giovedì, 06:00

A Year in the Wild (A Year in the Wild), Nature, South Africa, 2012

As a new year starts in the heart of Africa, the rainy season has come to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and with it begins a season of plenty and the luxury of permanent and abundant water sources. In South Africa's Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, a group of rare samango monkeys take advantage of the abundant fruit born by a large Natal fig tree. In Thailand, a group of rhesus macaques have discovered a mango tree, and are busy feeding and stuffing their throat pouches with the fruit. Back in the Okavango Delta, the rains have also brought large buffalo herds back to the Xakanaxa area, the territory of a powerful pride of lions. Life and death are also a close-run thing for young gannet fledglings on their massive breeding colony of 50.000 birds on Malgas Island off the South African coast. As the young birds attempt to spread their wings and take to the air, some end up in the water. Many young animals have to run a gauntlet early on in life, and as a young loggerhead turtle hatches out of its egg and emerges from the sand on a beach in Mozambique, it faces a gruelling journey from its nest on the beach down to the sea. African penguins, too, are adapted to life at sea, but rest, breed and mate on land. Penguins elsewhere in the world face an almost unbelievable challenge to breed and rear their young. When it comes to raising animals, the African plains are no more forgiving than the sub-Antarctic. At this time of year, the Serengeti plains in Tanzania are teeming with herds of wildebeest and zebra with their young. Predators are never far away. In a Thai forest, stingless bees are busy building a cone-shaped nest in a tree, combining forces for the greater good of the colony. Kamfers Dam in South Africa is one of only four breeding colonies of Lesser Flamingos, at times reaching up to 50.000 birds. The sun sets over the spectacular sight of thousands of flamingos, straining the water for food and taking to the air.