Monday, March 7, 2011

I'VE GOT AFRITUDE!


As most of you know, I am addicted to Africam. (Click on the black info box below to go to the website.)


I posted about Africam two years ago here, but I want to share some photos today! First, here's a map of where the three cameras are located, to give you a general idea. The first cam was placed at Nkhoro Bush Lodge, which borders the Kruger National Park. The second was Elephant Plains Lodge, about 7.5 miles from Nkhoro. The third, and newest, is at Tembe National Elephant Park, home to the largest elephants (with the longest tusks) in the world!


Here's my desktop set-up with the three cams, the Africam forum (and internet) to the left, and my solitaire game in the middle!

I turn on the cams every evening and this is what I "stare at" all night! LOL! This is the Nkhoro water hole, or "pan". They use infrared (night vision) lights for night-time viewing. Night time is usually quite monotonous. You hear sounds around, sometimes elephants, sometimes lions and hyenas but, more often than not, it's just usually crickets and owls! Most of the action is in the dawn to dusk hours.

I've downloaded a program that allows me to take photos of the cams so, even though I'm not there in person, I can snap pics of the action as it happens live. Here's a few snapshots from my "photo album"!

This is a Black Backed Jackal. I love these guys. There's a family of them that lives at NK (Nkhoro) and they run around the pan and frolic in the grass every morning at dawn! They're so cute! (Oh, dawn over in South Africa is 7 hours ahead of my time.)

Woodland Kingfisher ~

Male Waterbuck ~

Saddle-billed Stork ~

This dumb bunny, a young male lion, climbed a tree at Tembe and had trouble getting back down!

It's always a thrill when you get a rare sighting, like this Serval, who is quite shy ~

Or a pack of Wild Dogs ~

And, of course, it's always frustrating when the critters don't cooperate and pose for the camera, like this leopard!

Oh, I could go on and on! But I'll just end with two photos taken by Karin van der Merwe, the manager of the Nkhoro Lodge. Note the proximity of the animals to the lodge. Nice shot of a Giraffe family (with Zebras and Impalas in the background)~

. . . and a lone young male Lion ~
Why is he all alone? Read about it here!

4 comments:

Donnie said...

That is really a different website. Great photos.

Cheeseboy said...

Never heard of this site/cams. Really, really cool. I think I could become addicted too.

Kaye Swain - SandwichINK for grandparents and caregivers said...

I'm so glad you shared more about this. After you wrote about it before, my grandsons and I tried it but it was the wrong time. We thought we saw an elephant, but it never moved. The next morning I checked and laughed when I realized we were looking at a bush. I did get another chance to look at the right time and got to see some animals which was sooooo cool! Now I just have to be babysitting grandchildren at the right time AND remember. Thanks for a very interesting article and idea for this granny nanny. :)

Susan Freeman said...

I love Africam too! See you tomorrow for Rednesday!!

Love,
Susan and Bentley
xxoo