WildCam Africa

[maudmac]

Check it out - live streaming video from Pete's Pond at the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana.

I watched last year or the year before and saw many, many amazing animals. Elephants! Also in the area are giraffes, lions, zebras, monkeys, baboons, wildebeest, hares, cheetahs, hyenas, warthogs, tortoises, crocodiles, herons, ostriches, and a bunch of other animals.

The site will tell you the best viewing times, which are early morning and evening, Botswana time. There's still stuff going on at other times, but you could watch for a long time and see nothing. It really is best at peak times when the most animals come to drink.

It is really, really fascinating! It'll be up through mid-December.

[Boschi]

I didn't even see anything, but did find immense satisfaction in being able to hear ( what I assume was a) frog jump in the pond. The audio is good, so I constantly had the urge to shout at the camera, "Look to the right! I hear something!".

I shall try again when I have more time.

[maudmac]

I know what you mean. The audio is fantastic. When I was watching yesterday, nothing much was going on except a few birds (which was very loud), but every now and then I'd hear a huge splash in the water and the camera never got there in time to see what it was. Maybe it was your frog. I know there's a crocodile in that pond. I think I saw a little monkey-type creature in the bushes by the water. What frustrates me the most is when the camera zooms quickly and focuses on...something...like "oooh, wow, there's a _______!!!" but I don't see anything at all but dirt and a tree.

[maudmac]

Oh my God, there is a crocodile sunning itself in the dirt! Holy shit.

There are lots of deer-like creatures this morning. I don't know what they are, but they look like deer to me. Kudu, maybe?

I think I saw a monkey and a baby monkey a little while ago.

It's really interesting to watch the birds working on their nests.

What I've learned from Pete's Pond: Nature is boring. It takes forEVER for something interesting to happen. Nature shows have spoiled us and led us to believe that all of Africa is super-exciting all the time. I understand now that they must have to shoot thousands of hours of footage to get one one-hour show out of it.

Oooh, there's some kind of lizard creature. Looks pretty big. A monitor lizard, maybe? It's walking right by the crocodile!

I will not be happy if I don't see some elephants this year.

Anyone seen anything worth posting about? Not worth posting about? Anything at all?

[Tiggrscorpio]

I have been watching this very regularly since you posted the link. It's absolutely wonderful. I've found more activity in the early morning rather than late at night.

This past Saturday morning was the absolute best. A family of about 40 elephants showed up around 7am. I haven't seen them since then, but that night there was one smaller elephant. He was so cute. He was actually chasing one of the birds that is there fairly regularly.

Back to that Saturday, I saw the monitor lizard in one of the trees, along with monkees, tortoises and that big ole' crocodile has been around each day - either in the water or sunning himself up on the land.

Sunday brought a group of about 20 baboons, along with the deer, which I think are either the Kudu or Impalas. Also, when the camera pans back to show the skyline, I could make out a giraffe above all the trees way far in the background.

This is really amazing. Thanks so much for the link.

[Boschi]

This past Saturday morning was the absolute best. A family of about 40 elephants showed up around 7am. I haven't seen them since then, but that night there was one smaller elephant. He was so cute. He was actually chasing one of the birds that is there fairly regularly.

Back to that Saturday, I saw the monitor lizard in one of the trees, along with monkees, tortoises and that big ole' crocodile has been around each day - either in the water or sunning himself up on the land.

Sunday brought a group of about 20 baboons, along with the deer, which I think are either the Kudu or Impalas. Also, when the camera pans back to show the skyline, I could make out a giraffe above all the trees way far in the background.

Well I'm wickedly jealous now. I need to find time to just sit and watch this for a while.