from them! Quite hilarious! What's going on there? There might be the world's greatest gifted mathematicians; we'd never know! But this is just the start; we're going to go to the Salt Lick—the great watering hole of the Maasai Mara.

Meanwhile, Sydney is at the great watering hole of Juma.

I'm just trying to check if I can find a very nice place to dig a little bit so that I can show you something very much interesting. So I'm just looking for the roots of this grass! The name of this grass is called the coach grass!

So the coach grass, their root system is very much interesting, and this is one of the very medicinal plants! I know a lot of people, they only think about the big trees as a source of medicine! Now I've got something different! If you look at these graphs, you can see that it’s just got like a rhizome! So this rhizome is where this grass is storing the food for survival!

So if you can take these rhizomes with these roots and boil them, drink that water, it's going to help you in order to clean the urinary system! This kind of grass while I was still very young! We used to go out to the field for ploughing purposes, and sometimes when the mouse is dry, we used to dig and take this kind of sticks and chew them! They are very much sweet, and we would chew them, and by so doing this, and then it does moisturize the inner part of the mouth!

So it is a very interesting grass, and it is a very medicinal grass it's not sour at all! It's very nice, and a lot of animals like the Rhinos, white rhinos specifically, they prefer to eat a lot of Coach grass! That is why, if you've got Coach grass in the reserve where it's occurring, you will see the area will be having shorter grass as animals—a lot of them, they like to feed on this kind of grasses!

So here I have seen that this grass is very much excited! It's growing very high because it's close to the water holes, and this kind of roots can easily absorb water here from that close water hole!

So now I'm going to carry on and see if we can find something very much interesting! On this guide at work, I am expecting to see a lot of tiny little animals! What I'm going to look for is animals—let's see James is lucky with Tingana at the moment!

Yes, Tingana, you can see is not moved, but he's not reclining like his son is, and that is because he is deeply afraid that his Sunday roast is under threat! My father is quite the same! Actually, you know, I imagine one last piece of roast chicken, me arriving uninvited at the house and going to the fridge and trying to take the last drumstick!

I imagine my father might behave in much the same way that Tingana is behaving towards Hasana! I don't think that he would stay awake for nearly as long; I think he'd fall asleep quite quickly! Then I would have the chicken leg!

After two leopards, still static, the same place; I haven't gone anywhere else, I'm just giving Rick's on an update on the radio! They're both are on the ground! I'm just telling what they're doing now! Obviously, he said, what are they doing? Are they up or down?

Safari Go! Yes! There certainly would challenge a leopard if a wild dog came along here. Both of these leopards would be up into a tree very quickly! Wild dogs are not nice to leopards! Leopards being solitary—well, supposedly solitary—are unwilling to take the risk to fight off a predator like wild dogs, and so you would find that they would seek the safety of the branches where wild dogs couldn't get at them!

Wild dogs are a lot braver because they're in packs, and they'd go for these lepers! If they came along here, they wouldn't just come past, see the lepers, and then leave them be! Alright, how about we go and see about those dogs? Should we go and do that? I think we should!

I will come back here a little bit later, but I feel that it would be remissive of us not to go and see if we can find the wild dogs! Then perhaps the lions even a little bit later, but I'm not sure about those! Well, Simon did just lift his head, but that's watching Ghana's eyes are open!

We can't see him though, they don’t share! Because it's just not what animals do out here! Some do! Wild dogs share! And we're going to see if we can find them now! But cats just don't share with each other! You know, not even the lions will share with each other! They fight with each other over food!

And it's because they are solitary creatures which means they prefer to be on their own when they're adults, and that means that they will defend their food! It means that they will take every opportunity they can to eat because they don't know when they will next eat! And so they will always try and protect their food from other leopards, or hyenas, or anything else that might try and steal their food.

There is young Hasana; you can see him fast asleep! But every time he lifts his head, Tingana's eyes flick open! There he is! This is very special— for those of you who are perhaps new viewers! I mean, we're sitting here with two male leopards on a Sunday afternoon! This is not something that happens every Sunday afternoon or, indeed, any other afternoon! But we have a unique situation here at Juma!

Because Hasana, the male leopard, does not yet quite go independent—though he certainly is independent! But he hasn't quite old enough yet to take a territory of his own, and so he's still living within his father's ambit! He's like a maturing adolescent or young human being male who's living in the garden cottage but still coming into the house every so often to ferret around in the bread bin!

And I suppose Tingana’s perspective, if we were to anthropomorphize it further, would be: this is my house, and you've done nothing to earn yourself a place in a house like this! You know you don’t defend territory; you don’t fight off rival males! You just mooch around here eating the prey within my territory, so this is your form of rent, old buddy, old pal!

I'll tolerate you here, but make their mistake that defer this food to going: I'm gonna have it first! And he certainly wouldn't be lying here calm and collected if Hasana wasn't related to him! I think he'd be much more— it isn’t about being tolerant of him and trying to chase him off! And likewise, Hasana wouldn't, I don't think, try and spend time around a male leopard that he didn't know well!

It’s still windy here, a little bit like it is in the Masai Mara, and it's blowing quite that hard; but the northwest wind of August still continues to blow, and we’re not really getting into the meaty part of the fire season! It will culminate or climax with the first storms that come through this area! Lightning strikes that set the tinderbox of this grassland or the woodland area to flame! And you found that with one of these hot northwest winds, and you can have something quite spectacular and a little bit dangerous, of course!

Spectacular as it may be, it’s always a little bit dangerous! Watch young Tingana fast asleep there! So let's go back to the watchers now in the Masai Mara. We’re going to go out and see if we can't find the wild dogs!

Well, you take to the skies above the Mara with some scavengers! Lots of vultures! And it's really quite lovely because up until the arrival of my at the migration, I was barely seeing—if I was seeing one vulture a week, it was a lot! And I found that I actually really missed them! A funny color in the Sun!

Then we've got ripper larks and white-backed vultures, and I, for one, am very, very happy to see them! The vulture numbers have taken an enormous knock throughout this ecosystem as a result of poisoned carcasses, which is deeply tragic! And essentially, a carcass gets laced with poison and laid out, sometimes aiming for the vultures—mostly aiming for other predators and scavengers and getting the Vultures as a side effect!

But they’ve come back with a vengeance with the arrival of the migration, and most of them will follow the herd! As it goes through its yearly rotation! Now they’re here now because the wildebeests are here now! And there will be carcasses strewn everywhere throughout the Mara triangle!

Oh, Kathy! I don't know if I could exactly just define the migration's purpose. Essentially, it is to ensure that there is enough food for large numbers of animals! And it just so happens that in this ecosystem— in this bit—in this particular way—that nature has set things up, food is better here in the Maasai Mara at this time of year!

And then for four months, all the beasts and the zebra as well—because it does include a couple of hundred thousand zebra—they will then move back to Tanzania where the food is good! They’ll give—in the case of the wildebeests—they will give birth there!

It's essentially a massive circle, but to call it a circle would be to really oversimplify it! The herd splits up; they move in different directions! But essentially, they are doing a rotation around, usually led by the zebra! They're usually the first to arrive! They can utilize the longer stalks of the grass!

You guys are having a good scratch there! What is the purpose of a migration? Essentially, it just means that animals have found a way, or nature has found a way, to make sure that animals utilize resources in a sustainable way! If a million wildebeests were to gather and graze for twelve months of the year in the same place, there would be a disaster! Because there would be no more grass left!

Now, as the rains roll through, we are actually just coming out of the driest period in the Maasai Mara! And Jared's buddy, there is of course always a section of the population, and I think it's around about 50,000 or so—it might be a little bit more than that. It could even be a hundred thousand. I'm not sure of the exact number, and I'll tell you why I'm not sure in a second.

There’s a section of the wildebeests that don't migrate! There are some that actually stay local completely! But that's one or two individuals every couple of thousand hectares that stick around! Then there is the loiter herd which goes up into the Loita Hills in Kenya at Loita to avoid confusion!

And their migration route is starting to find serious interference because of fences! So there are fences going up along their natural migration route! There are no fences between us and the Serengeti, but there is between where the Loita's want to be! And so as a result, the migration's not quite getting the same numbers that it should be!

That is, of course, how South Africa managed to do away with the migration almost as large as this one! Larger, actually, than this one! A massive migration of antelope that used to occur in South Africa that no longer does! I was just saying to Archie, it's my—it’s a great sadness that I know that there is no road to get us underneath that sausage tree!

I really would love to go there. I know the lions love it there! I can see all the vultures sitting up there. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there's lions underneath it! There are so many carcasses everywhere that the vultures are just everywhere! You can't use them at this time of year to find—well, you can! You can use them when they're landing, but you can't—on the ground, you can't really use them when they're sitting in a tree to find the cats!

And just by the way, I don't think that tree is dead! I think the first half of it, or the right-hand side of it, is just losing its leaves in preparation for new ones! Okay, let’s see how many animals make their way all the way from Tanzania to the Mara!

It will still pale in comparison to the number of termites in just one colony! A lot of people don't realize that when working out here on the ground, we are walking right on top of the roof of quite a lot of animals staying under the ground! And some of these animals are the mongoose!

Here, I have got very convincing evidence that the mongoose are staying under the ground in this termite mound! So these animals that are staying under the ground, they help themselves when it comes to animals such as predators, because they can easily hide away! And the story doesn’t end there. Apart from avoiding the predation activities, they also help themselves when it comes to the high temperatures such as hot temperatures, and when it's cold as well!

So you can see that staying under the ground is very much beneficial to these animals! So the animals that are staying on the ground, they experience quite a lot of predation activities! So here, a colony of the mongoose is staying in here. Probably this is the - of mongoose, so the termite mound is becoming a host because the temperature is excellent!

And that is what is attracting these small animals! And I'm sure they are very much safe! Maybe the problem is if the snakes go in there! But the mongoose don't have that big problems with the snakes because they can kill them!

So they are very much gregarious! They are not solitary! And for them to win a fight against the snakes, the chances are always very there! So they are very much shy! They might be hiding under these termites! They are not harmful to the other animals! Termites can be harmful to the animals that predate them! And the most predator of the termites is the aardvark!

The aardvark can be able to come here and dig fast as fifteen minutes to six meters down, and it can consume up to four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand—that's half a million termites at the same time! Yes, they do have some of the predators which are more or less the same as their body size! The ants also predate the termites, and when ants are coming in as well, they defend themselves! They fight against the ants!

But when it comes to the aardvarks, it’s a big animal which makes it very difficult for this kind of small insects to protect themselves against! Now let's go to a jetty! She does have a small lizard! Interesting to see a lizard! I haven't seen any at the moment!

Sorry to drag you away from all the action, but we've got you something really pretty to look at! And I was so worried that it was going to dash away—although I have to say it's been very, very relaxed! A rock agama, a beautiful, beautiful member of the lizard family who is currently making use of the late afternoon sun before the evening chill sets in!

I once heard David Guiteau—a Gigi wonderful Kenyan guide—call them spider-man lizards! Because, of course, they've got the Spider-Man coloring! Now, there was a second one; is she gone? She's gone into hiding! She's obviously more shy!

Oh no! There we go! I'm saying she—that's not an absolute, so gamma! Usually the big males that have that bright coloring in the females—that the dull coloring! However, sometimes you get mails that actually almost imitate the females and they, as a result, get away with hanging out in a more dominant lizard's territory and sneaking in quickly when he's not looking and grabbing hold of the female!

So it could be a male or a female, but I'm guessing most likely, it's a female! What's fascinating me at the moment is that opening behind their eyes! It's enormous and protected by very clear scales!

Now I assume—and I should know this! I assume it has something to do with hearing! Anyway, it doesn't matter right now! Let's go and see what James has found for you!

Well, it’s difficult not to have found them! They were standing right in the road for us! We've kind of blocked the road, which I didn't mean to do! But now they've kind of wandered around us, and they're close by, so I don't want to start the engine!

The big male, I think that's the big mate! Show up to our left! She’s kind of given us the Beady! I decided she can get around us without tipping us over or turfing us onto the ground!

So we're just gonna sit here very quietly! They're very close! And you are 2 meters away! And they're so close I can smell them! There’s such a lovely comforting smell to me!

The best thing I can liken it to, or the most obvious thing I can liken it to, I suppose, is horses! They smell a little bit like horses do, and then I always found that a comforting smell as a kid! There's a little one coming towards us now, going to show us how very strong he is! In your host, one!

Oh yes, what test! One fellow with a long nose—but a bit nervous! Nice to be next to Mum! They are massive, everybody! It's difficult to conceive of how big they are until you are sitting this close to them! It really is quite phenomenal how vast they are!

She stands at around 10 feet at the shoulder; it's pretty big! You know, watch her! Her friend has blocked the way now where she could get on the back! I suppose she was now moving a fairly substantial knob thorn with her foot! It was unbelievable how strong they are!

They're not particularly strong as far as animals go with regards to their power-to-weight ratio, so they couldn't do many pull-ups, for example! But they are obviously, by virtue of their sides, in absolute terms enormously strong! There’s one there with that very long tusk, and I think we know her! I think she should probably be called toothpick or spear!

One other tusk—one long tusk and one both the north tusk! Amanda, the one on the left pregnant? I can't see any that are pregnant at the moment! Well, not none that are obviously pregnant—that her about to pop! It's only really then that you can tell if an elephant's pregnant!

She might be actually, this one here folks, the one in front of us! She has got a swelling up to the side of her belly! We go to her for this one here! Yeah, she has got a little bit of a swelling there, but I'm not convinced about that!

All some discipline being meted out by toothpick to a youngster! Obviously, got a little bit testy in the heat! Now this herd has just been at Buffalo Dan having a bit of a mud bath! I suspect I'm not sure how much drinking they did there, even the fowls of the water!

They certainly would have had a nice mud bath! There's toothpick now! Breaking a leaf in front of us! I see it! It’s difficult for you to see her properly! Nice, Paul! I think toothpick's quad! Nice name as well!

Now here comes a bull down the road in front of us; he's not particularly old! He is, however, in the process of testing that female for her readiness to mate! That is what he's doing there! I'd put him at about thirty years old!

Look at him approaching the female; look how much bigger he is than her! I mean, he's a monstrous size! I always think the females are enormous until I see a big bull like this! Can you see his hip sticking out there?

I think he's had a bit of a rough winter! It doesn't have to be in the best condition on his hip sticking out like that! I don't think he's in must! He's certainly not dripping at all from between his legs! There's none of that evil-smelling green penis syndrome!

What do they call it? Where there leak huge amounts of water, and he's also got a very rounded forehead; it's quite nice! We often talk about the bulls as having rounded foreheads compared to the cows, and there's a nice example of that!

Now, I wouldn't be too worried if this fellow turned to us and shook his head! I don't think he's old enough to give us too much trouble! There's a little bit of debate about elephants' eyesight! I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people say it is! I don't think it's fantastic!

I've just trying to think when you're on foot, it's obviously difficult to tell whether they've seen or smelled you, and this—you're downwind of them, and then they do pick you up! If you stand out in the open, they'll pick you up! But if you stand quietly in thick bush, they often don't see you!

They also apparently have a blind spot pretty much where we're sitting in relation to this bull here! And if you were to approach from where we are now on foot and didn't make a noise, he apparently—and I mean I've yet to try this myself—would not see!

Obviously, he uses more than just his eyes to sense things and sense potential danger! This is quite cute, a little baby with the bull! Oh, this is very sweet! See, I tried to just touch the male! I doubt it's related to him!

Cool! I would imagine that he'd be too young to be that elephant's father! But it's possible! And now another big strong one, same biggest one! One that showed us how strong it was a little earlier!

Yes, feeling very confident in the front of the big bull when he knows he'll probably protect him should any trouble occur. So he, I would say he probably weighs in at around four and a half to five tons!

And Paula, that little chap there would only weigh about probably between 150 and 200 kilograms or so, which is about 440 pounds! When they're born, they weigh 220 pounds! I mean that is dreadfully cute, isn't it?

Now, the big bull is giving him a bit of a smack, just saying, "Go away, I don't wish to be around you!" He just gave a little bit of a snort; it was definitely fun—the voice box, that sort of low rumble that they make!

Even more, and the little one cleared off, totally unconcerned by us at this stage! Not vaguely interested or worried about us, which is fantastic! It’s ideally best when a four and a half to five-ton animal isn't worried about your presence!

I find that generally to be the most acceptable situation! Now, yeah, I know what you mean—you can't stop smiling at this sighting! I feel quite similar actually! It’s just almost, not almost! It is!

It’s a tremendous privilege to spend this kind of time with elephants, with any animal really, in such close proximity with any wild animal that has taken you into its confidence almost and said it's alright! I don't mind if you're around! Just don't create too much of a ruckus, but you can watch us feeding!

I don't think that's necessarily a conscious decision this big bull's from taken, but he's certainly not affected enough by us to let us worry him, which is fantastic! It does very much feel like being taken into the confidence of a wild animal!

I'm not gonna move from here! I'm gonna see and wait until these elephants move away! When Jaime Patterson is still sitting with her wanzers! I'm very excited to hear what she has to say about them!

Wanzers! Absolutely sightings! I also really enjoy the opportunity for a close-up lizard sighting! So we haven't moved, because their gamas haven't moved! So it's a chance for us just to sit and appreciate them in all of their scaly glory!

Very, very rough-scaled lizards! Sharp claws for gripping onto rocks and leaping after their insect prey! And this will be, believe it or not, this will also be a time of Plenty for them because the number of wildebeests, alive or dead, will bring forth a great number of flies!

And I thought he was that sitting there for a second as if to say, "I really tell me more!" He changed his head position now, but for them, it will be a time of Plenty as well—lots and lots of flies, which means lots and lots of food!

I was still staring at that opening! I assume it's a sort of, you know, it's an opening for an ear! And we have a simplified ear with a sort of tympanic membrane system! I don't actually know!

And I want to know if it's got some degree of control over it! And I've never had a pet lizard of this sort of kind—I wonder if any of you out there have a gamas or have knowledge of exactly how that works! Can they control it? Can they open and close it? I've not 100% sure, and I'm curious as to whether or not they can! I assume they can; it looks like it!

Why is it so wide open when it's sitting in the sun? This thing may be a Don! I'm actually not 100% sure, but I find it fascinating! It looks like such a vulnerable, unprotected spot!

Pfft! Lizards are ectotherms! In other words, they rely on the outside temperature in order to control or regulate their body temperature! There are some lizards that have more control over their internal body temperatures or at least are more functional at colder temperatures than others!

Now you decide you've gone! Okay, now have more control! A gecko would be a good example of one such lizard that can actually operate at lower temperatures! But it’s so if they're cold, they go into the Sun when we go into a warm pilot spot!

If they get too hot, they'll go into a shady spot! But their energy levels will largely depend on their temperature! So if they're really cold, they're really, really lethargic, and they actually can't move all that fast!

That's why—and not to name anything specific—that’s why certain documentaries where they go running out and leap out and catch a snake that seems relatively docile and they show off their snake handling skills! A lot of those times those snakes have actually been put in cooler boxes first, cooled down to the point that they do not have the energy to fight back, to move around, or to move away— which is a horrifying thought!

I'm not saying any particular type of documentary, but that is occasionally the case! Horrible thought! That's why people who keep pet reptiles, of course, will have little lamps to help to keep them warm and help them to regulate their temperature! Crocodiles have quite a strong degree of control over their internal body temperature without having to rely too much on the outside world! But they'll still go in bask, just as these lizards are doing!

It's been fun sitting with these agamas! But now it's time to send you back on over to Sydney, who, back from leave, is full of stories to tell you and things to show you!

I have got one of the very, very much interesting plants here! This is a bulb! It's very much difficult to identify it, but this bulb, from how it looks, I know what it does! This is one of those bulbs people can use as an anti-venom and as an anti-snake!

And the snakes I'm referring to, I'm referring to an act whereby, when you come across snakes, the snakes just got to coil themselves; they cannot raise their head against you at all. So what we do is that we come and take these kinds of skin—all these skins—and we also take some other piece—it's like a big onion under the ground—and we take that part, and we've got to inject it in your body, and it's going to stay there!

And it will be there permanently, meaning that every time the snake picks your scent, it is going to know this is the wrong person! I cannot fight against this person! A calf is I am! And then it's got to coil itself, and then you can be able to just take it from the house and release it so that it can go away!

So we don't really kill all snakes where I come from! We catch them and then release them for them to go! When having problems, if you put a wound as well, you come and take these skills! You can use them; you can stitch them against the wound, then it can serve as an antibiotic! So this tree is very interesting to see that now is blooming!

So this tells us that the trees are now starting to get excited towards the spring! I am sure this tree is having a mechanism in order to regulate the predation activities, because here where I am, this is the only plant that is having the leaves! Which means this is gonna attract some of the animals to come here!

So I'm sure this plant is having a high level of tannin in order to avoid animals from coming to feed on it! Other creatures are still waiting, not yet convinced with the weather condition towards the spring! Interesting to see that the vegetation doesn't wait for any kind of an announcement to say now it's spring, let's bloom!

They know themselves that it’s the right time through a natural process! Very much interesting! Ryan, thank you very much for the comment! Indeed, it is a very powerful plant! It's one of those plants, as well, people are using to fight against the evil spirit where I come from!

If you buy a stand—if it is a new stand, even if it's an old stand—you’re gonna have to call a traditional healer to come and do something at that stand! And what they normally do, the traditional healers, is they go and dig this kind of plant, and they come and plant them in your yard.

When that plant is there, it is going to help you against the evil spirit! So now I hear James has got some elephants; let’s see how the elephants are doing this afternoon!

I miss the elephants! We haven't left the elephants! The big bull has not moved at all! Tooth Picker is standing next to him, in front of him, and then a youngster is sort of smelling the older boy to see if he's friendly or not! He is studiously ignoring the young bull who wants to be his friend!

They can! We'll just chase away a hornbill! Some sort of deferred aggression, perhaps? Irritated that the old boy didn’t want to be his friend! There is the handle, sorry old fellow! Jayden sucks being that small, doesn't it?

And there you feel— you can probably hear the breaking of the branches all around us! No, Tony, that is a legend! I think associated with rhinos rather than elephants, isn't it? That they will stomp out fires! I've never seen them stomp out fires! I've been around elephants and fires, no? I think it's completely a legend!

Now look, how this bull is trying to get at the bark of this tree! He's eaten the small twigs, and now he's trying to get at the bark of the tree! And you can see there are little places where it's been stripped off!

So he'll eat all of the little twigs and then try to strip the bark off! And you know that tree must be sitting there in abject terror! Focus, an elephant about to take a lil back!

Hello, my dear! She's the mother of the very brave one that was attacking us earlier! There he is! I don't want to start the car, obviously, so I'm just gonna deal with the aerial in the frame of the car and break starting it will break the spell at this magic sighting!

No, she’s trying to suckle and probably going to start whining quite soon! And this is loud too! Circle, so I was saying about this tree! I think it's probably sitting here in abject terror because it's being picked off piece by piece!

But eventually, one's just gonna push it over! I suspect, yeah, I think it probably was project alpha, that rhino thing about! It was probably from the Gods Must Be Crazy which is a fun film made in the 80s!

I think it was the 80s, early eighties about the San Bushmen and yeah, rhinos stamping out fires! Baboons and monkeys getting drunk on the ruler fruits—and that sort of thing? Called absolute nonsense!

And in fact, those baboons and monkeys, as far as I remember, when I heard sort of about the behind the scenes of that particular film! Now I think those baboons and monkeys were drugged, and that's why they looked as though they were drunk!

I suspect that they probably infused the fruits of vodka or something like that! Yeah, which is horrible! It's really not nice—there’s beautiful people, funny people— that's right! Fergus is just saying there's another similar kind of film where they did that!

It may have not been the Gods Must Be Crazy at all! Amanda, I don't know! As far as I'm aware, all mammals, just about, scooting can get rabies! I know with the exception of hyenas and mongooses which can carry, but don't express rabies!

So they all carry, but they say if you get bitten by a mongoose or a hyena that has rabies, you will get it! But it's not necessarily true that it will, in fact, the animals that have bitten you will not! I think some monkey species also can carry it and not express it!

But as far as I'm aware, most mammals can get rabies! I don't know how an elephant would get rabies, and it would be terrifying to see! But I'm gonna say on the balance of what I know about rabies, yes, they probably can have! They ever? I don’t know!

Imagine having a herd of rabid elephants around the place—obviously, the disease would kill them very quickly, but it would be fairly terrifying until it did! Yes, I'm not sure! This should be a good movie!

Kirsten says it would be a good movie, it would certainly be a movie that would sell along with exactly what I was going to say! A little bit like Sharknado and Snakes on a Plane!

Now, if you haven't ever seen Sharknado, do yourself a favor and don't! Unless you've had too much to drink and have perhaps taken some form of a narcotic because then you'll find it very amazing!

The principle of the film is that basically what happens is tornadoes rush over the sea, and in so doing, pick up sharks who are kept alive somehow within the sharknado and then dumped into cities. Yes, I know it's—isn't that ridiculous? It sounds like something you'd dream about!

And I have actually not seen it; I've seen bits of it! They made four or five of them! We have a sort of low-budget movie channel in this country that Sharknado appears on disturbingly frequently! It's not good!

Focus, it's dreadful! Yes, jagged! Yes, elephants on a plane! Not quite as terrifying as snakes on a plane! If you haven't seen snakes on a plane, again, possibly best to do so at the back end of a big night or some narcotics!

Because some of the scenes in that are ridiculous but to the point of being hilarious! It is a—not quite x-rated, but it's certainly a highly age-restricted film! I wouldn't recommend watching it, but if you do, well, I suppose you might find it quite funny!

Don't take it seriously! There please! Snakes on the plane! What a principle!

I haven't seen that one! D hugs Lake Placid! Well, have I? Oh no, about huge crocodiles! I haven't seen that one! I haven't seen Lake Placid either! Sharknado takes the cake!

You can see this elephant is not vaguely concerned! The shock made, in fact, I suspect he's probably never seen it! Now, Jaime, he must understand! He's asking, "What about anaconda?"

Jaime has obviously not seen Sharknado because if she had, she would know that it was in a different class! It is in a class all of its own! In fact, Anaconda, Snakes on a Plane, I suppose you might put in the same class! But Sharknado is in a new class of its own!

Its level of ridiculousness is so bizarre, and Jaime says I'm correct! She has not seen Sharknado!

Shark film filmed in Port Alfred! Fergus is just saying there's been a shark film filmed in Port Alfred, which is quite near where my parents live! That's where Ralph Liz wandering bard! Unless you can show me some sort of hard evidence, I'm going to disbelieve what you've just said!

Now you said you heard that Sharknado was based on some kind of real story! I am afraid I'm unable to believe that sharks have ever been sucked out of the water in numbers and dumped on the land by ocean-going tornadoes!

You're gonna have to show me some kind of documentary, peer-reviewed evidence before I'll believe anything like that, as far as I'm aware! Tornadoes can't exist over water, can they? A sharknado certainly generated enough interest for them to make four movies!

Thank you for putting this up! You say there have been six Sharknado movies—not just four! Thank you, James! Richard! Not even this elephant is outraged! You can see he stuck his ears up in absolute disgust! Look at him! He says if you're going to stand here and talk such utter garbage while I am magnificently displaying myself in front of you! Well then, I tell you what!

I'm going to threaten you slightly! He's standing on his heel there; he's thinking about coming towards us! No, he's going to walk around the back of this tree!

Ryan, I think it's an excellent idea! I think rabid elephants on a plane would be a fantastic film! And there goes our bull! That is the end of our elephant sighting as we consider rabid elephants on a plane, a movie directed by—I don't think we'll find a director to direct that!

Fluence, Ryan, you might have to offer to direct it yourself, James may know! I don't know! James, Bay! Right, Fergus and I will try and find a director for this wonderful film, Rabid Elephants on a Plane! While you go across to Jamie who will give you something intelligent to say!

I reckon now I could tell James exactly who needs to direct that movie! I can give him a director, his director of photography, and his scriptwriter, and that is our very own Vim, or the Valle de beast, as he has known! One of our cameramen are extraordinary cameramen with a true sense for the bizarre!

We spend extended periods of time out in the Mara, and often several days in a robe with the same cameraman! You have to find things to keep yourself occupied, because after a while, I spy with my little eye, grass loses its appeal! Servian beams distraction is to come up with different combinations of animals like a Lila crested hyena!

And, of course, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember one of them—the leopard-faced vulture—not leopard, leopard-faced vulture! And so on! So if James needs a director for his movie, or at the very least a scriptwriter, I think he need look no further!

I will, of course, I will, of course, naturally have to go immediately and watch Sharknado! And given that it comes as a recommendation from someone whose opinion I hold in extraordinarily high regard— and I say that without any sarcasm at all; this is true—even that sounded sarcastic, I'm really not being sarcastic! This comes from someone whose opinion I hold in such high regard!

I will, of course, expect it to be everything that I have been led to believe, and I will in no way and accept that it is not a good movie! Big thing, you know, he gets sued for something, I don't know—promoting something over something else!

I feel like there's going to be a lot more hits on Sharknado after the end of the sunset safari! Nothing at the Salt Lick, by the way, onto more pressing matters! There's not a single bull the Beast! I'm deeply take advice, cries, and I could only assume it's because a large animal equivalent to the Lake Placid crocodile has taken residence there and scared everything off!

We'll have to make a movie about that! I'm too scared to go close, though, because that's the funk! Everyone knows the film crew is always the first to go! We can't have that being! By the way, to continue a somewhat labored subject, VM has an entire plot line for a horror movie set in the Masai Mara!

And I cannot tell you what it is because he would be very deeply hurt if someone were to steal his idea! Based on the fact I shared it! But we have brainstormed the time the researchers went too far!

It's basically Deep Blue Sea! We've seen Deep Blue Sea! There's one that James forgot! It's basically Deep Blue Sea but with a different animal! That's all I can tell you! Bizarre conversations that we have! I think if you could hear us some of the time, you would really seriously question our sanity!

I actually have got a destination in mind, by the way! It's just up ahead! We have a gathering, what Archie described as a business meeting! And that's exactly what it looks like—a business meeting of feathered scavengers gathered together around the bulbous-shaped conference table!

But far away, it’ll do! So she's so nice that my brakes don't squeak anymore! People used to be able to hear me coming about 20 kilometers away! Now, Aaron, while we watch our vultures pick away at some unfortunate wildebeest and on a slightly more serious, unless a satirical b-grade note, I don't think that the Parmalat—sorry, I laugh every time I say the Parmalat vulture!

Because it's called a palm nut vulture; that's not what I'm trying to say! The joke about Parmalat came from our trip to Uganda last year with Rebecca and Craig and Brent, and I was incredibly excited to see a palm nut vulture! But they assumed that we were calling it a Parmalat vulture!

Now, Parmalat is a type—it's a brand in South Africa, so know, as far as I know, the palm nut vulture—which is, that was very unintentional—has not been seen! I'm sure it's around, though! I mean, there are so many vultures right now; it's entirely possible!

Look, it's right on the fringes! You don't—they don't occur regularly in the Mara, but it is something that we could see and have seen, but no, I haven't seen the Parmalat vulture! There we go, is the chairman, the marabou stork, the CEO!

Oh, watch out! Watch it! Gentlemen, please, this is a professional environment! The ripples vulture chasing away the white packed! They're just slightly bigger than the white backed vultures, so they have a little bit of an advantage in the way they run after each other!

The Marabou looks like an inspector now, coming to check out their work! See if there's anything he can grab! Yep—there we go! I'll take that, thank you! While you gentlemen are otherwise occupied!

Thank you very much! Now, wildebeests probably—it’s hard to tell exactly why it died! Might have been injured in a crossing, and only recently have the injuries fully taken effect!

It could have had a broken leg that got infected! It could have been caught by a lion! Lions often abandon their kills during a migration period! They don't bother to eat them! So it could have been that! I don't think it was a hyena kill because hyenas generally speaking don't leave anything left behind for other scavengers! They will eat and eat and eat until it's all gone!

Is that just the vultures chilling out? Or yeah, I think they've eaten Niffle! So it could be the potential reasons for demise could be endless! Margarida, was that a deliberate pun? You know, is there a pecking order when it comes to vultures?

I liked it if it was, probably whether she probably, exactly where the phrase pecking order came from! Come to think of it, it's a bit embarrassing I never thought of that! Yes, there is a pecking order when it comes to the feeding hierarchy at a carcass!

The biggest vulture out here, and one I tried to put on camera earlier, but it flew away, is called a lappet-faced vulture! Not to be confused with the leopard-faced vulture which is not real and has been made up! Now, the lappet-faced vulture is massive with an enormous leap!

Unfortunately, there aren't any here! That is then followed by the ruPaul's vultures and the white-backed vultures, with the marabou stork falling somewhere in that selection! But marabous aren't as bulky as a vulture! So they're actually—even though they are bigger, and they were very powerful bulls, they often get pushed around at kills like this, especially if they're outnumbered!

And then last, but definitely not least, come the little—oh my goodness! Its names just gone out of my head! What are they called? Hooded! How did I get there eventually? My goodness! I don't know what that was!

Hooded vulture? Good grief! There are little hooded vultures, that will come along and pick up the scraps and get to the bits of meat that the other vultures with their large beaks cannot get to! So that's by and large, Margarida, is the pecking order of vultures!

And it is literally enforced! You guessed it by pecking! I've been off for two drives; I don't know what I'm talking about anymore! Katie, who is one of our 15-year-old viewers, it's wonderful to hear from you!

Katie wants to know what the vultures like the best! All animals! If all meat eaters or parn avoids if faced with an animal carcass, the best part for them is the organs—the internal organs! That's where the most nutrients are!

Liver, heart, kidneys, lungs—those sorts of things! That's richest in iron, blood vessels—it's just the best part of the meal for them! Now for smaller species of vulture and actually in any situation where the animal hasn't been killed by a lion or a leopard, and birds have actually moved in, the first thing to go is the eyes!

Sounds grisly, sounds gruesome; it is a little gruesome! But it's just how it goes! That's the easiest part for them to get to! So while it might not be the most rewarding part in that there's nutrients, but not a vast amount of nutrients from the eye, it is the easiest! It requires the least effort! So the eyes are the first to go!

And then if they can, something like a lappet-faced vulture will then move in and open up the abdomen! If there's an injury! If the animal's died of an injury, that becomes a little bit easier!

But it is still something that they have to work out! Animal skin is frightening! They eat it up! And again, their bowls are suited to different things! So hooded vulture can't go up to a carcass and tear off a big chunk of flesh! Its beak is just not big enough; it doesn’t have enough strength!

Whereas something like a RuPaul's or a lappet-faced can actually come and take full advantage of those strips of muscle! So it will also depend upon the vulture itself! I'm just a boot!

I know I've moved on, but it's because I'd like to get to—I’d like to get to Awful's before the end of the drive just so I can see if those cubs are still alive and well!

I've spoken to the researchers this morning, and they say that Polar Bear's cub, so for those of you that have kept up, you'll know what I mean for those of you that haven't—don’t stress! It's another female hyena; she's also got a small cub! And they said it was off today and suckling so it's okay, but there was no sign of Waffles!

So I just want to go and see that she's alright, so that her cubs are okay! At some point, I will have to sever the ties with North Clan; I will. But I'm not quite there yet! You know what?

I have to go see if they're okay after the rains! Okay, let's go back to a walk with Sydney through the bush!

I'm trying to get hold of some of the very interesting medicinal plants and some of the small animals, and here in front of me, I have got one of the interesting plants! This is what is called a nuclear divine aura! This kind of a plant, if you've