Rare Wildlife Encounters in African Safari Destinations

Over the past few days on Safari Plus, Sabuya and Encycle share the spotlight from the treetops. These cats have given us the runaround today. Cheetahs chase the sunrise. Oh, here we go. Madagascar opens a world unlike anything else on Earth. And we round things off at the Masai Mara where we saw plenty of elephants, lions, and unforgettable moments along the way. Look at that. We begin here in the Sabi Sand where there were familiar leopards, playful moments between the team and spectacular wildlife.

Hello everyone. We have uh just stopped here and um spotted a squirrel. There actually two of them. The second one may appear, but we do have one out here on the bark uh sunning itself. I love when they lie like this in the early morning. And um seeing the squirrel definitely makes me think of my guests who came to meet the leopards with me at the end of March, early April. So, if any of you are watching, hello. And I hope seeing the squirrel puts a big smile on your face. Um, but I think it's amazing that they can lie like this, you know, and hold on and not fall. They have some very good grip. Of course, the texture of the bark of this tree is very helpful as well, but they love to do this in the early

morning. I see the second one may come out and join. It's just a little bit higher up there. It's coming into Oh, going a little bit further down. But, um, that little one I think I just think they're so cute. And you can just imagine, you know, they've been curled up in the hollow of this tree all night. It gets very chilly at night going down to about um 10 11°. Okay. And then um coming out and finding the sun like this must be just glorious for them. Is this a technique? What's it called?

Figure eight. Nobody can do this. there. Yeah, we have found some warthogs. And you know, you won't believe it. This morning I saw some warthog tracks and I was like, I haven't seen a warthog yet. And they are here in this burnt section on the fire break. And there are some very small green shoots that are coming up. And um that is why they are hanging out here. Feeling very comfortable at the moment. Very nice that they haven't run off. The tasty grass is too tempting, too delicious. I love the colors actually. They blend in so well to this burnt area.

Can even see around their hooves that um they've got some of the sort of charcoaly color as they've walked through. They could get aggressive in under the right circumstances. not necessarily to a vehicle um or even I mean I've never been charged by water on foot but they can be um potentially dangerous. It's always important to remember that and to respect them and also to be mindful when on foot around um burrows or termite mounds where warthogs are potentially could use to sleep in because that really is something where they if they get a fright or something and they come out very quickly and you're in the way, you know, it might not be on purpose but they could injure you.

This water's got some nice coloring to its mane. The sun's picking up the highlights there. They are loving these little green shoots here. Wartoks aren't only grass eaters. They will um dig out bulbs and roots and things like that as well using their snouts as like a shovel. But for now, they are going after a bit of greenery. Wow, they're coming closer and closer to us. Wow. You can actually see those little green pieces now and how it's moving and looking for them, targeting them specifically.

How cool is that? Why you taking a view? Hey, how's your breakfast? Don't never don't ever shoot be shooting, man. Cuz you can see the situation. We need tables here with 25 bottles. I mean 25 liter. They must know. How do you take your coffee? This is unacceptable with any two cup two coffee. Yeah. Sometimes three. Yeah. That's strong. If I had a bad night, sometimes three. Yeah. So then I would give you problems on the vehicle. Absolutely. And then one sugar and milk. That's it, sir. That's how we work here.

Push. You like to be tense. Leopards are cats that are known for taking their kills up trees. This week, Sabu and Encycle showed exactly why they need to do this. Well, everyone, here they are. Man, I'm so happy to see this. This is awesome. When we were driving across the river and I was looking up at this tree and I was like, I don't see anything. And then um they are still on the ground here. So, wow. This is just fantastic. We've got um one in the tree just licking off uh something there. Maybe a little bit of I don't know if it's blood or something that they're tasting there. There's one or two bones I still see hanging in the

tree. And um the other leopard is just on the ground and munching away on something. Hello beautiful. Looks like Enso is there on the log. Whatever is our Oh, behind us there's Aina coming. It's amazing. The leopards are their dahas just at the base of the tree. There we go. Moving off. These cats have given us the runaround today. We are so happy to have found them. I believe this is Saboogi up here and um her youngster is around as well. I believe I don't know. He might be lying down. I haven't

seen him yet. Um but there was reported that they were both here. And uh yeah, there we go. They've got a little bit of food. There's an impala carcass there. You can see a few legs hanging out the tree. Wow. We have a lion nest here that is laser focused. Um there's some impala that are in the thicket here. She's still quite far. Um but she is looking straight ahead sort of past us. Look at that focus in those eyes. Wow. Look how well she blends in. I mean, those colors, it's just perfect, isn't it? You can see she's focused, but she's, you know, it's um, like I say, it's still a distance away.

You can see her eyes just getting a little bit not I wouldn't say sleepy, but and you don't know how long she's been waiting here for. The right timing, the right opportunity. Next, Mabula offered us a fascinating mix of interesting predator behavior, behindthescenes moments, and unforgettable sightings. Somebody who's gathering some uh some materials for a potential renovation. We have the hammer. Now, some of you may know homocops. They construct the biggest nest that one has probably ever seen before. I don't think I've

ever seen a bigger nest constructed by one well, okay, not one, by two uh birds by themselves. Obviously, they build on top of these nests, but they're usually made from all sorts from the tiniest sticks to some of the biggest pieces of branch that one would think that they were able to carry. And um they do this ob every single year. They stay within the same nest. And uh there our hummer goes. And if we sit here long enough, we might actually have one return back to the nest. But we've just had both of them um fly out from there. They are uh they are monogous birds. So we when they pair, they pair for life. And the two of them, you know, obviously take the time to uh build these nests up. And um when they

do, obviously, they maintain them. And of course, it's not a big chamber inside. It's a small chamber. Obviously, enough uh room for both of them. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have yet another species of uh bird found on the banks of the Vubu River. But this is also another species of bird that we find generally around water. And it is the Goliath heron who's um actually crouched down. uh now and um I think it's just trying to take in a bit of the sun. you know, it was moving around um earlier uh in the little spool way, which is the perfect place for it to do some hunting because that is a nice shallow area where it can obviously blend in as like a old tree stump or um just blend into

the long grass which is around it and snatch up all the young the fry. Hi. Out here, the bush is always changing and you never know when that next oh my word moment is going to be around the corner. That's why it's so important to check your surroundings before stepping off of the vehicle. Just before we do our off the vehicle segment, it's quite important to uh have a look if the residents of the crevices and the things we explore. Hello. If they're home or not. Anyone home? Because uh How about your hands behind your head? Don't want Eric to be assaulted.

I have indeed something small here. And uh these are what we call the banded mongus. And they are I think one of my favorite between the dwarf mongus. We see now going to be a bit of controvers controversial activity here. Um there's three mongers. Definitely three. Dwarf mongers, bandit mongers, and the slender mongers. I love the slender mongers because they are absolute gangsters. I remember seeing one in the sighting where we had uh Monati, a big male leopard, and Mwati had a kill in the tree, but he was sort of eyeballing us from a distance. He wasn't in the tree. This um this uh Slender Mongus climbed the tree to go and steal

part [clears throat] of his kill. And when the slender mongus climbed up the tree, it was pretty slender. When it came down the tree, it was far from slender. That was the you had the biggest belly. It, you know, it eaten its fair share. But um bandit mongus they tend to um be in large groups like this whereas the slender you see them sort of by themselves um you know acting up very solitary um mongus. Um but the way that this bandit and the dwarf mongus behave are very similar. Um and it's not often that we actually get to see banded mongus like this. They are very shy creatures. They're often moving away and hiding from us. But this is very cool.

That could be something. Oh, here we go. This is it. The moment of truth. [snorts] Yeah. Look at that. Special. Incredible. Top like top class. Now, where are you guys going? What's the plan here? Huh? What are we thinking? What's on the menu? And have you eaten since the last time we saw you? It was 2 days ago. Oh, okay. Indeed. Feline Friday is official. It is official. And [snorts] uh what a special time to actually have the beginning of it with the sun in the background, lovely orange light. No animals, unfortunately.

No animals. In theory, they should be actually if they are hunting, they should be coming from the opposite direction. But obviously they entered the field here on the very sort of uh what's the word? South western side. Whereas if they'd come in from the northeastern side, any animals that were here wouldn't really be able to see them because they would be looking into the sun. Look at it. It's it's baby lions and we're going into the bush. Where you off to, madam? So, they're making their way almost directly west. And I think they're going to move sort of along.

It's very difficult. They've chosen the perfect block to maneuver through. Yes. Hello, madam. Um, where are you planning on going and where you going to end up? We'd like to meet you there. No. Masawwala National Park is one of the last great wildernesses left in Madagascar. It is where the ancient forests meet the Indian Ocean. James takes us inside this extraordinary landscape. We are about to get on a boat now to cross the Antonill Bay. That is it over there at Mala Forest Lodge. I have taken 4 kg of anti-seasickness pills. Everyone else swears blind they won't get sick. Time will tell.

Well, day is closing now. The sun has slipped down beneath the main island of Madagascar. It's been a wonderful, wonderful journey to get to Masala Forest Lodge and uh I look forward to the next four days. Back on the mainland, we headed to Saningham where we had some peaceful winter afternoons and wonderful wildlife. And now we just have a quiet moment by the dam. We moved up a little bit to get just another angle. And look at what we found. Looks like the pale black dam 5-year-old male. And he's getting ready to wake up. Look at that magnificent light on his face.

He's calmed down a lot. I remember when Bore was on my first shift last year. I don't know what month it was, May or June or somewhere around there. This gentleman here was not very relaxed. You couldn't really get very close to him without him moving off. And the last couple times I've seen him, he doesn't seem to not at all bothered. That is testament to the wonderful habituation that we've been doing here with the lions. Not pushing them but influencing them. No negative reinforcement. So menacing. the redeye puffed up body, the predatorylrylike beak. This is a birch's cuc if you're not familiar. Now, this bird skulks around in the thicket, skulks around in the vegetation, and they often get quite wet by doing so.

They get quite damp on their feathers and so sitting here in the morning trying to dry its body. This is a burchil's cuc if you're not familiar. And one of the questions they always ask in the Fagaza exam is all cuck all cuckoo's brood parasites. What is a brood parasite? It's a bird that lays its eggs in the nest of another and then leaves the eggs for that host to look after. And the cuckul is part of the cuckoo family, but they do not do that. They look after their own eggs. But they are a nest raider as well. They will feed on the eggs and the chicks of other birds clambering through bushes to do so. Oh, many times. Yes, indeed. But have a listen here.

He's uh mimicking a pearl spotted howlet. Maybe this is his girlfriend's favorite tune at sunset. They mimic lots of different things and uh depending on where they are in the country, they got different dialects. I was surprised at the sounds the forktail drongos were making when I was in St. Lucia many years ago, Quazulu Nutell. I was surprised at the sounds they were making, different dialects, but they mimic all sorts of things. They can mimic mongoose alarm calls, meat alarm calls, pspotted owlet. I think the list goes on. The list goes on about the litany of sounds that they can put in. And some people will say, but why does a bird do that? Obviously,

sometimes it's for food acquisition and uh but the longer a bird has lived, the more dialects it can put into its bird song, more elaborate the bird song is and the more attractive it is to the female. You notice this very black drab bird. There's nothing pretty about it. So, it has to all come from the voice. The Mara delivered another classic few days with iconic landscapes, breathtaking moments, and a reminder that sometimes the best moments happen when you just stop to take it all in. I'm going to say hydration theme. Drinking water, animals having water. Look at that. Our male is drinking water as you can see right there on the frame. I was hoping he would do that because he was walking back from the other

section he was sitting at and I think after chasing that hyena early a bit earlier on he has said I am going to have to drink some water and trust me it is not mama's drink as David would call it this is just pure water and I'm sure it's very hydrating for him but look at that the lighting is great his mane is looking so nice and healthy I like his face to look up I don't know if this is OPO. I like all your help, guys, because I do like for all of us to contribute to um knowing our boys here and the females and the young ones. It always is nice because they are our friends.

Look at that. It's a lot of water. And especially even when they have eaten, they can drink a lot of water because in one sitting they can eat up to 40 kgs. And that is a lot of meat. So, usually you do need a lot of water to help with uh maybe aiding in digestion, but also it's just a lot of food, a lot of meat, and the health the water does help with all of that. But look at that frame, guys. Beautiful. Look at the reflection off the water. Looks great. But look at the cubs. Oh, I can't even consider you guys cubs anymore. You're so big. Look at those big bellies. And it's so funny when lions get really full, their legs start

looking really short. It's like the other lioness we saw yesterday who I'm now calling shorty, but she is from the paradise bride. And this Oh, you're a boy. Yes, I knew one of you was a boy, one of you was a girl, but very good-looking, very healthy. But look at that tummy. Almost reaching the ground, but they're very full, very satisfied. Oh, well done. He's so tired. He's like, "Oh, mom, I'm just going to sit here and digest the food." And you can see that is Kel right there. She is looking also pretty healthy. Beautiful as always. Little bit of grooming. And actually, it's funny because even on the cubs, they used to behave in similar ways. One would always stay a bit behind. But look

at her. Gorgeous, gorgeous, beautiful girl. Ray indeed. They have had a really, really good meal. And it's always nice to see that they're healthy and well. Seeing the numbers coming up with the pride is always great because these are the marsh females and the pride that the calan comes from is a famous pride here in the Masai Mara. Sometimes you don't need a sighting at all. Some of the best views come right from your doorstep. Oh, cutie pie. You look like you woke up from a nap. Good afternoon. Almost evening, actually. It is getting much late. Needing a bit of sand, I think, or soil, which is okay. You can get some extra nutrients from the ground. But I'm

curious. I was watching this baby elephant. I was like, "Are you okay?" Then the mom obviously didn't seem worried, so we knew that the young one is okay. But looks like they're just enjoying some soil. I think for a lot of us when we were kids, we did maybe here or there. I'm not saying everyone, but I know I did as a kid, it's a bit of sand and soil. And I think our young one there is also being a bit curious with a bit of small vegetations. Let's see. I hope you're okay. You look a bit weak. Let's watch you get up. You got this. There we go, sweetheart. Oh, you must have been tired, huh? And you can see the elephants at the back. So, right now, we're in the marsh area. It's not too far from where

we were looking at the water box and baboons. This is a very popular area for a lot of different animals, especially our elephants. They do like coming here, especially when it's really hot. They come and cool down. Even the busiest predators sometimes need a break. And this hyena looked like he was ready for a lazy weekend. Hyena, did you make this? Did you make this bed? Of course not. But you can tell actually by the footsteps when it gets really wet during rainy season or like heavy rainfall. Any elephants, hippos that come here, you know, they're very heavy big animals. They will definitely step onto the ground and make small little holes their own footsteps. Oh, what are you looking at?

Is there a bird? Yeah, there's a lot of birds around. Either swifts or swallows. They're moving very fast. We can see that this was definitely created by some wallowing. Even buffaloos could have done this. They'll come and wallow. And sometimes, don't be shocked that this area one day could even become much deeper. Looking at the looking at some birds flying around, but they're too fast and tiny. Hey, where you going? We're talking about how your bed was made. But look at that. It's a pretty coat. This is such a nice color. Oh, I think hyenas are so adorable, guys. How can you hate hyenas? Look at that. Look at those ears. And finally, no more chapati lions.

How gorgeous is she? Guys, this is amazing. At least now we got to see more of a clear face. I'm hoping the rest of them will come and join her on top of this mount. And look at that frame. Look at those colors. Absolutely perfect. Yes, we're talking about you. You're so pretty. Yeah, you are. She said yes. She even did a bit of a head knot. She knows she's pretty. And don't get fooled with this flat landscape. You'd think it's flat. But what we were trying to do when we saw the lines cuz I saw them today. I saw them in this area today, but when you try to spot them from the road, you're wondering, is it that termite mound or this termite mount or that bush? Because they start looking very

identical. And also there's a bit of a lagger in between and you can't tell it looks very flat but look at that. And again towards where you're seeing a bit of the sunset with a bit of rain that is towards the camp we're staying at Governor's Camp just right there in the treeine. It's really nice and beautiful. Whether exploring the ancient rainforests of Madagascar or the beautiful landscapes of Africa, every destination has a different story to tell. Thank you for joining us on Safari Plus and we'll see you next time.