Monday, April 11, 2016

April 11, 2016 Sunrise Drive



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James Hendry presenting with Bryan Joubert on camera

Jamie Paterson presenting with Jeandré Gerding on camera.


James on Cheetah Plains `````````````````````````````````````````````````````
James starts the drive already on Cheetah plains waiting for the sun to rise for an amazing view from an open clearing.


Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
06:06 Jamie starts her morning on Quarantine clearing with a huge herd of impala.
She heard lions calling before she left camp however she is unsure where they were coming from.
While Jamie tracks either lions or leopard maybe even both, she sends us to James.

James on Cheetah Plains `````````````````````````````````````````````````````
06:11 The sun has started rising and we watch it come up from behind a tree very beautiful view, as I am sure you can tell from my excessive amount of screenshots.
Two ground hornbills, but they fly off. Wow they are huge and with the white on the end of their wings it's amazing to see them fly.
06:24 Tawny eagle
Yellow-throated petronia and Burchell's starlings in the same tree as the eagle

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
06:30 Still searching and tracking the lions.

James on Cheetah Plains `````````````````````````````````````````````````````
06:38 One of the ground hornbills is on the ground.
James is being a dare devil today he is living on the edge, he dangerously trespasses a few steps into Kruger National park and picks a few leaves from a tree he doesn't know.
James heard on the radio that Cheetahs are headed south towards Cheetah plains, so while he figures out where he is and where he will not get arrested for going he sends us to Jamie.

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
06:51 No lions yet, but Jamie and Jeandré had quite the experience while they weren't live, and we trying to show us lions.  They found elephants who had apparently found the lions because they were not happy elephants, well at least the bull wasn't. As I said they weren't live for this, but she tells the story very well.
An elephant bull it seems was showing off him massive size by messing with the vehicle Jamie and Jeandré had to slap the car and yell quite loudly to get him to back off.  When she tried to pull away from him he decided to give a bit of a chase so she had to reverse towards him to back him off.
Therefore there is a large uneasy breeding herd of elephants and a large upset ellie bull all around the lions so Jamie is giving them a chance to move off, or what probably will happen, the elephants to chase off the lions, then she will go back to get us a view or re-track the lions.
Crash cut to James

James on Cheetah Plains `````````````````````````````````````````````````````
06:54 Side stripped Jackals for a minute then right back to Jamie

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
06:55 She now has a grey heron
07:05 Dwarf mongooses warming themselves in the sun
Vervet monkey

James on Cheetah Plains `````````````````````````````````````````````````````
07:10 Cheetah Woo-Hoo. James has found the same two male cheetahs that are regulars to the area. We get to watch them walk into Cheetah plains with their long slanky bodies and a basketball size round protrusion that is there belly. They are very full and in the belly region very round. So exciting!! The radio communications get a bit mixed up because James can't hear all the guides in the area, so after a few minutes he has to leave the sighting and let the others that were on standby in and get back in the stand by line. The cheetahs have laid down in the shade so we get great views before James has to leave.
When James leaves the cheetahs we go to a nearby pan to view Elephants drinking at Cheetah pan yes on Cheetah plains.
A domestic house sparrow lands on the vehicle hood (bonnet).
An approximately fifteen year old elephant bull tries to get cheeky, with the vehicle, several times in fact. He just seems to not give up. He is not big enough to scare us but that doesn’t stop him from trying, which makes for a cute sighting. Sorry little guy few more years before you can scare us off.

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Is still searching for the lions again they seem to have separated
She comes across a couple impala rams but they don't stay long.
She shows us a porcupine quill she found
Impala herd
She runs into Sam in one of the guiding vehicles who has been out learning the roads, they have a short chat and we move on.
African hawk eagle pair

James on Cheetah Plains `````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Back with the Cheetahs and they are up and walking back towards the open areas
James tries to follow them into a thick area but it is just too thick so he goes back out and finds them lying under a bush.
Funny seems more normal to me to see big cats in bushes then just out in the open.
We had a great amount of time with the cheetahs so James is pulling out and heading back towards Djuma.

Jamie, ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Jamie has FINALLY found us a lion, I only say finally because she said it; I couldn’t track a lion on a flat surface with ink on its paws.  Oh it's not a lioness it’s a MALE, Someone else called her on the radio to say he has found the females. So she is thrilled she was right there was a male with the females, and the elephants had in fact chased the lions. It just took them awhile to come out of the thick block. She is right on the Buffelshoek boundary with him, he is sniffing the ground intently seems to be following someone or something.  If he continues that way he is out of our traversing area. He is pacing and searching but does end up going north into Buffelshoek so Jamie heads to find the females.
And there they are the Nkuhuma lioness pride well four of them. They are all awake but lying down with heads up. We spend the rest of the drive watching them all with heads up looking around.

Jamie says all her thank yous and goodbyes for the afternoon.

James and the Thumb as well as Bryan say goodbye for the afternoon.

End of Drive

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