#SafariLive at Wild Earth. A bush walk.

David Batzofin

December 25, 2016

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This is for Brent Leo-Smith to say thank you…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plGj8VRTqJE

The call of a Woodland Kingfisher

was the sound track to most of our bush walk.

These were as numerous here as Hadedas are in the cities.

There is constant “chatter” between Final Control and the presenters.

To have a look at a short clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60mtq8GNo8U

Crinum stuhlmannii (Candy–striped crinum)

This is an extraordinarily beautiful plant

Cameraman David Eastaugh and presenter/ guide Brent Leo-Smith.

The latter had just been asked a question about medicinal plants.

In true Brent fashion, he found one and after describing it

to the viewer…ate it!

Unfortunately for him, the rhoicissus vine he chose,
was rather bitter and he needed water to get the taste.
That did not really work,
which left him with another option…

Ranger Herberth Khoza suggested Wild Basil as an “antidote”
for the nasty tasting rhoicissus vine that he had just eaten.

Another viewer had asked to see an African Violet.
And with some help from Herberth,
Brent was able to oblige with this specimen

There are many grass species in the area we traversed,
each of them serves a specific purpose.

The beauty of a walk is that you get to find
crawlies that would go unnoticed from a vehicle.
Brent was able to hold this Ground Beetle without harming it
and then releasing it
once he had described it to the audience
watching via the You Tube channel

The Northern Harvester Termite is capable of lifting 50 times
its own body weight!

A Blue Pansy Male…

And its female counterpart.

Dancing Acraea or more commonly…
Small orange Acraea

A Dung Beetle checking out some potential food source.
But it was not good sh*t, so he moved on…
The dung Beetle can lift/pull 1,141 times its own body weight.
That is equivalent to a human dragging 6 double decked busses!

A Robber Fly trying to steal an egg from this Polyrhachis Ant.
But, you might notice a second ant that
seems to be acting as a body guard.
In the time that we watched this interaction,
the fly was not successful.

This Violin Spider had built its web over the disused
opening in a termite mound.

A Ladybug…bright red against the green of the Waltheria indicia leaf.
The bright colours declare that it is noxious
and the predators should leave it alone.

This Wild Basil plant caught my attention.
It was beautifully lit by the early morning sun.

Aside from the two camera vehicles,
and the back-pack unit carried during a bush walk,
Wild Earth now have drones…
I heard this before I saw it,
and I actually thought that it was a HUGE
swarm of bees.