24 September 2026

Thermal devices raise wildlife tour sightings success to the next level

A few months ago we purchased 𝟮 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 for our wildlife tour night activities, including the 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗩𝟮 and the 𝗣𝗶𝘅𝗳𝗿𝗮 𝗦𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝟲𝟱𝟬𝗟𝗥𝗙 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿. These devices have proven to be game changers for our tours, as they have elevated our sightings success substantially and taken our tours to the next level.

The Thermal Master DV2 proved to be very effective and easy to use at a range of 5 to 100m in the closed and open woodland and savanna vegetation types, beyond which you can pick up an object, but the detail is lost on the zoom. While the Pixfra Sirius S650LRF proved to be the perfect compliment, and became highly effective from about 70m to up to 1km, proving especially useful in grassland, karoo, semi-desert and desert landscapes. Both offer the benefit of being able to record images and videos, and link effectively to your devices through apps and wifi.

I wanted to attach a compilation video of some footage taken using the Thermal Master DV2, but the file was too large, so you can view it on our Sustain Safaris YouTube page here instead:

On a Sustain Safaris 𝟭𝟭-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗥𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 during 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 we discovered an extraordinary 𝟲𝟬 𝗺𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀, including nocturnals such as: Black-footed Cat, Smith’s Red Rock Rabbit, Cape Fox, Aardvark, Southern Aardwolf, African Wild Cat, Large-eared Mouse, Tete Veld Rat, Bat-eared Fox, Cape Porcupine, Small-spotted Genet, Springhare.

In addition, during a Sustain Safaris 𝟭𝟵-𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗥𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 in 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 during which we discovered 𝟲𝟰 𝗺𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀, including great nocturnal finds such as:
Cape Fox, Aardvark, Southern Aardwolf, African Wild Cat, Large-eared Mouse, Tete Veld Rat, Greater Cane Rat, Thick-tailed Bushbaby (Brown Greater Galago), Lesser Bushbaby (Southern Lesser Galago), Rusty-spotted Genet, Bat-eared Fox, Cape Porcupine, Small-spotted Genet, Springhare.

Other awesome daytime sightings during these tours included: Temminck’s Ground Pangolin, Cheetah, African Wild Dogs, Brown Hyena, Black (Hook-lipped) Rhinoceros, African Leopard, Eastern Rock Sengi (Elephant Shrew), Meerkat (Suricate), Common Dwarf Mongoose, Black Wildebeest, Four-striped Grass Mouse.

If you have never seen some of these wonderful and special creatures, join one of our upcoming Sustain Safaris Rare Mammal Tours. Our guests are regularly impressed and delighted with the outcomes.

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Michael Wright
I am a passionate naturalist, conservationist and adventurer who loves birding, rare mammals, walking trails and photography. I am also the owner, founder and lead tour guide of both Sustain Safaris and Rare Mammal and Bird Tours, which has led captivating and sustainable wildlife and birding expeditions for small groups throughout Southern Africa for over 8 years. I am a registered professional in natural science, ecotourism consulting and nature tour guiding with 26 years’ of industry experience. I have travelled extensively through Southern Africa, Mauritius and North America, and further to my great passion for birds; I also enjoy animal behaviour, flyfishing, butterflies, herping and trees. He has led many tours in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Eswatini (Swaziland), Mozambique, Lesotho, Mauritius, the United States of America and the Southern Ocean. During my Southern and East African adventures I have explored 131 national parks, game reserves and nature reserves. In June 2026, I had a Southern Africa and Indian Ocean bird lifelist of 826 species, a Southern African mammal lifelist of 152 species, a Southern African reptile list of 74 species, a South African butterfly lifelist of 104 species, and a South African frog lifelist of 37 species. Animal behaviour, herpetology, and trees are also areas of interest. ​In addition to owning and managing my two nature tour operating companies, I also own and manage the Sustain Ecotourism and Environmental consulting business. I have been married for 19 years to my wonderful lady, Natalie, and together we have 2 amazing children, a courageous son aged 17 years and a delightful daughter aged 10 years. We currently reside in Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa.
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