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A very generous foundation recently underwrote the cost for two new cameras, their solar panels and battery, and the system that will allow for streaming in the future. This way, we do not need to replace the system when that time comes. A fun feature we didn’t have in a past camera system that we had used, is the night vision included with this system.

One camera is by the barn, and it shows us most of Yard 1, and parts of Yards 2 & 3. The other camera is in the back of Yard 4, located just outside of the habitat. From there, we can see some of the mud wallow, part of the pond, lollipop tree, and a little bit of yard 4 across the creek. The trees cause a bit of obstruction of what we can see, but we love our trees, and the view is still pretty spectacular.

The infrared night vision allows us to check on the elephants at night without disturbing them – if they are in one of those two locations. They are solar-powered and charge enough during the day to last the entire night.

While the system is set up in a way to live stream in the future, that is not something that will be happening anytime soon due to our internet issues. We have two separate internet providers, and they both go down frequently. It is impossible to live stream with the connectivity of either internet provider and fixing that issue will most likely prove to be very expensive. At some point, we hope to find a viable solution, but for now, the cameras are in-house only and our financial priority is construction and elephant rescues.

We hope to be able to extend this camera system in the future to include even more of the habitat. In the meantime, we look forward to sharing the stories of what we observe on the cameras from time to time!

Here’s a photo of Lady grazing at night in Yard 2. As you can see, her trunk is quite wet, and the picture is excellent quality – even at night.

July 27, 2020