WildEarth (founded in 2006 by Emily Wallington and Graham Wallington) is a British-South African broadcasting and conservation company primarily based at

Djuma Game Reserve Djuma Game Reserve, is a 1,200 ha private game reserve, which is part of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost countr ...

, part of the

Sabi Sand Game Reserve Sabi Sand Game Reserve is located adjacent to the Kruger National Park in the Lowveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Officially named Sabi Sand Wildtuin, the Sabi Sand Game Reserve consists of a group of private game reserves. The Newington Gate ...

in South Africa, who focus on connecting people with

African Wildlife The fauna of Africa, in its broader sense, is all the animals living in Africa and its surrounding seas and islands. The more characteristic African fauna is found in the Afrotropical realm. Lying almost entirely within the tropics, and equally to ...

. The company is best known for its live drives (formerly known as SafariLive during WildEarth's partnership with

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

from 2017 to 2019), which take place twice a day in Sabi Sands and Pridelands. Former locations included Tswalu Kalahari, Karongwe Private Game Reserve, Phinda, Ngala and Arathusa. The company has been featured on news broadcasts such as

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

and

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

due to the popularity and viewship of the live drives increasing during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, which has restricted international travel to and from Africa. From 2020 to 2021, WildEarth collaborated with guiding companies such as AndBeyond, who broadcast the drives from both Ngala and Phinda Reserves (starting from April 2020), Eco Training, who broadcast the drives from Karongwe between April 2019 to May 2019 (these drives were prematurely ended, however, due to a hunting incident that took place at Karongwe in 2013) and Ecotraining Pridelands Reserve, and sometimes in the

Maasai Mara Maasai Mara, also sometimes spelled Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honor of the Maasai people, the ancestr ...

in Kenya when legalities and finances permit. Previous locations were Tswalu Game Reserve in the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...

, Karongwe Private Game Reserve and Arathusa. The first hour of the live drives were once broadcast by the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

, and the full drives have been broadcast in China by

China Global Television Network China Global Television Network (CGTN) is the international division of state media outlet China Central Television (CCTV), headquartered in Beijing, China. CGTN broadcasts six news and general interest channels in five languages. CGTN is r ...

from 15 August-15 September 2020. On 25 August 2020, WildEarth have launched a TV channel dedicated to their live safari drives. The channel is currently only available in South Africa on

DStv Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...

. WildEarth have also produced several shows for

Nat Geo Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). T ...

from 2017 to 2019, including Predator Bloodlines and The Hyena Whisperer. In 2021, the brand launched as an online channel through

Xumo Xumo ( ) is an American over-the-top internet television service owned by Comcast. Founded in 2011, it offers a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) and advertising video on demand (AVOD) service that primarily offers a selection of pro ...

in the United States. Later on in the year, WildEarth launched an app on which people can watch the drives. The app has been made available on most mobile devices and smart TVs. In 2022, the brand was made available on FAST channel's Plex platforms and RAD NFTV.

Live drives

Every morning and evening (

Central Africa Time Central Africa Time or CAT, is a time zone used in central and southern Africa. Central Africa Time is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC+02:00), which is the same as the adjacent South Africa Standard Time, Egypt Standard Time, ...

), Wildearth broadcast 3-hour live drives that take place at Sabi Sands, Ngala, Phinda, Maasai Mara, and Pridelands. These drives feature trained safari guides (referred to as "naturalists" on the show) who take viewers around the area and also provide information about what is being seen, as well as a camera operator who films the plants and animals that are being shown during the drive. At one time, the start is of each drive was a 45-minute "Kids" segment, where children can ask question via emailing WildEarth. After this segment ends, a 2-hour 45-minute segment starts, where other viewers can ask question via the live-chat. These drives have been broadcast since 2007, and some older drives have been archived by viewers. This 45 minute kids segment was dropped on 1 July 2020 as many schools had closed due to the

. WildEarth also upload highlights from drives (such as sightings of young animals or predator kills) onto their YouTube channel.

Live camera

A live camera (Often referred to as the "Dam Cam" by fans of WildEarth) was set up near Vyutela Dam, located at Djuma Private Game Reserve in 1998. This live camera can be viewed on the Djuma Private Game Reserve YouTube Channel and is active for 24 hours a day. The camera is remotely operated by global volunteers known as "zoomies" and allows viewers to observe the local flora and fauna of the area. Highlights of individual animals (such as lions or elephants) that are seen on the camera can also be found on Djuma's official YouTube page.

Animals

Animals that are seen on the WildEarth drives and live camera include a variety of birds, insects, antelope

spotted hyena The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...

s, lions,

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

and

elephants Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and ...

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

are not shown on the broadcasts except for in Phinda and the Maasai Mara due to threat of

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

. As of August 2022, rhinos are shown on Sabi Sands, but only if they're de-horned. Plants are also shown and discussed as they are of importance to the ecosystem, and sometimes have medicinal properties. Some animals featured on the live drives have been named by the guides, lodges and viewers. These include the hyenas, lions and leopards. Some named animals include Ribbon, Corky, Ntima, Ndebele (members of the Djuma hyena clan, with Ribbon as the former matriarch and Corky as the current matriarch), Tingana and Thandi (leopards). These names are used to help viewers and guides identify different animals featured on both the drives and live camera, and to also form a connection with the animals. Most of the animals are named when they are between five months to one year old.

References

{{reflist

External links

WildEarth
(official website) Broadcasting in South Africa Entertainment companies of South Africa Mass media companies of South Africa Education companies of South Africa Economy of Limpopo Mopani District Municipality