Safari Cam will end this month

[Wildearth]

 

Blog posted today by Jurie Moolman, owner of Djuma - please feel free to share your appreciation and thoughts for the awesome Safari Drive Team as well as Djuma Private Game Reserve

 

http://www.djuma.com/2011/safari-cam-will-end-this-month

 

It is with sadness we must announce that this cycle of drives will, for now at least, be the last one. At this point in time Djuma cannot afford to fund this experiment beyond the three months we committed to. The last drive will be 24 November 2011.

This was not an easy decision to make as the safaris, and the crew, are very much a part of Djuma and we know how much they mean to all of you. But unfortunately at the moment it is impossible for us to keep them going.

Djuma does remain fully dedicated to LIVE broadcasting from our property and the waterhole camera will remain active while we are also looking into the possibility of adding a second camera that we can place wherever there is some interesting activity. The first location could be the current hyaena den near Zoe’s road.

Is this the definite end of the safaris at Djuma? We certainly hope not. For now it is, but we remain hopeful we will find a way to revive the LIVE drives in the near to medium future.

Thank you for all you great support, I really do appreciate it.

 

[Sandra Martin]

HI Sandra

Thank you for your kind words and support. Unfortunately - like so many businesses across the world - the income on the safari cam did not match the cost of running it. We tried all manner of ideas and have had incredible help and support from our community, but to no avail. The audience has not grown and it turns out that you and I are part of a vanishingly small minority on earth that in fact do find these live safari drives interesting and enjoyable! 

I know Heidi very well, we were at college together more than a quarter of a century ago! and whilst she is very supportive of our efforts, she does not have the audience or wherewithal to make any difference to the sustainability of the safari cam

Thank you and keep watching this space, we will continue broadcasting live, just not safari .... for now.

Kind regards

Jurie Moolman
Director
Djuma Game Reserve

[RandyWI]

Just wanted to let you all know how very much I will miss you and the drives. Since that first drive with Pieter, and continuing with all the assorted personnel changes, up to the present, we out here on our computers have been so blessed to not only see the animals, but to learn about them. Both as different species and different individuals. It’s wonderful that the cams will continue with the zoomies (they are great), but not to be able to go out and look for the leopards and see the cubs, and to know what Karula and her family is up to is just terribly sad. I (we) have loved learning not only about the animals and birds and reptiles, but about their tracks and dung (yes, dung is interesting) and the plants and flowers. Oh how I am going to miss you all. Seb hasn’t been with WE for that long, but everyone I know loves him. And Tara..... I have loved going on her drives, loved her sharing her knowledge with us, and oh yes...... her laugh is delightful and infectious. Marc.... well, I (we) out here have been privileged to have been able to get to know someone with your deep love and respect for all the living things in the bush. It shines through everything that you say and do when we are on the drives or at a FSC. I have been with WE since that first week.... I think I started watching on the second day. No more drives is going to leave a huge hole in my life and in all the rest of your viewers lives.

I thank Djuma for giving us a couple of extra months of the drives. I thank everyone who is now or has been on the front lines at WE..... dealing with broadcasting issues whether it be storms or power outages or lightning strikes. We won’t even go into the other interesting events that result from living out in the bush.... puff adders in FCC (good thing that happened while Alex was there), leopards “adjusting” the laundry drying on the lines, vervets being fascinated with the yummy things in the kitchen. I remember one time when you had a cam in FCC and a vervet was peeking in the window, one of the leopards was on the camera and the vervet saw it on the monitor and started alarming. How many other 67 year old women living in a large Midwestern city have had these opportunities. Thank you is all I can say and it is nowhere near enough.

I wish you all the best of everything in your future. I hope and pray that at some point we will be able to be on drives together again. And know that you have made a difference in many lives.... changed many attitudes about the animals....... made us laugh and made us cry..... and that many, many people that have never met you face to face, love you dearly.

[slingggirl]

Oh how we laughed with the kitchen a mess, it was so sad but so funny!! Nice words Randy, I agree to everything you said!

[wim van schaffelaar]

i will miss you and thanks for your efforts you made in the animal world.

[Flora B]

I would like to thank all the people at Safari TV for all the excitement and fun we have had over the years while the drives have been running.  From running to jump onto the jigga...duct tape in hand...to the swankeyness of the new landrover lol we have follwed leopards and lions and elephants and millipedes, snakes and spiders, eagles and vultures. It has been one of the biggest adventures Ive ever had...every day wondering what will I learn today, who will I see today...will it be my favourite Hyena, Floppy Ear, will it be a bunch of dagga boys or maybe the Impala. Every day I never knew. But each day I was never disappointed. Even when the critters were in hiding,the commentary from the guides was always worth listening to. Always informative, friendly and funny.  When time allowed I would watch the early morning drives and will never forget the time spent with Pieter  and a large herd of elephants or the time the baby elephant threatened to sort Marc out...incredible moments I shall never forget.  I have a hard drive full of photos; Animals, insects, birds, flowers. But they are not just pictures, these are all memories of fun times and of all the friends I have made.

The dam cam is great and the prospect of a second cam will be a terrific bonus. I shall have to invest in a large PC screen to accommodate but I hope one day to be able to come to Djuma to experience first hand all you have shared with me via the internet.

To Marc and Tara and Seb I wish you all the best that life can offer you and to Djuma Private Game Reserve I hope one day someone will hand you the funding you need to be able to continue your live broadcasting. 

Thank you again for all the great times.