Webosaurs Blog

Hey everyone! I just finished raiding some of Flyboy’s files and found some awesome pictures from his trip to South Africa. I’ll share some with you here but don’t tell him I was snooping through his stuff

Cape Gannets

Flyboy and a Pachyderm

Male lion

Pretty awesome pictures huh? These are only a preview as all of the animals will be making an appearance in Webosaurs as Nigel Marven webosodes. Also, did you guys find the secret in this post? You may want to take a closer look. [Update: Congrats to Webasurus for finding the hidden coin codes!]

-Rex

It’s the Webosaurs camera guy here again with one more blog post before Flyboy wrestles the keyboard away from me. After yesterday’s croc action I was looking forward to filming a creature that’s a little less snappy: African elephants. These are the largest animals walking around on the Earth today, they weigh in at about the same as a T-rex!

We arrived at the fabulous Knysna Elephant Park ready for action. The Park is home to a herd of elephants that are used to having visitors walk amongst them. It was an incredible experience to get so up-close and personal with massive mammals. Wild elephants can be exceptionally dangerous animals when threatened or provoked, they’re easily capable of out-running a human. But alongside the park’s herd with their expert rangers, I felt totally safe even when working with the hefty male bulls.

Flyboy, Nigel and Harry

We got some great shots of the elephants drinking, eating and washing themselves in a mud hole. I had to stop filming at one point when a great dollop of mud landed slap-bang in the middle of my lens! Nigel was able to deliver his piece to camera from between the legs of one of the largest elephants, who’s name was Harry. It made for some great shots and hopefully a great Webosode which you guys can enjoy watching sometime in 2010! Anyway, that’s enough from me, thanks for reading my rambling thoughts, it’s been fun jotting them down…

Getting up close and personal for a webosode

It’s the Webosaurs camera guy here, I’m excited and privileged to be filling in for Flyboy on a couple of the posts here. I’m from Great Britain so please excuse any English words that I drop into this piece. Thursday was a blast as we headed to the Cango Wildlife Ranch in Oudtshoorn to film Nigel alongside Nile crocodiles. Oudtshoorn is pretty much the weirdest name I’ve ever heard. As we pulled into the car park the weather was already scorching hot, perfect for heating up the cold-blooded crocs to get them really active for us. Us Brits tend to have pasty white skin due to a lack of sunshine (especially in November) so me and the Sound Recorder slapped a load of factor 35 sun cream all over ourselves before heading into action.

Those crocs are looking hungry!

Our mission was to get footage of Nigel underwater alongside a bunch of nine-foot crocodiles. The only problem with this plan was that putting Nigel in a pond with a load of hot, hungry reptiles would result in a grisly end for our host. Luckily, the Wildlife Ranch provided Nigel with a metal cage to stand inside. He was also given a tub full of stinky mystery meat to entice the crocs with. We watched with excitement as a crane lowered Nigel into the water and the crocodiles were soon swarming around Nigel and the meat like bees to a honeypot. Snapping jaws full of peg-like teeth were clanging against the side of the cage, and Nigel was on alert not to let any of his fingers or toes poke through the bars.

So this is how they hot tub in South Africa...

After I shot some good footage of our host in action, I got the chance to get down in the water with the crocs myself. Flyboy joined me in the cramped cage to handle the tub of meat (and keep a watchful eye on me in case I got carried away during filming and stuck an elbow out of the cage). I’m pretty skinny but it was still a squeeze fitting two guys in the cage and we ended up in some pretty contorted positions. Flyboy was trying to lure the crocs with meat, I was trying to film them, and both of us were equally wary of getting any part of our bodies too close to the cage bars. After a few minutes we’d got some pretty exciting close-up wide-angle shots of the snapping jaws, and we signaled to be lifted out of the pool. I jumped in the shower straight away and took the underwater camera with me- after shooting underwater it’s always a good idea to get the camera cleaned afterwards, I didn’t want it to end up smelling of mystery meat and crocodile water!

I reckon I’m very lucky to have the job I have, and I’ve done some pretty cool things for Webosaurs and other projects, but I still get a buzz from filming. Being jammed into a tiny cage with Flyboy and lowered into a tank full of giant crocodiles was definitely an experience I’ll never forget!

Hello everyone! Sorry about the delay in the great Webosaurs adventure updates. We have been in areas where connecting to the net has not worked. None the less these past few days have been amazing!

Wednesday, November 18th –

This morning I was awoken by the howling winds coming off of False Bay. When I stepped out of my door on to the balcony I noticed giant waves smashing into a rock known as Noah’s Ark which sits roughly 500 yards off of the sea shore. I love seeing giant waves crashing on rocks creating huge plumes of ocean spray. The team met for a quick breakfast and headed for the beach where our encounter with the African Penguin colony would begin. As we approached the beach we were quickly greeted by a group of the wonderful birds hanging out on the beach waddling around interacting with each other. It was so much fun to see them in their environment, building nests, swimming in the bay and having a great time. I hope you all are doing well. I will send pictures to Rex soon. Also standby for several more updates coming to the blog tomorrow.

-Flyboy

Allison, a Cape Griffon Vulture, flys across the ground to Nigel Marven

Hi guys, we received an update from Flyboy a couple days ago about about his adventures in South Africa with Nigel Marven. We just got in an awesome picture of the vulture he was telling us about. Allison is a Cape Griffon Vulture from South Africa that Flyboy and Nigel Marven recently got to visit. The species is listed as “Vulnerable”, the major problems it faces being poisoning, disturbance at breeding colonies and electrocution. The current population is estimated at 8,000

Vultures are predatory birds that probably evolved from dinosaurs. In fact, some paleontologists think that T-Rex’s might have been like Vultures, scavenging around for their meals. Stay tuned to the blog for more updates on Flyboy’s awesome South African adventure. I really can’t wait for the webosodes!

Today proved to be another amazing day. We awoke at the crack of dawn to find that we were staying at one of the most stunning places I’ve ever visited. Last night I did not realize that the hotel was located right on False Bay in Simons Town, South Africa. The view from our table at breakfast was superb! After a delightful meal we pack all of the gear into the van and headed out on today’s adventure.

The drive was very interesting as we drove through beautiful countryside and ended up in Klapmuts. Upon arrival the wildlife crew met us for an unforgettable adventure where we set out to find several different animal species. Over the course of the day we had the opportunity to interact with Knysna Dwarf Chameleons, a Cape Cobra and the beautiful but dangerous Puff Adder. All of these animals commanded our attention for the day but at the end of our adventure we were treated to a special encounter.

The leader of the wildlife team introduced us to Allison. Allison is a giant Cape Griffon Vulture. We were able to film her in flight as she flew from her enclosure to Nigel’s arm where she landed and had a treat of red meat. Nigel actually held her several times on his forearm that was protected by a Gauntlet which is a thick leather glove. The time with this amazing bird of prey was a dream come true.

Thanks to everyone that made this day so fantastic! I look forward to sharing tomorrow’s adventure with everyone! Always remember to be cool and work hard in school.

-Flyboy

[More pictures coming soon! -Rex]

Check these out! We just got in a couple pictures from Flyboy’s South African adventure with Nigel Marven. Looks how close they were to these Great Whites! You can see just from the pictures how truly magnificent and magical these creatures are. Wow!

This is going to be an awesome webosode

Sharky's attempt to spear the boat with his snout fails once again

Now just try to imagine if Megalodon was still roaming the seas. It was easily 2 to 3 times the size of these beauties.

Yesterday we arrived into Cape Town, South Africa. We quickly loaded all of the film crew’s gear into our van and proceed to drive an hour to Kleinbaai where we were welcomed by the owners of Dyer Island View B and B. The guest house gets its name due to the fact that you can see the famous Dyer Island from the front porch. The view was spectacular. Upon arrival we had a fabulous fresh seafood dinner. Later in the evening I took a walk to the harbor front for an up close look at the Apex Predator, the boat that would be taking us to the world renowned Great White Shark grounds.

This morning I was up at 5:00am local time with an extremely high level of excitement. After a brief walk on the beach our wonderful house keepers made us an award winning breakfast. Yummy! At 7:00am the bells began ringing and we were headed for the boat ramp where the Apex Predator was being launched by a 4×4 tractor. It was cool! Everyone hoped aboard the boat for a 10 minute ride out to the shark cage diving area. Upon arrival the crew swiftly placed the cage in the water attached a chum bag and orange buoy to it and we were off to check out Dyer Island up close! Yippee!

This part of the voyage took us to one of most favorite spots in the world…shark alley! Amazing! I was there…it was surreal. We were right in the channel that separates Dyer Island and Geyer Rock where you can see the colony of 60,000 Cape Fur Seals. It was saweet!

After filming in shark alley for sometime we headed back to the shark cage for some outrageous Great White Shark action. Over the course of the day we saw 15 different sharks ranging in size from three to 4.5 meters. They were huge but so graceful. The animals are brilliant and I hope that each and everyone of you has the opportunity to visit the Great Whites and gain a better understanding of the vital role they play in the eco-systems of Earth’s oceans.

I am sorry there aren’t any pictures with this note but technical hurdles are abundant! I will send Rex pictures of my day tomorrow. In the meantime stay cool, be safe online, be nice and work extra hard in school.

Stay tuned for the next adventure. Tomorrow we are going to hangout with some fabulous creatures from around Africa. Oh yeah before I forget…South Africa is spectacular…beautiful…awe inspiring…I love it.

See you soon!

-Flyboy

Reel FX artists JuiceKing and Mischief make their way into the world

Last night’s event was truly one of a kind for Webosaurs. As we all gathered to bid Flyboy “Bon Voyage” a whole slew of special guests came to the event. We learned that Flyboy will be traveling to SOUTH AFRICA with Nigel Marven over the next two weeks to film more exciting webosodes with great white sharks, elephants and lots of other animals.

Rather than sit here and tell you about the event though, we’d like to hear your thoughts on the party. What did you think of the special guests? We met artists, developers and the heads of the moderation team. Who were you most excited to see? Who ended up being your favorite? What was special to you about this event?

Leave your comments on this post and we’ll be publishing a few of them in a future post. We want to hear it from you!