it's hard to describe just how amazing it is to live in a place where you're constantly surrounded by animals but in this series I'm going to do my level Bas to give you an idea of what it feels like to live here welcome to the wildlife estate Diaries [Music] my wife and I moved to the hood spray Wildlife estate over 10 years ago and for a while now I've had this burning desire to share all the amazing things that I experience here with you by going on game drives or doing some bird watching doing Bush walks in the felt and even running on the single tracks the estate lies in the heart of the South African leld and borders the world famous greater Krueger National Park in fact it's not uncommon to see wildlife walking on the other side of our boundary fence and believe it or not many of the smaller animals come in and out of the estate through holes dotted along the perimeter the state is also home to plenty of larger species that live here permanently [Music] f [Music] [Music] it's early May here in the South African lelt and Autumn is in full swing the leaves have started turning color and dropping and the temperatures are definitely dropping as well and the felt is just getting drier and dustier by the day but as you can see behind me herend Dam which is one of our three main water holes still has rain water in it now something that I'm terribly excited about in this series is to monitor cool places like this with the help of trail cameras so that we can see what the animals get up to when we're not looking in fact I'm just about to go and put one up right now the hood fot sprayed Wildlife estate is approximately 600 hectares in size and just over half of that is undeveloped we call it the green belt and it has three large water holes where the animals can quench their thirst Heron Dam hop Dam and Fish Eagle Dam it also has hides from which we can take photographs and do some bird watching and miles and miles of single tracks for running cycling or doing Bush walks there's also plenty of natural Bush Feld that provide sustenance and shelter for the animals and a good network of gravel roads that we can drive on to look for them the rest of the estate is basically a suburb in the bush and it's divided into three separate blocks each with its own network of tarmac roads that connect all the houses there's nothing that prevents the animals from moving between the Green Belt and our homes and on most days I'll bump into some kind of creature on my way into town here in the hood spread Wildlife estate man and Beast share their living spaces in relative Harmony I say relative Harmony because every now and again there's a black mum that comes into the house to try and catch the squirrels in the roof and there's even a leopard here that has developed a taste for dogs but obviously we do everything we can to avoid conflict with the animals and the people that live here are very aware of the risks involved let's go put up this trial [Music] camera the best way to monitor the animals movements in the green belt is to put up trail cameras I currently have four placed throughout the estate the first faces a tree in the inlet of herend dam near the Western tip of the property and I chose it because it acts like a highway to and from the water hole and because animals use the tree as a rubbing post as well as a scent marking station I pointed the second one towards a gigantic termite mount with multiple holes all around it more or less in the center of the estate it's mostly occupied by wogs and porcupines but other creatures have been known to visit it as well the third trail camera is placed along a game Trail in the Far Eastern tip of the estate because it's very dense here and close to Fish Eagle Dam it acts as a highway for the animals and this is the fourth one and as you can see it also overlooks a termite Mount now I've never monitored this one before but because it's located along a busy little game Trail in a very dense area I'm expecting a lot of action here and that's my dream with these trail cameras to monitor the whole green belt I want to be able to put them at all the best spots like other termite Mounds game trails and hopefully also some permanent water sources I'd also like to put them along the fence line to see where the animals come in and out of the estate and who knows maybe one day I'll even put one in a tree and this is where you guys can actually help if you decide to sponser one of these awesome solar trail cameras I'll not only name it after you but I'll give you the chance to decide where I put it out so in future episodes of The Wildlife estate Diaries I might for example call it Daniel's camera overlooking the rots ter M Mound or Mary's camera overlooking hop Dam so if you'd like to get involved please send me an email now speaking about getting involved you can also come and stay here in the hoods spray Wildlife estate by visiting one of The Lodges or guest houses so let me quickly tell you more about this month's featured property Africa house is a luxurious six sleeper selfcatering Lodge with three air conditioned bedrooms each with a double bed and on sweep bathroom it also has a fully equipped modern kitchen a dining room inside and outside lounges covered and open Bri areas as well as a swimming pool enjoy free high-speed internet and Wi-Fi as well as a big screen TV with DStv Netflix and YouTube Africa house is completely off grid and only 7 minutes away from town where you can buy fresh groceries or visit one of woods spray's many Fantastic restaurants best of all it's less than a kilometer away from Hop dam in the green belt where you can enjoy Sundowners while waiting for something to come down and drink I've left a link to the Africa House website in the video description below if you want to learn more or go and make a booking now I'll start sharing some of the trail camera highlights with you next month and I'm also going to try and do something new and specific in each and every episode like maybe looking for a rare animal or trying to see how many different birds I can identify but also let me know in the comments down below what you'd like to see in this series i' also like to use this opportunity to thank all my patrons for your support you guys are absolute Legends and and for those of you that don't know what patreon is it's a platform that allows viewers like you to support content creators like myself and you do that by making a small monthly donation for which you get some rewards like mentions in this video I really hope you guys enjoyed episode one of the wild life estate Diaries and I can't wait to see you next month