About three weeks ago I felt “homesick” for Africa, where I worked and lived for about a year. There had to be some sort of streaming camera somewhere in South Africa, so I Googled and found africam.com, which sports several always-on webcams from various parts of South Africa—including a 24/7 live video feed from the border of Kruger National Park (read: dream safari central).
The camera is stationed on a termite mound overlooking a small watering hole where Cape buffalo, zebra, elephants, giraffe, gazelles, birds, warthogs, baboons and the occasional big cat come down for a drink. So far I’ve seen all of the above, but the sleepwalking elephant was my favorite. The baboons’ screeching freaks my cats out, and whenever they hear it they rush to the laptop to see what might attack me. (Actually, since they’re cats, they’re probably a lot more concerned about their own welfare.)
I’m not quite technologically jaded enough to overlook the fact can see and enjoy a bit of Africa from my couch in Colorado Springs. Even the background noises—birds, wind, thunder—can be relaxing.
Africam also offers the Pot Plant Owl cam. (And no, not that kind of pot. Think of a small decorative tree in a planter pot and you’d be much closer.) A spotted eagle owl laid three eggs on a Johannesburg family’s balcony, and now, through this cam, the world is following the birds’ development.
There’s some wonder in all of this, and it makes me smile. The fact we can take pleasure in nature—and exotic nature at that—from our cubicled, deadline-driven worlds gives me just a taste of the adventure I used to know. Taking a hike or even going back to Africa would be better, but I’m grateful for the cameras when nothing else is available. They remind me that the world is not made of concrete, and that animals are not all as domesticated as housecats. Let’s hear it for the wild.
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