EmotionsofAfrica

The video shows a large bull elephant, casually strolling through the streets of a town in Africa, with no one really too bothered by it. In Africa, humans and wild animals co-exist peacefully in many interesting ways. In many small towns in Africa that are located near wildlife reserves, it is almost an everyday occurrence for wildlife to just casually stroll through. Something that the people of Africa are used to and see as normal. For those not living on the continent, it can be a fascinating and uncommon sight to see. Most wildlife reserves in Africa do not have fences and animals come and go as they please. On this occasion as shown in the video, a large bull elephant was spotted casually strolling through the streets of a small town in Zimbabwe. The elephant bull slowly entered the town, walking along the road amongst pedestrians and every now and then crossing a street through the traffic. Not once did any of the inhabitants of the town look too concerned about the elephant’s presence. Clearly this happens quite often, and people carry on as if nothing was really happening. The elephant bull then casually stopped at one of the local grocers for a drink of water out of the buckets standing outside. After the elephant bull had his fill of water, the old boy continued strolling onwards and out of town. Definitely a site to behold if you are not used to anything of that nature.

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 video shows the amusing and funny moments of two rhinos, taking turns using one rock to scratch their itchy bodies. There are times on an African safari that wild animals can totally amaze you with their behavior in many different ways. Animals in the wild can sometimes be seen doing strange things or behaving in a certain way that no one has ever seen before, and many times their behavior can be hilarious. During a safari in the Kruger National Park, we came across these two rhinos shown in the video. We found them standing around in a dry riverbed. With no grass in the sandy dry riverbed to feed on, we initially wondered what they were busy with. Soon enough we noticed that both rhinos started showing equal amounts of interest in a large rock lying in the riverbed. Suddenly we realized that both these rhinos were very itchy, and that specific rock was just the right size and the right height to use as a rubbing post. The first rhino went and sat down on the rock before moving back and forth, enjoying a soothing and hilarious looking body scratch. The other rhino was staring and probably couldn’t wait for its turn on the rock. The rhino eventually finished and amazingly the next rhino pulled in at the rock and enjoyed a similar awkward and funny looking performance. It was so funny to watch both these rhinos, taking turns on the same rock, sitting down to scratch those really hard to reach places. Once done, the rhinos slowly moved along back into the bush to continue feeding, looking very satisfied after their body scratches.

The video shows how an elephant herd gets really angry with a pack of African wild dogs, chasing them off with their intimidating loud screams and trumpeting sounds in order to protect their young. Because elephants are the largest mammals roaming the African bush, they take absolutely no nonsense from any other animal, especially predators. Elephants move in breeding herds, led by a matriarch together with related females and their young which are male and female. Older males live in smaller groups together or alone. The main job of a breeding herd is to protect the young in the herd, no matter what. They do this aggressively when there are any potential threats to their babies. The video shows just that. When a breeding herd of elephants came across a pack of African wild dogs, the elephants immediately reacted. African wild dogs are one of Africa’s rarest predators and can be voracious hunters, going for anything that moves that might be the right size for them to take down. A baby elephant is not off the menu for the wild dogs and the adult elephants know that. When this breeding herd spotted the wild dogs, they knew there was potential danger. With their huge size and intimidating behavior, the adult elephants in the herd made sure that the wild dogs knew that they were not welcome in their area. With incredibly loud screams and trumpeting noises, coupled with ears flapping, the whole herd charged towards the wild dogs. Wild dogs are very agile and fast, so every time the elephants would charge towards them, the wild dogs would just quickly run off a little before they settled again. That wasn’t enough for the elephants, and they continued chasing after the wild dogs until they eventually ran off into the bush and out of sight of the elephants. Watching this whole noisy and intimidating altercation as part of a safari group was a very overwhelming experience for everyone, a rare sight and one not to be forgotten.

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 a pack of African wild dogs, losing their temper with two intruding hyenas, then launching a full blown attack that lead to loud screams of agony. Predators in the African wild just won’t see face to face and they hate each other purely due to the direct competition for food. Predators such as lion, hyena, leopard and wild dog will all kill each other if need be to eliminate the competition for food. Predator species will also kill the young of other predator species for the same reason. The relationship between African wild dogs and hyenas are no different. When they can, hyenas will try and stay on the trail of a pack of wild dogs, knowing the wild dogs are very successful hunters and there is a high probability for them to steal some food from the wild dogs in the process. Wild dogs and hyenas are eternal enemies and hate each other. When I found a pack of wild dogs in the Kruger National Park, there were two hyenas not too far from the wild dogs. I knew there would be trouble soon with both predator species in the same area. While the wild dogs were minding their own business, the two hyenas became very nosy and intrusive. After a while the hyenas got too close for comfort for too long and the wild dogs suddenly lost their patience with the hyenas. The wild dogs went into full attack mode. The hyenas were still trying to defend themselves but they were outnumbered. After a few bites and snarls, the hyenas realised it was better to run and the dogs set after them. I could hear the screams of agony coming from the hyenas as the wild dogs got in a few more bites while on the run. We could also hear the high-pitched chirping sounds of the wild dogs, usually signaling a sense of excitement and alertness. The hyenas just kept running with the wild dogs after them until they all disappeared. The bush went all quiet again.

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.

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 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 the incredible stealth used by a male lion to sneak up on his unsuspecting brother to give him a fright. Predators such as the big cats in Africa can be incredibly stealthy when they need to be. One good example of that is the lion shown in this video. With their cushioned paws, lions have the ability to be so stealthy that they can sneak up on anything, even another lion, without making a single sound. This ability is what is needed for lions to hunt for their prey in the African wild. The video shows a male lion using this incredibly stealthy approach to sneak up on his brother to give him a fright. It’s incredible to see how the male lion slowly puts one paw in front of the other, with every step being calculated. At one stage the male lion froze with one paw in the air, planning his next step forward while making sure his brother doesn’t hear him coming closer. The other male lion did not hear a thing until it actually scanned its environment and suddenly realized his brother was right behind him. It looked like the unsuspecting brother got a big fright and loud roars were exchanged between the lions before things calmed down again. It seemed that the approaching male lion was practicing his skills in being stealthy and amazingly managed to get that close to his brother before being spotted. If the stealthy male could sneak up on another lion, which has incredible hearing and overall awareness, he surely has the ability to get close to most other prey species.

The video shows one of the cutest sights you will ever see in the African wild. A pride of lions with the cutest cubs were spotted in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Seeing the king of the jungle in baby form is a rare and special occasion out in the wild. While watching these very cute and playful cubs interacting with their mother’s, one little individual caught our attention. The cute baby lion was totally fascinated by its mother’s tail and couldn’t stop biting and pulling the tail. It looked like the little one was having the time of its life. At the same time, its not all play. The cub is also developing the necessary skills and movements needed for hunting while pulling and biting its mother’s tail.

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 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 the incredible moment of a baby zebra beating a lion for pace. While on safari in the Kruger National Park, we stopped to watch a herd of zebra. Suddenly we saw a lioness in the distance stalking the zebra herd. The lioness slowly crept closer before she exploded into full speed, targeting a baby zebra that became isolated from its mother. While thinking the lioness had the upper hand, the baby zebra amazingly found the strength and speed to run away from the lioness with an epic sprint. The baby zebra just kept running after which the lioness eventually gave up. We were so happy for the baby zebra as it lived to see another day.

The video shows how a young male lion finds the smell of something in the back of a tourist vehicle irresistible. While on a self-drive safari in the Kruger National Park, we came across a pride of lions, slowly walking along one of the main roads in the park. With these lion sightings there are usually many cars around, filled with self-drive safari tourists, all wanting to see the king of the jungle roaming along the main road out in the wild. The lions were slowly walking along the tar road. Suddenly I saw one young male lion showing interest in one vehicle standing still, busy watching the other lions walking in front of them. The lion kept smelling at the back of the vehicle and it looked like the lion found the smell enticing. Whatever was in the back of that vehicle is debatable, but it sure had the young male lion’s full interest. Soon the owners of the vehicle realized what was going on behind them and they slowly drove off. Funny enough, the lion actually still went after it for another sniff before the vehicle eventually drove off.

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 an elephant bull, looking like he is having the time of his life while chasing other animals around with his intimidating behavior and loud noises. This elephant bull was spotted at a large watering hole in the Kruger National Park. The waterhole was busy during the heat of the day with various animal species visiting the watering hole to quench their thirsts. There were buffalo, impala and elephants in great numbers at this particular moment. This particular elephant bull stopped drinking and started looking around at all the other animals around the watering hole. The bull elephant was at an age that is still far from maturity. He looked full of mischief and decided he was going to have a little fun with the other animals and show them who is the boss around the watering hole. Being the biggest land mammal on earth, the elephant probably thought ‘why not?’ It was rather funny to watch this elephant bull going after the buffalo and then the impala, shaking his head around, throwing his trunk around while letting out trumpeting sounds and a few loud screams. It was hilarious to see how the animals would just scatter in all directions while the elephant would pick his next target, and so he went on and on. Not only did the elephant get his little fun in for the day, but he also created a wildlife sighting that was very entertaining and funny to watch.

The video shows two very aggressive hippo bulls, locked in a territorial battle, with each male’s territory and females at stake. While not part of Africa’s big five animal group, the hippo is one of the most dangerous animals in the animal kingdom and kills more humans in Africa every year than any other animal. Hippo bulls are extremely territorial when they claim a certain piece of water for them and their females. When other equally sized bulls enter the arena and are not submissive, all hell breaks loose. The video was filmed in the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana and shows such a rarely seen battle and it was intense. With their sharp upper and lower tusks located in the mouth, hippos use them as their weapons of attack. Biting your opponent and inflicting wounds is the main goal of the winner in the end. Together with the aggressive fighting, there are the sounds of these massive beasts that sound like something form a horror movie. Their deep and scary sounding roars and groans echoed through the valley. Eventually one hippo bull got in a few bites and the one on the receiving end decided it was better to make a run for it. The hippo came bursting out the water onto land, with the dominant male setting after. It was incredible to see how fast these animals were running on land. After a bit of land sprinting, the hippo decided it was best to get back into the water and headed straight for the whole family of hippos that was looking on all along. The dominant hippo still chased after the intruder until he went straight into the middle of the rest of the hippos. It was weird to see then how suddenly everything calmed down as if nothing happened. What an incredible safari moment that was indeed and not something you get to see every day out in the African wild.

The video shows the heart-warming moments when a whole bunch of cute baby lions suddenly appear out of the bush to join their mothers for some playtime fun. During a safari in the Kruger National Park, we came across two adult female lions resting next to the road. It was not long before we noticed something moving through the long grass in the distance. We couldn’t believe our eyes when about six of the most adorable lion cubs came running with great excitement through the long grass towards their mothers. It was clear that the cubs remained hidden in a nearby den, and they got the signal from their mothers that it was safe to come out and play. The lion cubs looked super excited as they joined the two females for a well-deserved playtime session. The lion cubs looked super active and full of energy while the two mothers looked like they needed a rest. What a super cute moment to witness in the African wild.