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A day in the life of a WildCam Operator

October 14, 2008 – 5:53 pm

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Dear Friend of National Geographic,

These days I find myself spending more time on WildCam. It lets me escape the troubling state of the world and enjoy some tranquil moments with nature. I always feel refreshed and more hopeful.

Because I know you are a fan, I want to share a recent email from Afke, our WildCam operator at Pete’s Pond, as she describes a day on the job.

I also hope you will consider making a tax-deductible gift to keep WildCam live in the coming months. We depend on people like you to keep this vital program going.

I wake up at first daylight and listen to the morning sounds of birds, Jackals and what is that… a Lion’s roar! I smile, like I do every morning, because it is so wonderful to wake up in the bush. I quickly get dressed, brush my teeth and walk to the hide. I can’t wait to see what’s at the pond.

When I walk in, the pond is like a mirror. The trees reflect in it in such a beautiful way! There are a few impalas taking an early drink and the first guinea fowl start to arrive. I put the kettle on for rooibos tea, set the cam to daylight settings, sit down and start my working day by showing what the pond looks like this morning.

It’s busy with many beautiful birds, impalas, blue wildebeests, a jackal and elephants. Lots of elephants. With tiny babies too! They drink, take a shower, and bathe. One of the babies slips into the pond and mom carefully lifts it out while an older sister is trumpeting and kicking up dust. So much to see and show!

Around 11h30 it gets a bit quiet and I suddenly realize I haven’t had my rooibos tea with rusks, nor did I have breakfast yet. As usual. I quickly make some rooibos tea and a peanut butter sandwich, run to the donkey boiler to make fire for a hot shower and go back to the cam.

The crocodile is basking ashore and a few warthogs are getting closer and closer to him. One of them is even sniffing his head! The first time the crocodile doesn’t even move. The second time he slightly lifts his head and the third time he’s had enough and lashes out at the warthog. In a split second the warthogs scatter and while dust settles again, the crocodile finds a comfortable spot and returns to basking.

But what is that? The warthogs are coming back! They circle around the crocodile again and one of them (the same one??) is sniffing the crocodile’s tail. I am telling it to be careful, not to be so silly. But luckily nothing happens. The crocodile stays still and eventually the warthogs wander off. Phew!

The afternoon is hot and quiet. I put the cam on autopan and go to the bathroom for a shower and to do my laundry. While I’m busy there, I hear a sound… elephants! I run back to the hide and start camming.

There are more than a hundred elephants and family groups have to take turns because there is just not enough space for all of them at the pond’s shoreline. What a magnificent sight! I don’t know where to point the cam first and decide to show the bigger picture first, before I concentrate on the separate stories.

After they’ve left, I finish my laundry, have a late lunch and read for half an hour, sitting in front of my tent, listening to the birdsongs. Suddenly I see a group of banded mongoose walk in. They are chattering away and don’t seem to be worried about me being there.

I slowly sit down on the sand and start making their sounds. They all stop, look at me and then… they all walk up to me! They surround me, sniff my feet, stand on their hind legs to check me out and some even rest close to me. I can’t stop smiling!

After they’ve left, I go back to work. Animals come and go all afternoon and the sunset is stunning. Slowly the sounds change and when it’s dark, we are listening to many many crickets, other insects and frogs. And listen! The jackals are singing too! Such a lovely sound.

A herd of elands arrives and I start looking for the famous female. The one that broke her jaw a few years ago. And there she is! Lapping up water and looking good. Everyone on the forum is happy to see her. The rest of the evening is quiet.

When it gets close to 22h00, I post a message on the forum saying goodnight. As I press the send button, the elephants arrive. They do that often. The second I say goodnight, they walk in. I love it!

I stay and work with the cam of course, enjoying what I see and hear. Finally all the animals have gone, except the water dikkop. I say goodnight to the viewers again, have a hot chocolate with a rusk and go to my tent.

Sleep always comes easy here, but after an hour or so, I wake up again. What sound was that?? Oh wow… I hear hyenas and jackals! I realize that the jackals’ call is the one they use when they are following one of the big predators. I just can’t stay in bed. I have to check.

I walk into the hide and am just in time to see a lioness arrive. I quickly point the cam at her and we spend a few wonderful moments watching this great animal drink. Then she gets up, has a look around and calmly walks off. I am so happy to be able to be here! When I’m back in bed I still smile.

- Afke

Don’t you want to change jobs? Please help us to continue to bring you WildCam. Make your gift online today.

Yours truly,

Nancy E. Rehman
Vice President, Development

P.S. Your donation today will help keep Pete’s Pond, Kakadu, grizzlies, cranes , polar bears, and other WildCams up and filming. Please make as generous a contribution as you can.

One of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions, the National Geographic Society’s mission is to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge. Today National Geographic inspires people to care about the planet.

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By becky | Also posted in Animals, Education, Nature, Technology, Uncategorized | Comments (0) |

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Moosey News - October 2008

October 5, 2008 – 9:08 am

It’s all change in the garden this month - I hope I can keep up with the pace. Gardeners like to change things, but sometimes nature changes things far too quickly. Hurry up - no, slow down!

- This month’s features -

1. Tulip Troubles

2. Percy the Ginger Cat

3. New 2009 Calendars

4. Super September

5. Blue Corydalis

- Regulars –

6. Plant of the Month : The Bride

7. Animal of the Month : Gingerpuss

8. Garden Quotes : Lawns and Edges

9. Garden Gallery : Rose Calendar Pictures

10. Forum Focus : Changes

11. Gardening Advice : Ponds

12. Searching for Moosey : garden gnome

13. Coming up this month : Joy and Happiness - and Weeding…

- This month’s features -

1. Tulip Troubles

I just don’t try hard enough with my tulips. Every year I wish I had a better attitude to these beautifully coloured bulbs, and this spring is no exception.

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2388

2. Percy the Ginger Cat

Welcome to Percy the purry ginger gardening cat, who now has his own official page. Oops - he almost gets as many journal photographs as my beloved white cat B-Puss…

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2379

3. New 2009 Calendars

You’re spoilt for choice for next year’s calendars. Choose from half-size, full-size, garden views, scenic New Zealand, flowers, roses, cats - and this new one, featuring garden plant partners. All are in friendly pdf formats and free to download.

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2383

4. Super September

Some gardening months have their own special style, where every day seems packed with purpose and garden enjoyment. My September has been one of these months…

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2389

5. Blue Corydalis

This unheralded little blue perennial pops up beautifully in springtime.

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2391

- Regulars -

6. Plant of the Month : The Bride

I couldn’t travel to France for a family wedding, so I bought myself a standard Bride shrub instead. She has a ring of flashy purple pansies at her ankles, and I water her every day.

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2386

7. Animal of the Month : Gingerpuss

The Moosey Most Valuable Pet Competition is finally back on track. All bonus points have been added in, and gallant Gingerpuss is doing battle with Rusty the red Border Collie for the lead. Quite a few readers want to vote for the three youngest cats, though, and at the time of writing they’re not represented.

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n111

8. Garden Quote : Lawns and Edges

With apologies to Shakespeare, this quote starts off with the night following the day…

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2387

9. Garden Gallery : Rose Calendar Pictures

I’ve had fun putting together two rose calendars for 2009, both full of gorgeous rose pictures. The Image of the Month has to be one of these - but which one?

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2382
http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2067

10. Forum Focus : All Change

Southern hemisphere readers are zooming through spring, while others up north are preparing for autumn changes. Pots full of plants are coming in, and going out.

http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com/

11. Gardening Advice : Ponds need to be Lovely Places

This is good advice to any gardener like me - lucky enough to have a pond, but lackadaisical (what a word!) in their pond presentation. Viewed from within or without, a pond should look good. A pond’s ambience should never be wasted.

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2377

12. Searching for Moosey : garden gnome

I’ve found the Moosey bachelor garden gnome after some serious garden searching of my own. Oops…

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n2392

13. Coming Up This Month : Hopefully, even more garden joy and happiness than last month. And more weeding, and watering, and shifting plants around, and trimming the lawn edges…

Cheers,

Mary (Moosey)
Head Gardener
www.mooseyscountrygarden.com

……………………………………………………….

Did you enjoy this newsletter? We’d appreciate your feedback, either by email or by posting to the forum:
http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com/

Keep up to date with the developments in Moosey’s garden any time on the Recent Garden News page:
http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n613

……………………………………………………….

Thank you for trusting us with your email address. You can read Moosey’s Country Garden privacy policy here:
http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/n1101

If you have any problems with the links in this newsletter, please copy the whole link and paste it into your browser address bar. If you have any further problems, please don’t hesitate to contact the website manager by replying to this email.

By becky | Also posted in Art & Craft, Business, Gardening, Lifestyle, Nature, Uncategorized | Comments (0) |

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Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression

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A full-time obsession

October 2, 2008 – 5:23 pm

03 October 2008 | Send to a friend
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