Wildlife Camera Projects

Nature's Candid Camera

The original camera project was initiated by Wolfgang Steinbach and Jill Lockley about four years ago. It was originally aimed at monitoring the movement of the local lleopards and feeding into the database of the Boland Leopard Trust.  Duncan Hiles jjoined them at the beginning of 2014.

It started out with two cameras, grew to four, shrank back to two when we had a pair stolen last Easter and has now grown to six, thanks entirely to the generosity of individuals in the community who have contributed to the REC Camera fund.

We have two types of camera in the field: “trap” cameras and IP (Internet Protocol) cameras.  Trap cameras are set up at a site, preferably undisturbed by humans, and left for days, weeks or even months.  They run off dry batteries and are triggered by temperature changes in their field of view, much like the infrared motion detector in your domestic alarm system.  They are designed to be set up, programmed and left in the field for days, weeks or even months.

One of the drawbacks of trap cameras is that it is only possible to check the effectiveness of the programming and positioning by visiting the site, reading the camera's sd card with another camera or a laptop and then making adjustments for the next monitoring period.  On the other hand,  IP cameras can be accessed remotely from a computer in real time, adjusted and the results checked immediately. In addition, the photos and video clips can be uploaded onto a website as often as desired.

We are starting to run blogs of the results of the cameras in the field, with regular updates. Follow this link to the leopard camera blog.  And follow this link to see the otters.  The occasional baboons and mongoose feature in some photos and some of the "bycatch" is recorded on the Camera Page which provides a permanent static record of photos from the cameras.