Wild You Explained Clearly

From thrilling wild dog sightings, we have found a doggy to unforgettable elephant encounters. Wow. And Rani's latest adventures. Just awesome. What you going to do next? This week was filled with everything that we love about the bush. The masara always does surprise you. Welcome to Safari Plus. Everybody, our tracking has paid off. How beautiful, how majestic, how amazing is that? He's a magnificent specimen. Look at this.

What? That is so cool. We begin in Sandringham where the changing seasons brought about familiar wildlife and some exciting encounters. Some sightings are more than just beautiful. They are a reminder that the seasons are beginning to change. Well, everybody, this is u pretty exciting. I'm not 100% sure, but uh looking at the beak and that little tufted feathers in the back of the head, I think this is the first Wahberg's eagle of the season. The Warberg's eagles that overwinter north of the equator and they arrive back here in time for spring, generally August, start establishing. The male and the female will arrive in the same area

and they'll start to call quite soon after arriving. It's definitely not a Tory eagle. It's not big enough. the beak and it's if it had featherless feet it could potentially be a buzzard but uh that would be very early as well. So a little tough to feathers top of the head is a magnificent specimen. Look at this. His left tusk has been broken, but um he's a nice old boy. You can see the dents in the head there, the skin. Sure. And we are being stalked over here, Sean, by a younger bull who's coming to hang out with this magnificent bull and learn how do I behave?

How do I behave in the world of big elephants? When you see a big tusker, Lawrence, it's obvious. The tusks are pro practically touching the ground. So, a local name for big tuska is a kambaku. And when you come across a kambaku, don't shake your head at me. I know you're not a kambaku. I didn't call you one. When you come across a kaku, it's very obvious. Are you going to come say hi? Yes, you are. Look, his eyes wide open. Hello. Hi. All good, my friend. The wind is gusting here as well. And uh got a couple elephants. One over that side, one over this side. We're on top of a termite mound looking over the

Timbarti River. We've been here before. I had such a remarkable encounter with the guys on my last men's wilding trail. We were in the river. Um we' found our campsite for the night and we were collecting firewood and uh I saw a elephant bull coming. So I quickly gathered everybody. We came and we got a little elevated spot and we allowed the bull to come and he sort of stopped where he smelt our tracks and then he started walking directly towards us. So I just sort of stood up and announced ourselves and he got this sort of surprise and sort of walked around and back up out the bank and then 5

minutes later another elephant bull came along the exact same path following him. Very special moments like that on foot with elephants. everybody. Life changing. Truly is. Hello, darling. You got a little cut on your nose. It's not on her own. There's a whole pride of them slowly coming from back. Well, everybody, our tracking has paid off. All of the youngsters, first time seeing them in some time. Wendy, I did it. Well, these aren't the lions whose tracks we had. We had tracks of males and adult females. This is one

adult female so far. And I forget how many youngsters that was. Five. Yeah, they're bleering here. They're So, they're going to pop out on the road again and they're heading towards the river. The this hunt has been thwarted. And onward they move. Well, this guy looks after himself when it comes to dinner, lunch, breakfast, mid-after afternoon snack, snack after breakfast, snack after dinner. It's just a non-stop feeding frenzy, Richard. Definitely, there's like a behavioral change in these animals when

they've seen something untoward. something has stressed them out. First thing you'll notice is the glands behind the eyes will probably stream a little bit. That's a sign of stress, the temporal gland. You might be a little bit agitated and you might think um he's being aggressive or there might be something going on and you just switch off. It's got nothing to do with us. Sometimes it's something has gotten in its nostrils. But I think they returned to calm quite quickly. So that temporal gland stain on the side of the head would still be there. But it would be hard to tell for a lot of the time whether that was actually because of it seeing a predator.

From Sandreham, we head to Mabula where another few action-packed days were unfolding. We've uh got some rhino here. Look at the size of that second horn. This is not a small boy. Well, horn size for the boy is not small. But the white rhino is the it's the rhino that roams the open plains and feeds on mostly just grass. It's got the lips, the equipment to do it. Very wide mouths um with these rather thick lips that they just open and pull and open and pull. And something I've often wondered, you know, the nasal passage of a rhino must have so many little hairs with inside of it or at least some way to stop, you know, grass, insects, and other, you know, little bits of pollen or all sorts from flying up their

noses. Because if you look where the nose is, look where that nostril is. It's practically on the ground. We are watching what appears to be two pretty big giraffe and it looks like they're having a little bit of a go at each other which is always nice to see. We call this necking. So the whole process goes they stand next to each other just as they are and uh they start swinging the necks like this one on the left hand side wants to swing its neck wants to take out this other one's leg it seems it's not careful its neck is going to get caught underneath that leg but Oh. Maybe it's done on purpose. Few animals generate as much excitement as the African wild dog. And this week they kept everyone on their toes.

We have found a doggy just seems to be standing out in the open. What seems to be the I don't think there's a problem. What's the mission? What's happening here? Ah, don't we all love wild dogs? I think the rest of them in the bush here. I hear some noises. You hear it? Oh, hello. And that makes tea. Look at that. Hello, doggies. You guys been sitting here the whole time. It's nice and cool here. So, you've been enjoying the nice warmth today. It's obviously they maybe got a little too warm.

Wow, these doggies are very pretty and it's nice to see them sort of relax. I hope you haven't disturbed the slumber party here. Uh M's age usually the biggest strongest female. Um it's pretty much like a matriarch. What are you naughty doggo? What are you doing rolling in that? Something stinky there. What's he doing? We came all the way up to the top of the mountain where we have the dogs. They've come all the way around. Not round.

They've come up the mountain from where they were yesterday. They've done quite a bit of a distance. There was a bit of tug of war with a stick. Lots of yawning. Who knows? This could be the beginning of the movement. Oh yeah. Let's play bully the one on the ground. Bully that one. Oh, biting his tail and biting the neck and but it's all fun in games. It's not serious. Very rarely do these dogs actually have um you know some serious interactions that end up with very sore wounds.

This afternoon we have started off with uh some antelope and it's an antelope that we don't see every single day. It is the sable antelope. very impressive creatures these animals are. Obviously the older they get, the longer the horns go and they become these really stunning. They're quite a statement for an antelope, you know. And these horns do become quite useful. They become pretty decent back scratchers, but also they use them to protect themselves. So they can pretty much reach their backside and that's how animals like lions and cheetah will jump on the backs of them you know to try and throw them off balance. Um,

and when they do such, you know, the sable bend back and uh almost sort of poke them, kind of stab them with their horns, and that will definitely kind of deter the lion from trying to jump on its back. As always, elephants had a way of reminding us all exactly whose home we are visiting. Oh, Madden. Push it. Show them your strength. Push. And then it goes with the foot. No, that's fine. Take another branch with you, sister. See, I mean, they can if they want to. Um, but you know, it's mostly the females that tend to do a lot of the uh the protecting and uh looking after. after my run in with an elephant in Valkan.

A little bit wary of big boys and he's a not a small boy, but he's actually going off the road now. It's all fine. We'll be also wary of the big lady. She also can cause a bit of trouble, but it's usually the males that do so. The Sabbi Sand delivered another run of amazing leopard and lion sightings with unforgettable moments along the way. If you look very carefully, you'll see there is a leopard just behind that tree stump. And it is little Miss Rani. I believe she is hunting a ste from the information that I've gathered. Um well trying to stalk something. I believe a stebook was seen in the area. Um and this is definitely an exciting start.

There she is. Hello. She's coming back. Oh wow, look at that crawl. And she's listening. There were some impala alarm calls in the distance. I believe there are some lions around as well in that direction. And she's also, you know, she's so alert and so aware. such a good leopard in how we've observed her and how she's been able to um evade danger and just do everything she's supposed to do to survive out here, which has been awesome for all of us to witness her from small learning and growing. And now she's um independent doing her thing, you know. There we go. There's a little bit of scent marking. Everyone, we're just talking about signs of territory. That's definitely one. She's going to walk this way. Oh, beautiful.

Yes, here we are with the ladies of the Kahuma Pride. Wow. And uh they are looking glorious this morning. Really um showing off for us, I think. Doing a little bit of grooming. This grooming so important for these ladies. Obviously from a hygienic point of view, but also for their social bonds. And that tongue that they have and use is literally like a brush. It is, you know, spiked in that way that it actually combs through the hair and it really is um helpful to remove things like ticks and parasites. You're going to go to the next sister.

You see that little head rub? That was a little bit of greeting. Okay. Are we on the move again? Katie, this is what you've been waiting for. Yeah, it is sometimes worth just staying and being able to see uh moments like this happen. Takes a little bit of patience sometimes, but it is worth it. There we go. We have a beautiful African harrier hawk, also known as a gymn here. It has just pooped. So, it may fly. Yeah. So, I think this color that we seeing now, I'm just going to double check with you, but sometimes when they

get excited or their partners are around, let me just confirm the coloration. During relaxed pair interactions, the face is a pink/or pink. Observations suggest that the yellow more yellow face is used when an adult is suspicious or the female is dominant over the male. And bright lemon yellow is when it is aggressive. Um, for example, when baboons are near their nest. So, this very sort of soft color means that they are quite relaxed at the moment. They're not upset or uh worked up about anything. Then comes along a sighting that reminds us just how privileged we are to share this space with these incredible animals.

We um just letting these elephants pass by us here. My heart is racing. We were flabbered like we were bamboozled like you know Africa was going wild. It was wild there guys. That was I can't tell you that feeling of those elephants being so close by and just completely, you know, trusting that they are as relaxed as you think they are and just fed all around us and yeah, shaking. But that's it. Incredible. We have a lioness on a little termite mound. Look at that. Good afternoon, girl. It's lovely to see you. What a surprise. We just came around the corner and um I was just saying to him, Paul, don't know how much you're going to see,

but hopefully a predator. Sure. She's definitely looking out over here. Maybe trying to pick up the scent of the wind. The wind is blowing um from her to us. So maybe trying to pick up the scent something from the Mati River, the Mulwani River, sorry. And um she is if it is the one that I'm thinking of. She is part of the Kohuma pride and is currently dening. We have followed this lady. She's on the move. She's looking. She's looking for opportunity. Smelling the air. Wow. So beautiful. And then just as we thought drive was winding down came one final roar that reminds us that the Sabbi Sand always might have one last surprise.

Burn it. Wow. How was that raw? Can I just say that our tents are about what 100 120 m from where this boy is sitting right now where we sleep at night. The Masamara delivered some classic scenes this week. From towering elephants and sweeping grasslands to the ever watchful Topi Boys. But we do have a male line as you can see right there going right into the tree line. And on this other side we're also having another male coming in. So I'm highly suspecting that we do have the tea boys. And there he goes. But this is good to see at least Mojo. It's been a long time. I think the last time I saw him was about I think more than five 4 months cuz he's

usually very into his own thing and I've been seeing more of the R5 boys of late but now I'm back with the tea boys. Well guys, we have been looking around for one of the males and we are very much feeling like we're getting a bit closer, but some roads are looking like they're not roads anymore cuz they not been used for a very long time. But we do at least have some of the buffaloos that the lions were definitely looking at. And you can see here at least these are more like older that distant themselves from the big HUD, but they are looking okay. But some of them are sitting down taking a bit of a rest while their others be on the lookout. That's a normal thing. You see how tall that grass is? If you're just like

wandering around and you be thinking, "Oh, this looks like tiny little antelopes." No, there's a big buffaloos right there in the grass. Hello. Some of you are stood up. I think they are again feeling something in the air. Well, it is a very good morning here also in the Masai Mara. A good start with elephants and particularly you see the big elephant the female. I am highly suspecting she might be an istress because both her legs at the backside looks like she kind of urinated on herself which is very interesting to say that way but it is does happen especially if they're entering that season. Oh, a little young one. A cute.

This looks like a very happy herd here. Hey, you're doing pretty well with your trunk. You caught something. You pulled it out, Ethan. Well, I'm trying to see who her calf is because it's a bigger one who was following her a lot. And looking at the tusks cuz the tusk come in when they're about 2 years of age. So with elephants when it comes to the whole breeding and giving birth it's all about quality not quantity. So she's pregnant for 24 months about 2 years. So that's about 4 years of just purely no mating just making sure she has focused on uh her young one and then the cycle can continue.

Ah, the masamara always does surprise you. And here today morning we have lions eating could have been a topi. Looking at the color of the skin. Usually sometimes males the big male lions are honestly bullies. Let's be honest majority of the time. So when it comes to such a situation here at the breakfast table as like to say sometimes you have a male who will defend the female and then you have other boys like these two who will be like nope she's not allowed to eat with us. We're the ones to eat first and enjoy it and be the ones to have our fill.

Oh had some roaring there. M a sweetheart. They're not letting you eat, huh? Yeah. This the thing with male lions. They really want to take their fuel, get full. I'm sure in their head they're thinking, you know, we're eating because of you because we want to be bigger so we can protect you. But, you know, let her have something. But I wasn't here to see the hand, so I don't know who did catch. Yeah, it is definitely a topi. Look at that. Like the yellow socks. Here we have now finally caught up with the boys who took an alive topi and made it a very nice breakfast meal for themselves.

Look how handsome he is. My goodness, that mane coming in. I know you guys are going to hate me for saying this, but Zuri has the best mane. That's why I wish Zuri was around. I don't know why he's gone all the way to the other side for paradise girls, but it's okay. It's good for them to do so. It's very nice for them to diversify the gene pool. So, mating with different females if they can, if they're sneaky, if they're the now territorial males, why not? So, at least they know that one female group has the young ones and the other one also has the young ones. So, it is actually very healthy for the lion population to have again a very diversified gene pool and males tend to do this a lot. They're very sneaky. It's

kind of in their DNA. They just want to make sure I've left my legacy ongoing. Was so handsome. My goodness, that mania looking very, very nice. From South Africa's bushfelt to the beautiful plains of the Masai Mara, this week once again delivered unforgettable moments that remind us just why we love the bush. Thank you for joining us.