Pete’s Pond

Pete’s Pond is a new project that National Geographic has embarked on, that is incredibly cool.  A private game reserve was established nearly 20 years ago, to help save certain populations of African wildlife from poachers.  There was no river, so through massive irrigation, the owner created an alternate source of water: Pete’s Pond.

Fast-forward to the now overly-successful reserve in Botswana, where National Geographic has spent no small fee on setting up a live camera feed at the watering hole, using a broadband satellite connection to transmit 20-25fps video with full sound via the internet.

The site describes which times of the day are most active, but I must say that it’s somewhat surreal to see wildlife in its undisturbed surroundings 24/7 on my computer.  Yes, we have live television, and yes we have webcams.  The meld of these technologies for something that’s freely accessible and in a way that gives actual quality video and sound just feels unique.

And yes, Chris, it’s Real Player.  Just use the no-nonsense spyware and adware free BBC installer and everything’s okay.

Posted Saturday September 24, 2005 in Around the Internet by Derek Jones

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Comments

When I saw the title on my Firefox’s live bookmark, I thought you were talking about Pete‘s pond.  :D

By Khairul Hisham on September 24, 2005 at 07:23pm link

Nay, this isn’t Jefe’s Swamp. rasberry

By Derek Jones on September 24, 2005 at 09:27pm link

(Raises head up)… Hmmm? :D

By Pete on September 25, 2005 at 09:44pm link

Ugh, why do people STILL use realplayer?

By Greg Ferrell on September 26, 2005 at 05:58am link

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