On one paw, it’s difficult to believe the first month of 2022 is behind us, on the other paw, it’s difficult to believe it’s only been one month long. 2022 is poised to be an eventful year at Painteddog TV, and in January we have said a sad goodbye, and busied ourselves doing what we do best, entertaining you! Here’s a rundown of how we filled our days this month.
Conservation Corner
Grant Beverly from the Endangered Wildlife Trust joined us for a Sunday broadcast of Animal World LIVE on 16 January, to discuss painted dog conservation in South Africa and beyond. Grant is EWT’s regional coordinator for the Lowveld region of South Africa, where we find ourselves and a lot of our filming, live virtual safaris, and conservation experiences, is conducted. We are therefore very privileged to have someone with such relevant conservation experience and expertise to come visit us and answer any questions our viewers have.
During the show, we also ran an auction of a photograph of painted dogs by Brent printed on canvas, to raise funds for an operation to help save at least one painted dog’s life. Our goal was to raise US$600 as this would be enough to pay for at least one life threatening snare removal, and we were thrilled to see the generosity of our supporters, who reached the figure in no time, and Carol Bower (Cookie) was the winning bid. Her print is on its way, and we cannot thank her and the other who participated in the auction enough!
Private Virtual Safari Synopsis
Despite the difficult rainy conditions for January’s Private Virtual Safaris, there were outstanding safaris for our guests. We have chosen to review a sunrise Pack Members Only Safari, with Matthew Gie on camera and Khaya Tlou guiding our guests all over the world.
The sunrise safari on 21 January was a lion filled safari, with the Ngati (Blood) pride of lions spending the the morning on the edge of Impala Plains on Pridelands Conservancy. Needless to say there were more lions than impala on the plains on the day. One of the two impressive male lions who currently calls this pride his own spent a lot of the time with Lagertha, who has now come into oestrus an no longer has to hide from the males in fear of being killed! She was most likely mating with the male and needless to say we would be ecstatic to see her give birth to cubs. From the Lagertha the lonely lioness, scavenging on scraps, hunting rock monitors, and running for her life from the males, to Lagertha the mother lioness. What a story, and what a safari it was!
News From The DEN
The 28th of January marked Painteddog TV’s 3rd birthday, and what an amazing journey it has been so far – from reaching over 1 million views of the Bucket story on YouTube, pioneering the world’s only live private virtual safaris, the world’s first ever live virtual conservation experiences, raising much needed funds for important conservation operations, and much much more. From the bottom of our hearts from everyone at Painteddog TV, we could not have dreamed of achieving any of this without you. Thank you!
Yuka Ota, our tenacious Japanese colleague, is still making the most of her time in Tokyo, and hosted her first ever photo exhibition. She is thrilled to report that it has been a success and we have no doubt that it will be the first of many to come. Congratulations, Yuka!
Unfortunately, it was a bitter sweet month in the Den, as we said goodbye to Bavu Vilane, an exceptional young man whose outstanding work-ethic and high standards have been woven into the fabric of Painteddog TV’s DNA. Bavu joined us as an intern in early 2020 and left as the General Manager of the company in 2022. Our supporters and ourselves will remember Bavu fondly and we wish him the best for all his future endeavors!
In February, Brent is off to Cape Town to be MC at the South African launch of Remembering African Wild Dogs, on 22 February at Painted Wolf Wines. For those in the area who would like to attend, click here to book your ticket. He will be joined by Wium, our magician, AKA CTO, shortly thereafter for an exciting project the crew are working on in the Karoo desert. Stay tuned for more on that!
Thank you to our Pack Members and our sponsors – LedLenser SA, Rogue Outdoor Gear – as well as Pridelands Conservancy and Kwenga Lodge, where you will find our ‘Dog Den’. And of course, to all our supporters for running with the pack.
Be sure to keep an eye on the Painteddog.tv app, as well as Painteddog.tv on YouTube, Instagram on @painteddogtv, and Facebook. Until next month, goodbye.
A special thanks to
Victoria Craddock
A safari guide, writer and friend of the pack.
With a passion for wildlife, conservation and the written word, Victoria is the perfect person to have editing our monthly newsletter.
Follow her journey on Instagram @vicvic_craddock2.0 and TikTok @vicvic_craddock2.0