#ACTIVE - Go Ape South Africa
Go Ape South Africa is an aerial forest park built to be enjoyed by all ages, a perfect getaway to get in touch with nature.
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SOUTH AFRICA: MAX THE GORILLA RETURNS TO JOHANNESBURG ZOO
English/Nat
Max the gorilla returned to hero's welcome at Johannesburg Zoo on Tuesday after being shot by a gunman who was fleeing police.
The 26 year old ape suffered two gunshot wounds while trying to defend his mate, Malisa.
Zoo officials say Max is healing well, but he'll be on antibiotics for 10 days.
Seeming none the worse for wear, Max the gorilla returned home on Tuesday to his compound at Johannesburg Zoo, and to his mate Malisa.
It was the first time since Max's shooting last Friday that Malisa, severely traumatised by the incident, had ventured out into the open.
Max's attacker was being pursued by the police when he leaped into the gorilla's enclosure and came face-to face with 180-kilogram (400-pound) Max.
The gunman shot Max twice before being shot and wounded by the police, but Max bit back, sinking his teeth into two policemen.
The gunman and policemen were rushed to Johannesburg's Garden City Clinic, Max was shot with a tranquilliser dart and taken to the zoo's infirmary.
Sergeant Robert Shabalala, one of the policemen bitten by the 26-year-old gorilla, said he thought he was a dead man.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
What I have experienced, maybe nobody will experience it, you see, because if I can look at him now I don't believe that it was me that was facing with this thing.
SUPER CAPTION: Robert Shabalala, Constable
Max sat on Constable Shabalala when he tried to escape and bit him or the arms and buttocks.
Although Shabalala says he'll never forget the terror, Max appears to have put the past behind him.
His injuries, a bullet wound in the shoulder and a swollen chin are healing well.
Keeper Jacqui Thompson says he had a narrow escape.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
Max is a lot better. He still has the bullet in his shoulder, but the wound has healed up very nicely and Malisa's a lot less stressed and they're both out in the enclosure for the first time today and they're foraging around and Max has sort of declared it his territory again and they're both very well.
SUPER CAPTION: Jacqui Thompson, Keeper
Max has become something of a celebrity since the shooting,
The zoo has been swamped with cards from well-wishers from all over the world, from Moscow to Mexico.
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South African 'Little Foot' fossil unveiled
Little Foot is one of the oldest and most complete skeletons ever discovered. The 3.67 million year-old Australopithecus fossil found in the Sterkfontein caves has been unveiled at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa. IMAGES
A.P.E. South Africa Safari Group Video 2017
Compilation video of the Association of Photo Events 2017 South African Safari Photo Shoot. Shot throughout South Africa in Feb 2017, footage is from a mix of locations from Capetown to Johannesburg
Born Free: Hip Hop in Johannesburg
In recent years a new generation of hip hop artists has emerged in South Africa, who are taking it back to the roots and celebrating the many cultures that surrounded them growing up in the townships. They are reshaping the sense of identity of South Africa's youth and expressing what it means to be born free.
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South African 'Little Foot' fossil unveiled
The most complete skeleton ever found of an Australopithecus, a forerunner to modern man, goes on display for the first time in Johannesburg following a 20-year process to excavate and assemble the 3.67 million-year-old remains.
African fashion Week: Naked Ape Summer Collection 2010/11, Sandton, South Africa
The best of South African designer clothes: African fashion designers: A selection of the Naked Ape Summer 2011 fashion collection at a SA Fashion Week show, Sandton City shopping mall, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Lee Berger: Google Earth and Human Evolution | Talks at Google
Lee Berger stops by the Googleplex to discuss his latest field work, as well as the journey through Google Earth that resulted in some of the most dramatic discoveries in paleoanthropology. You can find more about his new book, The Skull in the Rock, on Google Books: .
From the publisher:
In 2008, Professor Lee Berger--with the help of his curious 9-year-old son--discovered two remarkably well preserved, two-million-year-old fossils of an adult female and young male, known as Australopithecus sediba; a previously unknown species of ape-like creatures that may have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. This discovery of has been hailed as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history. The fossils reveal what may be one of humankind's oldest ancestors.
Berger believes the skeletons they found on the Malapa site in South Africa could be the Rosetta stone that unlocks our understanding of the genus Homo and may just redesign the human family tree.
Berger, an Eagle Scout and National Geographic Grantee, is the Reader in Human Evolution and the Public Understanding of Science in the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
The focus of the book will be on the way in which we can apply new thinking to familiar material and come up with a breakthrough. Marc Aronson is particularly interested in framing these issues for young people and has had enormous success with this approach in his previous books: Ain't Nothing But a Man and If Stones Could Speak.
Berger's discovery in one of the most excavated and studied areas on Earth revealed a treasure trove of human fossils--and an entirely new human species--where people thought no more field work might ever be necessary. Technology and revelation combined, plus a good does of luck, to broaden by ten times the number of early human fossils known, rejuvenating this field of study and posing countless more questions to be answered in years and decades to come.
South Africa, Lesotho and Ethiopia - January 2019
TRAVEL BLOG:
Ethiopia is a truly unique country. Its idiosyncrasies make it the most interesting country I have visited in Africa, and one of the most beguiling, beautiful, destinations on the planet. African, European and Middle-Eastern influences combine to create one of the most diverse countries on the planet. Perhaps more importantly, the coffee is strong and the delicious cuisine is spicy enough to make you question even the most seemingly innocuous of stomach rumblings. In all of the countries I’ve been fortunate enough to visit, Ethiopia definitely makes the top five.
SOUTH AFRICA: CHIMPANZEE RETURNS TO ZOO AFTER HEART OPERATION
English/Nat
The first patient to successfully undergo a complicated four hour heart aneurysm operation has been reunited with her family.
South African veterinary surgeons are claiming a world first after successfully completing the operation on Josephine, a chimpanzee.
After a 17-day recovery period, Josephine was declared fit enough to return to the chimp enclosure at Johannesburg zoo.
The crowd gathered round the chimpanzee enclosure waiting to catch a glimpse of the Johannesburg Zoo's star boarder in this her first public appearance since undergoing ground breaking surgery.
At first there was no sign of Josephine. The rest of her family stole the grand entrance.
Then the lady of the moment arrived looking fit and healthy after undergoing a heart surgery procedure which had never been tried before.
Zoo officials recently noticed Josephine was losing weight and coughing frequently.
Tests showed a huge aneurysm in the major blood vessel from her heart, blocking the blood flow to her legs.
If the aneurysm ruptured, the chimp would have died instantaneously.
It took four hours for surgeons to remove a diseased section from the female chimp's aorta.
The diseased section, 14 centimeters (6 inches) long and 4.5 centimeters (2 inches) wide, nearly four times the aorta's normal width, was replaced with material normally used in underwater dive suits.
Now Josephine is looking fit and healthy her surgeons are confident of a complete recovery.
SOUNDBITE:
She looks absolutely wonderful. She has done nicely from a surgical point of view. There have been no complications and we are extremely privileged to be involved in this whole project.
SUPERCAPTION: Dr Neil Wright, Vascular surgeon
Josephine has lived at the zoo for 30 years and is the matriarch of the zoo's chimp family.
Despite their familiarity there were some concerns as to how the chimp group would react to Josephine after her operation.
But there was no need to worry. The family were happy to see her back home.
SOUNDBITE:
With the animals you are never sure what is exactly going to happen. So it is a little bit apprehensive but I think they were quite happy to see her back and I am sure she is happy to be back within the group as well.
SOUNDBITE: Philip Cronje, Chimpanzee keeper
One other puzzling thing sets Josephine apart from the other chimps. Veterinarians say her condition is usually only found in humans as the result of an unhealthy lifestyle.
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Fossils part of unknown species that may fit transition from apes to humans
(8 Apr 2010)
1. Wide pan across Cradle of Mankind at Maropeng
2. Exterior of Maropeng where the media are gathering
3. Wide of news conference
4. Kgalema Mothlante, deputy president of South Africa (seated wearing a red striped tie) with Loyiso Nongxa, vice chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Lee Berger, professor at the University of the Witwatersrand who discovered the fossils:
These 1.9 million year old Hominids are in extraordinary condition. They lived at the same time. They died at the same time. And when I mean that, I don''t mean that in the sense we archaeologists often use it. They died within minutes, days, hours or, at the very most, weeks of each other.
6. Mid of skeleton in glass case
7. Close of skeleton bone
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Lee Berger, professor at the University of the Witwatersrand who discovered the fossils:
They represent a completely new and unexpected species of human ancestor designs, something we did not think was there.
9. Close of skull
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lee Berger, professor at the University of the Witwatersrand who discovered the fossils:
This specimen, for the first time in history, will go on display here at Maropeng for 10 days so that the people of South Africa can enjoy our newest ancestor.
11. Close pan up of skeleton
STORYLINE:
Two skeletons, nearly 2 million years old, were displayed in South Africa on Thursday, offering a rare opportunity to view a previously unknown species that scientists say fits the transition from ancient apes to modern humans.
The fossils were unearthed in South Africa and bear traits from both lineages.
They are named Australopithecus sediba, meaning southern ape, wellspring, to indicate their relation to earlier apelike forms and to their features later found in more modern humans.
Researchers classified the species as Australopithecus, rather than Homo, because of their upper body design and brain size.
According to the researchers, a sediba had an advanced hip bone and long legs, allowing it to stride like humans, but also had long arms and powerful hands like an ape.
Lee Berger, an American-born paleoanthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the skeletons provided an extraordinarily detailed look into a new chapter of human evolution when hominids made the committed change from dependency on life in the trees to life on the ground.
Berger described the find at a unveiling of the skeletons at a news conference at the Cradle of Mankind in Maropeng, near Johannesburg.
He said the fossils date back between 1.95 (m) million and 1.78 (m) million years.
The two new fossils were found in a pit in what was once a cave, their bones preserved by hardened sediment that buried them in a flood shortly after they died, researchers said.
One was a female believed to have been in her late 20s or early 30s.
The other was a male likely aged 8 or 9.
Two more have been found since the discovery, but Berger declined to detail them.
Both the female and the juvenile were 1.27 meters tall (about 4 feet 2 inches). The female would have weighed 33 kilograms (about 73 pounds) and the child 27 kilograms (about 60 pounds).
Berger said their features suggest that the transition from earlier groups to the Homo genus occurred in very slow stages.
A sediba could help unlock the secrets of the development of the genus Homo, Berger said, even if it turns out to be a side branch.
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South Africa - Crime fighting gorilla
T/I: 10:36:53
Johannesburg Zoo held a party (on Saturday afternoon 26/07) for Max, its crime-fighting gorilla. Max captured the admiration of the world after he wrestled with a fugitive from justice who was hiding in his cage. The astonished criminal shot Max who was rushed to hospital and
nursed back to health.
The 27-year-old giant was the guest of honour at the party on Saturday. The South African police have made Max an official police reservist and given him a huge bullet proof vest.
SHOWS:
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 26/7
WS visitors to the Zoo walking about;
Max in his enclosure lying on the grass;
CU Max lying on the grass;
Max in enclosure with Lisa the other gorilla;
CA people watching Max;
Gorillas walking around enclosure;
CU baby;
Gorillas eating carrots;
Zoo Keeper Cronje addressing the audience, I just need to show you what the police have done for us they have worked close with us and have actually signed Max up as a police reservist...
CA Max The only condition we made was that he had to be provided with a bit of protection so the police went ahead and made a vest to size, and it what he wears when he goes out on active duty.
Big bullet proof vest which police have donated;
Shots of Max eating frozen fruit;
WS Max sitting in the grass with waterfall in the background;
Max walking off.
2.15
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CARTA:The Origin of Us -- Lyn Wadley: South African Archaeological Evidence
(Visit: Lyn Wadley (Univ of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) contends that the manufacture of compound adhesives and compound paints by 100,000 years ago in South Africa is clear evidence for modern thought processes that involve, for example, multi-tasking. Some early hunting technologies support this conclusion. Cultural traditions, reminiscent of hunter-gatherer ones practiced in historic times, are also evident in South Africa’s Middle Stone Age, by not less than 100,000 years ago. Series: CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny [Science] [Show ID: 25392]
Chimps, Gorillas, Humans and Homo naledi: Dr. Charles Jackson
Dr. Charles Jackson explains fossilization and the latest fossil that is supposedly ancestor to humans according to the evolutionists.
Longest zipslide in the world
2000 meter long, 280 meters high and speeds up to 120km/hour. Sun City (South Africa) has the longest zip-slide in the world: The Pronutro Zip 200 (what a name!).
Thougth I'd give my Canon EOS 1DmkIII a spin with a med-resoultion setting and the motordrive on the medium setting as well. ISO 200, aperature priority at f5 and a plus stop of 1/3 for a bit of extra light. Finally, the movie is made up of about 350 jpegs.
More of this sort of stuff on my website: fotograferen.net
The birth of humanity
The Cradle of humankind - is considered as a World Heritage Site. This heritage site is based northwest from Johannesburg, South Africa. People can also describe it as the place where we became human or the birth place of humanity.
The tour:
Starts with a boat ride on an artificial lake
A short lecture about how our brains developed
Where language came from
When fire was first used and the risks for us as species in the near future.
Cradle of Humankind gets its name because it doesn’t just produce a large number but also some of the oldest hominin fossils ever found in history. The name Maropeng also means “returning to the place of origin” in one of South Africa’s 11 official languages.
This site (about 47 000 hectares of land) consist out of several caves and fossil hominid. These caves are identified as the oldest and most continuous paleontological dig in the whole world. This site is a very interesting and yet exciting for tourists and visitors.
Astro Trip provides shuttle and transport services to this tour. Make your bookings now. Get all the prices and rates of the Craddle of Humankind on the website.
Sterkfontein caves situated just next to Craddle of Humankind. Here scientists have discovered many hominid and other animal fossils, dating back more than 4 million years back. It is the place where the very first adult ape-man was found by Dr Robert Broom in 1936. The most popular fossils to be found here are “Mrs Ples” (Australopithecus skull) and “Little Foot”(Australopithecus skeleton). This tells the story of the precursors of the modern humans.
While doing this tour:
* It is important to wear comfortable shoes when going to these caves.
* Handbags and luggage to be left behind.
* There are a number of tight spots and pathways to negotiate in the caves.
* It is not advisable to do tour for people who are claustrophobic.
* It is not advisable to do tour for people who suffer from acute asthma or chest problems as there are a lot of stairs.
Warner Music Fashion Experience April 2016
Interviews, runway footage and behind the scenes at the Warner Music Experience at SA Fashion Week April 2016 held at The Park Venue in Hyde Park Johannesburg.
Warner was involved with the house selection and mixing of the runway music for Ephymol, House of Ole and Naked Ape.
Check out the various designer playlists on SIMFY SA
Naked Ape
House of Ole
Ephymol
Get 1 months free SIMFY access by using the redemption code WARNER when signing up for a SIMFY account (valid until 30 April 2016)
Music used in the video:
Locnville - Grapevine
Ash - Ain't looking for love (feat. Buffalo Souljah)
Video produced by Panchia Photography panchiaphotography.co.za
550D JHB Zoo
Trying out my 550D. Edited with Magix.
South Africa - Orangutans get married
T/I: 11:00:37
After a seven year relationship and a four month engagement it was time on Saturday (12/10) for Johannesburg zoo's two most famous orang-utans to tie the knot. In the lead up to the big day, Fergie had a special wedding ring made of white and yellow gold and studded with diamonds which was auctioned off after the ceremony. Miss South Africa Peggy Sue Khumalo was among the celebrity guests who attended the wedding alongside plenty of press there to witness the event. Fergie and her intended Boytie were kept apart for the actual service with a master of ceremonies performing the nuptials before a captive audience of guests and zoo officials.
SHOWS:
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA. 12/10.
00:00 WS orang-utan cage
00:05 CU fergie getting ready with flowers
00:14 CUTAWAY of press
00:17 MS Miss South Africa arriving
00:22 MS strange guests
00:30 CU female face
00:33 MS celebrant arrives NATSOT (bridal music)
00:39 CU female
00:43 MS celebrant and female
00:46 SOT celebrant we are gatherd here to witness the joining together
of these two wonderful creatures
00:55 WS of celebrant and female
00:58 SOT celebrant i now pronounce them orang-utan and utan ..
applause
01:11 MS male swinging
01:15 WS with male and female
01:18 CU male throws wedding veil into water
01:27 VISION ENDS
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SOUTH AFRICA: MAX THE GORILLA UNDERGOES FERTILITY TESTS AT ZOO
English/Nat
Max, the hero gorilla of Johannesburg Zoo, underwent tests on Wednesday to determine whether he is capable of fathering children.
Max hit the headlines in July last year when he tackled a suspected robber who had jumped into his enclosure to escape the police.
All the attention may have put him off his stride, however.
His mate Lisa has not managed to conceive despite attempts by zoo keepers to get the two to produce offspring.
Max was proclaimed a national hero in South Africa in July after he sank his fangs into a suspected criminal who was fleeing from the police.
Max's mate Lisa who has shared an enclosure with him at the Johannesburg Zoo for five years has failed to conceive even though they've been mating.
Lisa has been checked by veterinarians, who found she's quite capable of falling pregnant.
At Johannesburg Zoo's clinic on Wednesday, veterinarians successfully removed a small semen sample.
Results of the test are expected back next Wednesday.
The 400-pound gorilla was sedated with a dart gun in his enclosure and then removed on a stretcher and transported on the back of a pick-up truck to the clinic.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
As far as the procedure went, it went very smoothly and we did on two occasions achieve a specimen. We have noted sperm present in the specimen and we need to do further testing to be able to evaluate where we are going to from here.
SUPER CAPTION: Dr Lawrence Gobetz, Fertility specialist
Before his run-in with the robber, Max and Lisa were not particularly physically close.
But after the attack, zoo keepers say the two have been spotted closer together on most occasions.
The events sparked interest from animal lovers in countries as far afield as Fiji, Bermuda, the United States, England, Japan and Sweden.
The zoo was even able to set up a stall selling Max merchandise, and local school children designed posters celebrating the ape's exploits.
As a reward, a local growers' trust donated a year's supply of bananas to the gorilla.
Max was shot three times by the robber but fought back until the man could be arrested by police.
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