Immerse Yourself On A Safari From Your Sofa With Live-Stream From South Africa
Your children can even try and ask Safarilive guides questions about the animals!
It seems like a far fetched dream to be on Safari right now. The closest we get is watching our neighbour's dog chase its own tail or our cats stalk a bird that’s perched on a garden fence. But thanks to the internet you can get a live feed from a real safari and immerse yourself in an adventure with baboons, lions and other species native to the African plains.
This isn’t exactly new, the country has hosted live Safari's since as early as 2007 but now with the global pandemic in lockdown it’s become much more popular almost overnight.
Watch Baby cheetah’s playfighting around mother.
More than 1 million users went on virtual safaris last month with the WildEarth company. A 500% increase from the previous month.
You can visit watering holes, elephants, rhinos, leopards and other wild species without the costs of flying and having their ankles nipped by mosquitos.
Rangers in last week's live stream saw “ellies” as they referred to a herd of elephants splashing around in a river.
If you wish to send questions you can email in and then the broadcast center will possibly pass yours on to the rangers to respond to in the livestream.
Last month saw some kids ask funny questions such as “Is the elephant related to the dinosaur?”
Another was “How big is the lion’s brain?”.
The live streams are from reserves that are protect from hunters and poaches which can help kids at home learn about the conservation of wildlife. That’s education and entertainment.
According to the stats the majority of viewers come from the US, but many more locals in South Africa are watching during the lockdown.
Watch Live each day
Each day you can tune in to their channel for 'Live Safari's' and your children can join in and have their questions answered.
The sunrise safari starts at 05:00 local time, which means start times of:
22:00 EST, 19:00 PST, 03:00 in the UK [GMT],04:00 in Central Europe, and 14:00 Sydney time.
The sunset safari starts at:
16:00 CAT local time, 09:00 EST, 06:00 PST, 14:00 in the UK [GMT], 15:00 in Central Europe, and 01:00 Sydney time.
"Our mission remains to connect people and children with nature”.
The live safaris have mostly attracted U.S. viewers, but many more South Africans have started watching during their lockdown.
Wallington is in Johannesburg but many of the rangers actually live on the safari planes which helps keep them active in the project. Wallington said “Our mission remains to connect people and children with nature”.
It’s so far seeming like a great way to keep children engaged, learning and connected with the world at large.
Do you want to go on Safari?
For inspiration and Safari stories, you can check out our 'Go on Safari' page. Maybe your virtual safari could turn into a real safari!
