Hold the Press

Hold the press I am actually leaving on my leave, to where I wont be taking my computer. I have decided to get away for a little and found a place that is in my budget not to far from here and is close to some attractions/town.
http://www.safarinow.com/go/kwa-thabeng/
Is where I will be staying from tomorrow (Tuesday) until Saturday when I will try to be back to start up a new regular Saturday Evening WEchat this time at 8:00pm CAT.

As to what I will do, I don't know that yet :)
I will try to get into town to pick a few things up, then I will relax and just do things on a day to day basis. There is a reptile park that I may try to get to.

I will be bringing my camera and will post pictures when I come back.

To hold you over here is a picture taken today of a baby vervet monkey

Amazing Experience

Hello Everyone,
This past Saturday (Oct 25) I was fortunate enough to go a long with the take the kids to a movie day, which you can read more about and see the video here http://www.wildearth.tv/blog
I will write more about it and add more pictures to my blog when I get back from leave.

Hope you enjoy
Simon

Blah Blah Blah :)

Just a reminder that tonight (Sat Oct 18th) I will be doing a chat at 10:00pm CAT (4pm EST). So if you want to see me trying to answer questions and talk away feel free to do so. Also feel free to ask questions by either logging onto the chat wildearth.ning.com/chat or sending the to finalcontrol@wildeath.tv (or of course you can email me questions at any time simon.dilts@gmail.com).

To where to watch just go to wildearth.tv and there will be a clip of a lizard/lizard eye close up then the live feed will be there. Where people tend to open that in a new window to chat and watch at the same time.

Maybe you will see me then :)

A little bit of Jealousy but in a good way :)

On tonight's drive I was off but still watched the pm game drive. Early on they spotted a black mamba and followed it up a tree. To where I have been hoping to see one in the wild, at least I got to watch it live and know they are out there :)
Don't worry I will be safe.

What a morning

This mornings game drive was amazing. Saw an Hammerkop (aka Hammerhead) bird gorge on about 8 frogs it picked out from the mud remaining in one of the dry water holes. Later on we came across a small breeding herd of elephants with a couple youngsters (~10 months old) . To where we watched one of the youngsters try to feed on a small acacia tree, then mimic mom.

That was soon followed by radio calls from some of the other game drive vehicles (from the lodges) that spotted Tingana (meaning the shy one) a female leopard. So we went to check her out before she lived up to her name sake and walked off. After a little bit more driving we came across Tingana's grandmother Safri who was sitting on a termite mound before she wandered off.
Safari is a leopard that got into a fight years back with a lion and lost eye sight in her right eye which is swollen.It was then back on the road to let the other vehicles take a look. To where we stopped to look at a male giraffe before continuing on.

We were driving one of the main roads and spotted another leopard sitting down and thought it might be Tingana again but it turned out to be her mother Karula (means peace) who got up and walked off with a pregnant belly. We followed her for a little while and let the other game drives follow as time was getting close to the end. On our way back we managed to spy Safari again and followed her to yet another termite mound. But this one was right next to us so she was only a few feet away, and stayed with her as long as we could before heading back for WE walk.

So it was an amazing morning with 4 leopard sightings (3 different leopards).

Memorable Experience

I know I said I would try to blog the other day about an amazing experience that happened on the pm drive Oct. 11th. Well here it is :)

We headed back to Buffelshoek dam near the start of our drive as in the morning Mafufuyani one of the male leopards was there relaxing. When we arrived he was laying down in the shade. He eventually got up and took a drink from the little water left in the dam before heading out into the bush.

Of course Rexon who was presenter loves Ingwe (leopards) and we followed him for over an hour through some thick brush, and some roads. Eventually we were in an area of bad signals just before the sun went down. He first walked ahead of us on the road then he turned around and came back. He went right next to the vehicle (I am talking inches) and looked up at Rex, than myself as he walked on by. It wass amazing as then truly did I notice his size, as well as looking into his yes is an unforgetable memory.

New blends in with the elegance of yester year

Yesterday afternoon a storm rolled in knocking out the power around 3:30pm having us resort to candle power for light.
I loved the glow and ambiance it gave to my room. Where it gave the feeling of stepping back in time to when people started exploring the world and would write in journals by candle light on desks in their campsite. Now a laptop replaces the ink well but I think the feelings remain the same.

Morning traffic

It seems like you can't escape morning hour traffic no matter where you go in the world, including the bush. This morning it was 2 bull elephants that we found in the bush and follwed a little. The older male (top picture) decided to walk on the road infront of us while the younger male stayed in the bush only to cross the road later.

Updates

Well I have finally decided I will try to use one of the work computers to upload pictures on this blog as my laptop if it turns on takes forever.
So I have decided to start things from today and try to keep a more regular blog with either quick written comments about things or pictures from now on.

As for the camp I have decided to wait as I would like to do a WE Bits show (behind the scenes) on that so it will be easier to show.