"Africam"...For those needing a quick fix!
Oct 29th, 2007, 04:46 PM
#582
<i>where in Africa is this watering hole exactly?</i>
Opposite the bar/lounge at Nkorho Lodge in the Sabi Sands reserve adjacent to the south-central portion of Kruger Park in South Africa.
I'm taking an on-line travel writing class through one of our local community colleges, and curiously enough this week's assignment was to look at the Nkorho site and write a short essay using the webcam as a launching pad, as it were. Ironic that we've been there (2nd post in this thread.)
Shall I post my assignment here? Gentle critics welcome; the other kind can go shove it...
Opposite the bar/lounge at Nkorho Lodge in the Sabi Sands reserve adjacent to the south-central portion of Kruger Park in South Africa.
I'm taking an on-line travel writing class through one of our local community colleges, and curiously enough this week's assignment was to look at the Nkorho site and write a short essay using the webcam as a launching pad, as it were. Ironic that we've been there (2nd post in this thread.)
Shall I post my assignment here? Gentle critics welcome; the other kind can go shove it...
Oct 29th, 2007, 08:24 PM
#584
Okay - critiques welcome... really.
The assignment was to watch the Nkorho camera for a time, and to compose 400 words or less to convey what you saw. I went to the cam at 1 AM local time in the Sabi Sands, and didn't see anything. But I heard plenty.
----
It's night at the Nkorho pond. The big October moon of three nights ago has set; darkness conceals all from view, save from the infrared gaze of the lodge's webcam, and from the night vision of those who possess it.
The camera is stationary - there's nobody in the lodge's bar/control room to man the controls that pan and zoom, so the nocturnal visitors to the waterhole flit in and out of the camera's range. If you don't see them quickly, they're gone: it's not a place to hang out if your DNA has put you in the "prey" bracket, and most visitors to the pond are just that.
But sometimes sounds are worth a thousand pictures. The unseen inhabitants of the Nkorho Pan make themselves known with vigor... buzzes and chirps, cheeps and peeps, the distant bark of a baboon. The night is dark but hardly silent. Summer has arrived, and life can't wait around for dawn.
And some of the visitors are both silent <i>and</i> unseen, until it's too late. Unobserved by the camera, maybe there's a Mfezi - a Mozambique Spitting Cobra - or one of its scary cousins, a Mamba, or a Boomslang perhaps, waiting in the brush out past the pond - for a rat or a mouse, or something else drawn for what will be its last taste of water, ever. A flick of motion, a rustle in the grass... too quick, too silent for cameras or microphones. The venom is strong and the struggle is very, very brief.
The camera keeps staring, unmoved. The insects keep singing their ancient songs.
There will be more mice, and more snakes, and more nights like this one, here in Mother Africa.
The assignment was to watch the Nkorho camera for a time, and to compose 400 words or less to convey what you saw. I went to the cam at 1 AM local time in the Sabi Sands, and didn't see anything. But I heard plenty.
----
It's night at the Nkorho pond. The big October moon of three nights ago has set; darkness conceals all from view, save from the infrared gaze of the lodge's webcam, and from the night vision of those who possess it.
The camera is stationary - there's nobody in the lodge's bar/control room to man the controls that pan and zoom, so the nocturnal visitors to the waterhole flit in and out of the camera's range. If you don't see them quickly, they're gone: it's not a place to hang out if your DNA has put you in the "prey" bracket, and most visitors to the pond are just that.
But sometimes sounds are worth a thousand pictures. The unseen inhabitants of the Nkorho Pan make themselves known with vigor... buzzes and chirps, cheeps and peeps, the distant bark of a baboon. The night is dark but hardly silent. Summer has arrived, and life can't wait around for dawn.
And some of the visitors are both silent <i>and</i> unseen, until it's too late. Unobserved by the camera, maybe there's a Mfezi - a Mozambique Spitting Cobra - or one of its scary cousins, a Mamba, or a Boomslang perhaps, waiting in the brush out past the pond - for a rat or a mouse, or something else drawn for what will be its last taste of water, ever. A flick of motion, a rustle in the grass... too quick, too silent for cameras or microphones. The venom is strong and the struggle is very, very brief.
The camera keeps staring, unmoved. The insects keep singing their ancient songs.
There will be more mice, and more snakes, and more nights like this one, here in Mother Africa.
Nov 4th, 2007, 06:48 AM
#594
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I found this announcement:
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/chan...ings_to_come_0
I have been able to get in using:
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php
I like the "new look"!
Divewop...did you see they have been working on an Elephant Plains cam. I am already out of room on my screen for any more cams
Oh mon dieu!
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/chan...ings_to_come_0
I have been able to get in using:
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php
I like the "new look"!
Divewop...did you see they have been working on an Elephant Plains cam. I am already out of room on my screen for any more cams
Oh mon dieu!
Nov 4th, 2007, 07:35 AM
#595
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Thanks for that update, Carla. I still can't get in with that new link though.
I wonder what the problem is. This is really bugging me now.
Do you have to be a member to access the new site?
I wonder what the problem is. This is really bugging me now.
Do you have to be a member to access the new site?
Nov 4th, 2007, 08:07 AM
#596
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OK...I've updated my Mac stuff (flipmac4) and everything else I needed to do and it still isn't working.
Tried it on both safari and firefox and still nothing.
Cleared my cache and history and still nothing.
I don't know what else to do! I'm at a complete loss.
Anyone else with a Mac having success with viewing?
I don't know why they had to change.
Frustrated to say the least...I'm about to give up!
Tried it on both safari and firefox and still nothing.
Cleared my cache and history and still nothing.
I don't know what else to do! I'm at a complete loss.
Anyone else with a Mac having success with viewing?
I don't know why they had to change.
Frustrated to say the least...I'm about to give up!
Nov 4th, 2007, 08:51 AM
#597
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There is a message today that they had a power failure and that the cam is running right now.
I'm on a mac, but haven't been on in a while. I'll try again later once the power is back up. I'll let you know if it works for me.
I'm on a mac, but haven't been on in a while. I'll try again later once the power is back up. I'll let you know if it works for me.
Nov 4th, 2007, 02:39 PM
#599
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Having no trouble now via firefox:
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php
Did you restart firefox/safari after you downloaded the flip update?
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php
Did you restart firefox/safari after you downloaded the flip update?
Nov 4th, 2007, 03:50 PM
#600
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Yep. I have tried everything under the sun to get the cam operating on my Mac again but nothing seems to work.
It was great having the African background noise and picture while I worked and now the silence is maddening.
It's frustrating and I don't know why they had to change but now I can't play anymore. I hate having to say goodbye. :'(
It was great having the African background noise and picture while I worked and now the silence is maddening.
It's frustrating and I don't know why they had to change but now I can't play anymore. I hate having to say goodbye. :'(
