Bill has now officially kicked off his African Safari and is in Johannesburg, South Africa. Today features a day and an overnight in Johannesburg to try to adjust to the local time after a red eye that left the United States from Atlanta, Georgia.

Accommodations feature his typical jumping off point in Johannesburg - the Peermont Metcourt Hotel at Emperor's palace. A photo of accommodations is shown below. The Peermont Metcourt is a three star hotel in South Africa that was originally built by Caesar's Palace. Following the overnight in Johannesburg, Bill and his group will be leaving early the next morning for the flight to Zambia.

Peermont Metcourt Hotel Accommodations
Courtesy Peermont Metcourt Hotel

Tomorrow the safari begins in earnest as the group makes its way to Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia.

• Leg 1: Arrival in Johannesburg, South Africa (Oct 4th)


• Leg 2: Mfuwe Lodge, Zambia(Oct 5th)


• Leg 3: Bilimungwe Bush Camp (Oct 6th - 7th )


• Leg 4: Chindeni Bush Camp (Oct 8th - 9th)
  
  • Walking Safari Details


• Leg 5: Chamilandu Bush Camp (Oct 10th - 11th)


• Leg 6: Mfuwe Lodge, Zambia (Oct 12th)


• Leg 7: Sindabezi Island, Zambia (Victoria Falls Area - Oct 13th - 14th)


• Leg 8: Mapula Lodge, Botswana (Oct 15th - 18th)


• Leg 9: Sandibe Safari Lodge, Botswana (Oct 19th)


• Leg 10: Savute Under Canvas, Botswana (Oct 20th)
  
  • Walk on the Wild Side Safari Wrap-Up

   

Bill has just kicked off on his 2009 Summer Safari - I'm a day behind on this one since he's already been in Serengeti National Park - but I'd like to put a brief safari introduction out there before I get to the most current news. Bill arrived in Nairobi, Kenya which provides easy access to Lemala Mara Camp in Tanzania - his first actual safari related stop on his Summer Safari of 2009. Presented below is the actual safari itinerary and map that you can refer to as Bill is on his travels. As you can see, this a very extensive trip, covering six separate African nations. As his journey continues, I'll be documenting his progress. He will have some limited Internet capability, so stay tuned for photos and stories from Africa.

• Leg 1: Arrival in Nairobi, Kenya (Aug. 24th)


• Leg 2: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania - Lemala Mara Camp (Aug 25-28)
• Serengeti National Park August 27th Text Update
• Serengeti National Park Videos
• Lemala Mara Luxury Camp
• Final Serengeti Game Drive
• Leg 3: Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda (Gorilla Trekking!) - Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge (Aug 29-31)
• About Gorilla Treks
• Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge
• Leg 4: Overnight in Johannesburg (Sep 1st)


• Leg 5: Victoria Falls, Zambia - Tongabezi Safari Lodge (Sep 2-3)
• Tongabezi Lodge, Zambezi
• Leg 6: Okavango Delta, Botswana - Mapula Lodge (Sep 4-7)
• Mapula Lodge Accommodations and Guiding
• Leg 7: Okavango Delta, Botswana - Sankuyo Bush Camp (Sep 8-9)

The first night of Bill's trip (which this post covers) was at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi. Nairobi serves as an access point to the Serengeti. As far as game viewing is concerned, there won't be any safari activities in Kenya

Above, you can see Bill's progress for the 2009 Summer Safari. He is currently in Nairobi Kenya to rest a bit after the flight over from North America. The next stop is August 25th in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Please note that the map is interactive - you can click on markers to get details about Bill's safari trip - and you can also zoom in and zoom out on the map.

   

Over the past week, safari related blogs from around the world continue to provide us with fascinating stories. It is likely that we'll continue to make Safari Blogs This Week a regular feature of the Africa Safari blog as long as we keep finding these interesting stories. Keep in mind, you can find a treasure trove of Safari related news and information - not only about animals, but about countries, culture, and camps in our Africa Safari News section right here at TheWildSource.com

1) SANPARKS update - Cape Buffalo vs. Warthog

From the official website of South African National Parks, we get this interesting picture sequence depicting an African Cape Buffalo vs. Warthog story from a visitor to Tsendze Camp Site which is located in North Central Kruger National Park. Apparently the Cape Buffalo was not ready to relinquish his spot at the water trough.

2) WildWatch.com - Elephant with Backward Tusks

This story about an unusual elephant was pretty interesting. A female elephant in the Serengeti region of Tanzania has tusks that actually are growing backwards. This puts her at a disadvantage when it comes to dining on the cambium from Acacia Trees. Fortunately for her, she is able to dine on cambium after other elephants have exposed it for her.

3) LiveScience.com - Large Mammal Migrations in Decline

This fascinating article deals with the disappearance of large mammal migrations. Poaching, agriculture, confined locations and other human related activities are major contributors to the disappearance of migration.

4) Mahale Greystoke Blog - More Chimp Hunting and How to Track Chimpanzees

In last week's edition of Safari Blogs This Week, the Greystoke Mahale Blog had plenty of good information about chimpanzees hunting yellow baboons. This week, guide Vianney Jacob discusses a successful chimpanzee hunt of Red Colubus Monkey that ends with some sharing among chimpanzees as well as some discord.

Also this past week, the trackers of Greystoke Mahale describe chimpanzee tracking in rich detail. This blog post discusses how it can be a bit more difficult to find the chimpanzees in months like May or June when food sources for the chimps are a bit more scarce. It took trackers over two hours to locate the chimpanzees on this particular outing.

5) Discovery Channel Mountain Gorilla Blog - Gorilla Caught in Snare

This scary blog post describes how one of the gorillas was caught in a snare and how brave gorilla trackers were able to free her without any harm to her or themselves. The post goes on to discuss poaching and alludes to the fact that the gorilla will be darted and the snare will be removed from her arm. Details will probably come in the next blog post.

   

I'm not sure if this will become a regular feature on The Africa Safari Blog or not - but we do have some very interesting news from around the Internet regarding primates. I'm going to feature four separate stories from different locations in this week's safari blog roundup. You can catch all of these stories and much more by checking out our Africa Safari News section right here at TheWildSource.com.

This week PRIMATES are a popular topic from safari related blogs from around the Internet. Let's get to the recap:

1) Greystoke Mahale Blog
Chimpanzees Hunting Yellow Baboons.

In this Mahale Blog update, chimpanzee trekking guide Gabriel I Mushi gives the update about Chimpanzees actively hunting other primate species. Gabriel has witnessed chimps hunting Red Colubus Monkey in the past. But he describes this adventure a few months ago where he witnessed chimpanzees hunting Yellow Baboon. It is a fascinating read.

Bill was just in Mahale Mountains National Park (where the accompanying photo for this blog post was taken). Bill is currently very busy attempting to keep up with client requests. We should be hearing more about his Tanzania travels and viewing plenty of photos in the upcoming weeks.

2) Discovery Channel Mountain Gorilla Blog
A baby gorilla recovers from a nasty cold

In this update, Dr. Lucy Spelman gives an update on Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda. Be advised that there are great baby gorilla photos in this blog update, and you'll probably end up wanting to subscribe to this blog in your feed reader. The story details some illnesses that seem to be travelling around and being transmitted between members of the gorilla group.

3. Live Science Blog
Thieving Capuchin Monkeys

While not native to Africa, this blog post about capuchin monkeys was pretty fascinating. Apparently, some capuchin monkeys send out false warning calls that a predator is in the vicinity. They do this so that the other capuchins will drop what they're eating to seek cover. This provides a quick and easy meal for the deceitful monkey.

4. Live Science Blog
Giant Lemur Species Discovered

News from Madagascar where an extinct species of giant lemur were recently discovered. As you may already know, lemurs are only found in Madagascar. The largest living lemur weighs 22 lbs. These giant lemurs weighed up to 77 lbs.

   

TheWildSource.com founder Bill Given has now returned from Tanzania and is extremely busy with client requests and getting back to work on the May Newsletter - which will be a bit late this month due to the Tanzania 2009 safari trip. I did have the opportunity to meet with Bill and he provided me with some Tanzania Safari Video for his regular blog readers to enjoy. I was able to process the video and put these video snippets out to YouTube which has led to.....

TheWildSource.com's Africa Safari Video Channel on YouTube!

TheWildSource.com now has its own channel established on YouTube where you can view Africa Safari Videos. In addition to seeing the videos via the link in the previous sentence, you'll also have the chance to subscribe to the channel. From our channel, you can click the big yellow "subscribe" button. If you do subscribe, you'll have the opportunity to be notified of future videos that are added to the website - such as the cheetah/impala kill that I hope to get up to the website soon.

Once on TheWildSource Channel, You Can Subscribe to it

A sample of one of the videos is below:

If you do visit the YouTube Africa Safari Video Channel, I highly recommend these videos:

• Bull Elephant Fans Safari Guide
• Baby Elephant Checks Trunk Space
• Wildebeest Migration in the Serengeti
• Chimpanzee Feeding Frenzy
• Crocodiles Fishing with Open Jaws

Africa Safari Video Quality and Optimal Video Viewing

By his own admission, Bill is not a videographer - but these videos turned out very well. Bill's video camera is a handeld that is over two years old and records to 8mm tape. Plus, it has been processed and compressed for web viewing. That said, I think it looks fantastic considering these videos are being streamed over the web. You'll notice that on each Video you'll have the option to click the "HQ" button in the lower right (as shown in pic below) in order to view the video in high quality. The higher speed your Internet connection is, the more success you'll have viewing the video.

Click the "HQ" Button to View High Quality Video
(It will turn Red When Active)

TheWildSource.com Safari Videos - What Do You Think?

YouTube.com has the capability to accept comments and votes. If you dig deep into the video descriptions you should be able to see more information about the videos including dates and locations. During setup, I actually put these videos on Google Maps, so that will hopefully provide some context. Finally - please rate the videos from 1 to 5 stars - and comment on the videos. If you do comment on the videos, you can be sure that Bill will post a reply.

More Safari Video Coming to the Website Soon

You'll be seeing more and more videos from Bill's Tanzania trip - as well as other trips in the upcoming weeks on TheWildSource.com YouTube video channel. We'll also be putting a lot of the videos on the website in the near future. Stay Tuned.