African Wildlife cam 2026 | Week 19 : Elephants, hyenas, civets and genets.

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome to wildlife camp.

[00:00:07][clears throat] Lots of elephants around at the moment.

[00:00:11]Although it was only the first couple of days that they visited the water hole, but in the reserve in general, they are very busy. And they're already starting to make efforts to get into people's properties to get at the trees, which is interesting because it's still quite green and still quite early in winter.

[00:00:54]This is the exception to the rule that the males normally move out of the way when the females and babies arrive. This is a very big bull and he was in must and he was letting everyone know that he's the boss of the water hole for now.

[00:01:30]He's significantly bigger than all the others. Now, we don't normally get the the huge old tuskers here. They're very antisocial and there too many people here. So, this guy is about as big as it gets for the male elephants here.

[00:02:58]We've had a lot more civets and genets this week than we have had in recent months. I think this is one of the youngsters that civet one produced recently. It's a little bit fluffier and smaller than the adults.

[00:03:58]This little squirrel was trying his luck, but the female wasn't very interested.

[00:04:45]The Thursday elephants left my scent grass alone, but I wasn't so lucky with the Friday elephants.

[00:05:13]>> [clears throat] >> Even the babies are getting in on the act.

[00:06:29]one of the younger civets. The adults generally don't pay any attention to the cameras.

[00:06:49]So civet 3 and civet one are the two civets that have been returning for years. So I'm assuming that civet 3 is male and is the father of all the young ones while civet one is the mother.

[00:07:20]And this is one of the youngsters, notably fluffier than the adults.

[00:08:47]On Saturday morning, we had some lions.

[00:08:49]They came very close to the water hole, but they didn't get caught on the camera.

[00:09:29]While we were watching the lioness as a dirty Harry pitched up, he may have walked right past the water hole, but it was quite dark, so maybe he didn't trigger the camera.

[00:10:15]Hyena activity is starting to pick up at the water hole and also on the trail cameras and we are hearing them quite a lot more than we have been in recent months.

[00:10:46]I don't have a camera at the pond anymore. The electrical outlet isn't working, but it's still very active and still lots of frogs in and around it.

[00:11:00]A bit of a cliche, frogs sitting on lily pads, but there are about half a dozen of them there.

[00:11:28]Carl and Mrs. Cole don't seem to like to visit the bird bath together. It's normally one immediately following the other.

[00:12:13]>> [laughter] >> I have a new trail camera. Now, I normally get one at this time of year, and I'll normally lose one to elephants at some point during the year.

[00:13:19]I'm hoping to get a hippo on this one at some point. I've never had a hippo on one of my cameras before, and I know they do move through this area, but whether they move along the riverbed or up on the river banks, I'll just have to wait and see.

[00:13:36][snorts] And it doesn't seem to matter where I put up a trail camera. There's always going to be an elephant pitching up within a few days.

[00:14:32]I don't think the camera makes a lot of noise, but it's enough to startle some of the animals.

[00:15:27]He's impossible. are acting like they've never seen the water hole before. And I think as it continues to dry out, they'll start visiting on a daily basis.

[00:17:12]A very dramatic frog entrance coming up.

[00:17:24]Thanks for watching.