EmotionsofAfrica

The video shows a beautiful silhouette moment with giraffes, just after sunset, in the African bush. Together with zebras, giraffes are the most photographed animals in Africa. Every safari tourist rates these animals incredibly high, and they are a must-see on every safari. The giraffe is unique, like no other animal on this planet. They are fascinating and graceful creatures, making them one of Africa’s most iconic animals. With their tall necks and legs, giraffes elegantly roam the African savanna, and during sunset, these animals can make for some of the most beautiful scenes in nature. I recently had the opportunity to find a small number of giraffes right at sunset. With their tall figures against the beautiful colors of the sky at dusk, giraffes make for some of the most beautiful silhouette moments. Not every day do you find giraffes at the right time and place to get such footage. I didn’t hesitate and grabbed my camera to capture the moment. It was a peaceful early evening, with the sounds of the bushveld adding to a stunning moment in nature.

The video shows a hippo returning home to its water, only to be screamed at and chased into the water by an elephant not happy with its presence. During the dry season in Africa, animals in the wild must endure a lot of hardship and challenges to survive. The biggest challenge during the dry periods is to find somewhere where there is still water while travelling big distances in search of food. The bigger animals like elephant and hippos can struggle even more than most other animals due to their size. These large herbivores must feed and drink daily to survive. Hippos live in water, so their shelters become under threat as well. During these high stress dry periods, elephants especially, become very aggressive and protective over the remaining resources of water and food. While all the wild animals must share the resources that are left, elephants in general do not like to share and become angry and agitated very quickly with other animals needing to get to the water. It was early morning during a safari in Zimbabwe, that we found ourselves viewing wild animals in a hide, overlooking one of the last remaining water sources in the reserve we visited. There were a lot of animals coming and going, with elephants being the majority. While watching a herd of elephants drinking at the watering hole, I noticed a hippo in the distance, slowly making its approach back to the water. Hippos will leave the water at nighttime to go and graze, returning to the water early morning where they will then spend their daylight hours resting and sleeping. The hippo looked tired, having to travel long distances during the night in search of grass to eat. This hippo just wanted to get back home, but the water was surrounded by elephants. I could see the elephants noticed the oncoming hippo, and when the hippo got closer, the one elephant thought it would let the hippo know it was not happy with the hippo’s return. The elephant suddenly looked angry and turned around. With a loud scream followed by loud trumpeting, the elephant cow made it clear that she was annoyed and angry, aggressively chasing the hippo back into the water. The hippo knew it had to get back in the water quickly and so it did. Once the hippo settled down in the water, the female elephant calmed down and there was peace again among all animals around the watering hole.

The video shows the incredible intelligence used by a female matriarch elephant to remove a fence so that she and her herd could get out. Elephants are not only the largest land mammals on earth, but they are also rated as one of the most intelligent mammals living on this planet. The leader of any elephant herd is called a matriarch which is always one of the wiser and more mature females in the herd. The elephant herd relies on the matriarch to lead them on the way to food and water in strategic places during different times of the year. These matriarchs follow old migratory routes shown to them by previous generations, then memorised over time, guiding them and their herds along these migratory journeys. Over time humans have created nature reserves to protect the elephants. Many of these large reserves have fences around them, protecting the animals from the onslaught of the outside world such as poaching. While the reserve fences do play a roll in protecting and keeping together special animals in large spaces of protected land, animals like elephants need to move big distances. Elephants don’t let much stand in their way if they are on the move, not even a reserve fence. Unfortunately, a lot of these fences run through some of these ancient elephant migratory routes. The video shows how meticulous and smart this matriarch elephant goes about taking down the fence, so she and her herd could carry on with their journey. At first the matriarch slowly attempted to step on the fence to push it down, but it kept bouncing back up. After a few seconds of thinking, the female elephant quickly realised that it was a lot easier just to lift the supporting poles of the fence out of the ground, then easily laying the fence down on the ground. With the fence on the ground, it’s incredible to see how carefully and precise each member of the herd then slowly climbed over the fence. Just like that a whole herd of elephants crossed through the man-made fence, slowly and without too much effort or noises.

The video shows two hungry hyenas attempting to hunt an injured baby giraffe before the mother comes to the rescue. While on safari in the Kruger National Park, we spotted a mother giraffe and her baby. Not too far away was two hyenas, just staring at the giraffes. At first, we couldn’t understand why the two hyenas were looking so interested in the giraffes the whole time. Every time the giraffes would move, the hyenas would follow. That was when we noticed that the back left leg of the baby giraffe was broken, and it was limping badly. The hyenas clearly noticed this weakness and thought it will be an easy target for them. Every time there was some distance between the mother and her baby, the hyenas would take a chance and run after the injured baby in attempt to catch it. This carried on for a while until the baby eventually ran towards the mother. The mother giraffe also realised what was going on and ran straight towards her baby. As the baby giraffe joined its mother, the hyenas immediately backed away. The baby giraffe went standing in a safe spot between the mother’s legs. The mother giraffe’s long legs and hooves are used for self-defence and can kick in all directions. The hyenas know very well that those long legs and big hooves can kill them with one kick against the head. The protective mother’s presence right next to her injured baby was enough to deter the two hyenas and they quietly moved on and disappeared, leaving the mother giraffe and her baby in peace.

The video shows the rarely seen and heartwarming moments between an adult female leopard and her daughter filmed in the African wild. Seeing a leopard in the African wild is always a great privilege. To see two leopards together is rare and priceless. It was during a safari in the Kruger National Park in South Africa that we were lucky to learn about a sighting of a mother leopard and her younger daughter. We decided to make our way to the sighting immediately as something like that is rarely seen. On our arrival, we could not see the leopards. The amazing camouflage created by the beautiful patterns on their skins made it hard for us to find and spot them initially. Eventually, we managed to spot the two leopards where they were lying upright together in the long grass. What followed was heartwarming to see. The two leopards had so much affection for one another. The mother and daughter were licking, grooming, and rubbing against each other. It was incredible to see how much tender, love, and care there was between the leopard mother and her daughter. The young leopard was estimated at about eighteen months and was almost the same size as the mother. Leopard cubs leave their mothers between the ages of eighteen and twenty months. Leopards live solitary as adults and are mostly seen alone. Seeing these two leopards together, interacting in such a manner, is not something you see often, making this a rare and remarkable sight in the African wild.

The video shows how two elephants casually enter a restaurant at a safari lodge in Africa, then walking through the restaurant without touching anything. When going on a safari holiday, you get to live with and spend time with the wild animals of Africa. While game viewing happens from a safari vehicle, there are the occasional times when you might meet the wild creatures at the most unexpected times and places like shown in this video. After the lodge guests returned from their morning safari, they sat down for breakfast in the restaurant area. Suddenly a large elephant appeared, ducked under the roof, and casually just walked in. Not long after a younger elephant entered the restaurant. The elephants just casually continued through the middle of the restaurant and went out the other side again. Not once did the elephants touch or bump anything in the restaurant. The elephants didn’t even look around, while looking very casual, as if they have done it many times. For the elephants it was just passing through on their way somewhere. It turns out that the restaurant is built in an area that is part of an age-old elephant migratory route, with elephants occasionally passing through in such a manner. Amazing how man and wildlife can coexist in the wild.

The video shows a bull elephant that is not happy with the presence of a warthog, attempting to chase it away with his intimidating behavior. Elephants are the largest land mammals on earth, and they know it. Because of their size, elephants need to drink water on a daily basis, and lots of it. One thing is for sure, elephants are selfish with their water and almost always never want to share the space around any watering hole with any other animals. We were watching a warthog, peacefully drinking water when suddenly this large bull elephant appeared. The elephant stopped when he saw the warthog and stared it down. The next moment I could see the elephant was not happy with the warthog being at the water. Suddenly the elephant let out a scary sounding sound while mock charging the warthog. All the warthog wanted to do is finish drinking water, and so it did. I was totally amazed to see that with all the threatening behavior coming for the grumpy elephant, the warthog didn’t seem to be fazed by the elephant’s behavior and just moved off a little to continue drinking every time the elephant tried to chase it away. In the end, the warthog won the battle as the elephant realized that the warthog was not being intimidated and decided to leave and find another drinking spot.

The video shows a lioness, anxiously watching her two cubs swimming through a dangerous river, hoping that they will make it safely to the other side. The African wild is a hostile environment, filled with treacherous terrains and dangerous animals. Extreme weather conditions at certain times of the year like heat waves and floods add additional pressure on the survival of many animals. ‘Only the strongest will survive’ is something that rings true in the African wild daily. During the rainy season, floods can cause all kinds of challenges for humans and wild animals. Rivers will come down with great masses of water, making large parts inaccessible, challenging animals that are on the move even more. During the wet season in the Kruger National Park, the lioness in the video was spotted standing on the one side of a river, looking concerned while staring at the opposite side of the river. Even though lions hate swimming, it looked like the lioness had no choice to cross the river onto safer grounds, then expecting her young to follow. Suddenly a lion cub jumped in the water and started swimming across. The lioness made these soft contact calls while her cub swam across, motivating it to get to the other side towards her. Rivers in the African wild are crawling with crocodiles and hippos, two species of animals that can even put fear into a dangerous animal such as a lion. Soon after, a second cub jumped in and swam across, with the lioness encouraging the second cub while looking very anxious. Amazingly both cubs made it through to join the mother safely, turning the scary and tense moments into a happy and heartwarming ending.

The video shows an elephant bull getting angry after it spotted a leopard, quickly letting the dangerous big cat know who is in charge with his loud screaming sounds. Elephants are the world’s largest mammals walking this earth, and they know that. Besides for humans, there are very few predators that can kill or harm a healthy adult elephant in the wild. Due to their size, elephants mainly dominate the African savanna landscape in all aspects. From the watering holes to the feeding grounds, elephants make it clear that they are large and in charge. There are instances where predators such as lions and hyenas will attempt to hunt baby elephants, injured individuals, and older sickly animals with mixed results. Elephants usually move and live in herds, adding to the protection of these individuals. It is very difficult for predators to hunt an elephant amongst a whole herd that can become very angry and dangerous. Elephants in general do not tolerate the presence of any predator, whether it will ever be able to cause any damage or not. The video shows a classic example of this zero-tolerance behaviour. While watching a herd of elephants drinking at a watering hole, I noticed to the one side a lone leopard slowly appearing from the long grass. It looked like the leopard wanted to make its way to the water to quench its thirst. Immediately I knew that if the elephants do spot the leopard, they were not going to be happy with its presence. Leopards are smaller than lions and they are not known to hunt elephants at all due to the size differences. None the less, they are still predators and elephants do not like any predator, no matter what. The leopard didn’t seem to worry about being spotted. It was clearly thirsty and slowly made its way into the open towards the water. It didn’t take long for one elephant bull to spot the leopard. The elephant bull’s behaviour quickly changed into high alert while making a deep scary sound to alarm the rest of the herd. The elephant and leopard stood there staring at each other for a short moment. Suddenly the elephant charged towards the leopard while letting out a loud screaming sound. The leopard had no choice but to retreat and leave the water drinking for later. The leopard turned around and slowly moved off with the elephant coming closer again, making deep rumbling sounds, just to make sure the leopard understands who is in charge. The leopard slowly disappeared back into the thickets with the elephant staring after it before relaxing again. This is a great example of no matter how dangerous you are, size does matter a lot out in the African wild.

The video shows a lioness, stalking and trying to hunt a bird at a watering hole in a rather playful manner. The lion is Africa’s biggest cat, and these cats are natural born killers in order to survive. When they are cubs, lions love stalking, chasing, biting, and jumping on top of each other during their playtime. These are all the necessary skills and actions they will need to become formidable hunters. As lions grow older, all that playful energy and actions become more serious and is directed towards pretty much anything that moves. All these actions, over and over, turn them into hunters to survive as adults. With that said, while lions are the biggest cats in Africa, they also have the worst hunting success rate of all other carnivores in Africa, with only forty percent of their attempts turning out to be a meal. The lioness in the video is no older than two years old and looking at her behaviour, she thought she had a chance to hunt the bird but in a rather playful manner. Whether the young lioness was serious or just playing, she was inexperienced and still learning. Older and wiser lions will never even bother with attempting to hunt a bird, as it is hilariously easy for any bird like the one in the video to just fly away a little, draining lots of precious energy lions will need to take down bigger prey.

The video shows how a mother elephant protects her baby from a pack of dangerous and hungry African wild dogs, using her intimidating size and aggressive behaviour. While driving along one of the main roads inside the Kruger National Park, we saw an elephant cow and her calf in the distance ahead of us, slowly walking in the middle of the road. Animals like walking on the tarred roads, as it is just the way of least resistance, specially when the bush is thick during the summer. As we approached closer, we noticed the mother elephant and her calf came to a standstill in the road and the mother elephant did not look happy. The mother elephant’s behavior changed quickly with her ears flapping, looking aggressive from behind. Once we got even closer, we realized the elephants bumped into a pack of African wild dog, who also love using the roads during their hunting expeditions. The African wild dog is a highly endangered carnivore species in Africa, and they hunt in packs, using the same strategy as wolfs. Wild dogs will take on any prey that they can run down and overpower with their numbers. Baby elephants are the perfect hunting size for these dogs but African wild dog hunting down a baby elephant is very rare as there is always one huge challenge or obstacle they must deal with, an angry and protective mother. The mother elephant made sure her baby was always safe, keeping it standing behind her while she would flap her ears and charge towards the wild dogs, letting out her intimidating and loud trumpeting sounds. The African wild dogs didn’t seem too faced by the threats of the mother elephant. The dogs didn’t run away all scared, but they got the message very clear to stay away from the mother and her baby. With the aggressive messages delivered, the mother elephant and her baby turned around and moved off safely back into the bush, while the dogs eventually lost interest and carried playing around in the road.

The video shows a very energetic and playful baby rhino having the time of its life while running around chasing after birds. Baby animals in the African wild are adorable and they always bring about a heart-warming experience when you lucky enough to find them in their natural environment in wild. Baby animals in nature are cute little creatures, while their behaviour can be amusing, bringing a smile to anyone’s face. When you are lucky enough to find one of the largest animals in the African wild in baby form, it is always a priceless experience. Baby rhinos can become very playful, and like many other baby animals growing up, they are full of energy and very entertaining to watch. The baby rhino in this video is a classic example. While feeding along the banks of a river with its mother, this baby rhino thought it was a good time to have some fun with chasing birds around while mommy continues with her grazing. The baby rhino was like a little bouncing ball, filled with lots of energy and playfulness. The baby rhino was sprinting up and down, having a blast by running randomly towards any bird that was close by. It looked like the baby rhino was really loving it to see how the birds ran away from it or flying off when it charged towards them. The baby rhino went up and down, up and down until most of the birds moved off. The adorable baby rhino then ran one more time in a big circle, looking like it was doing a victory lap, before finally coming to a standstill right behind its mother, who was still grazing away all along. It is incredible to see how a baby animal in the wild can have so much fun all by itself during playtime.

The video shows two tourists, fast asleep next to the pool at a safari lodge, little knowing that a herd of elephants silently pulled in for a drink. It was mid-morning when we returned back to camp after a long early morning safari out in the bush. It meant some downtime for everyone, and I decided it was a good idea to go and chill by the pool of the safari lodge. When I arrived at the pool, I was totally blown away by what I saw and couldn’t believe my own two eyes. I decided to get my camera and started rolling. On the loungers was two of our fellow safari goers, already fast asleep next to the pool. Right in front of them were a small herd of large elephant bulls, busy drinking from the pool, not bothered by the presence of the sleeping tourists. They must have been very tired after the long morning safari and looked totally passed out and did not even flinch. There they were, fast asleep and not having the slightest clue that Africa’s largest land mammals pulled in for a drink right next to them. Due to the holiday makers being totally motionless, the elephants must have ignored them and casually carried on enjoying their drink from the pool. I am sure if the safari tourists were awake, it would have been a very difficult task to lie so still while these massive creatures were drinking water from the pool a mere few meters away from them.

The video shows how a large elephant bull uses his incredible strength to push over a massive tree in the African wild. The elephant is the world’s largest land mammal roaming the African wild and with that size comes incredible strength and power. Elephants are herbivores and they have a legion of ways getting to the food that they want during the different seasons of the year. Using their trunks and tusks as tools, elephants can strip down leaves, branches and bark from their favorite trees or dig up roots and bulbs with their feet. During summer months, elephants will also feed on grass, flowers, fruits, and berries. When food is scarce during the dry periods, elephants become more destructive in a way as they must become more creative in their ways of finding food. One way of finding food in the dry season is to push over bushes and trees, looking to get to the roots or the top of trees where the last remaining leaves are. The video shows how one huge elephant bull decided that one large lone standing tree was just the perfect source for one of his meals. It is incredible to watch how this elephant bull uses the bottom of his trunk and tusks to push over the huge tree slowly but surely. The elephant bull would give the tree a big shove forward before it bounces back again. The elephant would repeat the process, having the tree swaying forwards and backwards, while making progress with each push. With each push from the elephant, one can see how the whole root system of the tree becomes lose, popping out of the ground. After a few incredibly powerful shoves and pushes, the elephant bull amazingly managed to uproot the whole tree as it goes crashing down to the ground. Having the tree lying horizontal, the elephant now has easy access to all the leaves at the top of the tree and all the roots and the bottom of the tree. Consuming everything the whole tree has to offer can keep an elephant busy for a couple of days, meaning the big old elephant bull does not really have to struggle for food or walk long distances to find his food. It’s all there in front of him lying down on the ground, making for easy consumption.

The video shows how a cheeky elephant believes it can intimidate a lone buffalo bull but quickly learns it was a bad idea. Elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet, and they do carry that attitude with them, even the younger ones. There are occasions where the younger elephants still have to learn that they just can’t dominate or intimidate every other animal they see. The elephant herd in the video was moving through the bush when they came across a lone buffalo bull, grazing peacefully and minding his own business. The next moment, one cheeky sub adult elephant in the herd decided it was time to show the lone buffalo who rules the African bush and made an attempt to intimidate the lone buffalo bull with a mock charge and flapping ears. That was a big mistake, and the cheeky elephant quickly learned it was not a good move. The buffalo bull did not tolerate the attitude of the cheeky youngster and came charging towards it. The young elephant got the fright of its life and quickly retreated back to the adults with screaming and trumpeting noises. This was so funny to watch. When all the adult elephants gathered together to protect the youngster, the buffalo bull realized he was outnumbered and quickly retreated. The young elephant learned an important life lesson on the day. Rather go pick on those your own size or just don’t at all.

The mother rhino in this video decided to show us how the perfect pout is done in front of the camera. The white rhinoceros is one of Africa’s most incredible beasts, and forms part of the very popular big five group of animals. Once in abundance a long time ago, these animals only roam a small part of the continent at present. Just like the black rhinoceros, the white rhino has been under severe pressure, being poached for their horns, making them highly vulnerable as a species. These animals are now extinct in most countries in Africa and only found in protective areas such as reserves and national parks in Southern Africa where they roam free in the wild. Going on a safari in Africa and seeing one of these incredible animals is a huge highlight. Their rarity and dinosaur-like looks always leaves safari goers in awe. While leading a safari in the Kruger National Park we were lucky to come across a large white rhino cow and her calf. The mother rhino and her calf just finished wallowing in the mud after which they walked up to a large fallen tree. The mother rhino found the tree trunk to be the perfect place to start scratching her large wide lips. This took us by surprise as rhinos normally scratch the sides and back of their bodies against a hard surface. This lip scratching was a first for us to see. The upper lip of this female rhino was huge and clearly very itchy. I started filming the mother rhino scratching while her calf stood close to her, wondering what to do with itself. It was as if the mother rhino noticed me filming her when she paused with her scratching to show off her perfect pout for the camera. That was so cool and funny to see the rhino cow showing everyone how the perfect pout should look like. After a few seconds of pouting for the camera, the mother rhino continued scratching that incredibly large upper lip of hers. In all my many years of leading safaris, this was the first time ever that I saw any animal pouting for the camera, and this mother rhino did it in style. She definitely had the lips for it, enough to make all the pouters out there a little jealous.

The video shows two male lions, getting a big surprise when they attempt to catch a lone buffalo bull. Lions are the top predators in the African wild and live at the top of the food chain. Lions are also the biggest cats in Africa, needing reasonable sized prey to hunt and feed on. Hunting small prey is not worth all the energy for a lion, so they always focus on the bigger animals such as buffalo, elephant, and giraffe. Hunting big prey animals is a big reward for a hungry pride of lions, but hunting these larger animals also come with huge risks. Animals such as elephants and buffalo are not easy to take down and they can inflict serious injuries to lions, especially the buffalo with its dangerous horns. Many a lion has been killed or stampeded to death by these animals. Lions are on average only forty percent of the time successful in their hunting attempts, with so many things that go wrong for lions during the other sixty percent of the time. The two male lions shown in this video was stalking a lone buffalo bull which was lying down in a mud wallow. The one male lion sneaked up from behind with the buffalo unaware of what was coming. The male lion slowly laid his paw on the buffalo, as if to check if it was alive. The buffalo bull was very alive indeed and like lightning, jumped up and around, back onto his feet, ready and alert. The lions got a huge fright. The buffalo then charged at the nearest male lion at full speed. The other male lion ran far off while the buffalo charged after the remaining lion. Everything came to a standstill, the animals taking a breath and all staring at each other from a distance. This staring continued for a while before the lions eventually gave up and moved on. Incredible how this buffalo bull survived this ordeal by just his sheer ferocity and ultimate will no to die on that day.

The video shows a scuffle that took place between two male lions in the African wild, both interested in the same female. As in the human world, so in the natural world, when two males are both seriously interested in the same female, things can get tricky and sometimes messy. Males fighting over females can take on many forms, but when you are a lion, it is all out aggression that involve teeth and claws and some loud growling and snarling. There is no negotiation involved or holding back. While on safari in the Kruger National Park, we came across a pride of lions nearby a watering hole. Some of the pride members were already walking away from the water while one male was lying down some distance away, staring at another male lion attempting to impress a female. It was clear that the male lion really wanted to be close to the female and not let her out of his sight. Looking at the reaction of the lioness, she was not interested in the clingy male lion. While the male lion tried to stay close to the female the whole time, the female was making plans on how to ditch this guy. The lioness tricked the male into thinking she was going to lie down, only to jump up again, taking her gap to run away. While this was happening, the one male staring down from the distance, decided this was his opportunity and ran after the fleeing lioness. The dominant male was having none of that and intercepted the incoming male before he could get to the female. It all exploded into a cloud of dust, with teeth and claws flying combined with loud growling and snarling noises. This totally took me by surprise and was stunned by all the action in front of me, even though it all happened very quickly. The fight was short but intense before the one male decided he had to get out of there and ran off with the dominant male right after him. I lost sight of them as they ran off and disappeared into the thickets, not to be seen again. It was incredible to see such behaviour and power from Africa’s biggest cat out in the wild.

The video shows an elephant crossing a river, then deciding it was a good day to go and pick on a heron bird standing in the river while minding its own business. Elephants are the largest mammals walking on our planet and they definitely know it. Outsizing all other animals and birds, elephants almost always want to make it clear that they are in charge and that they are untouchable. With this attitude, elephants are very intimidating and other animals will never dare to challenge a fully grown elephant. The elephant in this video was casually making its way through a shallow river when it suddenly noticed a bird called a grey heron, standing alone, minding its own business of catching fish. The elephant paused, looked at the heron and decided it was a good time to pick on the bird and show who’s the boss in the African wild. It was not like the bird posed any threat to the elephant, but the grumpy elephant decided it was time for a little intimidation. It was actually hilarious to watch the elephant going about picking on the heron bird. With raised ears, the elephant was swinging its trunk in the direction of the bird, while making its intimidating trumpeting sounds. The elephant even splashed water towards the bird a few times. It did not look like the bird was really scared and every time the elephant came closer, the bird would just fly off a little to stay out of reach. Once the elephant made its statement, it lost interest and continued through the river and the heron was left to carry on fishing in peace.

The video shows how a group of lionesses take no nonsense from two male lions that attempted to steal their food. Life in the African wild can be brutal, and when it comes to food, especially for predators such as lions, things can get really rough. There are two main things of lions that are not to be messed with and that is their babies and their food. Lionesses normally do the hunting for the prides and the males will then usually come and take over and be the first to eat. This does not always work like that in the lion world as shown in the video. The lionesses in the video managed to pull down a buffalo. While all the female lions were feeding, they suddenly stopped and became very aggressive towards something that was approaching in the bush. Their sub adult cubs ran for their lives and suddenly the lionesses went into serious attack mode. The next moment the male lions appeared and that was when the lionesses brutally started attacking the two male lions that was approaching. It sounded ruthless and there were sounds of loud growls and snarling. It looked like the females managed to give the males a good hiding. The males started roaring to show off their dominance and chased after the females that decided it was time for them to make a run for it, luring the males further away from their food.

The video shows how an elephant bull can suddenly become grumpy and come charging towards a vehicle in a matter of seconds. Elephants, especially the older males, can be extremely dangerous animals if they want to or need to be. When going on a self drive safari in any of the National Parks or reserves in Africa, you have to be vigilant and prepared for anything to happen when viewing elephants, especially older and larger males. Like shown in this video, things can change in an instant and without any warning. I have viewed lots of elephants in my life as a nature guide out on safari over the years, while continuously studying their behaviour. There are a few very crucial basics you learn from the beginning. First golden rule is to keep a safe distance and not getting too close, no matter how chilled they might look at any given moment. Secondly, you have to be aware and prepared that their behaviour can change in a flash for no particular reason. Elephant bulls, weighing up to five tonnes, can reach speeds of up to 40km/h, within seconds. If you can’t get away fast enough, things can end very badly. Luckily on this day I was awake. I kept my distance and when I noticed the elephant stopped feeding, something told me this old bull became grumpy and started my vehicle and moved the gear into reverse. Without warning and in a split second, the bull elephant came charging towards me, putting my reverse skills at a high speed to the test. After the brief but very scary and intimidating charge, the bull elephant made his point and stopped. That was also where I decided to turn around and leave him in peace, showing him respect and that I understood his warning. If you hang around after a charge like that, you can be sure he will come again.

The video shows how a pack of African wild dogs hunt down an antelope that attempts to escape by hiding in the middle of a lake. It was an early morning just before sunrise when I decided to go and film a beautiful sunrise over a lake, deep in the African wild. It is incredible how quickly things can change in the wild, and little did I know that I won’t even get to filming the sunrise. While setting up my filming gear, I suddenly heard a commotion down below at the lake. The next moment I saw an antelope jumping into the water and right behind it, a pack of African wild dogs. The wild dogs clearly have chased the antelope for a long way through the bush and the antelope decided it was best to jump into the water and move to the middle. It was dry season and the water level was low. African wild dogs are known for not liking to swim or be in water at all. The antelope found safety in the middle of the shallow lake, with the wild dogs running up and down the edge of the water on both sides, thinking how they are going to get the antelope out the water. This lasted for half an hour and in that time I made my way down to the bottom of the lake to get a closer look. On my arrival, the wild dogs clearly decided that they will have to face the water and started running straight towards the antelope. From there it was over for the antelope. The wild dogs eventually caught the antelope and quickly dragged it to shore. Once on land, the hungry wild dogs made the kill and started feeding.

The video shows the playful moments between a leopard mother and her adorable cub that was filmed in the African wild. Leopards are part of the legendary African big five animal group and by far one of the most difficult animals to see in the African wild. These solitary predators are elusive and stealthy hunters, and to see one during a safari is a huge highlight if you should be so lucky. Finding two leopards in the wild is just priceless. The mother leopard and her cub in this video was found during a safari in the Kruger National Park and made for adorable moments and entertaining viewing. The mother leopard was spending quality time with her cub. At first the mother leopard and cub were bonding up close, with the occasional hug from the mother. Thereafter it became more action packed, with the mother and her cub slowly stalking one another before chasing after each other, running all over the place. While bonding between the leopards is an important part of these play sessions, the most important purpose is for the mother to teach her cub the crucial skills a leopard will need to survive in the wild. Skills such as stalking and attacking its prey are all learned and practiced during this play session. Definitely a rare sight and an incredible safari moment to remember.