Wildlife Highlights, iPod, short version

Wildlife podcast, week 22 2009

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:58:14 +0200

The pick of the crop from our film crews this week features:

* Predators await sardine run – Barry Skinstad, Port St Johns, South Africa.

* Elephant calf learns to use trunk – Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa, by Boris von Schoenebeck.

* A cobra flares its hood – Kanchanaburi, Thailand, filmed by Darryl Sweetland.

* In the Karoo National Park, Paul Myburgh filmed harvester ants preparing for winter.

Wildlife podcast, week 21 2009

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:49:10 +0200

Highlights podcast 21 showcases:

•    Waltzes with whales in the Cape – Graeme Duane
•    The underwater world of the Nile crocodile – Brad Bestelink
•    Clouds of cormorants off Malgas Island – Graeme Duane
•    A hippo pod adjusting to a new calf – Brad Bestelink

Lions of Moremi, 20-21 2009

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:28:53 +0200

Lions of Moremi podcast 20-21 filmed by Brad Bestelink in Botswana’s Okavango Delta features:

* A lion pride creating panic in a buffalo herd
* A dominant male lion returning to the pride
* A pride taking down a buffalo calf
* Lions clashing with another pride

Wildlife podcast, week 20 2009

Thu, 28 May 2009 11:57:41 +0200

This week’s podcast highlights:

•    Male lion calls his pride
•    Face-off with a pitviper
•    Beached dolphins
•    Teeming reef life

Wildlife podcast, week 19 2009

Thu, 21 May 2009 14:04:07 +0200

This week's podcast features:

* Leopard mother and cubs in the Serengeti
* Ragged-tooth sharks on migration off Sodwana Bay
* Colourful caterpillars in KwaZulu-Natal

Wildlife podcast, week 18 2009

Thu, 14 May 2009 12:53:10 +0200

Under a leafy canopy in the Sumatran rainforests of Indonesia an orangutan mother whiles away the time by gently playing and bonding with her baby. Paul Myburgh captures some special moments between the two.

On the icy, stony shore of St Andrew’s Bay, South Georgia, inquisitive elephant seals and king penguins enable Pierre Minnie to capture some wonderful close-ups, including a bedraggled penguin chick.

Darryl Sweetland gets down on the forest floor in Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Province to film a variety of exquisitely beautiful, delicate and colourful fungi.

Wildlife podcast, week 17 2009

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:07:51 +0200

Highlights on this podcast include a rookery of king penguins with their fluffy brown chicks in Fortuna Bay, South Georgia, filmed by Pierre Minnie, a surreal undersea-scape in the Seychelles from Graeme Duane and Brad Bestelink illustrates the challenges faced by a handicapped young elephant in Botswana's Okavango Delta.

Wildlife podcast, week 16 2009

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:31:24 +0200

Our first offering comes from Knysna Heads, South Africa. Here Barry Skinstad has filmed common dolphins in the water and Cape gannets in the sky, this could be signalling the approach of the sardine run.

In the Okavango Delta of Botswana, Brad Bestelink brings us lions hunting buffalo and he follows it with another offering where the lions nearly get a buffalo but its herd quickly rescues it.

Lastly, Graeme Duane takes us to the underwater splendour of Cape Maclear, Malawi where he has captured various species of cichlids.

Wildlife podcast, week 15 2009

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:47:08 +0200

This week's podcast begins in the Karoo, South Africa, where Paul Myburgh lets us in on his encounter with juvenile lesser flamingos.

We then join Graeme Duane in Tanzania, where he filmed wildebeest on the move in the Serengeti.

At Cape Maclear, on the shores of Lake Malawi, Graeme Duane goes underwater to bring us some of the many species of cichlids.

Finally, in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, Brad Bestelink films pregnant African wild dogs.

Wildlife podcast, week 14 2009

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:04:25 +0200

This week's podcast takes us on a journey that starts in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Reserve of South Africa, where Darryl Sweetland brings us stunning footage of a gaping chameleon.

Our next stop is Ndutu in Tanzania where Graeme Duane films the different feeding dynamics of vultures at a kill.

We're then off to the Knysna Heads, South Africa, for a viewing of sharks and octopus moving among the kelp, courtesy of Barry Skinstad.

Back in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Reserve, we join Boris von Schoenebeck who lets us in on lesson time with vervet monkeys.

We conclude this week's footage with an exciting clip of a cheetah chasing and being chased, all in a day's work on the Macao Plains of Tanzania for cameraman Graeme Duane.

Wildlife podcast, week 13 2009

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:14:39 +0200

In this week’s podcast the first story is about encounters with creatures of the smaller kind. Boris von Schoenebeck brings us a moth caught in a spider’s web, as well as the damselfly and its relative the dragonfly, in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Reserve of South Africa.

It’s then off to the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, where Graham Springer has filmed wildebeest and zebra feeding together. This behaviour illustrates how these two species aid each other in sensing predators. We also see mock duelling between two zebra stallions.

In Sodwana Bay, South Africa, Grant Brokensha manages to spot some masters of camouflage, the scorpionfish and the paperfish.

Lastly, on an Earth-Touch expedition to Tanzania, Graeme Duane captures spectacular footage of a cheetah killing a lone wildebeest calf in Ndutu.

Wildlife podcast, week 12 2009

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:08:51 +0200

In this week's podcast we join marine cameraman Barry Skinstad in South Africa's Knysna estuary as he shows us octopus and cuttlefish that live in the lagoon.

Then it's off to join Darryl Sweetland in Thailand where he comes upon a nocturnal cat snake out in the bright sunshine!

Next Pierre Minnie shows us the foraging habits of a troop of delightful and dextrous vervet monkeys that live in the Mountain Zebra National Park of South Africa.

In Tanzania Graeme Duane observes how the annual wildebeest migration is not without a down side as many young calves are orphaned when masses of animals move across the Serengeti plains in search of fresh grazing.

Lastly we join Boris von Schoenebeck as he films an old elephant bull taking a leisurely wallow in a muddy pool in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Reserve in South Africa.

Wildlife podcast, week 11 2009

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:38:46 +0200

This week’s podcast takes us first to Neko Harbour in Antarctica where Pierre Minnie captured scenic footage of gentoo penguins carving snowy trails from the ocean up the mountainside on a long climb to their stony nests, set against a magnificent backdrop of icebergs.

Then its off to Botswana where Brad Bestelink focuses on the intricate details of zebra and impala herds as they graze and mingle among field flowers that have come into bloom following recent rains in the Okavango Delta.

Grant Brokensha gets really close to a large ragged-tooth shark in South Africa’s Sodwana Bay, highlighting its fearsome teeth and a remora that will accompany the large predator on its oceanic journey.

Podcast 11 comes to an end in the forest canopy of Sumatra, Indonesia as we join a long-tailed macaque troop feeding in the tree tops. Paul Myburgh has captured beautiful footage of a mother and baby shot against a colourful leafy backdrop.

Wildlife podcast, week 10 2009

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:06:52 +0200

In this week’s podcast, we join giraffe at dawn as they absorb the early morning wonder of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Brad Bestelink filmed this offering.

Then it's off to Sumatra in Indonesia, where Paul Myburgh brings us an intimate moment between a mother orangutan and her baby.

South Africa's Cape Point is where our next story unfolds. Here Barry Skinstad captured footage of a pelagic shark giving a group of white-chinned petrels something to worry about.

Lastly, again in the Okavango Delta, Brad brings us beautiful shots of a lion pride doing what they do best – sleeping.

Wildlife podcast, week 08-09 2009

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:47:47 +0200

This week's podcast opens with majestic vultures soaring on thermals over the Drakensberg escarpment, courtesy of Boris von Schoenebeck.

The action moves to the rugged Mountain Zebra Mountain Park in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, where Pierre Minnie has filmed beautiful mountain zebras that were rescued from the brink of extinction not long ago.

Our third segment was shot off the Cape coast near Pyramid Rock by Barry Skinstad, and features a rather primitive sevengill cow shark swimming among kelp stems

Wildlife podcast, week 06-07 2009

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:08:44 +0200

This week’s podcast opens with spectacular close-up footage of a Komodo dragon tasting the air with its long forked tongue. This large carnivorous lizard was filmed on Indonesia’s Rinca Island courtesy of Paul Myburgh.

Leaving behind the heat of Indonesia, we join Pierre Minnie on expedition in icy Antarctica, where he filmed very young Antarctic fur seal pups with furry black coats on the shores of Fortuna Bay in South Georgia.

Lastly we return to Indonesia, this time to the verdant jungles of Sumatra, where an endangered orangutan mother spent time bonding with her baby in the leafy canopy.

Wildlife podcast, week 05 2009

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:06:53 +0200

In this week’s podcast Paul Myburgh brings us expedition footage of macaques in a rainforest on Lombok Island in Indonesia.

Then it's off on another expedition to the Falkland Islands, where Pierre Minnie showcases rockhopper penguins on a steep incline on Saunders Island.

The podcast ends with the return of the hunters to the Okavango Delta, as Brad Bestelink captures on film a resident lion pride getting back to their buffalo-hunting routine.

Wildlife podcast, week 04 2009

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:28:17 +0200

Our first story is about a male lion defending its kill in the Nxai Pan of Botswana, filmed by Boris von Schoenebeck.

Then it's off to Sodwana Bay, South Africa, where Grant Brokensha filmed rare turtle hatchlings emerging from their sandy nest.

As part of the Earth-Touch expedition to Indonesia, Paul Myburgh brings us breathtaking footage of the summit of Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island.

The next clip showcases a herd of springbok caught in a torrential downpour. This is a quintessential African moment filmed in Botswana's Nxai Pan by Boris von Schoenebeck.

Off South Africa's Dassen Island, marine crew member Barry Skinstad brings us amazing footage of a krill shoal.

Lastly, Brad Bestelink captures the essence of the Okavango Delta with stunning shots of a territorial male giraffe in Botswana.

Wildlife podcast, week 03 2009

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:57:30 +0200

In this week's podcast there are two offerings from Botswana's Okavango Delta, both brought to us by Brad Bestelink. The first focuses on elephants and waterbirds, and the second shows a cheetah being mobbed by spur-winged geese.

We also have footage of curious seals filmed on the Cape coast by Barry Skinstad, and Paul Myburgh captured expedition footage of macaques on the barren slopes of Lombok Island in Indonesia.

The final clips were both filmed in the Seychelles by Graeme Duane. One showcases territorial crabs on Praslin Island and the other shows coral reefs growing on the granite rock slabs of Mahé Island.

Wildlife podcast, week 01-02 2009

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:39:59 +0200

In our first podcast of 2009, Grant Brokensha brings us amazing underwater footage of jellyfish from Palau in Micronesia.

Then we're off to Pongola in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where Boris von Schoenebeck has filmed foam nest frogs mating.

On Mahe Island in the Seychelles, we witness a critically endangered hawksbill turtle laying her eggs, brought to us by Graeme Duane.

Located in the Moremi Game Reserve of Botswana, Brad Bestelink captures stunning footage of a cheetah on the prowl.

Finally, we catch up with Barry Skinstad who is diving in the cold waters of the Cape coast, where he's filmed small and fascinating creatures on the ocean bed.

Wildlife podcast, week 48-49 2008

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:04:16 +0200

Barry Skinstad opens this week’s podcast with an offering of marine species like cardinalfish, emperor and bluebanded snappers, devil firefish, surgeonfish and manta shrimp, all found on a Mozambican reef teeming with life.

Then in the Moremi Game Reserve of Botswana, Brad Bestelink brings us a contented and healthy lion pride.

On Malgas Island, off the coast of South Africa, we see cormorants nesting among gannets, brought to us by Paul Myburgh. And in Micronesia, the nutrient-rich water of Palau brings in big manta rays, filmed by Barry Skinstad.

This week’s offering ends with Brad’s footage of elephants cooling off under a shady tree canopy in Moremi.

Wildlife podcast, week 45-46 2008

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:01:34 +0200

In this week's podcast, Brad Bestelink takes us through the season of birth in the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. Here vervet monkeys have just given birth to their young and African wild dogs seem to be forming the first ever Xakanaxa pack.

It's then off to Palau, Micronesia, where Barry Skinstad brings us footage of the majestic manta ray feeding.

Finally, in South Africa, Pongola, we see dung beetles playing their role in the ecosystem, and this lovely footage is brought to us by Boris von Schoenebeck.

Wildlife podcast, week 43-44 2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:51:34 +0200

We start the week on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, where Graeme Duane filmed an amazingly close encounter with a vocal humpback whale.

Then it’s off to the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans to see meerkats foraging for insects, brought to us by Pierre Minnie.

Once again Graeme Duane brings us whale footage, this time a massive yet graceful whale shark. And from the East Darryl Sweetland has put together some stunning visuals of a whip snake in Thailand, and some very interesting insects that he filmed in Thong Pha Phoom National Park.

We end the week by exploring an underwater cave system in the island paradise of Palau, Micronesia.

Wildlife podcast, week 42 2008

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:50:35 +0200

In this week's podcast we share footage from a new location, Palau in Micronesia, where Barry Skinstad has filmed a strange-looking sea slug among the coral.

We then head off to the Cape Coast of South Africa to see amazing footage of a Cape gannet colony on Malgas Island, brought to us by Paul Myburgh.

Brad Bestelink has captured wild dogs feeding on a carcass in the Moremi Game Reserve, and we end off this week's offering with graceful bottlenose dolphins in the waters of KwaZulu-Natal, thanks to Graeme Duane.

Wildlife podcast, week 40 2008

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:54:00 +0200

This week's podcast is packed with stories from Botswana and South Africa.

It begins with an offering from Brad Bestelink in the Moremi Game Reserve, where he's filmed a troop of baboons along a treeline. Paul Myburgh follows with thousands of chattering gannets from Malgas Island on the Cape coast.

Back in Moremi, Brad brings us amazing footage of storks and pelicans fishing in shallow pools before the rains arrive. Graeme Duane in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, tails a migrating whale shark and gets down in the mud to film tiny painted reed frogs calling from their reedbeds in the Umhlali River.

We end off this week's offering with footage of elephants cooling off under boabab tree, brought to us by Boris von Schoenebeck.

Wildlife podcast, week 38-39 2008

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:42:08 +0200

This week's podcast features a variety of wildlife footage from Botswana, Namaqualand and Thailand.

We begin in Leroo La Tau, Botswana, where Boris von Schoenebeck captured on film some common residents of the region – eagle-owls.

Footage of a white-lipped pitviper filmed in Thailand by Darryl Sweetland follows. Also known as the white-lipped tree viper, this snake is quick to bite when provoked, but its bite is seldom fatal.

Back in South Africa, Paul Myburgh takes us to Namaqualand in the Northern Cape. Here we see the beauty of small creatures, such as a weevil beetle feeding on pollen from a daisy.

In Botswana's Moremi Game Reserve, we catch up with the largest animals on earth and one of Africa's big five – African elephants – as they dig for roots and bulbs, filmed by Brad Bestelink. Staying in Moremi, we end off with stunning footage of a variety of birds feeding in a receding pool.

Wildlife podcast, week 36-37 2008

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:04:54 +0200

This week’s podcast is variety-filled, containing footage from the last two weeks. We begin in Namaqualand, South Africa, where Paul Myburgh films a caterpillar feeding on succulent plants.

Staying in South Africa, Grant Brokensha is on the shoreline in KwaZulu-Natal, watching hermit crabs congregate in rock pools.

In Botswana’s Leroo La Tau, Boris von Schoenebeck brings us a rare sighting of an aardwolf as well as the more common sight of hippos relaxing in the mud.

Moremi Game Reserve, also in Botswana, is where Brad Bestelink filmed giraffes drinking at a water pan.

And we end off with Brad’s amazing visuals of Dead Tree Island at dusk.

Wildlife podcast, week 34 2008

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:47:24 +0200

This week’s podcast takes us to the beach at KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, where Graeme Duane dips into a rock pool to look at sea urchins.

Then Brad Bestelink in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, brings us action-packed highlights of a territorial clash between two prides of lion, and some confusion of identity in the chase.

In Namibia, we take a look at the animal dynamics that occur at a waterhole in the spectacular Etosha National Park, brought to us by Linda Louw and Pierre Minnie.

Lastly, Barry Skinstad swims with seals on South Africa’s Western Cape coast to bring us footage of these streamlined creatures along with fish, anemones and kelp.

Wildlife podcast, week 32-33 2008

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:21:25 +0200

We begin this week’s podcast in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, where we take a look at baboons with Brad Bestelink. Still in the Delta, Brad also captured some incredible and unusual footage of dominant male lions bonding with their cubs.

Then it's off to Thailand, to the Khao Laem National Park, to join Darryl Sweetland and some amazing footage of weird and wonderful insects and plant species, from locusts to fungi.

To end off this week’s podcast, Barry Skinstad dives on the Western Cape coast of South Africa, showcasing an array of marine life, including kelp forests, a catshark, and the South African fur seal. Staying underwater, this time in KwaZulu-Natal, Graeme Duane films some interesting corals, anemones and fish species in and around two shipwrecks on the Aliwal Shoal.

Wildlife podcast, week 31 2008

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:09:31 +0200

On this week's podcast we first take you to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, where Brad Bestelink has captured some amazing footage of the Xakanaxa lion pride playing and bonding. Brad then showcases a leopard up in a tree busy stripping an impala carcass.

We then move on to Thailand's Beung Sie Fie National Park, where Darryl Sweetland takes a close-up view of a reticulated python, the longest species of snake in the world.

Finally, in the marine environment of Sodwana Bay, South Africa, Barry Skinstad films a colourful and interesting variety of reef life, from a striking red tomato rockcod to a dazzling honeycomb moray eel, soft corals, a dangerous scorpionfish and lastly a marble electric ray.

Wildlife podcast, week 29-30 2008

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:55:14 +0200

This week's Earth-Touch wildlife podcast showcases lions and crocodiles from the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Lyle's flying foxes from Bang Khla in Thailand, a golden tree snake from Thong Pha Phoom, also in Thailand, and an octopus from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Wildlife podcast, week 28 2008

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:36:54 +0200

This week we are treated to some of the most exceptional 'sardine run' footage we have received this year. Barry Skinstad captures gannets, common dolphins and numerous sharks feeding on a large baitball just off the East coast of South Africa.

Then we move to the Okavango Delta to explore underwater hippo channels with Andy Crawford and Brad Bestelink, taking time to notice the extraordinary colours of the water lilies.

Graham Springer then takes us high up into a tree to observe a leopard feeding on an impala. He gives us a really close look at how the leopard first cleans the hair off the meat before eating its prey.

Lastly, we catch up with the ever expanding Xakanaxa pride of lions as they groom each other in the early morning sunlight of the Moremi Game Reserve.

Wildlife podcast, week 27 2008

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:32:17 +0200

This podcast brings you thrilling footage from all over sub-Saharan Africa. Starting our journey in the Blyde Canyon, blackeyed bulbuls send out warning calls as a python meanders slowly up a tree. Paul Myburg captures the intricate patterning of this python's scales with some exceptional close up shots. Then over to the east-coast of Southern Africa for more intense footage of predators feeding in the sardine run. Barry Skinstad then takes us down into 'shark alley' just off the coast of Aliwal shoal, capturing some surreal footage of hundreds of Ragged-tooth sharks. Finally we end off this journey with Brad Bestelink and Andy Crawford in the eerie papyrus banks of Botswana.

Wildlife podcast, week 26 2008

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:48:53 +0200

In Botswana this week Brad Bestelink gets some great footage of a lion pride attempting to pull down a buffalo in the Moremi game reserve. Then from KwaZulu Natal, South Africa cameraman Graeme Duane spots a little amphibious mudskipper in a dense mangrove swamp. Graeme then gets underwater and while tracking the sardine run just off the coast of South Africa he spends some time with a huge amount of ragged-tooth sharks. Finally Paul Myberg gets up-close and personal with some African stink ants while they raid a termite nest, as well as managing to spot one of the darkest giraffes he has ever seen in the Blyde Canyon, South Africa.

Wildlife podcast, week 24-25 2008

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:42:35 +0200

The incredible underwater sardine run event continues in this highlights podcast, and again we're treated to a once in a lifetime sighting of thousands of marine predators feeding as they migrate north along the east coast of South Africa. Then, the Okavango Delta showcases some of it's unique bird life on dead tree island and Brad Bestelink finds a leopard and it's only remaining cub feeding and climbing trees. Darryl Saffer finishes this episode with some Thailand wasps that he'd never seen before, but will also never forget because of their sting!