Tuesday, April 26, 2016

April 26, 2016 Sunset Drive




James Hendry presenting with Wium Dornbrack on camera
&
Sam Chevallier presenting with Bryan Joubert on camera.


James, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
We start drive with James "The monkey" Hendry in a tree for his intro. There are two classes of eight and nine year old children watching during class time for the next 40 minutes or so. That is so awesome that schools are doing this Love it!

Hibiscus flower
Impala rams

Sam ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sam says good afternoon from he and Bryan.
A slimy mud wallow/ waterhole
African green pigeon

James, `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Aardvark hole

Sam ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A small herd of Nyala in thick bush

James, `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dwarf mongoose but not a great view
Grey hornbill
(2016/04/26 15:58) Lilac breasted roller
Yellow flower (unknown to James)
James has found us a Butterfly bush, it is a African Zebrawood there must be 10 different species of butterfly on it and hundreds of the in total how beautiful, wow I wish I could see that live, but then again I wish I could see all of this live.

Sam ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
(2016/04/26 16:07) With a very large Buffalo herd
Horrible camera glitch super digital and broken up but it clears up however we don’t see the elephants he tells us about.

James, `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
(2016/04/26 16:11) We quickly jump over to James' vehicle for a surprise. It's Karula and her cubs; she is showing off her babies. They are nervous of the vehicle but Karula encourages them that all is ok by stopping now and then and chuffing to call them to follow her. They run through the bush next to the vehicle, and then into the road a ways in front of vehicle, we watch them walk, dash, and zigzag back and forth across the road in front of James and the vehicle.
@16:18pm Karula turns and heads into little Gowrie property James helps the other guides into the sighting and to find them

Sam ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A super zoomed shot of a terrapin

James, `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sky shot of the clouds that appear to be trying to form rain.
(2016/04/26 16:43) James draws a map in the sandy road for a viewer to show where the great wildebeest migration takes place and also shows where they are in South Africa.

Sam, ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sky view
He is tracking a leopard
Sam found the buffalo herd

James, `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
James shows us the sky with rain falling in the distance

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Back to Sam with the buffalo, until his camera goes black with an odd message and we go to James.

James, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
16:57With a massive and fat warthog male but we don’t get a great view he is too worried about his size on camera I guess, he runs off almost immediately with his tail flag in the air.
Impala rams in the road
An Impala ram with his harem of ladies he chases them a bit
@17:12pm Zebras
Elephant herd drinking at Sydney's dam a huge bull approaches the herd
The elephant herd crosses the road between James and the Sabi Sands gate, the bull turns and heads back to the water before crossing the road.

17:26 pm James arrives at a smaller termite mound that is home to the hyena clan at the moment.
First we see Madam with one of the J-twins suckling and then Pretty with November suckling back farther behind madam and through the bush and behind a tree we can see some posts and we can almost see Corky and her December twins to the right of the screen behind a bush/tree but we can only see a bit of them. It appears it is dinner time for cubs.
One cub (Jan J-twin #1 female) sticks its head of the den for a peek then back in to go back to sleep, nope peek again. Looks like she is playing whack-a-mole but she is defiantly very nervous I wonder what has her so scared, since we know that the cubs don’t normally mind the vehicle, sometimes I think they actually enjoy our visits.
Jan, the cub playing peek-a-boo, is squealing as she comes out to join the suckling.
D2 (December twin #2 male) comes from nowhere to say hi to madams twins and right as James says how tolerant Madam is with the other cubs she snaps at him, and he has to back off and wanders around for a while eventually moving out of sight probably back to mom Corky behind the bush.
Then D1 (December twin #1 female with the white spot on her back left toe) Comes up to madam to see her cubs and also gets snapped at a bit.
James says the 4 Birmingham boys that are left in the coalition have eaten or are eating the one that died Scrapper. I had not heard that before but I haven’t been able to watch nonstop last couple weeks, much less hear all the detailed updates on Scrapper's death.
Then after some interesting comments and conversation Corky comes out from behind the bush to sniff at Madam and her suckling cubs then walks over and sniffs the hole to the den, maybe she just wanted her five minutes of fame for the day.
It is getting dark so James will be leaving the den so we go to check in with Sam.

Sam ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sam is back after a large tech issue where the camera had quite for whatever reasons and they had to return to camp to get it fixed. He is with a few bachelor buffalo "Duggar boys".
Sam then has to go retrieve Bryans pillow he uses for his bum that fell off the vehicle earlier, and "The Thumb" makes an appearance as a balloon today.

James, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
James threatens Sam's wooden elephant with a lighter because Sam called him Sméagol
We see a spotted eagle owl flying off I rewound and saw it sitting on the post before it flew off, we also get a slow-mo from FC

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Flat necked chameleon hanging on to a branch for dear life with the wind blowing

Sam says his goodnights from Bryan and himself.

James, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
FC shows us a slow-mo of the civet James and Wium saw when not live it was a very short view but a view none the less.

James says Thank you to the crew of the safari live and WildEarth, and Good night from Wium and himself.


End of Drive

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Hopefully someone else will continue my idea

I know several people enjoy my blog and posts on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1161830087169292/ but I just can't continue it due to some recent medical conditions, if anyone wants to take over and do notes or several people that would be great since I myself won't be able to watch many drives so a written account of what happens would be awesome. I feel the written summary of the drives is a great idea and I enjoyed doing it. Since I won't be watching drives as often i super duper hope people will continue to post here and help me out, I will be going through withdrawal I hadn't missed but a few drives give or take in 4 months and have been addicted for many months before that, so giving them up has been and will be very hard for me.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

April 14, 2016 Sunset Drive



A link to my Google photos Drive photo album -&-  A link to my Facebook group

Brent Leo-Smith presenting with Bryan Joubert on camera
&
Jamie Paterson presenting with Jeandré Gerding on camera.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Is headed to Cheetah plain to find a leopard new to me sat least. Inkanyeni and her cubs.
He has an Elephant road block, so we watch the ellies for a it until he gets room to move through so Jamie is taking over the elephant sighting

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
With the Elephant herd that Brent was just with

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A flock of ground hornbills. Five Brent says two juveniles one male we see in a tree

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Twin dams with a flock of African vagrants butterflies and a hamerkop and a few buffalo bulls.
Terrapins in the water

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
16:24 Vervet monkeys if leopard was near they would tell us
16:31 breeding herd of Buffalo.

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
16:34 Elephant trying to push over tree

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
16:39 Two ostriches
16:44 two leopard tortoise crossing the road
Brent is planning to Ferrari Safari rush to a surprise sighting

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
16:45 Elephants, same herd as earlier but a different location. We see two young elephant bulls practice
16:58  We see two young elephant bulls practice battling with each other.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
17:11 Caterpillar either a hawk moth or swallowtail butter fly larvae.
He heard lions calling and is looking for them.

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
17:21 Kudu female

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
17:32 Very fresh female leopard tracks
His signal is shaky so while he tracks we go to Jamie.

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Jamie is looking for a nice view of the sky for us and to a surprise sighting.
Not sure what the concrete ring is but looks huge and I saw on facebook someone said a UFO and they were right looks like it when you take a pic of it LOL.
While Jamie searches for the location of the secret sighting we go to Brent

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The female leopard he is looking for moved into a thick area and since she might be hunting he is not going to follow her in there.
17:56 Brent stops to look at an open area for cheetah or anything else for us to see
The sky is amazing purple and in the distance is a pair of ostriches and a buffalo herd.
It is starting to get dark.

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
18:00 Jamie arrived at the lion sighting but they are now on the move we get a quick glance of one's rear as it goes into a thick bush area. Another shot of one behind some tree or bush trucks.
We get another couple views of them but they are hunting and disappearing into the bush and night.


18:27
Jamie says her big thank you to the Final control and all the WildEarth - SafariLive crew and her goodnight and thank you to all the viewers.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Talks about nightjars and their calls.

Goodnight from Brent, Bryan, and the mullet thumb.



End of Drive

April 14, 2016 Sunrise Drive



A link to my Google photos Drive photo album -&-  A link to my Facebook group

Brent Leo-Smith presenting with Bryan Joubert on camera
&
Sam Chevallier presenting with Jeandré Gerding on camera.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Brent says good morning while following a hyena thru their DRC camp. (It was one of the clan males #15 to some Spiral #15 to me)

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sam is at the hyena den with Madam lying in her hole/dent in the ground
One of the cubs in the tall grass near the back side of the termite mound/den
Black-headed oriole and some magpie shrieks in a tree by the den.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A breeding herd of elephants with a tiny calf maybe a month or two old and a very large mature bull with huge thick tusks.

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Meanwhile at the Hyena den a couple of the cubs have come out to play. Jan, June and Dec#2 are all playing and Madam is sleeping just in front of the tree they are playing on, in, and around. Jan at one point who seems to be a momma's girl climbed on Madams head maybe just to show her love or annoy her there way children sometimes do. Then it's back to the tree. D1 and D2 play with the tree and Jan for awhile too. Other then absolute cuteness that was about the excitement for this den visit.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Back to Brent and the elephant bull is about 4 meters tall at the should he is standing right in front of Brent's vehicle when we come back to him.

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Back to Sam at the den D1has joined the fun at the tree now.  So it's D2, D1 and Jan (J-twin#1 most likely female)

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Tracking Karula well looking for her tracks
We see Chene a guide that was a safari Live watcher now is a guide there and she has guests today that are safari live viewers.

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sam is now with a large elephant bull

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Looking for leopard tracks or any big cat tracks at this point
Honey badger tracks

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sky view of the sun shining through the clouds
Then James and Jamie who are on tracking team today, pull up to Sam the three of them try to figure out the bird call Sam heard.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Another huge musth elephant bull Brent thinks he is taller (4.5 meters at the shoulder) so a bit bigger but younger than the one from earlier in the drive.

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Buffalo rubbing his boss and head on a branch.

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Headed towards Arathusa

Warthogs

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Mud wallow
Community nest spiders
A white flower

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A vulture with wings out sun bathing

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Hippo tracks

Brent, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Brent is with the Nkuhuma ladies
A new butterfly he thinks it’s a pseudacraea he shows us in his book.

Sam, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sam with Elephants

Sam says his thank you to the WildEarth crew and goodbye for the afternoon.


Brent says his Bye-Bye from Bryan and the Thumb as well.


End of Drive