Elephant Cam

Quick Facts

• Where: South Africa
• What: Elephants
• When: May to October
• Cam: 30s Refresh

Elecam is situated in the Tembe Elephant Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa on the boarder with Mozambique. The reserve was established 1983 to conserve the last free roaming elephant population in this area. Traditionally the elephants used to migrate northwards into Mozambique, but due to pressure put on the population by poachers the elephants resorted to spending most of their time in the dense sand forest areas that has now become part of the Tembe Elephant Reserve. Now conserved the population has began to expand and tourists can now visit this area and enjoy this unique environment, for more information please check out the following websites http://www.tembe.co.za, http://www.kzn.org.za/kzn/ and http://www.kznwildlife.com

Best Pictures

Picture of cam location

Location and subject matter
Tembe Elephant Reserve is home to a wide variety of animals, including the big five, elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo, and leopard. Foremost are the elephants said to be the largest elephants in Africa weighing in at 6 tons (13 000 pounds), the population of around 150 individuals also boasts an impressive number of "big tuskers" that are regularly seen on the cam. Apart from elephants one has a good chance of seeing a number of other species including nyala, kudu, warthogs, buffalo, white and black rhino. The camera is located at one of the central watering holes on the reserve, and is well used by the animals that inhabit this area.

When to view
The cam runs during daylight hours only between 7am and 6pm Central African Time (times are subject to change due to change in sun rise and sun set), the images are normally refreshed at 30-second intervals. The camera is a pan tilt zoom that is controlled on location for one of the nearest lodges. During the winter months May through to October one can see as many as 50 to 60 elephants a day coming down to drink during the middle part of the day 12am to 3pm Central African time. Over the summer months the waterhole remains popular and it is not unusual to see as many as 25 elephants visiting the waterhole a day.
Due to the remote location the camera runs off solar power and has limited bandwidth capabilities, this is why the quality of the image is often poor. The bandwidth link is currently being scheduled for an upgrade. Please note that during central African night time replays are shown in the cam window and the cam is not live.