(Nomad: Day 1476),
Nature’s Valley, South Africa,
In the last few days, I visited many animal places, sanctuaries, and parks.
First I went on a boat excursion to explore the seal’s colony in Robberg Nature Reserve. Although there were about 7000 seals, they were all at the bottom of the cliff or in the water, and it was not allowed to set foot in this area; from the boat, the waves themselves were making so many noises, along with the wind, it was almost impossible to catch good sounds of the seals. We tried to get closer to the cliff by boat, but still, it was too far. This was a cold and windy morning, not much productive for sounds. However, it was great to see the seals thriving in this area knowing they were almost extinct at the beginning of the century.
I went also to Jukani, a sanctuary that focuses on big cats. I could get some small sounds of tiger, but only a little. That makes me willing to get more tiger sounds, I believe these animals can deliver quite an impressive palette of sounds.
Then I went to a monkey sanctuary, they have 9 different species living freely in the same space, a very big enclosure. At that time it was raining, and monkeys were mostly hiding, I was able though to capture very impressive howler monkeys, but from a little distance, however. The usual sound of the gibbons was there too, this one I extensively captured in Asia already. The small Capuchin monkeys are also very interesting and they make very small noises when they come for food.
I also visited a bird place, with a similar concept, with many species freely living in one very big enclosure, this place was a jungle, very impressive by the size, however, for sound, there were so many different birds, that it was kind of cacophonic. Then I tried to record a donkey sanctuary, but the animals were not very talkative. Then finally I got lions again. This time I slept with a couple of lions, at Tenikwa they cabins where you can spend the night just in front of the lions’ enclosure. It was a very special experience I really enjoyed, and it was the perfect opportunity to capture some more lion sounds.
I found out that lions are doing their roar sound mostly at the beginning of the night, when the sun has just set down, here between 7 and 8 pm. Then they do not roar much during the rest of the night. They roar just a little again in the morning, and that’s it.
I am now spending the day near the Tsitsikama National Park, capturing some ambiance.
Tomorrow I am heading to Port Elisabeth, passing by some more animals…
