EmotionsofAfrica

One of the advantages of been locked down in a wilderness area of the Greater Kruger National Park, is that you have a lot more time on your hands to spend out in nature practicing photography and shooting videos. With all the extra time on my hands I decided to become a little more creative with my video filming techniques, hoping to get different shots of wildlife from unusually different angles and point of views, showcasing them in a totally different and unique way. I decided to turn my GoPro camera into more of a ‘spy cam’ by hiding it in various places such as on the ground below the brush, between rocks or even in a pile of elephant dung. One late afternoon I ventured out on a safari by myself, armed with my usual gear and a GoPro added to the kit. I was in the hope of getting some close-up footage of elephants that afternoon. I went straight to a nearby waterhole where elephants usually gather for a drink during the late afternoons. When I arrived, there were two big elephant bulls at the water busy drinking. I watched them for a little while and saw the two elephant bulls were slowly turning around and heading away from the water. This is where the trick comes in. You have to anticipate which direction or path the elephants will follow in order to go and place the camera a few hundred meters ahead, hoping they will stay on the anticipated course and walk past the ‘hidden camera’. Most of the time this approach does not yield results as animals quickly stop and change direction long before they even can get to the ‘spy cam’. It can take days or even weeks for all the variables to line up in order to get a successful close up shot. On this occasion I took my chances and drove ahead to a crossing in the road where I believed the two bull elephants will come walking past. There was a pile of dry elephant dung and I decided to hide my camera in the pile of dung. I drove away another hundred meters and sat there waiting with great anticipation. This was attempt number six for the week, so I had mixed feelings about when my luck was going to change. I watched the two elephant bulls walking in the direction of the pile of dung where my camera was hidden. The one elephant then suddenly stopped next to a tree and started feeding. The other elephant was slowly making his way, straight to where my camera was. I got extremely excited when the elephant eventually walked straight up to my camera and suddenly stopped. I realized that my ‘hidden camera’ was not so hidden anymore and that I could not fool a big elephant bull. The male elephant looked very curious and stuck out his trunk to investigate the foreign object a little closer. The video shows how the bull elephant uses his trunk to sniff all around the camera. The elephant even gave the camera a little nudge with his trunk. After a few more sniffs, the elephant slowly started moving on. What amazed me even more was the elephant’s awareness of the camera, carefully walking past without stepping on it. When the elephant bull disappeared, I quickly returned to the spot and collected my camera. I was extremely excited with the results of the footage afterwards, showing an elephant bull in a totally different perspective that would otherwise not be possible to capture.

The video shows an intense fight between two male leopards that ensued after the one male caught another intruding male up in a tree busy feeding on his meal. The leopard is an elusive big cat and lives a solitary lifestyle. These magnificent and deadly predators are very territorial and the only time you will see more than one leopard together will be a mother with her cubs or a male and female mating. When two males meet each other in the wild, you can be sure there will be lots of drama as shown in this video. Male leopards just don’t tolerate each other as each male wants to protect their hunting and mating grounds from any competition. When one male intrudes into another male’s territory and steal his food, you can bet that there will be serious aggression and fighting involved. While on safari in the Kruger National Park, we came across a male leopard up in a tree with an impala antelope kill. The male leopard was relaxed with our presence and continued feeding on ‘his’ kill. Little did we know that we were actually watching a male leopard that found the kill already up in the tree and that it did not belong to him. After a few minutes it all became clear when a bigger male leopard suddenly appeared from behind us, running towards the tree. He looked very angry. The two male leopards started growling at each other and the approaching male got straight up into the tree. It went to all guns blazing as the two male leopards met. An intense fight exploded right up in the tree, so fierce that both males fell from the tree together to settle the rest of their intense battle on the ground. There were loud snarling and growling noises, making it an overwhelming experience for the safari tourists to witness. The leopards were scratching and biting each other aggressively in a cloud of dust. Eventually the intruder realized that he was better off getting away before risking serious injury, and so he did. The intruding leopard quickly ran off while the dominant male went up the tree to claim back his rightful meal.

The video shows a roaring male lion that was so full bellied and lazy, that he eventually rolled over onto his side to complete his roaring performance, lying down flat on the ground. The roar of a lion is one of Africa’s most iconic sounds. Few sounds in the animal kingdom are as powerful and awe inspiring as the sound of a roaring lion. The roar of a lion can be heard from as far as seven kilometres away through the African bush at night. Lions roar to signal territoriality and to locate distant members of the pride. Both male and female lions demonstrate ownership of territories via roaring. Hearing the roar of a lion at night is one of the great highlights while on an African safari trip. Getting to see these beasts perform their powerful roar is priceless and not something you get to see a lot. We were lucky enough to have found a big lone male lion while out on a night safari. It was late at night and this lion was still very lazy and sleepy and didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. I could see his belly was full and he has eaten well. After gorging themselves, lions literally become very lazy and pretty useless. All they want to do is sleep, whether it’s night or day. While sitting quietly watching this male lion lazing away, we could hear lions roaring in the far distance. The distant roars also got this male’s attention. The male lion went from lying down flat on his side, to crouching down on all fours, attentively listening in the direction of the other roars. The next moment the male lion in front of us let loose his almighty deep roar. The deep sound was trembling through my body, causing an adrenaline rush. Then something happened I have never seen before. Normally lions remain in a fierce and focused position while performing their powerful roar. This lion on the other hand had such a full belly, was so lazy and tired, that he couldn’t even remain sitting up properly anymore to complete his roaring. The male lion’s stomach was clearly in the way and uncomfortable, so he decided to casually roll over onto his side and finished the last verses of his roaring compilation while lying down, looking way more comfortable. It was so funny but understandable to see the lion behaving like this. The usual image of a lion standing fiercely, performing his powerful roar over the African plains was replaced by this old boy just lying down, chilling, while completing his roaring performance.

The Kruger National Park is one of the most visited wilderness parks in Africa. Tourists flock to the park every year to see the great variety of African wildlife living in their natural environment and habitats. The most sought after animals are called the big five and consists of lion, leopard, buffalo and elephant. While these big animals steal the show, there are many other smaller species of wildlife to be seen that can add to a great safari experience. It is the smaller animals that people tend to miss and overlook while on their search for the more popular and bigger animals. We went on a recent safari in the park and the weather turned for the worse. It was cloudy and miserably cold. On days like these it is usually difficult to spot any animals as they tend to lie down and not move. We had to make the best of the situation and still went out on safari to see what we can find. While braving the cold safari on an open game viewer vehicle, our guide suddenly noticed a large fury ball up in a dead tree. We drove closer to see what it was. To our amazement we came across the most adorable sight. Three cute squirrels were holding onto each other to keep warm while the cold wind was blowing. Such caring and loving behavior by the squirrels made for heart-warming viewing. The squirrels used this snuggle time for mutual grooming which is an important part in strengthening their family bonds. The video shows how much they do enjoy these grooming sessions with armpits, eyes, ears and the rest of the body thoroughly check for any irritating parasites. The squirrels would then rotate positions, giving each one a chance to be groomed while holding onto each other to keep warm at the same time. We never anticipated for squirrels to deliver such an amazing wildlife sighting and we were glad we made the effort to go out on safari during the unpleasant weather conditions.

The video shows a giraffe that pulls its face and mouth in all awkward manners, looking very funny and weird at the same time. The giraffe is not only the tallest land mammal on earth but also one of the most wanted to see animals when going on safari. So much so that together with zebras, giraffes are the most photographed animals in the African wild. With their long necks and elegantly unique build, giraffes are one of the most iconic animals and symbols of the African continent. Giraffes are herbivores and they browse on the leaves of their favourite trees, scattered around in the African bush and savanna. It was during a safari in the Kruger National Park that we stopped to watch a small herd of giraffe during a late afternoon safari. While admiring the grace and beauty of the giraffes, I saw one individual that didn’t look so graceful. This giraffe looked at the camera and was pulling the most awkward looking faces at me. This looked weird and funny at the same time. It almost looked like the giraffe was singing out loud with its mouth moving and pulling in all directions. One of my safari guests dropped the comment that it looked like him in his younger days after a hard night out in the rave clubs. While there were many jokes thrown around for these funny faces coming from the giraffe, the only explanation for this behaviour was that the giraffe might have had something stuck in its throat, but since they are browsers, it was hard to believe that this giraffe was struggling to swallow a mouthful of leaves. The most likely but unconfirmed reason for this hilarious looking face pulling was that giraffes sometimes do pick up old bones, chewing and sucking on it when they need a calcium supplement. Nonetheless, witnessing such funny looking behaviour from a giraffe, which is rarely seen, was great entertainment for everyone on the safari.

When talking about scary noises coming from the African wild, it is common to think that the scariest noises might come from large predators such as lions, hyenas and leopards. Even elephant bulls can sound scary at times but few things beat the fearful and intimidating roars and grunts of two hippo bulls during a territorial display standoff. It was during a late afternoon safari in the Kruger National Park when we came across a large dam and decided to spend some time observing the life in and around the water. The most prominent animals in the area were a small number of hippos in the water. While scanning around for birdlife and other potential smaller animals, we suddenly heard these nightmarish sounds coming from the other side of the dam. We drove around to investigate and came across two male hippos standing half body out the water facing each other. The one hippo bull was clearly way larger and older than the other and the two bulls was not happy with each other. Hippos are very territorial and mature hippo bulls control a whole area such as the dam that we were at. Territorial bulls usually tolerate bachelor males within their domain as long as they behave submissively. There are times, as in this instance, that the mature bulls have to put these young rivals in their place with what is called dominance or threat displays. These displays involve yawning to show off their dangerous tusks, water scooping and head shaking, explosive exhalation accompanied by the scariest sounding grunting and roaring sounds. Watching this incredible display of dominance playing off in front of us was absolutely mind blowing while the noises send chills down our spines. The two hippo bulls continued with their showdown and scary noises until the young bull suddenly stopped, showing submissiveness in the end. Just like that the noises and jaw snapping stopped and the hippos returned back into the water as if nothing happened.

The video shows two leopard cubs in the African wild, having the time of their lives during a playful moment. The leopard is one of Africa’s big cats roaming the wild and are the most elusive of them all. Leopards are part of the Big 5 animals that also include Rhino, Buffalo, Elephant, and Lion. When going on an African safari, the leopard will be the hardest to find of all these animals. With their perfectly camouflaged patterns, the leopard relies on stealth when hunting their prey. These big cats can disappear within the blink of an eye when they want to. Finding a leopard while on safari is always a great highlight. Finding a mother leopard with her two adorable cubs is just priceless. It was during a safari in the Kruger National Park that we were incredibly lucky to come across a female leopard and her cubs in a dry riverbed. It was early morning and the two cubs looked energetic. The mother leopard was lying to the one side by herself, scanning the area for any dangers while her cubs could enjoy their playtime. It was so adorable to watch the two leopard cubs going about their playful moments. In typical leopard fashion, the cubs would stalk each other, practicing their hunting and stalking skills. The two leopard cubs would then jump on top of each other and engage into playfighting. While this might just look like playful behaviour, all the actions of the cubs are part of a learning process to hunt and overpower their prey. Once leopard cubs reach about eighteen months, they will become solitary and must hunt for themselves. Seeing such a moment in the African wild is extremely rare and I felt privileged to be in the presence of such incredible wild creatures, going about their natural ways in the wild.

Living and working in a remote wilderness area in the African wild of the Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa, gives me and my wife the daily opportunity to live among, see and sometimes interact with a multitude of animal species found in the wild. This video shows a great example of our local resident baboons making use of our self-build bush swimming pool on a hot summer day with some hilarious behavior to go with it all. Being fortunate enough to live so close to a large variety of animal species, we often get to see some amazing and unexpected events that mostly put a big smile on our faces. Living in the African wild also means living along with the extreme heat of the summer months. So over time I decided we needed a swimming pool just big enough for two people to help us cool down on those long and very hot summer days. With a help of few fellow workers, we managed to use rock from the local environment to build this bush-style swimming pool. It doesn’t look like much but it works extremely well. It was during one of those scorching hot days where temperatures rose beyond 40 degree Celsius. My wife and I had a quick cool down in our bush-style swimming pool during lunch time and after we headed out again back to work. It was just past five in the afternoon and the temperature outside was still unbearable. When I walked into the house, I saw through the window that someone was actually in our swimming pool. My confusion to who might be in my pool right now was quickly replaced by the realization that it was actually a small group of baboons. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I went outside and the baboons jumped out and ran off not too far, sitting in the shade while staring at me. My wife was not home yet so I thought I would capture these baboons swimming for her to see later on. The baboons were having the time of their lives, totally loving the water. It was like watching a couple of kids play in the swimming pool. The video shows the highlight and most hilarious part of the whole event. I watched all the baboons climbing into the water fairly gently but one specific baboon decided it was time to show off. While the one baboon was in the water, the other suddenly appeared. The baboon analyzed the situation for a short while before running to the other side of the pool, looking extremely excited. The baboon then pulled itself up from the swimming pool wall and jumped into the air to perform the most hilarious looking acrobatic style dive into the water. It all happened so quick, I had to add the little slow-motion bit at the end to really appreciate the unbelievable excitement and freedom the dive was performed with. To date this was definitely still one of my top highlight experiences and sightings while living and working in the African bush.

The Hippopotamus is the world's third largest land mammal after the African Elephant and the White Rhinoceros. These semi-aquatic creatures are known to be aggressive, temperamental and very unpredictable. They are herbivores and very few people even know that the hippo is responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other animal. Surprisingly enough, there is one very special and unique hippo on this planet called Jessica. She's a wild animal that interacts with humans in a very different way than what nature has intended. The video shows how the world's only friendly <a href="https://rumble.com/v34oea-worlds-biggest-fart-the-hippo.html" target="_blank">hippo</a> joins her human visitors for a brief feeding session. Jessica lives free in an open river system that is connected with the Kruger National Park. Like a true hippo she will wander off with the rest of the wild hippos. Hippos leave the water at night for a few hours to graze. During the day hippos will be extremely placid and just laze around. Jessica on the other hand has some amusing daily activities. Every morning around ten o'clock Jessica will come down the river to the platform situated in front of the house belonging to the people that found her. She amazingly approaches the raft in a very friendly manner. The person in charge briefly explains to everyone how Jessica likes to be fed. From there everyone gets the bizarrely incredible opportunity to feed Jessica one of her <a href="https://rumble.com/v30m08-funny-goat-video.html" target="_blank">favorite snacks</a>. Crushed dried corn might not sound like much to us humans but this female hippo just loves it. Jessica adorably opens her mouth in such a willing manner every time she is ready for the next serving. During the year 2000, Jessica washed up on the river banks of a farm just outside the Kruger National Park, Limpopo Province, South Africa. That year the countries of Mozambique and South Africa suffered from devastating floods. She was a new born calf, still with the umbilical cord attached, that got swept away and lost her mother in the process. The owners of the farm took it upon them to save the helpless calf. Without a mother this female hippo stood no chance of survival. Over the years Jessica grown into a 600 kilo hippo that still comes from the wilderness back to the house of the owners that saved her life. A truly unique and fascinating story.

During a safari in Kruger National Park, South Africa, these tourist came across a herd of elephants enjoying a late afternoon swim in a river. Elephants are great swimmers and they are very comfortable in deep water areas such as rivers and lakes. Getting out of a river is also normally not a problem, especially for the adults. Climbing up the slippery and muddy river bank is usually easily achieved with the help from their long legs and overall body strength. It is common at times for baby elephants to really struggle up a slippery river bank as their legs are still very short while lacking overall body strength. There are times though when even the adults do find a river bank too slippery and unexpectedly fail to get out the water. The video shows a male adult <a href="https://rumble.com/v348yy-giant-elephant-blocks-busy-road.html" target="_blank">elephant</a> making an attempt to get out of the river after his long cool down session in the water. The big bull leans forward and rests on his front knees at the top of the river bank. While attempting to pull himself up the bank with his front knees, the elephant simultaneously attempts to push himself up the bank with his hind feet and legs. His back feet does not get a proper grip and just slips up and down. He suddenly realizes that he is not going to get out in this manner. To everyone's amusement, the large elephant falls back onto his bum and slides down the bank back into the water. Once back in the water the bull elephant did not look like he was interested in a second attempt getting out. Instead he falls over back into the water with one <a href="https://rumble.com/v4nboj-watch-an-adorable-baby-elephant-splash-around-in-a-river.html" target="_blank">huge splash</a>. This elephant was clearly not done with his afternoon swim and was in no hurry to get out of the river any time soon!

For nearly two thirds of the year, the Kruger National Park goes through a dry period. During these long dry seasons, water and food becomes really scarce. These tough conditions create a hostile environment where the competition for food and water among animals becomes more fierce and intense. Across the park there are a number of widespread man made watering holes that are pumped right through the year from underground water sources. During dry periods these watering holes are great places to watch wild animals coming from far to quench their thirst. During a safari we decided to stop at one of these watering holes. On our arrival there was a herd of elephants already gathered in and around the water. Elephants are known for drinking huge amounts of water as well as their love for water in general. Elephants love their water so much that majority of the time they will not allow any other species of animal to share the water with them. While we watched the elephants enjoying their time at the water, a young warthog appeared, carefully making its way to the water for a long awaited drink. Suddenly one elephant in the water was alerted by the presence of the warthog. This behavior then triggered another elephant to come around and investigate what was going on. In the meantime a second warthog appeared, hoping to get a few sips of water. The elephant saw the warthogs and became really grumpy. Immediately the elephant charged towards the warthogs while letting out a loud trumpeting noise to scare them even more. The warthogs had no choice but to give up their opportunity of getting a drink. They quickly turned around and ran off into the bush. The elephant continued to run after the warthogs until they disappeared. We couldn’t believe that an elephant weighing a few tons would pick on something so small as a warthog weighing a mere sixty kilograms. In the process the rest of the elephant herd got a fright and became uneasy for a short while. After the whole commotion the elephants settled down again and continued as if nothing happened.

Meet Jessica the hippo, the world’s only hippo that loves drinking tea and that enjoys the occasional kiss on the nose. The video shows this incredible wild animal jumping out of the water onto a platform, ready and waiting for her favorite drink of tea given to her by human admirers. Amazingly enough Jessica only allows woman and children to feed her tea and to give her a kiss. The hippo does not waste any time during the process and guzzles down both bottles of tea. Once she finished four liters of tea, Jessica adorably became very lazy and literally <a href="https://rumble.com/v4dxrv-shiba-inu-puppy-struggling-to-stay-awake-while-cuddling-owner.html" target="_blank">struggled to keep her eyes open</a>. She slowly went back into the water with only her head resting on the platform where she fell asleep for a short while. Once the show was over, Jessica got her energy back and moved down to river on her way back to the wild hippos. During the year 2000, Mozambique and South Africa was hit by devastating floods. As a new-born calf, Jessica washed up on the banks of the Blyde River running through the Kruger National Park and along local farms outside the park. She was discovered by a local farmer and his wife that became the parents that she never had while growing up. The helpless female calf lost her mother and had no chance of survival on her own out in the wild. Over time Jessica surprisingly developed a fond taste for tea when she was still very little. Interacting with Jessica is an unforgettable experience and a little nerve wrecking at the same time. Very few people are aware of the fact that hippos kill more humans in Africa per year than any other animal. They are normally very aggressive and unpredictable. Jessica is the world's only <a href="https://rumble.com/v4qwm9-friendly-hippo-amazingly-joins-tourists-for-favorite-snack.html" target="_blank">hippo that really loves interacting with humans</a> and never shown any aggression towards anyone.

White rhino are the second largest land mammals on earth and as such take their place amongst the Big 5 animals of the African continent. The rhino’s most prominent feature is its horns. They are weapons of deference used during bouts of combat or to protect itself and its offspring from predators. Unfortunately a ridiculous number of rhino are poached and killed every year in the Kruger National Park purely just for their horns. The illegal demand for rhino horn is driven by the myth that their horns have medicinal value to humans. Rhino horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine, but increasingly common is its use as a status symbol to display success and wealth. The horn of a rhino is made of keratin which is the same substance as fingernails. Scientifically proven there is no medicinal value to humans whatsoever. With the senseless killing continuing, it is always a huge occasion to find a baby rhino in the wild. While on safari in the Kruger National Park we had the opportunity to sit and watch the most adorable baby rhino spending time with its mother. It was a little male and he was only two weeks old. The cute rhino calf only had a tiny bump on his nose for a horn. The little rhino’s two big ears were prominent and made it look so adorable. While spending time playing around with his mother, we noticed that this little guy was extremely fascinated by his mother’s big horn. The video shows how the baby rhino playfully investigates his mother’s horn. It looked like he was still discovering the huge thing stuck on his mother’s nose. The bull calf clearly knew that it was something he would use one day and even practiced his strength and combat skills against his mother’s massive horn. This baby rhino was energetic and full of play, bouncing and running around while being fascinated by his mother’s horn. It was great to see the little one was doing well and already starting to learn the skills he would need later in life. Seeing a baby rhino in the wild can be challenging and this was definitely one of our best rhino sightings in a very long time.

Leopards are normally dangerous and deadly predators, making this male leopard’s hopeless attempts to catch a few annoying flies just adorable to watch. Going on a safari in Africa gives people the unique opportunity to see the continent’s most fascinating creatures living and behaving in their natural environment. The most wanted animals to see while on safari is known as the big five animals and consists of elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard and lion. The one animal that is by far the most difficult to find is the leopard, a big cat closely related to lions, tigers, and jaguars. The leopard is the most secretive and elusive of the large carnivores and finding one while on safari is a memorable experience. During a recent self-drive safari in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, I was lucky enough to find a male leopard lying on an old wall from a time gone by. It was late afternoon and the beautiful golden light added the perfect opportunity for taking pictures and video. Besides its formidable abilities as a predator, the leopard is admired by humans for its mesmerizing and beautiful appearance. Animal prints such as that of the leopard has fascinated humans for centuries. Leopards have intricate patterning all over their bodies. This pattern is unique to each animal. Majority of the leopard’s body is covered by black spots that are arranged together to form rosettes. The back and flanks of the body are a golden colour and the underside almost pure white. In combination, these disruptive markings and colours provide the leopard with highly effective camouflage. The patterning breaks up the shape of the body and allows the leopard to almost melt invisibly into any habitat. This is critical to facilitate hunting and to remain elusive from its own enemies. An interesting fact is that black leopards or black panthers are in fact simple genetic variations of the normal spotted leopard. The black colouring is known as melanistic form as it is caused by an excess of black pigment called melanin. I was in awe by this stunningly beautiful big cat lying in the golden afternoon sun. The male leopard looked totally relaxed for a while before I suddenly noticed something grabbing his attention. I could not make out what it was and saw the leopard slowly wiggling his tail, looking totally amused by it. The next moment the male leopard lifted his head, snapping with his mouth in the air. The leopard’s large razor-sharp canines were snapping repeatedly in the air. This looked so adorable and I realised the male leopard became annoyed with tiny flies buzzing around his head. It was so funny and cute at the same time to see such a formidable hunter attempting to catch something so small that we and maybe the leopard himself couldn’t even see. This comical behaviour by the leopard is not something one usually see and I was totally pleased to have seen a leopard behaving in such an entertaining manner, right in its own natural environment. When the leopard means business and goes out to do serious hunting, its technique is to either ambush its prey or to stalk it. Leopards rely on the element of surprise and their powerful bodies to capture prey, which is grappled with the fore-claws and then bitten on the back of the head or around the throat. When these killing machines are out hunting, it is hard to believe that there is also a cute and comical side to these wonderful creatures.

The video shows one of the biggest lion prides ever seen, walking down the road in the Kruger National Park, causing traffic to come to a standstill. The lion is the largest predator in the African wild, living at the top of the food chain. Lions are also the only social cats on earth, living together in family prides that usually averages between five and ten lions per pride. There are rare instances when lions do form what is called mega prides, consisting of twenty plus lions. The pride of lions shown in the video was twenty-six members strong and really a sight to behold. This mega pride of lions was found one morning early, casually strolling down the main tar road of the National Park. Animals that walk long distances sometimes prefer walking on the roads of the park as it is the way of least resistance and obstacles. On this day, all twenty-six lions were walking along the tar road, making for an incredible sighting. There was no way of passing through these lions and quickly the ques of tourist traffic were just building and building, with long lines of vehicles having to wait a long time before moving again. It was not like anyone was in a hurry because seeing so many lions together is not a common sight. The lion roadblock continued for even longer, when pretty much the whole pride eventually decided it was a good time to lie down and rest in the middle of the road. The mega pride of lions blocked the road for a good hour before they moved off and disappeared back into the bush.

While on a safari holiday in the Kruger National Park we stayed with a group of tourists in a remote wilderness camp. These wilderness camps provide a true wilderness experience, situated far away from civilization and not fenced. Wildlife are free to move through the camp. This means staying in one of these camps can be adventurous and you have to be aware and vigilant at all times. While relaxing in camp one afternoon, we suddenly noticed a young bull elephant casually walking into the camp garden onto the lawn. There was a large sprinkler busy irrigating the lawn and the elephant walked straight to that sprinkler. To our amazement the elephant pulled the garden hose from the sprinkler and shoved it into his mouth. We couldn’t believe we were watching an elephant in the garden of our camp, drinking water from a hose pipe. I grabbed my camera and started filming this unusual sight. The elephant was so relaxed he even lifted his front left foot and rested it on top of the sprinkler. This made for a hilarious pose. The elephant dropped the hose and effortlessly picked it up again and easily put it back into his mouth. Once the elephant had enough to drink, he threw down the garden hose. The elephant then started pulling the hose pipe, looking like he wanted to roll up the hose and put it away. We quickly realized he actually wanted to pull the hose pipe from the tap to see where the source of the water was. It was not long before the young bull became annoyed with trying to reel in the long hose pipe. Luckily the elephant lost interest eventually and no taps were pulled out of the ground or garden hoses snapped. This was definitely one of the most unusual and funny sightings we’ve seen in the African wild. Elephants not only love water in general but they also love their water to be clean. When they have a choice, elephants are picky about their water and they will much rather prefer to drink clean and clear water instead of brown murky water. This elephant clearly knew that the water used for irrigation at the camp was much tastier and cleaner than the water in the nearby river.

The video shows an elephant bull, aggressively chasing a hippo out of its watering hole. Elephants and hippos are two of the biggest and most dangerous mammals found in the African wild. A large elephant bull can weigh up to five tons while an adult male hippo can reach almost three tons in weight. Elephants can be very temperamental and are known sometimes for pushing over safari vehicles when angry, making them very dangerous. Hippos on the other hand kill more people in Africa than any other animal while living in the waterways and rivers across the continent that are shared by humans as well. While both species are known for their dangerous behavior towards humans, seeing the two species coming face to face in an altercation is a rarity. The video shows how an elephant bull, standing inside a watering hole became aware of the presence of a hippo. The elephant did not look happy. Elephants are known for not liking to share any water with any other animals while drinking and swimming. On the other hand, the hippo lives in the water and was there long before the elephant bull. The elephant bull clearly did not care if the hippo lived in the water, he wanted it all for himself and the hippo had to go. The elephant bull charged towards the unsuspecting hippo a few times, splashing the water with his trunk, and letting out a scream with deep rumbling noises. The angry elephant even threw his trunk onto the back of the hippo as if he was helping it along to get out the water quicker. Such interaction between the two species, with the elephant even touching the hippo, is incredibly rare to see. Finally, the hippo who is the one that lives in the water decided to rather be safe and get out and move into the bush until the elephants eventually leave. Incredible to see such a rare altercation between two of Africa’s largest and most dangerous animals.

Watching a herd of elephants while on safari is mostly a memorable and very entertaining experience. In and among the herd there is always something happening, especially when it comes to the playful young elephants in such a herd. These breeding herds consists of mainly females and their offspring and all the related females will stay together for life. Young males eventually gets kicked out at around age thirteen. While those young males remain in the breeding herd, they are extremely playful and very entertaining to watch. This video was recorded in the Kruger National Park, South Africa and shows a male baby elephant very adamantly attempting to wake up his sleepy brother. To see elephants lie down flat on their sides is a rare sight and mostly it will be the youngsters that do enjoy a rest on their sides. Elephants do not have too much time to relax and sleep as they need to feed at least twenty out of twenty four hours of a day. The playful baby elephant was not going to let his bigger brother enjoy his morning nap in the sun. He wanted to play and he wanted his sleepy brother to get up. The little elephant proceeds to climb on top of his brother with his front legs. The sleepy brother still does not get up and looks a little annoyed with his younger brother bothering him. The little elephant then starts pushing and shoving his brother more impatiently hoping he will get up. Suddenly the sleepy brother decides that this is enough and quickly jumps up, looking all confused with the situation. The baby elephant then left his brother to go and annoy other members of the herd. This funny behavior had everyone in laughter and made for great entertainment on the safari.

This video was filmed by two individual tourists, at the same time, while on Safari in a wilderness area of the Greater Kruger Park, South Africa. They stopped at a herd of elephants for a while. One individual specifically caught everyone's attention. Not something you see everyday, this Elephant was digging in the sand for water. Elephants have a very acute sense of smell and rather prefer clean water below the sand than muddy water at the watering holes. With a few kicks in the sand to about a meter deep, fresh water starts cyphering through the sand. The sand acts as a filter delivering fresh water from the below laying water table in the dry river bed. While this guy was sucking up some of his newly found fresh water, he decided without warning, to splash a whole trunk full of water mixed with a lot of sand all over the vehicle and tourists. Listening to the amount of sand hitting the vehicle, it clearly indicates that specific slurp full was not pleasant enough for him and gave it to the people. Was it by accident or intentional? It can be debated. From past experience and understanding how intelligent these creatures are, Elephants very seldom do things just by accident!

Dominance is largely a matter of seniority in the world of a male elephant. They learn their relative strength and status, within and between age classes, as they grow up, through frequent play fights. Dominance is usually determined and acknowledged the moment two bulls meet, simply on the basis of which stands taller. This video shows a feisty baby elephant who does not believe that size matters. The tough little guy takes on his bigger brother in a fearless manner during a play fight ritual. He shows real tenacity and determination, clearly not prepared to back off or surrender. He starts off with a courageous head-butt and confidently continues to wrestle his bigger brother. Young bulls spend time practicing head-butting to establish rank between themselves and to develop skills that they will use to win dominance later in life. The smaller baby elephant is ready for action and he does not look intimidated by his taller brother at all. He delivers the first head-butt with real confidence. He does not stop there and adamantly continues to charge his brother head first. He struggles to push his heavier brother backwards. The bigger male patiently stood there and entertained his baby brother's attempts. After every head-butt attempt he would just slightly push him back and allow him to try again. Suddenly the play fighting stops when mommy comes around and separates the two elephants. She slightly grabs the older one by his trunk and give him a little push so he can move away. While his bigger brother takes the brunt, the little male slowly moves on as if he had nothing to do with it. These encounters will continue throughout their lives until they are 40 years old. At this age males have established their individual ranks and there is no more need for fighting. This prevents older males risking injury or death.

The video shows the incredible moment when a hyena is saved from death by its clan members after being caught by a big male lion. Lions and hyenas are the two largest and strongest predators roaming the African bush. The two predator species are at the top of the food chain, competing for same food sources, making them eternal enemies. Lions and hyenas don’t see face to face and will literally kill each other to eliminate the competition. The video shows a male lion leaving his kill behind to chase after a hyena that was trying to steal his food. The male lion managed to catch the hyena, creating absolute chaos. The rest of the nearby hyena clan decided that all of them together can take on the big male in attempt to save their clan member. The sounds were something from a horror movie with so much biting, growling, and snarling going on. The lion had the hyena behind the neck, and it was going to kill it for sure. Luckily for the hyena, the rest of the clan came in ruthless and started biting at the lion. The hyenas persisted with their attack until eventually the lion let go. The hyenas quickly moved off and the lion returned to his meal. Incredible moment in the African wild, showing how fierce the two top competitive predators can be.

The Hippopotamus is rated as the animal that kills the most humans every year in Africa. These unique aquatic creatures can weigh up to three tons and are the third largest land mammals in the African bush. The hippo is notorious for its aggressive behavior. Male hippos are very territorial and especially grumpy. Male hippos do not tolerate one another and usually stay away from each other. Only the most serious opponents will engage in combat as this can lead to death. The lower canines of a hippo are modified into huge tusks that grow continuously and may reach thirty to fifty centimetres long in males. These tusks are formidable instruments of defence and not for feeding. I was driving alone in a wilderness area of the Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa. It was late afternoon when I decided to stop at a large natural water body and take a break while watching the sunset. While getting my camera ready to film a magical sunset, I suddenly noticed the two heads of a male and female hippo appearing slowly from below the water. With only the top part of the heads above water, the two hippos watched my every move attentively. Knowing and understanding the danger of these creatures, I kept a good distance and remained silent. After sunset, the water became glazed by the colors of dusk while the surrounding nature sounds added to a stunning and very peaceful ambiance. I decided to focus my camera on the two hippos that were still staring at me from a distance. Due to their aggressive territorial behavior, male hippos have various ways of displaying their dominant status. When these warning signs are ignored repeatedly, the situation will usually turn fatal for the intruder. One way for a male hippo to instantly show you that he is in charge and very dangerous is through a wide-mouth yawn that exhibits his formidable tusks. I just started filming the beautiful scenery at dusk with the two hippos in it, when the male hippo decided it was time that he sends me a warning. The next moment the male hippo slowly opened his mouth wide open, lifting and shaking his head in the air, showing off his intimidatingly dangerous tusks. Straight after the male hippo slapped his mouth closed, he uttered a loud honking sound. That exact sound serves to advertise territory and ward off would-be intruders. I was totally stunned by the amazing footage I managed to get right on that moment. At the same time, I realized that this hippo bull now showed me how dangerous he can be as well as letting me know that this territory belonged to him. With that message being clear, I slowly packed up and continued with my journey. I left with a much greater appreciation and sense of respect for these dangerous animals of Africa. If you listen to their warnings and act in an appropriate manner, us humans and these dangerous creatures can all live peacefully together.

While on safari in the Kruger National Park, we found a small herd of elephants standing a riverbed. The sun was sitting high already and it was getting very hot. We saw some of the elephants took the opportunity to go lie down in the mud, cooling themselves down in the process. At the same time the elephants can get rid of any pesky insects and ticks sitting on their skin. Watching elephants enjoying themselves while having a mud bath is mostly a very entertaining experience. Unlike any other animal, elephants really do have fun in all sorts of ways when they are in the mud or water. We were watching two young male elephants lying in the mud when a third young male appeared. The young male wanted to join his two brothers for a cool down in the mud. When the elephant decided to go lie down in between his two brothers, the one brother was having none of that. He simply stretched out his one leg and pushed his brother away, making it clear that he cannot come closer to share the mud bath. At one stage the young elephant kept his brother away from him for quite some time using his stiff leg up in the air, pushing against his brother’s side. The middle elephant eventually realized that he was not going to get comfortable in the small space between his two brothers. He leaned against his brother for a short while before getting kicked again repeatedly. The young elephant got the message that he was not welcome and decided to move on and find his own mud bath. It was really funny to watch these two young males fooling around in the mud. As they say, ‘boys will be boys’ and these two elephants displayed the typical behavior of two brothers not preparing to share much at a young age.

This video contains graphic footage that might upset sensitive viewers. In saying that, this is something that regularly happens in the African wild. It is just very rarely witnessed by humans. Most of the time Lions hunt under the cover of darkness or at dusk or dawn. This lion hunt was on the other hand, something very different and rare to see. In the middle of the day in broad daylight. This whole encounter took place in a remote Wilderness area of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. It was around 11:30 am and we found a pride of eight lions, lying flat on the sand in a riverbed. Lions usually do absolutely nothing during the heat of the day. The one distinctive factor on this day was a strong wind blowing the whole day. Perfect hunting conditions for predators. The strong wind makes a huge noise blowing through the thick bush. Prey animals like buffalo can’t then really hear anything. Secondly, with the wind blasting in all directions, their sense of smell is all over the place. While watching this lazy pride of lions, one female suddenly lifted her head and stared into the distance. Out of nowhere, about two hundred metres down the dry riverbank, an old buffalo bull came walking down to graze. The one lioness got up, and started walking slowly and very persistent in that direction. With the blowing wind in her favour, she manages to stalk the buffalo and gets within metres. Still no sign of the other lions at this stage. Eventually the buffalo realizes something is not well and turns around. Immediately his instincts takes over and he charges the lioness. Buffalo are extremely dangerous mammals and have killed many lions before. They are much bigger and stronger than lions and those horns are deadly. The rest of the lion pride in the meantime strategically moved around and was on the opposite side, trying to circle around their prey. The buffalo charged in all directions and kept these lions guessing for a while. Then the number of lions just became too much for this lone bull and they manage to slow it down, biting it from behind and on the legs. There were also a few attempts from a lioness jumping on its back, trying to bite into the spine. Usually lions would go for the throat first, and suffocate their prey before they start feeding. This particular pride of lions were obviously experienced enough to understand the dangers of a buffalo’s horns but inexperienced enough to not be able to get around those horns and go for the throat. This ordeal lasted for over forty five minutes. Eventually the buffalo gave in and went down on the ground. At this stage one could hear the distinct distress call. He couldn’t fight back anymore. His adrenalin and energy was depleted and the lions started eating it alive from behind. After watching this for almost an hour, we had to go back to camp for work. It was still alive when we left. News came in later that the old bull eventually died not long after we left. This pride of lions were on the carcass feeding for another three days thereafter. Witnessing nature in action at such a level is definitely a once in lifetime experience and not something we will forget in a long time.

During a recent stay in the Kruger National Park we decided to go for an early morning walk through the rest camp we were staying at. While we were spending time watching birds, my wife suddenly noticed a snake moving across the pathway no too far ahead of us. We decided to go closer and see what type of snake it was. It was a hot summers day which usually leads to high snake activity in the African bush. It was a long thin green snake and we easily identified as a spotted bush snake. The spotted bush snake is an alert, day-active snake that climbs well and is often found between the walls and ceilings of outbuildings, where it hunts for geckos and frogs. Their favorite prey is geckos. This fetish for geckos brings these little snakes into direct conflict with humans daily. They will go wherever their food can be found and more often than not, it’s into human habitats. When disturbed, these snakes move very quickly in the opposite direction and can vanish into the smallest spaces. They are harmless to humans. The spotted bush snake is also very common in the Kruger National Park. Knowing all of these common facts about them, we noticed that this specific bush snake displayed no common behavior at all. It was behaving in the most bizarre manner. It started with some outrageous dance-like body movements. The snake was throwing around the top half of its body all over the place while hanging down from a small bridge on the pathway. It suddenly stopped acting weird. The snake was just hanging there for a short while. After that, all was normal again and the snake comfortably slithered away like nothing happened and like we were not even there. We were totally confused by this behavior and have never seen anything like this before. Since our encounter with the strange behaving snake, we have asked various snake experts about this unusual behavior we managed to capture on film. The most popular theory for this behavior was the possibility of a parasite inside the snake that alters its behavior. It is the kind of behavior you get when certain parasites change their host’s behavior to make it more likely that the host will be eaten in order for the parasite to complete its life cycle inside another host. It was very interesting to learn that these behavioral changing parasites have been studied inside various animal species but no one is hundred percent sure if that was the case with this spotted bush snake. Many experts believe there could be various other causes for this behavior and in the end the behavior was described as abnormal and very seldom seen. In the end we like to see it as just one of the many wonderful mysteries Mother Nature keeps to herself.