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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 6, 2021 17:40:45 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Jan 6, 2021 17:44:43 GMT
Oh you are a dear! Hopefully the giraffes - about 5 of them - will be back in the morning. Today was a quiet day but then it rained heavily for a long time. If there is hot sun tomorrow you can bet the ellies and warthogs will arrive.
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Post by lugg on Jan 6, 2021 20:33:33 GMT
I am in for the long haul ... lockdown pleasure
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Post by tod2 on Jan 7, 2021 8:18:15 GMT
I would like to pass on another fantastic LIVE viewing oportunity. This is a commentary drive with a Ranger. It is wonderfully managed so that you are positioned on the screen, where the enormous camera is mounted on the vehicle, so looking ahead with no obstruction except the Rangers head to one side. The Ranger turns towards you constantly while driving or stationary, alerting you to different observations in each sighting. Really close up camera work. There seems to be three Game Drives a day. I happened to take the early morning one today and saw Elephant, Wild Dogs, Cheetah, Hyena, and various bird life. The reason one sees so many animals is because the Rangers send the camera-feed to different parts of the Kruger National Park satelite Game Parks like: Sabi-Sabi, Sabi Sands, Ngala, and Phinda. So you are on about 4 Game Drives at once. I really recommend you do an early morning drive when the animals are out and about. I logged on at around 6,30 am but the sightings kept coming until around 9am. The strangest thing for me was the young lady Ranger showing us the hyhenas, spoke in a Scottish lilt! Heres the link. www.youtube.com/channel/UCV6HJBZD_hZcIX9JVJ3dCXQ
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 7, 2021 11:08:07 GMT
Reading this I confused Hyenas with Hydrangeas. Doh...
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 8, 2021 8:00:54 GMT
Finally saw the giraffes which must have many parasites on them because there were lots of birds grooming them.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 8, 2021 8:48:04 GMT
Oh they certainly do. Close up you can see dozens of ticks sucked on the the crease between their armpits? and legpits? I feel quite sorry for them but I have an idea they are not even aware of them. It is a bounty for the Oxpecker birds. Some have red beaks and some yellow,
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 8, 2021 8:50:18 GMT
It was actually the adolescent giraffe that was covered with birds. The two adult giraffes must have been tick-free.
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Post by lugg on Jan 8, 2021 8:53:24 GMT
Ellies and giraffes this am just now,
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Post by htmb on Jan 9, 2021 4:08:31 GMT
Watching at least three lions now.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 9, 2021 8:26:44 GMT
This last hour I saw 15 giraffes arrive! They clearly wanted to drink but must have been aware of the lions hiding in the sandy hollows. Next minute they took off at a gallop - As the disappeared into the bush a lone female (or maybe young male) lion was chasing after them. Next the ellies arrived so the drama was over. Took a few paultry snaps with my cellphone I was so excited.
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Post by bjd on Jan 9, 2021 9:54:32 GMT
Is that a gun beside your computer, Tod?!!
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Post by tod2 on Jan 9, 2021 10:49:30 GMT
Yes, it is a gas gun we use to shoot at the monkeys. They are an absolute pest. They have been taking bites out of all our vegetables in the garden and raid my birdfeeder everyday for the banana and apples. I feel sorry that suburbia has taken away their habitat but the supply of free food will always attract them to ones garden......and house inside! The gun takes small lightweight balls that if... a big IF, we can actually find a target, only stings them. I do not shoot at the mothers with a baby clinging on but at the big males. Half the time we just shoot in the air as the bang scares them off for an hour or two. The gun was lying next to the bedroom TV as it is near the sliding door to the garden and in handy reach.
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Post by bjd on Jan 9, 2021 12:04:28 GMT
Oh,thanks for the explanation, Tod. I always hear that South Africa is a dangerous country and was wondering if it was to shoot at human intruders -- not just monkeys.
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Post by lugg on Jan 9, 2021 12:54:59 GMT
Yes I finally saw the lions this am .
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 9, 2021 14:56:53 GMT
That's funny. I have seen so many lions that they don't really interest me anymore. Whenever I check and see a lot of them, I just move on elsewhere. At this precise moment, there are no animals visible.
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Post by htmb on Jan 9, 2021 15:03:12 GMT
One of the lions I saw looked like it had a large, open wound on its rump.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 9, 2021 17:14:23 GMT
I always hear that South Africa is a dangerous country and was wondering if it was to shoot at human intruders -- not just monkeys. No problem, I'm happy you are so observant. The gun of choice for two legged unwelcome intuders is not far away/ my Barretta 9ml. But before any of that drama unfolds we have two exterior alarms that pinpoint where you are on the property. Even so, we want to see your face etc; so have the camera observation poles in place just waiting for the installer to come and wire them up. Many years ago we actually had a recording that bellowed out us an intruder broke the beam. It said in Zulu "Stop! You are on private property and the police are coming" New and more up-to-date equipment has replaced it but I liked it a lot. At the moment we are on a sunset safari watching leopards up a marula tree. The camera went right up to their beautiful pale hazel eyes! That is with WILD AFRICA LIVE.
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Post by lugg on Jan 15, 2021 19:46:57 GMT
Joyous today - ellies, impala, zebra and giraffe - and rain and wind .
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 16, 2021 5:47:19 GMT
Africam is mesmerizing. I have been watching a group of zebras grazing, something to which they are quite dedicated. At first there were also three small deer-like creatures in the clearing with the zebras, but they eventually moved off into what seems to be a smaller clearing screened by trees from the larger one. There is a large hole in the trees which framed one of the deer things. It stood there stock still for the longest time.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 16, 2021 7:37:14 GMT
The small deer like creatures - were they a dik dik? Have a quick look for photos on google and see what you think.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 16, 2021 16:59:24 GMT
Mark, don't know if you were watching a live game drive when they came across some Bat-eared Foxes on their den. Sweetest little things. I'll try and watch out for small miniature buck - think they are Bushbuck.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 16, 2021 19:59:21 GMT
Mark, the silhouette is similar, but they weren't nearly as little as dik-diks.
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Post by htmb on Jan 16, 2021 20:08:34 GMT
I’m wondering, is a human controlling the camera the majority of the time, or is there some sort of heat/movement sensing system?
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Post by bjd on Jan 17, 2021 7:18:27 GMT
It must be the latter.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 17, 2021 11:10:55 GMT
We think the camera is being controlled from a computer in the camp/game lodge. The problem they have is that they do not have a 'state-of-the-Art' device on the camera which allows a smooth panning of the surrounds. It's far too jerky. Real pity not to use the best money can buy when they have gone to so much trouble to have a camera at the waterhole.
I'm still tuning in most of the day just to hear the bird calls. This morning a Woodland Kingfisher was calling relentlessly. What a stunning bird. Here is what is sounds and looks like.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 17, 2021 15:13:57 GMT
I thought it was pretty obvious that the camera has an automated movement detector. And since this site is free for all to watch, I will certainly not criticise them for getting better equipment. I think they are doing great.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 17, 2021 17:16:34 GMT
Mmmm...I don't know so much K. I mean it zooms up on the animals, scoots around to bushes and finds animals in one spot then suddenly changes to something different. Maybe I should ask them. Theyre very good at answering the phone - two or three weeks ago we noticed something near the end of the elephants trunk that looked like a metalic band. Mr.T was so concerned he rang them up and they zoomed up on it whilst talking to us on the phone. Said they would look into it and came back to us saying it was an old snare wound and that the skin had lost its pigmentation where the wound was caused.
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Post by htmb on Jan 17, 2021 19:28:24 GMT
Wow, tod. That’s great you’ve been able to phone them with questions. What got me to thinking about it is that sometimes the camera seems to zoom in tight on one animal, or a clustered group, when clearly, from the sounds, there are other animals nearby. I want the camera to back up a bit, but it doesn’t seem to respond to my wishes. At daybreak a few days ago, the lion with the collar around its neck was yowling and prowling all over the area by itself. This went on for ten to fifteen minutes at least. During this time, several other lions were running around the area in a group, but they seemed to be avoiding the collared lion. Looked like a strange game of lion hide and seek
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Post by tod2 on Jan 18, 2021 8:03:21 GMT
OK guys, here's the lowdown. I have just spoken to Tembe Lodge and asked the question "How is the camera operated at the waterhole?" The answer is: We have volunteers overseas (? didn't ask where) that operate the camera from a computer via satelite. The camera at the waterhole is in a Hide which is a wooden structure up on stilts. (Thats why you sometimes here a clunking sound when its windy)' This camera is operated solely on solar power and can be fickle when cloudy or rainy - she didn't say but I'm guessing the battery runs low.
Hope that helps solve our mysterious sometimes jerky camera.
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