(bongo music)
- [Coyote] This is great!
Ever since I was a little kid,
I always wanted to go on an African safari.
Wow.
Look at that.
- [Mark] Alrighty, I see something up ahead.
- This is a big one guys.
Keep your hands inside the vehicles.
They do have a tendency to nip.
(upbeat drum music)
(soft drum music)
Of all the places on our planet,
that are considered bio-diverse,
one of wildest to visit is South Africa's Eastern Cape.
Throughout the 19th century, and well into the 20th,
this province was heavily used for stock farming.
And as a result, settler's began exterminating
the surrounding African wildlife to protect
their families and livestock.
This overly aggressive hunting resulted
in many indigenous animals becoming greatly endangered.
And in some cases, pushed to extinction.
Over the last few decades, there has been a radical
change in attitude toward wildlife conservation.
And private game reserves have joined in the large scale
reintroduction of iconic species to this area.
Today we are visiting the renowned Kariega Game Reserve.
This family owned and operated establishment
is the perfect South African Safari destination.
Spanning over 10,000 hectares, Kariega's landscape
and topography is arguably the mot beautiful
of all the eastern cape reserves.
And is the perfect place to safely get up close
with a menagerie of species from the comfort
of an open-game drive vehicle.
What's goin' on Coyote Pack?
Right now we are on location in South Africa,
staying at the Kariega Game Reserve.
And what we're gonna do today, is head out
on a good old fashioned South African safari.
To do this, we're gonna gear up in this land cruiser
and Jo, our field guide, is gonna drive us around.
Mark's gonna be behind the main camera,
Mario's gonna be on (mumbles) camera,
getting some epic shots.
And I'm gonna help identify the species
using this trusty field guide.
So if you guys are ready, let's head out there
and see what sort of animals we can find.
(engine revving)
This is actually really nice,
traversing the environment in a vehicle.
We're used to being on foot but,
to experience a classic African safari
you really have to drive.
We're gonna be sticking to the park roads today guys.
While I'm trying to convince Jo for us to go off-roading,
these vehicles are specifically
designed to stay on the trails.
But that's okay because she tells us
we're going to see all kinds of animals.
- Look, look, look, what's that?
- Got our first animal right here guys.
It's an ostrich!
- [Man] And it's sittin' right in the middle of the road.
- And it is.
See how close we can get here guys.
Very slow roll.
Just kinda lookin' at us like, uh.
There she goes!
Look at that speed.
- [Mark] Get that shot Mario?
- [Mario] I'm getting her running away.
And there's the male.
I could see the male in the background.
Kaw kaw, kaw kaw.
- [Coyote] Was that an ostrich call?
- Yep. - That is a mating call.
Yes. - Sounds perfect.
- [Coyote] (mumbles) Bring 'em in guys.
- [Mark] Jo, did he nail the call?
- Close, close, yeah.
He just has to do it a few more times.
- And then they'll-- - Kaw, kaw!
- [Mark] Come right over to the vehicle?
- Yeah. - That's what I thought.
- It's a Gallimimus.
Actually it's an ostrich.
Which is technically, a modern day avian dinosaur.
But it's amazing how much the ostrich looks like
the famous dinosaur known as the Gallimimus,
that we saw in the first Jurassic Park movie.
You guys remember that scene when doctor Grant,
Tim and Lex were walking across the grasslands,
and all of a sudden they came flocking toward them?
Unfortunately the ostrich are flocking
in that direction and not toward us.
But still, we got some pretty epic B-roll shots.
Well there we have it guys, the first animal of the day
ends up being the ostrich.
All right, let's move on.
(soft music)
Oh!
- [Mark] Alrighty, I think we have
something other than an ostrich.
- [Coyote] There we go.
- [Mark] What's that?
- All right guys, this is one of two things,
either the blue wildebeest, or the black wildebeest.
Let me get out the field guide here and,
see if I can identify which one it is.
And according to this,
those are blue wildebeests.
- Correct. - You can kinda see
in the right sunlight, they almost have a blueish
tinge to their skin.
You can see that they're just munching through
some of that underbrush, enjoying this beautiful sunset.
And none of them wanna actually
show their faces for the camera.
- [Mark] Got a lot of butt shots.
- [Coyote] Must be protecting their young or,
just are a little camera shot.
Mario, how's your shot lookin'?
- [Mario] It's good.
I got the one that's lookin' at me
and then the rest of them are showing me their butts.
- [Coyote] Talk about an epic set of horns.
Hi guys!
Things good?
- [Mario] You scared them away.
- [Mark] Let's check it off the list.
Why don't you pull the list out?
- Got it.
Here we go.
Boop.
There we go.
- [Mark] That brings our grand total to.
- Two animals.
We've only got about 31 to go.
Here we go. (giggling)
- [Mark] All right, better fire it up, keep goin'.
(engine revving)
All right, this ride's kinda bumpy.
- Yep.
Everything here in South Africa is bumpy.
Every time we've been in a vehicle,
it just seems to be a bumpy road.
- [Mark] Alrighty, I see something up ahead.
- This is a big one guys!
Keep your hands inside the vehicles,
they do have a tendency to nip.
Wow!
Look at that.
We have a little female impala, three of them,
and three zebra.
And here's a really interesting fact
that most people probably didn't know,
because it's often being asked.
What color is a zebra, is it black with white stripes,
or is it white with black stripes?
And in fact the zebra's skin is black.
So the zebra is black with white stripes.
Pretty cool huh?
- [Mark] Well we put that to rest.
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
(dramatic music)
(mumbles) He's fast.
- That's why you keep your hands
inside the vehicle at all times.
Ooh look at that.
That is a young impala in training right there,
dukin' it out with a larger male.
Likely his daddy.
And what he's doing is learning how to butt heads.
That oftentimes happens in the herd.
They do this for a territorial display of dominance.
As you can see the dad's now lickin' his sons face
saying good job son.
Okay we've got the impala, check, and the zebra.
That makes four animals ladies and gentlemen.
We are on a roll.
This is great.
Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to go
on an African safari.
Oh I see some giraffe's over there!
Wow look at that!
Okay Mario, go ahead and zoom in on the giraffe there.
Look at that guys.
Those are giraffe.
I think it's one of everyone's favorites out there watching.
That's pretty cool, look at that.
It's a calf, milking from her mother.
Now maybe you didn't know this but a female giraffe
is a called a cow, a male is called a bull
and of course that would mean that the juvenile
is called a calf.
That's a pretty good sized calf
to be still drinking from its mother.
There they go.
Disappearing into the underbrush.
Wow.
And there are many giraffe out here on the reserve.
So we may see some more while we're here.
But Mario, did you get a close shot of those ones?
- [Mario] Yeah I did.
- [Coyote] Nice.
(soft music)
As we traveled deeper into the park,
and continued our course across the rolling grasslands,
it was apparent that our surroundings
were alive with animals.
All right guys, we've entered the next section of the park.
I do see some impala.
You see those pretty frequently.
Ooh it looks like we have a skeleton or somethin' up here.
(soft music)
Well that animals doesn't appear to be alive anymore.
- [Mark] You sure?
- [Man] Yeah that one's mostly bones.
- Look! - Ooh right through there!
Look at that.
Let's pull up a little bit,
we got another animal that is alive.
Look at you. - What's that?
- [Coyote] That is a,
is that a kudo?
No.
- [Mario] I know what it is.
- [Mark] Mario, what is that?
- [Mario] It's a nyala.
- [Mark] A nyala?
Coyote it's a nyala.
- [Man] And now it's gone.
- [Jo] Or a nee-ola.
- [Mark] We got the shot.
- Whichever one. - Got the shot?
- Got the shot. - That counts.
- [Man] All right that counts we saw a nyala.
- Mario. - Yeah.
- We got monkey's up here. - I see 'em too.
- [Mark] Oh they're comin' out to us.
They're babies.
- [Man] Those are vervet monkey's right there.
Check that out.
The most common monkey species
that you'll find in this area.
We've got a whole little group of 'em right there playin',
in the setting, sunlight, this is a great shot.
Well how about that guys?
Now we can cross monkey's off of the list.
- All right guys.
We're rollin' up on the rhino right now
so we're gonna be super quiet.
But this is pretty awesome.
This is something we've been waiting for all trip.
All right, they're there.
Right there.
- Okay guys, just off the side of the vehicle here
we have five rhino's.
And these are white rhino's
and they are absolutely incredible!
So huge!
These giant grazing animals out here in the grasslands.
Now white rhino's specifically focus on eating grasses.
It's almost like a vacuum cleaner,
the way they mow across the grass,
and just chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp.
All day long just feasting on these grasses.
Quite intimidating too.
From this distance we're about 50 feet away from 'em
and they are huge!
You've got a big bull, some cows and a couple of calves.
When you see rhino's like this,
you just sit back and absorb it all in.
(soft music) It's incredible to just
watch them out there in the setting sunlight grazing.
That is pretty cool.
Well, I would definitely say that this
was a successful safari.
For me personal I would say,
that the white rhino is my favorite.
How about you Mark?
- Well since you already picked the rhino
I will go with giraffe.
- [Man] And Mario, how about you?
- I like the wildebeest.
- Yeah the wildebeest were pretty cool huh?
Well guys, if you get the chance, come out here
and visit Kariega Game Reserve.
I promise you it is an adventure you will never forget.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave!
Stay wild!
We'll see ya on the next location.
(soft music)
With the sun sinking low in the sky,
our return to the lodge was inevitable.
And I came to the realization that it is impossible
to cover Kariega's expansive wilderness
in a single safari.
Yet despite the fact that we needed to return home,
in just a matter of hours,
we saw an impressive collection of species.
Throughout the eastern cape province,
there are multiple wildlife sanctuaries
that aim to protect and preserve the indigenous animals
and their environments.
The Kariega Game Reserve is without
question one of the best.
And is renowned for being home to the iconic big five,
which includes lions, elephants, rhino's,
buffalo and leopards.
If you would like to go on a safari,
or get involved with one of their conservation initiatives,
make sure to visit their website
to book your adventure today.
(soft music)
Hey Coyote Pack, I have some exciting news!
I am proud to announce that the crew and I
are headed back on tour with Brave Wilderness Live.
Our next shows take place in the mid west.
Tickets can be purchased at the Brave Wilderness website
and these shows are certain to sell out.
So make sure that you reserve your seats today.
And don't forget, subscribe!
So you can join me and the crew on our next big adventure.
(cheering)
I'm Coyote Peterson!
Be brave! (cheering)