5:21 am CAT NK

Dear Africam how do we find Pete's Pond and Wild Earth?  I am so sorry you are removing them.  That will be sad not to see them on the forum list.

Oh, my...where do I begin.  No matter what changes are made to Africam my family and I will be glued to the screen.  As a parent that home schools one child, it was very helpful to have Ms. Charlie and her help/insight/care with his education.  Because of Ms. Charlie, he will be enrolling in a virtual charter school...and will actually begin next week.  I missed a lot of the chat and couldn't watch NK for too long (for me) and missed what has been happening.  MJ and I already miss Ms. Charlie.  I don't understand what happened and don't want to know the particulars.  I will accept the decisions that have been made.  

I too hope we get to hear/see more of Josh Live!  or Campbell Live! or Zoomie 24/7!  I'd like to see remote cams as I've seen on another site.  MJ loved to be able to control the camera himself.  I know there are too many of us to all have access, but it would be wonderful if the mods could at least have access so we could have others when Nkorho is sleeping or busy. 

I'd love to be able to do a "live drive" but would rather save money and have flexibility of watching "taped live drive". 

I like the idea about putting the EP cam at NK.  Maybe leave a microphone at EP to hear the lion roars.  I have only seen two critters at EP and one was the first day on sentry duty.  I'm just unlucky on that cam, I suppose.  

I really enjoy being able to get links to other sites here.  I don't go on the WE/PP forums, but they have always been there when I wanted to ask what is?, how can I? etc.  I imagine it uses lots of space that can be put to better use with the Africam site and that's understandable.  Would it be possible to have a thread that is tacked to show us how to access sites such as WE,  PP, or even Jana's horse cam? 

I, too, would like to be able to use a search to find things I just KNOW are there and can't possibly have been THAT far back.  MJ and I have loved learning all about the different wildlife and would  save lots of time to have a keyword search. 

Would it be possible to have a "site map" where we could find main topics that then expanded such as:

    Sightings

         February 08

            Saturday, 2 

            Friday, 1

        January 08

            Thursday, 31

            Wednesday, 30 

    Photos

        February 08

            Saturday, 2

            Friday, 1

       January 08

            Thursday, 31

            Wednesday, 30

    Videos

        February 08

            Saturday, 2

            Friday, 1

        January 08

            Thursday, 31

            Wednesday, 30

     Chat

         February 08

            Saturday, 2

            Friday, 1

         January 08

             Thursday, 31

             Wednesday, 30

ELEPHANT PLAINS

    Sightings

       (with dates and other info as at NK)

NKORHO LIVE

    "The Drive"

           Video

              February 08 (etc)

           Photos

              February 08 (etc)

           Commentary

              February 08 (etc)

    Ranger Campbell

          Q & A

     Ranger Josh

          Q & A

HELPFUL INFORMATION

    Links

       WE

       PP

    How TO:

       Post

       Take Photos

            Edit Photo Size

JUST FOR FUN

    5 Word Story

     What Am I?

(Maybe a spot here for Africam Books)

Site Search -

I think it would be extremely helpful to have each area listed separately instead of all chats, then search for yours and then search for the date.  Or all vids, etc. 

Thank you for all you've given us!  MJ and I are now putting our pennies away for a trip someday to Nkorho Pan.   

I agree with Aquila. EP is not as popular as Nkorho is right now as far as critter sightings. But.. we also started watching it in a more less off spell. I too think after the dry season comes the sightings will most likely pick up. May be not exactly the same, as EP might have other animals that pass thru that area as in the Bushbuck seen on cam the other day.

It would indeed help with cam settings and position if they could be tweaked a little more. I was watching the other morning as some one was working on the cam and settings and saw some beautiful views in great colors.
I have been fortunate enough to see hippos, rhinos, buffs, kudu, waterbuck, impala, elephants, lizard, etc. And yes listened to many times of lions roaring as well.

So, might be a good idea to give it more of a chance as nothing new can start out in close to perfect status.

Sorry, I have to disagree about the EP cam. I have videos of Rhinos, Hippos, Bushbuck, Elephants, Cape Buffs and so on. Maybe a tweak in the cam settings or reposition the cam but I believe once the dry season comes we will have many more great sightings at EP. And where else can you hear lions roaring almost every night? LOL

Wow, guys! Some excellent suggestions here! I "second" all of them.

Edit to add......

Case in point in support of Bob Fin and Maxx's post...We had a hippo grazing by the WH this morning - what I consider a rare sighting, and here is an example shot

Hoping we can get better views in the future!  THANKS! 

I think Africam was faced with a "Gordian Knot" and like the mythical knot had no choice but to employ a bold stroke. I can understand this.

But I see the thread has turned to suggestion. Mine would be quality over quantity. To be blunt, the EP cam brings very little to the table yet draws precious resources which I think could be better spent on improving the Nkorho cam. I wouldn't mind seeing that camera set-up installed as a second cam at NK, pointing to another area, or set up on a constant slow pan while then other remains as it is. The choice would of course be whatever is convenient. Any funding diverted from EP could perhaps be then spent to enhance camera operations at NK. Either more zoomies or a remote system. For example...right now as I type...there is a cool hippo that could be getting zoomed with a remote sytem.

Anyway...just my two cents....

I notice that people mention drives here and, I know lots of us enjoy them. But, having to speak for myself, and I'm sure others will agree, the time difference between SA and where some of are, is vast. I also heard it's very expensive to get a live stream for this. I was thinking that when you go out on your own drives, you could video tape them and then post them here for all of us to watch at leisure in our own time zones.

Also, lots more Ranger Josh and Ranger Campbell in front of the cam with reports and demonstrations is always exciting.

I am also more than willing to do fundraisers or whatever it takes to support whatever new projects are coming down the pike. I love this place and wish to spend many more years relaxing at the watering hole and falling asleep under African skies to the sound of crickets... and any other creatures of the night. It has become my home.

A blog would be a terrific way to do that

One suggestion, and it truly is only a suggestion, isn't for the forums but if there could be some way to communicate with us vocally during zooming (microphone?) and to make announcements that zooming is about to take place or other important news, that would be a wonderful addition.

For the forums, it would be convenient to have a drop down list of links to move from one sub forum to another as the old format had.

Not having Djuma or other cam discussions isn't something that troubles me either since I enjoyed the Boma greatly before those threads ever existed.

Change can be good.  I'm one in favor of the drives!  One thing that I would like to see is a place for Josh/Cambell or someone from the lodge to post pictures of animals they see around the lodge.  Have it be daily postings, but one that is locked so we don't/can't post responses in that thread.  I would love to see what you see on the drives!  I would also like to see the responses the questions in the Josh's Q&A thread be answered more often.  And seeing that he probably gets busy or has days off, maybe it can be a Josh/Campbell Q&A.  I hope that we can still have our cam sighting thread and our cam chat thread like we have now.  If it's possible to have a zoomie on all the time, that would be great too.  I personally don't have a problem with the WE/PP threads not being here.  I know how to view them without this site (which I do).  NK will always be my main cam.  I will miss Ms Charlie (already do) but I'll keep on viewing. 

Thanks Africam for what you bring us already!