My Latest Web Addiction

Watching live as the elephants (and lions and pigs and...) come to the watering hole.

Kwa Maritane webcam

You have to sign up for a free screen name. Here's the home page too:

Africam home

At this particular "hide" in South Africa, you can sneak right up to the edge of the water by climbing down the stairs and walking down a long, long tunnel. When you get to the end, you sit on a stool and peek through a narrow opening in the wall.

To the elephant getting a drink outside, you look like just another gopher peering out of his hole in the dirt bank. When the animals come to the near side of the water hole, it is almost possible to touch their feet as they walk past in front of you.

And, once you've had your Wildlife Experience you can stroll back along the tunnel, up the stairs, and back to your gin and tonic (if you're so inclined). That's not roughing it, but it is kinda cool, if you ask me.

One note: last time my South African friends visited there, a spitting cobra crawled in the door behind them while they were sitting watching the water. It is still Africa, after all.